Developing a broad Christian worldview

As in the title, this post is reposted from the UWCCF blog site on Medium. Be sure to check out the rest of the UWCCF blog here.

I tried to find the broadest photo I could (panorama). English Bay Beach, July 2025.

Third time’s the charm?

This was the third time I went about writing and rewriting this reflection. Each time brought different ideas: the first time, I had ideas for a more personal reflection. The second time, no more personal reflection—only group encouragement! Cohesiveness is difficult, but hopefully this third one blends a bit of both, and keeps it not too long and rambly. (Interjections incoming though, beware!)

Article 2

Did you think I was actually going to start with the 39 Articles? Joke’s on you! This Article 2 is from the UWCCF constitution, covering the purpose of CCF. In particular, I wanted to highlight item (c):

“To help members develop a broad Christian worldview.”

You can think of this as the running theme of the reflection. If you read through the other items in Article 2, you probably won’t think much about this one—I didn’t either. And yet, here I am, deciding to reflect and hopefully encourage a bit on this one!

To help members develop…

Anecdotally, a large number of CCF members would describe CCF as an integral part of their faith journey, and I am no different. Even though first-year CCF was online, I still found it to be fruitful, and this continued to be the case, year after year. Even now, I continue to be amazed by how God has been using the ministry of CCF, situated in a particular place at a particular time. Through CCF, He is shaping and forming a people by the gospel—a people who, as in our vision statement, desire to make the love of Christ visible and change the lives of all on our campus.

Practically, this looks like a lot of the formal structures and events that CCF runs, whether that be SG, DG, prayer meetings, campus evangelism, etc. It may seem like a lot, and in some ways, it is! If you have had the opportunity to visit other fellowships or even churches, you may realize that the scale of CCF can surpass many of them, which is a bit mind-boggling.

There is a lot of fruit that comes from these more formalized structures, but I also wanted to talk a bit about other ways that help members develop.

Sometimes, there are topics you find to be interesting, or you have questions that you cannot quite answer and are wrestling with. In some cases, they might be things that we don’t really talk about much in CCF. If this is you, I think that these questions and wrestlings are a good thing, and are worth exploring!

You can definitely explore these things on your own, or also in more formalized structures (DG can be a great place to look into these things). However, I do want people to recognize that there’s a third option too! There are probably others who are asking similar questions, and it can be helpful to walk with one another as you explore those questions together, even if that may be in an informal setting.

I think this does already happen in CCF, so there’s nothing new (under the sun, hehe) here. But I guess this section is meant more for people who might be like I was—not too proactive in reaching out, a bit hesitant to “bother” others, or just keeping all these things to ourselves.

I am very thankful to have walked with some people during my time in CCF (and even now!) in some of these explorations, which have been and continue to be a blessing. This could very well just be called ✨friendship✨ (who would have known!), but all of this is to say that “to help members develop” takes on different forms, and that these varieties of forms should be encouraged, even if they end up taking place outside of the “CCF bubble” (but oftentimes still with CCF people!).

…a broad Christian worldview

Looking back, university was by and large where I encountered a lot of this “broadening,” and also learning what a worldview meant—it sounds naive, but it took visiting different churches when I was abroad for exchange and co-op to realize that church is not just a GTA-Asian-community-church thing, but that the body of Christ was a global body of believers—a global God of a global people! The image we see in Revelation is such a glorious picture of this:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9–10, ESV)

Part of having the opportunity to move between CCF and other non-CCF contexts during university meant experiencing more of a broad Christian worldview. When I mentioned the “CCF bubble” earlier, I was trying to describe how sometimes we present a particular view on certain topics, and end up inadvertently frowning upon differing opinions, whether implicitly or explicitly.

There are times and places where staying on one particular view is helpful or even necessary, but my opinion is that the overall environment and culture of CCF should not impede the development of a broad Christian worldview.

With that in mind, I wanted to share four brief learnings that I found to be helpful when considering what it means to develop a broad Christian worldview:

• Triage. As we learn more “things” (doctrines, positions, etc.), we need to know how to triage properly, as it helps create a framework to put things into perspective. What is a primary issue? What is a secondary or tertiary issue? What is worth disagreeing over, and what isn’t, to preserve unity? How can I do so with humility, grace, and love? A lot more can be said about triage, but if you are interested, I would highly recommend Gavin Ortlund’s Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage. Some of the points below are things he also talks about in his book.
• Humility. The more you know, the more you don’t know! Even within Christianity, there are a lot of caricatures and oversimplifications. Many of these misconceptions can prevent us from adopting a more humble posture that seeks to learn from and appreciate the good things in other Christian traditions. We should listen attentively, be open to learning, and even have our viewpoints challenged or changed.
• Charity. If humility is more of our heart’s inward posture, charity could be thought of as the outward expression of that posture. Because we often lack a full understanding of the views other people have, it’s important to treat others with charity. This is especially the case if they are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are marked by our love for one another (John 13:35). Take them at their best; respect them and love them. You might be surprised at what you can agree upon!
• Scripture. This may seem odd, but one thing I was struck by throughout my explorations was the constant return to Scripture, even when people placed varying degrees of importance on things like church history, tradition, and ecumenical councils. I think sometimes, there is a fear that broadening our Christian worldview could lead us astray. Rather than fear, why not have hope? I posit that it can actually lead us into greater richness of faith, including examining the Scriptures more deeply, like the Bereans (Acts 17:11).

In all these things, I think the takeaway is similar to what Paul counsels to the Ephesians—we ought to walk in love, and desire the unity of the body of Christ, the church, in the gospel:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1–6, ESV)

an obligatory blog ministry plug

With these things in mind, I of course have to give an obligatory blog ministry plug. We are always looking for people to join us on the editing/direction side, but also looking for writers! (Reach out!) Over these past years, I think this little corner of the internet has been an opportunity for the fellowship to be encouraged by one another in various ways, whether those be reflections, testimonies, creative pieces, or more. Could also be a great place to share ways in which you have had your Christian worldview broadened! ;)

what’s next?

Vocation and calling is a whole other topic that was pretty important to me during university, but I didn’t get to talk about at all in this reflection. (If I could summarize what I learned in one word there, it would be stewardship.)

In keeping with the theme of this reflection though, I can see this next season of life as another opportunity to continue to develop a broad Christian worldview. For me, university was realizing that there was more out there; now, I will get to explore some of these things in more depth!

This may look different from what it did in university, and that’s okay! This uncertainty is part of what it means to live as a Christian; the tension between challenge and joy in learning to walk in Christ (Colossians 3:6–7), day by day. (I have enjoyed using the word tension recently.) Lots of tensions! That could be another blog post.

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Wherever (and whenever, as in season of life) you may be reading this—a fellow new grad, someone in the thick of 2B (or not 2B), someone long graduated, or otherwise, I leave you with the encouraging and humbling thought that as we walk in this life and encounter challenges, questions, and even uncertainty in broadening our Christian worldview, God will always be greater than we can ever imagine, and we can trust Him to guide us and His people in this age and the age to come.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20–21, ESV)

Amen indeed! Lots of great blessings, and got to end with something Trinitarian, of course :D.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!! (2 Corinthians 13:14, lightly reworded, extra exclamation marks).