100 years ago--The United Church of Canada is founded

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Ephesians 5:11

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. I John 2:18-19

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4

The modern ecumenical movement, which began with the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in June 1910, had already been underway for 15 years when, on June 10, 1925, the United Church of Canada was founded as a merger of the Methodist Church, Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches (a movement predominantly of the three provinces of the prairie provinces). 7,000-8,000 representatives attended the founding assembly at Mutual Street Arena in Toronto. In contrast to today, the assembly received so much newspaper coverage that it occupied the front page of the Toronto Daily Star on June 10, with articles appearing on the first seven pages of that day's edition.

M.G. Hammond reported in the June 11, 1910 edition of the Toronto Globe that the United Church had about 800,000 members in 9,000 congregations. Membership in the United Church of Canada peaked in 1964 at 1,064,000. By the end of 2023 the number of United Church congregations had dwindled to 2,451, with a total of 325,215 members--a decline in membership of approximately 70% since its peak. I don't have time to go into detail on the decline of the United Church of Canada, but it can be summed up in one word: apostasy. If you want to know about the current state of the United Church, just look at its website--especially during the month of June, when the UCC takes pride in what God calls an abomination (Leviticus 18:22).

I also recommend my previous posts on the United Church of Canada, especially the one on the 1964 Sunday School curriculum:

Calgary Herald blasts United Church of Canada for advocating a boycott of Israel (May 15, 2012)

Canadian Senators warn United Church of Canada over proposed boycott of Israeli goods (July 6, 2012)

A secular columnist accurately assesses Canada's declining liberal churches (July 30, 2012)

United Church of Canada elects its first openly sodomite moderator (August 16, 2012)

50 years ago: United Church of Canada unveils Sunday School curriculum denying the truth of the Bible (August 1, 2014)

80 years ago: United Church of Canada ordains Canada's first female minister (November 7, 2016)

Amalgamation of congregations in Edmonton provides more evidence of the continuing decline of the United Church of Canada (January 31, 2017)

30 years ago: New Ager Matthew Fox delivers keynote lecture at Queen's Theological School (October 11, 2017)

50 years ago: United Church in Calgary experiments with modern music (June 15, 2018)

Mainline church leaders 50 years ago advocated methods used by "evangelical" churches today (November 6, 2018)

Atheist minister with United Church of Canada keeps her job after an agreement in lieu of a heresy trial (November 16, 2018)

50 years ago: Canadian Anglican traditionalists oppose union with United Church of Canada (June 21, 2019)

United Church of Canada holds racially segregated mandatory workshops--for "racial justice" (May 31, 2021)

"Interfaith" service is appropriate for the retirement of United Church of Canada pastrix (July 30, 2023)

50 years ago--a couple of items related to ecumenism (April 26, 2025)

50 years ago--a couple of items related to ecumenism

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

Manmade efforts to unite nominal Christian churches have never quite been able to succeed; could that be because God isn't behind these efforts? From back in the days when most newspapers had a religion page and/or section on Saturday, here are a couple of items that appeared on the first page of the religion section of The Edmonton Journal, April 26, 1975 (headlines in original):

Catechism joint effort

LONDON (Reuter)--A new move toward Christian unity--a joint Protestant and Roman Catholic catechism--has been introduced here.

The common catechism, published in Britain on April 21, is the first book on Christian belief to be produced by a mixed team of Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians.

It was first issued two years ago in German, edited by two Swiss theologian scholars.

The English-language translation, published by search press, has the blessing but not the official recognition of both Protestant and Roman Catholic church leaders.

Doctrinal questions such as the existence of God and approaches to faith are tackled in the catechism, which is more than 650 pages long.

The Common Catechism: A Book of Christian Faith, by Johannes Feiner and Lukas Vischer, was the work of Roman Catholic, Lutheran Church, and Reformed Church theologians, and was published in English by Seabury Press on January 1, 1975.

Union losing impetus

ORILLIA, Ont. (CP)--The moderator of the United Church of Canada says the proposed union of the United and Anglican Churches "seems to have slowed down in the past few months."

Speaking at a Muskoka presbytery rally, Dr. Wilbur Howard of Ottawa said the United Church "is waiting anxiously for a circularization in the membership of the Anglican Church to see how mwmbers of the general congregation feel about the union."

He noted that the Anglican House of Bishops recently made public a report affirming a possible union.

But, he said, "they found the plan of union unacceptable."

"In the United Church we did not seem to have a clear understanding of the role of the bishops. Also the United Church believes that women should be ordained.

"Maybe we pushed too hard and maybe we didn't listen enough. But it was a good try. Union can't be imposed, it can only come when we work for it. I think it's part of the future."

Dr. Howard also said that the United Church is including in its "design for the future" husband and wife acting as ordained ministers. He said such ministries are being considered for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

As reported by Henry Overduin of the Montreal Gazette, June 20, 1975 (bold in original):

The decision this week by the Anglican synod meeting in Quebec City to reject the plan of union with the United Church is not as big a blow to ecumenism as might first be believed.

The plan of union was killed early February, when the bishops rejected it, commenting that it did not even provide a useful basis for continuing talks.

The synod, less brusquely but with the same result, confirmed the bishops' decision although accepting the plan as a study paper. But that's just a euphemism for "putting it on the shelf" where the plan of union will gather dust until some historian or archivist decides to peruse it.

LACK OF INTEREST

Lack of interest in schemes leading to organic union among Protestants is simply a fact of ecclesiastical life today.

This lack of interest, for example, is illustrated by the response to the so-called circularization of the Anglican church membership on union talks with the United Church.

That circularization--a poll--was decided on after the bishops rejected the plan of union, and something had to be done fast to assure the United Church that the Anglicans were still sincere about church union.

It was also made plain at the outset that the poll was not a referendum, that its results would not be binding on the church.

Results of the poll showed that while 72.1 per cent of eligible clergy responded, only 11 per cent of the eligible laity did.

The clergy were roughly divided half-and-half on the desirability of continuing talks--494 said yeas, and 473 said no. The general membership was also divided. A total of 33,396 favored continuation of the talks, and 28,930 were against.

But, based on the small sample and its volunteer nature, this poll hardly constituted a reliable gauge of Anglican sentiment.

As has been said before, it would be wrong to read into the synod's negative decision what is not really there, namely, that the ecumenical movement has suffeed a major setback. The concern of the ecumenical movement , in its general sense, was in fact affirmed. In this general sense, the ecumenical movement seeks to express the unity of the church in ways other than organizational charts.

NOTHING NEW

Also, the Anglican synod did go on record as favoring a continuation of talks based on a step-by-step approach to greater unity, instead of the grand plan originally proposed. But that's hardly new.

What can be expected--based on the leadership of the Church of England--is a greater movement toward unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

And, if one is to go by logic, isn't that the only sort of institutional direction the ecumenical movement can take?

As reported by Canadian Press and reported in the Montreal Gazette, June 20, 1975:

...Two decisions of major import affecting the entire church were made at the week-long meeting with synod stating that women can be priests and deciding toend negotiations for union with two other Protestant churches.

Both steps troubled the delegates and feelings during debate ran high...

In his closing remarks Archbishop [E.W.] Scott expressed his personal regrets to representatives of the United Church of Canada and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as they returned home to face the "difficult task" of officially informing their churches of the church-union decision.

General synod Tuesday found the plan of union that the three churches unacceptable, and though it expressed its willingness to continue to seek unity, its decision was viewed as a final turndown after 32 years of talks.

Among other resolutions pushed through swiftly as the synod sought to clean up its business--much was left unfinished--was one that called upon local committees and other church groups to determine and report if any of their financial investments are in banks or corporations that have trade or have investments in South Africa. The committees were told to sell such holdings as soon as possible.

The church has gone on record as opposing and deploring apartheid--separation of the races--in that country.

All dioceses were asked to study and respond to the concept of a guaranteed annual income for Canadians.

A memorial for the diocese of Edmonton asked that the Anglican Book Centre, a publishing firm, determine if it were financially possible to reprint the 1938 hymn book, now out of print.

It has been superseded by a joint hymn book adopted in 1971 by the Anglican Church and the United Church, which many members do not like. Many churches continue to use the old book

. The Anglican Church of Canada ordained its first six priestesses on November 30, 1976--40 years after the United Church of Canada began doing so--but formal unity of the two churches has never occurred. The two are united, however, in their increasing apostasy. The Anglican Church, according to its own 2019 survey, will be dead by 2040, and it will come as no surprise if the same isn't true for the United Church. The United Church's intention of having husband and wife as ordained ministers seems quaint in 2025; ordaining alphabet perverts wasn't on the radar screen in 1975. To see the United Church of Canada's downward slide as measured by its views on "Gender and Transgender Justice," go here and get the timeline right from the horse's mouth (or should that be the ass's butt?).

70 years ago--Archbishop of Canterbury pessimistic about immediate ecumenical unity

Ecumenical speculation from the leading cleric of the Church of England is nothing new, as exemplified in the following item reported by Canadian Press and published in the Calgary Herald, October 12, 1954:

WINNIPEG - The Archbishop of Canterbury said Sunday night the world's churches are getting nearer to one another but he does not anticipate any general reunion of the separated churches into one articulated body, governed by one constitution.

Most Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Fisher, who recently attended the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Ill., and toured Canada, spoke on "Prospects for unity." His address was recorded during a visit to Winnipeg for broadcast in the C.B.C. program, "Our Special Speaker." Dr. Fisher arrived back in England Oct. 4.

"We are all sinful men with our share of wilfulness and wrongheadedness," he said. "This truly shows that every church in Christendom has erred in matters of faith; and that liability to err remains, will remain.

"If there were but one church, its errors would bring final disaster to all. We need our various traditions to continue within the whole church catholic, so that as occasion needs, the insight of one may correct the error of another; and one may hear what the Holy Spirit speaks to the church when others are temporarily deaf to it."

Then, as now, the World Council of Churches was apostate, but the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke as though liberal churches were actually Christian. His skepticism regarding churches uniting into one body has so far been correct; if they do unite, it will likely be under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Interfaith" service is appropriate for the retirement of United Church of Canada pastrix

I don't see any mention of alphabet perverts in the following article, but every other base seems to have been touched, providing moer evidence, as if was needed, to prove that the United Church of Canada is hopelessly apostate. As reported, with his typically idiotic liberal bias, by John Longhurst in the Winnipeg Free Press, June 30, 2023 (updated July 1, 2023):

I don’t know what heaven is like. But there may have been a clue June 11 at Westworth United Church.

That was the day the church acknowledged the retirement of its minister, Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd, with a service of gratitude and celebration.

What made the service a bit like heaven was how it included not only Christian scriptures and liturgy, but those from other faith traditions such as Islam and Judaism, along with contributions from Indigenous people.

The service opened with a treaty acknowledgment and included a Hebrew chant for peace and readings from the Hebrew scriptures, the Qu’ran and the New Testament — along with traditional hymns and choruses.

Participants in the service included Izzeddin Hawamda, originally from the West Bank in Palestine; Humaira Jaleel, founder and executive director of Healthy Muslim Families; Idris Knapp, executive director of Winnipeg’s Central Mosque; Rabbanit Dorit Kosmin, an interfaith health-care chaplain who has also worked as a cantor and Jewish educator; Cree elder and former United Church of Canada minister Stan McKay; Rabbi Kliel Rose of Congregation Etz Chayim; Anass Sebbahi, a Muslim musician; Rachel Landrecht, a sacred singer and songwriter; and Jedediyah Swampy of Sagkeeng First Nation, a traditional singer and drummer.

It was a joyous service from the opening introit, through the anthem and the Taize chant to the reading of scriptures, the hymns and postlude — albeit tinged with a bit of sadness at seeing a much-loved minister depart the church.

After the service, I asked MacKenzie Shepherd why she chose an interfaith service for her farewell.

It grew out of the church’s history of interfaith involvement, along with her own personal commitment to engaging with people from other faith groups, she said, adding “I have long believed that the only way through generational conflicts between cultures and faiths is a third way that emerges between entrenched, oppositional sides.”

For her, “to find this third way requires us to listen deeply with compassion to views that may be anathema to what we believe. But as we listen, we develop relationships of trust where the other can know that they are safe in our presence. We may respectfully disagree, but we commit to standing with each other against societal hostility, such as antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and homophobia.”

MacKenzie Shepherd also believes triangulation is key to bringing diverse faith communities together — not focusing on interfaith dialogue but asking people to give attention to some other justice-related topic or issue.

For Westworth, the thing they focused on was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. MacKenzie Shepherd brought together people from the Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist communities, along with Indigenous people, to discuss those calls. In the process, “trusting relationships” were established, she said, leading to greater interfaith engagement.

Those meetings “touched a spiritual need” and fostered a “deep desire to come together,” she said.

So when she was asked what kind of gathering she wanted for her retirement service, bringing people from those groups together for an interfaith worship service was an obvious choice.

“This is the first time that both Westworth and I have ever been part of such a service,” she said, adding it was “a natural culmination of all of our work together.”

World Evangelical Alliance is tied in with the United Nations, and supports the agenda of the UN and the World Council of Churches

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18:36

For those who wonder if the Evangelical establishment (Big Eva, as A.D. Robles calls it) is part of the world system (it seems to this blogger that the higher up on the Evangelical ladder they are, the greater the chance that they're actually playing for the other team), one need look no further than the home page of the World Evangelical Alliance, where the WEA boasts of its ties to the evil and corrupt United Nations (bold in original):

An Evangelical Voice at United Nations

Serving a constituency of some 600 million evangelical Christians, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is uniquely positioned to represent an evangelical voice at the United Nations (UN). Since the relocation of its Headquarters to New York in 2010, the WEA has increased its engagement at the UN promoting peace and reconciliation, advocating for the poor and needy, and also communicating evangelical beliefs and values.

The WEA holds Special Consultative Status in the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) which serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.

The WEA is also accredited to the UN Department of Public Information.

The following hardly needs commentary; the reader will notice not only the WEA support for the United Nations (including the UN's Sustainable Development Goals), but the WEA's referring to "Christian sisters and brothers in the World Council of Churches," and support for the WCC's position, thus showing a complete lack of discernment (bold, links in original).

UN New Agenda for Peace: Submission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

/ Human Rights, Human Security / By WEAatUnitedNations / June 12, 2023

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has offered input to the UN’s “New Agenda for Peace,” a process recognizing the shared human responsibility to “protect and manage the global public good of peace.” In its submission, the WEA affirms the six potential areas for the New Agenda for Peace – reducing strategic risks, strengthening international foresight and capacities to identify and adapt to new risks, reshaping responses to all forms of violence, investing in prevention and peacebuilding, supporting regional prevention, and putting women and girls at the center.

UN New Agenda for Peace

Submission of the World Evangelical Alliance

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) commends the United Nations Secretary General for identifying the necessity of A New Agenda for Peace. We are grateful for the opportunity to join many voices contributing to a global conversation that we pray will lead to a future of hope and peace where swords are beaten into ploughshares and people can enjoy life in all its fullness with none to make them afraid.

The WEA began in 1846 as collective desire of Protestant Christians to be engaged in the social issues and injustices of their day. This original seed continues to grow and has become a global communion of approximately 600 million Christians in more than 140 countries. We believe Jesus Christ calls us to be actively engaged in the well-being of the world and all its peoples and that integral to that is the call to peacemaking and the building of societies where there is “positive peace” as described by the 2022 Global Peace Index.1 We believe Jesus Christ calls us to speak and act toward God’s transcendent and moral vision of the flourishing life for all people and creation that is sourced in faith, hope, and love. We believe God calls human authorities to remember our finiteness and dependency, our need for divine wisdom and forgiveness, and our responsibility to steward and build systems and structures together that are just and righteous, with particular concern for the vulnerable and oppressed. We confess we continue to have much to learn from God and others in the global human family in this regard. We also believe our global alliance, with its active congregations, organizations, and networks has much to contribute to this important dialogue upon which so much depends.

We celebrate the contribution to A New Agenda for Peace made by our Christian sisters and brothers in the World Council of Churches and add our affirmation to their submission.2 As fellow Christians with shared concerns, we seek to add to their important voice.

We also celebrate that the United Nations recognizes the shared human responsibility to “protect and manage the global public good of peace.” This submission seeks to contribute to this global public good by affirming the six potential areas for the New Agenda for Peace – reducing strategic risks, strengthening international foresight and capacities to identify and adapt to new risks, reshaping responses to all forms of violence, investing in prevention and peacebuilding, supporting regional prevention, and putting women and girls at the center. We are committed to the SDG's as focused goals to address those issues in our global communities that challenge environments of living in peaceful ways. We also recognize the value of strengthening and building upon the pillars for positive peace named by the Global Peace Index – well-functioning government, sound business environment, acceptance of the rights of others, good relations with neighbours, free flow of information, high levels of human capital, low levels of corruption, and equitable distribution of resources. Toward a New Agenda for Peace that will see the six potential areas strengthened and the eight pillars for positive peace undergirded, we call for special attention to be given to the following:

• Faith community participation

We submit that since faith communities of all kinds and confessions are found everywhere, in rural and urban settings, are uniquely contextually aware, have members involved in many segments of society, and are organized for community engagement, it is crucial that they and their leaders be welcomed, listened to, equipped, and involved as vital partners in any new agenda for peace. Both the Global Peace Index and Our Common Agenda name realities that faith communities are engaging and experienced in, and yet they are unnamed as potential contributors. The WEA has commissioned a Peace & Reconciliation Network to increasingly connect and assist our national alliances in peace and reconciliation work, have a Global Advocacy department with UN representation, and know other religious bodies care for the public good in this way as well. Most importantly, we have thousands upon thousands of local congregations, compelled by their faith in Jesus and his teachings, who actively care for and are engaged in their communities. A New Agenda for Peace in a globalized and pluralistic age should welcome and include the convictions, learnings, insights, contributions, and corrections of faith communities that are forming people who inhabit, labour, and serve within the areas and pillars that require crucial attention for the global public good.

• Trauma-healing

We submit that special attention be given, and investment made in trauma-care and the formation of trauma-responsive communities and structures. Unresolved trauma is a significant contributor to the breakdown of family and social structures, creating the individual and communal conditions for conflict and violence to simmer over generations and erupt disastrously. Attentiveness to the health of the whole person – mental, emotional, relational and spiritual – and the role trauma plays in eroding that health is a crucial part in forming communities and societies equipped to build positive peace.

• Mandatory peacebuilding education including women and children

We submit that special encouragement be given to educational curriculum development that includes the history and practices of peacebuilding. We believe that a global expectation of peacebuilding as a core educational component beginning with the youngest, and including women, would greatly facilitate the equipping of people of all ages, genders, areas and pillars of life to contribute to reducing strategic risks and be a deposit in prevention that would produce generational fruit in family, neighbourhood, business, culture-shaping, and governance.

• Investment in peacebuilding by government and business

We submit that national governments should be called to set a standard investment in peacebuilding. We also submit that business and industry should be invited to invest in peacebuilding as well.

Recent conflicts have increased defense spending by many countries with plans for greater expenditure. A New Agenda for Peace should call for governments to set minimum standards of investing in peacebuilding across their societies. Research, recognition, and rewarding of successful and grassroots efforts should not be seen as optional, but critical investment in human and environmental flourishing. We believe careful attention to regional voices of all involved parties, and religious and indigenous conflict resolution resources that exist in societies is a necessity. We propose that recognizing practices already and historically inherent in many cultures can help build a positive peace if attended to, learned from, and adapted for current realities. These, along with new and emerging peacebuilding capacities should be expected governmental investment.

In addition, we propose that business and industry should be challenged and incentivized to make social investment in peacebuilding an expected part of their social responsibility, entrepreneurship, and contribution to thriving and flourishing communities. Government and business, understanding the economic and environmental impact of violence and the economic and environmental impact of peace,3 should partner creatively in addressing the horrific, unjust, and peace-preventing impact of increased militarization and weaponization and expect investment that produces positive peace.

• Publish good news

As those who claim to be people of “good news” (the etymological root of “evangelical”), we submit that the publishing of good news stories of peacebuilding and reconciliation would contribute significantly to forming culture and shaping practices. A New Agenda for Peace should emphasize the telling of stories from all around the world, including faith communities, where a positive culture of peace is being formed and built. While not minimizing the responsibility to counter “fake” news and tell the truth of what is fractured and broken, we propose that telling good news stories of where the public good of peace is being worked at, contended for, and being realized is strategic for transformation, particularly in an age where the technological interconnectedness of the world enables rapid and viral information sharing.

In conclusion, we express again our gratitude for the invitation of the Secretary General to make this contribution to A New Agenda for Peace. We concur with the view of the World Council of Churches in their submission that “in a world beset by such a constellation of converging crises, a traditional silo-ed approach to addressing peace and security could not pretend to be fit for the purpose.” We encourage the United Nations to a collaborative and wholistic approach that does not ignore voices of faith but welcomes their contribution and participation as vital for the healing of the nations.

With respect and for the sake of the world,

Archbishop Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, DD, Secretary General

Rev. Phil Wagler, Global Director, Peace & Reconciliation Network

Prof. Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, Director, Global Advocacy

----------------------------------------------------

1 Institute for Economics & Peace. Global Peace Index 2022: Measuring Peace in a Complex World, Sydney, June 2022. Available from: http://visionofhumanity.org/resources (accessed May 18, 2023).

2 World Council of Churches’ submission for UN New Agenda for Peace. Peter Prove Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs World Council of Churches Geneva, 6 April 2023.

3 Global Peace Index 2022, 43-44

The reader will notice the closing words "for the sake of the world" rather than "for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ." The reader is invited to compare the WEA's submission to the World Council of Churches’ submission for UN New Agenda for Peace (bold, underscore, links in original):

Introduction

Formed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the perspectives and priorities of the World Council of Churches (WCC) were marked from the outset by moral abhorrence at the suffering resulting from and atrocities perpetrated in that conflict. In response, the WCC committed itself to working for the development of international law, to promoting multilateral international cooperation, and to a holistic approach to seeking a sustainable global peace founded on justice and human rights.

At the 11th Assembly of the WCC, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, on 31 August-8 September 2022, delegates from the WCC’s over 350 member churches in more than 120 countries, representing a total global constituency of approximately 580 million people, reflected on a current context in which all of those commitments and values are threatened and undermined. The prevailing ‘polycrisis’ of climate change, conflict, forced displacement, pandemic, rampant inequality, economic instability and political fragmentation was recognized by the Assembly as demanding a holistic approach and intensified international cooperation more than ever before.

Among other relevant policy positions1, the Karlsruhe Assembly:

– rejected the polarization and division of the human community and declared WCC’s commitment to stay together as an ecumenical fellowship, and to grapple with the threats and challenges to peace, justice, human security and environmental sustainability through dialogue, encounter, the pursuit of mutual understanding, and cooperation, rather than through exclusion and confrontation;

– reasserted the ecumenical movement’s rejection and denunciation of war as contrary to the will of God;

– reiterated calls for a global ceasefire, as an urgent moral imperative, in all armed conflicts around the world, and for parties to such conflicts to engage and persist in dialogue and negotiations until just and sustainable peace can be achieved, and to abstain from war;

– appealed for much greater financial and practical support by the international community for peace-building and peace-making rather than for division and military confrontation, and underlined the important role of women and youth as peacemakers;

– called for greatly increased investment by governments and other actors in the foundations of true human security and global stability, including for urgent action for climate justice and to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change, for a just transition to renewable energy, for the elimination of extreme poverty, for sustainable development, and for measures to control rampant inequality, including through tax justice and reparations; and

– encouraged renewed efforts to reform and improve the effectiveness of UN and other intergovernmental instruments for promoting peace and human security. Accordingly, the WCC welcomes the opportunity to make this submission for the ‘New Agenda for Peace’, proposed by the UN Secretary-General in his report “Our Common Agenda”.

Submission

The WCC strongly affirms the urgency of the Secretary-General’s call for concerted collective efforts to respond effectively to multiple converging global challenges, or risk significant systemic breakdown and perpetual crisis.

We concur with many of the main directions proposed for promoting peace and preventing conflicts, including with regard to:

– Reducing strategic risks (nuclear weapons, cyberwarfare, autonomous weapons);

– Strengthening international foresight;

– Investing in prevention and peacebuilding;

– Supporting regional prevention; and

– Putting women and girls at the centre of security policy.

Further, we underline the intersectionality of many proposals in other areas, and their critical importance for sustainable peace, including especially:

– Urgent and effective action to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies;

– A renewed social contract anchored in human rights;

– Universal social protection, including health care and basic income security;

– Removing barriers to young people’s participation in politics and society;

– Ensuring that policy and budget decisions take into account their impact on future generations;

– Eradicating violence against women and girls;

– Promoting women’s economic inclusion;

– Legal identity for all, ending statelessness, and protection of internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants;

– Ending the ‘infodemic’, ‘fake news’ and ‘the war against science’;

– Tackling corruption and illicit financial flows

– Reforming the international tax system;

– Promoting regulation of artificial intelligence; and

– Stronger global health security and preparedness.

Among the many issues that must be encompassed in the New Agenda for Peace, we wish to place special emphasis on the following:

Nuclear disarmament

Though the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought the threat of nuclear conflagration back more prominently into the public discourse and consciousness, the threat had always persisted. Despite paying lip service to their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), nuclear-weapon states have consistently resisted progress towards the “general and complete disarmament” that the NPT envisages. Moreover, international efforts to prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons have been fatally undermined by the obvious hypocrisy of such efforts being led by members of the same club of recalcitrant nuclear-weapon states.

It is legally and ethically anomalous that unlike chemical weapons, biological weapons, antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions, nuclear weapons – the most indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction ever created by human beings – are not prohibited in a comprehensive and universal manner. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) seeks to fill this gap in the international disarmament regime, by establishing a new normative principle in international law for the comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons, prohibiting the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of such weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities, in line with the commitment expressed under article VI of the NPT. Rather than on the narrow military/security basis of previous nuclear disarmament negotiations, the TPNW is founded upon recognition of the appalling humanitarian and ecological consequences of nuclear warfare. Nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-umbrella states that seek to undermine and obstruct the TPNW do so at the peril of the entire globe.

Moreover, non-proliferation efforts within the framework of a multilateral commitment to the comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons will carry greater political weight and credibility than such efforts by nuclear-weapon states while seeking to retain their own arsenals and the political leverage they bring.

Therefore, the WCC expects the New Agenda for Peace strongly to profile the TPNW as the hitherto missing link in the nuclear disarmament regime, and to build upon the new normative principles it has introduced for the stigmatization of nuclear weapons (regardless of who possesses them) and for accelerating progress towards the elimination of this most morally egregious category of weapons.

Other disarmament challenges

The WCC is greatly disturbed by the efforts by some States and private companies to develop autonomous weapons systems – so-called ‘killer robots’ – capable of being deployed and engaging in theatres of armed conflict without meaningful human control. The concern we have for the regulation of artificial intelligence in general is greatly amplified with regard to applications of AI in armed conflict. The moral and legal issues are so self-evident that they hardly require belabouring here. However, the WCC expects that the New Agenda for Peace will be clear and categorical in its opposition to autonomous weapons systems, and in its support for a pre-emptive ban on such weapons.

Likewise, the New Agenda for Peace should include a stronger renewed focus on controlling and reversing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which bring so much death and suffering in so many societies in both South and North, in some cases to the point of destabilizing entire nations. The WCC has been a strong advocate for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and its implementation. We believe that in this period of escalating militarization, confrontation and social fragmentation, there must be even stricter oversight and control of the manufacture of and trade in small arms and light weapons, nationally and internationally, to prevent the spread of such weapons becoming even more of a threat to peace and social stability.

Supporting national capacities for prevention, peacebuilding and resilience: The role of religious leaders and interfaith peacebuilding

The WCC strongly affirms the need for the New Agenda for Peace to promote increased support for national capacities for prevention, peacebuilding and resilience, and investment in national level infrastructure for peace. Within this context, we particularly wish to highlight the importance of engaging religious leaders and faith-based actors. In many societies, especially - but not only - in the Global South, religious leaders, communities and institutions constitute the foundations of societal resilience, remaining even when governmental and other forms of authority fail or are absent.

Moreover, the years since the 1992 UN Agenda for Peace was published have been tragically and indelibly marked by the phenomenon of religiously-inspired extremism, and violence and conflict based on religious identity. In far too many, and seemingly an increasing number of contexts around the world, people and communities are targeted and attacked, often with deadly violence, on the basis of their religious identity. In situations where religious discrimination is reflected in official or practical access to citizenship rights, the risks of such violence are greatly elevated. In such contexts, interfaith cooperation to prevent and confront violence, and to promote inclusion, equal citizenship, and fundamental human rights for all is of vital importance. WCC and its member churches work with interfaith partners in many conflict-affected and conflict-risk situations around the world for these purposes.

Given the current and historical context in which the New Agenda for Peace is being formulated, in which religious discrimination and hatred has been a key driver of conflict but in which religion also remains such an important source of societal resilience, we expect that appropriate recognition and prominence will be given to the importance of engaging with faith-based and interfaith peacemakers at the national level in the construction of sustainable peace.

Sanctions/economic warfare

Though sanctions are generally and understandably seen as preferable to measures for the restoration of international peace and security that entail the use of armed force, in WCC’s experience this presumption warrants much closer examination and reconsideration. In practice, sanctions – whether unilateral or mandated by the UN Security Council – often produce humanitarian suffering and other consequences at least as severe, and generally more widespread, than the use of armed force. In terms of their humanitarian impacts, such measures can often be considered as tantamount to warfare by economic means. This is particularly true in the case of comprehensive ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions regimes. The imposition of such measures can also poison the political environment for negotiations and other initiatives for peace (including civil society initiatives), creating major obstacles to the resolution of conflict.

Moreover, according to our observations, sanctions and related measures are generally unsuccessful in achieving their stated aims. Therefore, we recommend that the New Agenda for Peace include a commitment to a thorough ‘cost-benefit’ analysis of the current utilization of sanctions and related measures, weighing their success (or lack thereof) in achieving their legitimate political/security aims against their negative humanitarian, human rights and political impacts.

WCC recently partnered with the World Evangelical Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, ACT Alliance and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) to undertake research on the negative impacts of sanctions on humanitarian and social service activities from the specific perspective of churches and church-related organizations. The report is available here.

Mental health/psychosocial support and trauma-healing

To avoid repetition and inter-generational transmission of cycles of violence and instability, mental health, psycho-social support and trauma-healing is often the missing link. It is also generally the most underfunded component of any crisis response. In our view, the New Agenda for Peace must seek to raise the profile of and the support provided to this essential contribution to peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies, not only in the context of preventing conflict but also for addressing many other aspects of the current ‘polycrisis’, and with a special priority for children and young people.

Especially in contexts where professional mental health services are inadequate to the scale of the need, local religious leaders and faith communities are often by default the primary providers – or potential providers – of psycho-social care and support. Again in the context of investing in local/national resilience, we recommend engagement with and capacity-building for local religious leaders and communities to enable them to provide better and more effective care in this domain, in order to help rebuild lives, and to break the cycle of violence and instability.

The resource extraction-conflict nexus

Resource extractive activities such as drilling for oil and gas, mining, and logging, not only impose heavy ecological costs, but have often been linked to increased incidence, frequency and duration of armed violence, particularly in contexts marked by high levels of socio-economic inequality and where local communities have been largely excluded from decision-making processes. In addition, the militarization of resource-rich lands with a view to exerting state or corporate control over resources has often led to violence and grave violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, farmers and fisher-folk, and threats against environmental defenders including religious leaders who have spoken out against such activities.

We believe that the effective management of a society’s natural resources – not least ensuring equitable sharing of benefits and just allocation of burdens – must be a priority not only for the sustainable development agenda but also for the New Agenda of Peace. In this regard, policies that promote equitable wealth distribution, public investment and dignified employment must be given due importance.

Moreover, we observe that continued development of new fossil fuel extraction and related infrastructure constitutes – in the context of the accelerating climate emergency – a kind of weapon of mass destruction (so-called ‘carbon bombs’) imperiling the entire living planet. The New Agenda for Peace should name, stigmatize and denounce this kind of environmental violence and destruction.

Racial justice

The commitment to racial justice, the elimination of xenophobia and of related intolerance has been widely discussed, affirmed and reiterated in various UN forums. However, these threats to our shared humanity remain firmly entrenched in most societies across the world. The persistence of racism, xenophobia and related discrimination remains a major threat to peace in many societies, the salience of which is increasing in some contexts. Accordingly, the New Agenda for Peace must help raise the profile and resources allocated to the UN racial justice mechanisms and amplify calls for inclusive and sustainable communities, free from such discrimination.

The intersection of racism and climate, health, food and social injustice must be lifted up in the New Agenda for Peace. because in our view sustainable peace will be impossible to achieve if some groups of people continue to be disproportionately burdened by the “polycrisis” of today according to their race, ethnicity, colour or place of origin.

Conclusion

The WCC welcomes the convergences and intersectionalities recognized in the framing of the New Agenda for Peace. Indeed, in a world beset by such a constellation of converging crises, a traditional silo-ed approach to addressing peace and security could not pretend to be fit for the purpose.

Moreover, the increasing gulf between global humanitarian needs (driven by the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, as well as by conflict) and the resources committed to meeting those needs, obliges the international community to finally move beyond rhetoric to action to address the upstream root causes in order to prevent such crises rather than perpetually failing to meet the critical humanitarian needs they produce.

Respectfully submitted

Peter Prove
Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
World Council of Churches
Geneva, 6 April 2023
---------------------------------------------------------
1 Expressed especially in the Assembly statement “The Things That Make For Peace: Moving the World to Reconciliation and Unity”, September 2022

These two submissions provide ample evidence that "Evangelicals" and liberals are now basically indistinguishable from one another. The "Evangelical" voice at the United Nations is an echo rather than a rebuttal; it reminds me of the old statement about Canadian politicians that they represent Ottawa to us rather than representing us in Ottawa.

Speaking of Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada boasts of its connections to the World Evangelical Alliance, including the following (bold, links in original):

WEA Strengthened by Canadian Ties

The World Evangelical Alliance is a network of churches and organizations representing more than 600 million Evangelicals. The EFC is its national alliance partner in Canada.

Several EFC staff and former staff are involved in WEA leadership including:

EFC executive vice-president David Guretzki is treasurer of the WEA International Council.

Brian Stiller is the WEA global ambassador, and the EFC hosts his Dispatches blog.

Christine MacMillan is the WEA senior advisor on social justice as well as chair of the WEA Global Human Trafficking Task Force.

Janet Epp Buckingham is the WEA's director of global advocacy.

Steve Hubley is the WEA's director of development.

Canadians can donate online to support the WEA and individual Canadians who work there.

The WEA includes commissions on mission, religious liberty, theology, women, youth as well as initiatives on human trafficking, refugees, leadership training, nuclear weapons, generosity, creation care, business and more.

WEA Peace and Reconciliation Network in Canada

The Peace & Reconciliation Network of the World Evangelical Alliance describes its work using the acronym TRAIN (Teaching, Restoration, Assistance, Initiative, Networking). Some of its Canadian leaders include:

global director (and EFC global liaison) Phil Wagler of Kelowna, B.C.

Canadian coordinator Joel Zantingh of Guelph, Ont.

director of network development Manuel Böhm of Kitchener, Ont.

The EFC needs to update its information on this page; David Guretzki is now the president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The reader will recognize the names of Phil Wagler and Janet Epp Buckingham as signatories of the WEA's submission on the UN New Agenda for Peace.

See my posts: Today's Evangelicals, Tomorrow's Liberals--A Warning from 1983 (January 13, 2010)

More evidence that yesterday's liberalism has become today's evangelicalism (November 8, 2011)

More evidence that today's yesterday's evangelicals are tomorrow's today's liberals (January 24, 2015)

Mainline church leaders 50 years ago advocated methods used by "evangelical" churches today (November 6, 2018)

Evangelical churches in Canada use Covid-19 as an opportunity to team up with unbelievers in promoting an antichrist agenda (March 31, 2022)

July 25, 2023 update: Tom Littleton has just posted this at his blog Thirty Pieces of Silver: United Nations & WEF Plan to Double Down on 2030 Sustainable Goals in September Meeting While Evangelicals Have Already Signed On (July 25, 2023)

September 27, 2023 update: The International Council of Christian Churches, at its 21st World Congress in Collingswood, New Jersey from June 21-28, 2023, adopted the following resolution (bold in original):

The World Evangelical Alliance and Apostasy

POSITION STATEMENT

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) traces its roots to 1846, when the Evangelical Alliance was inaugurated in Great Britain. At present, the organization includes in its membership an extensive list of regional bodies, such as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in the United States. It also includes many wellknown mission, medical, legal, educational, and relief agencies as affiliates.

Since its inception in 1948, the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) has stood in opposition to what was then called the New Evangelicalism. The NAE, a mouthpiece of this New Evangelicalism, championed a philosophy of “infiltrating” the apostate churches — particularly those in the Modernistic National Council of Churches (NCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC). In contrast, the American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC), and the ICCC took the Biblical position that Christians and churches should “separate” from apostasy, compromise, and unbelief (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).

As the years have passed, the warnings issued by the ICCC have proven to be correct. When a person or church begins to use human reasoning to countenance compromise on things concerning which the Bible is clear, there rarely is a return to Scriptural conformity and obedience. Compromise breeds compromise, and things usually continue to progressively diverge from what God has commanded in His Word. The WEA is a case in point. It has passed the point where its goal was just to “infiltrate,” to the place where it now fully cooperates with the apostasy.

WEA considers itself to be one of the “Four Pillars” to bring about global “Christian Unity.”

On June 17, 2022, the WEA website carried the headline: “WCC, Global Christian Forum (GCF) sign memorandum of understanding affirming mutual quest for Christian Unity.” The WEA writer reports: “Both Sauca [World Council of Churches Acting General Secretary at the time], and Essasmuah [secretary of the GCF] expressed joy at the pivotal role of the four pillars — ‘namely the WCC, World Evangelical Alliance, Pentecostal World Fellowship and the Roman Catholic Church.’”

The reporter continued that Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher, secretary general / CEO of the WEA, stated at the meeting that he considered it to be “gracious of the WCC to agree to be just one pillar of several,” leaving room for the other three groups. This was not just the description of a WEA staff writer. Dr. Schirrmacher used this language himself, publicly declaring that the WEA is “one of the [four] pillars.”

The report continues that this memorandum of understanding was signed by Fr. Andrzej Choromanski, of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the WCC’s Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, Rev. Dr. Casely Essa­muah of the Global Christian Forum, Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher of the World Evangelical Alliance, and William Wilson of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.

Ties between the WEA and WCC have never been closer.

At one time, many evangelicals agreed that the WCC was an apostate organization. Some top WCC leaders denied such cardinal doctrines as the Virgin Birth of Christ, the Deity of Christ, the necessity of Christ’s atonement on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His working of many mighty miracles, and so forth.

However, in recent years, the WEA has had extensive cooperation and has begun working closely with the WCC, The Roman Catholic Church, East Orthodox churches, and so forth.

At the WCC 11th World Assembly, August 31 through September 8, 2023, WEA Secretary General Archbishop Schirrmacher was in attendance. Together with greetings of ecumenical cooperation from Pope Francis, and representatives of Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism, Schirrmacher spoke on behalf of the WEA.

He began by praising outgoing WCC Acting General Secretary Ioan Sauca, a priest in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Speaking of their close “friendship and cooperation,” he stated: “Professor Sauca has been a gift of God to the body of Christ for such a time as this.” Pointing out that the WEA and WCC were of approximately equal size, Schirrmacher stated: “We are aware that we have a considerable overlap in membership.…”

He continued: “Nowadays, WCC and WEA work together in most areas of ministry. We exchange members on all important commissions. My own involvement in [the WCC] Faith and Order [Commission] has given me enormous insight into the different theological topics that still divide churches and the urgent need for more intense listening to each other.”

This close union between the two groups has been apparent for many years. On August 25, 2021, the WEA official website carried a headline titled: “World Council of Churches (WCC) and World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Strengthen Their Collaboration [August 2021].”

In his concluding remarks to the WCC Assembly, Bishop Shirrmacher stated: “We pray for God’s blessing on all the ongoing work of the WCC and this Assembly. May God the Father give us all strength to work on behalf of his creation. May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who saved us from sin and death, be our example in his willingness to give his life for the good of others. And may the Holy Spirit keep us all from evil ways and unjust thoughts and lead us into the growing truth promised to his church on earth.”

The entire message was based almost exclusively on “peace and justice” themes, decrying the war in Ukraine, and fearing that “racism” against Russians would arise from this. He also spoke strongly against anti-semitism. We will not judge Schirrmacher’s intentions, but almost any such speech he and others from the WEA make to ecumenical gatherings fails to explicitly promote the real gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone.

The WCC also speaks about Jesus Christ saving us from sin and death, but it is virtually always in vague terms, which could be interpreted in different ways. When it is explicit, it invariably is focused on social justice and making “all things new” on this earth.

Instead of an encouragement to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission, as presented in the Bible, Schirrmacher speaks of “work on behalf of God’s creation.” Instead of the Good News, we are to make Christ “our example in his willingness to give his life for the good of others.” Instead of the Holy Spirit illuminating the Scriptures, the sure and complete Word of God, we are to look to Him to “lead us into the growing truth promised to his church on earth.” In the context of social justice, we are to look to the Holy Ghost to “keep us all from evil ways and unjust thoughts.”

The WEA and WCC both promote a questionable version of “social justice” at the United Nations.

The WEA and WCC both hold offices at the United Nations, where they speak out about all kinds of “social issues.” The WEA holds Special Consultative Status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), “which serves as the central forum for dis­cussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.”

The WEA uses this platform to advocate for “climate care,” and “global sustainability,” together with other issues of “social justice.” In its August 21, 2021, meeting with the WCC, the two organizations agreed to expand their cooperative work for “climate justice.” In 2019, the WEA established the “WEA Sustainability Center (WEASC) in the strategic ‘UN City’ of Bonn, Germany.” The whole goal of the Center is to teach and encourage the churches to take part in “climate care.”

The ICCC certainly desires to see clean water, clean air, and to discourage practices which harm our planet, but this is not the gospel of Christ. Further, since the WCC program for “justice” is decidedly Marxist, one must be very concerned that the WEA has such ease in collaborating with the WCC in these matters.

Evangelical churches and organizations need to be obedient to Scripture in order to warrant our support.

Many have criticized the ICCC, and other Bible-believing groups, for being too strong in their stand against such compromise. People often justify such compromise with the human rationalization that many WEA member groups “do so much good.” Some just choose to ignore the facts, or simply wink at the situation.

As Bible believers, we must not have a censurious spirit, and we should be patient and kind, but nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to support a church or organization because “they do so much good.” It is not there! The Bible is clear from beginning to end that true Christian love, cooperation, and support are based on obedience to Christ and His Word — nothing else.

Many so-called conservative denominations, including the Presbyterian Church in America, the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, to name just a couple, maintain their membership in the WEA through the World Reformed Fellowship (WRF). Even within that group there are many unfaithful churches.

In addition to regional evangelical organizations, and a few denominations with international reach, there are also many non-profit organizations familiar to many Christians. Even though many do seemingly “good work,” yet their disobedience must be a real concern for Bible believing Christians. These organizations include:

A Advocates International, AM International, Asia Theological Association, Asian Access, B Barnabas Aid, Bakke Graduate University, Barnabas Relief Fund, Bible Discovery, Bible League of Canada, Biblica, C Campus Missions International, CEDAR Fund, Center for Mission Mobilization, ChinaSource, Christian Endeavor World Union, Christopher Sun Evangelistic Association, COMIBAM – Cooperation of Mission from Latin America, Creatio International, Crossroads Christian Communications Inc., Cru, D David Chung Ministries International, E EFCA Reach Global, Elim Center International, Engineer Ministries International, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Every Home for Christ International, Every Nation Churches & Ministries, F Faith & Family Foundation, Finnish Lutheran Overseas Mission, Frontier Ventures, Frontiers USA, G Global Outreach Day, Global Scholars, Gospel & Information Technology, H Healthcare Christian Fellowship International, Holy Bible Society, I Integral Alliance, International Association for Refugees, International Association of Evangelical Chaplains, International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA), International Council for Evangelical Theological Education – ICETE, International Evangelism Association, International Justice Mission, International Needs Network, J Jews for Jesus, K Kenosis Media Group, L Luis Palau Association, M Micah Global, Middle East Concern, N The Navigators, No More Violence International, NORMISJON, Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband (Norwegian Lutheran Mission), O Olivet Center for World Mission, Olivet University, One Challenge International, One Collective, One Mission Society, OneHope, Open Doors International, Operation Mobilisation, P The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Pioneers International, Power to Change, R Refugee Highway Partnership, Reliant Mission, RREACH, RUN Ministries, S Saint Luke Society, The Salvation Army, Scripture Union International Council, SIM International, Sojourners, T Take Heart, TEAM – The Evangelical Alliance Mission, Tearfund UK, Teleo University, Timothy Two Project International, Trainers of Pastors International Coalition, U United World Mission, V Veritas College International, Veritas Legal Society, Voice of the Martyrs Canada, W Water is Basic, World Evangelical Theological Institute Association, World Mission Prayer League, World Olivet Assembly, The World Reformed Fellowship, World Team, World Thrust International, World Vision International, World Without Orphans, WorldVenture, Wycliffe Associates, Wycliffe Global Alliance, Y Young Disciples of Jesus, Youth Evangelical Fellowship, Youth for Christ International.

Conclusion

The International Council of Christian Churches, meeting in its 21st World Congress, June 21-28, 2023, in Collingswood, NJ, USA, condemns the compromise with apostasy that continues to characterize the World Evangelical Alliance. Bible-believing Christians are urged to channel their support exclusively to churches and Christian organizations which are not involved in such compromising relationships. Further, the ICCC calls on all churches and organizations affiliated with the WEA to:

1. Withdraw your membership from the WEA, its regional councils, and any other organizations which fail to remain separate from all unbelief and apostasy. The Scriptures make quite clear that Christian love and fellowship are based solely on obedience to Christ and the Scriptures. You simply cannot “work together in most areas of ministry” and “exchange members on all important commissions” with the apostate WCC and be faithful to Christ. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

2. Make fidelity and obedience to Christ and His Word the foundation of your church or organization. Utilitarian and pragmatic decisions are never of God if they violate His Word. God’s work must always be done in God’s way. ““Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not … in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.…” (Matthew 7:22).

3. Firmly recognize that it is God who must build our ministries. No associations which may bring funding and influence — even for worthy purposes — will ever justify being unfaithful to Christ. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

4. Actively carry out Christ’s Great Commission: “… Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.…” Although Christians are to oppose injustice and corruption in our fallen world, this is not the Gospel of Christ. Anything presented as the “gospel” apart from the glorious redemption purchased by Christ, is indeed a counterfeit gospel which cannot save.

5. Make common cause with those who seek to be faithful to the Scriptures. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7).

Click here to download the ICCC position statement.

December 16, 2023 update: Another post from Tom Littleton at Thirty Pieces of Silver: World Evangelical Alliance Role in Upcoming WEF/DAVOS 2024 “Faith in Action” Collaboration (December 17, 2023)

Evangelical churches in Canada use Covid-19 as an opportunity to team up with unbelievers in promoting an antichrist agenda

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? II Corinthians 6:14

As annoying as the Covid-19 "plandemic" has been, it has served the useful purpose of revealing the advanced state of the apostasy of professing Evangelical Christianity. The material in this post provides an explanation for why Evanjellyfish have been so silent in the face of governmental abuses of power (such as the imprisonment of Christian pastors such as James Coates and Artur Pawlowski). The organization responsible for this project of alleged Christian compassion has been kind enough to publish the names of its partners and supporters, providing ample evidence that they comprise a cage of unclean birds (Revelation 18:2). Submitted for your approval, the following item, as posted by Kristen Parker on the website of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada, June 10, 2021 (bold, links in original):

Love My Neighbour

A member of an Alliance church has developed a project to enable Canadians to express their appreciation for their COVID-19 vaccine by paying it forward to people in vulnerable populations around the world.

Sara Hildebrand, a member and worship leader at Toronto Alliance Church, is the project coordinator for the Love My Neighbour project “a national movement for global vaccine equity inspired by Millennium Kids and Canadian faith communities.” The project was inspired by Matthew 15, where Jesus feeds 4000 people with only a few loaves of bread and some fish. Hildebrand believes that if we all play a small role, we can make a big difference!

Many Canadians have had the privilege of receiving their first vaccine—and some have even received their second. Over 2 billion vaccines have been administered globally, yet still less than 1% of low-income countries have received their first dose.

Through the Love My Neighbour campaign, Canadians have an incredible opportunity to express their gratitude for the vaccines that we will receive by gifting vaccines to vulnerable populations around the world through UNICEF. Through a $25 donation, you can gift a 2-dose vaccine to a global neighbour. This includes: the vaccine, transport, cold-chain protection, health worker training, and safe disposal of needles and waste.

Love My Neighbour wants to see every Canadian gift a $25 donation to vaccinate another individual. With approximately 38 million Canadians, we would be able to work together to help end the pandemic.

There are ways for cities, businesses, churches, families, teams, friend groups, individuals, and more to get involved with the Love My Neighbour Campaign. People are getting creative, and we encourage you to do the same!

At Toronto Alliance Church the quiz team raised donations for vaccines by running a fundraiser where they quoted all of the verses they’ve memorized in Matthew this year. Eight students and their coaches quoted over 1400 verses on a Sunday afternoon. They raised over $2500, providing over 100 vaccines to individuals in low-income countries.

Mayors are choosing to make their cities a Love My Neighbour city. They are encouraging their residents to get involved. Businesses are making donations on behalf of each of their employees. Churches are creating donation pages and encouraging and inspiring their members to increase their giving. There are classrooms that are learning about social justice who are raising donations and learning about their impact. An engaged couple has asked their guests to donate vaccines instead of give gifts! People across Canada are coming together to ensure that our global neighbours have the opportunity to be vaccinated!

June 11-13 the leaders of the G7 countries will be meeting for the UK G7 Summit. Their conversations will be focused on vaccines, and how we can work together to end the pandemic. Hildebrand is hopeful that Canada will make a commitment to return 10% of our vaccine doses to the global distributor of vaccines, COVAX, beginning now, so they can give them to low-income countries.

Ways to Get Involved:

Make a donation! $25 can change someone’s life.

Send a letter to your MP.

Share about the project with your church, employer, mayor, friends, family, team, or anyone you can think of!

At the time the above item was posted, there was abundant evidence that the "vaccines" were actually harming and killing people rather than helping them, and the evidence for that is greater now than it was then; readers are invited to research this for themselves. Professing Christians are promoting a procedure that is not only not helpful, but is weakening and killing the very neighbours whom they profess to love. Even if the vax weren't harmful, the Love My Neighbour project isn't at all about loving my neighbour in any sense of Christian compassion, but is actually about supporting the United Nations, as one can see after clicking on the links at Love My Neighbour's website. Submitted for your approval (bold, capitals, links in original):

Love My Neighbour

The Project

Join Love My Neighbour, and help UNICEF provide COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people.

Love My Neighbour is a national movement for global vaccine equity, inspired by Millennium Kids and Canadian faith communities, to raise funds to help increase equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable populations around the world.

Gift a 2-dose vaccine to a global neighbour with your donation of $25 CD, or split the cost with a friend.

This includes vaccines, per-person cost for transport, cold chain protection, health worker training, and safe disposal of needles and waste.

Global vaccination against COVID-19 is the biggest health project in our lifetime - and you can help! Our goal is to supply 38 million vaccines to our neighbours living in lower-income countries – that’s one for each grateful Canadian.

By donating or setting up a fundraiser, you’ll help write the ending of our global pandemic story. Thank you for joining us.

Media Kit

Background Information

Love My Neighbour is the national movement for global vaccine equity, inspired by Millennium Kids and Canadian faith communities. We are collaborating to tackle the biggest health project in our lifetime -- global vaccination against COVID-19 -- by increasing the equitable access and delivery of vaccines to vulnerable populations around the world. Our goal is to supply 38 million additional vaccines to our neighbours living in lower-income countries – that’s one for each grateful Canadian.

WHY

In Canada, we can wait in confidence with gratitude knowing our government has already procured enough vaccines for our entire population. Canadians will be vaccinated in 2021. But we know delayed vaccinations around the world could put everyone at risk of additional COVID variants for years to come. COVAX AMC was designed to supply COVID-19 vaccines to the poorest 92 low and low-middle income countries—more than half the world’s population. But the 1.3 billion COVAX doses planned for 2021 will protect less than 20% of our four billion global neighbours. COVAX AMC’s massive and ambitious vaccination plan will not sufficiently protect four billion living in the developing world, nor end the pandemic in 2021 – they need our help. Every Love My Neighbour donation will increase the number of vaccines delivered to our global family.

HOW

Love My Neighbour is partnering with UNICEF, faith communities, corporations, NGOs, community groups and individuals across the country to reach our goal. We are inviting Canadians to help supply additional vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable people. Every $25 donation helps fund everything needed for UNICEF to deliver a vaccine to people in the world’s hardest-to-reach places. This includes vaccines, per-person cost for transport, cold chain protection, health worker training, and safe disposal of needles and waste. Donations can be made through UNICEF at www.LoveMyNeighbourProject.org

Love My Neighbour is also inviting Canadian businesses to take up our corporate challenge to give one vaccine forward for each employee, and encourage employees to join the movement too.

KEY PLAYERS

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by CEPI, Gavi and WHO – working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries. The Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) was created to procure COVID-19 vaccines for the poorest 92 low- and middle-income countries, as identified by COVAX, throughout 2021.

UNICEF is tasked with the global distribution and administration of the COVID19 vaccines procured by COVAX AMC. UNICEF’s global presence and expertise make UNICEF the only organization capable of delivering the vaccines equitably and on a global scale. Love My Neighbour funds will be used by UNICEF to procure and deliver up to 100 million additional vaccine doses above and beyond those supplied by COVAX.

Love My Neighbour is a Canadian national movement for global vaccine equity inspired by Millennium Kids and diverse faith communities across the nation to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccines distributed quickly and equitably in in low- and middle-income countries around the world. Love My Neighbour’s fundraising and advocacy gives our whole global family access to life-saving prevention measures.

MORE INFORMATION

Visit www.LoveMyNeighbourProject.org to learn more and join the movement for global vaccine equity.

Love My Neighbour Partners with UNICEF to Invite Every Canadian to Gift A Vaccine Forward

92 countries must settle for 20% vaccination coverage by the end of 2021

TORONTO, ON, May 5, 2021 – Love My Neighbour, a national movement for global vaccine equity, announced today in partnership with UNICEF Canada the launch of a project aimed at gifting forward 38-million COVID-19 vaccines to hardest-to-reach vulnerable neighbours living in 92 low- and middle-income countries – that’s one for each grateful Canadian. Inspired by Millennium Kids and Canadian faith communities, the Love My Neighbour project hopes to increase the equitable distribution of vaccines throughout the developing world to help end the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the world surpasses one billion administered vaccine doses with only 20-million delivered to African countries, UNICEF has called on high-income countries to consider donating at least 5% of their doses without delay.

One $25 donation funds everything needed for UNICEF to procure and deliver a two-dose vaccine – from the manufacturer to the arms of people in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places. This includes the per-person cost to transport the vaccines, protect the cold chain, train health workers and safely dispose of waste. The project seeks to fund doses over and above the two billion doses expected from COVAX—the global mechanism for equitable access to COVID19 vaccines— in 2021.

“We hope every Canadian will agree that we can all play a role in ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines are affordable and accessible to all countries. We must be better neighbours,” said Sara Hildebrand, Executive Director of Millennium Kids and Project Coordinator of the Love My Neighbour project. “We want to cross the COVID-19 immunity line side-by-side and write this pandemic ending together.”

“Love My Neighbour has built an amazing multi-faith coalition who share a passion and commitment to vaccine equity, and to doing everything they can to bring the world to the other side of COVID-19,” said David Morley, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada. “UNICEF is so pleased to partner with Love My Neighbour and shares the hope that through this national movement we can help put an end to a pandemic that creates serious threats to children and families around the globe.”

About Love My Neighbour

Love My Neighbour is the national movement for global vaccine equity inspired by Millennium Kids and diverse faith communities to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccines distributed quickly and equitably in low- and middle-income countries, through fundraising and advocacy. Visit lovemyneighbourproject.org to learn more.

About Millennium Kids

MILLENNIUM KIDS creates opportunities for and with Canadian children and youth to help Canada keep its United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals promise to reduce global poverty, inequalities and care for the planet by 2030. Millennium Kids provides tools and amplifies the voices of children and youth to become lifelong active, engaged citizens for the common good—shaping the Canada they will inherit. Visit millenniumkids.ca to learn more.

About UNICEF

UNICEF is the world’s leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivaled reach spans more than 190 countries and territories, ensuring we are on the ground to help the most disadvantaged children. While part of the UN system, UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to finance our life-saving work. Please visit unicef.ca to learn more.

# # #

Contact:
Melody Lynch
melody@symmetry-pr.com
306.250.7235


Our Team

Project Coordinator

Sara Hildebrand | Founder/Executive Director, Millennium Kids

Executive Advisors

Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld | Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Emanu-El, Toronto

Michael Cooke | VP Students (Interim) at St Lawrence College; VP Academic Emeritus at George Brown College, Toronto

Patrick Flanagan | Bandleader; Singer/Songwriter; Social Development Advocate, NB

The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton | Former General Secretary, Canadian Council of Churches

Zul Kassamali | President, National Alliance for the Advancement of Pluralistic Societies; Vice Chair, Canadian Interfaith Conversation; President, Toronto Area Interfaith Council

Commissioner Christine MacMillan | Director, World Evangelical Alliance Global Human Trafficking Network; Chair, Micah Global; Member, United Nations Multi-Faith Council

Communications Team

Tina Kraulis | Strategic Communications & Events

Cynthia Innes | Management Communications Consultant

Emily Williams | Web Design

Alicia Wheatley | Graphic Design

Krystle Moilliet | Graphic Design

Anne Sophie Roy | French Translation

Irene Soquier | French Translation

Melody Lynch | Symmetry PR

Lisa Rusinek | Social Media

Karen Schenk | Iconium Media

Regan Neudorf | Graphic Design

Our Participants

The following faith communities and organizations are participating in LMN in a range of ways--from advocacy efforts, to writing about LMN in digital publications and/or spreading the word to their membership.

Anglican Church of Canada

Canadian Baptist Ministries

Canadian Council of Imams

Canadian Multifaith Federation

Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative

The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada

ERDO (Emergency Relief & Development Overseas)

Faith of Life Network

G20 Interfaith Forum

H4Community

Hamilton Interfaith Peace Group

Human Concern International

International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF)

Intriciti

Islamic Relief Canada

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives | KAIROS: Initiatives oecuméniques Canadiennes pour la justice

La fondation Anne Sophie Musique | Anne Sophie Music Foundation

Mennonite Central Committee Canada

Mennonite World Conference

Millennium Kids | Enfants du millénaire

National Alliance for the Advancement of Pluralistic Societies

National Muslim Christian Liaison Committee

Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation

Penny Appeal Canada

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada

Presbyterian Church in Canada

Reform Jewish Community of Canada

The Salvation Army Canada

Sayeda Khadija Mosque

SymmetryPR

Toronto Board of Rabbis

Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations-Canada (UOSSM-Canada)

The United Church of Canada

WayBase

World Evangelical Alliance

Our Corporate Donors

Jason Hildebrand Creative Arts

Progressive Contractors Association of Canada

Signpost Music/Steve Bell

In looking at Love My Neighbour's home page, the reader will notice Millennium Kids listed with UNICEF as a partner. This blogger had never heard of Millennium Kids before seeing this, but following the links leaves no doubt that the organization has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom, but is a project to brainwash children into supporting the agenda of the godless United Nations. If a movement is endorsed by Canadian environmentalist, former geneticist, and professing atheist David Suzuki, it's highly unlikely to be compatible with Christianity.

Millennium Kids

Proudly endorsed by David Suzuki

"Today's children and all future generations will bear the brunt of the consequences of our ecologically destructive actions going on today. Millennium Kids are taking action to press our leaders to think about the kind of legacy we are bequeathing to coming generations. Thank you for your efforts to wake up those who are deciding on your futures." - David Suzuki

About Millennium Kids

Millennium Kids are urging everyone to join them in bold strategic action to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Backstory

I first learned about the precursor to the SDGs, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 2000-2015) in November 2009. I remember my surprise that I had missed nine years of these historic and global anti-poverty goals (though I birthed our four kids since the adoption of the goals in September 2000). I was convinced that if Canadians knew Canada made this incredible promise in 2000 to “spare no effort” to fulfill the MDGs, in collaboration with 188 other nations, we would find a way to keep our promise. I also knew from my own children that school social justice clubs were spreading across our nation as social justice-mindedness increased in our youngest generation.

Justice and advocacy initiatives

Here are some of the creative ways Millennium Kids have increased awareness and advocated for the MDGs / SDGs across Canada:

Broadcast Millennium Kids public service announcements on national television networks

Recorded an MK anthem for our Download and Be Counted! campaign on the iTunes platform

Marked #1000DaysToGo on the MDGs with a student event at the Glenn Gould Studio, CBC Building, Toronto and a twitter campaign in collaboration with organizations in UK and Germany 2013

Delivered Millennium Kids MDG Petition to Parliament 2014 asking the House of Commons to keep Canada’s MDG promise and allocate the promised 0.7% of our Gross National Income to do so

14-yr-old Millennium Kid spoke at the Micah Summit on the MDGs at the UN Headquarters in NYC 2014

Nine MKs were invited to speak to MPs at an Alternative Committee Meeting on Parliament Hill about the urgency of keeping our MDG and 0.7% Official Development Assistance promises in 2015

Hosted a Live Below The Line $1.75 supper at Toronto restaurant The Depaneur to raise awareness of global extreme poverty

Canada-wide #ChalkYourSidewalk “.7%AID” campaign during the international Conference on Financing for Development in Ethiopia July 2015

Millennium Kids’ Lawn Signs calling 42nd Parliament to take action on poverty and climate

Encouraged children and youth to make handmade Welcome Cards for Syrian newcomer youth coming to Canada 2015-16 (40 MKs from 14 schools delivered 1600+ cards to Minister McCallum at Parliament Dec 9, 2015)

Millennium Kids participated in the United Nations Economic and Social Council Youth Forum 2015 & 2016

Vision & Mission

Vision

Millennium Kids are urging everyone to join them in bold strategic action to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (also known as the Global Goals).

Mission

Engaging the next generation to pursue the SDGs with passion.

Empowering youth to be SDG global partners.

Celebrating together our SDG successes.

Objectives

Increase awareness of the SDGs across generations

Catalyze innovative youth participation in fulfilling the SDGs

Mobilize tremendous public support for the SDGs

Celebrate citizen, organizational and government SDG efforts and accomplishments

Values

Hope, celebration, cooperation, generosity, courage, accountability, tenacity, integrity, diversity, equality, acceptance, kindness, and creativity.

Meet Our Director

Sara Hildebrand is the founder and director of Millennium Kids, a youth movement creating opportunities for youth to propel Canada forward to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. She is passionate about encouraging youth to use their voice for justice and the common good in the public sphere. Sara received her JD from the University of Toronto Law School and was called to the Ontario bar in 2000.

She was the national coordinator for the Interfaith Millennium Development Goals Events initiative leading up to the 2010 G8 Summit. This initiative encouraged diverse faith communities to gather together with their Members of Parliament in ridings across Canada to express the urgency of meeting the MDGs by 2015. Sara has also worked as Crown Counsel in the Criminal Law Policy Branch for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. Sara was recently honoured as one of 100 Fantastic Canadian Christian Women Leaders for 2014. Sara lives in Toronto with her husband and four children.

The Sustainable Development Goals

The sustainable development goals as outlined on the United Nations website.

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the

Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations SDG website.

In February 2022, a convoy of Canadian truckers travelled across the country to Ottawa to protest "vaccine" mandates. The federal regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by invoking the Emergencies Act, basically declaring war on the Canadian people for daring to exercise their God-given and constitutionally-protected rights and freedoms. The move was rescinded a few days later, but the stain remains, and it's increasingly obvious to the country and the rest of the world that Mr. Trudeau's regime is a dictatorship. Despite this, the following letters from Love My Neighbour to the Prime Minister remain on the organization's website as of this posting; they haven't aged well. The perceptive reader will notice that Loving My Neighbour's idea of loving their neighbours involves funding their project with money forcibly taken from their neighbours (i.e., taxpayers); and what's loving about that? I'm not going to mention that the Trudeau regime's idea of supporting global health systems is to support abortion throughout the world.

Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

May 7,2021

SENT VIA EMAIL

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Office of the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

Love My Neighbour (LMN) is a Canadian grassroots project founded by Millennium Kids and diverse faith communities to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccines distributed quickly and equitably in lower income countries. LMN has brought together Canadians of diverse faiths from across the country, united in our desire to see all people regardless of nationality, enjoy equitable access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. We encourage the Canadian government to join us in care for our neighbours through working for increased access to vaccines globally.

We recognize the efforts of the government to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for priority populations in Canada, as well as international financial support for COVAX. We also believe that Canada can play a greater leadership role to ensure vaccine equity, especially when it comes to prioritizing vaccine access for essential workers and the most vulnerable,around the world and here in Canada.

Canada has currently purchased enough vaccines to vaccinate Canada’s population many times over. Vaccine inequality will only prolong the global pandemic.

We urge the creation and rapid implementation of a re-distribution and donation plan of Canada’s purchased and committed vaccine doses, including doses purchased from COVAX,to COVAX.Following the example of countries like Norway, we urge an immediate minimum 5% donation of Canada’s vaccines to COVAX. The global response to the COVID-19 pandemic must betimely and equitable if it is to be successful.

We also encourage Canadian support for the temporary Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver, presented to the World Trade Organization. This waiver will ensure that trade regulations and licensing do not impede the timely manufacture, distribution, and affordability of vaccines. Canada has maintained that it has not rejected this proposal, and it is studying the impacts of intellectual property regulations on vaccine manufacturing. While we affirm the importance of careful deliberation, we also urge a rapid response. Without the TRIPS waiver, many low-and middle-income countries may not have access to anywhere near sufficient vaccines before 2023, to say nothing of testing or medications for supportive care.

We also encourage Canada to continue to support global health systems strengthening through an increased Official Development Assistance budget, with funding specially designated for community-based health organizations, including those run by women.

Canada can lead the way in ensuring fair access, distribution and administration of the vaccine around the world. We would like to request a meetingwith you or your designate to discuss how we can work together towards achieving the goals outlined in this letter, including the development of a matching fund for any donations made towards the purchase of global vaccines, global vaccine delivery and health support systems.

Signed:

Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples

Canadian Baptist Ministries

Canadian Council of Imams

Canadian Multi-faith Federation

Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative

Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada

Congrégation de Notre-Dame

Human Concern International

International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF)

Intriciti

Islamic Relief Canada

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

La fondation Anne Sophie Musique

Mennonite Central Committee

Millennium Kids

National Muslim Christian Liaison Committee

Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada/ Emergency Relief and Development Overseas

The Presbyterian Church in Canada Primates Fund for World Relief and Development Reform

Jewish Community of Canada

Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations-Canada

The United Church of Canada

Cc:

Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Hon. Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Hon. Karina Gould, Minister of International Cooperation

Hon. Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade

Hon. Patty Hadju, Minister of Health

Hon. Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Hon. Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Hon. Erin O’Toole, Leader of the Official Opposition

Mr. Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the New Democratic Party

M. Yves-François Blanchet, Chef du Bloc Québécois

Ms. Annamie Paul, Leader, Green Party of Canada

Michael Chong, Official Opposition Critic for Foreign Affairs Conservative Party of Canada

Heather McPherson, New Democratic Party Critic for International Development

Jack Harris, Critic for Foreign Affairs New Democratic Party

Stephane Bergeron, Critic for Foreign Affairs Bloc Quebecois

Hon. Raquel Dancho, Official Opposition Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Conservative Party of Canada

Christine Normandin, Bloc Critic for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

Jenny Kwan, NPD Critic for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

Tracy Gray, Official Opposition Critic, Export Promotion and Trade, Conservative Party of Canada

Garnett Genuis, Official Opposition Critic, International Development and Human Rights, Conservative Party of Canada

Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc Critic for Foreign Affairs

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc Critic for International Trade

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc Critic for Francophonie and International Cooperation

Daniel Blaikie, NDP Critic for Export Promotion and International Trade

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank You Letter to the PM

December 21, 2021

SENT VIA EMAIL

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Office of the Prime Minister

Hon. Minister Karina Gould

Hon. Minister Harjit Sajjan

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Gould and Minister Sajjan,

Thank you for the creation and support of the generous matching grant for global vaccine access through UNICEF Canada. We are grateful for the chance to demonstrate the compassion and concern Canadians of faith share for our global neighboursand the desire to ensure everyone is able to access life-saving vaccines. Across the country, Canadians held fundraisers, wrote songs, took part in bake sales, decorated pumpkins and sidewalks, buzz cut their hair, swam 7 km across LacSt-Pierre, requested vaccine donations in lieu of wedding and birthday gifts, and collaborated with their Scouts’ group, Girl Guides’ Unit, school, youth group, neighbourhood or faith community, in support of global vaccination efforts. Together with UNICEF Canada, we raised over $9.6 million to help fully vaccinate nearly 4 million people in low-income countries against COVID-19!

We recently learned that our unique partnership between 35 diverse faith organizations, Millennium Kids and UNICEF Canada has garnered the Association of Fundraising Professional’s 2021 Outstanding Foundation or Philanthropic Group Award. Thank you for being part of this award-winning collaborative effort! As we celebrate, we also remember the billions of people who still do not have access to vaccines. With the good news of vaccine approvals for Canadian children, we recognize the growing gap in vaccine access and supply between Canada and our global south neighbours, including kids around the world. And, with Canada’s privileged position comes an increased responsibility to ensure that everyone-adults, youth and children all over the world, have access to their right to a healthy and safe life. The new variant, Omicron, also reveals the need to close the global vaccine gap to keep everyone safe, in Canada and globally.

We would welcome the chance to meet and discuss how we, as faith organizations, can continue to work with the Canadian government to end the pandemic everywhere through a globalplan for equitable global vaccine access. Based on supplies, we could have comprehensive vaccine coverage of the world in 2022, but to do so we need a clear and financed plan that prioritizes the most vulnerable around the world. Canada is uniquely positioned to play a leading role, in multilateral spaces in which we sit, in the creation and implementation of a plan that includes support of the WTO TRIPs waiver on patents, vaccine dose sharing, and global health systems support.

As we have demonstrated through Love My Neighbour, Canadians of faith are eager to support you in your efforts. We look forward to meeting together to discuss how we can continue to work to end the pandemic everywhere, for everyone,in 2022.

Signed

Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples

Canadian Baptists Ministries

Canadian Council of Imams

Canadian Multi-faith Federation

Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative

Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada

International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF)

Intriciti

Islamic Relief Canada

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

La foundation Anne Sophie Musique

Mennonite Central Committee

Mennonite World Conference

Millennium Kids

National Association for the Advancement of Pluralistic Societies

National Muslim Christian Liaison Committee

Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation

Primates World Relief and Development Fund

Reform Jewish Community of Canada

Salvation Army Canada

World Evangelical Alliance

cc: David Morley, President, UNICEF Canada

If the reader requires more proof of the unholy fellowships among professing Christians, apostate Christian bodies, non-Christian religions, and government, and that participation in Love My Neighbour by professing Christians is an act of disobedience and evidence of apostasy, the project's Interfaith Resources link provides it. Look carefully at the wide variety of religions involved; the reader may recognize, and may even be shocked, at the names on the list.

Interfaith Resources

Hope, Gratitude and Solidarity

A Message to Canadians from Religious Leaders in Canada in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In spite of present sufferings, which can seem overwhelming at times, the flames of hope cannot be extinguished.

Let us witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times.

Canadians are experiencing the devastating impact of COVID-19 in what has become a rapidly evolving crisis. Understandably, this crisis has brought about feelings of anxiety, apprehension and fear. Critical elements of our daily lives are being thrown into uncertainty: health, employment, financial security, recreational activities, as well as our ability to gatheras worshiping communities. In view of these difficulties, we as religious leaders wish to bring forward a message of hope, gratitude and solidarity to all people who call Canada home.

A Message of Hope

We draw hope from a variety of sources: from our religious beliefs, the love of our families, the relationships with friends and the work we do. Each of these, and others as well, provides rays of hope to our daily lives. Likewise, hope provides courage to face the burdens we bear and the ability to look onwards toward the dawning of a new day. In spite of present sufferings, which can seem overwhelming at times, the flames of hope cannot be extinguished. Love, which gives life its fullest meaning, continues to seek out the common good in spite of individual difficulties. Acts of kindness can bring us closer in spirit, despite the requirements of physical distancing. Let us witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times.

Canada has gone through several difficult and painful experiences in its history. When current and former generations have responded to these challenges, many were empowered by unwavering hope as well as human and spiritual resilience. For religious believers, this hope takes on a special and unique dimension. It assures us of the caring embrace of the Creator, a sacred relationship sustained by prayer, and which flows into our human relationships whereby we care for one another and bear each other’s burden. Yet, hope brings for everyone a promise of renewal, even in the midst of human suffering. Hope assures us that this affliction too shall pass.

We draw hope from a variety of sources: from our religious beliefs, the love of our families, the relationships with friends and the work we do. Each of these, and others as well, provides rays of hope to our daily lives.

A Message of Gratitude

During this time of crisis, we as religious leaders wish to offer words of appreciation and gratitude. Health care professionals are providing unfailing and dedicated service under stressful and difficult circumstances. They provide for us a powerful witness of care, expertise and service in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is also the increased risk of exposure to infection along with other hardships being experienced by so many others. For instance, while the rest of society rightly heeds the precautions of physical distancing, many remain at work in grocery stores, pharmacies and factories. Students, the middle-aged, and those close to retirement are fulfilling a variety of essential front-line jobs in the supply chain, ensuring that stores remain open, shelves remain stocked, and goods are delivered so that others can have food, medicines and other essentials for their families and communities. We express a deep appreciation and gratitude for these workers.

Governments across Canada as well as religious leaders are bearing particularly heavy burdens in steering our communities through this calamity. It is comforting to see that in such demanding times, political differences are being set aside to serve the common good. This too is a witness of hope for Canadians. For all these acts of generosity and dedication, let us add our expressions of gratitude for the important work of the diverse leaders of our country.

A Message of Solidarity

We urge all people in Canada to listen and follow attentively the directions of our public health officials and government leaders. We, as religious leaders, pledge to lead by example. We all must act together in confronting this virus. While everyone is vulnerable during this crisis, let us not forget those in our society who, prior to COVID-19, were already vulnerable to health and social ailments. As religious leaders, we raise our collective voices to highlight the necessity for greater attention to the needs of the homeless, the incarcerated, the elderly and those already suffering from social isolation. We remember too those people, especially women and children who face abuse and violence, who are not safe at home and may suffer additional abuse and violence as stress increases. We must never overlook or exclude these groups from our planning, preparedness and response to this pandemic. We are particularly mindful of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, including isolated Northern communities, who were already facing pre-existing challenges and for whom the COVID19 outbreak could prove singularly devastating. Likewise, we need to remember the needs and vulnerabilities of the many refugees and migrant workers who have come to Canada seeking safety and security.

Charitable organizations in Canada will face greater challenges during this time of crisis and will need greater assistance from governments so as to continue their vital work. This is a time for human solidarity. We all need to pull together. It is essential to carry out the practical requirements to limit the spread of this virus. It is also important to maintain a posture of attentive caring towards our neighbour. This includes care and solidarity for the global community who face this crisis with far fewer resources than those accessible to Canada. This is a time for us to draw closer to God.

Religion and spirituality can indeed contribute to building people up, to providing a sense of meaning, inner strength, new horizons and openness of hearts. As religious leaders, we wish to emphasize, especially in times like these, the power and importance of prayer. We earnestly pray for healing, for the continued efforts to relieve human suffering, and for perseverance throughout these challenging times. As history records these moments for our country’s future, let us pray that, in the face of COVID-19, we respond with an abundance of hope, gratitude and solidarity, trusting in the loving and ever merciful God, the source of all hope.

Rev. Kenesha Blake-Newell
Itinerant Elder (Grant AME)
African Methodist Episcopal Church

Farhan Iqbal
Missionary
Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada

Rev. Shane B. Janzen
Archbishop
The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada

The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls
Archbishop and Primate
The Anglican Church of Canada

Rev. Fr. John Benjamin Vic Paradero, OMHS
Rev. Fr. Jose Mark John Jamili, OMHS
Apostolic Catholic Church of Canada

Rev. Wesley E. Mills
President
Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Canada, Inc.

His Grace Bishop Abgar Hovakimyan
Primate
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Diocese of Canada

Mobeen Khaja, O Ont.
President
Association of Progressive Muslims of Canada

Kevin Schular
Executive Director
Baptist General Conference of Canada

Charles Mashinter
Executive Director
Be In Christ Church – Canada

Lee Nicholas-Pattillo
President
Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms

MGen Guy J.J. Chapdelaine, OMM, CD, QHC
Chaplain General
Canadian Armed Forces

Rev. Dr. Terry G. Smith
Executive Director
Canadian Baptist Ministries

Dr. Peter Reid
Executive Minister
Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada

Rev. Tim McCoy
Executive Minister
Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec

Rev. Rob Ogilvie
Executive Minister
Canadian Baptists of Western Canada

Dr. Adriana Bara
Executive Director
Canadian Centre for Ecumenism

+Richard Gagnon
Archbishop of Winnipeg, President
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Elton Da Silva
National Director
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

Rev. Stephen Kendall, President
Pastor Peter Noteboom, General Secretary
The Canadian Council of Churches

Imam Mohamed Refaat Abo Onar
President
Canadian Council of Imams

Nina Karachi-Khaled
President of the National Board
Canadian Council of Muslim Women

Rev. David McGrew
National Director
Canadian Fellowship of Churches and Ministers

Pandit Roopnauth Sharma
President
Canadian Multifaith Federation

Zul Kassamali, Co-chair
Aileen Van Ginkel, Co-chair
Canadian Interfaith Conversation

Rabbi Reuven Poupko
Rabbi Baruch Friedman-Kohl
Rabbi Debra Landsberg
Rabbi Jonathan Infeld
Co-chairs
Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, an affiliate of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

Beverly Shepard
Presiding Clerk
Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Rev. Dr. David Hearn
President
The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada

Rev. Ann Stainton
Moderator
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada

The Rev Dr. Darren Roorda
Canadian Ministries Director
Christian Reformed Church in North America

Elder Michel J. Carter
Elder John N. Craig
Elder James E. Evanson
Elder Michael R. Murray
Area Seventies
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Rev. Dr. Ian Fitzpatrick
National Director
Church of the Nazarene Canada

Kerry Richards
President, Canada East
Community of Christ

Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka, CM, Ph.D
Rabbi Emeritus and spiritual leader
Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa

Rev. Dr. David Schrader
National Pastor
Congregational Christian Churches in Canada

Netta Phillet
Coordinator
Edmonton Interfaith Centre for Education & Action

H.G. Anba Mina
Bishop Mississauga, Vancouver and Western Canada
H.G. Anba Makar
Bishop of Goshen, Egypt;
Papal Vicar in the Archdiocese of Toronto
H.G Abba Boulos
Bishop of Ottawa, Montreal, and Eastern Canada
The Coptic Orthodox Church in Canada

L.K. (Rev. Fr.) Messale Engeda
Head priest and Administrator
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada

Dr. David P. Lavigne
Bishop
The Evangelical Christian Church in Canada

Bruce J. Clemenger
President
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Dr. William Taylor
Executive Director
Evangelical Free Church of Canada

The Rev. Susan C. Johnson
National Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Tim Dyck
Executive Director
Evangelical Mennonite Conference

Rev. Steven F. Jones
National President
The Fellowship of Evangelical
Baptist Churches in Canada

Steve Falkiner
President
Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada

Bill Hall
President
Grace Communion International Canada

Philip Bryant
Executive Director
Grace Fellowship Canada

His Eminence Archbishop Sotirios
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada

Pandit Roopnauth Sharma
President
Hindu Federation of Canada

Rev. Paul McPhail
General Secretary
Independent Assemblies of God International Canada

Dr. Ronald A. Kuipers
President
Institute for Christian Studies

Halil Yurtsever
Intercultural Dialogue Institute

Brian A. Hawes
President
Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy in the Correctional Service of Canada

Imam Ilyas Sidyot
Grand Mosque of Saskatoon
Islamic Association of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon) Inc.

Jennifer Henry
Executive Director
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

Naj Mankal
President
Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario

Imam Zubair Sidyot
Lethbridge Muslim Association (Alberta)

Belle Jarniewski
President
Manitoba Multifaith Council

Rev. Dr. Isaac Mar Philoxenos Episcopa
Bishop, Diocese of North America And Europe
Mar Thoma Syrian Church

Doug Klassen
Executive Minister
Mennonite Church Canada

Zul Kassamali
President
National Alliance for the Advancement of Pluralistic Society

Muneeb Nasir
Co-Chair
National Muslim Christian Liaison Committee

His Eminence, Archbishop Irénée
Archbishop of Ottawa and Canada and the Archdiocese of Canada
Orthodox Church in America

Rev. Dr. David R. Wells
General Superintendent
The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada

Rev. Terry W. Snow General Superintendent Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland & Labrador The Rev. Amanda Currie
Moderator
The Presbyterian Church in Canada

Imam Irshad Unia
Prince Albert Muslim Association (Saskatchewan)

The Rev. Marijke Strong
Executive Secretary
Regional Synod of Canada
Reformed Church in America

Pascale Frémond
President
Religions for Peace Canada

Commissioner Floyd J. Tidd
Territorial Commander
The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory

The Most Rev. Zenji Nio
Abbot, Samurai Buddhist Temple & Museum
Tokyo, Japan & Bay Street Corridor, Toronto

Rabbi David Seed
President
Toronto Board of Rabbis

The Most Reverend Lawrence Huculak, O.S.B.M.
Metropolitan Archbishop of Winnipeg for Ukrainian Catholics in Canada

His Eminence, The Most Rev. Metropolitan Yurij (Kalistchuk)
Archbishop of Winnipeg and the Central Eparchy
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Rev. David Rowley
General Secretary
The Union of French Baptist Churches in Canada

Rev. Brian K. Magnus
Bishop
The United Brethren Church in Canada

The Right Rev. Richard Bott, Moderator
Nora Sanders, General Secretary
The United Church of Canada

David Ruis
National Director
Vineyard Canada

Pastor Mike Stone
Executive Director
Vision Ministries Canada

Rev. Dr. Eric R. Hallett
District Superintendent, Central Canada District
The Wesleyan Church

Venerable Dr. Bhante Saranapala
West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre

Jaskaran Singh Sandhu
Executive Director
World Sikh Organization of Canada

See also my posts:
American Christians--Is your pastor a hireling of the United States government? (May 3, 2010)

Trudeaupia's Canada's public health officer wants "faith leaders" to promote Covid-19 vaccine acceptance (January 27, 2021)

July 5, 2022 update: Love My Neighbor is exemplifying Vox Day's second law of SJWs: They always double down. Despite increasingly overwhelming evidence that the Covid-19 "vaccine" is killing some people and making others seriously ill, LMN is pushing ahead with its pseudo-righteous efforts. The reader of the latter of the two following articles will notice that it makes no mention of the actual purpose of Love My Neighbour.

As reported by Matthew Neugebauer of Faith Today, June 24, 2022 (links in original):

While Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination rate is currently at 86 per cent, the rate of those in poorer countries who have received at least one dose is only 17.8 per cent, according to OurWorldInData.org.

Christine MacMillan, a senior advisor with the World Evangelical Alliance, says this low rate is primarily about the socioeconomic conditions that prevent people from getting vaccinated, even more than the physical availability of the vaccines.

She offers the example of wage labourers considering if they can take time off to get vaccinated. “It’s their daily work for daily food. They couldn’t afford to take a few hours off work.”

Enter activist Sara Hildebrand, who started a Canadian interfaith campaign to support vaccine access in low-income countries. The Love My Neighbour campaign highlights the need for vaccine equity, encourages churches and other community groups in awareness-raising efforts and provides a donation portal directly to UNICEF’s GiveAVax program.

Hildebrand, known for founding the youth movement Millennium Kids in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, says the new vaccine campaign has employed everything from special Sunday collections to inspiring sermons to youth arts and crafts projects and even a Bible Quiz-a-thon to raise funds and awareness. She encourages donors to “pay forward” the vaccine doses that Canadians receive for free through public healthcare, asking for symbolic contributions of $25.

At time of writing, Love My Neighbour has raised over $750,000.

The campaign formally includes several familiar Christian groups including The Alliance Canada (formerly Christian & Missionary Alliance), Salvation Army Canada and The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada/Emergency Relief and Development Overseas.

David Adcock, head of ERDO, serves on Love My Neighbour’s advocacy committee, which recently made a submission to a federal parliamentary committee urging the Canadian government to increase vaccine access and support the World Trade Organization waiver on patents for COVID-19 vaccines.

Other participants in the campaign include musician Steve Bell’s record label Signpost Music and the World Evangelical Alliance, with MacMillan contributing as an executive advisor connecting Love My Neighbour to the United Nations and UNICEF. She says her membership on both the World Evangelical Alliance’s UN Mission and the UN’s Multi-Faith Advisory Council are key assets to the campaign.

MacMillan, who previously led The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda (and did a stint in Papua New Guinea), says evangelical involvement in the movement for global vaccine equity is inspired by the way “Jesus acknowledged, while He was here on earth, the vulnerable, those who were considered in some ways castaways by society.”

Hildebrand, a lifelong member of The Alliance Canada, similarly looked to the gospel accounts for motivation to start Love My Neighbour, especially the story of the five loaves and two fish.

“What great plans might the Creator have to bless where all we see is vaccine shortage?” she asks on the “Our Story” section on the organization’s site. “To love our neighbours as ourselves, shouldn’t we pass on [“pay forward”] every second vaccine available to us?”

As reported by Sharon Chisvin of the Winnipeg Free Press, July 2, 2022:

Winnipeggers may have recently noticed more than the usual number of lemonade stands set up in neighbourhoods across the city. That’s because those lemonade stands are among the micro-fundraising, youth-oriented initiatives being encouraged by Love My Neighbour (LMN), a national, multi-faith movement devoted to global COVID vaccine equity.

Sara Hildebrand, a Toronto lawyer and social activist, was inspired to create LMN early last winter after reading in scripture about Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. That parable led her to question vaccine availability and accessibility in Canada, in comparison to poorer countries, and to begin researching what the United Nations was planning for its vaccine rollout in the developing world.

“I learned about the international partnership, COVAX, and its ambitious plan to provide one billion COVID vaccines doses for 500 million of the world’s poor,” Hildebrand says, “(but) I couldn’t shake the simple math calculation that only 12 per cent of the poorest half of the globe would have access to this lifesaving vaccine in 2021 according to COVAX’s plan.”

Finding that fact unacceptable, Hildebrand — who is also the founder of the social justice and advocacy organization Millennium Kids — reached out to multi-faith advisers and acquaintances across the country with the idea of organizing Canadians to pay forward their receipt of free vaccines with vaccines to lower-income nations. Upon receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from those she contacted, Hildebrand organized an inaugural Zoom meeting with more than two dozen faith and NGO leaders in order to put her plan into action.

“We shared our deep discomfort with finding our country at the front of the vaccine queue while so many global neighbours might wait years to receive their vaccine,” Hildebrand says. “As faith communities, this was a social inequity we were not prepared to live with.”

LMN, which launched publicly in May, currently enjoys the support of 37 Canadian religious communities and organizations. These include churches, synagogues, mosques and parochial schools, all of which are raising awareness about or funds for the organization and its cause.

In Winnipeg, the Manitoba Islamic Association has already raised thousands of dollars in partnership with Islamic Relief Canada to purchase vaccines for Yemen and India, while the Home Street Mennonite Church fundraised for vaccines under the auspices of the Mennonite World Conference’s LMN campaign. The local church also decorated its walls with people-shaped cut-outs as a means of keeping track of the number of individuals overseas who received vaccines as a result of the congregation’s generosity.

Congregation Etz Chayim, a conservative synagogue in Winnipeg’s North End, is also becoming increasingly involved with LMN.

“I plan to encourage members of CEC to get involved with LMN’s newest fundraising campaign,” says Rabbi Kliel Rose, the synagogue’s spiritual leader.

“In addition, I intend to encourage our members to utilize the LMN Jewish resources online.”

Those online resources, developed by a group of rabbis from across Canada, feature sermon materials, a conversation guide, classroom resources, a video, a petition and a call to action, and can be used by any faith community.

Rose also continues to meet virtually with other local and national LMN representatives and religious leaders to discuss additional ways in which Canadians can help alleviate vaccine inequity.

“The world needs people of faith, people of justice and compassion to arise, to say not on our watch, and then, with feet on the ground, to act together,” Hildebrand emphasizes.

“Collective advocacy for global vaccine equity has been a defining feature of LMN right from the beginning,” she adds.

Whether that advocacy takes shape as a sermon, a petition or a lemonade stand, it sends a message and makes a difference. The purchase of a glass of lemonade for a couple dollars on a sunny summer day in Winnipeg means someone somewhere in the developing world will receive two doses of a COVID vaccine that could save their life. And that’s rewarding and refreshing news for everyone.