Resources

Human Trafficking in Canada: A Leadership and Learning Kit for Churches

CCC_HumanTraffickingInCanada_EnglishThis resource facilitates learning, theological reflection, and common action on human trafficking in Canada through a series of reflections, awareness raising exercises, bible studies, and background materials. In a beautiful and user friendly layout, contributions from more than a dozen Christian traditions come together in this must read resource on one of the most pressing social justice issues in our context.

Download a PDF of this resource. En français.

To order print copies of Human Trafficking in Canada, please email admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $15 each plus postage.

Comments and Perspectives on Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom - smallIn the spring of 2013, Dr. Andrew Bennett, Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom, was a guest speaker for the CCC’s annual Forum on Faith and Public Life.

 The forum focused on the mandate of the new Office of Religious Freedom, and Canadian church experience and expertise in this area. This publication brings together the contributions from the participants in that dialogue.

To order print copies of Comments and Perspectives on Religious Freedom, please email admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $15 each plus postage.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: 2018

4-hands-crossedThe roots of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity go back to the 1800s; it is one of the oldest, most widely observed ecumenical events in the world. The materials on this website are designed to be of service to you not only during the Week itself, but throughout the year. Let them help you find ways to express the degree of communion already given to the churches, and to pray together that we may be more fully united one with another, and all of us with Christ.

2018 edition is available here.

Thanking God with Integrity: Table Graces and Scripture for a World of Need by Rev. Willard Metzger

TGWI_Cover_FrontFINALThis book of 57 table graces, authored by CCC Governing Board member Rev. Willard Metzger (Executive Director of Mennonite Church Canada) helps us cultivate gratitude while acknowledging the sorrow and pain of others. These table graces aspire to “flavour thankfulness and sandwich it with a celebration of response and purpose.” With relevant scripture and beautiful photography, Thanking God with Integrity makes a great gift book—especially for families—and will quickly become an essential resource at your home or church. To order a copy, please email admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $15 each plus postage.

Cracking Open White Identity Towards Transformation:

Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Racism Network Examines White Identity, Power and Privilege

219244.cearnpromoenThe Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Racism Network has taken up the challenge of resourcing and accompanying communities of faith in their journey toward truth and reconciliation. This resource zeros in on White privilege as an essential aspect of anti-racism work. Racism is one expression of the White privilege and supremacy that is present in day-to-day interactions and built into systems and church structures. It is impossible to do anti-racism work without examining White identity and the unearned power and privilege that flows from that idenity.

This resource includes stories, biblical reflections, and workshops. Contributors include the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, Rev. Michael Blair, and Rev. Maylanne Maybee. To order a copy, please email admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $15 each plus postage.

Mamow Be-Mo-Tay-Tah – Let us Walk Together

mamoh_coverThis resource is designed to help Canadians engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools and better understand the legacies of colonization that Aboriginal peoples live with today.

Click here to download the resource, or order a print copy of the resource by emailing us at admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $15 each plus postage.

 

When Christian Faith and Genetics Meet: A Practical Group Resource

Click here to download a promotional poster for use in your faith community.

The Biotechnology Reference Group of The Canadian Council of Churches has published a curriculum with tools for Christian communities to critically assess the opportunities and risks of biotechnology.
The resource explores questions like – Does genetics contribute to or contradict our belief that we are created in the image of God? What ethical questions arise from usage of genetics in reproductive technologies? Is genetic testing for those planning to have children a responsible thing to do?
This curriculum can be used as a series of workshops or a full day session for communal reflection on how to meet the challenges of these new technologies. Are you interested in taking on the important work as facilitator for this curriculum? Are you willing to be a participant in this shared learning program? Let us assist your community in exploring this exciting and timely curriculum!

For more information on this curriculum, including how to use it in your faith community, please contact admin@councilofchurches.ca.

To order a print copy ($15 + postage), email admin@councilofchurches.ca.

The Bruised Reed: A Christian Reflection on Suffering and Hope

Bruised-Reed_CVR_ENThis ecumenical resource on the universal experience of suffering and hope weaves together fine art, meaningful reflections and voices from CCC traditions.

Click here to download the resource, or order a print copy of the resource by emailing us at admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are available for only the cost of shipping.

Who is My Neighbour?: A Window into the Interfaith Experience and Potential of Member Churches of The Canadian Council of Churches

PagesfromWhoismyneighbourENcoverpageDownload the resource [PDF] or contact admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $10 each plus postage.

The Gospel Imperative to Advocacy: Faith & The Public Square

This pamphlet documents the 2008 Faith and the Public Square event organized for the Governing Board of The Canadian Council of Churches on the gospel imperative to advocacy at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Ottawa.

Click here to download the resource.

 

The Acceptable Year of the Lord

Theacceptableyear_000The Acceptable Year of the Lord: Preaching the Old Testament with Faith, Finess and Fervourby The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary of The Canadian Council of Churches. This book is designed for busy preachers and presents preaching instights into the meaning of the original Old Testament texts, the meaning they have in the Jewish tradition and their meaning for Christians today. It is available for order through local bookstores and Novalis.

Liturgies for Christian Unity

unityFeaturing a foreword by the Anglican Archbishop Michael G. Peers, Liturgies for Christian Unity is an anthology of the very best approaches to celebrating common religious ground.

Containing prayers and texts from the past 100 years of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it offers a wide range of ideas for liturgies of all forms and sizes. Its inclusiveness and its usfulness make it a required resource for parishes, retreat centres, chaplains and educators in all manner of situations. This resource is the fruit of rich editorial work by the Faith and Witness Commission of the Canadian Council of Churches, under the guidance and leadership of Rev. Judee Archer-Greene, Rev. Richard Vandervaart and Dr. Mary Marrocco.

Text from Novalis website. You may order copies fo Liturgies for Christian Unity from the Novalis website. Please click here.

Becoming Human: On Theological Anthropology in an Age of Engineering Life

Becoming_Human

  • May the tissues (for example, stem cells) of a human fetus be used to look for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease?
  • Should scientists clone human beings, simply because it is possible?
  • May humans manipulate the environment in whichever way suits them, no matter the effect on other species?
  • Should Christians care about the ozone layer?
  • Should Christian farmers grow genetically-modified foods?

When The Canadian Council of Churches’ Commission on Faith and Witness was asked to consider such important, troubling, and complex questions, we found we were led to the foundations of our faith. None of the questions is abstract; all are urgent, because they are about matters that are happening here and now to each of us. These matters have effects much bigger than we can see, but require that we make choices. In making choices, our humanity is disclosed.

View Becoming Human

Life: Patent Pending

ONCOCanada’s churches consider that the biopatenting issue is a significant one for humanity’s understanding of itself and of its call to live respectfully with other living beings, which we believe are also creatures of God. Seeking the Creator’s wisdom on our relationship with other forms of life is crucial now, when new ideas and powerful new techniques are having such an impact on humanity’s self-understanding and on the scope of human action. That’s why the Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship together sought intervener status in the Supreme Court’s “oncomouse” case, as did nine other non-governmental organizations.

The CCC has published a booklet, Life: Patent Pending, as a discussion-starter for people in church networks who want to consider questions of biopatenting, questions which, presumably will come before the Parliament of Canada in the foreseeable future. Click here to download the booklet

Together in Christ

together-in-christThis collection of essays from 14 Christian denominations, which contains both theological reflection and practical information, offers a tool to help pastors, couples preparing for marriage (particularly interchurch marriage), and their families to explore together the differences and common understandings of Christian marriage. It may also be used as a springboard for discussion in adult faith study groups in congregations or in ecumenical settings.

Together in Christ is available from Novalis.

From Chains to Freedom: Journeying Towards Reconciliation (2007)

chains_to_freedomOn the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by the British, this is a packet of materials on the slave trade and the practice of slavery in Canada for parishes, congregations and study groups including worship materials, biblical reflection, educational materials, children’s resources and much more.

Click here to download the resource, or order a print copy of the resource by emailing us at order@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $10 each plus postage.

From Chains to Freedom 2007 Racial Justice Resource PDF version (in sections)

For God So Loved the People of the World (2006)

god_so_lovedThis kit is the fruit of five years of learning, reflecting and acting together in the Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Racism Network, representing our first attempt to jointly lift up the importance of anti-racism ministry in the member churches of The Canadian Council of Churches. The contributors to this resource kit come from a variety of traditions; each of them has worked from the heart, offering the best of what they know now of the topic at hand.

The title of this resource, For God so loved the people of the world, comes from one of the lectionary texts, John 3:16. As we compared versions and translations of the text, we settled on this phrase from the Chinese Kuo-yu Bible, an ecumenical translation done in the 1930s and still in use in most Chinese congregations.

Click here to download the resource, or order a print copy of the resource by emailing us at admin@councilofchurches.ca. Copies are $10 each plus postage.

Download the full version of this resource (37 pages)
God so loved the people of the world – Full Version

Or see the Table of Contents to download one or more chapters separately.
God so loved the people of the world –Table of Contents

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