March lived up to its billing on its first day. Around noon a snowstorm roared into Toronto falling hard and fast. The city ground to a stop. My usual 22-minute commute home took about a hundred minutes. I got off easy — many many others were stuck for hours.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi The Presbyterian Church is one of the most vibrant and […]
Presbyterian and United Churches share a minister? Well, why not?
The Presbyterian Church recently signed a revised agreement between the federal government and the Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy for Corrections Services Canada, an advisory group on the provision of religious and spiritual care to inmates and the oversight of federal prison chaplains. Rev. Will Ingram, a minister at Morningside High Park, Toronto, signed on behalf of the committee, along with Correctional Services Commissioner Keith Coulter. The document describes the relationship between the two organizations and outlines how chaplaincy services are provided in correctional institutions.
Rev. Dr. J. H. (Hans) Kouwenberg of Calvin Church, Abbotsford, B.C., has been named moderator-elect for the 2007 General Assembly this June in Waterloo, Ont. Kouwenberg came to his current charge after 20 years at St. Giles', Prince George, and has served on a number of the church's national committees. He has been clerk and moderator of synod and presbytery, is currently convener of the board of St. Andrew's Hall and a member of the Committee on Theological Education, and has been on the governing bodies of all three theological colleges. In 2005, Presbyterian College awarded him an honorary doctorate. He has also acted as chaplain for the Royal Canadian Legion and for correctional services. He currently teaches literature at a Bible college in Abbotsford. Kouwenberg will be officially installed as moderator at the assembly.
When you receive this issue of The Presbyterian Record, I will be representing The Presbyterian Church in Canada at the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. How exciting it will be for me to visit the church that I served for six years in the early 1970's. I served in Taiwan during a very difficult time; a time when the church was facing political and social persecution. Suffering continues because of Taiwan's position in the world today. I will share news of this visit in my final message in the June issue.
The possibility of general assembly meeting every other year garnered the most discussion at an otherwise low-key Assembly Council meeting in March.
It's become popular not only to make fun of the church and people of faith, but to attempt to attack or topple Christian tenets. Books like The Da Vinci Code and documentaries claiming archeological discoveries of the bones of Jesus and his family appear to threaten the very foundations of the Christian church. Our society has forgotten and neglected its roots, and we've lost the Sabbath. Church has moved from the essential institution at society's hub to a blip on the weekend radar, wedged between hockey practice and the scratch-and-save sale at Sears.
A Senate report released in February paints a bleak picture of Africa's economic state and chastises a Canadian agency for dumping billions of dollars into the continent with little to show for it.
Plans for the first mosque in Newmarket, Ont., have raised a national ruckus. A connection to Zafar Bangash, a controversial imam currently serving a large mosque in Richmond Hill, has some residents of this town about 50 kilometres north of Toronto wondering what will be taught in the renovated building.
I worked at Cecelia Jeffery Residential School in November 1959 as a counsellor. I was assigned to the senior girls (ages 12-17); there were about 25-30 in the group. We were located on the second-floor dormitory and the junior girls were on the third floor. This was the same arrangement for the boys' side of the school.
I am a chronic complainer. I grumble. I gripe. I have grievances. Sometimes my whining gets on my wife's nerves. She says, “You should quit whining, Phil.” But I tell her, “I don't like your tone of voice, Sweetie, it's beginning to bother me.” These are the things I have found myself complaining about lately:
In his introduction to The Master Preacher, short and not to be skipped over, Rev. Sheldon MacKenzie's opening paragraph reads: “The Gospel of John is distinctly different from the other three. To begin with, it is written in language that is deceptively simple. A child may read and enjoy it. At the same time, while a mature adult may read it easily, he/she may understand it with difficulty.”
Now retired, the famous civil rights pastor Bishop John H. Adams in a recent Web article notes that progressive Christianity is not limited to a single theology. Dr. Douglas Ottati of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., speaks of progressive theology as a conglomeration of theologies, among which are process, liberal, Christian realist, liberationist, feminist, black, womanist and Minjung, a Korean philosophy that is a radical re-interpretation of Christianity. However, while it is named progressive Christianity, it is in no way committed to the traditional creeds and expressions of Christian faith revealed in Scripture. In fact, it is considered a sign of your “maturity” if you leave all that behind and make up your own mind.
Canadians across the country took to the streets, hosted public forums and wrote their politicians during the week of March 22, World Water Day, to draw attention to a range of water justice issues, including Canada's refusal to ensure that access to clean water is a human right, and problems created by bottled water consumption.
The Presbytery of Ottawa's worship and witness committee hosted an event in March called Hearing the Voices of Peace, a panel discussion exploring the work of peacemakers in Israel and Palestine. Panelists represented Jewish, Muslim and Christian perspectives. Pictured are (l to r): Diana Ralph, an anti-Zionist Jew; Rula Odeh, a Christian of Palestinian origin; and Samah Sabawi, a Muslim, Gaza-born Canadian writer and human rights advocate. “Our perspectives deepen when we take the time to listen to others' stories,” said congregation member Katie Munnik. “Peace is built on grassroots encounters like these.”
ENI — Austrian church leaders have accused retailers of devaluing human life after an abortion clinic opened alongside other stores at a new Vienna shopping mall.
“With proper education and a change in our value system, we might conquer HIV,” said David Mburu. “And as Christians, we must be optimistic and […]
He models his ministry after the words of Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “Nature has enough for our need, but not enough for our greed.” […]
Rev. Friday Inya is passionate about spreading the Good News to his fellow countrymen. As the recently appointed head of the National Directorate of Missions […]