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Category: Generations

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The Truth about Churches Discipling Children and Teens

The truth about churches discipling children and teens is they are doing so in a religious transmission ecosystem that includes and depends upon parents, schools, peers, media and social media, and other adult influences. Drawing on recent Canadian-based research, this blog explores some of the challenges congregations confront when discipling children and teens and offers some ideas for churches who want to help the next generation “believe, behave, and belong” as religious groups might wish.

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Comparing Youth Engagement on Either side of the 49th

When it comes to religion, Canadian and American young adults display a remarkable similarity on at least one point: they’re hungrier for transcendent truth and more interested in matters of faith than previous generations. That’s just one key finding after think tank Cardus partnered with the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) to survey 5,000 Canadians and 5,000 Americans on the state of North American religiosity and faith in public life. This commonality between Canadians and Americans aged 18 to 34 stands in marked contrast to what this massive survey found more generally—that religion is different and operates differently on either side of the Canada-US border. (If you’re interested in those differences, you can read more about them here and here.)

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Sharing spaces, sharing visions: The ethics and politics of making Quebec’s churches public

Across Canada, historic churches are closing their doors. In Quebec, the pace is accelerating as local dioceses struggle to reallocate funds for repair and maintenance amid the province’s aggressive funding cuts to religious heritage preservation. Once-sacred spaces are becoming luxury condos, gyms, and even nightclubs. These privatized, for-profit transformations often spark public grief over the loss of a collective inheritance built through generations of tithing and volunteerism.

This church property crisis crystallizes broader political tensions around secularization into concrete decisions about authority, access, and responsibility: Who should profit from the sale of church buildings: religious institutions, private developers, or local communities? Should church properties keep historic tax privileges? Can these buildings ever truly become inclusive spaces if they remain privately-owned religious properties?

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Defending White Jesus

Explore the relationship between Christianity and culture in this thought-provoking video with James Tyler Robertson, Associate Professor of Christian History at Tyndale University. In “Defending White Jesus,” Robertson unpacks the historical, cultural, and theological implications of portraying Jesus as white—a depiction that has shaped Western Christianity for centuries.

Whether you’re a theology student, a curious observer, or someone wrestling with the intersection of culture and Christianity, this video offers a nuanced look at how images of the divine reflect—and often reinforce—human narratives, sometimes in divisive and problematic ways.
Whether you’re a theology student, a curious observer, or someone wrestling with the intersection of culture and Christianity, this video offers a nuanced look at how images of the divine reflect—and often reinforce—human narratives.

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Faith and the Future: Navigating the Church’s Reluctance Toward Emerging Technologies

As disruptive technology continues to shape the world, the Christian church faces critical decisions in engaging with advancements like Artificial Intelligence and digitalization. A recent study by Futuring Hub at Acadia Divinity College reveals surprising hesitations among Canadian church leaders toward four key technology trends, including hybrid worship and AI. These initial findings invite Christian leaders to thoughtfully discern technology’s role in ministry, recognizing both the potential for good and the ethical implications.

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Christian Identity vs. Christian Doctrine

Many Canadians identify as Christians, but what do they actually believe? Canadian Christians’ beliefs don’t necessarily match what their churches teach. That’s one of the key findings in a major new study by think tank Cardus, Still Christian(?): What Canadian Christians Actually Believe. Ray Pennings, Executive Vice President of Cardus, highlights some of the key inconsistencies between Christians’ personal beliefs and historical doctrines, which have significant implications for discipleship, evangelism, and reaching the next generation.

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What We Learned About Small Churches

One of the best ways a denomination can resource pastors of small churches is to facilitate access to an accessible network of peers. This is one takeaway among others from a Canadian study of small evangelical churches, which gives attention to “size dynamics” and how small congregations can play to their strengths in local ministry.

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Resonant Relationship and Contemplative Spiritual Disciplines as a Congregational Focus

Imagine a congregation whose sole purpose and identity is the spiritual formation of its members. This presentation features case study research with an evangelical Protestant, multilingual, multigenerational, Chinese church in Toronto. Their flourishing centers on visionary leadership, clear systems and structures, and spiritual practices and culture that nurture ‘being’ versus ‘doing’ – resonant relationships with God and others.

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Stories of Spiritual Formation at St. Barnabas Anglican Church

Trusting friendships and connections are fundamental to vibrant discipleship and spiritual formation in local congregations. This presentation explores these threads in the context of liturgy, excellent preaching, Bible studies and small groups, and spiritual formation with children and youth in one Anglican parish in Western Canada.

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