Skip to content

USA & International Mailing Address

Oh that Canada / USA border closure! We have finally just received the past three months of mail from our Ferndale PO Box, which is now closed, in late January. So as a temporary measure, please direct all mail and correspondence to our Canadian address.

PO Box 31137 RPO Thunderbird
Langley, BC V1M 0A9
Canada

Important Message For Our American and International Readers

  • Links of Interest
  • We Believe
  • Our Contact Info
  • Privacy Policy
YouTube Spotify
The Association of the Covenant People The British Israel Truth
  • Home
  • Israel TruthExpand
    • Part 1 – Almighty God, The Great Gardener

      Part 2 – Marks of Identification

      Part 3 – Not Everyone’s Blind

      The Israel Truth

      What if you found out that you are an Israelite? Would it make a difference in your life? If you are of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scottish or Scandinavian origin, then you are, you know! And you could be in for a real life changer.
      This may sound strange, even uncomfortable, but take the time to peruse this website beginning with this series of articles. It’ll be worth it.

      Part 4 – The Founding of ACP, August2, 1909

      Part 5 – Our Identity Becomes Blurred

      Part 6 – The Sowing Years

  • Our LibraryExpand
    • Article Library

      Current Writers
      Editorials
      Other Contributors
      Hall of Fame Writers
      Down Memory Lane
      Bits & Pieces
      From the Mailbox

      Monarchs of Destiny

      Monarchs of Destiny
      King Edward I
      King Henry VIII
      Queen Elizabeth I
      King James I
      King George III
      Queen Elizabeth II

      Multimedia

      Our 100 Year Anniversary
      Toronto 2012
      Special Events
      Audio Messages
      The Poetry Corner

  • Our MagazineExpand
    • 2023 Editions
      2022 Editions

      2021 Editions
      2020 Editions
      2019 Editions
      2018 Editions
      2017 Editions

      Front Cover Menu
      Current Edition Online
      Join Our Mailing List

      2016 Editions
      2015 Editions
      2014 Editions
      2013 Editions
      2012 Editions

      2011 Editions
      2010 Editions
      2009 Editions
      2008 Editions
      2007 Editions

The Association of the Covenant People The British Israel Truth

Rob MacDormand

Current Writers

Current Writers

Reflections on the Church

ByRob MacDormand September 7, 2012January 15, 2016
Home / Current Writers / Reflections on the Church

In this issue of “Thy Kingdom Come” the theme is about how our nations in North America have changed over the years. The change has happened very quickly and has affected the church as much as society as a whole. The church of today is not the church of sixty years ago. When I speak about the church, I mean organized Christian religion, the congregations that meet weekly, supposedly to worship Jesus Christ. This is different than the Body of Christ, which only makes up a part of these congregations. I would guess that about a third of the people that attend church in North America are Christians, people that have the Holy Spirit in them.

Back in the 1950s and 60s the liturgical churches were very strong and very well attended. In those days, the United Church, a combination of mostly Presbyterian and Methodist believers, was the biggest Protestant denomination in Canada. People were still recovering and rebuilding after the Second World War and were having large families. Canada was mostly Anglo-Saxon and French and these two ethnicities were divided into regions. There were also Ukrainians and Eastern Europeans in the northern prairies, but Canada was nearly all white, except for the native population. Church was very important to people in those days and well attended. I was brought up in the Anglican Church and the service for young people on Sunday mornings filled the whole church with young people, ages eight to thirteen; this was the age of the baby boomers. In those days the boys and the girls were separated in their Sunday school classes and the girl’s classes were taught by women and the boy’s classes by men. One exception was my mother, who taught the youngest class of boys. My mother always liked teaching boys and related well to them. Looking back, I can see that the deterioration of the influence of the church was starting. People were more interested in accumulating wealth than seeking God. Church had become a tradition for most people and most of the boys I knew had no interest in continuing with the church after Sunday school. Sunday school finished when they were about fourteen years old and most of them left the church. I chose to continue with the church and became an altar boy, assisting the priest in his duties during communion. I attended most services, even the ones I was not serving in, and if an altar boy did not show up one Sunday, the priest would signal to me to fill in for him. I got to know the Anglican service very well, and memorized most of the hymns. Later I became a Sunday school teacher and taught nine year old boys.

I noticed during those years (the early 70s), that people were not too interested in the Bible. For Sunday school for adults, most people chose to join the group that discussed modern Christian issues rather than the class on Bible study. There were doubts about the return of Christ and the deity of Christ. Those doubts were in the United Church as well. I remember one United Church minister who was on television every week saying, “I don’t believe that was God walking around there in Judea”, referring to Jesus Christ. Of course, with those sorts of attitudes, it is no wonder that church attendance started to decline and the churches became concerned. They tried different things, such as introducing modern music to bring in the young people. None of their initiatives seemed to work and many people in the liturgical churches either stopped going to church or moved over to the evangelical churches such as the Pentecostal Church.

In the late 70s and 80s there was the charismatic movement in the liturgical churches. In the city I lived in, (Edmonton), there were charismatic Anglican, United, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Lutheran churches. Every liturgical denomination had one or more charismatic church. These churches were Pentecostal in regards to the gifts of the Spirit, but held to the traditional liturgies of their denominations. I joined the charismatic Anglican church and saw some amazing things. For one thing, the church congregation swelled to ten times its original size in ten years and many people became Christians in that church. In each case that I was aware of, these charismatic congregations did not receive support from their denominations and most of their members eventually left the denomination and joined various evangelical churches. I am no different and presently attend a Baptist church.

In the late 80s a friend of mine said, “The spirit of rock and roll is taking over the churches”. My first thought was that this was not the Spirit that was supposed to rule the church. It may have been an exaggeration, but there seemed to be a movement in the 90s to get rid of the old hymns. I lamented this movement because the old hymns are saturated with scripture. In the 90s the Pentecostal type churches increased in number and attendance in Canada. They also influenced people through television. Some elderly people chose not to attend church and to watch their favourite Pentecostal preacher on television. During this time the liturgical churches continued to decrease in popularity and influence.

In the twenty-first century the focus has been on the internet and electronic networking and churches have followed suit, taking advantage of that modern technology. Despite these technological tools, which can be both blessings and curses, church attendance has been steadily decreasing in North America. Churches are trying various techniques to get the next generation interested in coming to church, such as having all modern music without any old hymns, wearing jeans and sneakers to church rather than suits, and using videos to capture people’s attention rather than having Bible study. These techniques don’t seem to be working and society is gradually deteriorating into godless oblivion. Churches are being marginalized and ignored in our society and it reminds me of the scripture that says, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men.” Matthew 5:13.

The church was meant to be the heart of the nation. Today the nation is dying spiritually and the church seems to be unable to stop it. This means that the church will have to suffer the consequences of the crisis that is coming upon the nation. The answer always lies with God and only God can save us. He has saved us in the past and He will save us in the future. Great things are on the horizon for the Israel people. We must keep our faith in Him and believe that He will work it out.

Post navigation

Previous Previous
Charles Batzold A True Servant of God
NextContinue
The Agonies of A Bruised And Broken Heart

Rob MacDormand

Readers like Rob MacDormand’s articles because they express a great love of the Lord and are written in such a way as to be easily understood. Perhaps he gained a great insight from his mother who for years was a contributing writer to The Prophetic Expositor, the former magazine of British-Israel-World Federation. He writes a great deal about blessings and curses, how both have affected our Israel nations, and he emphasizes the great need to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom whenever the opportunity arises. He does so in his personal ministry. Rob is a graduate of the University of Alberta, was engaged in the oil industry for many years and now is involved in city planning. He is a third generation believer in the Israel message and has a great interest in what is going to happen spiritually to our brethren as the end of the age draws closer.

Read More Articles

The Association of the Covenant People

"So the House of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward” (Ezekiel 39: 22)

Mailing Address

Canada
PO Box 31137 RPO Thunderbird
Langley, BC V1M 0A9
Canada

Contact Info

t. 604.524.1170
f. 604.524.9933

TKC Questions
General Questions

Mailing Address

Overseas and USA
PO Box 31137 RPO Thunderbird
Langley, BC V1M 0A9
Canada

© 2023 The Association of the Covenant People |  Designed by betonicah

  • Links of Interest
  • We Believe
  • Our Contact Info
  • Privacy Policy
ACP Thank You For Your Donations

For Your Support!

Our Association is over 110 years old and all during that time we have been spreading news of the Israel Truth and the Gospel of the Kingdom to our brethren around the world. We would not be able to do this if it wasn’t for the kindness of our readers because we are funded totally through donations and gifts.

We could not do this without your support! Click either of the buttons below to donate in the currency of your choice.

Canadian Donations
US Donations
Scroll to top
  • Home
  • Israel Truth
    • Part 1 – Almighty God, The Great Gardener
    • Part 2 – Marks of Identification
    • Part 3 – Not Everyone’s Blind
    • Part 4 – The Founding of ACP
    • Part 5 – Our Identity Becomes Blurred
    • Part 6 – The Sowing Years
  • Our Library
    • Current Writers
    • Editorials
    • Hall of Fame Writers
    • Other Contributors
    • Monarchs of Destiny
    • Multimedia
    • The Poetry Corner
    • Bits and Pieces
    • Down Memory Lane
    • From the Mailbox
  • Our Magazine
Search