Unfocused and distracted, we need a foundation.

“If God’s presence and work are not understood to define who we are and what we are doing, nothing we come up with will be understood and lived properly.” — Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

Jillian McWhinnie

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 go together. One cannot be answered without the others also being addressed in some way. I also find that, amidst the noise and busyness of our world today, it is very easy to neglect wrestling with these questions on both personal and corporate levels. (And I’ll be the first to admit that when I wake up in the morning it takes a while for my brain to stop buzzing, and a considerable dose of willpower to not immediately turn on my phone to see if I’ve missed out on anything while I was asleep!)

This observation that we tend to be a distracted and unfocused society is primarily based on my own experience and conversations with others, but I don’t think I’m alone in having this view. Given certain conditions, it’s not very hard for us to lose sight of our identity as individual Christ followers, and as the church.

The word identity comes from the Latin word idem, which means “same”. Thus, one’s “identity” — although abstract in nature — might be described as the essence or substance of one’s personality. This essence is consistent, united and the same, through and through. Beyond this internal consistency, there is also a sense that one’s identity can be known only through comparison to something external to which it may or may not bear resemblance. If this is indeed the case, then whatever this external “something” is, it is also probably important to pay attention to. I don’t think it will surprise most readers that, for many Christians, this external “something” is the Triune God. From the creation account in Genesis, we read that God’s intent is that humankind is to be made in His image. From the very beginning, God made human beings to be like Him and to be in relationship, or communion, with Him. Of course, in Genesis 3, the tide turns when humanity mistrusts and disobeys God, leading to sin and the fall. One of the consequences of the fall is that we tend to forget our identity as God’s image bearers and instead rely on our own ability to determine who we are. We so easily forget the God who made us, and we often fall into conforming ourselves to the image of other “gods” and other idols of this world. And it doesn’t stop there. Our identity shapes all that we think, say and do. Our interactions with our world and with each other are shaped by our identity and our oneness (or lack of) with God, whether we are aware of it or not.

So if we believe our identities are tied to who God is, perhaps we would do well to first reflect on the question, “Who is God?” (And, as mentioned above, this reflection process is a daily, lifelong pursuit of coming to know God). We come to know who God is through God revealing Himself to us most definitively in Jesus, but we also have the words and stories of the Old and New Testament which attest to God’s character. God is also still active and speaking in the world today through His Holy Spirit. And what do we know about God? We know that God is love. He loves with a self-giving, self-sacrificial love and He cares for the sick, poor, weary and outcast. We know that God is just and merciful. He doesn’t ignore our sin, but we trust that, through Jesus, He has rescued us from the sin and death that so easily entangles and invites us to follow Him into life.

When we truly know who God is, it helps us to know who we are — beloved, image-bearers called to love and obey God, and to love our neighbours. When we don’t know or remember who God is, or who we are, we can be quick to respond to the social and political issues of our day in ways that actually aren’t helpful or loving. In a culture that is on edge and in which issues are highly politicized, it is so easy to react and to start name-calling and blaming. And, slowly and subtly, we may find that our life and faith in Jesus erodes such that we are consumed only with asserting our own beliefs, leading us to become bitter and empty as we engage in futile attempts to change how other people think, and all the while neglecting to love God and our neighbours on a daily basis. This is a real danger that exists for any of us, regardless of what “side” we might find ourselves on in relation to any particular issue.

The social and political issues of our world can also be so polarizing and complex that we can become uncertain and even paralyzed by fear. “What if I say or do the wrong thing? What if I get criticized for sharing my views on a particular issue?” Sometimes it can be very difficult to discern what it means to be a loving Christ-follower, so we opt for the easy way out and hide or do nothing. Yet the voice of Jesus, if we are listening, says to us over and over again, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.” And if Jesus is with us, we can trust that He will show us the way — His way. If we pray and listen, I believe we will find that Jesus guides with a wise and steady hand. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have the power to lead us, so we would do well to trust them and to participate with them in prayerfully, thoughtfully, and lovingly addressing the difficult situations and issues our world faces, as individuals and as the Church. I would also venture to say that Jesus’ way is probably not the way we might have chosen, or even thought of, to begin with. Indeed, when we rely on our own abilities, we are prone to proceed in ways that put others down and elevate ourselves. In the kingdom of heaven, we are called to live in exactly the opposite way. We are called to love, and put others’ interests and needs first.

All of that said, my main point is this: Without a sure and growing knowledge of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who we are in relationship to God, living lives of love that honour God and that seek God’s justice and mercy for the marginalized becomes difficult, if not impossible. Without Jesus as our foundation, we can be so easily swayed by the world’s whims, or we can find ourselves worshipping ideologies and beliefs instead of the person of Jesus Christ. Or we might find ourselves cowering in corners, too fearful and motivated by self-preservation rather than trust in the one who has already conquered sin and death.

So what can we do? Well, I think there are some practical things that may help. First, I think we would do well to listen and pray to God. When we pray, we can ask Him for His love to fill us and to overflow as we love others. We can also ask Him to show and convict us when we start to follow wherever the culture leads, or if we are becoming stubborn, callous, or afraid. Regular Bible study and reading, as well as worship and participating in the sacraments, also are wonderful ways in which we can be reminded of who God is and who He has called us to be. And in the midst of all this, in the tension of the now and the not yet, we can rest and experience God’s grace for the journey. We can rest knowing that God is God and we are not. We can be at peace knowing that Jesus is already the victorious King.

The complex, and often divisive, questions and issues of our day deserve our attention and action. I do not presume to have all the answers or solutions to these concerns although, like most, I do have thoughts and opinions about them. However, the purpose of this essay is not to get into those details, but rather to suggest that we must remain rooted in Jesus Christ to avoid becoming overly focused on our own way, or confused and uncertain about what to do next. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the most capable to lead us to the light when we find ourselves confronted with darkness.

Jesus, we pray that you would grant us humility, courage, and wisdom as we seek to follow You each day. Help us to remember who You are and that we are found in You. Amen.

Diane Eaton

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. Thus it rejects God’s program. We’d be more honest in declaring: We need to RE-DISCOVER the New Wineskins. We need to rediscover the Saviour, to be re-evangelized ourselves.

The Prodigal Son

Recently, I showed my preteen granddaughters Rembrandt’s famous art piece, “The Return of the Prodigal Son” (pictured on this page.) You’ll know that parable, where Jesus essentially contrasts old and new wineskin theologies. I asked the girls to examine Rembrandt’s use of light and describe where the light drew their eyes. They saw it instantly: It’s the Father’s hands pressed affectionately into His returning son’s back. The shabby son is seen collapsed to his knees burying his head in the Father’s bosom. Nearby stands his upright elder brother, well-dressed, staunch, and disapproving. He portrays the religious community who had put their trust the old wineskin – the forms, traditions, edifices, their “orthodoxy”, etc.

The elder brother still portrays those zealous for purity and orthodoxy but deficient in the experience of redemptive grace.

This could be our own problem, why we say so little about New Wineskin promises and focus so much on rips in the old wineskin. Oh sure, current worldly trends contribute to the collapse of our PCC, but so do our own deficits as conservatives.

My granddaughters are unchurched and totally immersed in the “younger brother” worldview: freedom from the past, free morality, etc. I want the girls to know NOW that, no matter what happens with them, there is a heavenly Father who welcomes returning prodigals and offers new Life in Christ. I pray that God shields these girls from two predominant types of religious folk: those who focus primarily on impurities and those who deny or absolve those impurities. Both ways bypass the Saviour as the author of abundant New Life.

I’m convinced that Renewal Fellowship, like Rembrandt, should consistently paint the strongest light where it belongs: on Christ’s hope for sinners — whether these lost ones be unchurched or churched, liberal or conservative, them or us. Otherwise we’re orthodox and evangelical merely in self-claim.

God intends us to be Light in the darkness. That requires us personally and collectively to abandon our self- righteous bents and face our own spiritual/theological bankruptcy. Seek “the Great Pearl” of far greater value than any denomination, including the PCC. That’s how we can move on — to become effective agents of renewal rather than ineffective reactionaries of polarized issues.

Here’s the question: How do we want to be remembered tomorrow by the lost prodigals of today? And is that why we talk more about institutional issues than represents all those who had never experienced the “New Wineskin”.

This was the son who had gone the way of worldliness and apostasy.

Response to Diane Eaton’s comment

James Statham

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 a basis for common unity through the creation of new formal structural unions. Many of us have been lamenting the “diluting of the wine” in the PCC and I concur with Diane that the primary need for all of us is to “face our own spiritual/theological bankruptcy” and to “rediscover the Saviour.” When it comes to a thorough spiritual self-examination, few are more grindingly honest than William Beveridge: “I cannot pray but I sin. I cannot preach or hear a sermon, but I sin. I cannot give alms or receive the sacrament, but I sin. I can’t so much as confess my sins, but my confessions are further aggravations of them. My repentance needs to be repented of, my tears need washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer.”

Wine and wineskin are of course just metaphors. At the Cana wedding, Jesus is the “new wine”, the best offered last. Jesus forewarns that this new wine will burst the old wineskin of Judaism. Good metaphors reflect reality. Jesus uses metaphor and stories to reflect the realities of life and especially of what God is like. I, too, like the story of the Lost Son. In fact, I now see that Henri Nouwen’s book, The Return of the Prodigal is missing again from my library. I have been in the habit of lending out copies. And I have a file of 8×12 copies of Rembrandt’s painting to hand out to seekers that they also might return home. A large copy of his interpretation hangs on the back wall of the church I attend. I, too, love the hands. Such is the God. One is larger and firmly holds the son close while the smaller one tenderly comforts. This parable is one of three told by Christ to answer the question of why He eats with sinners. They are about God seeking lost sheep and a lost coin. Then there is a lost son — but nobody went out looking for the lost son. He had to come to his senses. It was the task of the standoffish elder brother to seek, but he only did his duty and was, as you say, “deficient in his experience of redemptive grace.” We in PCC organizations, such as The Renewal Fellowship and PSALT, are sometimes unfairly typecast as “elder brothers” or to use your words, “ineffective reactionaries of polarized issues.” We are actually kneeling in prayer and standing up for a recovery in the PCC of a lost gospel. Things get lost. People get lost. I share with you an active desire that the essential message of “Christ’s hope for sinners” be not lost from our pulpits.

Christ calls us to go forth seeking the lost. But our culture now mandates that no one is lost, no one is right, no one is wrong. All lifestyles must be endorsed. But a society that tries to say “yes” to everything eventually implodes. So, too, will a church. The PCC is in danger of saying an unbiblical “yes” re: human sexuality/marriage, so many of us are now having to point to where God says “no” in His Word and to explain why God’s “yes” is best and life-giving. It is possible to see the good and the love of God not just in His “yes” but also when His Word says “no.” If the Word of God is accepted in repentance and humility, it starts the process of a life changed for the good, for now and for eternity.

Ian Shaw

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 album after all) and was playing it full blast on the turntable. As my fellow debauchees and I listened over brunch, we wondered, “Could it be? Has Dylan become a Christian?”

Irrespective of the correct answer to that query, Robert Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan, produced three albums deeply rooted in Christian theology in the late 1970s/80s. For a reformed person like me, one of his best poetic images captures the essence of Original Sin – “Born already ruined, Stone-cold dead, As I stepped out of the womb” (From the title song Saved – gospel rock at its best.)

One of the lasting metaphors from this body of Christian-themed music comes from the final album in the trilogy. The song is titled, Watered Down Love. For me, the imagery, more than the actual words of the song, reverberates and the accusing echo that haunts it continues to describe so much of recent life in our Canadian culture and our faith community.

Some wag once commented that almost 90-plus per cent of “correct” answers to any question in a children’s story is either Jesus or love (often both). Love certainly is the implied bottom line for almost any challenge, debate or issue that crosses our path in society or in our denomination. And of course, in the church love is THE BOTTOM LINE. Jesus’ answer(s) to the lawyer’s question about the greatest commandment underscores love’s primary status. As does John’s presentation in chapter 4 of his first epistle.

Yet it seems when love is being advocated among us, Dylan’s accusation, “You don’t want a love that’s pure … You want a watered-down love” is often accurate. Love is the costliest, most challenging, most self-denying of all qualities held dear by the human heart. Read 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4:7ff and, of course, John 3:16 again if you aren’t convinced.

However, what so often is spoken of or advocated as love is some sort of Kiwanian Conviviality (thanks Dr. Walters) rooted in a non-social distancing experience of linking arms around a campfire, singing Happy Wanderer as the sun sets. After months of COVID-19, who could not want such an engagement? But that’s at best affection, not love.

Love recognizes and opposes our universal tendency to egocentricity, hubris, self-assertion, clannishness and other destructive urges. Love asserts there is a way that can seem right (attractive, harmless, politically correct, affirming) but its end is destruction (doesn’t lead a person into a closer connection with her Creator).

Love intends for you and me to experience life in fullness and freedom. Pure love, therefore, seeks both to know and to follow God’s revealed truth as much as one is able. Anything less is embracing love that is watered down (weak, unsatisfying and enervating), The best answer to almost all questions and issues is love, pure love. Such love is and has always been under threat and is a challenge to discern or as Dylan sang, “Love that’s pure ain’t no accident.” It demands effort and spiritual discernment. Your commitment will cover the former, your prayers are needed for the latter.

Bill Harrison

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 downtown Stoney Creek, but with congregational growth continuing, the building was expanded in the 1980s, along with an increase in paid staff.

THEN, AND NOW. These three words capture the essence of life since COVID-19 hit. We are now just beginning to navigate our way through this new normal to establish means of continuing to build God’s kingdom in the midst of new restrictions and opportunities. As such, leadership then is essential in this endeavour.

Cheyne logo

Cheyne’s Vision

To lead people to grow as devoted followers of Christ who live out God’s 5 W-I-F-E-S purposes:

Worship – Wholeheartedly loving the God who loves us.
Instruction For Discipleship – Loving God by obeying God.
Fellowship – Loving God by loving God’s family.
Evangelism – Loving God by introducing others to Christ.
Service – Loving God by serving God and people.

Cheyne’s Mission

A Christ-centred church family building Christ-centred families.

Using Cheyne’s Vision as a template, here are some observations and questions that have been useful in shaping our culture at Cheyne.

Leadership is key in any congregation in exercising the giftedness and passion each member and adherent brings to our communities of faith, for the working out of the Great Commission in all of our lives as devoted followers of Christ. In worship, is wholeheartedly loving the God who loves us leading us to servant leadership? Who has the Lord brought to Cheyne to work out His purposes at a time such as this? Let me introduce some. Today, Cheyne is led by seven paid staff in primary roles. Rev. Steve Lindsay is Lead Pastor since 1997 and has a passion for seeing people come to Christ and grow in a vibrant relationship with Him through Life groups. Significantly, Steve prepares daily devotions the year round, in hard copy and online, to help us work out God’s purposes in our lives and communities. Robin Burley, raised in Cheyne, is our Children and Youth Pastor who spent 11 years in the Maritimes serving in a similar role. Marc Johnson, likewise raised in Cheyne, is our Family and Young Adult Pastor. Joshua Gardner, Worship Leader for our contemporary service, has rich experience as a youth pastor and worship minister that enables him to passionately craft a worship experience, both in person and online. Lynda Smith is Worship Leader for our traditional service for the past 10 years and leads our sanctuary choir. Philip Lee, Organist, was hired in 1969 while a teenager. For many years he has played the organ/piano each Sunday morning at three neighbouring churches (first Anglican, then United, then Presbyterian). Rod Harron is our current Church Administrator, coming to Cheyne in 1998 with an extensive IT background that is particularly helpful with our transition to an online presence. All roles of paid staff are changing in light of the COVID challenges, with an increasing emphasis on the demands of social media and website issues. We are discovering some amazing and helpful online resources.

Relationship is foundational to an authentic Christian community of faith. First of all, relationship with our gracious triune God of grace: Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3) The importance of a personal relationship with our living God and loving God by introducing others to Christ, evangelism, was emphasized in the 1970s and 80s through many scores of home visitations at Cheyne with the Evangelism Explosion program, keying in on the questions “If you were to die tonight, do you have confidence that you would go to heaven, and if so, why would God invite you in?” Many, many lives were transformed by this building of relationships and the sharing of the gospel, all done with earnest and expectant prayer. Loving God by obeying and responding to God, instruction for discipleship is experienced as we face these and similar crucial questions of life and death in the context of Scripture. Thus, our support of an online Alpha program which began on Sundays and Tuesdays in September.

The leadership focus on instruction for discipleship led to the expansion of life groups, eventually to include more than half of the congregation, Further, the role of small groups in discipleship and fellowship and pastoral care highlights the second area of relational importance – loving God by loving God’s family, fellowship. Life groups are now starting up either online, in person at homes and at the church, or as a hybrid. Online Divorce Care is offered on Mondays. Prayer is crucial in fellowship. Prayer Cheyne —by phone and email — connects prayer warriors with confidential prayer requests of need and praise. Each week Pastor Steve hosts a Zoom prayer meeting. Besides offering online support for youth, adults and young families on YouTube and Zoom weekly, we are initiating worship service DVD delivery to those unable to access the internet.

Loving God by serving God and people, service, is exemplified in our support of Living Rock (at risk youth), Micah House (safe home for asylum seekers), Men’s Street Ministry (food provision along with preaching), and benevolence to families in poverty. We also support PWS&D and equally, a Cheyne Missions fund. Many have entered Christian ministry in response to the Holy Spirit’s call. Currently, three members are supported in ministry: Julie Burley, a missionary teacher at a Christian school in Lima, Peru; and Jessica Lindsay and Cathy Horvath at Galcom International in Hamilton which produces radios and installs gospel radio stations across the world.

Giving thanks to the King and Head of the Church who alone makes all of this possible.

For more information:

www.chevnechurch.com

www.facebook.com/cheynechurch

www.voutube.com/user/cheynechurch

Here’s the basic truth in two and a half minutes.

Rev. Ian Shaw
Board 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 Genesis opens, “Now the earth was formless and empty”.

That troubling ending of Judges came to mind often this week as I observed life in Canada. Our moral, relational and political chaos may not be quite as extreme as that description in Judges 21 [at least not yet], but blockades, strikes, pompous posturing by leaders of all stripes and persuasions, regional divisions, a mainstream media seemingly incapable of balanced and serious investigation of substantive matters and intent on pandering to humanity’s baser lusts for “bread and circuses”; combined with a lack of any concrete, cohesive, compelling or comprehensive vision for a centre that would define our cultural essence does push us in that dysfunctional direction. It is not an appealing prospect!

If you are part of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, seeking succour within one’s faith community is cold comfort in the face of this upheaval.

Many of our leaders are experiencing corporate and personal stress far more than they are encountering wholeness. Presbytery too often seems to be a battlefield more than a place of mutual encouragement. Our structural and theological unity is fragile. Many of us are aware of some who have left The PCC for what they believe are more correct and calm communities of faith. Others seem poised to follow.

Thankfully, there is still much that is good happening among us: congregations connecting with their communities in relevant, life-enhancing ways, God’s Word bringing hope and health to broken hearts as well as thoughtful and profound engagements between members providing opportunities for growth in faith and commitment.

Nonetheless between chaotic conditions in society and in the denomination, cause for hope can be difficult to find and the possibility of renewal, let alone revival even harder to imagine. Yet as in Genesis and in Judges, the chaos was not the last word (not even the penultimate one). More of God’s purpose was unveiled and newness and vibrant life replaced the disordered mess.

I like to think I’m an optimist, but not naive. Therefore, while I have little sense that some relatively painless or quickly achieved solution(s) will be found for the current upheavals in society and in our denomination, I remain confident that God will continue to unveil God’s sovereign will for me, for our church, for our country and for our world.

Will my egotistical prejudices and corrupted perceptions be humble and obedient enough to recognize and follow this divine revelation? That is really the key question. Will I pray “Lord, open the eyes of my understanding and give me strength to submit to your gracious truth”? If my answer is “Yes!”; if your answer is “Yes!”; if the answer of all God’s people is “Yes!”; then I am convinced that a just and righteous order will replace the threat of chaos I see breaking forth in so many places.

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 area and the same denominations.

The results were encouraging. Traditional or evangelical theology was a “driver of growth”, said lead author David Haskell, of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. At the same time, liberal or progressive theology was a “driver of decline”.

Haskell was a key speaker at the Thriving in Babylon conference, the event that the Renewal Fellowship co-hosted with Presbyterians Standing for Apostolic Love and Truth (PSALT)in April 2018.

“Conservative theological positioning of clergy and attendees is a significant predictor of church growth,” he told the gathering. “We also found that contemporary worship was also a significant predictor of growth … When we asked them [in the study] why they did innovative contemporary worship and youth programs, they said ‘Because we want them to know Jesus.’ It all tied back to conservative theology.”

View the PowerPoint slides of David Haskell’s presentation at Thriving in Babylon, while you listen to the audio recording:

/media/Thriving%20in%20Babylon%20-%20David%20Haskell.mp3

Click here to see the study.