Videos on this page:
Rev. Dr. Dale Woods: “Six Stages of Faith” - experiences of faith throughout life.
Kristy Short of Alpha Canada: "Engaging evangelism in a COVID World".
Rev. Dr. Christine O’Reilly: "Salt and Light" - church court strategies post-Remits.
Rev. Doug Cameron and Rev. Cathi Cameron: "Grieving to live" - engaging loss to regain vitality.
Rev. Dr. Esther Acolatse: "Recovering the joy - rekindling the hope".
Shane Davis and Jon Dykeman: "Youth/young adult ministry - how to engage and encourage."
Cory McKenna of The Cross Current: "How do we walk as followers of Christ in an increasingly secular world?" ... Read More
Category: Articles
Seeking Grace Under Fire
As I sat to write this, we were exactly halfway through the federal election campaign and the ‘V’ word had captured media attention. No, not ‘V’ for vote, but ‘V’ for violence - a party leader cancelled an event due to concerns for safety. The violence was a more vociferous threat than virulent action … Read more
Reflections of a Random Nobody
I am neither a minister nor an elder. I don’t have a Ph.D or the title of YAR. I am a Canadian who came to accept Christ as an adult; I became a Presbyterian intentionally. God literally led me to the Presbyterian Church, of which I am still a member. I was not researching Presbyterian … Continue reading Reflections of a Random Nobody
Becoming ‘Tide People’
Back in 2016, I spent three months on sabbatical in Edinburgh. One of the highpoints for us was the week we spent on the island of Lindisfarne, about an hour south by train from Edinburgh. What makes Lindisfarne unique is the fact that when the tide goes out, you can drive across to the island, … Continue reading Becoming ‘Tide People’
Heritage as a Sacred Trust
Of the many surprises in the recent General Assembly, and the strange twists that the debates took, none was more surprising than an unexpected recommendation, dependent on the passing of the remits, that we apologize to the United Church of Lachine for past wrongs. The recommendation suggested that a great wrong had been done to … Continue reading Heritage as a Sacred Trust
Navigating through the storm when the church is adrift
What can the faithful do when the church is spiritually adrift? When the authority of Scripture is being challenged over sexuality and ordination — what better opportunity to remind ourselves to be anchored in Christ and look for a safe harbour. For inspiration, we turned to our new friends at Cruxifusion, a network of ministers who are centred on Christ ... Read more
Small Group Prayer Guide
Spring 2021 Dear friends, It’s been more than 12 months since our world went into various stages of turmoil in response to a microscopic virus. Physically, we are on the defensive. But we are much more than flesh and blood. Spiritually, we are called to be on the offensive. There is much to pray for. … Continue reading Small Group Prayer Guide
A Cautionary Tale
Admittedly my awareness of the details is limited [sketchy, disjointed, distant], but even so the situation evokes descriptions like distressing, disturbing, disastrous, devastating, even debacle. One of our partner churches, The Guyana Presbyterian Church, is experiencing deep division, perhaps even its death knell. Recent developments involve: i) two rival groups, each forming a Synod [their … Continue reading A Cautionary Tale
Profile: First Presbyterian Church, Trail BC
In the beginning, God sent one Rev. Robertson in 1896 to start the Presbyterian ministry here in Trail BC. And the Lord God continued to send faithful servants to keep up the ministry through the years of the first century of the life of the congregation. In 1925, the continuing Presbyterians were the minority ... Read more
A Remembrance and a ‘Reminder’
Requiem (noun) — 1) A Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead. 2) A musical composition setting parts of a requiem Mass, or of a similar character. 3) An act or token of remembrance. It’s the third definition which fits Rev. Don MacLeod’s latest published writing. An almost-legendary figure in the PCC ... Read more
A Question of Identity
Who is Jesus? Who am I? Who is the church of Jesus Christ? None of these questions are straightforward to answer; indeed, many spend their entire lives pondering them. It is not by accident either that I write these questions side-by-side. It seems to me that, from the standpoint of a Christian worldview, these questions ... Read more
‘Rediscover’ the New Wineskins
The headline We Need to Create New Wineskins (Renewal News, summer 2020, p. 2) caught my attention. It seems theologically inaccurate, for Christ Himself created the New Wineskin. The best we can do is design new versions of the old wineskin. But that can’t hold the “wine” Christ offers to cure the root heart malady. ... Read more
Kneeling in Prayer, Standing for Recovery
Response to Diane Eaton's comment: In *We Need to Create New Wineskins*, I had written about PCC clergy being able to recover Biblical marriage within the context of a new “wineskin.” Creating a new wineskin is not foreign to the PCC. It was done in 1875 and in 1925 when there was a resetting of ... Read more
Love is the Answer
Once, after a night of debauchery in my early thirties (at that time in my life debauchery meant staying up to the wee hours playing ‘Hearts’ - the card game, not the relationship pastime), I woke hearing the strains of *Slow Train Coming*. Our host had it hot off the press (it was a LP ... Read more
Profile: Cheyne Presbyterian Church
We are an intergenerational community of believers seeking after the transformative power of Christ to live out the purpose and plan of His calling on our life. Since 1844, the congregation of Cheyne has been serving its community on the outskirts of Hamilton, Ontario. In 1960, the current building was opened in the centre of ... Read more
We Need to Create New Wineskins
It’s time for the church to issue its own marriage licences. This writer is old enough to remember the burning of draft cards to protest the Vietnam war and bras being burned to somehow advance a feminist agenda. Similarly, as both a protest and affirmation, he would have no difficulty shredding his government-issued marriage licence ... Read more
The Gospel
Here's the basic truth in two and a half minutes. ... Read more
20/20 Vision: Vigilant and Vital
More than 100 people joined us for our first online Renewal Day and AGM on Saturday, April 25th, 2020, using Zoom Webinar. The theme was "20/20 Vision: Vigilant and Vital." Speaker Rev. Jonathan Hong, of Toronto Korean Presbyterian Church, spoke about the current theological division in the denomination ... Read more
Dispelling Disorder, Embracing Truth
Rev. Ian ShawBoard Chair “People did whatever they felt like doing.” These words summarize the end of a most sad time in the history of God's people as recorded in the book of Judges. It was a time of moral, relational and political chaos. In some ways that summation faintly echoes the chaos with which … Continue reading Dispelling Disorder, Embracing Truth
Theology Matters
Theology matters – more than you might think. In 2016, a group of university professors published a groundbreaking study which linked mainline congregation growth to traditional, conservative theology. It compared the demographic and religious characteristics of ministers and attendees of growing mainline Protestant churches in southern Ontario with those of declining churches from the same … Continue reading Theology Matters