Why the Church Cares

Part 2 in the Seeing Beyond the Immigration Rhetoric series

Immigration has become a heated topic; most of us have formed strong opinions on the subject. It is also a complex topic, encompassing a wide swath of issues, laws, and legal statuses, as well as court orders and rulings that seem to change on a regular basis. This creates an atmosphere in which discerning fact from fiction can be frustratingly difficult.

In my work as a business professor over the past four years, I have been researching what happens to our brains when watching online lectures.

During the time of the dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990), the Christian denominations decided to be either neutral or ambiguous toward the regime. This created an environment of division, distrust, and disappointment towards the Church.

This is the first post of our Power Over/Power With series, a collaboration between Safe Church Ministry and Do Justice.

We all have some power. Power to act, to choose, to alter our world and affect others, is part of being image-bearers of God.

Yet power can so easily become corrupt and be used to marginalize, manipulate, or control others. When we are unaware of or not careful with the power we hold, we can cause deep harm.

Jesus’ way of wielding power looks different from our own sin-corrupted ways of using our power.

In honor of today's Global Climate Strike, we offer this post from long-time climate organizer, Rev. Rich Killmer of the CRC's Climate Witness Project.

I am 76 years old. I often think about the kind of legacy I will leave to my 9 grandchildren.

On August 16, 1967, Martin Luther King was interested in the soul of America. At the eleventh Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in Atlanta, he observed the domestic terrorism in the South, northern indifference to structural inequalities, and a stubborn resistance from the evangelical community to realizing its own hypocrisy.

Cindy Schreutelkamp loves her family. She has four kids and three grandkids. She serves at ClearView Church where she loves “walking with and equipping youth to take their next steps with Jesus Christ.” She lives with one of her sons, Zachary, in Oakville where he works at Kings Christian Collegiate. Zachary was born with Down Syndrome and “has a gift for loving people no matter what,” Cindy remarks.

During the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission it was often said that the journey of reconciliation is long. Colonialism has a long and lasting legacy that requires continual commitment to the hard work of reconciliation. Therefore, we urge you today to continue the work as a matter of honouring God’s image in Indigenous people in Canada, to keep striving towards the high bar that Christ set for us: that we become reconcilers, following the example of the Great Reconciler, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

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The Coastal Link pipeline and the planned Kitimat LNG terminal was heralded as the biggest private sector investment in the history of Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau and B.C. Premier Horgan celebrated this investment milestone in a major news conference in October 2018 as an example of getting resource and economic development right - in collaboration with resource and pipeline companies and First Nations along the route.   

It’s been quite the year! Thanks for reading and learning along with us, as we wrestled with faith and justice with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (Karl Barth).

Here are the top Do Justice articles (ranked by top pageviews) that got you thinking and acting in 2018: