It has been an exciting year for the New Leaf Network. The podcast has flourished, the blog launched and we had some great events. Check out our top blog posts and podcast episodes of 2017.
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At a bible camp in 1978, I gave my heart to Jesus. It wasn’t because I learned how good he was or actually, anything about God. I just didn’t want to go to hell. I was taught a hyper-Arminian view of God in those days. This view is summarized by this: if you sin and suddenly die, you will go straight to hell. So my view of God
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One of the common things that I hear when people talk to me about women being preachers, particularly among those new to the idea, is the statement: “I’ve never seen it.” Sometimes this is a statement meant to express a simple lack of experience, often said with regret. Other times it is meant to
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For years, while my children were growing up, I had a tradition of sitting down, sometime over Christmas, and reading to them from William Kurelek’s, A Northern Nativity: Christmas Dreams of a Prairie Boy (1976). I didn’t grow up on the prairies but have lived there
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There are lots of ways of thinking about how science relates to theology. Is it a conflict, a competition, a dialogue, a discussion, an engagement, or a partnership? Here is how I think of it: Imagine you are looking at a map of a city. What do you see?
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The song “Linus and Lucy” made it’s television debut in 1965 as part of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Since then, the song has become one of the most recognizable tunes in the lexicon of popular jazz music and is now synonymous with Charles Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters. People may recognize the religious significance of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special
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I’m in my second year of church planting, and I have a 6-week old baby. I’m taking a short maternity leave, and this time away from work for a few months has been a gift, but it’s swiftly coming to an end. I’m simultaneously itching to get back to the daily
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In many ways, neighbouring has become a lost art form. From the juggling act of maintaining our busy schedules to the anxiety around relating to those who we see as different than us, the practice of neighbouring can
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My dad's grandmother was the embodiment of hospitality. She raised her family of thirteen children in the tiny farming community of Wicklow, New Brunswick. She had no washing machine, no dishwasher, no indoor plumbing. But that didn't stop her from creating a home marked by generosity.
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I woke up on October 18th to the Canadian headline: Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip Dies at 53. It was evident that much of Canada seemed saddened by the news. My social media feeds were filled with messages
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Next week, New Leaf is putting on a pre-conference day about the religious landscape in Canada at a big Church Planting event in Montreal. It crossed my mind that one reality of my upcoming travel is that I probably won’t have to wait in line for the restroom like I usually do at big events. The mens room will likely be more crowded than the ladies room.
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October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Loss and grief are hard subjects, and when that loss is intimate and hidden from view, like a miscarriage, it may not be an easy topic to talk about. More Canadian families have experienced this type of loss than any of us might realize, so the New Leaf blog would like to remember those empty arms and arching hearts with the contributions of two bloggers who have shared their journeys. Leah Perrault and Andrew Stephens-Rennie.
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