Friends Church Calgary Weekly Message

Most of us know what it feels like to be at the end of our rope. The demands of work, family, relationships, and life never seem to stop, and sometimes even a vacation doesn't feel like enough. This Sunday at Friends Church, we'll explore a surprising perspective on why simply pushing harder often isn't the answer - and discover a practical, life-giving way to find renewed energy in...

Here's a question worth sitting with: what if the thing that's slowly destroying your most important relationships isn't the big blowup, the betrayal, or the obvious stuff — but something you do so regularly you don't even notice it anymore? Something you probably did this week. Maybe this morning. Researchers who study relationships have identified a handful of specific behavi...

There's someone in your life right now who just gets under your skin. Maybe it's a family member who turns every gathering into a minefield. A colleague who makes everything harder than it needs to be. A partner who seems wired completely differently than you and you cannot figure out how to stop bumping into each other. And the really fun part? You can't just walk away. You live wi...

Have you ever been in a conflict with someone you love and realized halfway through that you're not actually fighting about what you think you're fighting about? Like the argument on the surface makes no sense - but something underneath it is absolutely real and it is not going away. Here's what nobody tells you: every person in your life is running on a core set of drives that are...

Speaker: Emily Wight Think about the last difficult conversation you had. You were listening to the words, maybe even choosing your own words carefully, trying to say the right thing. But what if the most important part of that conversation wasn't what was being said at all? What if the person in front of you was telling you exactly how they felt - and you missed it completely? There's a...

Has someone ever pulled away from you and you genuinely didn't know why? A friendship that got quiet. A family member who keeps their distance. A relationship that used to be easy and now feels like work - and you can't put your finger on what changed. Here's the uncomfortable truth: most of us are doing things right now, in the relationships that matter most to us, that are slowly...

There's probably someone in your life right now who's a little more distant than you'd like. A relationship that's a little harder than it needs to be. And if you're honest, somewhere in the back of your mind, you already know why. Something happened - something you did, or maybe something you've been doing for years without realizing it - and now you're paying f...

Most of us have a list of reasons why our lives are harder than they should be. Things we didn't choose. Ways we're different. Losses we didn't deserve. And somewhere along the way, we quietly made peace with using that list as a reason to stop pushing. This week at the Spiritual Gym, we're sitting with a question from a man who earned the right to ask it - a Rabbi who lost his...

Speaker: Vince Klassen What do we do when we're confronted with something unforgivable? Not the small stuff. The real thing. The kind of act that makes us wonder if some people are just… evil . Our answer matters. Not in some abstract philosophical way - but in something that cuts right to the heart of this series: what it actually looks like to Live Life Abundantly. Because underneath that a...

Johnny Cash made Hurt famous—but it was written by Trent Reznor, a 30-year-old caught between two versions of himself: the person on stage and the kid alone in his room. And in that tension, he asks a question most of us quietly carry: What have I become… and how did I get here? This week, we’re using that question to rethink something many of us were taught to fear—sin. What if it’s not about pun...

Ever catch yourself thinking, “I just need to get through this week… then life will feel better”? Or “once that thing changes, then I’ll finally feel okay”? This week, we’re going straight at that feeling - the quiet sense that something’s off, something’s missing, something about your life (or you) just isn’t quite enough. And instead of trying to fix it or outrun it, we’re going to unpack it. Be...

I had a bit of a moment a few weeks ago. I went through the Bible and looked up every single time the word “sin” shows up… and what I found honestly surprised me. Not in a good or bad way – just… not what I was taught. I didn’t find the clean, clear list of do’s and don’ts I grew up with. I didn’t find Jesus obsessing over defining sin or making sure people avoided it at all costs. What I did find...

We just watched something incredible happen. 21 people from our community showed up in Mexico and, together with local families and donated resources by you, built a home that didn’t exist before. This Sunday, we’re going to celebrate that story - but not just to look back. We’re creating space for you to step into something that can shift your life right now. Because “Taking Water” isn’t just abo...

Speaker: Vince Klassen Happy Easter! It's the biggest celebration in the Christian calendar — and this year, we're centering it on the teaching Jesus said mattered most: Love your neighbour. Simple idea. Surprisingly hard to live out. Especially when your neighbour grew up somewhere completely different. Lived a life you can't imagine. Works every day just to feel like they belong....

What happens inside of you when you fail someone you actually care about? Not the small stuff—the real moments, where you try… and it still isn’t enough. Something shifts. Stories form fast—defensive, protective, extreme—and in the moment they feel true. But those same stories quietly pull us away from the very people we’re trying to love well. In this week’s Undercurrents talk, we’re going to loo...

After last week’s talk, I had a bunch of fascinating emails - people starting to see where their unconscious Parts have been quietly trying to get everyone around them to see the world the way they do. And with that came the realization of just how much relational damage happens when others don’t line up… or we pressure them to. I’ve done it myself - trying to get others in my life to see the worl...

Speaker: Vince Klassen Have you ever noticed how two people can look at the exact same world and come to completely different conclusions about it? One sees everything falling apart. Another sees slow progress. And both are absolutely convinced they’re the ones seeing reality clearly. In this talk we’re going to explore how the stories we believe about the world quietly shape our emotions, our rel...

What if the most dangerous moments in your life aren’t the loud ones, but the quiet ones? The ones where a voice inside you starts making a very convincing case. A case to quit. To blow it up. To take the shortcut. To say the thing you swore you’d never say. To do the thing you promised you’d never do. In this talk, we’re going to explore why intelligent, thoughtful, good people still find themsel...

What if one of Jesus’ most famous stories isn’t about waiting for a miracle - but about becoming one? This week we’re stepping into the middle of the feeding of the 5,000 and listening carefully to the moment we usually rush past: when Jesus looks at his students and says, “You feed them.” Not someday. Not supernaturally. You. Together. This talk explores why we so often hope someone else - a conc...

Speaker: Vince Klassen What happens when the faith that once fit… doesn’t anymore? Many of us were taught that religion is one-size-fits-all. Believe the same things. Follow the same rules. Stay in line. But what happens when you start to notice things are a little off? When questions won’t go away and answers don't work anymore? When the experience that brings peace to others no longer works...

Speakers: Vince Klassen Many of us grew up in a Christian tradition that left a mark (even if we didn’t grow up in it, the influence of the Christian tradition has snuck into us from the people around us). Sometimes it was subtle. Sometimes it was loud. Shame around sex. Guilt about desire. Fear about who we are, how we love, or whether we even belong in a church at all.  Sadly, this list could go...

Speakers: Vince Klassen Taking Water its in this thing called (transcendent) We Recently I had an experience that’s stayed with me. I was running with a group near the Talisman Centre by the river. It was –10°C when we noticed a man standing under the bridge. At first, no big deal—until I saw he was wearing only a t-shirt. Then I noticed he had just one shoe. I felt the pull to keep running. To as...

Two Sundays - the end of an era, and the beginning of the next. This Sunday, Vince’s on the Hotseat. Ask him those questions you’ve always wanted to ask - but maybe never had the chance or nerve to. Bryce (aka Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold) is back in the host chair, putting your questions front and center.  He’ll be hitting him with real questions submitted by you—no topic off-limits, no question...

Speakers: Bryce Lokken & Jeff Jarvis Two Sundays - the end of an era, and the beginning of the next. This Sunday is Jeff's Last Sunday at Friends Church so you can ask him whatever you've always wanted to know about him. Bryce (aka Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold) is back in the host chair, putting your questions front and center.  He’ll be hitting him with real questions submitted by y...

Speaker:  Jeff Jarvis Deep down, most of us already know at least one change we long to make. Yet as Vince has been unpacking, it’s often not a lack of desire or effort that holds us back—but unseen forces within us that cause us to hesitate, resist, or quietly pull away. If you’ve ever felt caught between what’s stirring in your deepest self and the inner voices that question, warn, or overwhelm...