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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
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is “deeply disappointed” with a decision by the Canadian Institute of Health Research to provide public research money for embryonic stem cell research. The CIHR, which released the guidelines March 4, will provide public money for research on human embryos under the following conditions: the embryos were created for reproductive purposes and are no longer required; cloning and research leading to cloning are prohibited; creating embryos solely for research purposes in prohibited; the donors of the embryos have given free and informed consent; there are no commercial transactions involved; and combining non-human stem cells with a human embryo or fetus, or human stem cells with non-human embryos is prohibited. The CIHR was established by the Canadian government in 2000 as the funding agency for health research in Canada. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, CBC News
Kim Phuc will be a guest speaker at the Mennonite Economic Development Associates annual convention Oct. 31–Nov. 3 in Niagara Falls, Ont. Phuc is known for a 1972 photo showing her, then 9, running naked down a road, her body burned from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. At the MEDA convention, under the theme “Moving Towards Wholeness”, Phuc will tell how that picture saved her life and how God has given her the ability to forgive, find healing and work on behalf of other innocent people who suffer in war. The convention will also feature Tom Caldwell, chair of Caldwell Securities, speaking on how he structures his business on biblical principles. – Mennonite Economic Development Associates
Mennonite Economic Development Associates recently submitted a $1.7 million US proposal to the Canadian International Development Agency that will provide educational loans to low-income families to help cover the cost of school fees, uniforms and books. MEDA, which specializes in business-oriented solutions to alleviate poverty, would not offer these loans itself, but would design a “loan program” that existing micro-finance institutions in Egypt could offer to their clients. Many Egyptian families can’t afford to send their children to school, and children as young as eight drop out of school. Many end up in the labour force or fall into crime. The MEDA program would work with micro-finance institutions to assess the needs of working children, convince small businesses that the children working for them will be more valuable employees if they get an education, develop ways for them to get an education, provide information to the Egyptian government so that it can develop policies that address these needs, and do research to determine how Egypt fits into the global trade and labour scene. – Mennonite Economic Development Associates
Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ ASSETS program offers training to low-income entrepreneurs to start or strengthen small businesses. The program is in the process of expanding to a number of new cities. MEDA Vancouver and Mennonite Central Committee B.C. are planning to launch a chapter of the program as a joint project in Abbotsford, B.C. – Mennonite Economic Development Associates
Five Congolese grassroots peace workers have been sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee to attend the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in Sun City, South Africa. The five-member team, made up of Mennonites, Quakers and Roman Catholics, is helping to write a “Pact for National Peace and Reconciliation”. Over 350 delegates are meeting to discuss new political and economic structures for the Congo, a country that has been gripped by war since August 1998. Currently, rebel forces backed by Rwanda and Uganda hold most of resource-rich eastern Congo and are fighting against the government of Joseph Kabila backed by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola. The Inter-Congolese Dialogue was originally scheduled for October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but lack of funding and cooperation postponed it. – Mennonite Central Committee
Edward Miller, most recently of Nairobi, Kenya, began serving an 18-month Mennonite Central Committee assignment in Baghdad, Iraq in mid-March. He will oversee and report on MCC aid shipments and other humanitarian aid. Miller will also work with MCC offices in Canada and the US, calling for United Nations-imposed economic sanctions on Iraq to be lifted. Since the UN imposed economic sanctions in 1990, MCC has sent food and material aid valued at nearly $1.6 million. In March, MCC shipped a container of health, school and sewing kits, bed sheets and fabric to Baghdad. Other MCC workers in Iraq are Wallace and Evelyn Shellenberger, who are studying through an exchange program with the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom; and Bruce and Ann Huntwork, who are helping to distribute aid in Afghanistan through MCC’s partner organization, the Iranian Red Crescent Society. – Mennonite Central Committee
The American Red Cross issued an apology March 11 after one of its chapters turned away a high school singing group from a volunteer recognition event because the group’s medley of patriotic songs included the words “God” and “prayer”. The apology came after the Red Cross was inundated with hundreds of phone calls and e-mails, many from people threatening to stop supporting the agency financially. First Act, a singing group made up of students from Orange County High School of Arts in California, planned to sing: “America the Beautiful”, “Prayer of the Children” and “God Bless the U.S.A.” in honour of Red Cross volunteers who helped after the Sept. 11 tragedy. Cherilyn Bacon, director of First Act, was told by a Red Cross spokesperson that the songs were inappropriate, since “religious words will offend some”. Bacon withdrew the choir from the event rather than change the lyrics or songs. – Evangelical Press News Service
Evangelist Billy Graham apologized March 1 and again on March 15 for remarks about Jews he made 30 years ago while speaking with then US President Richard Nixon about Jewish influence in the media. Graham said that Jews are “the ones putting out the pornographic stuff” and noted, “This stranglehold has got to be broken or this country’s going down the drain.” Later in the conversation, Graham said, “A lot of Jews are great friends of mine. . . . But they don’t know how I really feel about what they’re doing to this country, and I have no power and no way to handle them.” Graham’s tape-recorded remarks were recently made public as part of the continuing release of material from Nixon’s presidency. The discussion with Nixon occurred Feb. 1, 1972 in the Oval Office after the two attended a prayer breakfast. In his March 15 apology, Graham stated: “I had scores of conversations with Mr. Nixon in which we discussed every conceivable subject. However, I cannot imagine what caused me to make those comments, which I totally repudiate. . . . I don’t ever recall having those feelings about any group, especially the Jews, and I certainly do not have them now. My remarks did not reflect my love for the Jewish people.” – Evangelical Press News Service, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Plans to relocate Canadian Bible College and Theological Seminary from Regina to Calgary in time for a September 2003 opening are continuing. Nazarene University College of Calgary is also planning to build a facility on a 52-hectare site in southwest Calgary in conjunction with the new university college proposed by CBC/CTS. The move is not a merger of the two schools; the schools will retain their own identities. Canadian Bible College and Theological Seminary is affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. Nazarene University College is affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. – Christianweek
The percentage of Americans stating they had no religion was 14 in 2001, up from 8% in 1990. – Sightings, Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School
Over 80 residents from 35 Hutterite communities in Manitoba spent eight weeks learning about Anabaptist and Hutterite history and beliefs at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg this spring. This is the second year that CMU has offered the program, which began last year as a four-week pilot project. – Canadian Mennonite University
St. Petersburg Christian University (SPCU) in St. Petersburg, Russia received official state licensing for its educational programs in July 2001. Originally started with help from Christians in the West, SPCU has been gradually replacing Western instructors with newly trained Russian instructors, and instruction is now entirely in Russian. SPCU had 40 new students registered for September 2001, plus 20 more new students specializing in Christian education for children and youth. SPCU is run by a board made up of six Russians and six North Americans. Henry Dueck of Logos Canada is chair of the board’s executive committee. – Logos Canada
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Last modified April 17, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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