Personal Reflections

We’re all in debt⁠—and it’s not a bad thing

"We all carry more profound debts than car loans and credit cards." (Image by Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay)

One of the terms I heard repeatedly at Gathering 2019 from June 29 to July 1 in Abbotsford, B.C. was “institutional church.”

As in, “The institutional church would do things that way, but I’m different.”

Or, “The institutional church is dying, but thankfully my friends and I have our own thing going.”

Or, “Don’t blame me, I’m only on the fringe of the institutional church.”

Insights from abroad

Dexter Volkman and friends in Wadi Rum, Jordan, during his year of teaching high-school music through the MCC Serving and Learning Together program. (Photo courtesy of Dexter Volkman)

Since I began as director of intercultural studies (ICS) at Columbia Bible College in 2013, the college has sent out 45 young adults to serve in a variety of contexts—Mongolia, Mexico, Mayotte, Myanmar, Macedonia, Moldova—and those are just the countries beginning with “M”!

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