Rev. Dr. Glen Davis was the interim minister at St. Andrew's-Chalmers, Uxbridge, Ont., last year. During that time he was also leader for a mission trip to Malawi. In December, Glen spoke at a Saturday morning breakfast about his trip; what he observed of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and how the church is responding. This event was open to the community and many people from outside the congregation attended and were moved by Glen's presentation.
Very late last night, as I was driving home from house church at Sheridan Lake, I saw something I have never seen before and reckon will never see again.
The choir of the Hungarian Theological Seminary from Romania, under the direction of mission staff person Brian Johnston, arrived in Canada in late September and performed to standing ovations across the Maritimes and Ontario for two weeks. In introducing the choir to church office personnel, Annemarie Klassen thanked Johnston and the choir for bringing their ministry to Canada. A choir member later returned the compliment by thanking the Presbyterian staff for supporting them in their mission.
A diverse coalition of religious and civil liberties groups spoke out against a U.S. House bill in which a provision was passed stating military chaplains should be mindful of the pluralistic nature of the army and provide non-sectarian and inclusive prayer if necessary. Chaplains or their endorsing groups filed no complaints. However, the civil liberties coalition felt the provision was “unnecessary and unwise.”
The Neo-orthodox Theology of W.W. Bryden
Welcome to CANACOM YAM work camp 2006 from the spice island of Grenada! Grenada is known for its spices—nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and cocoa—and the scent fills the air at Saturday markets. The theme for our work camp came from our particular context: Enabling the Spice Within (using the gifts of the Spirit for the mission of the church). Every three years CANACOM (of which The Presbyterian Church in Canada is a founding member) sponsors a work camp for young adults ranging in age from 18-30, which is hosted by one of the member churches.
ENI – Members of Canada's largest Protestant denomination are going to drink tap water at future meetings and not the bottled variety that has become institutionalised at gatherings, if church leaders have their way.
For 10 years now, the youth of the Presbytery of Ottawa have been joining together for a monthly youth worship service. These services began in 1996 as a way of connecting youth and youth groups within the presbytery so that they might hear about Jesus and the Christian faith in a way that is understandable and relevant to them. It was also the hope of Blair Bertrand, then youth leader at Westminster and a key instigator of the Ottawa services, to keep youth connected to an ongoing community of worship in between the spiritual highs youth often experience at summer camp and youth retreats. These services were not meant to compete with regular Sunday morning worship, but rather to give youth the opportunity to experiment with the experience of worship.
The stubborn resistance to empire exhibited in the Bible by the Jews in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament is a model to be emulated by Christians today, a panel of World Alliance of Reformed Churches theologians stated earlier this year from Manila, Philippines.
World Association for Christian Communication, a media savvy advocacy agency with representatives in over 100 countries, opened its new offices in Toronto in October. The London, England-based organization moved over 450 boxes, along with a comprehensive library and nearly its full staff, into a renovated United church on Danforth Ave. Rev. Randy Naylor, general secretary of WACC, said the $700,000 church renovation and international move was done smoothly and in “record time.” He also praised the congregation of Hope United church, and their minister Rev. Douglas du Charme, for “moving mountains” to convert the seven-decade-old Sunday school wing of the church into a modern, fully networked office.
I am writing this from India. I am traveling with Ron Wallace of International Ministries, Sarah Kim of the Women's Missionary Society and Amy MacLachlan of The Presbyterian Record. As we visit projects, organizations and institutions, we have been warmly welcomed. We have met many friends of the PCC, both old and new. They have asked me to extend their warm greetings and deep appreciation to the members of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
The oldest and largest fair trade organization in North America marked its 60th anniversary this year. Ten Thousand Villages, based in Ontario, is an initiative of the Mennonite Central Committee, the relief and development agency of the church, and has been working around the world since 1946. Today there are 43 stores, along with hundreds of festival sales, selling products from over 120 artisan groups in 35 developing countries.
It was a pretty typical youth group meeting. We were having a discussion and I introduced what I thought was a pretty well known biblical passage. When I received glazed eye stares from the group, I asked if they indeed did know the passage. One honest young man said, “Dude, you can't possibly expect me to know that Bible story. With the amount of Simpsons that I watch, I don't have any brain space left for reading.” And he was correct. He watched so much TV and read so little that his brain couldn't grasp what I was asking him to do.
The hour of battle had finally come. After months of training and a rough crossing with high seas Canadian soldiers were about to attempt an unprecedented attack. It was August 19, 1942 and the target was the French port town of Dieppe. Since April 1940 Nazi Germany had reigned unchallenged as the undisputed dictators of Europe, but now, almost two and a half years later, that was about to change — and the job was given to the Canadians. The attacking force of 4,963 Canadians included a Presbyterian minister, Honorary Captain John W. Foote, the Protestant military chaplain attached to the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry.
Summertime means choir tours, of course, and the Ontario Presbyterian Chorus spent theirs in Newfoundland. Seventy-four members sang their way through June, helping churches raise funds for local projects. St. Andrew's, St. John's, raised $1,000 through ticket sales and applied it to their renovations fund, on top of the offerings collected. The Salvation Army Citadel, Deer Lake, got $300 for the Ecumenical Relief Fund.
The child sat nestled against her young mother's side when the delegation from The Presbyterian Church in Canada walked into her hospital room. No more than four years old, her warm brown eyes followed her visitors closely, not knowing why she was such an attraction. Her mother, whose age was difficult to tell but seemed no more than 21, was dressed in a fuchsia sari; her head covered.
Ever since he was knee-high to a Doberman, the boy was fearless. Take him to the ocean and he'd jump in looking for sharks. Take him to the mountains and he'd see how high he could climb. One day when he was five, I watched in horror as he jumped off a roof—a garbage-bag parachute duct-taped to his back. We couldn't be more opposite, my son and I. I believe God put us on dry land and said, “Lo, I am with you always.” Not Stephen. The higher he climbs, the more he believes God is with him.
ENI – Two Scottish Protestant churches have signed an agreement to help promote good relations between the denominations.
ENI – Christians must stop squabbling and face the common enemies of disease and poverty, Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo in Mozambique said. He was celebrating the centenary of an Anglican association to help what are now former Portuguese colonies in southern Africa that are listed by international organizations as countries with some of the most difficult living conditions on earth today.
Angela Cluny, centre, of Leaside Presbyterian, Toronto, measures drywall along with Lynda Marshall of Good Shepherd Community Church and Victor Aguius of Chinese Martyrs Catholic, while Rev. Dan West, right, of Runnymede Presbyterian, Toronto, screws drywall to the ceiling at the Fourth Annual Faith Leaders Build for Habitat for Humanity.