From Jeremy Jackson

Hey People, this is from a friend of mine named Jeremy. I asked him to write cause he's pretty stankin' cool and has a passion for Jesus and seeing others know about him. I'm usually challenged by what he's thinking about...hopefully you are too. Eddie

Having spent most of my life here for the past 7 years, I've grown to admire and appreciate Canadian culture for many reasons. And having spent some of that time talking to people about Christ, and a lot of that time talking to Christians about life, faith, and church, I feel there is a lot I want to say on this rather broad topic.

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am passionate about the church in Canada - I want to see the church grow to become all that God has destined it to be. Having spent several years in leadership positions in on-campus Christian groups and at a student church, I am particularly concerned about Canada's young people, and in Montreal have frequently found myself asking questions like: Where is the church? What is the church doing to reach this crowd? And the proverbial: why is it that whenever I say Jesus, God or Church in public, the conversation completely dies? Sadly, at first glance, amongst Montreal's young crowds, Nietze's refrain seems to ring true: God is dead.

Yet we who read our Bibles know that this cannot be the truth. The Bible tells us that Jesus is alive, that He existed before the foundations of the earth and rules over all creation. It's not that He's not dead and gone, it's just that sometimes in some places He's hard to find. So, in this place where God is one of the least popular of the performers, I wonder: where is He and what is He doing?

Montreal must be a great place to grow up - you've got an opportunity to become fluent in at least two languages, access to world-class, affordable higher-education, exposure to languages and cultures from around the world, and what I think it's most famous for: Montreal has one of the world's most dynamic nightlife, music and arts scenes. Believers in Montreal need to bridge the gap between the church and the culture. I think that if the church becomes a place where its practice of worship is relevant to the culture around it, then there is no limit to its growth in numbers. But if it falls behind the culture, then God has to start something new. God desires to use the church to reach the lost, but we fail to seek Him and His thoughts - which are much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8).

Like everything else, I believe music has been created for one purpose - worship. A royal priesthood (check out 1 Peter 2:9), the church leads the universe in worship and should be making the highest quality, most advanced and provocative music. But the church is really behind on this! The only point I really want to make here is that the church is called to influence every aspect of culture, and currently, our influence in the area of culture that most speaks to our generation is very weak. Why are we afraid to have some heavy or avante-garde beats as part of our worship to Him? Do we believe there are no beats in Heaven? Are there only hymns in heaven? One of my dreams in Montreal is to start a djing and music company that goes around to the city's clubs and throws worship parties. It could be called Heavenly Beats! I just think we need to think outside of the box. We need to change church culture so that our worship is for real - in spirit and in truth - AND a witness. If it's real, but not a witness, we're not doing what Christ sent us to do, which is to disciple nations. Jesus wanted people to come to him as they were, not with pretensions and religious ceremonies. We've gotta stop putting up barriers!