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Evangelicals doing well
The August issue of the online journal Church and Faith Trends has extensive articles analyzing the data from the 2009 Canadian Evangelical
Churches Study.
The survey covered 478 congregations from five denominations (Pentecostal
Assemblies of Canada, Christian Reformed Church, Mennonite Brethren, Christian
and Missionary Alliance and four Baptist conventions).
The five denominations represent about a third of the 11,000 evangelical
congregations in Canada, which in turn represent about a third of the
congregations in Canada.
One article, ‘A Demographic Look at Evangelical Congregations,’ found that “evangelical congregations were generally doing well in terms of holding on to
their members, involving young people, attracting new people and other signs of
general health.”
A second article, ‘Pastoral Well-being,’ found that evangelical pastors often had high stress levels but even higher
levels of job satisfaction.
A third article used Canada Revenue Agency statistics to measure ‘Canadian Evangelical Congregational Investment in Education 2003 – 2008.’ Evangelical congregations are slowly increasing their giving to Christian
postsecondary schools; congregations that give to schools do better
financially.
Info: churchandfaithtrends.ca.
Shack attack
William Paul Young is suing former partners Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings
over royalties for his best-selling novel The Shack.
When Young could not find a publisher, pastors Jacobsen and Cummings created
Windblown Media to publish it – and sold a million copies the first year. In 2008, the pair made a deal with
much larger Hachette Book Group to republish it, and the book has since sold
another 11 million copies.
Young has so far received $10.5 million in royalties but claims he is owed
another $8 million. Jacobsen and Cummings have countersued for $5 million,
claiming some of the author’s royalties – because, they contend, the original book was so badly written that they had to
rewrite it. Los Angeles Times
Continue article >>
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He leads Ten Thousand
Don Epp has been appointed chief executive officer of Ten Thousand Villages
Canada, effective August 9.
Epp was an executive with the Campbell Soup Company for 25 years and for the
last two years has been a financial advisor with Investors Group Financial
Services.
Founded by Mennonite Central Committee, Ten Thousand Villages Canada is the
country’s largest and oldest fair trade organization.
Their stores, throughout North America, sell crafts from developing countries.
The organization’s long-term vision is that “One day all artisans in developing countries will earn a fair wage, be treated
with dignity and respect, and be able to live a life of quality.”
Sex ed open letter
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) sent an open letter to Ontario's Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky
September 10, regarding the controversial sexual education component of the
Health and Physical Education curriculum.
It was both introduced and withdrawn this past spring due in part to many
parents’ negative reaction to its content.
EFC’s Don Hutchinson explains: “First, parents felt they had been blind-sided. The way curriculum development
currently works in Ontario requires parents to be reactive rather than engaged
in the process. Public feedback is only being welcomed after the curriculum has
been developed.”
Info: evangelicalfellowship.ca.
Breaking Out West
BreakOut West has announced the nominees for this year’s 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards, which will be presented in Kelowna October
24.
Nominees for Contemporary Christian/ Gospel Recording of the Year are Amanda
Falk: In Between the Now & Then; Carolyn Arends: Love Was Here First; Fresh I.E.: Inside; Jon Buller: Light Up the Sky; and Sandon: Sonic Synthesis.
– Jim Coggins
October 2010
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