posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Some former, retired and current PCC missionaries to Taiwan met at a cottage in Bracebridge, Ont., last summer for fellowship. Back row, from left to right, Terry Samuel, Paul McLean, Murray Garvin. Center row, Marilyn Ellis, Mary Beth McLean, Joy Randall, Wilma Welsh, Diane (Petrie) Osborn, Mary Helen Garvin. Front row, Louise Gamble, Betty Geddes, Jack Geddes, Grace McGill, Marie Wilson.”;

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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An evangelical Nigerian preacher believes he has the ultimate counter-terrorism tool and wants the United Nations to take heed. "The secret of a successful battle against terrorism lies in sending Christian missionaries into the Middle East. It is only the Christian Gospel that can bring down hatred," Dr. Panya Baba stressed at a meeting organized by the Evangelical Church of West Africa. "The United Nations should ask member nations to contribute to mission work. Missionaries are doing better in bringing peace into the world.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Ormsby Presbyterian Church, known affectionately as "the little church on the rock," celebrated its 100th anniversary on August 15 in Ormsby, Ont. Former Presbyterian Church in Canada moderator Rev. Arthur Currie was the special guest. Kevin Martin, whose great, great grandfather donated the land for the church building, preached the sermon.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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The construction of an eye-popping new building for the Ghanaian Presbyterian Church of Toronto has begun.

posted on January 1, 2005 in Presbytery Profile

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While the HIV/AIDS pandemic is ravaging parts of the world, the folks in the Presbytery of Lanark and Renfrew are doing what they can to help. "There is a sense of closeness and caring," said Rev. Milton Fraser, St. Andrew's, Arnprior. "In terms of the relationship within the congregations and within the community, there is a genuine concern for each other."

posted on January 1, 2005 in Features

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As the pace of urbanization quickens across the Canadian landscape, rural churches, like the family farm, are simply disappearing. Cooperating, not competing, is key: "If the church can be seen as a place to come together; to talk and to seek community, to not be there to recruit, and to cooperate with other rural churches," says sociology professor William Ramp, "[the church] will draw people in and contribute to keeping that population."

posted on January 1, 2005 in Michael Coren

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It really is extraordinary how little most media people know about the Christian faith and its adherents. The period since the election in the United States has been a disgrace for journalism. Especially for Canadian journalism. Especially for liberal Canadian journalism. Unable to tolerate losing in the game of democracy, left-leaning pundits decided to blame the participants. Welcome to the hellish world of The Christian Right.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Like any other church, Knox, St. Thomas, Ont., values all its members and adherents. Age or tenure matter not – we simply enjoy having everyone with us each week. However, at the beginning of last summer, it came to our attention in rather short order that we had two very remarkable women in our midst.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Millions of red locusts have swarmed into the Holy Land conjuring up Biblical images as they ate palm trees bare, feasted on crops and even settled on the shores of the Dead Sea.

posted on January 1, 2005 in Mission Knocks

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"Over eighty people for the first sitting!"

posted on January 1, 2005 in For the Journey

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"There is something on the ice!" Halden said, his eyes peering across the lake. This phrase is a delightful call to binoculars in our house, something looked forward to and cherished the several times a week that it happens. Soon several pairs of binocular clad eyes were trained on the lake.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Two churches in Thorold, Ont., sustained extensive fire damage within one week of each other in November. Fire officials and police have deemed the fires at St. Andrew's Presbyterian and St. John's Anglican "suspicious". No one was injured.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Glad Tidings, the bimonthly magazine of the Women's Missionary Society, is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2005. The magazine is sent across the country and around the world to places such as Nigeria, Central America, India and Ghana.

posted on January 1, 2005 in For the Record

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A few weeks ago, a report was released suggesting more than one million children in Canada are living below the poverty line. Campaign 2000, a national watchdog organization, said more than 15 per cent of Canadian children live in low-income families who earn less than two-thirds the national median hourly wage of about $10. Moderator Rick Fee was forthright in his reaction, calling the situation "a real scandal." It is.

posted on January 1, 2005 in Features

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There is a large ranch that lies just off of Highway 24, near 100 Mile House in the interior of B.C. It's around 500 acres of land, including 70 acres of upland fields and 80 acres of meadow. Some of the land is leased out but most is used by Pete and Nichi Bonter, owners of O'Neil Creek Ranch. They run a Hereford-Angus cross cow/calf operation. In order to make ends meet, Pete takes off-ranch jobs: firefighting, logging truck driver, excavator operator. During the summer months, Nichi works part-time. Ginny-Lou Alexander interviewed the Bonters on their ranch.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Asian churches need to think less about the bricks and mortar and more about spiritualizing, Dr. Ahn Jae Woong, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, told his colleagues at a conference.

posted on January 1, 2005 in Features

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In the pre-dawn serenity, I unzipped the tent flap and stepped out. With temperatures bracketing the freezing mark, this early morning chill was refreshing. The sky was still a deep, velvety indigo. The sun had just begun to paint a crimson trace on the distant horizon. A delicate mist hung over quietly moving, crystalline waters of the Yukon River. Gently bobbing in the current, a family of loons glided by, fishing in the water.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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Africa's Anglican bishops have ended their first continent-wide gathering by reiterating what they said was their "biblical position" in the controversy within the worldwide Anglican communion about homosexuality.

posted on January 1, 2005 in News

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A 32-year-old rivalry between presbyteries in Taiwan has finally ended in reconciliation. Over 10,000 members of the Kaohsiung and Longevity Mountain Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan gathered for reconciliation. Members from the presbyteries' 138 congregations met at National Kaohsiung University for a worship service. PCT General Secretary William J.K. Lo preached the sermon. The two presbyteries were the result of a split in 1972 over issues of polity. Twenty-four churches left the Kaohsiung Presbytery for the newly formed Longevity Mountain.

posted on January 1, 2005 in From the Moderator

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There is a challenge before us and our denomination's newly renamed Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. How can we understand, live with and appreciate people of other faiths while maintaining our Christian convictions? Is religion being manipulated to make this a more violent world, and does this cause strife between our neighbours and us? These questions lie at the core of interfaith dialogue.