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  • Little Seeds that Split Great Rocks

    Little Seeds that Split Great Rocks

    In the warmth of a Canadian summer, in the reaches of a distant forest, a maple seed falls from the sky. This seed, called a samara, is a masterpiece of design that looks and behaves much like the blades of a tiny helicopter. As it falls through the air it spins, and this spinning action…

  • The Greatest Christians and the Most Visible Gifts

    The Greatest Christians and the Most Visible Gifts

    I’m convinced we’re prone to make entirely too much of the most public gifts and entirely too little of the most private. We laud those who stand at the event podiums to preach the Word. We celebrate those who sit on the conference panels to answer our questions. We honor those who pen the few…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    I Am, You Are: A Call to Worship

    I have mentioned a number of times that one key element of worship at Grace Fellowship Church is the Call to Worship. This call sometimes involves reading a passage of scripture, but other times combines several texts into a responsive or back-and-forth format. Here’s an example that might bless you this morning as you prepare…

  • Solemnity and Celebration Exclusivity and Inclusivity

    Solemnity and Celebration, Exclusivity and Inclusivity

    The Lord’s Supper is an occasion that is both solemn and celebratory. In the Lord’s Supper we remember the suffering and death of the innocent Son of God and we confess that it was our sin that made it necessary. In the Lord’s Supper we rejoice that God made a way for us to be…

  • Should We Make a Priority of Diversity in Church Leadership

    Learning To Thrive as a Diverse Church

    Toronto is the most diverse city in the world which means that Toronto churches are among the most diverse churches in the world. If over fifty percent of the people who live in the city were born in a country other than Canada, which is exactly the case, then in all probability over fifty percent…

  • When Unanimity is the Enemy of Unity

    When Unanimity is the Enemy of Unity

    It is God’s desire that there be unity between his people, and for that reason Christian unity is a prominent theme in the New Testament. Jesus prays for it in his High Priestly prayer, Luke describes it in his history of the early church, Paul demands it of the congregations he writes to, Peter appeals…

  • Lessons In Becoming a Better Listener

    Lessons In Becoming a Better Listener

    It is one thing to hear, but another thing to listen. Good communication and healthy relationships depend upon not only hearing the words other people say, but on carefully listening to what they mean to communicate. To listen is to love. But if we are honest, few of us are good listeners. It’s easy enough…

  • NY Times

    Are Churches “A Major Source of Coronavirus Cases?”

    The New York Times recently ran a column headlined “Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.” The lede is alarming: “The virus has infiltrated Sunday services, church meetings and youth camps. More than 650 cases have been linked to reopened religious facilities.” Here’s how the story begins: Weeks…

  • A Gasp of Pain A Sigh of Relief

    A Gasp of Pain, A Sigh of Relief

    The lockdowns are slowly ending and churches are tentatively re-opening. Of course most are opening during vacation season so have begun with a much-reduced schedule of programming—typically Sunday morning services and not a whole lot else. But summer will soon be past and the busy fall season will be upon us. It’s safe to assume…

  • The Safest Place for the Weakest People

    The Safest Place for the Weakest People

    It has been a blessing to hear from friends and family across America whose churches are beginning to meet again after the period of forced separation. It has been fascinating (though a little strange) to see photographs of the spaced-out seating, the masks, the deliberate distancing, the omnipresent bottles of hand sanitizer. While I expect…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    Our Father, we are so thankful that you are a God who loves. In fact, you are not just a God who loves, but a God who is love. For you, love is not merely something you do, but it is who you are. To be God is to be love, to be the very…

  • I Miss the Ordinary the Most

    I Miss the Ordinary the Most

    Recent conversations with other Christians have shown that I’m not alone in carrying an unusual level of stress, fear, and anxiety. These are uncertain days and many of us are struggling through them in various ways. Some are feeling this struggle as a heavy emotional weight, some are feeling it as despondency or listlessness, some…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer for Easter in Lockdown

    From time to time, probably every month or so, I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray on behalf of the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. This particular prayer…

  • Why Our Church Is Only Sort Of Streaming Our Services

    Why Our Church Is Only Sort Of Streaming Our Services

    Like so many other churches across the world, mine had to make a sudden and unexpected decision in the face of a pending lockdown: Do we broadcast our services or do we not? Under normal circumstances we would never even entertain the notion, but with a looming period of isolation that would last no less…

  • 10 Church Members God Especially Calls Me To Love

    10 Church Members God Especially Calls Me To Love

    In a recent and widely-shared article, a pastor provides a series of profiles of church members who “drive him crazy” and make pastoral ministry “less than fun.” Though he tells of his love for the local church and his commitment to it, he also says that every church he knows has “members and attenders that…

  • If We All Stream Our Services Will Anyone Ever Come Back

    If We All Stream Our Services, Will Anyone Ever Come Back?

    I spend a fair bit of time traveling. At least, under normal circumstances I do. Sometimes these are little more than overnight trips to conferences across the U.S. border and sometimes these are extended journeys to the far corners of the earth. Wherever I go, and for however long I’m away, I am sure to…

  • CABC

    Training a New Generation of African Pastors and Church Leaders

    Central Africa Baptist College & Seminary in Kitwe, Zambia, is deeply involved in training up a new generation of African pastors and church leaders. My recent travels through Africa took me to the school and allowed me to see how it is impacting Zambia and many other countries in central Africa. I came away extremely…

  • 4 Common Critics and Constructive Ways to Respond to Them

    4 Common Critics and Constructive Ways to Respond to Them

    It is inevitable that pastors and other church leaders will face criticism. Some critics will be well-intentioned while others will be bent on destruction; some will be attempting to do the right thing (even if in a ham-fisted way) while others will be attempting to wreak havoc. Yet the prideful and troubling temptation can be…