Outreach Canada Blog

Many of us have mixed feelings about the changes that diaspora movements have brought to the world and to our neighbourhood--there is no question that it represents both challenges and opportunities.

For those of us who love and follow Jesus Christ, what should our response be to those from differing religious worldviews; to those who've chosen to follow Jesus; to Christ-following communities; and to those who are sent?

There are more opportunities today in Canada than ever before to reach out as a local church and welcome people of different language communities around us!  From sponsoring a refugee family, to hosting a neighbourhood celebration, to simply getting to know our friends and neighbours who speak different languages and letting them know they are welcome here – and welcome in our churches.  

With over 450 individual languages identified in the 2021 census there may be more languages spoken by people already in your church than you realize. Deb & Ramón share how you can find and use digital Bibles and digital Bible-Based discipleship tools in different languages...

5 Questions to Consider as you Build Cross-Cultural Friendships.

Vanilla describes most of my childhood: Food was predictable, community was homogenous, and the exotic or unusual was reserved for travelogue shows on TV.

Vanilla was my ice cream flavor of choice. It was safe, predictable, and delicious. All those other flavors might not be as good…and risking ice cream disappointment seemed unimaginable to me. It wasn’t until my teens that I discovered the delights of Mint Chocolate Chip, Maple Walnut, and other wonderful flavours.

Statistics Canada has just released the CENSUS 2021 data on population and reported that “millions of people from all over the world have chosen, and continue to choose, Canada as their new home. In 2021, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada.”

It is clear to me that God has created a huge opportunity for Christians to share the gospel with the world in Canada; the nations of the world are in our neighbourhoods.

Have you ever considered that those of Muslim faith who live among us might have been sent by God to Canada in order to find Him?

Here are 5 ways to be intentional about making disciples in your neighbourhood among those of Muslim faith ...

Anybody who has visited my house knows I like to garden. A few years ago, my husband and daughter built me a greenhouse so I can start my plants from seed. Each precious seed is carefully placed in prepared soil and carefully nurtured to grow strong before being transplanted into the garden to grow up and produce a harvest. 

Recently I’ve been rereading the Parable of the Sower (or maybe better called the Parable of the Soils) from Matthew 13. 

What is startling to me in this parable is the complete disregard of the sower for all the seed that is wasted. No gardener deliberately throws seed on the path, or amongst weeds, or on rocky ground. Seed is reserved for fertile soil.  

So why is this sower apparently happy to waste so much seed?

When I have a bit of extra time, I enjoy cooking. I especially enjoy cooking for other people, and I particularly love trying new recipes. It’s a bit risky trying new recipes out on guests, but I do it all the time!

Some recipes are complex and take a long time—sometimes the reward is worth the effort, sometimes not. I have a recipe for Petit Fours (a fancy little dessert cake) that takes most of a day to make but is a favorite of some of my family—so worth the investment.

But some recipes surprise me with how simple and delicious they are. Try this one – watermelon chunks, lime juice, chopped fresh mint. For a summer side salad, it’s amazing.

Sometimes when we talk about disciple-making we tend to think ‘Petit Four recipe’ complexity rather than ‘Watermelon Salad recipe’ simplicity. And then we let the thought of the complexity put us off even trying to be involved in disciple-making.

What if we could simplify our ‘disciple-making recipe’ down to just a few ingredients? 

Here’s a ‘simple recipe’ for you to try out...