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Kidnapped American missionary Martin Burnham was killed June 7 in a Philippine military raid to rescue him, his wife Gracia and a Filipina nurse. Gracia Burnham was shot in the leg during the rescue attempt and has been moved to a military hospital in the southern Philippines city of Zamboanga. Hostage nurse Eldiborah Yap, also known as Deborah, was killed. On May 27, 2001, Islamic Abu Sayyaf rebels linked to Osama bin Laden kidnapped the couple, who work with New Tribes Mission, and 18 others from Dos Palmas Resort on the Philippine island of Palawan. – Compass Direct
About two-thirds of Ghanaians call themselves Christian, but only 40% have any link with a church; 12% attend church regularly. – World Pulse
Many Muslim organizations say there are 7 million Muslims living in the US. In 1986, the Saudi Arabian embassy claimed that there were 10 million Muslims in the US. However, a large 1990 demographic survey counted only 1.3 million. In 1998, a Pakistani paper said there were 12 million. The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches counted 527,000 Muslims in 1996 and 3.3 million in 1998. The American Religious Identification Survey 2001, which polled 50,000 people, figured that 1.8 million Americans are Muslim. Tom Smith of the University of Chicago, who reviewed all the figures, estimates that there are 1,886,000 to 2,814,000 Muslims in the US. – Sightings, The Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School
The fourth meeting of the Mennonite–Catholic dialogue was held Nov. 27–Dec. 3 in Assisi, Italy. The international dialogue, co-sponsored by Mennonite World Conference and the Roman Catholic Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, began in 1998 and is expected to include at least five annual sessions, after which it will issue a report. Helmut Harder of Winnipeg, representing Mennonites, and Bishop Joseph Martino of Philadelphia, Pa., representing Roman Catholics, co-chair the dialogue. The purpose of the dialogue is to promote better understanding of the positions about Christian faith held on each side, and to contribute to overcoming prejudices that have existed between Mennonites and Roman Catholics since the 16th century. The two topics discussed at this session were baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and relations between church and state in the Middle Ages. Other Mennonites at the dialogue were Howard J. Loewen of Pasadena, Calif., Nzash Lumeya of Fresno, Calif. (both Mennonite Brethren), Mario Higueros of Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, Andrea Lange of Bolanden-Weierhof, Germany, and Larry Miller of Strasbourg, France. The fifth session of the dialogue is scheduled for October 2002. – Mennonite World Conference
The Nahrin district of northern Afghanistan was rocked by earthquakes March 25, affecting 100,000 people. Mennonite Central Committee is contributing $32,000 for relief supplies and clean water to that area. Since Sept. 11, MCC has contributed over $6.6 million for aid to Afghanistan. In October and December, 40,000 blankets were shipped, and funds were provided for blankets, ground sheets and tents. MCC is contributing $122,000 per year for three years toward the installation of small-scale hydro power plants for villages in northeastern Afghanistan. MCC has shipped 200 tonnes of lentils via the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for a widows feeding program of CARE International, which is also buying wheat and cooking oil. CFGB and MCC are contributing $800,000 for widows in Kabul. MCC supporters have donated over $2.72 million to MCC’s Afghan Crisis account. – Mennonite Central Committee
MCC News Photo: Paul Hunt |
In March, Mennonite Central Committee shipped over $1.74 million worth of material goods to Iraq, Bosnia, Honduras, Ukraine and North Korea. The March shipment, while more than twice the average amount shipped in a month, was not unprecedented. In February 1999, MCC shipped a record $2.56 million worth of goods. – Mennonite Central Committee
The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) has decided to end settlement discussions with the governments of the US and Peru related to a missionary floatplane shot down in Peru on April 20, 2001. Missionary Veronica “Roni” Bowers and her infant daughter Charity were killed when a Peruvian Air Force jet opened fire on a floatplane owned by the ABWE. Bowers’s husband Jim and their son Cory survived the landing, while missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson was severely wounded in both legs. A CIA-operated surveillance plane, acting as part of a US drug interdiction program, misidentified the floatplane as a possible drug-smuggling flight. Investigators concluded that both the CIA observers and the Peruvian pilots failed to follow procedures established in 1994 to protect civilians. The US government agencies involved have offered an apology and reparations to the families of the victims. The Peruvian government has indicated that it will replace the plane, pay Donaldson’s medical costs, help pay the travel and funeral costs incurred by the ABWE and the families, and provide assistance for a youth recreation centre in Peru. ABWE has not been compensated for its extra costs by the US government but decided not to push its claim after the US government said it would not compensate the missionaries unless the ABWE agreed to drop the matter. – Evangelical Press News Service
Forty per cent of Canadians think that homosexual relations are always or almost always wrong, down from 70% in 1985, according Reginald Bibby, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge. However, the number of people who think that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as others has dropped 11 points since 1990 to reach 70% in 2000. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Ottawa Citizen
The Nigerian newspaper The Post Express reported that a dead man was allegedly raised to life during a Reinhard Bonnke evangelistic campaign held in Onitsha, Nigeria. Daniel Ekechukwu, pastor of the Power Chapel Evangelical Church in Onitsha, was involved in a car accident Friday, Nov. 30, 2001. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The next day the body was taken to a mortuary, prepared for burial and placed in a coffin. Daniel’s wife Nneka, who felt she would see him alive again, insisted that he be taken to the church where Bonnke was preaching. On Sunday, Dec. 2, the coffin was taken to the church, and the body was placed on a table in an empty room. While the service was going on upstairs in the sanctuary, Ekechukwu’s stomach began twitching, and he began breathing irregularly. He eventually opened his eyes and sat up. Within a few days, he seemed to have recovered fully. – Impact (Christ For All Nations Newsletter)
Mennonites who have Canadian citizenship, were born outside Canada after Feb. 14, 1977 and have parents born outside of Canada could lose their Canadian citizenship under proposed changes to the law. People meeting these criteria must send in an “Application to Register and Retain Canadian Citizenship”. Those applying from within Canada must show that they have lived in Canada for the preceding year. Those who apply from outside the country must show that they have “a substantial connection with Canada” and can speak English. – Mennonite Central Committee Canada
Mennonite Central Committee supporters canned a record 426,276 28-ounce cans of meat from October 2001 to April 2002, an increase of 3% over last season’s 415,549 cans. The canned turkey, beef and pork meat will be used to feed the hungry in places such as Bosnia, Serbia, Haiti, North Korea, Angola and Russia. – Mennonite Central Committee
MCC News Photo: Robert Martin-Koop |
The Mennonite Central Committee office in Tramelan, Switzerland by April had collected almost $19,700 in obsolete Deutschmarks, French francs and other European currencies. The money will allow DIGGER, a local agency working on de-mining technology, to complete a remote-control vegetation cutter that clears brush from land to prepare it for mine removal without endangering lives. The device, which is lighter and easier to repair than similar devices, will be used to clear land mines in Albania. Swiss Mennonite churches, as well as businesses and sports teams collected the coins, which became obsolete when most European countries adopted the Euro common currency early in 2002. About 7 kg of miscellaneous coins were sold to collectors.
From left, Jonathan Liechti, Didier Colette and Julien Koop sort coins on a Friday evening with a joint church youth group in Tramelan, Switzerland. MCC collected 150 kg of European coins to support DIGGER, a local agency working to make land mine removal safer. – Mennonite Central Committee
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Last modified July 10, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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