Ask Your MP to Support Bill to Reverse MAiD for Mental Illness
Please ask your local MP to vote for Bill C-314 this fall. Bill C-314 would reverse the law allowing medical assistance in dying for people with mental illness alone. A vote in the House of Commons could come as early as Oct. 3. Please consider contacting your MP’s office – you could call to leave a message or talk with someone, or you could send an email or letter. You can also circulate a petition in support of Bill C-314 and return it to your local MP. For more resources including sample wording for a brief letter or call, visit TheEFC.ca/C314.
Prayer to Stop MAiD for Mental Illness
Will you pray with us? The EFC is inviting churches across Canada to pray together on Sunday, Oct. 22, for a stop to euthanasia for mental illness. If nothing changes, the law allowing euthanasia for people with mental illness as their only medical condition will take effect in March 2024. Will you mark this date in your calendar and join us in asking God to intervene and reverse this legislation? The EFC will make resources available to help inform and guide your church in this prayer initiative.
Safe Places for Patients in an Era of MAiD
How do we protect vulnerable Canadians when hospital clinicians are telling patients, “The system is broken. Have you ever considered MAiD?” Read our new blog post on "Safe places for patients in an era of MAiD."
Have You Lived Through a Mental Health Crisis?
If you are one of the many Canadians who have lived through a mental health crisis, and you are concerned that as of next March MAiD could be available in Canada for reasons of mental illness alone? We welcome you to contact us at editor@faithtoday.ca to share your story confidentially.
EFC President in Central Canada
This week EFC President David Guretzki is in Manitoba meeting with pastors, leaders and supporters in Winnipeg and Steinbach areas. He will be speaking at Filipino United Community Church on Sept. 17.
Should Christians Call Jesus Our “Personal Saviour?”
Does calling Jesus our “personal saviour” diminish Christ’s role in redeeming all of creation? EFC President David Guretzki contends “we don’t have to decide between the personal and communal/cosmic dimensions of the gospel.”
Read more columns like this in the Sept/Oct Faith Today.
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How Grief and Gratitude Mix
"I know what Christians are supposed to believe about the afterlife, but I want the full arc feeling about this life," writes Ottawa-area author Deborah Phillips in a new post at FaithToday.ca entitled "A requiem for the living: How grief and gratitude mix."
New articles in French // Des nouveaux articles traduit de « Faith Today »
Last week we posted three new French translations from Faith Today. (1) Notre nouvel article de couverture "Comment (ne pas) faire les choses, une nouvelle mesure du temps" par l'auteur à succès Jen Pollock Michel et des chroniques intitulées (2) "Jésus est-il votre Sauveur personnel ? Nous l'espérons, mais ce n'est pas tout" par David Guretzki, et (3) "Droits et responsabilités : Tracer une voie saine dans les eaux profondes du narcissisme" par Bruce Clemenger. Read and share all Faith Today's French articles at FaithToday.ca/francais.
This Week’s Prayer Prompts
This week’s prayer request is about poverty and homelessness.
Pray for opportunity, security, provision, hope and freedom for those who cannot meet their basic needs or who are at risk of becoming homeless. Pray for agencies and churches who provide food, shelter, clothing, job training, support and friendship and pray for us to hear and be moved by God’s love and call to serve those who are in need.
This week's EFC affiliate highlight focuses on Yonge St. Mission which believes that each one of the 500,000 people experiencing poverty in Toronto has immense value. Its resources and energy are focused on responding to immediate needs and help people move from surviving to thriving.
You can always find the week’s prayer prompts at TheEFC.ca/TakeAction.
→ Love-Centred Philanthropy: A Whole Person Approach to Fundraising (KCN), online, Sept. 14 → Write! Canada Webinar with Tosca Lee (TWG), online, Sept. 15-16
→ The Word Awards (TWG), online, Sept. 16
→ Gender, Sexuality & Christian Ethics Course (SAEC), online, Mon’s Sept. 18–Nov. 27
→ EFC Presentation and Prayer Gathering on MAiD, online, Sept. 21
→ Understanding Suicide: Perseverance Conference 2023 (West Highland Baptist), Hamilton, Sept. 23
→ Israel Prayer Watch Summit (IPWC), Mississauga, Sept. 24
→ Stories of Transformation in Canada (TOWC), online, Sept. 26
→ Canadian International Faith & Family Film Festival (CIFF), online, Sept. 28-30
→ A Night with the Persecuted Church (Open Doors): Calgary Sept. 28, Grande Prairie Sept. 29, Redwater Sept. 30
→ Christian Parenting & Grandparenting (West Highland Baptist), Hamilton, Sept. 30
→ Toronto + GTA Ministry & Business Leaders Afternoon (Missions Canada), Oakville, Sept. 30
→ Life Chain (CLC), nationwide, various locations, Oct. 1
→ Victorious Festival, Calgary, Oct. 7
In Case You Missed It
→ Job Openings: pastor (Red Deer, Montreal, Brampton, Saint John, Ottawa); Montreal director of leadership programs; and more (FaithToday.ca/Classifieds)
→ Resource on Disability and Belonging in the Church En Français (EFC resources)
→ Pandemic Lessons on Productivity (Faith Today article)