Return to the M.B. Herald Vol. 35, No. 16
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The Piltdown Man
, a skull with jaws and teeth like an ape but the brain capacity of a modern man, was found in a pit in Sussex, England early in the 20th century. Long hailed as a "missing link" in human evolution, it was exposed as a fraud in the 1950s when chemical analysis proved that the skull was human, the jaw from an orangutan and the teeth filed. The bones had been made to look old with iron and manganese stains. The perpetrator of the hoax wasn't known until recently when a trunk was found containing bones and teeth treated in exactly the same way. The trunk had belonged to Martin A.C. Hinton, a curator at London's Natural History Museum. Hinton apparently set up the colossal hoax to get even with geologist Arthur Smith Woodward, with whom he had a pay dispute over some work Hinton had done for Woodward.--
EPNS
Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine
, a hard-core pornographic publication, is accused of sexually abusing his daughter, Tonya Flynt-Vega from the time she was 10 until she was 18. Now an adult, Flynt-Vega says she is speaking up because a forthcoming movie, The People vs. Larry Flynt, portrays her father as "an American hero and pornography as harmless". "I decided it was important to send a message," she said. Flynt, who once claimed to have been led to Christ by evangelist Ruth Carter Stapleton, denies Flynt-Vega's claims, and says his daughter is a "habitual liar".--
EPNS
Tim Stevenson
fought hard to become the first practising homosexual ordained by the United Church of Canada. After he was turned down by several congregations in Manitoba, he was finally made pastor of St. Paul's United Church in Burnaby, B.C. two years ago. However, on May 28 of this year, he was elected as an NDP member of the B.C. provincial legislature for the riding of Vancouver Burrard. He is now expected to resign his pastorate.--
Christian Info News
Promise Keepers Canada
has scheduled its first stadium event, to be held either in B.C. Place or Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver in late October or early November. The one-day event is expected to draw 20,000 men, smaller than the giant two-day events that have been the chief public landmarks of the movement in the US. The Canadian event would feature four speakers, two Canadian and two American. Earlier this year, the Promise Keepers Canadian headquarters was opened in Langley, B.C., with Bill Rutherford serving as the first executive director.--
Christian Info News
A film based on the life of Joseph
will continue to be banned in Egypt. An Egyptian court has reinstated a 1994 ruling barring the distribution or exhibition of El Muhaggar (The Emigrant), by director Youssef Shahine. The film is barred because it violates the Islamic ban on depictions of biblical prophets. Shahine, who is a Coptic Christian, appealed the original ban successfully, but the ban was restored by the original court.--
EPNS
Parents in Bogota, Colombia
rushed to baptize their children after it was rumoured that the Antichrist would be arriving soon. More than 7,000 children were reportedly baptized in less than six hours, at the urging of parents who believed their children would be marked with "666" if their souls were not saved before June 6, which was the sixth day of the sixth month of a year ending with a six.--
EPNS
Three defendants accused of murdering a Christian
on trial for blasphemy have been acquitted two years later by a Pakistani court for lack of evidence. Maulvi Fazl-e-Haq, a Muslim cleric, was accused along with two others of shooting and killing Christian Manzoor Masih after a Lahore court hearing April 5, 1994. Fazl-e-Haq was the original complainant who had filed charges of blasphemy against the murdered Christian and two others, Rehmat Masih and Salamat Masih, then a minor aged 12. The two surviving defendants and John Joseph were the only eyewitnesses of the attack, in which they were all wounded. Since Rehmat and Salamat Masih fled to Germany for asylum Feb. 26, 1995, the day after their own acquittal, Joseph was the only eyewitness left in Pakistan to testify at the murder trial. A month after giving his court deposition, Joseph also fled to Europe, where he remains in hiding. The judge ruled his testimony "unreliable". The court denied an earlier request to send a commission to record the testimony of the other two witnesses. Manzoor Masih is one of five Christians murdered in Pakistan after being charged under blasphemy laws enacted in 1991; those laws make the death penalty mandatory for conviction of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed.--
Compass Direct
The Canadian International Development Agency
spends the Canadian government's foreign aid budget on: bilateral programs (aid given by Canada to another country's government), 39%; multilateral programs (contributions to agencies such as the United Nations), 30%; partnership program (aid channelled through nongovernmental agencies such as Mennonite Central Committee), 12%; industrial cooperation program, 3%; scholarships, 1%; International Development Research Centre and the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, 5%; central and eastern Europe and former Soviet Union, 5%; administration; 6%; other, 2%.--
CIDA
The Mennonite Benevolent Society
of Abbotsford, B.C. cares for over 400 residents in its Menno Home and Menno Hospital. Menno Home has recently been improved with the construction of new resident rooms, a lounge, meeting rooms and offices, and an upgrade of paths and benches in the courtyard area. Work is continuing on the Chalet "Wandering Loop" project, a path which loops back to its beginning, built especially for use by Alzheimer's patients. Menno Hospital is building a second level over the new south wing, providing 23 new suites. Construction of a new four-story congregate/independent living facility is planned for the property adjoining the present buildings.--
Mennonite Benevolent Society
SELFHELP Crafts of the World
, a Mennonite Central Committee job-creation program for Third World artisans, began test-marketing "fair-trade" coffee in some of its stores three years ago. The coffee is purchased from Equal Exchange, a Massachusetts-based organization that bypasses intermediaries, paying farmers higher prices for their coffee beans--sometimes as much as twice the market price. The beans are purchased from farms known to operate fairly--farms that may run as cooperatives for example, with individual members making decisions about the business that supports them. The major distributor in Canada is Bridgehead. Between 1995 and 1996, SELFHELP's sales of Equal Exchange coffee have increased 95%; MCC plans to offer the coffee in more stores during 1996.--
MCC
13-year-old Craig Kielburger
of Toronto began an anti-child labour organization called "Free the Children", an all-teen group boasting 300 members worldwide, after reading a newspaper article about child slave labour. The article detailed the plight of a 12-year-old boy in Pakistan who was sold into slavery at age four. The boy managed to escape at 10 and began crusading against child labour, before being murdered at age 12. Kielburger has taken up the cause, spearheading letter-writing campaigns, petition drives, speeches to schools and community groups and fundraising. Having overcome a speech impediment that plagued him most of his life, Kielburger is described as "an adult in a child's body, a spellbinding orator and a smooth political operator". He addressed the Ontario Federation of Labour's convention last year, raising $150,000. He has also travelled to Asia to visit child-labour facilities.--
Youthworker Update
More than 9 in 10 US congregations
admit to having problems keeping high school students involved in church, according to a survey of religious youth workers. However, only 8% of the surveyed congregations reported having major difficulties keeping fifth and sixth graders involved. 46% of those surveyed said their congregations provide fair or poor budget support for youth programs, and 54% said their congregations show fair or poor support for youth ministry as a priority. The survey indicated that successful youth ministries focus on building caring relationships between adults and teens and addressing difficult questions raised by teens.--
The State (quoted in Youthworker Update)
37% of Americans
in a 1996 Barna Research Group surveyed said they had attended a religious service in the past week, down from 49% in 1991. Other statistics show that every single county in the US had a lower percentage of churched people than it had a decade ago.--
Pastor's Weekly Briefing (quoted in CT&T)
The cell-based church
, centred around small groups meeting in homes, is becoming increasingly used by Canadian evangelical churches. However, Don Posterski says the cell-based church may not catch on in Canada the same way it has in the US because Canadians have a tendency to be more private. Cells "hold the allure of church growth", but Posterski warns against using the cell model to rescue a dying church. He proposes that Canadians, when they become disillusioned with a church, tend to leave organized religion altogether rather than search for another faith community. Further, getting the cell church started requires a great deal of time and work, especially when it comes to getting people to take responsibility for converting and discipling their own network of friends.--
Faith Today
The ChildFree Network
is a four-year-old Roseville, Calif.-based organization whose 5,000 adherents represent married-couple households without children. Its agenda is to eliminate extra benefits and tax breaks for people who have dependent children. The group also wants changes in what it perceive as workplace inequities. For example, they ask: "Why do people without children have to cover for those who do have kids?" An estimated 24 million married-couple households in the US had no children living at home in 1995, and that number could top 30 million in 15 years.--
American Demographics (quoted in CT&T)
Fewer than two dozen
American and Canadian seminaries offer courses in singles ministry, despite a dramatic increase in the number of unmarried adults. Single-person households in the US have risen 18% in the past decade. Whereas network TV programming, restaurants (where seating arrangement has been adapted) and supermarkets (which stock more frozen dinners and have takeout sections) are catering to this group, the church "seems uncomfortable with anyone who stays single beyond youth-group age," according to writer Julia Duin. Consequently, Duin says, few congregations have singles on their church boards, contributing to singles' wariness towards organized religion.--
Insight (quoted in CT&T)
The percentage of Americans
who believe that "most people can be trusted" has fallen to 35%.--
Harper's (quoted in CT&T)
Every day in 1994
, 9 US teenagers were murdered and 13 teens committed a murder.--
Insight (quoted in CT&T)
The 8.4% average growth rate that South Korean churches
experienced between 1960 and 1985 dropped to 6.7% between 1985 and 1990. Government statistics indicate an absolute decline in 1993 of 4%. Still, the 40,000 churches in South Korea today include 5,000 new congregations since 1990. Over 100 mission agencies have sent an estimated 4,000 South Korean missionaries to other countries. Some say church growth has slowed because the initial growth was based on the suffering and martyrdom of earlier believers; now that element is missing. Also, as the church has grown, it has shifted its emphasis from pure evangelism to discipleship.--
Pulse (quoted in CT&T)
More information has been generated
in the last three decades than in the previous 5,000 years. Over 4,000 books are published every day. One weekday edition of The New York Times includes more information than the average person encountered in his entire lifetime in 17th-century England. Twenty years ago, there were only 300 on-line databases; now 7,900 such databases store literally billions of bits of information.--
Executive Book Summaries (quoted in CT&T)
Pharmacists are the most trusted professionals
in the US, trusted by 66% of respondents in a recent Gallup poll, followed by ministers at 56%, and dentists and doctors, both at 54%.--
Pastor's Weekly Briefing
The first openly homosexual minister
of the Presbyterian Church of Canada has had his ordination revoked. By a wide margin, the church's 300-member general assembly approved a committee recommendation to reverse the ordination of Darryl Macdonald, who was ordained last year by St. Andrew's Church in the Montreal suburb of Lachine. The committee said Macdonald's ordination should be reversed unless he agrees to be celibate. While acknowledging that the decision would hurt the church, the committee said the "hurt and damage to the denomination as a whole would be far more devastating should the Presbyterian Church in Canada act in discontinuity with its deeply rooted understanding of Scripture." Canada's Presbyterian Church has no policy specifically forbidding ordination of homosexuals, but a 1994 policy statement on sexuality says that homosexuality is not an option for Christians.--
Evangelical Press News Service
Two new organizations
have been created to bring the "Promise Keepers" experience to women. "Heritage Keepers" held its first conference Aug. 10 in Wichita, Kan. The group "is designed to teach a woman how to be godly to her family, God and community". While Promise Keepers meetings feature only male speakers, Heritage Keepers will feature both men and women to avoid the appearance of being "feminist". Another conference, called "Keys for Abundant Living: A Promise Keepers Counterpart", has held several gatherings of about 1,000 women each in southern US cities. Speakers included Gloria Gaither and Luci Swindoll. There is also a group aimed at younger men which seeks to "break the generation gap between themselves and older men". That group will hold smaller conferences and encourage youth to attend the larger Promise Keepers events.--
EPNS, National & International Religion Report (quoted in Intercessors for America)
Canada's population is expected to reach 30 million
by September, according to Statistics Canada. The population grew 1.2% between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1995. 222,951 immigrants applied for citizenship in 1995, mostly in Ontario and B.C. At Confederation in 1867, the population was 3.46 million.--
Winnipeg Free Press, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
"The Believers' Church: A Voluntary Church"
is the theme of the 12th Believer's Church Conference. These academic conferences have run about every three years since 1967 and address the concern that churches practising believer's baptism develop a unified voice to be heard in the larger ecumenical dialogue. This conference will be held at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ont. Oct. 17-18. Information is available at (905)525-9140, ext. 24685.--
Believers' Church Conference
John Howard Yoder , whose ministerial credentials were suspended in 1992 after allegations were confirmed that he abusively crossed appropriate sexual boundaries with a number of women, has concluded the disciplinary process invoked by his denomination. The executive committee and Church Life Commission of Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and Yoder mutually agreed that his ministerial credentials not be reinstated. While recommending the continuing use of an accountability plan, the commission and Indiana-Michigan Conference are encouraging Yoder and the church to "use his gifts of writing and teaching". Yoder, a professor and author, is best known for his teachings on peace issues, particularly his books, The Politics of Jesus and The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel. Gospel Herald
Missionary Ray Rising was freed June 17
, more than two years after being kidnapped by leftist rebels in Colombia. Rising, 54, was kidnapped March 31, 1994, while riding his motorcycle to a missionary school in Loma Linda, Colombia, which is 105 miles southeast of Bogota. Rising worked in Colombia with the Summer Institute of Linguistics. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia's oldest and largest rebel group, was believed responsible for the kidnapping. A spokesperson for SIL said Rising was in good physical condition, and contacted his family by telephone shortly after his release. Three other kidnapped US missionaries are still being held in Colombia. They are Dave Mankins, Mark Rich and Rick Tenenoff, all New Tribes missionaries.--
EPNS, Compass Direct
The Mennonite Church has grown by nearly 12%
since 1985. Total Mennonite Church membership grew from 99,719 members in 980 congregations in 1985 to 111,672 members in 1,099 congregations at the end of 1995. 69% of the new congregations were started in urban areas. English served as the language of worship in 61% of the congregations. The Mennonite Church is the largest of the Mennonite denominations and is currently in the process of merging with the General Conference Mennonites.--
Mennonite Reporter
Mennonite Disaster Service
has been active in coordinating rebuilding efforts at Mt. Zoar Baptist Church, in Boligee, Ala., one of over 30 black churches burned in the past 18 months. This church was chosen as an aid recipient because it had the least resources with which to rebuild. Over 250 MDS volunteers have helped rebuild the church since May. Dedication for the new building is planned for Sept. 8.--
MDS
The Women in Ministry sub-committee of MCC B.C. Women's Concerns
is holding a one-day conference called "The World Made Flesh: ReMembering, ReAffirming, ReJoySing". It will take place Oct. 5 at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C. Featured speakers are David Schroeder, professor emeritus of Bible and ethics at Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg, and Kathy Nichol, retired staff member from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Calgary. Both men and women are welcome.--
MCC B.C. Women's Concerns Committee
About 20 young adults from 5 continents
will be chosen to work as "Youth Stewards" at India 1997, the Mennonite World Conference assembly. The program, sponsored by a grant from the DeFehr Foundation in Winnipeg, provides travel subsidies to India 1997 for persons aged 18-30 representing MWC member churches. The goal of the program is to help foster understanding and appreciation for the international, intercultural reality of the global Anabaptist-Mennonite family among young adults. Ten people will be sent from Indian churches; the rest will come from churches in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Arriving in Calcutta in mid-December 1996, Youth Stewards will work together preparing the Global Church Village, a display area featuring booths, music and other cultural events, for Assembly Gathered (Jan. 6-12). Applications may be requested from (519)571-0060.--
MWC
Mennonite Central Committee's bomb-clearing program
in Laos, which began two years ago, has since attracted the attention of the media and government, resulting in increased awareness and funding for bomb-removal in the region. MCC raised $1.5 million towards its bomb-removal program. The US military has since set up a school to train deminers. The United Nations has also established a special fund for demining in Laos which exceeds $7 million. MCC's formal contract with Mines Advisory Group, the British humanitarian agency that has been its clearing partner in Xieng Khouang Province, ended this summer. MCC is exploring the possibility of sponsoring clearing and community awareness programs around 12 villages in Hua Phan Province where MCC has ongoing health, education and agriculture programs.--
MCC
According to the Internal Revenue Service
in the US, pastor Moses Williams of Columbia, S.C. was paid about $500,000 last year, and deserves a tax refund cheque of $93,282.56. Williams actually earned about $25,000 as pastor of a small church. But when Williams tried to return the cheque, he was initially told that the cheque was right. Though Williams has been praying for money to build a church, he says he'll continue his effort to return the cheque. When he gets his real refund cheque of about $300, he plans to take his wife and three children to Disney World.--
EPNS
A Slovenian man became infected with the AIDS virus
after being bitten by an HIV-positive neighbour, doctors reported June 21. It is the first documented case of someone getting AIDS from a human bite. According to an article in the Lancet, a British medical journal, the man tried to help his homosexual neighbour, who was having a seizure. The man put his hand in the neighbour's mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue, and was bitten. Doctors say the AIDS patient had bitten his tongue and had blood in his saliva. The man was given AZT to prevent infection, but was diagnosed with AIDS in about a month. "This case shows that HIV transmission is possible from a bite," doctors wrote.--
EPNS
Pastors are increasingly using commercial marketing principles
to attract new members to their churches as access to demographic information becomes easier. Both the Southern Baptists' Steve Whitten and Nazarenes' Rich Housel agree that the best areas for a new church are expanding communities (new homes) with high birth rates. Such communities are often bursting with boomers and busters who are ready to return to church for the sake of their children. Another church planner lists music, parking, signage and quality child care as the most important factors in attracting newcomers. According to writer Marc Spiegler, however, the senior "market" is virtually untapped. "Some churches shy away from ministry to people over age 55 because they are notoriously hard to convert. Charles Arn, president of Church Growth in Monrovia, Calif., advises that "seniors avoid dramatic changes in lifestyle", yet many evangelists insist on a 180-degree turnaround in lifestyle; conversion should therefore be presented to seniors as a process rather than a "single climactic event". Only about 20% of the 367,000 congregations in the US actively pursue strategic planning.--
American Demographics (quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends)
US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
is portrayed as consulting spiritual advisers to talk to the spirits of Eleanor Roosevelt and others, in a new book by Washington Post editor Bob Woodward. In The Choice, Woodward describes the meetings Clinton held with Jean Houston, co-director of the Foundation for Mind Research, and Mary Catherine Bateson, an anthropology professor at George Mason University. Newsweek magazine characterized the meetings as seances. White House staff downplayed the portrayal, saying the meetings were merely brainstorming sessions for the writing of Rodham Clinton's book, It Takes a Village.--
EPNS
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