Our MCN Dispatch — June 08, 2025
[Copy of email distributed 2025 06 08]
Hello Missional Friends,
As we look forward to our upcoming Zoom presentation and discussion with Sean Stevenson-Douglas, our Advisory Team continues to meet monthly to consider our vision and potential services to our Missional Church Network (MCN).
Please feel free to share these mailings with others so we can add names of interested parties to our distribution. Further, please review our Purpose and related postings and give us your thoughts.
Our intentions
MCN seeks to complement local churches ministries with an enhanced outward focus based on biblical truth and the active thoughtful presence of The Church within the larger community. We aim to give support to our laity, especially, who are often highly-embedded in our secular world.
Earlier this week our “core group” chose to adopt the name Advisory Team. We anticipate expansion of this group as individuals sense a passion for our Purpose and Core Values.
Foundational matters
We are committed to strong integration of Word and Deed. We recognize historic and continuing problems here since the radical nature of the gospel of Christ sets high life-style standards. It gives us reason to stand both before God and others in humility.
We are likewise committed to integration of Reason with Faith. We sense a need for communicating our faith and its application to life with depth and effectiveness. We live in a highly critical world that seeks a more solid foundation than simply the superficial expressions of traditions and opinion. But this is reason with faith, the latter being based solidly on the “rock” expressed by Paul and the apostles and prophets of biblical revelation.
In both cases, the call for “integration” suggests the need for “integrity,” a word that is the antithesis of “hypocrisy.” We seek to explore this linkage between faith and practice in various ways as we seek to encourage one another in solid Faith, Truth and Good Works.
Relevance to Ethics
Among topics recently discussed by our Advisory Team, is the idea and historical practice of “ethics.” Ethics is that branch of serious rational thought (philosophy) that deals with moral principles (of which Christianity has contributed much) and their application publicly for the sake of common acceptance and general agreement.
In my professional life (Ron), I gave lectures for some years on “professional ethics” within the Professional Studies area of our U of R Education Faculty. This was regarded as part of our core preparation for teachers as they learned to accept their place of public trust both within the classroom and the larger community.
A Code of Ethics exists for all professional bodies in one form or another. It seeks to make clear certain values that are foundational to public functioning and on-going support. It places explicit limitations on the conduct of professionals (as members of professional groups). In return the professional body is granted freedoms of self-management and the right to practice internal discipline. Codes of Ethics attempt to build public confidence within a context of certain well-defined expectations for service. Most well-established church denominations have something similar for their pastors and leaders as they function within their local congregations and relate to external governance expectations.
Why might this be of interest to Christian public conduct?
It’s not our intent to make such abundantly clear at the moment, but it is interesting to note the moral basis for the study and application of ethics. It is an area of common concern among both the religious and the secular world. Perhaps the Christian community could take the idea of ethics more seriously than it currently does. In contrast to polarized political debate, discussions on ethics function more to the building of common agreement on matters of shared values.
Christian Ethics, as a field of study and practice
Regarding Christian Ethics, I once took a course with this title at Regina’s Canadian Theological Seminary (CTS). While much of that course reflected the writings of Francis Schaeffer and other Evangelical leaders of the sixties and early seventies, it confirmed for me the need for rational analysis and the careful formation and use of well-founded guiding principles. About this time the Moral Majority was choosing to engage politically on many of these same issues. As history has unfolded, there is now much to reflect upon.
Currently, many American Christians are obsessed with fear that Christian moral leadership on the national level is being eroded. Politics has emerged as the option of choice to regain ascendency in preservation of Christian influence. In our times, this struggle to define who we are publicly as Christians often functions within an environment of turbulence and confusion. [See note below on a commentary by David Frum.]
Meanwhile, evangelical self-identity has become deeply fractured. Books, such as The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory (2023), by Tim Alberta, provides a scathing review of the attractiveness by many Christians to power politics. Questions of integrity now abound regarding Christian leadership, as traditional principles are often set aside for perceived short-term political gain. To what extend has commitment to kingdom, power, and glory shifted from the rightful focus on God and His Kingdom to political allegiances that simply cater to lesser gods?
Would a refocus on the nature and function of “ethics” offer a new way to explore Christian values and their role in clarifying appropriate lifestyle within our community? Could we learn from the practice of ethics ways and means to better engage the larger society and a common interest in its longer-term flourishing?
I’ve chosen to query online resources via the new AI tools. Responses here should never be regarded as authoritative but simply an aid to what others have published. Can such resources help us better reflect and communicate on the nature of our faith and its relevance to issues of the day..
QS — Scriptures on Faith and Reason
QS — Meaning of Ethics and Its Applications in Christianity
Our potential relevance to public debates
Some weeks ago I provided some limited circulation of an article based on a debate underway in the town of Valleyview AB. It was a decision to defund to a degree the public library as a means to deal with their choice of books in their collections. [See: Northern Alberta residents pack small town meeting over library’s future | CBC News]
Today, a church colleague raised with me another matter where, he claims, the Alberta government has stepped in to help resolve a school-based conflict of similar nature. His concern was that in the media coverage in this case, the focus was all centred on political differences while failing to mention the importance of the underlying child guidance and media suitability issues.
Is there a role for our network to help explore issues through careful reflection, supportive analysis and suggested resources? We desire that the Christian perspective be provided with care and effectiveness.
We welcome your insights and responses.
Resources
We are slowly building our online Missional Resources. Our style is relatively primitive and our database is still currently small. Please bear with us. Better yet, please communicate with us on resources that you think could be of value to our cause and to others of our faith community.
Resources are being organized here: MCN Common Themes and Commitments – RRVista…
Understanding our Times via The Hub (Canadian conservative perspective)
David Frum (American-based Canadian and active contributor to the The Atlantic) discussed some current American events this past week in the context of the tumultuous years of the late sixties and early seventies (Vietnam War and following). He is a well-informed analyst.
Podcast Friday: The Trump-Musk blowup
Assessing Evangelicalism in terms of Scripture and American politics
Rector Sam Ferguson, The Falls Church Anglican (in the DC area) speaks to the historic/theological meaning of Evangelicalism as he explores the teachings of Paul on in Ephesians 2 – The firm foundation of The Church.
Full service online this week at: The Falls Church Anglican [https://www.tfcanglican.org/]
For later retrieval, the sermon only for June 8, 2025 will be found at: Sermons — The Falls Church Anglican
(This will be added soon to our resources under Groups we value and promote.)
Christian Laity being recognized: Victor Thomas
We appreciate TV alerting us to the recognition bestowed this past week on his son, Victor, in receiving an honorary degree from Sask Polytech. We appreciate and applaud the extensive role of service Victor has provided over the years.
Victor Thomas awarded honorary degree from Sask Polytech
[https://saskpolytech.ca/news/posts/2025/victor-thomas-awarded-honorary-degree.aspx]
Note: While this is an outstanding achievement, let’s focus on others of our lay people who find an active role of personal witness and service within our larger community.
Franklin Graham motivates European Christian leaders
Among a number of excellent articles this week in Premier Christianity, we have a report on Franklin Graham retracing his father’s footsteps to Berlin for the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGEA) European Congress on Evangelism.
While some of us have been troubled by Franklin Graham’s high endorsement of the current American political leadership, we need to recognize the interest and appeal that he carries forward under the movement first established by his father.
In the article, he asks: “How do we evangelise a world that is becoming more antagonistic towards the gospel?” We might also ask the question of how Evangelicalism is unnecessarily fueling similar antagonism, but let’s be open to his analysis.
We note that Premier Christianity is a bit hesitant in its endorsement even as it applauds the need for strengthening Christian witness. They highlight Graham’s statement: “If we’re going to reach Europe, we’re going to need an army, an army of evangelists – unafraid, unashamed, unapologetic, uncompromising – standing firmly on the word of God,” Are we all with him? And, if not, what might be our sense of caution?
Plan to Participate — Monday, June 23, 7pm
Topic: Disciple Making Movements (DMM)
Presenter: Sean Stevenson-Douglas (President, Eston College)
See details and link at MCN Zoom Presentation, Monday, June 23, 7pm – RRVista…
Authoring and Editing
Views expressed with each release of our “dispatches” are those of the current coordinator who seeks to follow the intentions and values of MCN as outlined in our Purpose statements and with oversight of our newly formalized Advisory Team. Each such dispatch, however, is not explicitly vetted by our Advisory Network.
We value your reactions and feedback.
Ron Richmond
Acting Coordinator
Missional Church Network
306.591.3936