By Herman de Jong. If your fellowship evening looks like a closely-knit club or is religiously well-programmed, then the time may have come to break through the exclusiveness of the evening and combine the foremost purpose of the fellowship hour with outreach to the community. … Read more
Holy God! Holy Church?
By John A. Vissers. The holiness of the church is one of the marks of the church. It refers to the purity of the church's faith and life, and the sanctity of its doctrine and practice. Holiness is at the very centre of renewal. The impetus to sanctification begins with a vision of God's holiness as is found in Isaiah 6. … Read more
Some Beginning Thoughts About the Alpha Course
By Jonathan Dent. Alpha provides a place to bring non-believing friends and non-committed churchgoers, where a foundation of Christian theology and apologetics can be reinforced or laid down for the first time, and people can ask basic spiritual questions. … Read more
The Eye of the Beholder: A Brief Encounter with Violence & Pornography
By Robert Campbell. Speaking up about pornography is an opportunity to help eliminate a corrupting influence from the minds of young and old, alike. … Read more
Letter to the Editor
By Jeremy Ashton. I do not believe the RFPCC intends to be primarily a clergy support organization. Yet, the intellectual tone of the contents of Channels, and the somewhat ministerially specialized nature of other presentations of the Fellowship, suggest this. … Read more
Unfinished Business Is His Business: Helping Adults Resolve Their Painful Pasts
By Bob Moeller. The adult children of dysfunctional homes are known as ACOAs – an acronym for adult children of alcoholics, though the term is applied to a wide variety of dysfunctional home settings. … Read more
Preaching, by Fred B. Craddock
Reviewed by J.H. (Hans) Kouwenberg. Craddock is one of those in the school of preaching who pays as much attention to those who listen to preaching as to the liturgical reading and interpreting of Scripture. … Read more
Editorial – Prayer
By Calvin Brown. Prayer is more powerful than habits, heredity, natural tendencies, and even the forces that hold the planets in place, since it can suspend the laws of the universe, if such be God's will. No other power on earth does the enemy of souls hate and fear as much as prayer. … Read more
Thank God for the World
By Bruce Robertson. The sheet music for this children’s song appears in the original PDF
The Word of God
Thomas F. Torrance underlines the centrality of the Word of God written and the Word made flesh. … Read more
Preaching About Life in a Threatening World, by Ronald J. Sider & Michael King
Reviewed by Stephen Self. This book is a practical guide for all preachers interested in preaching more compassionately and effectively on major social issues such as abortion, human rights, economic justice, war, and violence, identifying with people who have inner hurts, needs, and dreams … Read more
The Mystery of Marriage: As Iron Sharpens Iron, by Mike Mason
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
The Annual Meetings: A Photo Essay
Photos by Jack Harewood. The theme of the 1987 Annual Meetings was “The Church’s Evangelistic Imperative.” This was ably addressed by Michael Green (pictured on the cover) and Rosemary Green, from Regent College in Vancouver. The meetings took place March 6 and 7, at St. Andrew’s Church, Humber Heights, Toronto. … 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
Everywhere, Always and by All
By Gunar Kravalis. Although Living Faith is an acceptable statement of Christian belief, a close examination reveals it to contain serious flaws that make it unsuitable to be adopted as a subordinate standard, an official creed, or a confession of the church. … Read more
Youth Alpha as a Profession of Faith Class
By Jim Walton. Youth Alpha involves a little more work than its adult counterpart. You can't turn on a videotape and expect the young people to "tune in". One has to "create" the Youth Alpha talk and session from the outline given in the Leader's Manual. … Read more