In the 15 years I’ve been helping churches and municipalities engage with one another, I’ve never been more hopeful that genuine dialogue is keenly desired on both sides of the table – nor more convinced that time is running out…
Jonathan Bird has been working on a unique project with the City of Vancouver and is offering an opportunity to inform how the Christian community and the City interact in future for the common good. Read his article and look…
Generations ago some wag coined the local aphorism, “Vancouver’s favourite bloodsport is real estate investment.” I first heard it when I arrived in the city 22 years ago during a period of rapid rise in home prices, one that now…
Peter Biggs of The Light Magazine is researching one Metro Vancouver / Fraser Valley municipality each month, and producing a focus on each one. The October issue brought attention to the Downtown Eastside and a feature interview with Jacqueline Dewar, who has worked and lived in…
Ross Lockhart has two books coming out this summer. One is Beyond Snakes and Shamrocks: St. Patrick’s Missional Leadership Lessons for Today (“Essentially, I ask the question, ‘Are there lessons from a missionary to a pre-Christian culture for us as…
Many church leaders do cultural studies and wrestle with the sociology of place. On a different track, others try to get their heads around the social imaginaries that make up the personality of our cities (sometimes referred to as a horizon or…
It is heartening to see the public concern over the demolition of a lovely church building near 41st and Cambie March 1 – though it is all too late to actually save the building. This was a March 5 tweet…
In late November, the City of Vancouver released the Housing Vancouver Strategy to replace its Housing and Homelessness Strategy (2012-2021). Despite having exceeded several of the key targets it had established for this midway point in that 10-year plan, city…
The Light Magazine interviewed Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz as part of its Snapshots of Faith series. I re-posted the bulk of the feature on Chilliwack last month, but saved this interview to run on its own. How would you describe the…
As one long-established church in Vancouver’s West End nears the end of a major redevelopment of its property, another is poised to begin. Central Presbyterian The site of Central Presbyterian Church at Thurlow and Pendrell used to be occupied by…