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About two-thirds of Ghanaians call themselves Christian, but only 40% have any link with a church; 12% attend church regularly. – World Pulse
Many Muslim organizations say there are 7 million Muslims living in the US. In 1986, the Saudi Arabian embassy claimed that there were 10 million Muslims in the US. However, a large 1990 demographic survey counted only 1.3 million. In 1998, a Pakistani paper said there were 12 million. The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches counted 527,000 Muslims in 1996 and 3.3 million in 1998. The American Religious Identification Survey 2001, which polled 50,000 people, figured that 1.8 million Americans are Muslim. Tom Smith of the University of Chicago, who reviewed all the figures, estimates that there are 1,886,000 to 2,814,000 Muslims in the US. – Sightings, the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School
As many as 400,000 people fled their homes in Democratic Republic of Congo after Mt. Nyiragongo erupted Jan. 17. Over 40% of the city of Goma was destroyed and over a dozen other villages were incinerated by the river of lava. Relief agencies are struggling to provide shelter, food and fresh water. Workers fear there could be an outbreak of cholera similar to an outbreak in 1994 which killed an estimated 24,000 people in Goma as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled there from violence in Rwanda. – Evangelical Press News Service
Canadian Chinese MB churches allocate over $500,000 annually for mission work worldwide. Of these funds, 35% is sent overseas, 18% is used for local missionary work, 13% is given to mission agencies, 29% is used for training and education, and 5% goes to administration. Chinese MB churches support a total of 34 missionaries in various locations around the world: 50% in Asia, 20% in North America, 8% in Africa, 8% in Europe, 6% in South America and 8% in other parts of the world. – Chinese MB Herald
The fourth meeting of the Mennonite-Catholic dialogue was held Nov. 27-Dec. 3 in Assisi, Italy. The international dialogue, co-sponsored by Mennonite World Conference and the Roman Catholic Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, began in 1998 and is expected to include at least five annual sessions, after which it will issue a report. Helmut Harder of Winnipeg, representing Mennonites, and Bishop Joseph Martino of Philadelphia, Pa., representing Roman Catholics, co-chair the dialogue. The purpose of the dialogue is to promote better understanding of the positions about Christian faith held on each side, and to contribute to overcoming prejudices that have existed between Mennonites and Roman Catholics since the 16th century. The two topics discussed at this session were baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and relations between church and state in the Middle Ages. Other Mennonites at the dialogue were Howard J. Loewen of Pasadena, Calif., Nzash Lumeya of Fresno, Calif. (both Mennonite Brethren), Mario Higueros of Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, Andrea Lange of Bolanden-Weierhof, Germany, and Larry Miller of Strasbourg, France. The fifth session of the dialogue is scheduled for October 2002. – Mennonite World Conference
About 70 staff from Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church Manitoba, volunteers and guests gathered at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Art Gallery in Winnipeg on Feb. 1 to mark the beginning of Mennonite Church Canada. This marks the end of a process in which two denominations, Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church, merged and then reorganized as two connected national denominations, Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. Mennonite Church Canada is made up of 37,000 church members, 250 congregations and 6 area conferences, making it the largest Mennonite denomination in Canada, slightly larger than the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. – Mennonite Church Canada
The Christian Leader, the periodical of the US MB Conference, has new e-mail addresses. The address for the main office in Hillsboro, Kan. is christianleader@usmb.org; the address for associate editor Connie Faber is newseditor@usmb.org; and the address for editor Carmen Andres is editor@usmb.org. – The Christian Leader
In one of the poorest regions of wartorn Somalia, Mennonite Central Committee is providing $10,000 worth of fishing equipment to 1200 families so that they can feed themselves. About a year ago, inter-clan violence swept through the northwest corner of the Jubba Valley, southern Somalia, where anarchy has reigned for over a decade. Thirteen villages of 250 homes each were burned to the ground, and the families affected lost everything, including the hooks, lines and nets they needed to fish in a nearby river. MCC also sponsored mediation through African Rescue Committee (AFREC), a Somali organization. By the height of the fishing season in late August, AFREC workers had distributed two hooks and 100 metres of line to each of the 1200 families. Recipients, nearly 70% of whom were women, were identified by local leaders as the poorest of the poor. – Mennonite Central Committee
Twenty Middle Eastern alumni of Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in Harrisonburg, Va. met together for a peacebuilding meeting in Amman, Jordan in early January. Sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee, the meeting encouraged the participants to share their experiences and plans for future co-operation. Participants included directors of local non-governmental organizations, a government employee, MCC staff and representatives of various grassroots organizations. For five years, MCC has sponsored peacemakers from the Middle East to attend SPI. – Mennonite Central Committee
According to a new book based on 2001 research by Barna Research Group, 33% of born-again Christians in the US have been divorced, which is a rate roughly the same as that of the general population; 90% of these divorces happened after conversion to Christianity. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Christian News Service
At least 40 successful operations on unborn children between 20 and 26 weeks old to treat spina bifida have been performed in the US. Researchers are surprised at the high rate of success. Plans have been made to expand the program and conduct a nationwide trial involving 200 women and their unborn babies. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Ottawa Citizen
Pope John Paul II led world religious leaders in praying for peace at a “peace pilgrimage” in January in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of St. Francis. The historic gathering included leaders from the Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christian traditions, 29 Muslim clerics, 10 Jewish rabbis, African animists, Sikhs and leaders of other religions. The religious leaders made a public commitment that religion would never again be used as a pretext for war, conflict or violence. Participants then separated to pray, each religious group praying in a separate room. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, National Post
Over 100 volunteers from Canada and the US have assisted in Mennonite Disaster Service’s Restoring Hope Project in New York City. MDS’s usual work of clean-up and repair after a disaster was not needed in New York. However, since Nov. 26, MDS teams have renovated seven Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in New York so that those churches will be more able to address the emotional, economic and community needs resulting from Sept. 11. – Mennonite Disaster Service
The Canadian Association of Mennonite Schools (CAMS) music festival will be held Apr. 19-21 at Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, B.C. About 600 elementary and secondary school musicians from 11 Mennonite schools in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are expected to perform. A concluding choral and band concert will be held Apr. 21 with each school performing pieces from its own repertoire. The concert will culminate with a mass choir under the direction of Tony Funk of Abbotsford and a mass band under the direction of Wayne Toews of Saskatoon. – Mennonite Educational Institute
Reforms to Pakistan’s electoral system will give Christians and other religious minorities there the same voting rights as Muslims when they go to the polls at the next general elections scheduled for October. Previously, religious minorities – classified in four main groups: Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus and others – were not allowed to vote for representatives in their local districts but instead elected separate at-large representatives. Christians complained that this pushed them out of the mainstream of political life and that Muslim legislators would ignore the needs of religious minorities in their districts. On Jan. 16, the Pakistani government abolished the at-large positions, made provisions for minorities to vote in general electoral districts and dramatically increased the number of seats in the lower house of Parliament. Non-Muslims make up only 2% of Pakistan’s population. – Evangelical Press News Service
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Last modified March 14, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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