Leaders define reality. So for those of us passionate about the church in Canada becoming as healthy and vibrant as possible, the article I’ve posted below from The Canadian Press makes for important reading.
It describes the alarming rate at which Canada’s churches are declining and closing their doors. When I read the article I don’t know what stirred up my “holy discontent” more; the “shoulder-shrug” response with which all these church closures were greeted, or the fact that the only sense of “loss” being reported seems to be of Canada’s architectural heritage, not its spiritual foundation.
Of course, this article does not tell the whole story. There are examples from coast-to-coast-to-coast of local churches truly prevailing. But as leaders we can’t stick our heads in the sand. We do need to define reality, and this article simply provides one more perspective that we need to see.
I challenge you to read the article not to cause you to wring your hands with concern, but to generate an ever-increasing resolve among all of us to do whatever it takes to see Canada become more spiritually vibrant than we’ve ever dreamed or imagined.
Want to buy a church? Houses of worship sell for $1 as congregations dwindle
January 15, 2011
Alison Auld, The Canadian Press
HALIFAX – “There’s a lot of churches in this rural area that are empty and a lot of them are up for sale,” said Ted MacDonald, a former parish warden. “It’s a shame but that’s the way it goes … People aren’t attending church anymore.”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE
We were in Toronto putting on a conference, and during an evening break several of us had piled into a van to dash over to a nearby shopping mall to pick up some technical equipment. We knew this equipment was carried by only one store in the mall and, as we stood inside the mall looking at the large map, we could easily spot the store we needed to find.
From the passion of Christian brothers like 
