By John Vissers. We need to embrace what Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third Wave Christians are contributing to the life of the church, but spiritual renewal cannot be reduced to their vision alone, nor operate in isolation from the rest of the church. … 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
I Have a Conviction
By Bob Little. My vision is that lay people and pastors will rise up, leave the hostage situation of our comfortable ecclesiastical enclaves and spread out across our communities, in a new freedom, to show the beauty and favour of our saving Lord. … Read more
The Tayal Church Experiences the Holy Spirit at Work
By Grace McGill. The Holy Spirit movement in Taiwan began in 1971. Signs and wonders occurred, including prophetic utterances by an illiterate woman who could not possibly have recited Bible passages, giving chapter and verse, unless she had been inspired by the Holy Spirit. … Read more
Can These Old Bones Live Again?
By Harold Jantz. In a denomination with declining membership, in the PCC there are pockets of renewal with very dynamic and exciting congregations across our country that are winning people to Christ and growing. … Read more
Letters
The Editor shares letters received in appreciation for the Wedding Album in the Summer ’85 issue of Channels. … Read more
Cote des Neiges Report
On October 1, 1983, almost a hundred representatives of the Renewal Fellowship, from five provinces, met at Cote des Neiges Church in Montreal to hear Dr. Roger Nicole explore the theme of renewal. Sylvie L. Sparks writes of her vision for Reformed ministry in Quebec, and Luc Thibaudeau gives his testimony of his faith journey. … Read more
Reverend Walter Ellis
By Ian Rennie. Walter Ellis exerted a profound influence upon Fairview Church in Vancouver BC, although he had passed away twenty years before the author arrived in 1964. He was a forebear of those in the Renewal Fellowship within the Presbyterian Church in Canada today. … Read more
Pastors at Prayer
By Robert L. Allison. God obviously blesses when his people lose the pernicious sense of competitiveness and begin to see each other as brothers and sisters in ministry. So we pray fervently for one another across denominational lines. … Read more
Putting Values Together
By Leith Anderson. Integrity brings all of life together into a consistent whole. When each part of a person’s life agrees with every other part, when everything is there that is supposed to be there, that person has integrity. … Read more
Daddy, I’m Pregnant, by A dad named Bill
Reviewed by Ronda Bosch. Premarital sex with someone you love is condoned by 80% of Canada’s teenagers, and on a first date 28% say yes to petting and 11% continue to sexual relations. Then what happens in your church or in your home when the word is out: “I’m pregnant”? … Read more
Image & Chaos: The church and homosexuality
By William Duffy. Homosexuality is not in accordance with God’s creation of his purpose for our lives or our good. There is no question that in God’s eyes it is an abomination – a perversion of what he created which was, and is, very good. … Read more
Christian Ethics
By Dennis Stoutenburg. Christians should become more concerned about not just presenting the message of Jesus to a lost world but of presenting him in a manner that is practically effective and socially persuasive. Should not every investigation of sacred Scripture ring ethically and morally true? … Read more
These Evangelical Churches of Ours, by Lloyd Mackey
Reviewed by Calvin Brown. Lloyd Mackey’s book uses the Canadian image of a mosaic to describe the variety of religious expression that evangelicals in Canada experience. … Read more
The Old Man
By Bonnie Bamberry.
Alone he sits in an old brown house
Gray and bleak
His weak eyes stream
And shrink
At a sharp pain in his heart … Read more
Called to Die, by Steve Estes
Reviewed by Shirley Charleson. Called to Die is the biography of American linguist Chester Allen Bitterman III who was slain by terrorists in Bogota, Colombia in 1981. Chet Bitterman was an enthusiastic man of 28, married and father of two little girls when seven armed terrorists broke into … Read more