An App to Redeem your Commute
Can you plant a church with a smartphone? ryan Sim has an app for that. It’s called redeem the Commute ( www.redeemthecommute.com) and he’s hoping
people will download it, share it with others, and eventually
help plant a new church in Ajax, ont.
Sim, a priest of the Anglican diocese of Toronto, recently
moved his family to Ajax, a suburban community east of Toronto. From here Sim is reaching out to commuters, a group he
says has precious little time for family and community with so
much time taken up each week just getting to and from work.
The concept of the redeem the Commute app, which
launched in nov. 2012, is not to start with a building and invite
people in to worship.
Instead, Sim explains, the idea is to first serve people’s
needs in order to create new followers of Christ – and then
build groups of disciples who can come together to create a
church community.
The redeem the Commute app offers online courses on
topics such as marriage and parenting.
The course content, provided by Alpha Canada, is divided
into manageable sections, with videos or podcasts that
require a commitment of 10 minutes per day or less.
“This is a great evangelism tool,” says Sim, “because it
allows people to start conversations about things that matter
with people they know.” Sim suggests that a commuter might
say, “we have kids the same
age. why don’t we take this
parenting course together?”
PHo To: roBEr T roBo THAm
Groups can register on the
redeem the Commute website,
take the course together, and
begin to form community. “It
will take time,” he says. “dis-
cipleship takes a long time.” The
original intention was to open a
new church in the fall of 2013,
but the spring of 2014 is looking
like a more realistic target.
As of may 2013, almost 700 people had installed redeem
the Commute on their phones.
In addition to online courses, Sim creates special content
for his app, which is also available on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and on the redeem the Commute website.
He describes these “daily Challenges” as “
discipleship-focused content with a weekly rhythm.” There is a different
topic each week, which is explored and presented using short
videos from monday to Friday. Topics to date have included
priorities, divorce and grace.
There are no challenges on weekends as Saturdays are for
rest and Sundays are reserved for community – and eventually
a new church community planted in Ajax. Ft
–Mary Lou Harrison
PHo To: www.Jo Hn SdICKErSon. Com
note worthy
Attendance at Religious services
lowers Risk of Depression
Author Explains The Great Evangelical
Recession
Author and pastor John S. dickerson
explained his thoughts about a declining
evangelical north
American Church in
an interview with the
CBC's Jian Ghome-
shi. dickerson
argues the dramatic
decline of evangel-
icalism in north
America comes
from the lack of ma-
jor evangelical role
models, combined
with recent social
movements. Link to the interview at www.
theEFC.ca/dickerson2013, beginning at the
52-minute mark.
John s. Dickerson
regular attendance at a religious service
lowers the risk of depression, according to
a study published in the April issue of the
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. researchers at
the university of Saskatchewan were quoted as
saying the incidence of clinical depression was
22 per cent lower among those who attended
church services at least once a month. The
study found that people identifying themselves
as spiritual but not attending any religious service did not experience any health benefit.
Canada’s non-Christian Population growing
Two-thirds of Canada’s population – just over
22.1 million people – report affiliation with a
Christian religion, but
the number of mus-
lims, Hindus, Sikhs
and Buddhists is
increasing, according
to a StatsCan survey.
PHo To: SuE CArELESS
Across the country
the muslim popula-
tion is growing at a
rate exceeding other
religions. more than
7. 8 million, almost
25 per cent of the
population, had no
religious affiliation.
Wycliffe Issues new translation guidelines
wycliffe Bible Translators issued new
translation guidelines in may, updating
controversial guidelines from 2011 that
affirmed the importance of recognizing the
familial relationship between the divine Son
and His Father, but left flexibility to use other
language depending on the cultural context.
Some Bible translations used in muslim-dominated cultures avoided the phrase "Son
of God." The new guidelines state that Bible
translators should use the words “father”
and “son” to refer to the distinct persons of
the Trinity whenever possible. However, it
also recommends choosing “the most suitable words in light of the semantics of the
target language.”
Polyamorists strive for legal Recognition
Polyamory – having more than one intimate
relationship at a time with the knowledge and
consent of all involved – was confirmed legal
in Canada in 2011, but advocates are hoping
for more. The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy
Association ( www.polyadvocacy.ca) held its
first Canadian conference in Vancouver may
31 to June 2 with the theme “Claiming our
right to Love.” The association aims to promote awareness of polyamory and gain the
same legal recognition as other couples.
Millions of Baby Deaths Preventable
The riskiest day of a child’s life is the first
day, according to a new report from Save the
Children. more than a million babies die on
the day they are born
every year. The 14 coun-
tries with the highest
rates of first-day deaths
are all in Africa. The
report identifies three
major causes of newborn mortality – birth
complications, premature birth and infec-
tions, and says universal access to inexpen-
sive products could save more than a million
babies a year. Ft –Darryl Dash
