A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. Calvin Brown is the Executive Director of The Renewal Fellowship.
Come together all of you and listen: which of the idols has foretold these things? The Lord’s chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission. – Isa. 45:14-15.
To some it would seem presumptuous to say (as Isaiah does) we are the allies of the Lord. It sounds so triumphalistic. The danger, however, is not in saying we are allied with the Lord but to fail to be allied with the Lord. It is more dangerous, (and in truth, the type of danger we in the mainline churches are more apt to fall into), to refuse to say we are allied with the Lord. The fear which grips us is nothing more than the fear of speaking the truth with confidence. It is grounded in the arrogant allegiance to trendy thought that says no one can know anything for sure. This relativistic uncertainty is not the way of the apostles or prophets! It is not the way of the Reformers, and is is not the way of Renewalists! These were and are all people of conviction and integrity and these are still the people God will use today. If our churches are emptying out perhaps it is, in large part, because we are no longer seen as allies of the Lord but merely a third-class social club reflecting the cultural “norm” and the newest “morality.” Why bother with such a Church?
If the Presbyterian Church in Canada succumbs to that Babylonian mentality – and we must admit many in our midst seem to in large measure – then we will not be allied with the Lord and we will not fulfil our calling or succeed in our mission. We need to renew the sense of his calling and be bold and unafraid to speak out his truth in love. We ask you as members of the Renewal Fellowship to live out your calling in the place God has placed you and if you are not yet a member of the Fellowship but desire to see the Presbyterian Church renewed to fulfil the glorious calling that God has chosen for us, then join with us.
I have been blessed to see God at work as I move around the church. At one church I spoke, a young man, who recently converted from Islam at great personal cost, shared how hearing God’s word had deepened his sense of God’s presence inside him. At another service a woman shared how she had recommitted her life to Christ during the service. At another church I had opportunity to share with a very active elder the importance of committing his life to Jesus in a personal way. In another gathering in the Maritimes, one of the participants, who said he was about to leave our church in despair, said that the meeting had given him new hope for life in the Presbyterian Church.
I look forward to other encouraging happenings and sharing the renewing power of God in the weeks and months ahead. Please pray for the ongoing work of God as I preach or give workshops in the following places: St. Paul’s, Nobleton; Grace, West Hill; St. Andrew’s, Hillsburgh; West Toronto Men’s Breakfast; a proposed tour in the Maritime Provinces; Alma St. in St. Thomas; a Renewal day at St. Enoch Presbyterian Church, Hamilton on Spiritual Renewal through Small Group Ministry; St. Andrew’s, Woodbridge; and a visit to the Ottawa area. Pray too that the meetings planned with students at Knox College with the Rev. John Vissers of Knox Church (Spadina) may bear positive spiritual fruit and be a means of encouraging our theological students. Pray also that God would provide financially and in every other way for the world of Renewal especially in this critical time as we establish Regional Renewal Task Forces across the land in the next few years.