John Neufeld

I recently read an article from the Pew Research Center.  If you don’t know, the Pew Research Center advertises itself as a “nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world.”  They go on to say, “We conduct polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science…

The word is “catechism”. You may have heard of the Westminster Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism. You might also be aware that the reformers placed a great deal of emphasis on catechizing both adults and children. However, most modern evangelicals have never learned a catechism, and many are unfamiliar with the term. Why is that…

I am almost finished reading a book on Critical Race Theory. I thought that since so many are talking about it and that I know so little about it, it was time for me to get educated. And so, I have been plowing my way through definitions as well as angry accusations. Do people whose…

For most Canadians, the Southern Baptist Convention is off of our radar.  It is because it is an American denomination with very few churches in Canada.  But the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant Denomination in North America and accounts for some 21% of evangelical protestants in the U.S.  Since I try to pay…

News of the recent discovery of 215 graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School has shocked the nation.  The residential school system forcibly took Indigenous children from their parents and placed them into schools designed to assimilate them into the dominant “white” culture.  The abuse of the children was overlooked.  Children were routinely neglected and…

We are hearing good news. At the time of this writing, I am told that close to 55% of Canadians have received their first vaccine. The target for the Canadian government has been that 75% of Canadians should have received their first vaccine and 20% their second vaccine when opening back up to life as…

Back to the Bible Canada has enjoyed a rich partnership with Back to the Bible India. Both organizations operate independently. But my messages are broadcast in India. As well, I have spoken at a number of pastoral conferences in that country. Furthermore, the leadership of both organizations are in regular contact. It is a rich…

I recently read an article in the National Post about Professor Rima Azar. She is an associate professor of health psychology at Mount Allison University. She was born in Lebanon during the horrors of a civil war. She is not a Caucasian.  She recently had made the statement that Canada is not a systemically racist…

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…