The Renewal Fellowship Within The Presbyterian Church in Canada was founded in 1982. Over the next year, plans were made to begin a magazine to reassure isolated and sometimes discouraged Presbyterians in Canada who wanted renewal that they were not alone. The name Channels was chosen as its name for two reasons. Word associations suggested television channels. Media. Communication. Getting the news out. Christians who remember the old hymns have another recall for Channels: “Channels only, blessed Saviour.” We wanted Channels to be an instrument of blessing for The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Over the next 23 years, some 66 issues were published. After the twentieth anniversary issue in the spring of 2003, perhaps due to the aging of the editing and production staff, frequency of publication reduced from quarterly to one issue a year, and ended in 2006.
One of the things that Channels was able to do was to place the Renewal Fellowship within a broader national and international context. Publishing articles written by internationally known authors like Eugene Peterson, J.I. Packer, and John Stott helped members of the Renewal Fellowship to realize that they were a part of a much wider movement.
Recognizing the high quality of this magazine prompted a desire to make a digital archive of all 66 issues. Each article is presented in text format, and at the bottom, a searchable, downloadable PDF copy of the issue opens at the page where the article originally appeared. Enjoy!
