October 2019
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
News
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Youth and leaders from Bellevue CRC spent a weekend in July engaging with different ministries in and around the campus of the University of Washington and the CRC church plant Church on the Ave.
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Incorporating sign language and worship dance into the public celebration of profession of faith, Covenant Life Church in Grand Haven, Mich., helped new members express their faith and belonging.
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Five Christian organizations in Canada partnered to produce Renegotiating Faith, a research study on the growing delay in young adult identity formation and what this means for churches.
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The Christan Reformed Church released a statement Aug. 8, grieving the loss of life in recent shootings and calling members to “take an active stance against false narratives” and “stand up against racism and acts of white supremacy.”
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A week after fires destroyed three unoccupied buildings and caused damage to the current church sanctuary of Naschitti (N.M.) Christian Reformed Church, the council still faces unanswered questions.
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Energetic, humble and approachable, John Klomps lived life as an adventure. He pastored four congregations and served in leadership of two Christian organizations. He died June 12 at the age of 85.
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Missionary, pastor and social worker with a heart for the Lord, Ryan Veeneman died on May 30. He was 65.
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Ted Brouwer, who served Christian Reformed churches in Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, died May 12 from pancreatic cancer.
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Vic VanderMolen, “Pastor Vic” to three different Ontario Christian Reformed congregations throughout his ministry, died May 23 at the age of 70.
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Maranatha Christian Reformed Church in Belleville, Ont., hosted its annual Thanksgiving dinner on Monday, the Canadian holiday. Some of the 320 guests arrived by free bus shuttle.
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Pastor Justin Carruthers in Abbotsford, B.C. was glad to have his head shaved after church members rose to the challenge of bringing their Bibles to church. “It is imperative ... that everything that I say from the pulpit is weighed and measured against the holy words of Scripture,” he said.
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Faith Christian Reformed Church, a small congregation in Nashville, Tenn., has found blessing in sharing its building with other churches and programs.
Columns
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Whatever it looks like and however it is made, bread is a part of many celebrations and everyday meals all around the world.
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A luminous documentary film follows a young L.A. couple as they try farming.
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Elizabeth felt excluded; everyone else had received those blessing words. She wondered if other persons with disabilities had similar experiences.
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In prison he’d been tossed around like a rag doll, mistreated, abused. There’s no mercy for sex offenders in prison. He was terrified to return.
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We do not choose our beliefs based simply on how good or useful they are. Truthfulness is as important a criterion as goodness.
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Everything Christians do for the Lord has significance not only for this life, but for the life to come.
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What we can learn from watching the Marvel superheroes find redemption.
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My kid threw a fit when she saw the photos I had posted of her online. I think she’s overreacting, but what do you think?
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In a culture drowning in conflict, there is simply nothing more beautiful, needful, or relevant than the reconciling power of the gospel and a people willing to live in light of it.
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Banner reader George Kroeze submitted his review of this book about the science of determining the age of the Earth.
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The fallen leaves swirling along the avenue remind me that although it is warm enough to sit outdoors with my coffee on this October afternoon, winter is just around the corner. Looking up, I notice one leaf on an otherwise bare tree.
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See how readers responded to recent Banner issues, articles, and columns.
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Revision and reform are closely linked. We call ourselves the Reformed church as if it were past tense and complete. But we should be always reforming, allowing the Spirit to give us new vision and insight to re-vision what the Spirit says to us through Scripture.
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Elizabeth se sintió excluida; todos los demás habían recibido esas palabras de bendición. Se preguntó si otras personas con discapacidades tuvieron experiencias similares.
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Larry Nassar’s first accuser speaks out in a compelling Christian memoir.
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The author of Genesis had no intention of giving us a 21st-century, scientifically precise account of how God created all things.
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One of the quickest and easiest ways to fill a void in our lives is to buy something, and our mind convinces us for a moment that this will cure our ills.
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엘리자베스는 다른 사람들은 모두 축복의 말들을 받았지만 자신은 제외되었음을 느꼈습니다. 다른 장애우들도 자신과 비슷한 경험이 있는지 궁금해졌습니다.
Our Shared Ministry
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In every conversation, students were encouraged to think about ministry not just in terms of talking about the gospel, but in practicing what Jesus did and said.
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"¿Ya llegamos?" Si ha viajado alguna vez por carro con niños en el asiento trasero, seguro habrá escuchado esa pregunta — ¡una y otra vez!
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In 1919, when Johanna Veenstra crossed the Atlantic, she became the first Christian Reformed missionary to serve outside North America and its first female missionary.
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Where are Timothy Leadership Training Program manuals used? They can follow Jesus, the light in the darkness, to the most unlikely places.
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I await the day when my grandchildren see the stone at our home and ask me, “Why did your Trinity colleagues send you off with that verse?”
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The Creation Project aims to “catalyze a field of study around the doctrine of creation that is faithful to Scripture and informed by contemporary scientific research.”
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In making the visit, she saw how volunteers such as these in the village of Akokma are making progress possible even after an official program has ended.
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“아직 다 안 왔어요?” 어린 아이들을 뒷좌석에 태우고 운전한 경험이 있으면 한 번쯤 들어봤을 질문입니다. 때로는 한 번이 아니라 계속해서 듣는 질문이지요!