Category: Feature Stories
The diaconate in Lutheran Church–Canada
by Jennifer Shack In 1999 Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) established something that we call the “office of deacon.” There was a lot of study and thought that went into its establishment and no doubt it was a topic that both pastors and lay-people in our districts…
Christian persecution in Iraq reaches new levels
IRAQ – For more than a year a militant Islamic movement, Islamic State (IS), formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has methodically captured territory in northern Iraq and Syria. The goal was to establish a caliphate (Islamic state), which it declared…
Why we gather: A lesson from Nicea
by Mathew Block Almost 1,700 years ago, bishops and other delegates from all across the Roman Empire converged on the city of Nicea (located in modern-day Turkey). They had serious business on the agenda. Trouble was brewing in Alexandria (in Egypt); a presbyter by the…
In review: Transformers 4 Age of Extinction
by Ted Giese If someone says the word “transformer” and the first thing that comes to mind is an electrical device in a covered box outside your house quietly transferring energy between two or more circuits, then the knowledge there’s a movie called Transformers 4…
He Makes War to Cease: Canadian Lutherans and World War I
by Norman J. Threinen On June 28, 1914¸ Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was killed in Sarajevo, Serbia, the victim of an assassin’s bullet. The assassination of the crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire set in motion decisions that culminated in multiple declarations of war…