Finding the Will of God–or–Not Getting Lost in the Forest

Last December my family and I moved to North Vancouver, to a house surrounded by trees on the shoulder of Mount Seymour. Settlement ends near our home and gives way to forests that include long trails up and down the mountainsides and valleys of this beautiful region.

I have taken to hiking these trails, and the other day I took a new one. I almost got lost, and instead came upon a fresh illustration of the guidance of God.

The trail started clearly and broadly enough, but after ten minutes, as I started down a hillside toward Seymour Creek and eventually home, the trail got smaller and smaller. Suddenly, as I rounded a bend, it disappeared. Actually, it didn’t so much disappear as become indistinguishable from several other possible paths, identically lined with pine and spruce needles. I began to feel more than a little worried, not least because I had not seen another person for half an hour or more.

From Visitor to Participant: What Can We Do?

This is a post for churchpeople, so I recognize not every regular reader of this blog will care about the following discussion. You’ve been duly, and respectfully, warned!

I enjoyed a good conversation this evening with our son Trevor and his roommate and Regent College classmate James Allaway about a fundamental challenge in churches and, indeed, in any Christian institution larger than about 100 people (e.g., a student fellowship such as Inter-Varsity, a college, and so on). The challenge is this: What intermediate structures or programs can help to welcome people and enfold them into the life of the congregation between the initial “welcome to visitors” on the first Sunday morning (whatever form that takes) and the invitation to join a small group–which is a relatively large commitment and fairly intimidating to many?

Alpha and similar courses can help, particularly for those new to the faith. But what else can we do to connect newcomers with others in the church–and, again, especially in churches (or other groups) that are > 100 people and thus have a large group dynamic, a dynamic that keeps people isolated no matter how many times they attend a Sunday morning service?

And can we make sure that those visitors who want to stay quietly anonymous while they decide how much they want to get involved can get their wish?

What have you seen that helps people connect with others in a church between “Hi! You’re new here!” and “Small group registration takes place today after the service”?

Promo for Simon Fraser University: A Little to the Left

Eldest son Trevor has just graduated B.A. in History from Simon Fraser University (SFU), a fine school located in suburban Vancouver. Like a number of Canadian universities, SFU has been known as leftist in its overall political outlook. Of course, such generalizations about institutions as large and complex as a major university are dubious, if not hopelessly simplistic. Still, by Canadian standards we’re pretty middle-of-the-road politically and Trevor frequently found himself defending relatively conservative positions in his political science and history courses. He liked that sort of engagement, but didn’t admire how merely reflexive were the leftist politics and morality of so many of his fellow students and a considerable number of his professors.

So, as artists do, he sublimated his rage into performance. (Trevor has previously trained as a video and film technician, and has a lot of experience in editing.) And, as Stackhouses do, his performance is sarcastic and, I trust, also pretty funny.

Here, then, is Trevor (SS2K Productions) Stackhouse’s promotional ad for his alma mater, whose current advertising slogan is “Thinking of the World.” Please do visit, rate, and comment on it. He’ll get a kick out of whatever you have to say.

The Strange Double Standards of Abortion

Here’s a post I recently wrote for one of Canada’s national newspapers, The National Post, prompted by the shooting of American abortionist George Tiller. It’s about how hard it seems to be for most of us to think straight about abortion (and how frightening it is for some people, extremists on both ends, to think straight about it).

I haven’t written or spoken much about this issue over the years, but it always lurks nearby: a huge issue that scares me at every level, including the intellectual. What are we supposed to think and do about it in a way that takes into account all the truly appropriate factors and arguments–used on every side?

Our Own Worst (Media) Enemies

I’ve recently written here about how Christians, and pastors in particular, and evangelical pastors in particular particular, complain about how the media treat them and their faith and then sabotage reporters’ attempts to set the record straight by not talking to reporters when the reporters actually call!

After this article was published, I heard immediately from several experienced Christian communication professionals who echoed my concerns. One of them testified that in his long experience in a different medium (radio), Christians would moan about how the media were biased, ignorant, etc., etc., and yet he found it almost impossible to get evangelical pastors to come on his show. And these pastors are the “professional talkers” of their churches–and who are supposed to equip the saints  for conversing with their neighbours about the gospel!

What’s to be done? Well, for one thing, my colleagues and I at Regent College need to think about offering some media training to our students, and perhaps also to area pastors. Do you know of any seminary or graduate school that does offer such training and offers it well?

Someone is going to tell our story in the media: Why shouldn’t we want it to be us?