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An Anabaptist Renewal Conference is being held for Feb. 18-20 in College Drive Community Church, Lethbridge, Alta. The theme is “Back to radical”, and the keynote speaker will be Randy Friesen, executive director of Youth Mission International. The organizers are inviting songwriters to write worship music expressing radical faith and leading people into the presence of God; academics to write papers articulating the historical values of anabaptism for a postmodern audience; artists to create work depicting any of the timeless values of anabaptism; and financial supporters to assist in the publication of materials and the recording of music. Send submissions of songs, papers and artwork to: Anabaptist Renewal Conference, c/o College Drive Community Church, Lethbridge, Alta. T1K 6K5 or e-mail cdcc@telusplanet.net; for more information or to register for the conference, phone (403) 320-1652. – Anabaptist Renewal Conference
Erich and Marilyn Weingartner of North Bay, Ont., returned to Canada from North Korea in July. Erich worked as founding head of the Food Aid Liaison Unit of the United Nations World Food Program there for two years; Marilyn is a health care professional. The World Food Program monitors the distribution of food aid from a number of agencies, including the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Massive flooding and the resulting food shortages brought North Korea to the attention of the world in 1995. Yet poor roads, factories and equipment abandoned due to a lack of fuel and parts, and lack of arable land describe a country still in decay. A 1998 nutritional survey found 16% of children are acutely malnourished. Food shortages continue, and, despite normal weather this year, North Korea will be short about a million tonnes of food. Since 1996, Mennonite Central Committee has sent over $7.4 million in aid to North Korea, much of it through CFGB. Erich says that 80-90% of food aid is reaching people who need it the most. There are positive signs: some North Koreans are allowed to sell produce from their own gardens; a two-crop program of adding winter wheat and spring barley has been introduced, providing food for the lean summer months; and there has been an increase in the raising of goats, pigs and rabbits. Erich says food aid has saved lives but has also opened the country to outside influences. The Weingartners were the first Canadians granted resident status in Korea since the 1950s. – Mennonite Central Committee
Isabel and Ordoņez Poslee pose outside their new home in Tuskru Tara, Nicaragua. MCC and partner organization Accion Medica Cristiana helped finance the construction of 138 homes in Tuskru Tara.
MCC Photo: Tony Siemens |
Following last year’s Hurricane Mitch, Mennonite Central Committee received contributions totalling $7.7 million to assist hurricane victims. MCC has helped finance the construction of nearly 1,000 homes in Central America in one year. The MCC Honduras team has grown from six workers to 17, and the Nicaraguan team from nine workers to 13. MCC and its partners are continuing to work at rebuilding. The Central Americans say they now have better and safer home (safer because they are farther away from the rivers), and that the experience of rebuilding has drawn their communities closer together. – MCC
A Christian employee of USF Logistics of Indianapolis was reprimanded at work after a client from Microsoft objected to the religious tone of her greeting in an e-mail message. Liz Anderson often wished others a “blessed day”, but has agreed to stop using the practice at work because of the threat to her job. Microsoft insists that documents be presented in “a professional manner” without additional religious, personal or political statements. – Evangelical Press News Service
Atheists and agnostics are most likely to be in church on Easter Sunday, according to a study by the Barna Research Group. In the US, 14 million people (about 7% of the population) describe themselves as atheistic or agnostic. In a typical week, about 2% of these atheists and agnostics attend church services. On Easter Sunday 1999, 12% of that segment (about 1.5 million adults) attended a church service. Most atheists and agnostics believe that heaven exists and that one gets there by doing good deeds; 13% believe that the Bible is accurate in all it teaches; 17% believe that Jesus lived a sinless life; 15% believe that Satan is a living force who influences people’s lives; and 19% pray to God during a typical week. – EPNS
Witnesses to this spring’s shooting in Columbine High School testified that one of the killers shoved a gun in Cassie Bernall’s face and demanded to know if she believed in God. They said that when Bernall replied, “Yes, I believe in God”, the gunman shot her. Her reply has inspired others to stand up for their faith. Yes, I Believe clubs are being formed in high schools throughout the US, and Bernall’s mother’s book She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall is selling well. New reports, however, cite other witnesses who say that Bernall was not asked the fateful question; they suggest that Bernall has been confused with another shooting victim, Valeen Schnurr, who survived. What is not being questioned is Bernall’s changed life. Two years before her death, Bernall was using drugs, practising witchcraft and writing hate-filled letters to her parents. Her parents forcibly removed her from bad influences and dragged her to church. At a weekend youth retreat, Bernall gave her life to Jesus, and her attitude changed: She wore a “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelet and volunteered with Victory Outreach Church, helping drug addicts and ex-convicts in Denver. After her death, her parents found writings about her faith and passages marked in Christian discipleship books she was reading. – EPNS
“Shield of Faith” is a program started by a football coach and a pastor in Winchester, Tenn., in response to the school shootings last year in Colorado. Christians in the community of 6,300 take time to pray for their community every day at 9:30 a.m. Banners promoting daily prayer hang in storefront windows. Over 4,000 people attended the kick-off rally. The 9:30 time slot coincides with a break in classes at the local high school, permitting students to voluntarily participate while in school. – EPNS
“The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” is a document that is intended to reconcile the long-standing rift between Lutherans and Roman Catholics over the doctrine of justification. Leaders from the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church were scheduled to meet for the signing in Augsburg, Germany, Oct. 31, the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door in 1517, thus starting the Protestant Reformation. The declaration states: “Jesus Christ won salvation through His life, death and resurrection; salvation is a gift that no one but Jesus Christ can earn. Together we confess: by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit.” – EPNS
Jerry Falwell, known for supporting the Bible’s teaching that homosexuality is a sin, preached a sermon on God’s love and forgiveness to 200 homosexuals invited into his church Oct. 24. The sermon wrapped up a weekend forum designed to address the problem of violence against homosexuals and Christians. The conference was organized by Falwell and Mel White, who ghost-wrote Falwell’s autobiography before revealing his own homosexuality. White and Falwell, who remain friends, agreed ahead of time to not discuss questions about the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality during the weekend. Falwell emphasized that he has not changed his view on homosexuality, and made it clear that homosexuals need to repent of their sin. In his sermon, he spoke about the value of living with integrity and about the importance of parents loving their children unconditionally. He also apologized “for not always loving homosexuals”, while White apologized for the vindictive approach many homosexuals have taken toward Falwell. – EPNS
In Canada, 36% of children under the age of 12 attended religious services at least once a month (including 22% who attended weekly), according to a 1994-95 study by the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth for Statistics Canada. The majority of children were accompanied by a parent, most often by the mother. Girls were somewhat more likely to be regular attendees (38%) than boys (34%). Children living in Atlantic Canada had the highest regular attendance rate (52%), while those in Quebec had the lowest (19%). Children in families with both biological parents were more likely to attend regularly (38%) than children in lone-parent families (28%) and children in step-parent families (31%). While 24% of children in one-child families attended services, 52% of children in families with four or more children did so. The study also found that 54% of children (aged 4-11) who attended services weekly and 59% of these who attended monthly were involved in weekly sports programs, compared with 49% of 4-to-11-year-olds who did not attend religious services at all. The study involved over 22,500 children, from newborns to 11-year-olds, living in private households in the 10 provinces, excluding aboriginal children on reserves. – Canadian Social Trends
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Last modified December 10, 1999.
© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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