Canadian Revival: It's Our Turn

Ray Covell was a librarian in Kelowna, British Columbia.

George Mallone, pastor of Burnaby Christian Fellowship in Burnaby, British Columbia, compiled the material for this book on a 30-day tour of 17 Canadian cities in 1982. He believes that the time is ripe for a revival of Canadian fundamentalist religion, and he thinks the most sensational newspaper headline in Canada would be “Canadian Church Revived!”

Mallone defines religious revival as when God comes down, his word comes home, his purity comes through, his people come alive, and outsiders come in. Mallone also believes revival will lead to the revitalizing of individual spiritual life and the reshaping of the personality and structure of local congregations. He sees the Canadian church progressing in the Western provinces, among native peoples, the handicapped and prisoners, and in ethnic churches; but he thinks there are only about one and a half million participating evangelical Protestants, with about 18 million unchurched non-Christians. The main reasons for this sorry state of affairs are nostalgia and division:

Like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God

Brothers we are treading where we’ve always trod.

The enemies of the church, according to Mallone, are occultism, heretical theologians, carnal pastors, misguided women, and cowardly men. The remedy is public repentance. Hindrances to revival are carnality, emotional fear, and a failure to use spiritual gifts. Canadian concerns are abortion, the mentally handicapped, persecuted believers, and nuclear warfare; if you agree with these sentiments, this is a book to read, for Mallone believes that now is the moment for Canadian revival.