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"HIV/AIDS: Stories of God's Grace" is a one-day conference to be held May 8 at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C. Sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee B.C. and the College, the conference is designed to inform Christians of the needs that people infected by HIV/AIDS have and how Christians can respond. Keynote speaker will be James Hyde, a professor at University of Louisville (Ky.) Medical School; Mignon and Bob Zylstra of Oak Harbour, Wash., whose son died of AIDS-related causes; and a panel of local speakers who live with HIV/AIDS. The day includes workshops on related themes. Cost for the conference is $25, including lunch, coffee breaks and an MCC B.C. HIV/AIDS handbook. Pre-register by May 5 by phoning MCC B.C.: 604-850-6639/857-0011--MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE B.C.
The Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles senior high girls' basketball team won their first B.C. provincial championship March 6, defeating their rivals, Heritage Park Highlanders from Mission, B.C., 86-74. Eagles teammates Dana Friesen and Katie Hall were named the defensive player and MVP of the tournament respectively. MEI is an Mennonite-MB elementary and secondary school in Abbotsford, B.C.--ABBOTSFORD TIMES
"Celebrate Jesus 99" was an evangelistic crusade led March 11-14 by Franklin Graham in Kingston, Jamaica. The four-day event attracted 66,700 people, of whom 4,619 made decisions for Christ. A Saturday youth rally drew 30,000 people, and 5,000 children gave their lives to Christ. The closing crusade was broadcast on Kingston's two TV stations.--EVANGELICAL PRESS NEWS SERVICE
Nine out of 10 Protestant pastors in the US call their church "evangelistic", but less than one out of three church attenders has shared his or her faith in Christ with a non-Christian within the last 12 months. These were some of the findings of a survey of some of the 324,000 Protestant churches in the US by the Barna Research Group. The survey also found that while 81% of pastors describe their congregations as evangelical, only one out of every four US adults uses that label to describe himself or herself. Three out of five senior pastors stated that their churches are "seeker-sensitive", but only one out of four churches offer a weekend event designed for nonbelievers. The dominant complaint of visitors who never return to Protestant churches is that they found the experience to be irrelevant. As well, 51% of pastors claim their congregations were "multicultural", but in over 80% of congregations, at least 90% of the people are from the same racial group.--EPNS
An Angus Reid Group survey on the sentencing of Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer convicted of killing his disabled daughter, found that 73% of Canadians believe that "given the pain that Tracy Latimer lived through on a daily basis, Robert Latimer was acting out of compassion and should receive a more lenient sentence." Further, 41% of respondents said mercy killing "like in the Latimer case" should not be illegal; 38% said mercy killing should remain illegal but be treated with leniency and compassion by the courts; and 16% said mercy killing should be treated like any other murder.--CANADA WATCH
The B.C. Supreme Court judge who struck down a section of the Criminal Code that outlaws the possession of child pornography, ruled that the law violated an individual's rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Shaw wrote: "There is no evidence that demonstrates a significant increase in the danger to children caused by child pornography." The case involved John Sharpe, a Vancouver man facing multiple charges of possession of child pornography. While the decision is binding only in B.C. courts, it may be cited in other provinces for similar defences. The decision is being appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.--CANADA WATCH
Having an extramarital affair and paying for sex are personally very unacceptable to 72% of Canadians, a Maclean's 1998 year-end poll found. However, 17% of those polled said it is somewhat unacceptable, 7% said it was somewhat acceptable, and 2% said it was very acceptable. The poll also found that 84% of respondents said they had never had a sexual relationship with another person while in a married or common-law relationship; 91% agreed that a person's sex life should not be anyone else's concern and that no one has the right to impose morality on others.--CANADA WATCH
Michel Trudeau, the late son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was driving back to Ottawa in July 1998 when a truck broadsided his vehicle near Portage la Prairie, Man. Michel's black Labrador-Shepherd dog, Makwa, ran away from the accident scene, and Michel spent a week searching for the dog. That led Michel to Dennis Walker, a local Christian who invited him to an evangelistic service. A reluctant Michel agreed to go, saying: "Sometimes I think churches actually get in the way of people getting right with God, because they think the church saves them, but actually, it's a personal faith in Christ that saves no matter what church you go to." Michel and Makwa were later reunited. On Nov. 13, while Michel was skiing in B.C., an avalanche swept him into the freezing waters of Kokanee Lake. His body has not been recovered.--CHRISTIANWEEK
Some Kosovo refugee children have found sanctuary in a 700-year-old monastery in Moraca, Montenegro. Since the fighting began in Yugoslavia in 1991, they and their families fled Croatia to Bosnia, then to Kosovo and finally to Montenegro. In fall, Mennonite Central Committee shipped 12,970 winter comforters to Montenegro for distribution through International Orthodox Christian Charities, which has been assisting about 15,000 Kosovo refugees. MCC also is considering shipping food aid to Montenegro. More than 2,000 people were killed in 1998 in Kosovo, a province of Serbia and the dominant of the two remaining republics comprising Yugoslavia. About 90% of Kosovo's 2.2 million people are ethnic Albanians, and most favour independence.--MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
The names of 37 Roman Catholic missionaries killed for their faith in 1998 have been published by the Vatican. An article in the January edition of the Fides news agency stressed that these were only a few of the "hundreds of thousands" of martyrs around the world. Of the official Roman Catholic list, 24 came from Africa, with Congo and Rwanda each claiming nine; eight came from Latin America, three from the Middle East and two from India.--COMPASS DIRECT
Princess Pilolevu Tuita of Tonga said in the March 11 edition of Tonga Times that the real reason why Tonga dropped diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established ties with China was to get Christian evangelists into China. The princess, who is the only daughter of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, is also the majority owner of TongaSat, a company which controls access to Tonga's lucrative satellite orbit slots over Asia. She claims she's already made major headway in China by getting people to say prayers at the beginning of business meetings.--THE GLOBE AND MAIL
In 1996, 47% of unmarried Canadian women between the ages 20 and 34 lived at home, up from 44% in 1981. For unmarried men of the same age group, 56% lived at home in 1996, up from 55% in 1981.--STATISTICS CANADA, CANADIAN SOCIAL TRENDS
Farmers in Bangladesh, suffering heavy crop losses due to severe flooding in summer 1998, have been introduced to cauliflower with the help of Mennonite Central Committee. Previously an exotic vegetable, cauliflower is now giving farmers food and a commodity to sell. The seeds were provided as part of a $770,000 MCC relief program in the country. Through Partnership in Agriculture Research and Extension, MCC supports the work of 30 small Bangladeshi organizations by supplying agricultural expertise and supplies. In the past, MCC has provided Bangladeshi farmers with soybean seeds, but the floods wiped out most of MCC's seed supply, leaving only 20 tons of soybean seeds for sale. Last year, MCC sold 140 tons of soybean seeds.--MCC
Countries with Islamic-dominated governments were ranked highest in Christian persecution by Open Doors in its annual World Watch List. Communist governments also ranked high. The top 25 persecuting countries in 1998 were: Saudi Arabia, southern Sudan, northern Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, China, Iran, Morocco, Afghanistan, Maldives, Qatar, Libya, Comoro Islands, Egypt, Chechnya, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Turkmenistan, Brunei and Tunisia.--COMPASS DIRECT
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