Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada

Mission

The mission of ARPA Canada is to educate, equip, and encourage Reformed Christians to political action and to shine the light of God’s Word to Canada’s municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

Why Bother?

ARPA Canada exists because we care. We care about our nation, our communities, our families, and our freedoms. Most of all, we care about what God says is good and right. Jesus Christ told us that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “Love your neighbour as yourself.” How do we show love? By living our lives in devotion to Him.

Carved above a window on our Parliament buildings is the words from Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Canada is perishing – both physically and spiritually – because we have turned our back on God. We have lost our vision. Many of our leaders think that they can lead without believing in objective truth. As a result, Canada is following an evil course where we are worshiping ourselves, our own choices, and our own rights. This has led to the death of millions of lives and untold suffering and hurt.

Canada needs the message of truth and hope from God’s Word to steer us and guide us. Yes, we believe religion and politics can mix. Indeed, they inevitably mix (though we do not believe that the institutions of the state and the church should mix). Right now, the religion of secular humanism is guiding Canada. We hold to a different vision, a vision that comes from the God who made us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us. If you are interested in learning more about our faith, click here.

Reformed

Click here to read the article titled "what does it mean to be Reformed?"

By calling ourselves the Association for Reformed Political Action we want to emphasize two things. First, the work we will be doing will be directed primarily toward Reformed churches in Canada because we believe that there is a pressing need to encourage political action among our churches. Second, in harmony with our Reformed theological tradition, we are grounded by our faith in the truth and authority of the Bible, also as it is summarized in the Three Forms of Unity, and believe that the Lordship of Jesus Christ must apply to every sphere of life, including politics. Some of the denominations that we will direct our activities toward include the Free Reformed Churches, United Reformed Churches, Canadian Reformed Churches, and Heritage Reformed Churches. However, we are grateful if others can benefit from this work as well.

Structure

ARPA Canada is under the direction of a board which has members from BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.

ARPA Canada Board Members

(from left to right)

John Voorhorst (Chairman) - Coaldale, AB

Bruce DeBoer - Toronto, ON

Ralph Vis - Dunnville, ON

James Teitsma - Winnipeg, MB

Bryan Grim - Langley, BC

Neil Dykstra - Langley, BC

(not present) Dr. Cornelis Van Dam - Burlington ON

Executive Director - Mark Penninga

As the executive director, Mark's job is to carry out the mission of ARPA Canada by equipping Reformed Christians with research and information on political issues and bringing a Reformed perspective on current issues to our authorities. Mark and his family now live in the beautiful Bulkley Valley near the town of Smithers, BC. He has a Master's degree in political science from the University of Lethbridge,  a BA in philosophy from Trinity Western University, and a certificate in Leadership and Applied Public Affairs from the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa. Mark's political experience includes working as a Research Analyst for Focus on the Family Canada and as an intern in Ottawa for a Member of Parliament. He also started local ARPA's in Smithers, Langley, and Lethbridge. Mark is the author of "Building on Sand: Human Dignity in Canadian Law and Society"

Ontario Director and Legal Counsel - André Schutten

André is based in ARPA Canada's Ottawa office and has the madate of equipping the Reformed community in Ontario as well as being our Parliament contact and serving as our legal counsel. He and his wife Karyn live in Gatineau Québec and are members of Jubilee Church, a Canadian Reformed Church in Ottawa.

André completed his undergraduate degree in 2007, obtaining an Honours B.A. in Classics and Religion from McMaster University. He then moved to Ottawa to attend the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa where he completed his LL.B. in the Spring of 2010. He also worked as an intern for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and for the Centre for Faith and Public Life, where he covered freedom of religion issues, legal opinions on abortion legislation, and written arguments for the Supreme Court of Canada. He was welcomed to the Ontario Bar on June 21, 2011. In January of 2012 André started his studies for a Masters degree in constitutional law through Osgoode Hall.

Outreach Coordinator - Ilse VanderMeulen

Ilse started with ARPA Canada in January of 2012 and works part-time as our Outreach Coordinator.  She has a key role in organizing the national and provincial conferences and speaking events, directing our media relations, compiling and updating ARPA publications, and managing our contacts.

Ilse immigrated to Canada with her husband in 1998 after finishing her BA at the School for Journalism in Ede, the Netherlands. She worked for several newspapers and produced a short documentary in 2010. Building on her skills as writer/editor she worked for several corporate clients and non-profit organizations over the past years in Public Relations, Fund Development and media productions. From 2007-2011 she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Owen Sound Crisis Pregnancy Centre. Ilse and her family live in the area of Elora, Ontario.

Local ARPA's

In communities across the country there are groups made up of members of Reformed churches that work to promote political awareness and action within their community. Although independent of ARPA Canada, all of them may benefit from the resources and coordination of ARPA Canada if they desire. Local groups make a very valuable contribution to their communities by providing things like news, guest speakers, letter writing evenings, meetings with government officials, and motivation for church members to get involved in political issues and events. Click here to find a listing of the active ARPA groups and more information about what they do.

History

The Reformed church community has a history of political action and involvement in Canada. Already in the 1970’s local groups formed in churches and became known as ARPA’s (Association for Reformed Political Action). In 2000, an effort was made by the Reformed Perspective Foundation to encourage new ARPA groups. Through the coordination of Peter Veenendaal, a number of ARPA’s were started in towns and cities across the country. Some of these groups continue to be successful in encouraging awareness and action. However, since that time, some of these local ARPA groups faded away. It was apparent that there was a need for coordination and support among the groups that existed. Furthermore, there was also a need to mobilize individuals who were not part of ARPA groups to care about what was going on in Canada and to be equipped with the tools to respond. Because of this need, the Reformed Perspective Foundation approached Mark Penninga, in the summer of 2007, to reinvigorate political action in the Reformed churches. After some talks, it was decided that a new not-for-profit organization would need to be started, which must be separate from the Reformed Perspective Foundation and which must have a new vision. As a result, ARPA Canada was formed.

Relationship With Other Groups

Other groups already exist which promote a Christian worldview in Canada politics. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Canada Family Action are a couple well known examples of this. ARPA Canada is not attempting to compete against these groups. We believe that there is a real shortage of Christian political action in this country and more groups and initiatives are needed. Furthermore, we see the need to convey a more optimistic perspective to our nation than what is sometimes associated with Christian political action. Our goal will be to shine as a light – to show the rich blessings of a Biblical perspective and why this is favourable for our secular country.

For more information about ARPA Canada read A Welcomed Ally: Christian Political Organizations Already Exist, So Where Does ARPA Canada Fit In?