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My view on the spiritual state of The Presbyterian Church in Canada is changing since I began to travel for the The Renewal Fellowship. While in the parish ministry, naturally my perimeters were local. Now that I am on the move, I see a broader and somewhat more hopeful picture.
Since you received your last Channels, I have addressed 42 different meetings, in six provinces and in 26 different locations. In the interest of renewal and revival I have travelled from Cape Breton to Northern Manitoba. My perspective of the church is beginning to change.
If I am to be honest, I must say we have some very serious problems confronting us today. At a recent Synod meeting one minister, after cataloguing some of our failures, asked an official of our church, “Is there any hope for The Presbyterian Church in Canada?” Several groups of concerned Presbyterians are meeting for prayer in different parts of our country. They are asking God to reveal the answers to the problems.
I am not hiding my head in the sand; I am fully aware of the situation. However, I also see many good signs as well. Granted, the congregations which invited me to visit them are mainly conservative, evangelical and are involved with our Fellowship. I could not help but be encouraged when I saw their evangelism, social awareness, meaningfulness in public worship and their love for the Lord.
I am convinced that the majority of the grass roots of our church is conservative. I also noted that there is a considerable knowledge of the Bible and some good theology in their communities. I also gathered a deep desire among them to mature and grow.
The serious problems, especially in the realm of theology and ethics, come not from the people in the pew, but from small and at times influential minorities within our church. Our Fellowship needs constantly to keep up our guard.
I am encouraged when I remember the article in The Presbyterian Record in July/August 1990, which tells the story of eight churches which have doubled in the eighties. I could add to those a considerable number of healthy congregations like this in our denomination.
Here is only one as an example. As Executive Director of The Renewal Fellowship I visited Calvin Church, Thunder Bay, Ontario. For twelve years the Presbytery considered it prudent to close this little church. However, the people held on. Then an Anglican minister, who is in social work, was invited to preach there. Some spiritual life began to emerge during this time.
Following him a university professor of forestry was invited to preach there. He was a local Presbyterian elder and a member of our Fellowship. He came with his wife and two daughters and began to preach, teach, lead worship, visit and hold yard meetings for witness. The church grew. In 1989 Calvin Church called a graduating student, Milton Fraser, to be their first pastor. Exciting things took place. When I visited there in November, the church was just about full and growing numerically and qualitatively. I was impressed with the commitment and determination I saw.
I could repeat this story many times whether it be in Belfast, P.E.I., Truro, N.S., Cote des Neiges, Montreal, Willowdale, Ontario, Flin Flon, Manitoba, or Coquitlam, B.C., among many others. Let’s take encouragement and be thankful for what is happening to God’s glory. If God can do it in places like these, then he can do it in many other cities and towns, including yours.
I don’t know when renewal and revival will come to the church in Canada. A well-known psychiatrist and Christian teacher said recently, because of the signs he has seen in our nation, “revival may well come to our country in the next two or three years.” However, of one thing I am sure, God wants to revive his church. He is sovereign and will do it in his time. From my study of revivals, from the Bible and later history, we are being prepared for such an awakening.
God needs his men and women whether it is Hezekiah, the woman of Samaria, Peter, Luther, Calvin, or Wesley. We in the Fellowship and the church should be preparing ourselves for God’s moment and movement of the Holy Spirit. We certainly have a God-given part to play in preparation.
The Lord has to start somewhere. It ought to be with us. So spread the flame by prayer, obedience to his Word, holiness of lifestyle, especially humility and then right on to evangelism. God is able. He can make us willing cooperators.