Rod, I think your idea is a good one. You could volunteer to be the first guide for such a network forum. There are a variety of issues relating to planting churches, as well as to the significance of the role of commissioned pastors, which would be useful to discuss and come to an understanding or illumination upon.
Covenant CRC church in west Edmonton has had a community garden for several years. I have seen it a couple of times, and it looks nice. But I have no idea how they run it.
In future, it would be avisable to give all or part of such a gift in a later year, if the person is retiring, in order to reduce the impact on income taxes payable.
I wonder if the biggest issue sometimes is whether parents can find respite sometimes for their children when they need a break from constant daily care. Also what will happen to the child when the parents are too old or incapable of caring for them. I would suggest that churches or classis consider finding a way to provide an assisted living residence or facility that can provide a place for these situations. It might be particularly nice if such a facility is near or adjacent to the church, so that visiting and attending church is made much easier. Just a thought.
The irony and stupidity of such a 25% "visible" minority requirement becomes obvious, when you are working with minorities who are not obviously visible. I work with and have meetings with a variety of people who display a variety of appearance. Some are aboriginal or part aboriginal or metis who do not look significantly different than some old german or ukranian farmers, while others are more obvious. One individual seemed to be certainly aboriginal, but I discovered he was only about 1/8th aboriginal, 7/8 european ancestry. The child of a Japanese preacher and a Norwegian pianist; will this child satisfy the visible minority requirement based solely on appearance, or will he only half satisfy the 25% requirement? To really mess with the english language, I assume that we are not looking solely for those who are 1/4 blood visible minorities?
No matter how you slice it, this particular target makes ridicule of the notion that in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. If the best preachers, and the most spiritual and most biblical are all from India or Nigeria or Korea, then let the staff be 100% visible minority. But don't pick them for their color or lack of it.
To be more specific, should the elders permit them to make this profession while they continue their lifestyle? Is it okay for them to make this profession when they disagree with the confessions of the church or disagree with scripture? Is a sinful lifestyle different than disagreeing with scripture? Scripture says, "Repent, and believe...." Should they make a public profession of faith first, and then maybe repent sometime later? Or should they repent first, and then make a statement of faith?
Gary, thanks for your response. Your last two sentences seem to make sense to me. But since you are putting things in generalities, I am not entirely sure about the implications of your perspective. Would you permit two young people in their twenties who are living together without marriage, to make formal profession of faith in the church? Or would you ask them to wait?
Profession of faith is not a sacrament, but it has sacramental overtones, particularly if it leads to participating in Lord's supper. The reason I asked if it would be different for a baptized member vs a non-baptized member, is the assumption of a knowledge about engaging in a lifestyle which the baptized member should know better, while the other might be still learning. On the other hand, what better time to learn than before making profession of faith?
My question is not rhetorical; I am really interested in biblical perspectives on this question. And I am interested in how seriously we take the profession of faith, especially the parts about scripture being the basis for life and action, and being willing to submit to the wisdom and authority of the elders.
The idea of ordination... I am reminded of King David, who was annointed as a young man by the prophet Samuel, long before he became king. For years he was annointed, (selected, ordained), yet not serving in the complete function of king. Perhaps we can see this as being somewhat analogous to elders who were called, selected, and ordained, but no longer specifically serving in certain aspects.
While different management styles and different ways of looking at things is a statement that "sounds" good, it is so open-ended that it does not mean very much. Would that mean that having a pope as manager would be okay? Would that mean that every local church formulating its own confessions and hymnbook would be okay? Would it be okay if elders were appointed for life? Would it be okay if preachers were not approved by seminary or by classis? How far does it go? Of course there are many personality styles and also many peculiar council working arrangements in different churches, including approaches to preaching, singing, discipline, weekly activities, but don't they all need to fit within the direction and control of scripture? Diversity is great, yes, in many things. But in some basic and essential things diversity is not so great. Therefore it cannot be a general philosophy. Each case needs to be considered in its own context and on its own merits. Yes?
While God can use people of all ages to serve in his kingdom, and in his church, it would not be appropriate or beneficial to have teenagers or very new christians to lead and rule if older (elder) christians are available to do so. It is quite possible for many teenagers to do deaconal work without being ordained as ruling deacons, since every church member ought to engage to some extent in deaconal activites, such as caring for the less fortunate. But the idea that the youngers should be elders runs counter and contrary to the notion that learning and experience and wisdom in the Christian life are gained through time. It runs contrary to the whole idea of the title of 'elders" as well. Sometimes, if older people are younger christians, then they too would not be good candidates for eldership, even while they would still have lots of opportunity for service. On the other hand, I agree that qualifications for eldership should be based primarily on spiritual maturity, not on chronological age.
I would suggest that you do not worry too much about what others do. Rather, ask yourself what is edifying in your situation. We have decided to have Sunday School classes , including also adult Bible study, before church, not during church. Some sunday school classes sing, others do not. Sometimes they get together to sing, other times not. But every Sunday the sall children do come to the front at the beginning of the service to hear a story and to sing some songs (mostly by memory), in front of the congregation. And the rest of the congregation sings with them. It is a way for everyone to share in the joy of the children, and for the children to know that they are welcome in church.
Posted in: Is Commissioned Pastor a separate office?
Rod, I think your idea is a good one. You could volunteer to be the first guide for such a network forum. There are a variety of issues relating to planting churches, as well as to the significance of the role of commissioned pastors, which would be useful to discuss and come to an understanding or illumination upon.
Posted in: How does a church successfully implement a Community Garden?
Covenant CRC church in west Edmonton has had a community garden for several years. I have seen it a couple of times, and it looks nice. But I have no idea how they run it.
Posted in: Is a Pastor's Retirement Gift Taxable?
In future, it would be avisable to give all or part of such a gift in a later year, if the person is retiring, in order to reduce the impact on income taxes payable.
Posted in: How do I prepare for the future for my child?
I wonder if the biggest issue sometimes is whether parents can find respite sometimes for their children when they need a break from constant daily care. Also what will happen to the child when the parents are too old or incapable of caring for them. I would suggest that churches or classis consider finding a way to provide an assisted living residence or facility that can provide a place for these situations. It might be particularly nice if such a facility is near or adjacent to the church, so that visiting and attending church is made much easier. Just a thought.
Posted in: Pastor Reimbursement of meals-Should his portion be a taxable benefit? (Canadian)?
Overtime Meals and Allowances Provided to
Employees
The CRA’s current administrative policy allows for a
non-taxable status of certain overtime meals or
reasonable allowances for overtime meals. This is the
case if the employee worked three or more hours of
overtime right after his or her scheduled hours of work;
and the overtime was infrequent and occasional in nature
(less than three times a week).
Concerns have been raised to indicate the economic
benefit received by the employee are often minor, the
meaning of a “reasonable allowance” is not always clear,
employer policies often allow for meal allowances after
two hours of overtime and the strict application of the
limitation of “less than three times in a week” sometimes
leads to certain inequitable results.
In order to address these issues, effective for the 2009
year, the CRA will consider no taxable benefit to arise
if:
• the value of the meal or meal allowance is
reasonable; a value of up to $17 will generally be
considered reasonable,
• the employee works two or more hours of overtime
right before or right after his or her scheduled hours
of work, and
• the overtime is infrequent and occasional in nature.
Less than three times a week will generally be
considered infrequent or occasional. This condition
may also be met where the meal or allowance is
provided three or more times per week on an
occasional basis to meet workload demands such as
major repairs or periodic financial reporting.
If overtime occurs on a frequent basis or becomes the
norm, the CRA considers the overtime meal allowances
to be a taxable benefit since they start taking on the
characteristics of additional remuneration. (CRA website). (CRA website(
Posted in: Diversity in Leadership Planning Group II report. What is the meaning of 'diversity'?
The irony and stupidity of such a 25% "visible" minority requirement becomes obvious, when you are working with minorities who are not obviously visible. I work with and have meetings with a variety of people who display a variety of appearance. Some are aboriginal or part aboriginal or metis who do not look significantly different than some old german or ukranian farmers, while others are more obvious. One individual seemed to be certainly aboriginal, but I discovered he was only about 1/8th aboriginal, 7/8 european ancestry. The child of a Japanese preacher and a Norwegian pianist; will this child satisfy the visible minority requirement based solely on appearance, or will he only half satisfy the 25% requirement? To really mess with the english language, I assume that we are not looking solely for those who are 1/4 blood visible minorities?
No matter how you slice it, this particular target makes ridicule of the notion that in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. If the best preachers, and the most spiritual and most biblical are all from India or Nigeria or Korea, then let the staff be 100% visible minority. But don't pick them for their color or lack of it.
Posted in: When a young person who's living a sinful lifestyle wants to make profession of faith; what's an appropriate response?
To be more specific, should the elders permit them to make this profession while they continue their lifestyle? Is it okay for them to make this profession when they disagree with the confessions of the church or disagree with scripture? Is a sinful lifestyle different than disagreeing with scripture? Scripture says, "Repent, and believe...." Should they make a public profession of faith first, and then maybe repent sometime later? Or should they repent first, and then make a statement of faith?
Posted in: When a young person who's living a sinful lifestyle wants to make profession of faith; what's an appropriate response?
Gary, thanks for your response. Your last two sentences seem to make sense to me. But since you are putting things in generalities, I am not entirely sure about the implications of your perspective. Would you permit two young people in their twenties who are living together without marriage, to make formal profession of faith in the church? Or would you ask them to wait?
Profession of faith is not a sacrament, but it has sacramental overtones, particularly if it leads to participating in Lord's supper. The reason I asked if it would be different for a baptized member vs a non-baptized member, is the assumption of a knowledge about engaging in a lifestyle which the baptized member should know better, while the other might be still learning. On the other hand, what better time to learn than before making profession of faith?
My question is not rhetorical; I am really interested in biblical perspectives on this question. And I am interested in how seriously we take the profession of faith, especially the parts about scripture being the basis for life and action, and being willing to submit to the wisdom and authority of the elders.
Posted in: Once an elder, always an elder?
The idea of ordination... I am reminded of King David, who was annointed as a young man by the prophet Samuel, long before he became king. For years he was annointed, (selected, ordained), yet not serving in the complete function of king. Perhaps we can see this as being somewhat analogous to elders who were called, selected, and ordained, but no longer specifically serving in certain aspects.
Posted in: Diversity in Leadership Planning Group II report. What is the meaning of 'diversity'?
While different management styles and different ways of looking at things is a statement that "sounds" good, it is so open-ended that it does not mean very much. Would that mean that having a pope as manager would be okay? Would that mean that every local church formulating its own confessions and hymnbook would be okay? Would it be okay if elders were appointed for life? Would it be okay if preachers were not approved by seminary or by classis? How far does it go? Of course there are many personality styles and also many peculiar council working arrangements in different churches, including approaches to preaching, singing, discipline, weekly activities, but don't they all need to fit within the direction and control of scripture? Diversity is great, yes, in many things. But in some basic and essential things diversity is not so great. Therefore it cannot be a general philosophy. Each case needs to be considered in its own context and on its own merits. Yes?
Posted in: Youth Serving on Council?
While God can use people of all ages to serve in his kingdom, and in his church, it would not be appropriate or beneficial to have teenagers or very new christians to lead and rule if older (elder) christians are available to do so. It is quite possible for many teenagers to do deaconal work without being ordained as ruling deacons, since every church member ought to engage to some extent in deaconal activites, such as caring for the less fortunate. But the idea that the youngers should be elders runs counter and contrary to the notion that learning and experience and wisdom in the Christian life are gained through time. It runs contrary to the whole idea of the title of 'elders" as well. Sometimes, if older people are younger christians, then they too would not be good candidates for eldership, even while they would still have lots of opportunity for service. On the other hand, I agree that qualifications for eldership should be based primarily on spiritual maturity, not on chronological age.
Posted in: What Resources Do You Use When Singing With Kids?
I would suggest that you do not worry too much about what others do. Rather, ask yourself what is edifying in your situation. We have decided to have Sunday School classes , including also adult Bible study, before church, not during church. Some sunday school classes sing, others do not. Sometimes they get together to sing, other times not. But every Sunday the sall children do come to the front at the beginning of the service to hear a story and to sing some songs (mostly by memory), in front of the congregation. And the rest of the congregation sings with them. It is a way for everyone to share in the joy of the children, and for the children to know that they are welcome in church.