changing the perception of church in Quebec (radio appearance)

I just came back from discussing, ‘Conversations with the Homeless,’ in a radio interview with Jeffrey Mackie on CKUT 90.3 FM. If you missed it, you can listen to it here. I come up a few minutes after the clip begins.

In the interview, I also mentioned the church that I am currently serving as a Youth Pastor in River’s Edge Community Church. At River’s Edge, part of our core mission is to change the perception of Church in Quebec. This isn’t some randomly chosen mission statement, but it is uniquely tailored to our situation here in Quebec because of all the past church-related hurts and scandals that have affected and misconstrued the perception of church in Quebec.

As a result, rather than following the line of many churches today in constructing a modern facility to house our church gatherings, Lorenzo DellaForesta (our Lead Pastor) decided to go the route of obtaining and meeting in an abandoned Catholic Church. River’s Edge is not Catholic, and it is in fact the Catholic Church that many Quebecers have been hurt by. As a result, why we would we meet in a Catholic Church? Isn’t that the stupidest thing to do? Sure, maybe it would have been stupid to do it 10-15 years ago. However, considering the times we are in now, it is actually one of the most strategic things to do.

Why? Because there is an overriding sense of spirituality that pervades our post-modern culture. As a result, what many individuals crave for isn’t a modern version of Christianity, but a post-modern, spiritually-oriented community of faith that meets in a designated sacred space.