Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Changing face of Canada

Posted on: 03/10/2010 17:15

Today’s newspapers are full of stories about the changing face of Canada, including Statistics Canada’s projections that minorities will be majorities in two Canadian cities by 2031.

It’s exciting to be part of a church “of Canada” that has committed itself to engaging with all people of Canada. It will take much change and adaptation to live into our good and faithful intention, and we will be both blessed and challenged regularly along the way: blessed by seeing and participating in new, intercultural ways of Christ, and challenged by how our familiar experiences and expectations will need to change and adapt for such new life. (I have already written a bit about this in my blogs, including about my own congregation’s celebratory dinner following General Council in October and River Running last November.)

The 40th General Council stirred my soul as we sang and heard stories from so many parts of the world and from our many cultures in Canada. Our experience of community felt more healthy and whole than I can ever remember before. I heard many commissioners saying it helped them begin to imagine what a truly intercultural church could be!

Are you open to seeing the new face of Canada, engaging in the work, and receiving the blessings? If so, look around, see the opportunities, and receive the support of many others in our church—and do check the intercultural resources on The United Church of Canada website.

We will receive blessings of soul and community as we work through the challenges together in our abundant life in Christ. How do you see both the blessings and the challenges as they are interwoven?

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Mardi Tindal's blog

Comments

Scott Boughner

Posted on: 03/12/2010 13:01

Sorry, Mardi, but I've been looking around for twenty months for ways to engage in the work of Canadian popular culture. So far - no blessings. There are many opportunities of using Canadian popular culture to communicate the Gospel to a lost secular society. I am the leading expert in the United Church with the training to reach the new face of Canada for Christ. I would love to know who is receiving the support of many others in our church, because I can assure you, that it's not me!

010Anne

Posted on: 03/23/2010 00:02

We live in an inter-cultural society - a fairly humane one most of the time. This is in large part because of Christianity not in spite of it. The vision of an inter-cultural Church is fine but don't call it Christianity. Jesus said: I am the Way, the Truth and the Light -no man cometh to the Father but by me -the United Church seems to be selling out - watered-down or non-existant theology -what is the point of being Christian or spreading the good news. To be tolerant of other faiths is different from taking concrete steps to be an inter-cultural Church - I signed up for Christianity - please explain why this is no longer the main menu, I sincerely want to know. It seems that standing up for Jesus is becoming a rare thing in the United Church of Canada.