By Rev. Mark Archibald This review of McKnight’s A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God’s Design for Life Together by Scot McKnight originally appeared as part of CBWC’s Theology for the Ordinary initiative. Learn more here. As we engaged in the theme of “one anothers” as a church, a few of us read together Scot McKnight’s A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God’s Design for Life Together. This has been an excellent guide to living out the “one anothers” as a church. McKnight invites us to the life of the early church – a church of impossibly diverse people, religious bac ..read more

By Tim Kerber, CBWC’s Regional Minister for the Mountain Standard Region. For me, this past year has been one of stepping back and evaluating much of what—prior to 2023—was just my “everyday normal life.” As I am no longer the pastor of my local church, one of the challenges of this year was determining who is in my core friendship group. When I was in my role as a church leader, everyone in the church was my friend. But I came to realize, as Carey Neuhoff points out in an article he wrote, that many of my friendships were positional and not relational. And to be fair, no one can maintain 180 ..read more

By Rev. Dr. Mark Doerksen This review of How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church by C. Christopher Smith originally appeared as part of CBWC’s Theology for the Ordinary initiative. Learn more here. What might how we communicate within the church have to do with a healthy church culture and the promotion of healthy environments for our leaders? ~ Cailey C. Christopher Smith has written a helpful book entitled, How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church. Smith attempts to address the question, “How can our chur ..read more

Let’s be honest: tough conversations are really…tough. It takes a lot of emotional energy and prayer and focus to have a hard talk with someone—especially in the church world because our emotions and identity can be so tied to our ministry work. Sometimes the hard questions are aimed at vision and structure: are we being who we claim we want to be as an organization, and what methods can help us get there? But often the hard conversations are about “people issues.” As humans, we’ve all got our talents and our foibles, so ministering together can get tricky. However, working through our differe ..read more

Join us for our next masterclass, “Evangelizing Cross-Culturally” taking place April 2 at 11AM MST. Sign up for free here! CBWC has partnered with Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ) and Salvation Army for Evangelism Masterclasses, free webinars where you will hear disciples on the ground talk about joining God in many different aspects of having relational conversations with folk from wherever they are in a journey of curiosity about life, meaning, hope, love and joy ..read more

by Rev Nate Collins I’ve grown to enjoy biographies in recent years. Whether I’m reading about C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, the band Heart, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Leonardo Da Vinci, reading the stories of their lives, what drove them, what they were aiming at and why, how they got there, what the struggled with along the way helps me think more creatively about my own life and vocation. A Burning in My Bones, the biography of Eugene Peterson by Winn Collier, has been one of the most impactful for me.     Like many pastors, I’ve read a number of Peterson’s books and found them h ..read more

By Rev. Shannon Youell Confession time again. I struggle with Valentine’s Day, and I struggle with Lent. The irony that Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day both fall on the same day this year sets my mind spinning. Both these observances can appear orchestrated. My daughter and her husband refuse to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the “orchestrated” way, instead choosing to express their love and devotion to one another in a continual living into their relationships. She postulates “why do we need to do something that should already be a part of our lives? It loses its deeper meaning when I get a b ..read more

In case you are wondering what all this “Evangelism Masterclass” talk is about, let’s recap: CBWC has partnered with Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ) and Salvation Army to hear and share stories of everyday pastors and leaders engaging on mission in our complicated culture. In this series of free Evangelism Masterclasses, you will hear disciples on the ground talk about joining God in many different aspects of having relational conversations with folk from wherever they are in a journey of curiosity about life, meaning, hope, love and joy. The next class is with Shelley Roxburgh ..read more

As we dive into our series on Healthy Church Leadership Cultures, we hope to hear from many CBWC churches about the way you do leadership and where you see health happening in your congregation. We begin with a conversation with Rev. Nate Collins, Co-Pastor at Hillside Church, North Vancouver.   CHURCH PLANTING: How would you describe the leadership structure at your church? Tell us about the makeup of the leadership and staff teams, Elders’ Board etc.   NATE: We have three co-pastors, a youth pastor, an administrator (who is also director of children’s ministries), a buil ..read more

If you’ve been around Christians much, you’ve probably seen a wide gamut of strategy, opinions, and methodology about evangelism. Even whether we should still use the word “evangelism” is up for debate. But across all fronts, the call to “go and make disciples” is referred to as our Great Commission: we know that introducing people to Christ is an important facet of following Him. Yeah, but how? In my context? In this neighbourhood? On February 6 at 10am PST, Cid Latty from Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec will be hosting an “Evangelism Incubator” masterclass–a chance for all of us to b ..read more