Rev. Ament's Message Today & Two Maclean's Articles

A lot to think about after Rev. Gwen Ament's message today. Churches can't keep on doing what they've been doing. This sounds a lot like what the AFL (Assessment for Learning) message is - schools can't keep on doing what they've been doing. Even more amplified is the notion that schools are not changing fast enough to keep pace with Web 2.0 developments (Will Richardson for example). We've always enjoyed and got something from every one of Rev. Ament's sermons and it is sad that next week will be her last Sunday at St Andrew's. She mentioned that Presbyterians are really good at the great thanksgiving but not the great commission. How true.

My son asked me a few times why people don't go to church. In our cul-de-sac, we are the only family that attends church regularly. I said to him that when people have a lot of stuff, they tend to not feel they need God. I recently came across this Maclean's article which stated that people who attend religious services give, on average, more than three times more than non-believers. It's really interesting to read the online discussion to get a sense of what Paul means when he wrote Romans 8:7: ⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. There is much hostility against organised religion these days. Coming to Christianity as an outsider, I tended not to take 'apparent truths' for granted. As I read the Bible as a non-Christian, but a believer, I was struck by the many truths it did hold and how many have twisted its meaning out of context. I posted a simple comment at the Maclean's article noting how $1038 is really not much given the Christian teaching of tithing at least 10% of one's earnings.

I've also observed some things at school noted in this other Maclean's article. I've encountered some grade 9 boys who've totally tuned out of school. Despite the AFL modifications of choice and possibilities to redo and improve work, I've not been able to get them to respond to learn in my class. Girls are usually more marks oriented, but not necessarily learning oriented as evidenced by some of the questions some of them ask me (about marks). It's not that AFL has toally failed for me, but there is still a long way to go. So, AFL is not going to work without a serious cultural shift. The same, it seems applies to church. How can church compete with soccer and other 'distractions' when there is no hunger or thirst for what really matters? I bought the book Christianity for the Rest of Us last fall, but didn't attend the church book club meetings. It is a detailed account of successful mainline churches.

I still can't forget my friends at Calvin-Goforth Presbyterian Church though. Our eldest attended their wonderful singing camp on 2010 April 8th. He came back full of fire for (Calvin-Goforth) church. I had taken him to Calvin-Goforth on Palm Sunday and he didn't want to go (he wanted to go to St Andrew's church). We were at Calvin-Goforth again for Good Friday and then Dayspring Presbyterian Church in Edmonton for Easter Sunday. We went to Calvin-Goforth's Joyfully Singing programme on April 8th. After that, he wanted to 'defect' to Calvin-Goforth. Although there were only a few children that afternoon (and they were all 'the converted' as Gwen would say), our son's enthusiasm for church was rekindled. He felt involved and was thinking that he would be singing in front of the church (he once did that at Parkview Presbyterian Church - now closed). He had attended their Activity Camp back in 2003 as well.