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William R. Jones
, former comptroller of the United Methodist Church Board of Global Ministries, has been accused of embezzling $400,000 US from the denomination's mission agency. Jones, a two-year employee, allegedly transferred the money to his personal bank account the day before he left his job.--
Christianity Today
The number of opposite-sex couples living together
in the US has jumped from 2 million to 3.5 million in 10 years. According to US tax codes, it is more financially beneficial for couples to live together than marry. Poorer couples may give up welfare eligibility if they marry; richer couples may face higher income taxes. The biggest increase in couples choosing to live together, according to researcher Larry Bumpass of the University of Wisconsin, is not among young people, but among those over 35. Among those aged 50 to 54, the practice of living together has doubled.--
Utne Reader (quoted in CT&T)
An Amish man has rejected $212,000 US
offered to him as part of an insurance settlement for a traffic accident that killed his wife. He feared that such wealth would tempt his family to abandon their values. "It is more harm than good," said Mahlon Lambright, a carpenter from Wisconsin. His wife Mary, 38, was killed last year when a semitrailer truck struck their horse-drawn buggy.--
Evangelical Press News Service
Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted
March 8 of violating a Michigan law banning assisted suicides. It was the second acquittal for Kevorkian, who has made no secret of his support for physician-assisted suicides.--
EPNS
Bill Bright
, president and founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International, is the winner of the 1996 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. The $1.4 million prize is awarded each year to a living person "who has shown extraordinary originality in advancing humankind's understanding of God and/or spirituality". Past winners include Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Charles Colson. Campus Crusade for Christ is an outreach organization active on 650 university campuses in the US and 470 overseas. He also founded Athletes in Action, a worldwide sports ministry, authored the Four Spiritual Laws booklet, and has led huge evangelistic crusades. Among the most ambitious of Campus Crusade for Christ's efforts has been Jesus, a feature-length film documenting the life of Christ which has been translated into 355 languages and viewed by an estimated 750 million people.--
EPNS
Top Vatican officials
are considering declaring Dominican Father Girolamo Savonarola a saint and a martyr. Savonarola was a popular 15th-century preacher who denounced moral corruption in society and the church. Some Catholic authorities are surprised by the proposal, considering that the Catholic Church had him tortured, hanged and burned at the stake in the main square of Florence, Italy in 1498. Pope Alexander VI evidently objected to Savonarola's message that the church hierarchy was due for terrible chastisement. The current Vatican's gesture is seen as demonstrating a spirit of repentance for giving in to "intolerance and violence" in its own past. The Vatican is also considering rescinding its condemnation of John Hus, a Czech reformer who was burned at the stake in 1415.--
Western Catholic Reporter
Nearly 4 out of 5 Americans call themselves Christians
, yet fewer than half attend church services in a given week, according to a survey done by the Barna Research Group. The figure has dropped by one-quarter from the 1991 level. It is the lowest level of religious involvement measured since Barna began tracking religious involvement in 1986. 31% of baby boomers said they had attended church in the previous week, about the same as baby busters (the following generation). 26% of Catholics have beliefs which would classify themselves as born-again Christians, up from 16% in 1991. The proportion of born-again Protestants is currently 57%. Church attendance in a given week is greater among women (46%) than among men (28%).--
EPNS
The number of low level jet flights
over Labrador and eastern Quebec will double, according to a new 10-year deal between Canada and her NATO allies announced Feb. 20. Canadian, British, German and Dutch air forces will be able to increase the number of flights from 7,000 a year to 15,000. The decision follows a government-requested environment impact study, which recommended that the flights avoid Innu camps and certain caribou grazing grounds. The Innu refused to participate in the review, arguing the process was stacked against them. It is estimated the flights will bring over $100 million to the Happy Valley-Goose Bay area. Another contentious issue for the Innu is the proposed development of a massive mining project to extract the giant nickel deposit discovered at Voisey's Bay, also on Innu land. The Innu achieved a significant victory in 1990 when NATO decided against building a tactical training centre at Happy Valley-Goose Bay. --
Mennonite Central Committee
Mennonite Central Committee has launched
a new Summer Service Program for youth from Canadian Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Laotian, Hispanic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Aboriginal and Indo-Canadian churches. The project will be a partnership between MCC Canada, provincial MCC organizations and local churches, and will have youth doing service in their home communities for periods of between 12 and 16 weeks in summer. Youth from Quebec will also be eligible for the program. MCC Canada, the provincial MCC and the local church will each pay a third of the $560-a-month support each young person will receive. Participants who complete 14 weeks of service and who will be returning to university or college in the fall are eligible for an additional bursary of $800.--
MCC Canada
As a result of the most recent federal budget,
the annual limit on tax-deductible charitable donations has increased from 20% to 50% of net income. However, the budget also calls for a $150 million cut to foreign aid. $1 billion in foreign aid have been cut since the Liberals came to power--a reduction of 34% to $1.9 billion. The cut means that Canada will only contribute 0.25% of the country's gross domestic product, less than the 0.7% Canada pledged 30 years ago. MCC Canada applauds reductions in defence spending while noting every Canadian still contributes $300 per year to support the military.--
MCC Canada
In 1960, executive salaries in Canada
were 12 times the bottom salary in their companies; today that figure is 117 times.--
MCC Canada
Concord College's financial support
by province for 1994-95: Alberta, $29,800 (6.3% of total overall support); Saskatchewan, $9,700 (2%); Manitoba $300,600 (63.8%); Ontario, $59,900 (12.7%). Concord also received $67,085 as a grant from the Manitoba MB Conference.--
Concord College
In a Maclean's poll released
in late 1995, when asked, "Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual person", 20% said very spiritual; 62% said somewhat spiritual; and 17% said not spiritual at all. 12% said they have become significantly more spiritual in the last few years; 37% said somewhat more spiritual; 15% said somewhat less spiritual; 5% said significantly less spiritual; 28% said they have remained unchanged.--
Maclean's
Rauna May, a female pastor
of Westminster Foursquare Church in New Westminster, B.C. was attacked, leaving her with a broken leg, after supporting a prostitute who pressed charges against her pimp. In the months leading up to the trial of accused pimp Bruce Hunter, 19, of Quebec, she was confronted several times by a group of men who threatened her and her family. They warned her not to testify. May and her family moved out of the country two months before the trial on the recommendation of police. She returned as a witness at Hunter's trial in B.C. Supreme Court, where he was convicted Jan. 19 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. There have been no confrontations since the trial.--
Christian Info News
There were 33,800 prisoners
in Canadian jails in 1995, an increase of 3.3% over the previous year. Longer sentences, more sex offenders receiving extensive treatment, more people serving life sentences and fewer prisoners obtaining release through parole were the reasons cited. On average, $41,289 is spent to keep a prisoner in prison for one year.--
Globe and Mail (quoted in Accord)
Police personnel decreased 2.2%
from 1994 to 1995, while the Canadian population has increased 2.5%. Nonetheless, for the third straight year, crime reporting to police has fallen. In 1994, 2.63 million Criminal Code incidents were investigated, 7.5% fewer than in 1992.--
Globe and Mail (quoted in Accord)
Manitoba's first "House Against Hunger"
is the third one to be built in Canada. It will be built in Landmark, Man., a 30-minute drive southeast of Winnipeg. The house will be built by volunteer labour and sold to raise money for Mennonite Central Committee.--
MCC Manitoba
In 1993, 100,000 landmines were cleared
at a cost of $96 million, but 2 million more mines were planted in that same year. The average cost of a new mine is $7. Safely clearing one mine costs about $966. Worldwide some 26,000 people each year are killed or maimed by landmines.--
MCC Washington
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
is calling on church communities across the nation to designate June 2 as a day of prayer for Canada under the theme "Lord, Heal Our Land."--
EFC
Chinese officials issued a new order
Jan. 14 reiterating their 1994 demand that all unsanctioned places of worship in China register with the government. Many house churches have argued that to register with the government would compromise their religious faith by giving ultimate authority to the state. They also fear it would open their members to numerous restrictions. The new registration order came as government officials claimed that religion was being used to subvert the state.--
News Network International
Five men have been arrested
on suspicion of involvement in a series of bombings against Catholic churches in Nicaragua. The most recent bomb exploded Jan. 1 at the El Calvarito Church in Leon. Since April, 1995, 18 bombs have exploded at Catholic churches and properties around Nicaragua. No one has been seriously hurt in any of the bombings.--
NNI
Statistics on drunk driving
in Cook County, IL, show that 40-70% of those caught driving under the influence of alcohol have had prior alcohol-related criminal offenses. It is estimated that it takes 200-2,000 repetitions of drunk driving to produce one arrest. In Canada, of the 185,641 Criminal Code traffic incidents reported by police in 1994, 58% were for impaired driving. Of the impaired driving offenders, 90% were male; the median age for both men and women was 34.--
Safety Canada, Statistics Canada
Burton Buller, executive director of Mennonite Brethren Communications
in Winnipeg, received the 1995-96 Alumni Merit Award from Tabor College in Hillsboro, KS. After graduating in 1968, Buller served as a department head of the audio-visual and motion picture department of Mennonite Central Committee. He still runs Buller Films, Inc., which he founded in 1978. He later worked as a cinematographer and editor on numerous documentaries and a few television programs.--
Tabor College
Ten Mennonite Brethren congregations particpiate in NeighbourLink, an interdenominational ministry sponsored by World Vision that links volunteers and ministries from churches to needs in the community; it provides a single place to go for those needing help and avoids duplication of efforts by the churches. Those involved are: Maple Ridge Community Church in Maple Ridge, B.C., Eagleridge Bible Fellowship in Coquitlam, B.C., Cornerstone Community Church and Peace Arch Fellowship in Surrey, B.C., Nechako Comunity Church in Vanderhoof, B.C., Cariboo Bethel Church in Williams Lake, B.C., Valleyview Bible Church in Kamloops, B.C., Northgate MB Church in Dawson Creek, B.C., Westwood MB Church in Prince George, B.C. and Portage Ave. MB Church in Winnipeg.--
NeighbourLink
Explosion Jeunesse '96, a first-ever youth rally sponsored this spring by Institut biblique Laval, was a big success, attracting 130 enthusiastic youth from a variety of churches. The rally was held in the MB church in St-Laurent, Que., which shares a building with IBL. The purpose of the evening was to encourage youth to commit their lives to Jesus Christ; to improve contacts between youth of different churches and cultural groups; and to promote IBL. Exaltation, a worship group from L'Eglise baptiste de la Nouvelle Jerusalem (Baptist Church of the New Jerusalem, a Haitian congregation) provided powerful music. Quebec MB youth worker Sylvain Nantel brought a message encouraging the youth to love God and persevere in the Christian life. Testimonies were given by Jeanne Brosseau of Ste-Eustache, Yannick Tining of Ste. Therese and Lysner Fils-Aimee of Laval--
LeLien
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