Businesspeople seek connection
THE CANADIAN CHRISTIAN Business Federation is growing as fast as an entrepreneur could dream. The 35-yearold association of Christian businesspeople has grown to 43 chapters from eight only nine years ago.
“Christians in business, Christian people (generally) as well, really want to connect with others,” says executive director Keith Knight. “They really want to find that common moral ground where they can grow together as peers, where they can share their own concerns and so on. And our model really is peer mentoring.”
Most chapters meet once a month for a restaurant breakfast, working through devotional material licensed from the NIV Leadership Bible (Zondervan, 2013). Knight names planning, courage, integrity, stress, alliances, stewardship and employee care as subjects. “Whenever I ask groups, ‘So why are you here at 7 o’clock in the morning for a breakfast meeting?’, the answer invariably is, ‘Because it’s lonely out there.’ ”
The interdenominational organization has about 6,500 members – businesses, nonprofits and individuals. It’s one of a number of Christian businessperson’s networks in Canada. LeaderImpact, by Power to Change, has about 139 groups with 1,515 members in Canada. The Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship in Canada has 44 groups. Other networks include Christian Business Ministries Canada, Corpath, Intriciti in
Toronto and One Way Ministries in Ottawa (for leaders at churches and ministries – and their spouses – as well as other professionals). Knight says his federation’s growth owes to a new generation’s interest. “Most of those people who attend our meetings . . . from coast to coast are younger people, in their 30s and 40s especially, who really see a strong desire to really connect their faith with their work.”
But it’s not only Canadians taking interest. “I’m getting requests on a regular basis from Christian business leaders and owners in places like Germany, Ghana and India, especially . . . to say, ‘We want to create a clone, if we can, of the CCBF.’”
Canadian Christian Business Federation growing rapidly
Alberta’s highest court has ruled in favour of a campus pro-life group at the University of Alberta. Proabortion protestors disrupted a pro-life display in 2015. The following year, the university told the pro-life group they would have to pay a $17,500 security fee if they wanted to host a similar display. After three years in court, the Alberta Court of Appeals ruled it was unreasonable for the university to impose this fee on the pro-life group.