October 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
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Kuyper is an essential teacher for a world-engaging Christian discipleship and witness that arises from neither a conservative nor a liberal agenda. Yet his complexity persists because Kuyper was unhelpfully ambiguous on issues of race.
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Mental health issues are everyone’s problem among prison inmates. What can be done?
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My series of stories avoids taking sides. It explores how we in the Christian Reformed Church have fought and how social and religious contexts have shaped our conflicts.
News
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Aetna Christian Reformed Church in Falmouth, Mich., marked 100 years of ministry Aug. 14 and 15, 2021.
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Maranatha Christian Reformed Church in Lethbridge, Alta., wanted a physically distanced way to let its neighbors know its members care—so they pack up to-go craft kits and hand out about 50 each week.
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First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa turned 150 in 2021.
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Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Albuquerque, N.M., had seven members die this past year. The remaining small congregation celebrated those lives all at once Aug. 8.
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A humble man with a servant’s heart, pastor and theology professor Carl Gerhard Kromminga died June 25.
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A vibrant leader, a man of deep convictions, and friend of God, Ken Gehrels, pastor of First Christian Reformed Church of Kemptville, Ont., died May 10.
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A pastor in the Christian Reformed Church since 1983, Rich Hamstra led his congregations with energy, enthusiasm, and love.
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When Hope Community Christian Reformed Church in Lawrence, Ind., formally closed in December, the church council chose to bless others with remaining funds.
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Lucas Van Berkel, who calls West End Christian Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alta., his home congregation, competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games as a member of Canada’s men’s volleyball team.
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Charity Auto Repair, a ministry of Northern Lighthouse Church in Lincoln, Neb., is preparing to build a new and bigger garage after 15 years of offering the community free mechanic services and providing mentoring and training opportunities to work-release correctional inmates.
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On Thanksgiving, the Elgersma family from Community Church of Richmond Hill, Ont., helped to make a longstanding community dinner tradition ‘to-go’ for 2020. The outreach will now continue as a monthly meal-making event.
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Habitus Community, started by Christian Reformed pastor Phil Reinders, is helping Christians to devote themselves “to the recovery of regular but radical Christianity” by living a “rule of life.”
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Pastor Shawn Sikkema, serving on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora, Colo., is close to realizing a dream for his ministry: a safe, comfortable, place that the neighborhood’s vulnerable population can share.
Columns
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Lynne Spears’ co-author looks at Britney Spears and her conservatorship through the eyes of faith.
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To me, the most interesting thing about dragonflies is their life cycle. When we think about dragonflies, we might think they are the fighter jets of the insect world. But this is not how we should think of them.
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1 Corinthians 4 says that we are “stewards of the mysteries of God.” What did the apostle Paul mean by that phrase? How can one “steward a mystery”?
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As a boomer (born between 1946 and 1964), perhaps I’m a lost cause when it comes to changing my bad habits online, but what about our kids and grandkids? Is there anything we can do?
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For me, Christian spirituality is holistic because the biblical truth and worldview is holistic.
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Para mí, la espiritualidad cristiana es holística porque la verdad y cosmovisión bíblica es holística.
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See how readers responded to recent Banner issues, articles, and columns.
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In this novel set in the 1930s, Rena struggles to find meaningful work as a writer, her life’s passion.
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You are brave, and your spirit endures.
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Issues some people regard as political are what others regard as core kingdom-of-God issues that must be engaged.
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There is enormous pressure in the church today to build a curriculum that is contemporary and to produce young leaders who will draw a crowd.
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My talents as a graphic designer allowed me to create the pictured artwork, which I have used to share the good news.
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We are unable to take a breath spiritually, much less reach out for a life preserver. That’s the key to understanding the doctrine of total depravity.
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제가 보기에 기독교 영성은 전인적인 것입니다.
Our Shared Ministry
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Because the work of social justice involves engaging public policies and political systems, the efforts of this ministry often encounter resistance.
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What does shalom look like, and how can it be found in the midst of the pandemic, conflict, injustice, and uncertainty we often find ourselves living in?
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In the Bible and today, God invites us as “called-out ones” to live in the midst of this fallen creation.
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En la Biblia y en la actualidad, Dios nos invita como "sus elegidos" a vivir en medio de esta creación caída.
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I have always been fascinated with language, especially American Sign Language. Looking back, I am so thankful I was guided by two significant women in the church on my journey.
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Antoine’s struggles began in his home. He and his wife have been longing for a child for a long time, and he said he felt “desperate” in his longing.
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Sometimes global mission work is separated from justice and mercy work, and Christians get a reputation of caring only for people’s souls and not their immediate needs.
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성경에서 그리고 지금도 하나님은 “부르심을 받은 사람들”로서 타락한 창조세계에서 살라고 초청하십니다.
