As per my knowledge of LTE, bearer term is used when intermediate nodes provide a logical connection to pass information from source to target. Whereas channel is a medium to transfer information from one place to another place. For example: eNodeB supports various level of channels like logical channel (between RLC and MAC layer), transport channel (between MAC and PHY ) and finally various physical channels like PDSCH, PDCCH, PMCH, PBCH etc.
