The Faith Trends Podcast The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Karl Vaters is the author of four books including De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What’s Next.

https://www.amazon.ca/Sizing-Church-Growth-Science-Obsession/dp/0802424252/

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.

His heart is to help pastors of small churches find the resources to lead well, and to capitalize on the unique advantages that come with pastoring a small church – something virtually every pastor will spend at least some of their ministry years doing. He also believes that big and small churches can and should work together more often – to the benefit and blessing of everyone.

Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.

Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

Switching up the typical format, Karen Stiller interviews Rick and Lindsay about the importance of properly identifying Evangelicals for effective ministry research.

In this episode of the Faith Trends podcast, Dr. Joel Thiessen, sociology professor at Ambrose University and Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute talks with us about what makes for an evangelistic congregation.

You can learn more about Joel at:

https://www.joelthiessen.ca/
https://ambrose.edu/profile/joel-thiessen-phd

Thiessen, Joel, Kennedy Quantz, Arch Chee Keen Wong, Keith Walker, and Bill McAlpine. “Evangelistic Belief and Behavior Among Canadian Congregants.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 51, no. 4 (December 2022): 459–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/00084298211055072.

In this episode, we talk with Andreae Sennyah, Director of Policy at Cardus, to discuss Cardus's research on trends in faith and spirituality among Canadian immigrants and non-immigrants. We discuss why it’s important to understand and appreciate the religious dimension that immigrants to Canada have to offer, and think about how this affects the religious landscape in Canada.

Access the research report we discuss in this episode here: https://www.cardus.ca/research/faith-communities/research-brief/religion-and-belief-among-immigrants-to-canada/

Discover more research from Cardus here: https://www.cardus.ca/research-library/

John Bowen and Jeremy McClung from the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College https://institute.wycliffecollege.ca/ talk us through their research on trends in conversion to Christianity in Canada, and it's not what you might think. John and Jeremy discuss how their findings can support effective evangelism in our nation.

A summary of their findings can be found here: https://institute.wycliffecollege.ca/2024/01/how-and-why-canadians-become-christian-five-lessons-from-recent-research/

Their full research report can be accessed here: https://institute.wycliffecollege.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-GI-Jan-Finding-Faith-in-Canada-Today-1.pdf

Also, introducing Christie Chan as our newest member of The Centre for Research on Church and Faith.

​REV. DR. ANDREW BENNETT is program director for Cardus Faith Communities. He holds a PhD in politics from the University of Edinburgh and degrees in history from McGill and Dalhousie universities. From 2013 to 2016 he served as Canada’s ambassador for religious freedom and head of the Office of Religious Freedom.

The Bible and Us: Canadians and Their Relationship with Scripture. https://www.cardus.ca/research/faith-communities/reports/the-bible-and-us-canadians-and-their-relationship-with-scripture/.

The Sacred Texts: Canadian perspectives on the Bible, Qu'ran, Torah, and their place in modern society https://angusreid.org/canada-religion-sacred-texts-bible-quran-torah/

The Shifting Landscape of Faith in Canada https://www.cardus.ca/research/faith-communities/research-report/the-shifting-landscape-of-faith-in-canada/