Another Decade of God’s Faithfulness at Church of the Messiah

This Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of us not owning a church building. The ten years have not unfolded as many of us thought they would, but the Lord has been faithful. On February 16, 2008, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to disconnect from the Anglican Church of Canada and the Diocese of Ottawa, They also connected with another official Anglican body, The Anglican Province of the Southern Cone (mainly found in the southern part of South America). When we voted as we did, we knew that the Diocese of Ottawa would come after us and that our vote would probably mean...

George Sinclair

Hermenegild: The Story of an Unfamiliar Martyr

Benjamin Wheaton

3 Ways Athanasius Can Help Us Read Our Bibles

Wyatt Graham

“Where is the God of Marston Moor and Naseby?”

Michael A. G. Haykin

How Thomas Cranmer Helped Shape Particular Baptist Piety

Michael A. G. Haykin

The Young Martyr of St. Lucy’s Day

Lauren Ducommun

Over 1700 years ago, intense persecution of believers was taking place in the Roman Empire under the rule of Emperor Diocletian. Churches were destroyed, Scripture burned, church leaders were arrested, and men, women, and children were executed or enslaved. It was a horrific time. Christians who refused to make sacrifices to the Roman gods were tortured and often burned alive. It was amidst this Great Persecution that a young Greek woman stood out like a light in a dark time. Lucia—whose name means “bringer of light”—was born in the year 283 A.D. to a rich family who lived in the...

The Young Martyr of St. Lucy’s Day

Lauren Ducommun

What Did Church Membership Classes Look Like in the First Century?

Wyatt Graham

Churches generally offer membership classes or even classes for new believers. In most cases, these classes teach the basics of the faith or what someone should know before joining a church. These kinds of classes are not new. Early Christians called such training catechesis. In the early years, Christians taught the basics of life and doctrine through catechetical instruction. This kind of training seems to have started very early in church history, even during the apostolic age. So it is worth asking the questions: what did the apostolic church teach new believers? What were the fundamentals of the faith? What...

What Did Church Membership Classes Look Like in the First Century?

Wyatt Graham

Robert Rundle, the First Protestant Missionary in the Canadian Prairies

Clint Humfrey

Visitors to the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Banff, Alberta, will pass a mountain known to the Cree as “Waskahigan Watchi” or “house mountain.” It is one of the most photographed and painted mountains in the Canadian Rockies. Since 1858, it has been called Mount Rundle, named after a missionary who ministered to aboriginal people groups in the Iron (Cree) and Blackfoot Confederacies. When the explorer John Palliser came to the area, he was impressed that even a decade after the missionary had departed, there was still evidence of his evangelistic work among the local Indigenous community. Robert Rundle (1811–1896) worked...

Robert Rundle, the First Protestant Missionary in the Canadian Prairies

Clint Humfrey

13 Marks of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Preaching according to J.I. Packer

Christopher A. Hutchinson

When renowned theologian JI Packer passed away in July, like countless Christians around the world, I paused to give thanks for Dr. Packer’s long life and influence upon the Church. Many others have written moving and comprehensive testimonies and I have nothing to add to those. But my mind did immediately think back to a small conference he spoke at in Savannah, Georgia in April, 1992. Organized by three historic downtown churches—Christ Episcopal, St. John’s Episcopal and Independent Presbyterian—Dr. Packer rotated between the three pulpits before leading a small pastors’ seminar on the last day. I was in my last...