Trends in Christian giving in Canada - fewer Christians and reduced giving. A look at the numbers, plus advice on how to find hope.

Is your congregation carrying trauma around money? Psalm 4 offers hope.

Stepping into the church, I was overcome by hopefulness. They had taken risks to serve their community well and it showed.

Gratitude helps me to pay attention to God’s gifts. Today, my houseplants (and Bernard of Clairvaux) remind me to be grateful for gifts of food, sunlight and air. What are you grateful for today?

Trends shows an increasing number of “nones” - people with no religious affiliation. Will my church still be here?

Some organizations have been looking at a plot of poor soil for so long that they can’t envision anything growing there. Stewardship becomes managing scarcity well.

Joyful generosity means telling other people about what’s growing in God’s garden and inviting them to water it. Digging our dreams in order to make certain that we we hope for will come true.

Hope, adventure and promise. Words to live by! Not nostalgia for a past that will not return - falling prey to nostalgia could trap Anglicans into thinking that turning out the lights is the only option. Bad jokes don’t tell the whole truth. Hope does not disappoint us.

Gratitude? With the news as bad as it it, and people being stuck at home for endless months? Or not stuck at home, but working in the midst of a pandemic?

We're reminded to be thankful in all circumstances.  But sometimes our circumstances can seem overwhelming! I offer this short reminder of three things a church can always be grateful for: