|  | |
Previous | Next People & events
Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto on June 2 celebrated the completion of the renovation project of a century-old building that is a home to the homeless. Sanctuary strives to be a home and family for the marginalized people of central Toronto by providing meals, health care, advocacy and a street outreach program. The group’s focus is on building relationships with the homeless and street people. The Charles Street building housed a church for almost a century before the dwindling congregation allowed Sanctuary to use it for is community outreach work. When the owners decided to sell the building in 1999, Greg Paul, pastoral director at Sanctuary, approached the owners about buying the building. The owners were willing to sell for $500,000, half of its market value, but stipulated that the group – consisting of five street workers, hundreds of homeless people and a handful of middle-class people – had to raise the money in eight months. Sanctuary decided to try to raise $750,000, so that they could spend $250,000 on renovations. They raised $800,000. – Kathy Church
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada appeared before the House of Commons Health Committee June 7 to comment on draft legislation on reproductive and genetic technologies. The EFC affirmed the bill’s prohibitions of cloning and germ-line alteration, but expressed concern about the bill’s acceptance of research on embryos which leads to their destruction. The EFC offered the Health Committee an analysis of the bill based on such biblical principles as respect for human life and family responsibility. Bruce Clemenger, director of EFC’s Centre for Faith and Public Life, noted, “Given our deep respect for human life and dignity, and that human life begins at conception, we urge Parliament to protect the dignity of every human being, from the very beginning of his or her existence. This includes prohibiting research on human embryos that causes or leads to their destruction.” More details of the EFC’s presentation can be seen online at evangelicalfellowship.ca. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Charles Templeton, a close friend of US evangelist Billy Graham, died June 7 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. He was 85. Templeton was a sports cartoonist for The Globe and Mail when he found God. Quitting the newspaper in 1936, he became an evangelist with the Church of the Nazarene, beginning a career spanning 20 years. Templeton, who failed grade 10, studied at Princeton University. He became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1951 and rose to be the director of evangelism for the American Presbyterian Church – then dramatically renounced his faith in 1957. By age 76, he had been managing editor of the Toronto Star, lost an Ontario Liberal leadership campaign, hosted several radio shows, served as editor of Maclean’s for seven months, married three times and had written 11 books. – Maclean’s
Two New Tribes Mission workers were among 20 people kidnapped by Islamic rebels from the southern Philippines resort Dos Palmas on May 27. Martin Burnham, 41, and his wife Gracia, 42, were at the resort to celebrate their wedding anniversary. In a rebel raid the same day on a nearby church and hospital, an additional 200 people were kidnapped. The Philippine military is battling Abu Sayyaf rebels on Basilan, an island located about 550 miles south of Manila, for the hostages’ release. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has refused to negotiate with the rebels. Abu Sayyaf is a small, Islamic radical group that uses violence to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, areas in the southern Philippines heavily populated by Muslims. The Burnhams are US citizens, but have lived in the Philippines since 1986. They have three children ages 14, 11 and 10. – Compass Direct
The civil war in Colombia has claimed the lives of two adult children of evangelical ministers. The body of Antonio Rentería, 22, son of a pastor couple of an Inter-American church in Fraguas, Antioquia, was discovered in an unmarked grave on June 8. He had been abducted from his home the last weeks of May by an unidentified group of armed terrorists. Fraguas is an isolated farm community 100 miles northeast of Medellín. Marxist guerrillas of the Army of National Liberation (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are fighting paramilitary units of the United Auto-Defenses of Colombia (AUC) for control of the area. It is unclear which of the armed groups is responsible for his murder. Over half of the 450 inhabitants of Fraguas are members of the Inter-American Church there. It is believed that warring factions are targeting evangelical pastors because of their outreach ministry. Converts typically renounce violence, making it difficult for terrorists to attract recruits. Joni Palacio, 20, an active youth worker and daughter of Inter-American Church representative in Nueva Colonía, was shot and killed on June 17. The Inter-American Church of Colombia was founded in the mid-20th century by North American missionaries of OMS International and has now grown to include 245 local churches. A number of Inter-American Church leaders have died in the conflict. On Easter weekend 2000, youth pastor Jorge Aldana, 28, was murdered in Nueva Antioquia, Urabá, allegedly by left-wing terrorists. On Jan. 30, 2001, Emiro Gordon, national vice-president of the Inter-American Church, survived an assassination attempt in Medellín that left him paralyzed. Two months later, Medellín pastor Liberman Alazate was shot in the neck in another unsuccessful assassination attempt. – CD
Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba thrift store volunteers were given an award for their work by the Canadian Council for International Cooperation at a ceremony held May 25 in Ottawa. Martha Klassen, former thrift store coordinator for MCC Manitoba, accepted the 2001 CCIC Award for Contribution of Volunteers on behalf of the volunteers. CCIC is a coalition of over 100 Canadian organizations working in the areas of social justice, humanitarian aid and economic and democratic development in the world. In 1972, the first four thrift stores opened in Manitoba. Today there are 2,500 volunteers working in 17 stores in Manitoba, raising about $1.5 million each year for MCC. MCC has 54 thrift stores in Canada and 47 in the US. – Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba
Annie Reimer, 84, of Steinbach, Man. was honoured by her family for completing 100 blankets for Mennonite Central Committee. Fifteen family members, including siblings, children and grandchildren, gathered at the MCC Manitoba office in Winnipeg, where Reimer was honoured with dessert, flowers and a commemorative plaque. Last year, 12,000 blankets were made for MCC Manitoba by hundreds of volunteers. The blankets are being sent to needy people in Ukraine, Russia, North Korea, Bosnia and Serbia. Last year, Reimer retired from her long-time service as an MCC thrift store volunteer and set a goal to sew 100 blankets for MCC. She is planning to keep on sewing. – MCC Manitoba
Donations of grain and cash to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank in the 2000/01 fiscal year that ended Mar. 31 totalled $5.9 million, up 20% from last year. This is the second largest annual donation revenue for the Winnipeg-based charitable organization since 1984/85, the first full year of operation. Farmers and community groups donated 20,611 tonnes of grain and other agricultural commodities worth $2.93 million, an increase of 19% in value over the previous year’s $2.46 million. Cash donations increased 15%, from $2.49 million last year to $2.87 million this year. A new dairy cattle sale in Abbotsford, B.C. raised $65,000 for CFGB, and in Saskatchewan, 480 acres of land were donated to the agency. The total value of food assistance through CFGB to 20 countries was 44,000 tonnes valued at over $21 million. (The Canadian International Development Agency provides matching funds, multiplying the value of donations.) For example, over 1,200 tonnes of food assistance went to El Salvador following an earthquake, and to Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua following Hurricane Mitch. In Ethiopia, nearly 18,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat went to support emergency response and ongoing food-for-work projects such as reforestation, terracing for erosion control, dam building and irrigation projects. In North Korea, 12,500 tonnes of wheat were shipped to help feed young children and pregnant and nursing mothers. In India, $350,000 was used to buy 1,000 tonnes of wheat for up to 75,000 people affected by the earthquake in January. In Mongolia, which has had its worst drought in 60 years, a month of food rations helped 500 of the poorest families. In Mozambique, food, seeds and farm tools were distributed to 6,500 families affected by flooding. More information is available on CFGB’s Web site. – Canadian Foodgrains Bank
A reunion of former staff of Kings View Hospital, Reedley, Calif., will be held Saturday, Oct. 13 in Reedley. Kings View Hospital is a member of Mennonite Health Services. More information is available from Roger D. Miller, 1506 Ninth St., Reedley, CA 93654, phone 559-638-4965, or e-mail rogerdmiller@msn.com.
Almost 250 million people of the Dalit caste in India, also called untouchables, could be changing religions in order to escape India’s rigid caste system, according to Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council. D’Souza reported that over 1 million educated and employed Dalits are planning to convert to Buddhism in a mass ceremony in October, and 1,000 Dalit barbers in Coimbatore in southern India recently converted to Christianity. He called on the church in India to prepare for the mass conversions by creating new ministries geared to meeting the needs of the Dalits, many of whom suffer from poverty and sickness. He also called on the church to accept all Christians regardless of their caste, allow intercaste marriages and let members of lower castes serve in leadership positions. – EPNS, Christian Aid Mission
Conrad Grebel College, a Mennonite-run liberal arts school in Waterloo, Ont., has changed its name to Conrad Grebel College University. The Ontario government approved the name change on June 29. In 1987 the College, which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo, added a graduate program in theology and began functioning as a university. President John E. Toews said that the name change reflects the nature of the College operating “as a university within the University of Waterloo”. He said the College has often been mistakenly thought to be a community college or a high school. The other three colleges on the University of Waterloo campus, St. Paul’s, Renison and St. Jerome’s, are also changing their names. – Conrad Grebel College University
A special all-party committee of the Saskatchewan legislature is recommending new measures to combat the child sex trade. There are reports of children as young as eight being lured into prostitution. It is estimated that there are as many as 600 children in the sex trade, many of them Aboriginal. The report’s 49 recommendations would allow police to seize vehicles from suspected johns and provide minimum fines of $25,000 for sexual abuse of children and $25,000 for enticing a child into prostitution. It also recommends that children suspected of being involved in the sex trade be required to spend up to 21 days in a safe house. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
A New Testament translation in the Eastern Cree, James Bay dialect was dedicated June 30 in Mistissini, Que. Rod and Liesel Bartlett, who serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators, coordinated the translation work, which took 26 years to complete. There are about 7,500 James Bay Cree living on the east coast of James Bay in Quebec and to the east. Traditionally, hunters and gatherers, they still do some hunting, but now are involved in forestry and mining. The majority of these people work in the clinic, schools, band offices, local businesses and government. – Canadian Bible Society, Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada
Global Celebration for Women, scheduled for the Houston Astrodome in Texas Sept. 19–21, will be the largest international Christian Women’s Conference to date. It will address issues such as suffering, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, economic empowerment and the increasing power of women in the marketplace. Speakers include Elizabeth Dole, former president of the American Red Cross; Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and founder of AnGel; Jane Hansen, president of Aglow International; and Beth Moore, top-selling Christian author. Worship will be led by Alicia Williamson. Global Celebration was founded in 1997 by Winnie Bartel, executive director of the Commission on Women’s Concerns for World Evangelical Fellowship. Bartel is a member of Shafter (Calif.) Mennonite Brethren Church. – Global Celebration of Women
A militant Hindu Web site displaying the names of international evangelists (including Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn), secular and Christian scholars and other “enemies of Hinduism” is back online after its service provider closed down the site due to complaints that it instigated violence and hatred towards Muslims and Christians. The Hatikva Jewish Identity Center, a radical Jewish organization in the US, has re-started it; this organization represents followers of assassinated Rabbi David Kahane, who advocated the expulsion of all Arabs from Israel. The Web site is advertised as the official site of the Bajrang Del, the militant wing of the Sangh Parivar (Pro-Hindu Family), which has been blamed for the murder of Australia missionary Graham Staines in 1999. Featuring dripping blood and an image of a lynching, the site calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against those listed. – CD
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson gave royal assent on June 25 to Bill S-25, which legally transformed the Conference of Mennonites in Canada into Mennonite Church Canada. The Conference of Mennonites in Canada was the Canadian arm of the General Conference Mennonite Church, which recently merged with the Mennonite Church and then divided administratively into Canadian and US church bodies. The new act of incorporation gives Mennonite Church Canada all the legal rights of an individual, including the right to buy and sell property, pursue legal action and even run its own mission program outside of Canada. (Previously, mission work was conducted by the North American body, General Conference Mennonite Church.) – Canadian Mennonite
The African Independent Church congregations in former Transkei in South Africa tend to follow their culture in being hierarchical and male-dominated. However, women make up 80–90% of regular church attenders and are allowed to take leadership in some worship activities. For example, Thursday is “women’s day” in Transkei AICs – women plan and lead a worship service for women, which men seldom attend. At Easter, which AICs celebrate almost non-stop from Good Friday through Easter Sunday, women preach on Saturday in recognition of the women being the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb. – Commission on Overseas Mission, Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission
Previous | Next
Last modified October 10, 2001.
© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.
|
