|  | |
Previous | Next People & events
Sales at Ten Thousand Villages Canada, a program of Mennonite Central Committee, were just over $5.5 million in 2001, up 5% from the previous year. A net surplus of $329,000 was reported, up from $10,100 in 2000. The increase has been credited to the Ten Thousand Villages stores offering home décor items and small pieces of furniture in addition to their regular merchandise; better retail locations; and better trained workers. Ten Thousand Villages buys handicrafts from Third World artisans at a fair price and then sells them to North American consumers. – Mennonite Central Committee Canada
The Ontario Divisional Court has granted a right to freedom of conscience for business owners in the case of Brillinger v. Brockie, the first time such a right has been recognized under human rights codes. The case involves Scott Brockie, owner of a Toronto printing business, who refused to print letterhead and business cards for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Ray Brillinger of the Archives filed a human rights complaint alleging Brockie discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation. A Board of Inquiry appointed under the Ontario Human Rights Code found that Brockie did discriminate and fined him. Brockie appealed to the Ontario Divisional Court on the basis that the decision infringes his freedom of religion and conscience since homosexuality is offensive to his religious beliefs. The Ontario Divisional Court upheld the fine, but ruled that the Board of Inquiry decision was overly broad: Brockie has a right to refuse to print material that infringes his conscience or religion (such as material that promotes a homosexual lifestyle or ridicules his religious beliefs); however, he does not have the right to refuse to print material (such as business cards) for an organization whose mandate infringes his conscience or religion. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Mennonite Central Committee is providing $480,000 for building materials for 1500 Afghan families whose homes have been damaged or destroyed in Shomali Valley, northern Afghanistan. In recent years, the valley suffered several natural disasters and became a battleground between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance due to its strategic location just north of Kabul. The 1500 families in the valley live in tents, in makeshift shelters and in the open. Some of these families fled Afghanistan’s civil war and have recently returned to find their homes uninhabitable. Others have lived for years without sufficient shelter. The 1500 families will be supplied with cement (to make blocks), roofing beams, wooden planks, windows and doors. The families will work together to rebuild and repair the homes and will also provide local raw materials. The total project cost is $2.12 million. It is hoped that all homes will be completed by March 2003. – Mennonite Central Committee
The Web site for Église chrétienne évangélique de Sainte-Thérèse, the MB church in Ste-Thérèse, Que., is www.eglise-ste-therese.ca. – Canadian MB Conference
The Web site for École de théologie évangélique de Montréal (ETEM), the Quebec MB Conference’s post-secondary theological school, is www.etem.ca. – Canadian MB Conference
Rowan Williams has been appointed the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. Williams succeeds George L. Carey, who is retiring in October. Williams has been seen as both a conservative and a liberal. He has criticized the US war on terrorism in Afghanistan and any plans to invade Iraq, has acknowledged that he ordained a practising homosexual into the Anglican priesthood and is said to favour women in the priesthood. A member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, he has been a strong supporter of the Alpha evangelism program and an outspoken critic of the entertainment industry for tainting children with images of violence, materialism and illicit sex. He is married with two children. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the nearly 70 million members of the Anglican Church worldwide. – Evangelical Press News Service
A Christian bookstore that opened in April in Shanghai, China has about 50 browsers a day, more than half of them non-Christians. However, the bookstore does not sell Bibles. Only books with a 10-digit International Standard Book Number are allowed to be sold. Christian books (including Bibles) published officially by the China Christian Council and the Amity Press are only given a provincial imprint and therefore are not permitted to be sold to the public. Many secular publishers in China publish the occasional Christian book in print runs of 2000 to 10,000, ranging from academic books on the theology of Thomas Aquinas or Martin Luther to Bible dictionaries and illustrated Bible storybooks. There are now at least five Christian bookstores in major cities across China. Most Christian books are distributed by large official churches operating book tables or small book rooms which are usually open only on Sundays to churchgoers and are not open to the general public. – Compass Direct
British Columbia public school teacher Christopher Kempling has been found guilty of “conduct unbecoming a member” by the British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT). Kempling, a secondary school counsellor and teacher for 12 years, wrote a series of letters to the editor and city councillors in Quesnel, partly based on his doctoral research, expressing his religiously-grounded objections to Gay Pride Day. The BCCT found his conduct failed to conform to the requirements that teachers adhere to the “highest morality”. Kempling did not attend the discipline hearing. His sentence, which could range from losing his teaching credentials to a fine and a letter of reprimand, is to be handed down in October. The BCCT previously gained national attention for refusing to accredit Trinity Western University’s education program because it believed that graduates of the Christian university would discriminate against homosexual students in their classrooms; last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of TWU. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Report, Life Site News, B.C. Christian News
The Mennonite Benevolent Society held its annual meeting June 15. The Society operates a complex of seniors’ residences in Abbotsford, B.C. with varying levels of care. Although both Menno Home and Menno Hospital had a difficult year financially, the tenor of the reports was positive. Administrator Gerald Neufeld presented a plan to eliminate the deficit of Menno Hospital in 12–18 months without any major reduction to the care provided. Administrator Arthur Enns presented a similar plan without staff layoffs for Menno Home. The Board is discussing construction of another Assisted Living apartment complex that will expand the current care facilities, which also include Menno Pavilion and Menno Terrace. A book commemorating the Society’s 50th anniversary will be published in spring 2003. – Mennonite Benevolent Society
The 30th anniversary of the Mennonite Central Committee thrift store movement was marked April 25–26 at the national Thrift Workshop in Coaldale, Alta. About 150 volunteers, managers and board members attended. Thirty years ago, a group of women in Altona, Man. developed the first store as a creative use for surplus clothing MCC had accumulated when shipments to developing countries were declining due to high shipping costs. Four women who were on the planning team for the first thrift shop attended the anniversary meeting in Coaldale. A new logo – a stylized shopping bag around the MCC logo – was introduced, to be used on signs, shopping bags, letterhead, business cards and advertising. Wendy McClelland, a former business consultant and current MCC B.C. thrift shop coordinator, was the keynote speaker. The theme was “Planning for the Future”. Topics for seminars included ensuring product safety according to Health Canada guidelines; tips on theft prevention from local police; and renovation and building projects. The 54 thrift stores in Canada generated $4.2 million for MCC this past year – Mennonite Central Committee Canada
Donations to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank totalled $6.1 million for fiscal year Apr. 1, 2001 to Mar. 31, 2002, the third highest level of donations for the 19-year-old Christian-based charitable organization. This was $200,000 more than the previous year. Cash donations of $3.3 million were up 15%, and the value of donated grain was $2.8 million, about the same as last year. Actual tonnage was 17,409, down 15% from the previous year due to drought and poor harvest weather, but prices and the types of crops donated were of a higher value. For the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 2002, CFGB supplied 32,436 tonnes of food to people in 27 countries, with the largest shipments going to North Korea, India and Afghanistan. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) provided $16 million in matching funds. – Canadian Foodgrains Bank
First Assembly, a Pentecostal Assemblies congregation in Calgary with weekly attendance of 2500, has donated over $100,000 to an Evangelical Missionary congregation so that it can expand its facilities. Calgary’s Centre Street Church holds five weekend services to accommodate its over 4000 attendees and plans to build a new $13–14 million facility on 17 acres of land. The new facility will have a 2000-seat sanctuary, a large children’s centre, an equipping centre for conferences and classes, an administration wing and a fellowship and food court. Just over $3 million has been raised. – Calgary City Light News
Previous | Next
Last modified October 3, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.
|
