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Article: The sound of invisible trumpets: is the Presbyterian church in Canada still in the wilderness?
- Article from:
- Presbyterian Record
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Presbyterian Record. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It's the theology, stupid!" What if it is? What if our diagnosis of the ills of the church--shrinking numbers and diminishing expectations, based on changes in social norms, charges of irrelevance and outdated sermons and liturgy and music--misses the heart of our problem: theology, doctrine, what we believe?
Looking back at the two addresses to the Toronto-Kingston Synod in 1965 (subtitled Forty Years in the Wilderness) recalls the comment of an older minister, "Joe, you can't be an angry young man all your life!" Well, I'm trying. The young part is easy, since Easter faith is a sort of youthening process that defies common wisdom about the perils of ageing. As ...