By Daniel MacKinnon. My spiritual father, my mentor, my counsellor, and my example has gone to be with the one he has worked his whole life to be with, and now I have the task of being a spiritual father, mentor, counsellor and example for the student sitting by my chair. … Read more
We Are Not Alone
J. Barry Forsyth represented the Renewal Fellowship at a meeting of renewal leaders in Washington D.C. With representatives of so many organizations present, it was evident that we are not alone in the Renewal Fellowship Within The Presbyterian Church in Canada. … Read more
Reflections After The Tree Came Down
By Ian McPhee. Amid much confusing advice from friends regarding the source of his illness, Ian McPhee finds that the most helpful explanation is that illness is one of God's gracious gifts to us. Our privilege is to unwrap it and discover how good and perfect it is. … Read more
Dying for the Gospel: The Gordons of Erromanga
By Peter Bush. After the murder of his brother, George Gordon, a missionary to Erromanga in the New Hebrides, James Gordon brought his murderers a message of forgiveness. Both Gordons preferred to train islanders to spread the gospel, and by 1900, 95% of the people of Erromanga were Christians. … 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
The Untapped Power of Sheer Christianity, by Clark Pinnock
Reviewed by Edmund F. Bloedow. Athough this is essentially a personal testimony, it is also a strong call to return to and/or stand fast in the faith by: 1) “Loving the Truth”: 2) “Walking in the Spirit”: and 3) “Obeying the Lord”. … Read more
The Gravedigger File: Papers on the Subversion of the Modern Church, by Os Guinness
Reviewed by Alan Hartley. The revelation that the Director of Darkness, with minimal effort, has duped the church into digging its own grave, comes in The Gravedigger File, a series of classified memoranda turned over to the church by a defecting Satanic secret agent. By being uncritically identified with the modern world, the church has subverted itself from within. … Read more
The Passing of a Friend
By John P. Vaudry. Ian McPhee was the director of the Union Mission for Men in Ottawa and a professor at the Peace River Bible Institute. His death from cancer reminds us that we have only one life, and we need to seize the opportunities we are given to serve God faithfully. … 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
The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology, by Charles H.H. Scobie
Reviewed by Calvin Brown. This is a major work which reflects a lifetime of both scholarly and devotional interaction with Scripture. Encyclopedic in scope, it deals not only with the history and methodology of biblical theology but with the flow of salvation history. … Read more
Beachhead at Lachine
By William Manson. The determined resistance to discipline at Lachine is only the start of an aggressive campaign to push the Church to change its 1994 ruling that homosexual practice a not Christian option. Those who are pushing for change are not on sabbatical. … Read more
Open to God
Calvin Brown explains that in all varieties of religious expression that he has experienced where he has been open to receiving God, His Spirit has ministered to him. The congregations that are alive and hopeful all have a desire to be open to God. … Read more
1993 Annual Meeting
Photos by Jack Harewood. The 1993 Annual Meeting took place Feb. 26-27 at St. Paul’s, Nobleton, Ontario, attended by 180 people. Dr. Mel Steinbron, pictured on the cover, is the founder of the Lay Pastors Ministry, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spoke three times on “Giving the Ministry to the People.” … Read more
Listening To Sermons As An Act of Worship
By Mark Graves. In his informal style, Mark writes on the sermon, considering it from the perspective of the pew. It is worth meditating on this “means of grace” that each Presbyterian, in their communicant vows, promises to diligently use. … Read more
Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, by Richard J. Foster
Reviewed by Mike Cheney. Convinced that mediocrity and superficiality are epidemic in twentieth century society and church life, Foster focuses on rearticulating for the twentieth century Christian, in an eminently practical way, the necessity of spiritual discipline. … Read more
Sing Out the Carols – People Will Love It!
By Esther and Howard Mcllveen. Carolling isn’t as popular as it once was, so people treasure it even more. It can be done in shopping malls, hospitals, prisons, institutions for the aged and handicapped, or in the open air around residential areas. Advent is the only time in the year when it is culturally acceptable to “invade” a neighbourhood or place with song and greetings. One can sing about “God and sinners reconciled” and greet people without intruding or being mistaken for a sect. … Read more
