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Over 930 Canadian churches hosted the Alpha course in 1999, double the number in 1998. 15,000 people have participated in conferences to learn ways to adjust the program to suit the needs of their communities. Alpha is an outreach program which uses videos to teach the fundamentals of Christianity to non-Christians; the course was developed by an Anglican church in England. Of the churches in Canada that used Alpha in 1999, 32% were Anglican, 18% Baptist, 13% other evangelical, 6% United, 5% nondenominational, 5% Presbyterian and 21% other (mostly churches that did not indicate their denomination, but including some Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches). – Faith Today, Alpha Canada
The Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada recently wrote letters to the presidents of Egypt and Indonesia to express its concern about increasing levels of religiously motivated violence in those countries, specifically in the Egyptian town of el-Kosheh and in the Indonesian province of Maluku, formerly known as the Spice Islands. The RLC appealed to Egyptian President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak to ensure that reports that local police recently stood by as Muslim mobs stormed homes and beat and killed Christians in el-Kosheh are investigated. Twenty Christians and one Muslim died in this conflict, which began as a dispute between a Christian shopkeeper and a Muslim. In 1998, police brutally interrogated about 1,200 Christians in el-Kosheh. Janet Epp Buckingham, RLC director, wrote in the letter to the Egyptian President: “We are concerned that the lack of accountability in the earlier case may have encouraged extremist Muslim elements to commit violence against Christians without fear of penalty.” Copies of the letter were sent to Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian foreign affairs minister; David Kilgour, secretary of state for Latin America and Africa; Hamdy Nada, Egyptian ambassador to Canada; and Marie-Andrée Beauchemin, Canadian ambassador to Egypt. The RLC letter to Indonesian President Abduraman Wahid asked him to ensure the rights of all Indonesians were protected regardless of their religious beliefs. The RLC letter recognized that during the last few months, both Muslims and Christians have been victims of violence. Recent protests at the Indonesian parliament buildings called for a Muslim holy war against Christians. Copies of the letter for Indonesia were sent to Lloyd Axworthy; Raymond Chan, secretary of state for Asia/Pacific; Budiman Darmosutanto, Indonesian ambassador to Canada; and Kenneth Sunquist, Canadian ambassador to Indonesia. – Evangelical Fellowship Of Canada
At least 50 evangelical churches in Canada – mostly English-speaking – have a weekly attendance of more than 1,000. Most have a pair of services on Sunday morning and one on Saturday night, often targeting the nonchurched through a “seeker-oriented” approach. Most of these megachurches have a denominational affiliation, yet tend to draw people from many backgrounds. Many people regularly drive 75 km to attend these churches. The largest may be Northview Community Church (Mennonite Brethren) in Abbotsford, B.C. Founded in 1980, it has 3,800 people attending, offers two services on Saturday and two on Sunday and has 12 pastors and 35 full-time paid staff. Other Mennonite Brethren megachurches in Canada are Willingdon Church in Burnaby, B.C., Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon, Central Heights MB Church in Abbotsford, The Meeting Place in Winnipeg and Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church. – Faith Today
Dara Singh, alias Ravinder Kumar Pal, the mastermind behind the killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in India in January 1999, was arrested Jan. 31 during an undercover police operation. In a confession to police, Singh said he wanted to teach Staines a lesson and not kill him. “I did not know that the young sons of Staines were there. I felt unhappy about their deaths. Staines was burnt to death because this is a Hindu ritual,” he said. Staines and his sons were sleeping in a vehicle parked near a church in Manoharpur village in Orissa state when they were surrounded by a mob and burned to death. Staines’ wife Gladys said she was relieved by the arrest because now Dara Singh “will not be able to kill others.” Richard Howell of the Evangelical Fellowship of India said that the Staines’ murder is part of a larger agenda of hatred against the church by fundamentalist Hindu groups. Christians in India have expressed alarm over measures by the Orissa state government to further curtail religious freedom. Last year, the Orissa government issued a memo to vigorously implement the Freedom of Religion Bill, in effect in the state since 1967. The bill makes it mandatory for people who want to change their religion to inform the district magistrate, who will then have the matter examined by police. Conversion from Christianity to Hinduism is exempted from the bill. – Compass Direct
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to intervene in the case between the British Columbia College of Teachers and Trinity Western University. If granted leave to intervene, the EFC will argue the case on the basis of freedom of religion. The BCCT refuses to approve the Christian university’s teacher education program because it believes the school’s community behavioural standards policy will lead to discrimination against homosexuals. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
The 2000 “God Uses Ink” writing conference, sponsored annually by Faith Today to support Christian writing in Canada, will be held June 15-17 in Ontario. Speakers include Sally Stuart, Oregon, author of the annual Christian Writers Market Guide; Linda Hall, New Brunswick, author of suspense novels; Lorna Dueck, Ontario, cohost of the Christian TV program “100 Huntley St.” and a newspaper columnist; and Jean Little, Ontario, author of young adult fiction. – God Uses Ink
Camp Assiniboia, operated by the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba, will be building an enlarged horse barn to replace the one that was destroyed by fire Jan. 5. The fire also destroyed 23 horses. The new facility will include a 50% larger indoor riding arena, a classroom and a tack room. The new complex will allow for a wider range of horsemanship activities at the camp, including therapeutic riding, lessons and clinics. Eight riding horses and two draft horses have already been replaced. The new facility will cost $223,385. Funding for the project will come from insurance and from donations from supporters; $35,000 is slated to be raised. – Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba
Radio station ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia, operated by SIM, began broadcasting programs again via shortwave radio Feb. 9. The station had been destroyed during the country’s civil war. Engineers from HJCB World Radio Engineering Centre installed a 1,000-watt tropical band shortwave transmitter that can broadcast to the entire country. Programs are being broadcast six hours daily in English, Liberia’s principal trade language. The station plans to add another six or seven local languages and eventually broadcast in all 16 languages spoken in the country. Broadcasts also reach Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone. During its peak in the late 1980s, ELWA broadcast the gospel across West Africa in 47 languages. On Dec. 24, 1989, civil war broke out, and the station was destroyed, except for two radio towers, ending 36 years of broadcasting. The station was partially rebuilt in Jan. 1992 using a small FM transmitter; a 10,000-watt shortwave transmitter was added later. Then, in April 1996, the station was destroyed again and SIM staff evacuated the facilities. Liberian staff reopened the station on a small scale in 1997, broadcasting to the capital city of Monrovia and surrounding towns via an FM transmitter. – SIM, HCJB World Radio
Tens of thousands of chickens and 200 chicken houses were destroyed after a Jan. 27 snowstorm dumped 16 inches of wet snow on the Nashville, Ark. area. No residential structures suffered damage during the unusually large snowfall for that region. Eighteen chicken houses owned by members of Mineral Springs Amish Mennonite Church were completely destroyed. The cost to replace the 300-foot (100 metre) chicken houses owned by the Mineral Springs farmers is about $2 million US. Mennonite Disaster Service is assisting the poultry farmers and coordinating volunteers to help with the clean-up, expected to take four-to-six weeks. – Mennonite Disaster Service
Among the 169 passengers who died when a Kenya Airways flight crashed just after takeoff from Abidjan airport Jan. 31 were Gaius M. Musa, general secretary of the Bible Society of Nigeria, and Stephen Niyan, United Bible Societies media consultant for Africa. They had boarded the plane in Nairobi, Kenya, after attending UBS meetings. They were to disembark in Lagos, Nigeria, where the plane was scheduled to stop en route to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. Bad weather in Lagos forced the plane to head directly to Abidjan. Musa is survived by his wife and two daughters. Diyang is survived by 13 dependents, including his wife and children. Also killed were Canadian missionaries Robert and Ruth Chapman (P&E, March 3). – Canadian Bible Society
Sanga Mamba Church in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, has a new roof after being without one for 16 years. A 14-member work team from North America, sponsored by Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, assisted the church in this project Jan. 18-26. Nine trusses, each weighing about 900 pounds, were built from rough cut lumber and then hoisted onto the 12’ x 52’ x 82’ (3 x 17 x 27-metre) structure. When the last truss was in place, the Congolese workmen spontaneously broke into a song of praise. A five-hour dedication service, with 1200 people in attendance, was held Jan. 30. Each member of the work crew from North America was given a small fruit tree to plant around the church to symbolize the fact that their work will continue to bear fruit for many years. During a visit to city hall, the governor of Kinshasa praised the courage of the North Americans for coming to Congo when most expatriates have left due to the country’s ongoing civil war. – AIMM
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Last modified May 4, 2000.
© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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