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1) The Culture
Secularization describes a process whereby the status and influence of religious assumptions and presuppositions, values and institutions are diminished. In the West, Christianity by virtue of its prevalence is most often the object of this process. Secularization does not in and of itself seek to abolish religious ideas (since its own assumptions are actually religious in origin and nature) but rather pushes opposing ideas to the periphery of society, such that they are deemed irrelevant, and replaces them with humanistic premises.
In Canada this process is in an advanced state. But this was not always the case. In fact, Canada was once regarded as a Christian dominion. Toronto for example, was known as the “City of Churches” and regionally as “Toronto the Good”. Now however we find ourselves in a radically humanistic and increasingly immoral society. Neo-paganism and pluralism or polytheism as religious ideologies have taken root and an increasingly invasive secular state exerts stricter controls upon individuals, the church, and schools. Today, our politicians believe that they can redefine revealed moral truth and God’s basic institution, the family, while our legislators believe that society can and will be transformed by the multiplying of man-centered laws to “save” people.
The failure of this project is tragically manifest all around in the family breakdown, social decay, decadence and violence of our cities and communities. Canada’s theological changes, wrong turns and erroneous religious premises have created a culture of despair and death, not hope and life. Since 1992, the number of suicides has been considerably greater than the number of road fatalities. Suicide is now the leading cause of death in Canada for men aged 25-29 and 40-44 and for women aged 30-34. Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among youth aged 15-24. For every completed suicide there are 100 attempts. Over 23,000 Canadians are hospitalized each year for a suicide attempt!
That these results are predicted in the book of Proverbs will come as a surprise only to the current generation, the first in centuries to be biblically illiterate. “But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).
A further example of efforts to expunge Christian belief from our society have been revealed in at least one major city near Toronto (Brampton). Leaked proposals intended for consideration by the city, included imposing property tax on churches, restricting numbers of churches per capita, limiting the number of people who can meet in homes for religious purposes and restricting planting new churches through limits on rental of space. At times the process does appear to continue virtually unabated. 1
1 The social critic Timothy Bloedow comments on the incident in his book “No Sacred Ground” pg. 71. The reports emerged in
Siebring, Al. 2008. “Brampton Plan Suggests Limiting Number of Churches” No Apologies Daily News, January 3rd.
2) The Church
These seismic cultural shifts have proven very challenging to the church with Christians quite clearly struggling to live authentic, Christ-centered lives in the face of these bewildering times. As George Barna put it after extensive US research in 2004:
“The primary reason that people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus… Although most people own a Bible and know some of its content, our research found that most Americans have little idea how to integrate core principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life. We’re often more concerned about survival amidst chaos than with experiencing truth and significance.”
One measure of this struggle is church attendance, which has plummeted over the last 50 years from 70% to just 17% with about 7% in church on any given Sabbath. The church’s inability to provide a comprehensive and effective response to these challenging issues has left people illequipped to live out a full-orbed biblical faith and to share the Gospel of the kingdom. Extensive research conducted by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity suggests that there are two “major blocks” that are common to the evangelical church globally, and that are impacting upon the church’s ability to achieve its mission:
The term secular is derived from a Latin root word meaning “of the world”. In secular thought, the source of all meaning and definition is found in time and nature, not beyond it in eternity and the sovereign word of God. How then will the church respond to this relentless secularization? How will the church be adequately equipped for this task? We can no longer rely on the illusory hopes of Christian sociologists who take comfort in Canadians’ interest in “spirituality”, or in people claiming an ostensibly Christian faith when all the evidence of abandonment of faith in God is now so unmistakable. Missiological research has shown such hopes to be misguided. It is our generation that must now face the cultural moment and respond in faithfulness and obedience, for the glory of God.
Learning from the example of men like the noted Anglican leader John Stott, formerly of All Souls Langham Place, London (and the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity), we seek to establish a quality research and training institute to train and equip clergy and laity across denominational lines for credible Christian engagement with today’s cultural, philosophical and religious challenges.
The ministry opportunity can be summarized as follows:
Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity (EICC): To establish an educational institute to write and research, teach and train in Christian apologetics, missiology, and the cultural mandate - to bring all things in every area of life and thought into captivity to Christ. The institute will also seek to establish a broad fellowship program of scholars addressing contemporary issues from a thoroughly biblical perspective with a desire to also be a credible voice in and to the Canadian socio-cultural sphere.