People and Events

The Forum of Bible Agencies is considering developing a central information bank which will place all Scripture sources worldwide on the internet. A "Bibles in print" homepage is being considered, which will list all Scripture resources currently available from 14 Bible agencies.--
Canadian Bible Society

Mennonites in the Netherlands have formed a Dutch version of Mennonite Economic Development Associates. MEDA-Nederland is a legal foundation housing micro-economic development activities and a fellowship network for Mennonites in business. It is the third such organization to form outside North America in the past year, following Paraguay and Zaire.--
MEDA

Percentage of Americans who believe that:

                                              Christians        Non-Christians
The Bible teaches that God helps those            80                   81
who help themselves
Satan is merely a symbol of evil                  49                   68
Being a good person will get one into heaven      39                   64
Jesus was simply a great teacher and did not      30                   45
rise from the dead
Jesus committed sins                              29                   51
There are some unforgivable sins                  29                   37
The Bible is not totally accurate in its          15                   43
teachings

The Israeli Defence Force has strongly encouraged the Christian Voice of Hope International Network to relocate its radio operations base from Israeli-patrolled south Lebanon to northern Israel. They are concerned that the base may become a terrorist target as Syria demands Israeli withdrawal from the south Lebanon security zone. This withdrawal would remove the radio station's current protection from attacks. In October, 1985, the station was attacked by four Hizbullah terrorists who scaled 10-foot fences with hundreds of pounds of explosives strapped to their bodies. When a security guard fired at one of the terrorists, it set off a chain reaction explosion which destroyed the studios and killed two staff members. The one surviving terrorist was later converted by George Otis, head of High Adventure Ministries, the parent organization of the radio station.--
EPNS

A recent survey by KPMG Peat Marwick Thorne found that 28% of Canadians aged 18-24 believe that cheating on their taxes is acceptable, compared to 16% of adults over 24. 23% of young adults believe that people who pay all their taxes are "fools"; 34% would buy smuggled liquor or cigarettes; and 64% would pay cash to avoid paying GST.--
Globe and Mail (quoted in EFC Canada Watch)

Mother Teresa has been named "Loser of the Decade" by The Door, a Christian satire magazine known for its regular feature, "Loser of the Month". The magazine accuses the nun of accepting donations from notorious figures who seek credibility by association with her name. The list includes the Duvalier family, cruel dictators in Haiti; Charles Keating, convicted in the US Savings and Loan scandal (she refused to return Keating's $1.4 million even when asked to do so by the prosecuting attorney); and cult leader John-Roger. The magazine also says her organization has money sitting in bank accounts around the world, including $50 million in one checking account in New York City, even as she claims to have little money to work with. She is also accused of secretly baptizing Hindus and Muslims as they lie dying in her clinic by "cooling" their foreheads with a wet cloth while whispering baptismal prayers and of claiming authorship of A Simple Path, a book she only approved.--
The Door (quoted in The Christian Leader)

The Fraser Valley Arts and Peace Festival is being planned for July 29-Aug. 11 at the University College of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. The festival runs through the weekend of the Abbotsford International Air Show and is intended to provide a peaceful alternative to the militarism evident at the airshow. It will feature an art gallery profiling the work of Georges Rouault, a reading by author Rudy Wiebe, a drama, a film festival, a coffee house with musician Jeremy Greenhouse, a children's festival and various peace workshops. Organizers also plan to distribute booklets to people attending the air show. The festival is organized by Langley Mennonite Fellowship, Project Ploughshares and the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster along with 15 cosponsors.--
Fraser Valley Arts and Peace Festival

The issue of child baptism was a recent topic in the pastors' discussion group of MennoLink, an electronic mail list. In addressing the question of how to recognize faith decisions of children, Garry Janzen, pastor of Zoar Mennonite Church, responded with the story of a ten-year-old attender who had made a significant commitment to Christ and had asked for baptism. After conferring with the deacon board, the church held a "service of faith recognition of a child". The service included two questions: "Have you accepted Jesus into your heart?" and "Do you want to follow Jesus for the rest of your life?" The boy then shared his testimony. The service was meant to affirm the significance of the boy's decision without going the full route of baptism.--
Mennonite Reporter

An estimated 100 tons of coffee are consumed each year by the Swedish Church, according to Dan Melander of the church's environmental board. Starting within a year, the church will use only coffee from ecologically sound plantations where working conditions are humane. Of Sweden's 8.7 million inhabitants, 89% are members of the Lutheran Church.--
Evangelical Press News Service

A thief who hid in a church cupboard was discovered by Argentine police who were tipped off by his foul body odour. Juan Carlos Martinez, 26, hid in a church in the town of Leandro Alem. According to the Clarin daily newspaper, police had nearly given up their search when they smelled him. A judge later freed Martinez on the condition that he promise to quit stealing and to wash himself daily.--
EPNS

Last Days Ministries , founded in 1978 by musician Keith Green and his wife Melody, is closing its doors. Keith kied in a plane crash in 1982, but Melody continued to run the ministry. She remarried in 1991, the ministry merged with Youth With A Mission, and last summer the ministry laid off two-thirds of its staff. The ministry now plans to sell its remaining stock of music, books and tracts from Lindale, TX. Explaining the decision to close the ministry, Melody told Christianity Today, "A ministry born for a specific time of anointing should only continue to exist for God's appointed season."--
EPNS

At least 30 arson attacks have been committed against black churches since January, 1995. The attacks are almost certainly race-related, and the US-based conservative lobby group, Christian Coalition, has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to convictions. US Senate hearings on the arson attacks have begun.--
EPNS

31.6% of the 65,174 theological students in the US and Canada are women, according to the 1996 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. There were 20,613 women studying theology in 1994 in the 226 member schools of the Association of Theological Schools. The percentage of women in theology has increased steadily since statistics were first recorded in 1972; that year, women constituted 10.2% of total theological students.--
EPNS

World Evangelical Fellowship is sponsoring an International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Sept. 29, 1996.--
WEF

A group of Christians led by activist Ken Campbell picketed Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto every Sunday from November to April to protest the school's decision to keep a professor on staff who has advocated pedophilia and is an admitted prostitute. Journalism professor Gerald Hannon has said he believes sex between adults and children is not always wrong: "I've talked to a lot of gay men who were seduced by older men when they were 10 or 11 years old and found it very satisfying." When it became known he is a part-time prostitute, the university suspended him with pay because his conduct was seen as unbefitting that of a professor. Hannon was reinstated in January to finish his contract till the end of the school year.--
Faith Today

No Place for Me , a book that deals with "troubled teenagers who find solace with a modern witch" will remain on the Surrey, B.C. school division's core collection of books (which every Surrey school gets). Heather Stilwell, a former Surrey school trustee, was among those who questioned the number of books sympathetic to witchcraft being stocked at the Surrey Traditional School. Stilwell said that 17 books appear under the heading Witchcraft: fiction. However there are no books listed in the fiction sections for Christianity, Sikhism or Islam. The school board defeated the request to have the book removed.--
Western Report

The first US survey of young urban homosexual and bisexual men shows that 7% are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It also shows more than a third of these men had sex without condoms in the past 6 months. 5% of men between 15 and 19, and 9% of men aged 20 to 22 were infected with HIV.--
Wichita Eagle (quoted in Youthworker Update)

The Islamic country of Kuwait is quite moderate compared to its neighbouring Muslim states in its tolerance of Christianity. It permits the 150,000 Christians residing within its borders to establish churches and meet openly for Christian worship. There are reports of increased numbers of Kuwaiti converts to Christianity, especially after prominent Kuwaiti Muslim Robert Hussein's public declaration last December that he had become a Christian. Two months later, four other Kuwaiti Muslims allowed their conversion stories to be printed in the weekly newspaper, Al Hadaf, though they all used pseudonyms. One evangelical source reported that there are 100-300 Kuwaitis living abroad who have come to faith as well. The increased attraction to Christianity may be traced to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. While Islamists supported it, local churches remained loyal to the Kuwaiti cause, providing relief aid during and after the invasion.--
Compass Direct

The Christian Counselling Centre was founded in 1992 in Truro, Nova Scotia by Norm Patton. The catalyst for the centre came when he heard about a local Christian woman who went to a private therapist, telling him that she attended church. The therapist replied, "That's your problem." Since then, those in need of counselling have had access to the centre which is staffed by Mennonite Central Committee workers Brian Schrok and Paula Weaver of Philadelphia, PA and Laurel Hiebert of Londonderry, N.S. They have a caseload of around 250 families and individuals. MCC helped jump-start the centre by providing money to hire the staff. The Centre is supported by 12 churches of various denominations and receives referrals from the local Children's Aid, a military base and aboriginal groups.--
MCC

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