CANAAN COMMUNITY CHURCH

AUTISM SPEAKS… IS THE CHURCH LISTENING?

By Pastor Jonathan Brooks aka Pastah J

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him, “Rabii, who sinned, this man or h...

LEARNING FROM LIVING HISTORY                                                                         &#...

Interviewed by: Margot Starbuck          Date: March 3, 2014

Like many today, Jonathan Brooks, Senior Pastor at Canaan Community Church in Chicago’s Englewood Neighborhood, is concerned about the juvenile justice system in America. Today he shares about the problem and—if the church will speak out—the solution.

Jonathan, what is broken about the ...

Ok, White Folks, Here’s how you can really Help!

By Pastor Jonathan Brooks aka Pastah J

MORE IGNORANT WHITE FOLKS

It was a brutally cold, Saturday evening in January of this year, my wife and I had agreed earlier in the week that we would share our story with a group that was staying at an inner city minis...

Why Kwanzaa may be more important than Christmas!

Now I know as a Christian pastor this may seem like a rather strange statement and there will even be those crazy enough to call it heresy.  The only response I have to those who may feel that way is… that is great! Why? Because that means I have your attention.

Let me begin by saying that I am a lover of everything Christmas.  I love the music, lights, food,family atmosphere, and the...

I have been teaching on Jesus as the ultimate example of living on Earth as it is in heaven.  In this series I have repeatedly stated that we have to stop looking at Jesus as a superhero!  Not in the sense of what he did for us on the cross for that was truly heroic. In the sense that he had super "God" powers that allowed him to live according to God's will.  What we do is use these special unaccessible powers to dismiss ourselves from the same standard.  Many Christia...

"If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man."       

-Nelson Mandela-

Whenever I am a part of Ice Breaker activities that ask me to name one thing about myself which would surprise the people in the room, I always write the same thing.  "I traveled to Japan, Mexico, Russia, Poland, South Africa, Austria and Italy all before I graduated from High School." N...

Sometimes you go to a bookstore and you are able to walk around and search for the book you would like to read.  Other times you walk in and a book screams out to you and says "Hey, you need to read me!"  

This is the experience I had a couple of months ago at a Barnes and Noble store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I was speaking there for a convention and brought my family with me for us to have a little bit of family time before school began in August.  My w...

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL."

When he was just a little boy maybe around five years old I am sure, just like most other children, that Trayvon learned the words to this pledge even if he did not fully understand.  Interestingly enough, I'm sure as he grew older that the truth of these words felt just as elusive to him as t...