New Video Explains Status Challenge for Pro-Life Organizations
One of the assignments mandated to Canada’s finance minister in late 2021 was to: “Introduce amendments to the Income Tax Act to make anti-abortion organizations that provide dishonest counselling to pregnant women about their rights and options ineligible for charitable status.”
The EFC is very concerned that these measures are only directed at organizations with a particular view on abortion. It raises the idea that participation in the public square and a level playing field with respect to government programs could be subject to a values test.
Read more and watch a new nine-minute EFC video interview on the issue with Deina Warren of the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities.
EFC Asks CPSO to Ensure Patients, Not Doctors, Initiate MAiD Discussions
The EFC has asked the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to make sure that discussions about MAID are only initiated by patients, not doctors. As the EFC submission to the CPSO says, “Doctors are in a position of authority, and ideally, trust. Raising MAID as an option suggests to a patient that the clinician sees their life as not worth living, or that ending their life is something worth considering.” The EFC also asked the CPSO to protect doctor’s conscience rights and to push for MAID to be included as the cause of death on death certificates. Read EFC's submission to the CPSO here.
Write MPs, Join Dec. 1 Prayer about MAiD Expansion
A change in the law allowing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for mental illness alone will come into effect this March. The EFC is calling on Canadian Christians to ask their Members of Parliament to stop the expansion. See the EFC's media release and action kit for more information.
You can also join the EFC Nationwide Prayer for MAiD, an online event Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. ET (8 PT / 9 MT / 10 CT / Noon AT / 12:30 NL).
Make a Difference this GivingTuesday
Today is GivingTuesday, an annual movement aimed at transforming our communities through the generosity of people like you. It's an opportune time to partner in the work of the EFC through your financial gift. Together, "uniting Evangelicals to bless Canada in the name of Jesus!"
Audible Consolations of Covid
Ottawa writer Robert MacKenzie shares how he's been blessed during the pandemic by the online talks available from theologians in a new post at FaithToday.ca.
The Dissonance of Preaching
Preaching the Word of God requires competing with other messages people are getting from the mainstream media—right? EFC Vice-President David Guretzki challenges us to take a different view of preaching: “What if the job of the preacher is not to drown out the cacophony of voices vying for our attention as much as to sound a short but dissonant note?” Read more in Guretzki’s latest Faith Today column. Aussi disponible en français.
Sign up at FaithToday.ca/SubscribeFree for a print subscription to read more regular columns and articles like this. Anyone can now read a limited selection of articles from the latest issue online at www.FaithToday.ca.
This Week’s EFC Prayer Prompts
This week’s prayer request is about seniors. Pray for seniors struggling with the mental and physical limitations of age. Remember seniors who do not have the supports of close family or church community and seniors living with poverty, as well as seniors who want to remain useful in the Kingdom and are searching for ways to remain involved.
This week’s affiliate highlighted for prayer is Every Home for Christ Canada, which exists “that every person on earth would have a genuine opportunity to respond to the truth and love of Jesus.”
You can always find the week’s prayer prompts at TheEFC.ca/TakeAction. Also, we offer new pandemic-focused prayer ideas each month at TheEFC.ca/Covid-19.
In Case You Missed It
→ Job Openings: Pastor (Lethbridge, Montreal, Brampton, Toronto, Ottawa, Sault Ste Marie, Uxbridge); Toronto congregational justice and mercy coordinator; Montreal director of leadership programs; and more (FaithToday.ca/Classifieds)
→ Advocating for Human Dignity (Faith Today article)
→ Bill to Clarify Law on Child Sexual Abuse Materials
→ Bill to Verify Age and Consent on Pornography Sites