The Faith Today Podcast

Tackling global hunger through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank 08.06.2026 42分

Andy Harrington is the executive director of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and their agencies working together to end global hunger. He describes the challenging state of global aid work, government funding and how Canadians can respond.

The Pastorate, a Canadian pastor support network - Ep 260 22.05.2026 41分

Jason Ballard of Vancouver is the director and founder of The Pastorate (formerly Canadian Church Leaders Network), an organization that comes alongside pastors in Canada to strengthen their heart, skill and vision to equip them for a lifetime of faithful, vibrant ministry. The Pastorate produces a podcast (many episodes are interviews with Canadian pastors) and facilitates year-long groups for emerging leaders and for lead pastors. Ballard is also lead pastor at The Way Church in Vancouver, B.C., and involved in The Way College. (Previously, he served with Alpha International and pioneered the Alpha Youth Film Series, which has been used by churches around the world to engage over a million teenagers worldwide in conversations about faith and Jesus.) https://www.thepastorate.ca/ The Pastorate Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/@thepastoratecanada The Way College The Way Church Podcast

Working for citywide Christian unity 15.05.2026 29分

Mark Peterkins is executive director of One Way Ministries in Ottawa. He speaks with host Bill Fledderus about Pray Ottawa, Love Ottawa, the Big Give, networks for workplace and pastoral leaders and other efforts to spur on gospel action in their region and beyond. https://onewayministries.ca/about/our-team/ https://thebiggive.ca/ https://onewayministries.ca/love-ottawa/ https://onewayministries.ca/pray-ottawa/ https://onewayministries.ca/workplace-network/ https://onewayministries.ca/pastors-network/ https://onewayministries.ca/ministry-wives/ Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders by by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer and Cameron Doolittle (FaithWords, 2025). The City-Wide Church: Unity That God Blesses by Richard Long (One Way Ministries, 2024).

Christian creativity as witness 29.04.2026 41分

Patty Bowman Kingsley of Ajax, Ont., is an artist who uses her painting and public speaking to encourage community transformation. She talks with host Bill Fledderus about: Why creativity matters to God How art can be a prophetic and practical tool for transformation Mobilizing creativity for the common good in schools, churches, and public spaces Listen to hear stories and strategies and spiritual insights. Website https://www.pattykingsley.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pattybowmankingsley Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pattykingsley/ Email pbk@sympatico.ca ACT in Canada https://actincanada.ca/

Sacred Assembly and the cultural baggage we bring to Christianity 16.04.2026 52分

Adam Kline is director of intercultural missions at the Free Methodist Church in Canada. Jonathan Maracle is a Mohawk musician from Tyendinaga, not far from Kline's home in Belleville, Ont. They reflect with host Bill Fledderus about how our ethnic background can influence church practices and theology. Maracle's music career launched at an important event called Sacred Assembly back in 1995, and he and Kline recently attended a 30th anniversary of it in January 2026, which lead to discussion about how church understandings around Indigenous culture have changed over those years. More about the band Maracle performs with at brokenwalls.com More about Kline's denominational work fmcic.ca/missions An article Kline wrote on the Blanket Exercise loveismoving.ca/2023/09/11/a-shared-story-and-a-new-song Online recordings of the January 2026 event Commemorating1995sa.ca (in the Commemoration tab)

Understanding persecution in the global Church 30.03.2026 47分

Floyd Brobbel leads Voice of the Martyrs Canada and has worked with the ministry for more than two decades. He joins host David Guretzki to discuss the current mission and purpose of VOMC and ongoing ways to support Christians worldwide who are being persecuted for their faith. He also shares about his book, “Trouble on the Way: Persecution in the Christian Life,” which received the Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award from The Word Guild in 2021. He gives insights into work in Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, India, China and the Middle East. He explains VOMC's commitment to informing Canadian Christians on how they can encourage, support and pray for those who are suffering for Christ. Voice of the Martyrs Canada profile: https://www.vomcanada.com/floyd-brobbel.htm Floyd Brobbel's book: Trouble on the Way: Persecution in the Christian Life (2021)

Coping with misinformation - Ep 255 27.02.2026 31分

Molly Thomas is the host and producer of Big [If True], a weekly show launched in November 2024 on TVO that tackles misinformation, disinformation, conspiracies, hoaxes and scams. She talks with host Bill Fledderus about how Christians can be taken in by fake news, how to protect ourselves and more.

Right relationships: One friendship at a time - Ep 254 23.01.2026 45分

How can Christians benefit from Indigenous transformational approaches to relationship, compared to Western transactional approaches? Dan Collado of in Napanee, Ont., is Indigenous Peoples coordinator for Mission Canada (The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) and director of Aboriginal Bible Academy, which provides remote education across Canada. He chats with host David Guretzki about the importance of personal friendship building in a society where relationships with Indigenous people at the national level are so damaged. https://paoc.org/canada/about/staff/lists/mc-staff/indigenous-peoples-coordinator https://www.aboriginalbibleacademy.ca/staff https://rightrelationship.ca/

What's Christian about foreign aid? - Ep 253 20.12.2025 33分

Global aid is not just charity, but a shared responsibility and strategic investment rooted in the biblical call to stewardship, compassion, and justice, says Laura Solberg, executive director of Kentro Christian Network, the national hub representing 70 Christian relief and development organizations across Canada. She chats from Vancouver with host Bill Fledderus in Hamilton. https://kentronetwork.ca/

Suffering, Identity & Hope: Christian Approaches to Caregiving - Ep 252 03.12.2025 43分

Keith Dow is a theologian who focuses on care and community, as he does in his book "Formed Together: Mystery, Narrative, and Virtue in Christian Caregiving" (Baylor, 2021) and in his work with Karis Disability Services. He talks with host David Guretzki about Christian perspectives on disability, the ethics of care and issues like MAiD and euthanasia.

Reaching and supporting migrants with the gospel - Ep 251 20.11.2025 40分

Guest host David Guretzki chats with Shoaib Ebadi about reaching and supporting migrants with the gospel. Since 2010 Shoaib Ebadi and his wife have, from Canada, been running an evangelical TV program called Secret of Life, which is broadcast in Afghanistan where he grew up as a Muslim. Ebadi directs Square One World Media, an organization producing Christian content in Russian, Arabic, Low German, Spanish and more, including programs for Indigenous audiences in Canada. https://www.squareoneworldmedia.com/our-team https://chvnradio.com/articles/growing-up-muslim-one-mans-life-changing-encounter-with-jesus

Pastoral shortages? Calling and training for ministry - Ep 250 31.10.2025 42分

Rick Hiemstra is a former Wesleyan pastor who now directs the EFC's Centre for Research on Church and Faith. He and host David Guretzki reflect on increasing concerns over upcoming pastor retirements and the shrinking numbers of future pastors. They consider issues around training, educational structures, public reputation around pastoral careers, and the need for Christian communities to be more intentional and explicit in raising conversations about vocation. Rick Hiemstra's 2024 article in Faith Today: Waking up to the pastor shortage https://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/library/item/05062024/4188073/ A response by Gordon T. Smith from 2025: Rethinking Canada's congregational leadership crisis https://www.faithtoday.ca/CCLC

Christians in Montreal today and across history - Ep 249 07.10.2025 45分

Glenn Smith is the director of the graduate program in practical theology at McGill University. He recently published Christians in the City of Montréal, a book that documents the roots of Christianity in Montréal while focusing on the present experience of Christians among its 4.3 million residents. He speaks with guest host David Guretzki about the Indigenous roots of Montréal, the 1960s "Quiet Revolution,” immigration since the 1960s and the reality today. Christians in the City of Montréal is published by Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.

Christian living in secular Canadian society - Ep 248 11.09.2025 35分

Guest host David Guretzki speaks with Dom Ruso, who leads a church called The180 in Laval, Que., that he helped to plant in 2016. Ruso was born and raised in Montreal, holds a PhD in historical theology and has also worked pastoring young adults. The180 church is an interdenominational church under the umbrella of The Alliance Canada. Ruso has a new book coming in September called The Bible in a Shifting Secular Age (Cascade, 2025). https://wipfandstock.com/9781666784909/the-bible-for-a-shifting-secular-age/ https://theoneeighty.ca/ourstory https://www.dashhouse.com/pastor-planter-interview-domenic-ruso/ https://www.eteq.ca/d8/en/node/235 https://biblesociety.ca/scriptureuntangled/podcast-episode-7-domenic-ruso/

Jesus and the revolutionary kingdom of peace - Ep 247 08.09.2025 58分

Jesse Nickel of Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., published a compelling book last year about how Jesus' ministry and presentation of the Kingdom of God contrast with human understandings of power (A Revolutionary Jesus: Violence and Peacemaking in the Kingdom of God, Fortress Press, 2024). He talks with host Bill Fledderus about the challenge we face to understand shalom is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings and life. His book is A Revolutionary Jesus: Violence and Peacemaking in the Kingdom of God (Fortress Press, 2024). His page at Columbia Bible College https://columbiabc.edu/instructor/jesse-nickel/ Instagram: @jesse_p_nickel Facebook: @Jesse Nickel

Elephants, tigers, rabbits and the Great Commission in Canada - Ep. 246 10.06.2025 37分

Lisa Pak serves at Finishing the Task, a Great Commission initiative led by Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church. Her title at that “network of networks” is director of partnerships in Asia, for young leaders and women. She talked with guest host David Guretzki about diaspora communities and engaging younger generations with the gospel. Previous to her current position, she has pastored across South Korea, Singapore and Canada and been a regional director for the Canadian Bible Society. A second-generation Korean-Canadian and Toronto native, she is ordained by the Korean Association of Independent Churches and Missions. https://finishingthetask.com/about/ https://missionexus.org/lisa-pak-keynote-at-missio-nexus-conference/ https://lausanne.org/podcast/the-task-set-before-us-breaking-barriers-building-bridges-in-global-missions-with-lisa-pak https://gospelmobilization.org/podcast/2023/9/25/the-mobilizers-role-in-finishing-the-task-with-lisa-pak

Strengthening Canadian Christian Education - Ep 245 23.05.2025 37分

Greg Needham of Salmon Arm, B.C., and Lauralynn Mercer of Ontario are educators leading the Canadian Christian Education Movement, a project of the global education ministry Teach Beyond (cemovement.ca). They spoke with host Bill Fledderus about Christ-centred education options in Canada and new ways to help them grow.

Thinking about church and mission - Ep 244 15.05.2025 35分

Guest host David Guretzki chats with Sarah Han about how church members can think about the church being intercultural and missional. Dr. Han is assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Tyndale University. She considers herself to be "third culture" Canadian-Korean-Chinese and her formative theology was shaped on the mission field abroad. She has diverse experience in the Canadian public and private sectors, including immigrant churches. Her research focuses on an intercultural, intergenerational, missional ecclesiology for Canada. https://www.tyndale.ca/faculty/sarah-han

Coping with stress in an increasingly unstable world - Ep 243 01.05.2025 40分

Many Canadians are feeling burdened by global economic and political turmoil. Jennifer Bowen of Shalem Mental Health Network chats with host Bill Fledderus about how such stress can impact mental health, relationships and faith communities. She offers suggestions informed by psychology and Christian faith for coping and cultivating peace, resilience and hope in uncertain times.

Helping kids grow in faith at home through little habits - Ep 242 20.03.2025 34分

Christie Thomas is an author, parent and children’s ministry leader in Alberta (littleshootsdeeproots.com). Her latest book Little Habits, Big Faith: How Simple Practices Help Your Family Grow in Jesus was published by NavPress in 2024. She chatted with Bill Fledderus about how parents can help plant seeds of faith and help them grow in our children. Little Habits, Big Faith (https://www.navpress.com/p/little-habits-big-faith/9781641587679, https://amzn.to/4hhp0OU) Her new podcast has the same name as her website Little Shoots, Deep Roots. She’s also on YouTube as BedtimeDevoMama