canadianchristianity.com email interview with Tim Day, senior pastor, The Meeting House, Oakville, Ontario

1. What are the main challenges and issues the Canadian church is facing? How are we doing at dealing with those challenges and issues?

I believe we face the same challenge that every generation faces: taking the message of Jesus and embodying it to our generation. Within that overarching challenge is one that I think is specific to our time and country. We have struggled to hit the reset button and so have found ourselves straddling the line between a desire to be clear and relevant with the message but still keeping a good portion of our identity tied to our traditions and Christian sub-culture. On top of this the Canadian church overall is shrinking in size and there is a decreasing number of people feeling moved into leadership.

I believe these issues are all inter-related. Within The Meeting House we are challenged by Jesus calling people out of a religious mindset embracing any system of rules, regulations, rituals or routines as a way to God into a grace-filled relational mindset that clearly separates essence from form or to use the Biblical image, wine from wineskin. As we have been challenged with Jesus' teaching, we have felt a strong calling to teaching as much about the lure of religion as we do about the lure of sin. In our own experience, coming to terms with our own propensity to become religious has been key to us being freed up to hit the reset button and be released to do all we can to live Jesus message in a new way. Our hope is that this same understanding of Jesus' message and this vision of a renewed freedom comes to the Canadian Church.

2. What are the bright spots, encouraging trends, new movements in Canadian Christianity? How will the Canadian church and Canadian society change in the future? What future trends and issues will we have to deal with?

I think the fact that people are doing surveys like this is an encouraging trend. You can't get help until you know you have a problem. You don't take medicine until you know you are sick. I have talked to a number of church leaders and people all sense and know that things are not moving in the right direction and are hungry for open discussion of what we need to do in response. I think Christians are open to rethink paradigms, look at partnership in new ways, and consider moving out from a defensive posture to being more open to learn from others. These are trends that have grown since the 1950s with the rise of the evangelical movement.

In terms of what will change in the future, all I can do is guess. I think new neo-denominational movements will become increasingly common as people move away from just theological alignments denominations or methodological alignments Willow Creek association to actual, functional alignments like multi-site churches. I also think that many of the existing, historic structures will continue to slowly decrease over time as people find new ways to partner together, sharing learning, and find identity in community. Our way of looking at the world is being shaped by an emerging global culture probably best witnessed within the growth and development of the web and this new outlook on life is going to shape much of how future generations view the world and the message of Jesus within that global context. Global issues like poverty, the environment and just community will be increasingly important as our world gets smaller and we actually have new ways of expressing our commitment to Christ.

3. What is the character of the Canadian church? What distinguishing characteristics does it have? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Is this changing?

I believe we still live in shadow of the United States. We would like to see ourselves as distinct and different but still many of our people primarily read and find leadership from American Christian leaders. We are not as pro-government as our US brothers and sisters but we still tend to follow the trends of the U.S. Christian sub-culture. We are probably weaker in areas of pioneering new visions or in raising up new communicators and leaders. We are probably stronger in the typical Canadian values - try to be liked by everyone. : I don't see at this point the Canadian landscape changing drastically although people are open to change at some level.

4. How is the church doing qualitatively? How committed are church members? Are churches generally optimistic, pessimistic, fearful, expectant, discouraged, energized, complacent, disinterested, etc.?

It is a mixed bag. Some churches are excited, optimistic and looking to the future with faith and fresh vision. Others are just on the treadmill and hoping that they are doing ok. Others know they are sinking and they don't know what to do about it.

5. What is the state of the church in Canada numerically, both in terms of the number of church members and the number of Christians? What branches of the church ---such as, Catholic, mainline, charismatic, postmodern, evangelical -- are growing and shrinking? In what parts of the country -- provinces, urban areas, rural areas -- is the church growing or shrinking? Among what demographics is the church growing or shrinking?

I think every group is a mixed bag. I don't know if you can say any one category is rapidly growing. I know post-modern church plants that are failing. I know mainline churches that are growing. My guess is that overall we are shrinking. I think growth is more the exception than the rule.

6. What is the attitude of the larger Canadian society to Christianity? Is this changing? In what ways? What impact is secularism having? What is the character of Canadian society generally, how is it changing, and what impact is that having on the church?

My sense is that the church is for the most part irrelevant at this point. If people have an opinion it is somewhere along the lines of some good people are doing some good things like the Salvation army but for the most part Christians are nice people that are a bit out of it. Some are bigots but some are just nice people that are into religion because that is their deal. So I don't see it as overly hostile with maybe Quebec as an exception but also not overly positive or open. I believe our culture is shaping our emerging generation far more than the message of Jesus is shaping them.

7. What is the ethnic makeup of the church in Canada and what impact is immigration having on Canada? What percentage of immigrants are already Christian? Are we converting immigrants to Christ? Are other religions gaining adherents? Are we winning our children or losing them? How multicultural is the church, how representative of the Canadian population?

Aside from the cultural churches, for the most part the Christian Church is still white, middle class, rural or sub-urban. I don't believe the church overall has made any major inroads into urban centers or into cultural diversification. We are just doing well to keep treading water.

8. What are the most important moral issues that the church will be wrestling with in the next few years? Are we still wrestling with issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, or are those battles over? What can and should the church be doing in these areas?

I think abortion has lost its primary focus although many churches still support the good work many life centers are doing. Homosexuality I believe is the litmus test of our generation, sort of like dietary laws and circumcision in the New Testament. I think for some the discussion about this is still alive and well. For others, I think they are tiring of this discussion. Having our position sorted out on government legislation or on moral issues like homosexuality in my personal opinion will not revitalize the health of the church. I believe these have the power to divide and distract but not to revitalize the church. Until the church has a renewed vision of the message of Jesus and can step free of its own religious paralysis I say this with love and the awareness that I am speaking to myself as well, I believe we could easily remain on the sidelines distracted and for the most part irrelevant.