We want to bring this experience to as many people and congregations as we can. That means finding ways to offer the experience in different communities, including smaller towns and rural areas where opportunities for this kind of gathering may be less frequent. So, this November, we’re heading to Listowel! We’re excited to be working alongside Listowel Mennonite Church and Knox Presbyterian Church in Listowel to bring Catching the Spark to their community - this time as a multisession weekend experience.

Trigger Warning: The following content references and points to other content that talks about sexuality, rape, coercive control, harmful power dynamics within religious communities, death and suicide. These topics may be distressing to some readers. Please prioritize your wellbeing and consider having support available as you engage with this material.

John sits down with historian and author Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez to talk about her new book, Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made. Their conversation wanders through Christian bookstores, Little House on the Prairie, purity culture, multi-level marketing, women in ministry, and the quiet ways faith, culture, and commerce have become tangled together over the last century.

This summer, Ministry Forum shared a new resource called Divinity Atlas, which draws connections between articles sourced from across the web and highlights some of the innate connections we find across spirituality and religious traditions. Sara Traficante spent a little time playing around with the resource, to see what she could find.

An update on the Reforming Preaching Initiative for 2026 and 2027

I became a“traveling preacher” and discovered a whole new world. I thought I’d share a few observations of my experiences so far. I mean no disrespect to any of the places where I have visited - I’m simply offering a glimpse at the worshipping practices of the PCC as I have the privilege of being out and about most Sundays throughout the year and many of you are likely worshipping in the same place (like I did) for many years.

We’ve gathered a number of preaching resources in the Ministry Forum Resource Hub that can help you think differently about the work of preaching itself.

What do you find? And, perhaps more importantly, what is being communicated?

If you’re an advanced planner, you may already be thinking about Advent and Christmas. And if you’re not an advanced planner… well, consider this your friendly reminder that Advent is coming.

Christmas may bring people through your doors who haven't been there before—or who won't otherwise be there again for quite some time, so give them a good reason and an easy way to keep the conversation going!

A lot has happened at Ministry Forum over the past year. Some of it you’ve seen. Some of it we’ve talked about here and there. And quite a bit is still taking shape behind the scenes. We’ve also welcomed new faces and voices to our community, so for those who are new, here's an overview of who we are, what you can find here, and what’s coming next.

This year we’re excited to give away the complete Everything Bundle for Illustrated Ministry’s 2026 Advent resource, A Thrill of Hope, AND the Lent resource, Here and Now to two Canadian churches that haven’t yet used Illustrated Ministry resources.

Many of the titles were surprisingly interesting and several were quite unexpected. I’m not someone who reads the back cover or goes on a deep dive as to what I’m about to read. So sometimes, I have no idea what a book might be about other than it hit the required bingo square when I searched…

Andy Root’s newest, Baal and the Gods of More: Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry names something that many of us have felt in our bones but haven’t quite had words for. I think this book should be required reading for anyone in ministry leadership today.