Reviewed by Mike Cheney. This book is full of earthy, meditative, and spiritual richness which evinces in the reader the clear connection between the practical and the mystical without going to great lengths to explicitly describe that connection. … Read more
General Assembly 1994
Olive Regina Anstice asks whether we are a confessional church that is rooted in Scripture, committed to pray, and believes in the necessity of personal redemption. … Read more
The Seminary as a Place of Spiritual Foundation
By Eugene H. Peterson. The French have a wonderful phrase, deformation professionale, work-related malady. Those of us who think and talk and read and write God are in danger of having the very words we use about God separate us from God, the most damning deformation of all. … Read more
2006 AGM/Conference: A Photo Essay
The AGM and Conference was held at Knox Presbyterian Church, Agincourt, Ontario. The Photo Essay continues on pages 11 and 15. Photos by Jack Harewood. … Read more
Executive Director’s Comment – Contemplative and Meditative Worship Styles
By Calvin Brown. Worship wars are said to be the most common cause of disruption in congregations. When the real cause of unhappiness is examined, the principal offender is not usually the new music but the form of certain types of contemporary worship. … Read more
Stories of Faith
By Calvin Brown. This issue of Channels deals with stories of faith. As I travel around the country one of the greatest blessings of all is to hear the stories of the communities of faith at work – not only in spectacular ways but in everyday faithful ways … Read more
Connections in a Disconnected World
J.H. (Hans) Kouwenberg is glad that in a world of disconnections, he belongs to a connectional church, always working on the connection between differing theologies and understandings, differing regions and constituencies – small enough to get to know each other. … Read more
Novelists, Pastors and Poets
By Eugene H. Peterson — Anyone of us, waking up in the morning and finding ourselves included in that part of the creation called human, sooner or later finds ourself dealing with language, with words. We are the only creatures in this incredible, vast creation doing this. Language is unique to us human beings. Turnips complete a fairly complex and useful life cycle … Read more
Executive Director’s Report Summer 1997
Calvin Brown compares how the Canadian Presbyterian General Assembly dealt with Darryl Macdonald, a self-confessed practising homosexual, and how the American Presbyterian General Assembly dealt with the amended and greatly weakened “Fidelity and Integrity” Amendment … Read more
How Men Really Think about Sex
By Paula Rinehart. A man's feelings about his sex life spills over into other important parts of his experience. Being turned down in his overture for sexual intimacy feels like rejection, comparable to the pain a woman feels when her husband won't listen to her. … Read more
1997 Annual Meeting
Photos by Jack Harewood. The Annual Meeting was held in Knox Church (Spadina) in Toronto to worship God, encourage one another and hear Dr. Brad Long speak of renewal. The cover of this issue shows detail of the front of Knox Church (Spadina) … Read more
We Meet In the Garden
By Kathleen Larmour. At 33,1 am broken
So wearied by my flesh
That imagined vitality
Cannot raise its head
From within a cluttered mind. … Read more
Lifestyle Evangelism, by Joseph C. Aldrich
Reviewed by Terry Hibbert. Dr. Aldrich zeroes in on the reasons why evangelism is more often than not ineffective. He expresses a concern that frequently church members view the unsaved as “enemies rather than victims of the Enemy,” and how relational evangelism can bridge the credibility gap between the Christian and non-Christian communities. … Read more
Worship Workshop: A Response
By Calvin Brown. Although we value the beauty and dignity of the order in the present Book of Common Order, for a congregation of young people (especially those from non-church backgrounds), it is the product of a “foreign” culture. A service in their own culture that contains the essence of the faith, may be in the end more useful in the Kingdom. … Read more
See how Deep and Wide the Love of Our God Is!
By Calvin Brown. This issue of Channels reminds us of how God’s love is with his people in every time and age and how that witness of his faithfulness blends one time with another. … Read more
Growing Deep in the Christian Life, by Charles R. Swindoll
Reviewed by Jack Charleson. Charles R. Swindoll is pastor of First Evangelical Free Church, Fullerton, California, a broadcaster and prolific author. Over recent years he has given Christians much to think about through his publications and radio broadcasts and in Growing Deep in the Christian Life he encourages us to look back at the root of our Christian faith. … Read more
Which Way to the Oasis? – Reflections on Learning in Community
By David D. Stewart. It has taken me most of my adult life to come to the point of recognizing a bit of what was wrapped up in the words across the great arch high above the pulpit in Knox Church, Toronto, in my childhood: "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." … Read more