The same nationalistic fervor leading Canada to diverge from the U.S. on economic and social issues is having a parallel in the churches, reports the Canadian evangelical magazine Faith Today (March/April).
Canadian churches, particularly of the evangelical variety, that were once part of American-based denominations are striking out on their own, forming separate identities. Last year, the largest of Canada’s Mennonite denominations split off from its American counterpart. Leaders of the new Canadian entity, to be called Mennonite Church Canada, say that that Canadians need a national voice for their church. They also cite Canadian financial laws which make it difficult to cooperate with the U.S.
Both in national and international forums (such as the Mennonite World Conference), the binational organizations tended to blunt the Canadian perspective on social and religious questions. Other denominations recently experiencing or considering similar divisions are the Mennonite Brethren, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists (CCSB). Church growth and mission expansion has often been a byproduct of such separations, writes Shafer Parker.
When the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s new Canadian branch began to establish its own outreach goals, its number of foreign missionaries and churches almost doubled. All parties seem to agree that these splits are more the product of a “division of labor and not of fellowship.”
(Faith Today, MIP Box 3745, Markham, Ont., L3R 0Y4)
