John Neufeld

I have just finished reading a fascinating book.  In “Deconstructing Evangelicalism”, D.G. Hart argues that evangelicalism, as a term to describe a section of Christianity in North America needs to be abandoned.  He argues that “born again Protestants would be better off if they abandoned the term evangelical altogether.”  Hart says, “Evangelicalism needs to be…

I recently had a conversation regarding sin.  It started with one person relaying a conversation he had with a lifelong church member.  The church member had defined his Christian faith as follows: “I am affirmed and not judged.”  That’s nice said the other man, but is that the sum total of your faith?  Where does…

The account of the resurrection is the story of an unanticipated reversal of fortune. The arrest, the slander, the trial, the beatings and the crucifixion present us with a story that is going in one inescapable direction. It ends in tragedy and the utter loss of faith of those who had followed Jesus. Indeed, when…

Of course, Easter is not a tragedy! It is the glorious celebration of Jesus risen from the dead. He is the one who has conquered death, having left the great enemy of the human race in full retreat. Furthermore, the resurrection of Jesus is but the firstfruit. For after him will follow a harvest of…

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he…

A great many Christians are aware they should be actively sharing their faith.  But for too many of us, the task is daunting.  How do we begin a conversation about Christ and his gospel?  What will happen to our friendships afterwards?  What if the person with whom we are sharing our faith, asks questions that…

One of the reasons why Easter is losing its power to influence lives is the lack of preaching on sin. It is not surprising that fewer and fewer people in our society think of themselves as sinners. For it is simply true that the farther we drift from God, the more likely we are to…

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus has long fascinated both Christians and non-Christians alike. Indeed, the phrase, “he had a Damascus Road experience” has, to some degree, been maintained even in our secular culture. To be sure, it is sometimes used as a form of sarcasm. When a politician suddenly changes his mind on something,…

By now, anyone who is interested knows of the independent investigation into the sexual misconduct of Ravi Zacharias, conducted by Miller and Martin. RZIM has acknowledged that the report is valid. Mr. Zacharias’s conduct has been far worse than we could have imagined. By all accounts, Ravi Zacharias was a sexual predator. The Christian and…

Those of us who live in Canada are getting an interesting lesson in global politics and priorities these days.  We are now all aware that we have no manufacturing capacity to produce one of the vaccines to fight the pandemic.  We are wholly reliant on manufacturing facilities in other countries.  Our nearest neighbour, the US,…