Open Out Bill Millar

We are living in a time of transition, when the character, the personality of Canada [and all of NA] is changing, morphing. In many cities, the 'visible minority' now are actually the majority - and within a few years this will be true in most of our urban centres. Open Out is a podcast series to empower everyday folk to live courageously, even joyfully, in the midst of these reconfiguration. Canada has changed, is changing - a country today in which the people themselves are as diverse as th...

This first series of Open Out podcasts, called "Curious" begins to explore that the possibilities are for faith communities who want to be intentionally open to welcoming folk who are somehow different - often those with different cultural backgrounds, including those who are new Canadians. We move from there to look at why a faith community might want to do that - and this means looking at the changes in both our country, and in our churches. Our country is experiencing a dramatic shift in i...

In this second episode of the "Curious" series, we look at reasons why faith communities (and other groups) might want to consider opening themselves to welcome greater cultural diversity - because Canada itself has changed, and is changing - dramatically. We look at the extraordinary transformation that is going on in the cultural make-up of our land - by looking specifically at census data, and at projections by Statistics Canada of what we are likely to look like in 15-20 years. Much of th...

Episode recorded before full effect of Covid-19 pandemic In this episode we continue to explore why faith communities and other groups might want to intentionally open outwards, welcome the new diverse folk who are the new Canada. Today we look specifically at the impact of both the declining birth rate in Canada and the dramatic rise in immigration on the church itself. Rather than lamenting the declining attendance in our churches as a bad/sad thing, what if we see it as a Divine invit...

After these days of shuttered churches, our time of sheltering in, once more will come a time for opening out. It will not be a return to what was, but some kind of new time for churches - we will need to decide how we open out and to whom we want to be open. Same old, or new people, different people, all people? This is the first in our 'Considering' series. Here we dig a bit deeper, get a bit more into the specifics, the messy and wondrous nitty-gritty of opening our communities of fai...

When our computers stop doing the things we want them to, we reboot the system. How can we reboot our thinking? Our relationships? Our churches? Our brains naturally perceive anything ‘different’ as a potential threat – so how can we help our brains adapt? This episode helps us prepare by understanding how privilege works & how it limits us, as well as what helps people’s minds open out.This episode was written and produced as the full impact of Covid-19 was just beginni...