The RP Church in Canada was the Witness cover story in Nov. 1988. There had been just two RP congregations in Canada in the decades prior to 1980, down from over 100 congregations, mission stations, and small “resident groups” that had once stretched from coast to coast—or, more to the point, from sea to sea.

“From sea to sea,” Pastor Christian Adjemian (1947–2011) pointed out in an article in that issue, is the English translation of Canada’s motto, A Mari Usque Ad Mare. It comes from the Vulgate wording of Psalm 72:8, which speaks of Christ’s dominion. Even today, Canada is often officially referred to as the Dominion of Canada (www..canada.ca).

By 1988, the Canadian RP church had doubled to four congregations and added its own theologi-cal hall, with a new vision to reach the entire country for Christ. The RP church in Canada would not be shy. RP pastor Rich Ganz preached God’s Word to tens of thousands of people at a pro-life rally on the steps of the parliament building, and Pastor Ken McBurney led an RP youth group in singing Psalm 94 to the crowd.

Today there are 10 RP congregations and mission churches in Canada, and the vison for the gospel in that country is alive and well. The need is as great as ever. In 1988, Christian Adjemian lamented that Canada’s relatively conservative society was rapidly catching up with the more idolatrous United States. In some respects Canada has now surpassed the increasingly godless U.S.

The majority of Canadian RP congregations view this as an opportune time to establish a Reformed Presbyterian denomination whose focus can be on the evangelization and reformation of their country. In his history of the Canadian RP congregations, Robert More, Jr., listed several reasons for the steep decline of the churches and fellowships in Canada, including a lack of Canadian pas-tors for the works and a lack of a Canadian identity. Astoundingly, his research found just one pas-tor who was Canadian born, a Canadian citizen at ordination, and pastoring a Canadian church. Lit-tle wonder that the vision foundered and 100 lights went out.

Now is the time to remind our national leaders of the Christian past of Canada. Now is the time to call all Canadians to commit themselves to a Christian future for Canada, or continue to lose the blessings of God so clearly given in the past.…The Holy Spirit is active in this land. He is calling Canadians to faith in Christ. The Lord Jesus is building His Church. We must be willing, we must be ready, we must be equipped to do the work of the Lord, or He will pass us by once again.

—Pastor Christian Adjemian, 1988