John Hunter

Kevin Kee

August 18, 2017

As one-half of Canada’s most famous evangelistic duo, John Hunter’s mesmerizing preaching and dramatic delivery attracted the attention of hundreds of thousands of Canadians—including the nation’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Hunter’s forte was Bible exposition, using extemporaneous preaching with theatrical overtones.

Hunter’s conversion during a backwoods Methodist revival meeting marked a new life in Christ and the beginning of a lifelong passion In the years that followed, Crossley and Hunter would become—in terms of the number of converts—the most successful Canadian evangelistic team ever As one-half of Cana...

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The Richness of Well Wasted Time

Carl Hildebrand

August 18, 2017

As the week and the summer draw to a close, Oxford scholar Carl Hildebrand takes time to reflect on Father Tim McCauley’s recent Convivium article about the need to reflect on how we engage with time. 

In other words, how time is structured – with the Oxford calendar providing one example – can be conducive to education in a broad sense, as it opens the space we need to realize various deep human values In this way, the calendar reminds me that time can be structured by something more friendly to ...

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God Beyond Instagram

Sean Hedley

August 16, 2017

In his Golden Thread submission, Calgary lawyer Sean Hedley explores faith expanding through culture from a fixed place called home.

But since then I have learned to engage my mind, my heart and my hands in many other spheres of society, and discovered the richness to be gained from practicing public faith in all dimensions of culture It anchors us in Christian mission and community while we remain firmly embedded in Canadian cul...

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Statue of Limitations

Raymond J. de Souza

August 16, 2017

Convivium editor-in-chief Father Raymond J. de Souza examines what the recent events in Charlottesville have taught us about the role of historical honour and remembrance.  

The Washington Monument is built along an axis that intersects the Mall, and on that axis lie both the White House and the Jefferson Memorial Many historic lives are broad ones, as they know well about Jefferson in Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, the founding of which Jefferson ...

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Changed By Friendship

Kara Brunsting

August 15, 2017

Led by faith, Joseph Cramer founded the House of Friendship – a place to help those new to Canada, especially Jewish refugees. Grade 8 student Kara Brunsting reflects on his impact on his Canadian community.

Cramer helped many people throughout his life, and even after his death House of Friendship continues to help hundreds of needy people in KW He started an important charity that personally improved the lives of many Canadians, and through the work of House of Friendship, people are still feeling the...

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The Line On Brad Wall

Alan Hustak

August 15, 2017

Last week, Premier of Saskatchewan Brad Wall announced his imminent retirement from politics after 10 years. Today, Convivium contributor Alan Hustak helps readers understand what this announcement could mean for Saskatchewan and Canada. 

Brad Wall spent almost 10 years as Premier of Saskatchewan by following the Johnny Cash formula for political success: he walked the line Wall was able to smooth the rough edges of the party, a coalition of right-wing conservatives and liberals that he helped to build 20 years ago ...

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Making Use of Water

Dave Andrews

August 15, 2017

Photographer Dave Andrew's captures the stillness of a moored canoe waiting in the sacred act of stillness.

Water - the holiest and most ordinary of elements - brings to mind lines from Philip Larkin's poem "Water":  ...

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Morning Mist

Dave Andrews

August 15, 2017

Is there anything more free than venturing out on the water?

...

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Pastor Lim’s Ray Of Light

Don Hutchinson

August 14, 2017

Last Sunday’s return of Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to his Toronto church from a North Korean jail cell shows the power of proclaiming the Gospel even in the midst of a political war of words, writes Convivium contributor Don Hutchinson.

Following Lim’s detention and sentencing, Christians in Canada and around the world, mobilized in prayer, and in practical pressure on the Canadian government, as meaningful service to Pastor Lim and his family, in the effort to secure his release Neither will we know whether Kim’s act was a humanit...

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Robert McAlister

James Craig

August 10, 2017

Robert Edward McAlister played a foundational role in the early growth of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination. His labours as an evangelist, pastor, organizer, teacher, writer and missions promoter helped the PAOC grow from twenty-seven churches in 1919 to over one thousand today.

Robert Edward McAlister played a foundational role in the early growth of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination During his fifteen years as its editor, McAlister wrote expositions of Christian doctrine, warned of the dangers that threatened the fl...

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A Home of Charity

Shaye Falle

August 10, 2017

Shaye Falle has been influenced by the posture of generosity with which her grandfather has lived his life, and seeks to live the same way.

Even before my Papa sold his business in 2000, the company had been donating to a variety of worthy organizations such as the Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge Community Foundation and Heritage College and Seminary My Papa sold his card business called Image Craft and gained a lot of money from it ...

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Summer Sweet

Peter Stockland

August 10, 2017

Today our Convivium Team takes you on a wander through the summer archives of years gone by as Publisher Peter Stockland captures the contradictory reality of our summers. 

These are the days when it is given to us to try to hold hard to the impossible slip of summer warmth, time, memory "Canadian summer, as all Canadians know who've lived here for at least two years, is like a wall mural that shifts from exuberant colours of joy to shades of muted melancholy in a hand...

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Bubble Trouble

Andrea Mrozek, Ruth Shaw

August 9, 2017

A potential bubble zone in front of an Ottawa abortion clinic won’t change minds on either side of the issue, but it will affront Charter-protected free speech and freedom of association, argue Andrea Mrozek and Ruth Shaw.

The impetus for this is allegations of harassment outside the Bank Street abortion clinic in Ottawa This summer, Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi is promising to hold public consultations about a proposed new law that would limit protest outside Ontario abortion clinics ...

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Thank You Joy Smith

Sophia Bisch

August 8, 2017

Sophia Bisch shares her gratitude to Joy Smith, whose son’s courage proved to Joy Smith that ordinary Canadians, like herself, can stand up to human trafficking. Smith has committed herself to the fight against human trafficking.

After serving as an MP for a decade, Joy Smith resigned from politics to focus on The Joy Smith Foundation, which is a registered charity that works to stop human trafficking through raising awareness and helping victims Joy Smith became a politician to make laws regarding human trafficking, after s...

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A Midsummer Night’s Theme

Celia Farrow

August 8, 2017

On an evening walk through dark woods near her Montreal home, Celia Farrow explores the truth that only a real and purposeful Creator could allow us to to see reflections of the divine in the imagined.

He constructs his own world and even the trees, where they are to be found, are carefully curated by human hands to fulfill a specific purpose This desire for purpose and meaning reflects how we should feel about our own place in the world Yet, the ‘mature’ man may refrain from jumping into tales of...

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