Canadian Evangelicals Bucking National Trends, But Warning Signs Ahead

The story of Christianity in Canada over the past 60 years or so is well known—a story of numerical decline.

But one group of Christians has managed to weather the storm—Evangelicals.

Over the past number of decades, while other denominations have seen their memberships drop, the Evangelical portion of the Canadian population has remained steady.

What’s their secret?

That’s what Sam Reimer, a professor of sociology at Crandall University in New Brunswick, and  Michael Wilkinson, professor of sociology and director of the Religion in Canada Institute at Trinity Western University, decided to find out.

The result is their new book, A Culture of Faith: Evangelical Congregations in Canada.

Based on national research and interviews with over 500 pastors, they show that while many denominations are in trouble in Canada today, Evangelical groups are showing greater resiliency—although there are warning signs ahead.

I spoke to Reimer about their findings. Why, I asked, are Evangelicals doing better than other groups?

“Members of Evangelical churches are more likely to be committed and involved in their congregations,” he says, adding that for many their church is a “hub” for religious and social activity.

At the same time, members go to church more often than is the case for other church groups, and are more likely to volunteer for church programs—something that is important if church going to experience vitality.

But while things are going better for Evangelicals than for other denominations, his research shows trouble on the horizon.

One challenge is leadership. “All Evangelical denominations report that fewer people are going to seminary,” he says.

As many boomers get set to retire as clergy, this is a challenges since there are “fewer leaders to replace them.”

Another challenge is retaining youth.

Although Evangelicals do a much better job of keeping their young people than mainstream denominations, research shows that about a third leave the church by the time they enter their 20s, he says.

Then there is the general lack of interest in religion in Canada.

“Few people go to church regularly, and being religious no longer a normative choice for many,” he notes, adding that this is especially true for younger people.

What about evangelism? If there’s any one thing that characterizes Evangelicals, it’s a commitment to sharing their faith. Will that help them keep up their numbers?

Reimer says no. His research shows that only one out of ten newcomers comes from a non-church background, or from another faith.

According to Reimer, seven out of ten newcomers come from other churches—the so-called “circulation of the saints”—while two out of ten are people who grew up in a congregation.

Evangelism, he says “is not a big conduit for growth,” adding the research shows that evangelical churches might hope to add one to two real converts per year—at most.

And yet, he explains, “evangelism is fundamental to who they are. Even the rare convert can re-vitalize a church.”

Another challenging issue, Reimer shares, is whether Evangelicals should be more welcoming of LGBTQ* Canadians.

“Without a doubt this is a major source of tension” in Evangelical churches, he says.

“Younger Evangelicals have more lenient views than older members on this issue.”

It’s also going to be a growing source of tension between evangelical churches and the larger society, he adds.

“It’s very hard for churches to maintain any sort of positive public presence when they are perceived to be anti-LGBTQ*,” he says.

“It’s hard win new converts if a church is seen as intolerant and bigoted.”

Based on the research, it’s “very likely” Evangelicals will “decline in future,” he concludes, although the decline will be slower than what happened to mainline denominations.

“They are at the top of the hill now, or the bubble, just starting to go downhill.”

When Reimer talks to denominational leaders, he says they aren’t surprised at his findings.

“Not a lot say they can’t believe it,” he says.

Reimer, who attends an Evangelical church, is quick to add that his analysis is through the eyes of a sociologist.

“What I am saying is descriptive, not proscriptive. I’m just identifying the trends, where we are now and where we are going.”

Through the eyes of faith, he states, “God can do things we don’t expect.” 

From the Jan. 27, 2018 Winnipeg Free Press.

For Some, Relics are Weird. For Others, a Way to Connect to God

As a Protestant, I have to admit: I don’t get relics.

The idea of lining up to look at the bones, flesh or ashes of dead people strikes me as weird, and a little bit morbid.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t meaningful for many people—especially Roman Catholics.

That’s what’s happening across Canada this month as the right forearm of St. Francis Xavier, the sixteenth century Jesuit missionary, travels across the country. (Photo above.)

Although many find the practice strange, the veneration of relics has a long history in the Christian church.

One of the first recorded instances goes back to the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna (now Turkey), who was killed by the Romans in the second century.

After his death, the Romans burned his body to prevent Christians from venerating it. 

But local believers collected fragments of the body to remember him and others “who have run their race and to prepare those yet to walk in their steps.”

By the Middle Ages, the collection of relics, was in full swing.

Today, a tourist location is popular because it has a great beach. Back then, when most tourists were pilgrims, it was relics that mattered most.

Since having a relic was a great way to boost the economic fortunes of a town or city, competition for them was fierce. The bodies of saints were cut up, sold and even stolen.

The body of St. Francis was spirited away and hidden by his friends in Assisi after his death, reportedly to prevent another city from stealing it for its church.

Over time, the Catholic Church came to regulate the trade, display and veneration of relics, putting them into three groups: First class relics are the body or fragments of the body of a saint; second class are things that a saint owned; third class are items a saint touched or that have been touched to other relics.

As it turns out, anyone can own a relic, even though the Roman Catholic Church forbids making a profit off their sale. (It’s called Simony.)

A search on eBay shows hundreds for sale such as the “rare and holy relic of Saint Mary Magdalene” ($599), the “holy papal relic of Saint Pius the tenth Pope,” ($499), and medal touched by the American Catholic saint Ann Seton—a bargain at only $9.95.

Catholics aren’t the only group known for relics, although they probably have the most.

Muslims show respect to things like the sandals or hairs from the beard of the prophet Mohammed, while Buddhists can reflect on the Buddha’s tooth and ashes.

While relics might still seem strange to me, they are meaningful to many people—like my friend Deborah Gyapong, an Ottawa-based journalist who covers national politics and the Catholic Church.

The former evangelical church member once found them to be “weird, macabre and/or superstitious.”

Today, as a relatively new Catholic, she finds that relics remind her of the “physicality of our Lord” and of the “concrete, historical reality of saints who followed Jesus, perhaps to martyrdom and who brought the Light of the Gospel wherever they lived and suffered.”

Additionally, they help her understand the “incarnational and historical reality of the mystery of Christ's life, death and resurrection, and of Christ in us, the hope of glory.”

For Father Michel Boutilier, a Jesuit priest and chaplain at St. Paul’s High School, relics help connect him with Jesus.

Relics, he says, are not objects of worship. Instead, “they point to Christ—he is the one we worship,” he says.

He is also quick to note “there is no magic in the relics”—venerating them won’t bring you good luck, like winning the lottery. 

Instead, he shares, relics are vehicles of “grace that can change our lives. They don’t impart grace themselves.”

Of course, not every Christian feels this way about relics. Not even all Catholics agree about the place of relics in their faith; it can vary according to age, country and culture.

But at a time when our increasingly secular society seems to be pushing spirituality to the margins, maybe we all need tangible ways to be reminded there is more to life than things we can only touch and see—there are mysteries beyond our physical comprehension.

For some people, one of those ways are relics.

Are Places of Worship Ready for a Flu Pandemic?

Flu is gripping parts of Canada and the U.S., filling hospitals and dominating the news as more and more people get sick. It reminded me of a column I wrote in 2009 about faith groups and pandemics—and if they were ready for one. It still may be germane today.

Is your place or worship ready for the coming flu pandemic?

Does your church, temple, synagogue or mosque have a list of all the members who might be most vulnerable to the illness?

Do you have teams of members who will check in on shut-ins and seniors?

Have you contacted city or provincial authorities to see if your meeting place could be used as a temporary shelter or hospital?

If not, now’s the time to get ready. That’s the message that Dr. Tim Foggin is trying to share with group that will listen.

Foggin, a family physician from Burnaby, B.C., is on a crusade to help faith groups prepare for the coming pandemic.

“Let me put it simply,” he says. “A flu pandemic is inevitable. Period. It’s not hype. It’s going to happen.”

Adds Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease consultant at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto: “There will be another pandemic,” she told the magazine Faith Today. “It's 100 percent sure.”

When a serious flu pandemic hits, an estimated 2.1 million to five million Canadians will get sick, and between 11,000 to 58,000 will die. But unlike other disasters, like Hurricane Katrina or the Tsunami, there won’t be help from the outside that can pour in to help victims.

“A pandemic will affect every country, region and village in a relatively close time,” Foggin says.

Already, various levels of government, the health care system and the business community are making plans for the pandemic. But it’s only recently that faith groups have started to put it on their agendas.

But why should faith groups care?

One reason is how a pandemic will affect congregational life. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the city of Winnipeg was shut down for 42 days in an effort to control the virus—no going to school, theatre, concerts or church services.

Randy Hull, who directs emergency preparedness for the City of Winnipeg, says the city wouldn’t order the closure of public buildings today, but he admits it is likely people will voluntarily not go to places like shopping centres, theatres, sporting events or places of worship during a pandemic.

If that’s the case, how will faith groups minister to their members?

Online is one way, of course; churches prepare daily or weekly devotionals that families can do at home, in lieu of gathering for worship.

What about communion? Churches that use a common cup will likely have to change to intinction, or dipping the bread into wine.

Passing the peace and shaking hands at the door may also have to be suspended for the duration.

And then there’s the matter of the offering; how will it be collected if nobody goes to church for weeks or months?

Some sort of on-line donation form, or pre-authorized cheques, would be required.

But those things pale in comparison to how groups can help the most vulnerable in their congregations—the elderly, shut-ins, single parent families or those without nearby family support.

So, what’s a place of worship to do?

It can create a comprehensive list of people who might need the most assistance during an epidemic.

It can set up a way for someone to check in on them, to be sure they are OK. It could start with the pastors, and include deacons or other caregivers.

Says Hull: “City services will be stretched. Volunteers [from places of worship] will have a very large role to play in helping their own memberships—knowing who they are, and checking in on them.”

Finally, places of worship can be of help to their communities and provincial government emergency preparedness organizations during a pandemic.

This would include providing them with a list of retired nurses, doctors and other volunteers who could be called on to help what will surely be an overwhelmed health care system. 

As well, places of worship—especially those with large gyms and good-sized kitchens—could serve as temporary shelters or even isolation wards.

We can all hope a pandemic never happens. But in case it does, it would be good to be prepared.

For Religious Groups, Change to Summer Jobs Program Shows a Changed Canada

"Era when churches and religious leaders held sway over public policy in Canada has come to an end.”

In a previous post, I wrote about a major change to the way non-profits, businesses and public sector groups will get money from the Federal Government’s Canada Summer Jobs program.

Starting this year, groups that want funding to hire students will have to attest they respect a woman’s right to an abortion, and LGBTQ rights.

For some religious groups, singing this attestation won’t be a problem. 

But for many others, it’s a huge obstacle, and may mean they don’t get funds to support their programs. 

Looking at 138 religious groups in Manitoba that received funding from the program in 2016, my guess is most of them will find it difficult to agree with the new rule.

Some may wonder: Why would the government make such a radical change? Why would it impose this value on groups wanting funding?

Before answering that question, let’s remember this isn’t the first time a government has made funding decisions based on values—not on whether a group did good work or not.

In 2010, the Conservative government famously denied funding to the church-based group Kairos because it believed it was anti-Israel.

That government also made life difficult for environmental groups that opposed Alberta’s tar sands.

In those cases, it could be argued that government was out of step with many Canadians in making those decisions. That’s not the case today.

When it comes to same-sex marriage, a CROP poll earlier this year found that 74% of Canadians support it, up from 41% in 1997.

On the issue of abortion, an Ipsos poll, also from earlier this year, found that 77% support a woman’s right to get one, up from 36% in 1998. 

According to Alain Giguère of CROP, changes like these show that Canada has changed.

Canada, he states, is going through a “unique, historical process of social change. As individuals, we no longer accept the imposition of life choices by our society and its institutions, be it on our relationships as a couple, our sexuality or on any aspect of our lifestyle. These choices now belong to the individual.”

The government knows this; their own polling would certainly reinforce these findings. It’s why the Liberal Party could require all its candidates to be pro-choice in the last election, and not suffer for it in the voting booth.

In other words, it’s a different Canada today than just 20 years ago. 

This was emphasized to me by Angus Reid, a committed Catholic and head of the polling firm that bears his name.

“It’s a new era we are into,” he says.

From his perspective, the big fights about abortion and sexual identity, which defined and consumed religious groups for so many years, “are largely behind us.”

Canadian society, he adds, “has decided what it believes in these areas.”

There are, he says “important pockets of religious opposition to abortion, assisted dying and gender neutralization, but in the final analysis secularism seems to have won the day . . . in a little more than a generation, the religious beliefs that were once the central tenets of Canadian society have been swept aside.”

For religious groups, which once found their views and the views of society at large to be very similar on these issues, this is new terrain.

As Reid noted to me, there was a time when religious leaders could be expected to be part of discussions about policy.

But now, he says, “the era when churches and religious leaders held sway over public policy in Canada has come to an end.”

As for the summer jobs program, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised religious groups for the work they do at a town hall meeting in Hamilton earlier this month.

They are welcome to apply for the funds, he reiterated, before going on to clarify that the goal of the new policy is to prevent groups that oppose abortion from getting funding.

That, he said, “is not in line with where we are as a government and quite frankly where we are as a society." Applause followed his remarks.

For many religious groups, a difficult decision will need to be made.

Do they sign up to take the money to run their programs? Or do they refuse to sign, and let the programs end? And what happens if the government extends this policy to other programs, like support for international relief and development?

It’s going to be an interesting time ahead.

From the Jan. 12, 2018 Winnipeg Free Press.