September 2018
Download a full pdf of this issue below or find links to every feature, news, column, review, and Our Shared Ministry article included in this edition. Not the date you wanted? Find issues back to January 2016 here or use the search function at the top to find articles going back to 2005. To find something even older, The Banner archives are maintained at Calvin College's Hekman Library.
Features
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How can we be intentional in teaching our children to serve rather than to be served, to look outward instead of inward, to give rather than to consume?
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Those of us who have been raised in the tradition of Western Christianity can learn from our fellow Christians in the Eastern Orthodox tradition how to savor the mystery of our faith.
News
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Pastor Lloyd Hemstreet leads the Peanut Catechism at Coopersville (Mich.) Christian Reformed Church, an exuberant reciting of Reformed doctrine with lively children ages 3 to 6.
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A change in the application for the federal government’s Canada Summer Jobs program has added complexity and confusion to the process for some Canadian Christian Reformed churches.
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A court ruling issued this month grants Dordt College a permanent injunction against certain requirements in the Affordable Care Act mandate.
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Two or three times each year, Christian Reformed churches send representatives to their classis, a regional group of churches. Here are the highlights of classis meetings of the past few months.
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Morris Greidanus was a sound and creative preacher who lived with love, wisdom, grace and wit.
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Missionary, church planter and prison chaplain, Henk Smidstra, was a blessing to many people. He passed away in Langley Hospice on September 21, 2017.
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Pastor, chaplain, gardener, carpenter, inventor, and fisherman, Louis Baker passed away on May 4 at the age of 93, following several years of living with Parkinson’s disease.
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As a chaplain, Bob Brummel was a listener, a comforter, and a guide to those who were suffering. He died in Grand Rapids on May 9.
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Two middle school SERVE sites were among the 25 mission trip opportunities offered by Youth Unlimited this summer.
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As the Fuego volcano erupted in Guatemala this month, a group of 34 students and leaders from Michigan and Iowa arrived for a mission trip, constructing homes and hosting a medical clinic.
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On June 15, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada ruling regarding a Christian law school sparked discussion around the world about religious freedom in Canada.
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Four high school graduates and one continuing student at Pease (Minn.) Christian Reformed Church are recipients of the church’s scholarship program, in its 25th year.
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Robert Graham, with a PhD in sociology from the University of Cincinnati and 10 years experience in higher Christian education leadership, was appointed as president of Redeemer University College in June.
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Abby, Paige, and Sydney Vrolyk, members of Redeemer Christian Reformed Church in Sarnia, Ont., are stocking their local food bank with snacks for kids.
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Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Mich., will offer two master’s level online courses taught in Spanish beginning in the fall of 2018.
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Four years of funding is helping the Christian Reformed campus ministry at Grand Valley State University equip and mentor student interns for each of their ministry teams.
Columns
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Much of what we “know” about hell stems from the imagination of poets and artists. But how much is true?
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Retired Christian Reformed pastor Henry Wildeboer once lamented, “I love the Lord and I love his church. So it grieves me to learn that the Christian Reformed Church declined in membership.
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After I’ve set up each room, made sure the stories are complete, and accounted for the snacks and cups, then I get to pray.
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Surrounded by a preacherhood of all believers, we have more than enough resources to deeply engage God’s Word through creation—if we’re willing.
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When theologian Kate Bowler was diagnosed with cancer, she began to consider in a new, more personal way why bad stuff happens to us.
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Paul Schrader’s beautifully filmed and acted First Reformed relies on his transcendental style of directing.
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It is tempting for a long-married couple to think of sexual (romantic) intimacy in isolation from the rest of the relationship.
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Working conditions that [clothing] factory workers deal with are terrible.
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Divorce rocked my world when my spouse left me. Now, as my 30s draw to a close, I’m alone and a single parent—certainly not by choice
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The next time you reach for a salt shaker, remember that as a follower of Jesus, you are the salt of the earth.
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One of the most important theological distinctions—a distinction with vast implications for how we understand God, our world, and ourselves—is the difference between the God who pushes and the God who pulls.
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Now Read This: Need some reading inspiration?
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Porn is a problem. But why do we watch it? There are three key predictors.
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This intense young adult novel dealing with child abuse and the prison system powerfully calls for a more redemptive way forward for all people.
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The rhetoric of our increasingly politically and religiously polarized world—from all sides—tends to exploit our sin-based fears.
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This picture book celebrates our Creator’s gift of light.
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One of our greatest hopes for our friends in Bethania is that they might believe, think, and act outside the myth of scarcity—and live instead into the liturgy of abundance.
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Hay cinco temores universales. Eso es lo que aprendí hace más de una década mientras guiaba una conversación de un grupo de estudiantes como pastor de campus.
Our Shared Ministry
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Out of all the doors Amir* and Hassan* could have knocked on, they chose David Kromminga’s. That was exactly the door they needed.
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We seek to live faithfully in a hurting, divided, and broken world. It seems, more and more, that being a Christian puts us in a category of being irrelevant, weird, or even hate-mongers.
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An unprecedented number of Christian Reformed churches will mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church this year, just two years after synod encouraged churches to mark this day.
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Persecution takes many forms and happens in unexpected places.
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Mekai Bailey, a busy 7-year-old, listens to Kids Corner every night to calm himself down at the end of the day.
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Between August and September 2017, three major hurricanes hit the United States. These storms had a ripple effect that caused difficult situations for many people.
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Los límites a las libertades religiosas son una realidad creciente incluso en América del Norte.
