In my youth I became a fan of Marshall McLuhan, cryptic sage of “the medium is the message.” His thesis, as I understood it, is a useful prism through which to deconstruct the present-day plight of the churches our age calls mainstream. You know, the ones with all the puzzled faces in the few pews the are occupied. Even Presbyterian ministers are writing revolutionary essays and letters in the pages of the Record.
Shouldn’t churches avoid the new and trendy, and keep Mr. and Mrs. Stalwart comfortable until it’s time to shut the doors for good?
The Presbyterian Record received a huge boost at the end of 2009 as readers donated over $132,000 to the church magazine, topping 2008’s total of […]
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day — Revelation 1:10 It is not possible to be “in the Spirit” without recognizing the cross […]
Living Faith and I are about the same age. That is, if I count the years from my ordination. Throughout my ministry, the little green […]
The church’s relief and development agency was “drowning in generosity” by the end of 2009, reporting a total of $2.67 million despite fears that it […]
I made my way onto the subway one cold December morning. I found myself squished amidst the crowds, tense about the fellow who was yelling […]
The Record‘s annual Christmas art contest is a much-loved and anticipated event among readers and Record staff. This past December, a submission by 12-year-old Austin […]
It was quite a night of television in mid-January with two Haiti fundraisers. The second of these was from the States, featuring international — mostly […]
A hymn of grief and hope for earthquake-battered Haiti became a worldwide prayer in January as it was picked up and circulated on the websites […]
The first part of the path up the hill is the steepest and there isn’t a lot to hold on to; some of the trees […]
A January study by a Jewish foundation suggests few Israelis would support a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques — a plan that […]
During a recent visit to Central America, a Canadian consular official told me Canadians and mining are virtually one and the same; that, in fact, […]
Articulating Belief An unlikely success story. by Stephen Hayes Living with Living Faith A useful and acceptable summing up of Presbyterianism. by Laurence DeWolfe Ancient […]
Contributions to the church’s national mission and ministry fund came to just over $8.47 million in 2009, falling $128,000 short of the year’s $8.6-million budget. […]
Among the specific measures appr-oved by the Assembly Council in November 2009 to trim the national budget was an adjustment in the grants to the […]
Residents in one of Toronto’s poorest neighbourhoods were offered new hope on Jan. 19 as four churches and three non-profit groups forged a coalition to […]
As aid and relief organizations poured into the devastated regions of Haiti, the Caribbean Conference of Churches applauded the “heroic efforts of all concerned,” but […]
The headline in one of my community newspapers said it all: Low Murder Rate [an] Anomaly: Cops. It was a classic case of not letting […]