Scripture Untangled – Details, episodes & analysis

Listen to Rev. Dr. Joni Sancken, Butler Chair of Homiletics & Hermeneutics at Vancouver School of Theology, being interviewed by CBS Ambassador, Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling. In this episode, they discuss how Joni uses Scripture to preach with honesty, courage, and imagination. They also explore Scripture’s voice in a world of doubt and trauma, why Jesus can’t be tamed, and how the parables are meant to disrupt and awaken us. 

In this episode, Joni and Andrew discuss: 

• Joni’s journey into preaching and they explore how faith, family, and church community shaped her calling, and look at how Scripture moves from the page to the pulpit. 
• What happens when congregations lose Bible fluency as they unpack Paul Wilson’s “Four Pages of the Sermon” as a way to move from trouble to grace. 
• They wrestle with the disruptive power of the Gospel and reflect on preaching with honesty in a world of trauma and uncertainty. 
• How Scripture gives us language when words fail. Joni talks about the space Scripture has for lament, questions, and encounters with God. 
• The “thin place” of preaching - where God moves between text, preacher, and listener and how the Church can reclaim a wilder, untamed Jesus. 
• The subversive power of the parables and how to preach them in ways that awaken instead of dull the imagination. 
• What’s Stirring in Gen Z and the Future of the Church? Joni and Andres explore Gen Z’s hunger for authentic faith and consider what this means for the future of the Church.

Read the transcript: biblesociety.ca/transcript-scripture-untangled-s11-ep10

Joni Sancken’s approach to preaching is interdisciplinary and theological. Sancken (PhD, Toronto School of Theology, Emmanuel College) holds the Butler Chair of Homiletics and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology. She was formerly Professor of Homiletics at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH where she served for a decade and Assistant Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA. She is the author of several books including, Stumbling Over the Cross: Preaching the Cross and Resurrection Today (Cascade, 2016), Words that Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls (Abingdon, 2019), All Our Griefs to Bear: Responding with Resilience After Collective Trauma (Herald Press, 2022,) and Getting to God: Preaching Good News in a Troubled World (co-authored) (Cascade, 2023.)  

Sancken is passionate about supporting and encouraging pastors and church leaders. She grew up in a Mennonite congregation near Champaign-Urbana, IL and is an ordained pastor in Mennonite Church USA. She is energized by ecumenical and religious diversity having studied, served, and worshipped in Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Canada, and United Methodist settings, and has completed training in the interfaith practice of scriptural reasoning. 

Sancken lives in Vancouver, BC with her Presbyterian pastor spouse, Steve Schumm, children Maggie and Teddy, and dogs Bella and Pax. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching low-stakes reality TV, and exploring the natural beauty around Vancouver.  

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Listen to Rev. Dr. James E. Pedlar, Professor of Theology at Tyndale Seminary, where he holds the Donald N. and Kathleen G. Bastian Chair of Wesley Studies being interviewed by CBS Ambassador Andrew Stirling. In this episode, they discuss the value of different denominations and how the spiritual gifts and fruit of the Spirit are always in place to bring unity and glorify God in the Church.   

In this episode, James and Andrew discuss: 

• James' formative years growing up in the Salvation Army, where an intergenerational church family helped nurture his early faith and love for God. 
• Hearing God’s call to ministry, and how it was shaped by James’ love for Scripture and the encouragement of mentors who guided him toward full-time service. 
• The importance of grace, gifts, and fruit in discerning how the church recognizes and confirms a call to ministry. 
• The Salvation Army and Free Methodist and the shared heritage and theology of these two Wesleyan movements. 
• Teaching at Tyndale Seminary and how James is living out a pastoral calling through scholarship and theological education. 
• The Biblical call to Christian unity and what Scripture teaches about ecumenism and why unity matters to the Church’s witness. 
• Understanding our differences in the Body of Christ by balancing truth and love in inter-denominational relationships. 
• Living in a ‘post-truth’ age and how the Gospel speaks into a culture obsessed with “my truth.” 
• How discovering the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church empowers believers with gifts and helps to guide the Church. 
• James shares about equipping future leaders amid cultural and technological challenges, and requests prayers for wisdom, faithfulness, and the next generation of leaders who will carry the gospel forward. 

Read the transcript: biblesociety.ca/transcript-scripture-untangled-s11-ep9

The Rev. Dr. James E. Pedlar is Professor of Theology at Tyndale Seminary, where he holds the Donald N. and Kathleen G. Bastian Chair of Wesley Studies. He also chairs Tyndale’s history and theology department and directs the ThM program and the MA in Historical and Theological Studies. Dr. Pedlar specializes in the study of the Church – especially questions involving reform movements, Christian unity, authority structures, and ecumenical dialogue. He is a past President of the Wesleyan Theological Society, a Fellow of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre, a member of the Review Board of the Wesley Works Digitization Project, a Co-Editor of Wesley and Methodist Studies, and a member of the Study Commission on Doctrine for the Free Methodist Church in Canada. 

He is the author of two books: British Methodist Revivalism and the Eclipse of Ecclesiology (Routledge, 2024) and Division, Diversity, and Unity: A Theology of Ecclesial Charisms (Peter Lang, 2015). 

He is an ordained minister in the Free Methodist Church in Canada and serves as Worship and Teaching Pastor at Wesley Chapel Free Methodist Church. He and his wife, Samantha, have two daughters. 

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Listen to Stacey Palmer, President and CEO of Prison Fellowship Canada, being interviewed by veteran journalist Lorna Dueck. Stacey has been involved in the leadership of the ministry since 2009 involving federal, provincial and youth corrections. Her belief in an accountable and restorative response to crime is reflected by her work, which includes pastoral care and counselling, mentoring, and facilitating restorative circles. In this episode, Stacey talks about the value that God places on humanity, and how He cares about upholding dignity and His image in every human being.

Read the transcript: biblesociety.ca/transcript-scripture-untangled-s10-ep15

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Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca

Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate

Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety

Whether you’re well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world’s best-selling book. This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. 

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Stacey Palmer serves as the President & Chief Executive Officer of Prison Fellowship Canada (PFC), an organization that prepares and mobilizes the Canadian Christian community in response to the issue of crime and the restoration of offenders. She has been involved in the leadership of the organization since 2009 and her unique ability has brought PFC’s vision, growth, and stewardship into a regionalized and national community.

Academically, Stacey holds a Master’s degree in Missional Leadership. She is currently a candidate for a doctoral degree in Restorative Justice through Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Stacey has over 16 years of volunteered experiences in both the federal and provincial corrections in Canada, which includes pastoral counselling, mentoring and facilitating restorative circles with offenders and surrogate victims demonstrating that she believes in an accountable and restorative response to crime.

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Listen to Michael Perreau, former Director General of the United Bible Societies being interviewed by veteran journalist Lorna Dueck. They discuss the power of listening and taking pauses, especially during conflict situations, availability of and accessibility to the Bible - everyone who wants it should have it - and being aware of how available and accessible we make ourselves when He calls. Are we listening? Is there something we can do to make ourselves more available and accessible to Him? Do we realize when we have encounters with Him and through Him? 

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Learn more about the Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca

Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate

Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety

Whether you’re well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world’s best-selling book.  This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. 

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For twelve years Michael Perreau was the Director General of the United Bible Societies serving over 240 countries and territories through 154 member societies including the Canadian Bible Society whose mission is ‘The Bible for Everyone’. Michael is a proven leader with a track record in business and social transformation. He is passionate about building good-to-great organizations that impact for the long-term and provide spiritual and social capital. 

Michael is of mixed European-Asian origin, having spent his early formative years in a Muslim country in Asia. Soon after local race riots he moved to the UK with $50 life savings to study at a prestigious UK university. Initially an Industrial Psychologist, he subsequently achieved post-graduate business qualifications at Master's Level and beyond, in the UK and overseas. In the late 1980s he founded his own global strategic advisory business. He sold that company 15 years ago, and with his wife, Deborah, released most of the proceeds from the sale equity towards a kingdom building social and transformational initiative.

Michael’s growing passion in physical and social transformation through enterprise, job creation and equity has led him to develop and personally fund a number of enterprises, business start-ups and mission projects. He is a founding Board member of Transformational Business Network (TBN). TBNs vision is to seek to facilitate spiritual and physical transformation through enterprise globally. In partnership with local people, TBN focuses on supporting sustainable enterprises that can create long term socio-economic wealth amongst the poor and destitute. He serves on the board of several organizations both in the UK and overseas in non-executive, board or trustee roles including advisory roles to government.

Michael and his wife, Deborah, are kingdom builders with a difference, journeying their lifestyle from a life of success to significance based on a faithful walk. Deborah serves as Founding Executive Director of a medical charity sending health equipment to the poorest of nations. Michael and Deborah have 3 adult children, 2 donkeys, several dogs and chickens and they live in west Somerset, UK. Their vision is to s

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We have a hope that is eternal. It was C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity who said, "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." And that's exactly what the narrative of Scripture is, you know, our hope is not here. Our hope is eternal, and it's in a right relationship with God. That doesn't mean that the here and now is not important. You know, we can care about the environment because we were entrusted as stewards of creation. And that can give a strengthening and an undergirding for caring about the world around us, caring about people. And I think ultimately, these desires that we have for stewardship, for ideas like justice well, those are inherently Christian ideas. That's the air we breathe in the Western Hemisphere because of our Christian heritage.
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Listen to Wesley Huff, Central Canada Director of Apologetics Canada being interviewed by the British and Foreign Bible Society’s Rev. Dr. Andrew Ollerton as they discuss some common questions about faith and Scriptures. Can we trust the New Testament? Are these texts reliable?

Wesley Huff is currently working on a video series called “Can I Trust the Bible?” and is doing a PhD in New Testament and Christian origins at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College. He has participated in numerous public dialogues, debates, and interfaith events on issues of faith, belief, and religion across North America. 

Wes was born in Multan, Pakistan and spent a portion of his childhood in the Middle East. After being diagnosed with a rare neurological condition at the age of eleven that left him paralyzed from the waist down, Wes experienced a miraculous recovery that the doctors themselves said they had no medical explanation for. This experience, along with a great deal of study and soul searching in his later teens solidified his interest in the subjects of faith and engaging the beliefs and worldview perspectives of others. Currently he lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife their three children.

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
• Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate
• Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety
• The Bible Course: biblecourse.ca

Listen to Wesley Huff, Central Canada Director of Apologetics Canada being interviewed by the British and Foreign Bible Society’s Rev. Dr. Andrew Ollerton as they discuss some common questions about faith and Scriptures. Can we trust the New Testament? Are these texts reliable?

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Learn more about the Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca

Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate

Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety

Whether you’re well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world’s best-selling book.  This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. 

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Wesley Huff is currently working on a video series called “Can I Trust the Bible?” and is doing a PhD in New Testament and Christian origins at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College. He has participated in numerous public dialogues, debates, and interfaith events on issues of faith, belief, and religion across North America. 

Wes was born in Multan, Pakistan and spent a portion of his childhood in the Middle East. After being diagnosed with a rare neurological condition at the age of eleven that left him paralyzed from the waist down, Wes experienced a miraculous recovery that the doctors themselves said they had no medical explanation for. This experience, along with a great deal of study and soul searching in his later teens solidified his interest in the subjects of faith and engaging the beliefs and worldview perspectives of others. Currently he lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife their three children.

Learn more about Wesley Huff

Website: wesleyhuff.com

Apologetics Canada: apologeticscanada.com 

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
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If you don't know who Jesus Christ is, that means you're not engaging Scripture. And if you're not engaging Scripture, you might come to a false understanding of who Jesus Christ is. Oh, Jesus Christ was a prophet. He was a social justice advocate. No, He's the incarnate Son of God. And that is revealed in Scriptures. And it's through that revelation that we come to know about who He is, the Saviour of the world, the Promised Messiah, the fulfillment of the law, the prophets, and the covenants. But He is also for us, He is our Lord and God and He has changed everything. And it's continuing to change things through the incarnation to the resurrection. And if you don't know those things, first of all, how can you live out your faith as a Christian? And how can you possibly come to understand the nature of the world and the nature of yourself as a human person made in His image and likeness? So, without engaging the Bible, we simply cannot be Christians.

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Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett is the Program Director of Faith Communities at Cardus. He is an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Eparchy (Diocese) of Toronto and Eastern Canada. Andrew is Program Director, of Faith Communities at Cardus. 

A champion of religious freedom domestically and internationally, he has served as Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom and led Global Affairs Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom from 2013 to 2016. He simultaneously served as Canada’s Head of Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). When not praying, studying, or advocating, Fr. Andrew can be found with his fly rod in a stream, listening to bluegrass or Beethoven.

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Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling was the Senior Minister of Timothy Eaton Memorial United Church in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest United Church congregations and was responsible for leadership and administration at Timothy Eaton from 1998 until his more recent retirement. Overseeing staff, providing visionary leadership, acting as the public representative of over 1,500 members and managing a dynamic and ever-evolving ministry to the city of Toronto and beyond.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, a Master of Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Doctor of Ministry in preaching from Acadia Divinity College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In 2008, Wycliffe College, Toronto, recognized his contribution to preaching with an honorary Doctor of Divinity.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling is now the Ambassador for the Canadian Bible Society building relationships with churches, academic institutions and individuals across Canada.

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
• Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate
• Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety
• The Bible Course: biblecourse.ca

So, I've followed Jesus now for more than 60 years, and always, there have been a few days life has been too busy to do it, just impossible, but every day. I mean I was reading this morning, and I just love that time every day in the Bible, in the Scriptures. And what's amazing is I read it now, well, more than 60 times, you always, every year see something fresh, that you didn't see before. And you think, my goodness, why didn't I see that? And of course, the simple fact is that life is raising different questions all the time. And you bring those at least in the back of your mind to what you're reading, and you suddenly see again, and again, the incredible relevance of Scripture. I love it.

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Listen to Dr. Os Guinness, prominent social critic, a senior fellow at the Oxford Center for Christian apologetics, and author or editor of more than 30 books being interviewed by veteran journalist Lorna Dueck. Os discusses his newest book, Signals of Transcendence - which describes God's voice to us - and challenges us to listen for the voice of God speaking into our lives. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, Os Guinness was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. 

Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Call, Time for Truth, Unspeakable, A Free People’s Suicide, The Global Public Square, Last Call for Liberty, Carpe Diem Redeemed, and The Magna Carta of Humanity. His latest book is The Great Quest: Invitation to the Examined Life and a Sure Path to Meaning, published in 2022. Since moving to the United States in 1984, Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum and the EastWest Institute in New York. 

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
• Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate
• Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety
• The Bible Course: biblecourse.ca

Listen to Dr. Os Guinness, prominent social critic, a senior fellow at the Oxford Center for Christian apologetics, and author or editor of more than 30 books being interviewed by veteran journalist Lorna Dueck. Os discusses his newest book, Signals of Transcendence which describes God's voice to us and challenges us to listen for the voice of God speaking into our lives. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

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Learn more about the Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca

Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate

Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety

Whether you’re well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world’s best-selling book.  This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. 

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Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, Os Guinness was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. 

Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Call, Time for Truth, Unspeakable, A Free People’s Suicide, The Global Public Square, Last Call for Liberty, Carpe Diem Redeemed, and The Magna Carta of Humanity. His latest book is The Great Quest: Invitation to the Examined Life and a Sure Path to Meaning, published in 2022. Since moving to the United States in 1984, Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum and the EastWest Institute in New York. 

He was the lead drafter of the Williamsburg Charter in 1988, a celebration of the bicentennial of the US Constitution, and later of “The Global Charter of Conscience,” which was published at the European Union Parliament in 2012. Os has spoken at many of the world’s major universities, and spoken widely to political and business conferences across the world. He lives with his wife Jenny in the Washington DC area.

Learn more about Os Guinness: osguinness.com

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
• Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate
• Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety
• The Bible Course: biblecourse.ca

Listen as Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett, Cardus Program Director, Faith Communities and Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling, CBS Ambassador are interviewed by veteran journalist Lorna Dueck. Together they discuss a CBS-supported Cardus study, The Bible and Us, which explores questions about Canadian Christians and their engagement with and attitudes towards the Bible. How and why do Canadian Christians read the Bible? What do they think about the Bible? Do they know the Bible? 

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Read the report, The Bible and Us: biblesociety.ca/cardus-the-bible-and-us

Learn more about the Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca

Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety

Whether you’re well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world’s best-selling book.  This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. 

Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate

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Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett is the Program Director of Faith Communities at Cardus. He is an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Eparchy (Diocese) of Toronto and Eastern Canada. Andrew is Program Director, of Faith Communities at Cardus. 

A champion of religious freedom domestically and internationally, he has served as Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom and led Global Affairs Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom from 2013 to 2016. He simultaneously served as Canada’s Head of Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). When not praying, studying, or advocating, Fr. Andrew can be found with his fly rod in a stream, listening to bluegrass or Beethoven.

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Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling was the Senior Minister of Timothy Eaton Memorial United Church in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest United Church congregations and was responsible for leadership and administration at Timothy Eaton from 1998 until his more recent retirement. Overseeing staff, providing visionary leadership, acting as the public representative of over 1,500 members and managing a dynamic and ever-evolving ministry to the city of Toronto and beyond.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, a Master of Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Doctor of Ministry in preaching from Acadia Divinity College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In 2008, Wycliffe College, Toronto, recognized his contribution to preaching with an honorary Doctor of Divinity.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling is now the Ambassador for the Canadian Bible Society building relationships with churches, academic institutions and individuals across Canada.

• Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.ca
• Help people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donate
• Connect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesociety
• The Bible Course: biblecourse.ca