People and Events

Mennonite World Conference is sending up to $5,000 US from a million-dollar fund to help its member churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America. By the time the first phase of distribution began this spring, the Global Church Sharing Fund had received $600,000 from Mennonite Central Committee, $300,000 from Mennonite Mutual Aid and over $100,000 from other sources. Churches receiving the money have control over it, but have to report how the money was used and what the church learned through the process. The idea for the fund came from discussions of biblical models for sharing, economic justice and equality in the community of faith. MWC member churches must meet minimal guidelines to qualify for the money, including not having internal conflicts. Larger churches are eligible to receive an additional amount following the next MWC General Council meeting in Colombia in 2000. About 60% of the fund is allocated to churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America, $200,000 has been put into an endowment fund until 2000, up to $55,000 may be used for administration of the fund, and $95,000 will be used for the Gifts Sharing project, which will seek to discover and share human resources among all MWC member churches. Member churches will be asked to describe their needs and/or gifts they have to share with other churches.
MENNONITE WORLD CONFERENCE

Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City, Kan. has become the third congregation to be expelled from a Mennonite Church conference because of its stance on homosexuality. Rainbow Mennonite's membership statement, dated 1978, allows the church to accept persons as members regardless of sexual orientation. The church, dually-affiliated with both the Mennonite Church's South Central Conference and the Western District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church, has been given non-voting status with the South Central Conference and will be released from membership March 1, 1999 if no change takes place. Pastor Frank Ward says he is unaware of any homosexuals in his church and the church's executive committee, although not wanting the church to lose its membership with the conference, has no plans to change the church's position. Rainbow Mennonite Church remains a full voting member of the General Conference Mennonite Church and its Western District Conference. The other two dually-affiliated congregations expelled by their respective Mennonite Church conferences were Ames (Iowa) Mennonite Church and Germantown (Pa.) Mennonite Church.
GENERAL CONFERENCE MENNONITE CHURCH

Pine Grove Mennonite Church, Bowmansville, Penn., has withdrawn its membership from the General Conference Mennonite Church, voting 96% in favour of the move at its last annual meeting. In a letter, Pine Grove pastor Jahn Horgen stated that the church is concerned about the Conference's doctrinal statement, "Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective"; the Conference's tolerance of homosexuality; disagreements on traditional doctrines such as the inspiration of Scripture; and the direction taken by the Conference's seminaries. Pine Grove remains affiliated with the Eastern District Conference. According to General Conference Mennonite Church polity, a congregation can remain a member of an area conference without being a member of the larger conference.
GENERAL CONFERENCE MENNONITE CHURCH

Shareholders in the Tire Recycling Atlantic Canada Corporation (TRACC), have replaced Doug Vicars with Ron Tissington as president of the company. Vicars, with the help of Mennonite Central Committee, started TRACC last year in order to create employment in the Atlantic provinces. MCC holds a small portion of the company's shares and has a seat on the company's board of directors. The Corporation's two plants in Minto, N.B. and Cornwallis, N.S., are dealing with production problems. Shareholders felt some management changes were needed to improve production and increase sales of recycled products. TRACC currently employs 60 people and will employ 100 when it is fully operational.
MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

The Surrey B.C. School Board passed a motion last year not to allow gay-parent books into its kindergarden and grade 1 classrooms. Gay teacher James Chamberlain and other members of the Gay and Lesbian Educators of B.C. had wanted to introduce the books to five and six-year-old students. The books—Asha's Mums, Belinda's Bouquet and One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads—are intended to portray same-sex parents in a normal family setting. The Board, which has a majority of Christians on it, is required to approve any materials not approved by the provincial government (although the ban does not apply to library books). Chamberlain and others are now suing the School Board in the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn the decision. Hindus, Sikhs, Catholics and Protestants have filed affidavits in support of the School Board. A survey commissioned by the Board's lawyers found that 61% of Surrey adults are opposed to the use of same-sex books in kindergarten and grade 1 classrooms. The case is expected to be heard in June.
CHRISTIANWEEK

The Chechen parliament amended Chechyna's constitution in January to restrict freedom of religion, declaring that citizens have "the right to confess any religion in accordance with the norms of Islam". Islam allows Christians and Jews some limited rights. This article replaced one in 1992 which confirmed citizens' right to "confess any religion or to confess none". This is the latest indication that Chechnya is becoming an Islamic state. Sharia courts have been operating for years. In November Vice-President Vakha Arsanov signed a decree instructing all women employed by the state to observe Islamic dress codes. In January President Aslan Maskhadov criticized parliament for obstructing work on the new constitution that would make Chechnya an Islamic state. So far, Christian churches have continued to function in Chechnya, although Christian evangelism is now banned. Chechnya is a republic trying to gain independence from Russia through a bloody civil war.
COMPASS DIRECT

New Direction for Life Ministries of Canada, which seeks to offer Christian support to men and women choosing to leave homosexuality, and equip the church to minister to them, is becoming a national organization. In 1985, Paul Vaughan and Pat Allan established New Beginnings Ministry. Charitable status came in 1987. In 1990, the ministry changed its name so it could be incorporated. Over the years, ministry groups operated in Barrie, Kitchener, St. Catharines and Ottawa, Ont. A second office was established in Winnipeg in 1993, and the Winnipeg branch was recently given a large donation to establish an AID's hospice, expected to open in 1998. In September, 1997, the National Council of New Direction held its first meeting in Toronto. The Council will provide direction in establishing a branch office for people looking to set up an outreach into their local homosexual community. The council's address is Box 1078, Stn. F., Toronto, Ont. M4Y 2T7; or Box 1493, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 1V5. Its web site, www.execulink.com/~newdirec/, includes articles in English and Spanish.
NEW DIRECTION FOR LIFE MINISTRIES OF CANADA

Project Diamond, initiated by Open Doors, hopes to supply China's house church Christians with 1,440,010 Bibles, study Bibles, children's Bibles, spiritual books, teaching tapes and tape duplicators in 1998. Begun four decades ago by Dutch-born author Brother Andrew, Open Doors is a US-based ministry that delivers Bibles into countries where they are banned, supports persecuted believers and trains church leaders who live in countries which are opposed to the gospel. Since Hong Kong's return to Chinese control, the number of Bibles that have gone to unregistered believers has decreased. Project Diamond represents a 40% increase over the materials Open Doors delivered in 1997.
MISSION AMERICA MONTHLY

Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo, Ont. will be holding another Elderhostel season in June and August. The two one-week programs offer a wide range of non-credit college-level courses for retired persons or persons planning retirement. Elderhostel participants can live in residence or participate as day students. June 7-13 will feature a course on Language taught by Elfrieda Schroeder that considers why there are so many languages, why they are hard to learn and where they originated. August 9-15 will feature a course on Canadian Literature taught by Gayle Goosen. Other courses will look at the plant life of the Waterloo region, the Dead Sea Scrolls, oral storytelling and Technological Transformations". Elderhostel Canada is a nonprofit organization; there are over 250 Elderhostels in Canada. Conrad Grebel College is a Mennonite school affiliated ith the University of Waterloo.
CONRAD GREBEL COLLEGE

Chris Robertson bicycled 6520 kilometres
from Point Pelee, Ont. to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. from March, 1997 to Jan. 8, 1998. Calling his trek, "To the Top Canada Expedition", Robertson gave speeches in 47 cities, read the entire Bible and faced death four times. Cashing in $36,928 in RRSPs, he made the quest to awaken patriotism in Canadians, but found the journey drew him closer to God. He asked his listeners to answer the question: "What will you do before the year 2000 to make Canada a better country than when you found it?" When the road he was travelling ended in Inuvik, N.W.T., he had to wait for the Mackenzie River to freeze so he could take the ice trail down the centre of the river to reach Tuktoyaktuk. Arriving Jan. 8, he read Zechariah 14:6: "When that time comes, there will no longer be cold or frost, nor any darkness. There will always be daylight, even at darkness."
EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS INITIATIVE

About 150 teen pregnancy appointments were made in one drop-in centre in Toronto in 1994; in 1997, the number of appointments at the centre was 370. At a Toronto health clinic, 66 appointments for children under two were made in 1994, compared to 508 visits in 1996. Statistics Canada recently reported that teen pregnancies have returned to high levels not seen in two decades. More of them are also being terminated by abortion, but street kids are shunning both abortion clinics and adoption agencies. Teen mothers on the streets are poor and troubled and lack the means to raise children, and most of these infants (up to 75-90% ) are seized by children's aid societies before they turn one due to parental neglect. This costs the street kids the one thing they feel gives them status, and the desire to be "somebody's mom" is compelling increasing numbers of them to have another baby.
MARGARET PHILP, GLOBE AND MAIL

Among Vancouver teens in 1995, 42% of boys and 55% of girls living on the street reported causing at least one pregnancy, compared with 10% of boys and 11% of girls living more ordinary lives.
MARGARET PHILP, GLOBE AND MAIL

The Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki, Greece, one of the country's oldest and largest evangelical churches, is being sued by police for operating without an official licence. Similar charges were brought against 14 other evangelical churches in 1997. The Greek Evangelical Alliance hopes that recent court cases before the European Court of Human Rights will force the Greek government to grant greater freedoms to religious minorities.
WORLD PULSE

A Wall Street Journal report shows that the sales of Islamic halal foods in the US are increasing dramatically at supermarkets and restaurants. Some observers estimate Muslims will outnumber Jews in the US by the year 2005.
WORLD PULSE

Gospel Faith Mission, an indigenous mission in Nigeria, has planted nearly 300 churches since initiating a program Jan. 1, 1994 to start 500 new churches by the year 2000. Nigeria, with 100 million people who speak over 400 languages, is the most populated nation in Africa. About 40% of the population is classified as Christian, but northern states have a strong Muslim majority. However, most Nigerians follow animistic beliefs and practices.
CHRISTIAN AID NEWS SERVICE

One of Vietnam's largest house-church movements, in 1996, made 20,203 converts, bringing the group's total number of believers to 45,000 in 330 congregations. The total number of evangelical Christians in Vietnam is about 700,000, which includes house churches and the Tin Lanh Churches established during the colonial missionary era.
CANS

A terrorist group, "The Army of God", claimed responsibility for a Jan. 29 abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham, Ala., which killed a security guard and injured a nurse. Letters received by authorities resemble letters sent last year after bombings of an Atlanta, Ga. abortion clinic and a homosexual nightclub. The security guard is the first person to die in an abortion clinic bombing in the US.
EVANGELICAL PRESS NEWS SERVICE

Vietnam has a population of about 78 million people; there are about 60,000 known cases of HIV. By the year 2000, that number is projected to rise to 300,000.
EPNS

Austria's parliament passed a law Dec. 10, making it more difficult for a church to gain "state-recognized" status. The law allows the state to reduce the current number of state-recognized religions from 12 to four and to limit recognition based on longevity and membership of a religious group.
EPNS

Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, concluded a three-day preaching crusade Feb. 1 in Adelaide, Australia. A total of 73,600 people turned out over the three nights to hear him. This is his second preaching trip to Australia. In 1996 he spoke at rallies in Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville.
EPNS

Michelangelo's chalk drawing of "Christ and the Woman of Samaria" was sold at auction for a record $7.5 million US. The drawing shows the scene from the Bible where Jesus stops at a well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. The 17-by-13.5 inch drawing was one of the last privately owned works by the Renaissance artist. The previous record price for a Michelangelo drawing was $6.3 million in 1993 for "The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt".
EPNS


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