Webinar offers legal guidance for today’s complex cultural dynamics

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

“Society is changing at a pace so much faster than we have seen in the past and the Church is just not ready to deal with it.”

These stark words, spoken by Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos, frame the need for a recent event which One Way Ministries hosted for church leaders. Titled, “Leading your church through choppy waters,” the webinar highlighted current risks ministries need to navigate, and ways to minimize the danger.

“We are hearing more and more that, as Christian organizations, we have the law against us,” says Mark Peterkins, executive director of One Way Ministries. Peterkins says he hoped the event would help “as Christians leading religious organizations [know] we are not powerless. We still have much in the law that can enhance our ministries. Second, One Way Ministries wanted to introduce our leadership community to some very talented folks in the Acacia Group.”

Polizogopoulos is one of the founders of the Acacia Group, an Ottawa boutique law firm that primarily represents Christian organizations. The webinar focused on three current issues the Acacia Group regularly helps churches navigate: legal issues around hiring and membership, the new “conversion therapy ban”, and dealing with the media.

“A lot of times, if churches are proactive in doing certain things, they can avoid human rights complaints and bigger legal troubles,” Polizogopoulos says. “Hopefully [this event] will raise churches to proactively take steps to protect themselves.”

“It is important for the Church to understand the legalities, liabilities, and our rights in making decisions.”

During the webinar, Polizogopoulos highlighted legal ways ministries can use and protect their right to hire like-minded individuals. While human rights complaints are rarer for employment issues at churches, he detailed principles that are especially important for Christian organizations like camps and schools.

Bryan Williams, who pastors Emmanuel Apostolic Church, says the event caused his church to review their governing policies.

“It is important for the Church to understand the legalities, liabilities, and our rights in making decisions,” he says. “It is also important that leaders achieve a more proactive stance in understanding the challenges in the community. What stood out most was that the Church is more vulnerable to same-sex issues and is not ready for the transition taking placed in society.”

The event, held November 28, provided information and guidance about Parliament’s recent initiative to ban conversion therapy. At the time, the text of the bill had not been released, so the group referred to a similar bill from the last parliament. The new bill was pushed through with no debate, and received royal ascent on December 8. This new law, Polizogopoulos says, is more concerning than the previous bill.

“Conversion therapy is something that was practiced 50 years ago and included things like shock therapy. I don’t think any church supports that.”

“The pastor would have to ask what kind of pornography they are watching.”

The way the new law is worded, Polizogopoulos says, could criminalize common pastoral counselling.

“Under the old bill, if a teenager came to you and said, ‘I am struggling with pornography.’ The pastor would have to ask what kind of pornography they are watching and say, ‘If it is heterosexual pornography I can counsel you. If it is homosexual pornography, I can’t.’ The current bill is the same, but it applies to adults as well.”

Polizogopoulos says we will not know the scope of the bill until it starts getting enforced. It is possible even sermons about sexual immorality could be considered illegal under the new law, if they mention homosexual or transgender behaviour.

One key the Acacia Group stressed is for churches to know the risks and be united in their tolerance for risk. Different churches are willing to accept different levels of risk, but pastors and boards must be united in the church’s approach.

“The last part [of the webinar] was about engaging with the media,” Polizogopoulos explains. The group’s communications expert “advised churches on how to navigate the media on sensitive topics. All media have an agenda, because they all have a bias in some way. You need to be aware of that before you talk to them.”

One Way Ministries made the video of the event available online, for those who are interested.