The Banner

World War II veteran, military policeman, minister, chaplain, pastoral counselor, and missionary Ben Ypma lived a full and joyful life. He died on March 7, a month after his hundredth birthday.

The Banner has received Awards of Merit for a denominational magazine in both digital and print categories, and seven higher goals awards in design, individual articles, blogs, and poetry published in 2018.

Two or three times each year, Christian Reformed churches send representatives to their classis, a regional group of churches. Here is the report of classis meetings of the past few months.

For the third year, groups in Medicine Hat, Alta., concerned for the state of the family, held an annual conference. Medicine Hat Christian Reformed Church was the 2019 host.

Seven classes (regional groups of churches) have registered their objection to three of the 32 recommendations coming from the Synod Review Task Force to Synod 2019, the annual leadership meeting of the Christian Reformed Church.

Die-hard fans and curious newcomers alike will find something to like in Weezer’s 13th album.

From the beloved author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, a touching novel for young readers about life after loss.

Synod 2016 recognized the financial gap in the ministry shares system and asked that the program be reconsidered. It instructed staff to prioritize and evaluate existing programs and to develop a proposal for reimagining ministry shares. This proposal will be brought to Synod 2019 for discussion and decision. 

Two-time Dove Award winner Meredith Andrews offers truly God-centered worship with her first ever solo live album

When I Pray for You would make an excellent gift to parents of newborns and to children at the time of their baptism

The Indigenous Family Centre in Winnipeg, Man., an urban aboriginal ministry operated by the Christian Reformed Church, had some help repurposing rooms this winter, creating space to promote healing and spiritual growth.

A state championship in boys basketball in March makes three sports in which Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Mich., has won the state title this academic year.

Avoiding social hierarchies does not mean we should eliminate social differences or diversity, but merely the inequality between those differences.

I will likely have depression for the rest of my earthly life. But for all of eternity, I have been, am, and will be God’s beloved. And so I go forward, knowing that even in the darkest places, my God will hear me.

What I found very helpful in teaching our young people was to replace the weekly catechism class with monthly Sunday retreats for high school juniors and seniors. 

What if we were able to find that delight in life again? How could we return to finding joy in the simple things that astonish little children?  

Can you love someone you can never touch? That’s the buzzing premise of Five Feet Apart, a star-crossed romance between two teens afflicted with cystic fibrosis.

Sheila Walsh, a depression sufferer, provides examples from her own life in overcoming and accepting hard things.

The National Trust for Canada, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving historic buildings, has stats and stories on how disused churches are being repurposed and saved from the wrecking ball

World Renew, a participant in Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program since the beginning, estimates that it has welcomed and resettled 7,500 refugees since 1979.

James Douma, a former rodeo rider and member of Discovery Christian Reformed Church in Bowmanville, Ont., has been building a part-time rodeo outreach ministry, encouraged by his pastor and supported by his church.

Was Jesus’ death on the cross a form of divine child abuse?

“Depression stole my life in every way imaginable,” said Leenza Thompson, a student at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. “[I felt] completely empty at some points, like I was just a shell of a human. . . . I really felt like I was a waste of space on earth. I felt that no one could ever love me.”