EFC Update Newsletter October 27
New MAiD bill
The Justice Minister introduced a new bill on MAiD today. We are pleased that this bill would stop MAiD for mental illness alone. The government has rightly concluded Canada should not move ahead with this expansion. We are very concerned, however, that the bill would also allow advance requests for MAiD when certain criteria are met. We oppose advance requests for euthanasia. It sets a dangerous precedent to allow a person’s life to be ended by MAiD when they are no longer able to give consent and it further devalues human life. The EFC will be reviewing Bill C-41 and providing resources.
Prayer for Ontario affiliate post-secondary schools
The EFC has 33 educational affiliates, including seminaries, colleges and universities. Several of our affiliate schools, considered private career colleges in Ontario, have recently shared prayer requests as they and their students face a challenging situation. The Ontario government has paused OSAP funds for all 242 private career colleges in Ontario amidst an investigation of eight schools suspected of misusing OSAP funds.
Below are some prayer requests from our affiliate schools about how the funding pause has affected them and their students. Please keep these schools in your prayers, along with other Christian higher education institutions in Ontario facing the same challenges.
Master’s College and Seminary
“Ontario’s OSAP funding pause has affected approximately 45 of our students, representing an estimated $150,000 in tuition funding this fall alone. We are absorbing this immediate shortfall so these future pastors and Christian leaders can continue their studies, while working toward a resolution and exploring more enduring and dependable ways to make ministry preparation affordable. We invite prayer for our students, wisdom for government and institutional leaders, and God’s provision as we continue preparing the next generation of workers for the church.”
Tyndale University
“The pause in OSAP funding is causing significant hardship for Tyndale University students, leaving some struggling to pay for rent, groceries and essential learning supports and others considering whether they can continue. Although Tyndale is a provincially legislated university, it is included in the funding pause, delaying approximately $3 million in tuition revenue while we continue teaching and supporting students. Please pray for students facing hardship and uncertainty, for those supporting them, and for government officials to resolve this situation.”
Redeemer University
“The OSAP pause has put considerable stress on students, their families and the university, with some students unable to pay rent, purchase groceries and learning support equipment or cover transportation. Redeemer is doing everything it can to support students during this challenging situation, enabling them to continue studying unimpeded while they wait for resolution. Please pray for students and their families navigating this uncertainty and that the province would release funds to eligible students attending Christian higher education institutions with long track records of OSAP compliance.”
McMaster Divinity College
“Our major prayer concern is for our students who are being forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of the pause after the term has already begun. We are also concerned about the longer term impact on our students and our institutions once we are past the crisis. We should also remember to pray for our government leaders that they would make wise and expedient decisions to bring this situation to an equitable conclusion as soon as possible.”
Seminaries as sanctuaries for soul formation
EFC President David Guretzki reflected on the value of the relationship between churches and seminaries at a speech given at Tyndale Seminary’s 50th anniversary last month. Here's an excerpt.
I am a long-time participant in Canadian theological education. As a systematic theologian, I am deeply committed to the church and her God-given call. I see theological education as a crucial partner with the Church. In this regard, Christian educational institutions grounded in their sacred vocation must never forget whom they ultimately serve: God and his mission, not their ambitions or institutional autonomy.
Along with the universal call to be ambassadors of reconciliation through Jesus Christ, the New Testament repeatedly calls for leaders equipped to preach and teach the whole counsel of God to every generation and nation of disciples. God’s mission is to gather a people of His own, and He has called the church to participate by equipping people to proclaim, teach, shepherd, and serve beyond our lifetimes. As Walter Brueggemann has noted, “Every community that wants to last beyond a single generation must concern itself with education.”
Let me emphasize this: If a seminary is to remain focused on participating in God’s mission, it must never leave its natural home – the Church, the people of God, in their commitment to the authority of Holy Scripture.
I did my PhD at a secular university’s faculty of religious studies. The education was academically rigorous, but its orientation contrasted sharply with the evangelical schools I had previously attended. A long conversation with a fellow doctoral student – a New Testament scholar who claimed to be agnostic – reminded me of this contrast. For him, the living church and teaching of Scripture had no personal connection or authority. The New Testament was simply one ancient historical text among many, and his mission was to deconstruct the myths and political ideologies of first-century Christian communities.
It was mystifying to me how someone that intellectually fascinated by the New Testament could be completely uninterested in the God and gospel the Bible reveals. Nevertheless, his approach represents a model of theological education that sees no necessary relationship to the church.
It is a sad irony how often Christian history has seen the vital connection between church and seminary severed. Having served in seminary leadership, I know the relationship can be uneasy. Many ecclesiastical critics view the seminary with suspicion. But let me state clearly: unlike marriage, where a man leaves his family to cleave to his wife, the seminary is never given the option of leaving its proper family, the people of God.
