Our congregation has now returned to in-person services in our church building. Many people are excited about being back, while others are understandably cautious to return. What might be on some people’s minds is: “I can’t wait to get back to normal.” While I understand that sentiment, and agree to a certain extent, we need…
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My experience, having been a part of different churches, especially Baptist churches, is that there is always differences of opinion. These can include all sorts of topics: Timing and means of creation. Role of the Old Testament. Women in leadership. Inclusion of LGBTQ. Role of spiritual gifts today. Predestination vs free will. Drinking alcohol. Beliefs…
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We are now meeting in our church building for in-person worship services. A number of people have mentioned how much they have appreciated seeing each other, even if some of our activity is limited. But what about the online services? Putting worship services online on our YouTube channel was nice during the lockdown but is…
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One of the difficult things about worship services during COVID-19 is that we are not able to have congregational singing. There is a danger that worship could become a spectator sport. We have tried to have some interactive elements, such as reading the Psalm together, responsive readings and calling out names during prayer. But there…
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If you were to ask random people to define prayer, some would say: “Asking God for stuff.” While that is part of prayer, there is much more to it. When it comes to prayer, I like the ACTS model of prayer. ACTs refers to Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Adoration Adoring God is praising him…
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For the last number of years, we have started our services with a Psalm. That’s not unusual as many churches do that. But it is more common to pick through the Psalms and find one we like. We have been going right through the Psalms from 1 to 150. There are a couple of reasons…
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Sometimes when we attend a worship service, we hear our favourite song sung and performed beautifully. We feel blessed. But what if that doesn’t happen and we feel as if we didn’t get anything out of worship? There have been times that I have visited a church on my Sunday off and I either didn’t…
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What do you think of when you hear the word “worship”? If you are like me, you probably think of music. But worship is so much more than music. In fact, in the Old Testament the emphasis is not on music at all. In the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy), the word “worship” appears fifty times in the…
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During this time of the coronavirus, many activities (including church activities) are being cancelled. It can feel like the entire world is coming to a standstill. We can complain about the situation or we can make the best of it. Here are five things that you can do during a pandemic (this one or the…
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I never thought that I would have to write a post reflecting on how to respond to a global pandemic. But here we are. As we read the news, we see different reactions to the coronavirus. Some are taking it lightly, seeing it as no big deal at all. Some are completely panicking, hoarding supplies…
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