February 2021
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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This October the Christian Reformed Church’s Council of Delegates endorsed a definition of church planting and the implementation of three church-planting strategies proposed by the Collaborative Church Planters Team. Church planters say it’s a good step.
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The Canadian Council of Churches, the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, and the Canadian Multifaith Federation co-hosted a discussion Dec. 3, welcoming Justin Trudeau to talk about the value of faith communities in a time of pandemic.
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A denominational task force appointed by Synod 2019 to consider whether Christians may marry “in the eyes of the church but not in the eyes of the state” recommends against it.
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An extra session of the Christian Reformed Church’s Council of Delegates was convened Dec. 7. Closed to everyone but delegates, it was prompted after the Council’s executive committee reviewed additional legal advice regarding restructuring of the CRC’s governance structure.
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Earl Marlink, pastor and interim ministry specialist, lived a life embodying 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Marlink died Nov. 19.
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Ken Slager, a man of integrity who loved the Lord and the Christian Reformed Church, died Nov. 18 at the age of 95.
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Approachable and kind, Kiwoong Kim pastored in Korean and Korean American churches for almost three decades. He died Nov. 24 after a sudden illness with COVID-19.
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Rolling Acres Christian Reformed Church in Mason City, Iowa, has a professional radio DJ among its members. Harry O has regular podcast chats with his pastor, Phil Boender, welcoming a different church member to the microphone each week.
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Lansing (Mich.) Christian School won its first state championship in girls cross-country in November.
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The Vision 2020 team, appointed by the Reformed Church in America’s 2018 General Synod, is making three recommendations to be considered by General Synod 2021.
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A task force studying bivocationality—pastors holding two jobs—within the Christian Reformed Church has released its report. It recommends changes to Church Order and greater support for this growing sector of pastors.
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Sioux Falls (S.D.) Christian School’s boys cross country team won their second consecutive South Dakota Class A State Championship this October.
Columns
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A CRC pastor explains why the death of the Black Panther star hit many in the Black community so hard.
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Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
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The sunlight zone is the part of the ocean that is closest to the shore and gets the most sunlight.
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Es cierto que Dios no muestra parcialidad ni favoritismo (Rom. 2:11; Ef. 6:9). Pero Dios tampoco borra nuestras diferencias étnicas o raciales. Debemos evitar los dos extremos.
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Does being overwhelmed by my job mean I’ve mistaken my calling or am doing something wrong?
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True, God shows no partiality or favoritism (Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9). But God does not erase our ethnic or racial differences either. We need to avoid two extremes.
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When considering saving for retirement, how much is enough or too much? How much should we worry about retirement income in light of Jesus’ words “Do not worry about tomorrow”?
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A couple in our church is unsure about infant baptism and has asked for their child to be dedicated instead. Is that OK?
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There are still those who believe that those with depression or other mental illnesses should “pray it away” rather than take medication.
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See how readers responded to recent Banner issues, articles, and columns.
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Eventually, Kathy would decide it was time to go to bed. She’d walk over to the couch and say to Soren, “Let’s go say good night to Derek.”
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A journey in exploring time-tested values and practices for pursuing wholeness in mind, body, and soul.
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The Netflix sensation about an orphaned chess prodigy on her rise to becoming the world's greatest chess player while struggling with drug and alcohol dependency.
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God created the world to work in certain ways and follow certain rules. The sun rises and sets. Seasons come and go.
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The Bingham girls and their siblings attended a segregated school to which they were transported daily in the back of a pickup truck, rain or shine, 20 miles each way.
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하나님은 편애하거나 편파적이지 않습니다. (로마서 2:11; 에베소서 6:9). 하지만 하나님이 민족적, 인종적 차이까지 무시하지도 않습니다. 우리는 양 극단에 치우치지 않도록 해야 합니다.
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하나님은 편애하거나 편파적이지 않습니다. (로마서 2:11; 에베소서 6:9). 하지만 하나님이 민족적, 인종적 차이까지 무시하지도 않습니다. 우리는 양 극단에 치우치지 않도록 해야 합니다.
Our Shared Ministry
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Brooks and Emerson each believed that bringing their two churches together could help bring down that division.
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Without realizing it, Quésia had formed a new spiritual habit.
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Here are a few examples of Christian Reformed churches, members, and pastors who are already deepening their spiritual practices in transformative and life-giving ways.
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In spiritual direction, the director “gives 100 percent of their attention to listening along with you to what the Spirit is saying.”
