Questions for MP candidates of interest to Churches

I helped to organizean all candidates meeting last night in my riding on behalf of the Stouffville Ministerial, which represents the 21 local churches.

Our aim for the All-Candidates Meeting was to provide an information forum (not debate) to hear where candidates stand on issues of concern to the churches and the local community.  We wanted to provide the opportunity for the churches and parishes of our community to positively engage the political process.

Sample election guides produced by Canadian churches***

• Anglican Church of Canada, Key public witness issues in Federal Election
• Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Federal Election 2011 Guide
• Canadian Council of Churches, Letter to Political Party Leaders / Election Priorities (with responses from LIB, NDP and GRN)
• Church Council on Justice and Corrections, Elections 2011 
• Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Election Kit 2011
• Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Election Kit 2011
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Election Resource 2011
• KAIROS: 2011 Election Kit
• Mennonite Central Committee, Ottawa Office: Questions for Candidates; Government Communications, 2011, 2010 
• Project Ploughshares, Questions for Candidates
• Salvation Army in Canada, Election Issues: 1. Law and Order; 2. Poverty
• United Church of Canada, Federal Election Kit 2011

***This info was compiled by Arnold Neufeldt-Fast and copied from here (don't worry, I created the site so I am allowed...)

"The most terrible poverty..."

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved."

— Mother Teresa

Has the environment lost its mojo?

Like my brother Allan RM, I've been watching this election unfold with keen interest. As I take it all in, I can't help but wonder,

What has happened to the environment?

It's no where in the political discourse. NO WHERE.

Since the recession, no one is talking about addressing climate change or protecting natural resources. Conversations about transitioning to a "green" economy have gone missing. Advocates for the rights of those impacted by climate change are basically non-existent. No one is talking about passing on a healthy environment to future generations.

And that annoys me. Big time.


Know what annoys me even more? The environment would be on the political radar IF young people had a stronger voice and voted en masse.

By and large, people under 35 rate the environment as a top political issue, right up there with the economy, tuition fees and health care. But if they don't vote, why would the political parties bother to respond to their demands?

Creation has never needed advocates for sustainability more than today. Will young people demand change today?

The Goals of Biblical Transformation

I am currently taking a course with Dr. Bryant Myers at Fuller Theological Seminary called Development Tools and Practice.

Dr. Myers says the twin goals of biblical transformation are:

1. Changing people: recovering true identity and true vocation
2. Restoring shalom: Just and peaceful relationships

...and he claims, for Christians, these are the goals for both development and evangelism (our works and our words).  I have never really thought about development and evangelism as sharing the same goals.

What do you all think?  Do you agree with the goals?  Do you believe development and evangelism share the same goals?  How do the goals articulated by Myers connect with what MCC envisions: communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation (taken from MCC's mission statement that you can read here)?

I would be interested in hearing your perspectives - please add your comments below.

And be sure to check out Meyers' book (Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development)  It's a good read...

Palm trees line the street

Palm trees line the street, equidistant one from the next.  Pasadena is a beautiful city.

I take the Lake road exit in my borrowed 4x4.  The down-and-out vet stands at the intersection motionless and seemingly emotionless – the same scene at 2:30pm the day before.

A $20 bill burns a hole in my pocket so I roll down the window and wave to get his attention.  He starts toward me with such a jump, but – oh, how I wished then he wouldn’t have fallen – now he is laying with dry lips kissing the dirt on the ground a few paces away.

He struggles to get up slowly but surely, red-faced with shame, knowing the light will change any second – and with it his chances of getting the crumpled bill in my hand.

“How are you doing?” I ask foolishly. 

“It’s the damn leukemia.”

The light changes and cars behind me inch forward so I move along.

Palm trees line the street, equidistant one from the next.  Pasadena is a beautiful city.

A Pledge

My church started pledging a few years ago. Pledging is a process where each family, household or giving unit is asked to complete a form indicating how much money they expect to give in the coming year. Churches can use it to plan their budget so they don’t spend significantly more or less than people expect to give – less likely to have a surprise surplus or deficit!

I’m on the finance committee now and I know that pledging helps the committee plan the annual budget. But the more interesting piece was the effect pledging had on my husband and me. Pledging forced us to go home and actually think and talk about how much we gave to the church.

Money is the last big taboo. We’re pretty silent about incomes, giving, saving debt and spending, even amongst family and close friends. We did talk about money in our house but I don’t really recall any conversations about giving, at least not until the pledging card showed up in our church mailbox. Once home, we set aside some time to look at our income and talk about what we felt we should be giving and what we could be giving. We ended up giving a lot more than we had previously, all because of a card and a conversation.

We’ve also set an annual target giving amount and, if it’s not all out by end of November, we sit and figure out where it’s going to go before the end of the year. It’s kind of fun to have some extra giving money available to meet needs and opportunities that arise.

What about you? Have you ever really thought about giving? Do you give already?  Have you ever talked about it?

T-shirt order form

Want one?  Choose your size and colour below by Monday April 11th.  Shirts will be available by April 18th (2 weeks before the election).

Here is a quick summary of the feedback on t-shirt concepts (see yesterdays post):

-59 people responded
-53 of you liked the concepts
-71% liked the 2nd option best
-75% said you would wear a shirt
-84% said you would pay for it

See my favorite comments/suggestions below... (thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts!)

Allan's Favorite Comments/Suggestions

Call me dumb but I didn't immediately get the 'people are dying to' message.  i could read it, but i didn't get right away that you were speaking of the millions of voteless, voiceless ppl around the world who are literally dying for their chance to vote... a powerful message but not very clear...

I am glad you are encouraging this.  I think the primary danger of all the political nonsense that goes on leading up to elections is that it discourages people, particularly the young, from participating in the process.

PPLRDYING2? What does this have to do with the upcoming elections? I would support something like PPL POWER or YYA POWER but not PPLRDYING2.

MCC has a long tradition as a non-governmental organization and Anabaptists have long advocated the separation of church and state and I don't think it is a wise use of MCC resources and staff energy to promote this governmental exercise.  I also think it is an important clarification that people around the world are not dying to vote, but they are dying for freedom.  Sometimes voting is the path by which freedom is achieved, but often various part of the democratic process (candidate selection, voter eligibility, vote counting, announcing of results, other nations respecting your results, etc) are so corrupted that it's difficult to call that freedom.  All of our options represent parties that will maintain our freedom, and unfortunately all of our viable options are immature partisan hacks.  Also, coercing people to vote is the opposite of freedom.

While I think the message is very important and certainly intend to vote and encourage all my friends to do the same, I am not sure if another tshirt in my closet is the way to get it out... I allready have a lot of T-shirts to be honest.

Would the t-shirts be fairly traded/organic material? If so, I would imagine it would be difficult to sell for 5 or 8 dollars...

Sorry, I don't get the relevance of the phrase: ""PPLRDYING2" Not in an Canadian leadership campaign, anyway.

Great concept, Allan!  It's alarming sometimes to think that people die trying to change or escape their political situations in other countries, only to get to Canada and see how little we care about our own government. As young adults we're told constantly that we're the future of the country... it's time we stepped up and acted like it.

So if I vote will people stop dying?

VOTE: PPL R DYING 2

I think everyone should get out and vote on May 2nd. So much so that I would like to produce some t-shirts that encourage people to vote.

Here are some initial ideas.  Let me know what you think...

VOTE May 2nd!

Regardless of who you vote for, VOTE on May 2nd.


In 2008, Canada witnessed its lowest voter turnout in the history of federal elections (click on this link to see an overview of Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums, 1867-2008).  What you will find is that less than 60% of eligible electors voted.

page 7 of this report by elections Canada

Not sure if it was the turkey dinner from the night before weighing us down on the couch, but BOO.  


We can do better than that.




In particular, the under 35 crowd must get our act together.  In 2008, the 25-35 range was under 50%.  And only 37% of youth aged 18-24 voted.


On the other side of the world people our age are using social media to start political revolutions.


Here, we are using social media to...


Sorry I am back.  I was just checking facebook status updates.  My friend just finished eating breakfast: Cheerios this morning.

Making Homelessness & Poverty Real To Youth

Check out this video about MCC Ontario's TOOLS program that was produced for 100 Huntley Street by Bridget Antwi.