Phil Gunther

God sees my wake. What must he think? What causes him to lament? In what does he rejoice? What will reap his discipline and what, his blessing? As disciples of Jesus, we want to live Christ-like lives, but on this side of heaven, we routinely create ungodly wakes. 

Historic. A beginning. A day to listen. An act of repentance. An apology heard around the world. Profound and personal. These are a sample of the sentiments used to describe Pope Francis’ apology to First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples on July 25th in Maskwacis, Alberta. Maskwacis is the site of the former Ermineskin Residential School.

A clarifying question for me about the church is: What other entity has been given a God-ordained mandate to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of Jesus? There are great organizations that feed the poor, visit prisoners, achieve justice for the disenfranchised and fight for social causes. Many have the blessing of God. However, telling others about Jesus and how to follow him is to be the church’s main thing.

No pastor or lay leader I’ve spoken to recently believes that the church will ever return to the way it used to be. The anxious rumbling is now similar to that of the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea: “Well, where to from here?” This sentiment is often laced with a mixture of uncertainty, fear and doubt.

I am truly thankful for my parents’ coaching; reminding me to stay the course, to hold the line, to never walk away. However, my life experiences have taught me that sometimes the best decision is, in fact, to bring something to an end.

My mom sensed when we were on the verge of quitting and rallied us by saying, “Just one more pail. Just one more pail.” In response, we kept on keeping on, rock after rock, pail after pail. Eventually, the seemingly impossible work (from a young boy’s perspective) was completed, and the aches forgotten.

Today, we as disciples of Jesus are to be good news people in bad news times, not with stories of stray cats or Colorado foxes or even a ‘chicken soup’ like feel-good testimony, but with life-transforming news that brings hope, peace and joy to the present and future. And friends, we can bear witness of such a thing.

“Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday. Your life tomorrow will be determined by what you do today.”
John C. Maxwell

SKMB Assembly 2022 – Do Not Lose Heart On March 12th approximately 85 participants took in the online SKMB Assembly 2022. The day began with a pre-Assembly session specifically engaging…

How is the gospel advanced?  By passionate and capable ambassadors of Christ?  Yes.  Through a clear proclamation of the gospel?  Yes.  By demonstrations of love and miracles?  Yes.  With good strategy and robust financial resources?  Yes.  But how is the gospel best advanced?  Hailey, this devoted and humble saint from the church I once pastored, claimed it was upon our knees, praying.

As a young disciple of Jesus, I lived in B.C.’s Fraser Valley in the 1970’s and 80’s. At that time there seemed to be a church on every corner; a faith community from almost every denomination. The spiritual ‘buffet’ included a dramatic spectrum of worship styles and theological bents. The ecclesiastical options seemed endless.

There seems to be a definite dearth of common sense among homo sapiens. Humour aside, we face a very serious and expanding problem among us, a lack of wisdom. My seminary professor Tremper Longman III said that wisdom is a knowing how – that is, knowing how to navigate life.