By Jim Coggins

BALANCE.

It is not a word always associated with the church. But it may apply to the Canadian church in 2009.

In CC.com's annual analysis of the year's news, we looked to see what the outstanding trends were -- and what stood out was that nothing stood out. The church, in a general sense, showed remarkable balance in 2009.

There was bad news, certainly; but there was also a lot of good news, of the church doing its job -- and ministering in a lot of ordinary and creative ways.

CC.com posted 93 news stories in 2009 (not counting overviews such as this one). In doing our analysis, we looked at themes that played a central role in those stories, and catalogued and counted them. Many stories had more than one such theme.

Eleven stories concerned some aspect of theology; but the areas addressed covered a wide range -- including evangelism, atheism, forgiveness, postmodern theology, communion and the benefits of church attendance.

On the other hand, eight stories focused on poverty and social issues, from parliamentary debates over human trafficking to Christians who had moved into the inner city to do something about the problems on the ground.

As well:
• Four stories dealt with abortion.
• Three dealt with the proposed legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Two dealt with crime.
• Two dealt with economics.
• Four dealt with education (from the elementary to the postsecondary level).
• Two dealt with the environment.
• Three dealt with marriage and the family (polygamy, divorce and the benefits of marriage).
• Four dealt with health issues (H1N1, organ donation, ministry to the mentally ill, and hospital chaplains)
• Four stories had a direct focus on politics, with a range of subjects (the Christian Heritage Party, U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the Liberal Party).

Five stories dealt with homosexuality (compared to 12 in 2008), but only four were focused on court cases; the other involved open discussions between Christians and the gay community. Seven stories involved human rights tribunals, down somewhat from 2008.

It is indicative of a significant shift that only four concerned homosexuality, and two concerned the issue of whether 'hate speech' laws are unduly restricting freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Related to this is that two news stories dealt with religious persecution worldwide. The focus in this area may be shifting from gender rights to religious liberty rights.

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It is also significant that only two stories featured Islam (compared to seven in 2008), and both somewhat peripherally. One was about the medieval crusades, and the other about interfaith dialogue in Jordan.

Six stories concerned international conflicts; three concerned Israel and the Palestinians, one concerned Afghanistan, one concerned Rwanda, and one concerned the proposed creation of a Canadian government 'Peace Department.'

Fifteen stories dealt with culture, including books (six), music (three), movies (two) and television (two). One concerned a mixed presentation of 'story and song,' and one profiled Brian Doerksen's musical drama, Prodigal God. In addition, five stories dealt with some aspects of sports, including Christian outreach associated with the 2010 Olympic Games.

There were only two stories about church scandals in 2009, and both dealt with financial wrongdoing. There were four stories about sex, but they dealt with church efforts to combat human trafficking, prostitution and pornography.

There were also five stories that dealt with Native residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Fortunately, on this issue, the focus seems to have shifted from revealing the problems to finding solutions.

A half-dozen stories contained a significant focus on the Roman Catholic Church, on issues including its pro-life stance; the progress it is making in achieving reconciliation with Native peoples; the use of 'hate speech' laws to restrict the church's freedom to teach moral standards; and the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to welcome traditional Anglicans who have left the Anglican Church of Canada.

Anglicans made the news four times, and all four stories concerned court cases arising from the theological division that is tearing that denomination apart.

The United Church had three stories -- one about residential schools, and two about its controversial approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Evangelicals were the focus of two stories. One concerned their success in bringing new people into the church through contemporary services. The other concerned the Liberal Party's alienation of evangelical voters. As in past years, many stories concerned evangelical ministries without labeling them evangelical.

The future of the church was also not neglected. Four stories concerned youth and young adults. Two concerned youth prayer and worship events; one dealt with sociologist Reg Bibby's latest study of teens; and one asked why people under 35 were missing from many churches.

Many stories dealt with large organizations, and national and global issues; but nine stories dealt with aspects of the local church -- from churches offering sanctuary and enriching the lives of their attenders, to churches dealing with scandals.

At an even more basic level, ten stories profiled individual Christians serving God in their varied vocations. These included missionaries, ministry workers, athletes, singers and even an astronaut.

December 22/2009