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Alberta beef and dairy producers raised over $82,000 for Canadian Foodgrains Bank during a fundraising sale held Nov. 14 in Ponoka, Alta. The Vold, Jones & Vold Auction sold 111 bred heifers, steers, cows, calves and bulls, some twice. In addition, over $7,000 in cash and cheques were donated by individuals. – Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Although 85% of Americans consider themselves to be Christian, only 8% say they are evangelical Christian, 33% claim they are born again but not evangelical and 44% describe themselves as Christians but neither evangelical nor born again. Atheists and agnostics represent 8%, and people of other faiths comprise 7% of the population. – Barna Research Group
Many of the Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches built in Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century have closed due to a declining English population and loss of interest in traditional religious practices. In an effort to keep Quebec’s architectural heritage, the government launched a grant program in December 2001, offering $1.5 million to churches that develop creative new uses for their facilities. The program follows a previous allocation of $85 million between 1995 and 2000 for the renovation of old church buildings. (However, only $100,000 of that amount was set aside for evangelical churches, known as “small denominations”.) For instance, the Quebec government offered to sell a small French-speaking Baptist congregation in Lachute a vacant Roman Catholic church for $1 and then offered a grant of $700,000 for renovations. However, the 40-member Baptist group could not afford the upkeep of the edifice and the government would not allow the Baptists to make changes to the exterior of the building such as removing statues of the saints. Instead, the group bought a smaller building belonging to the Brethren Assemblies for $1 and received a grant of $78,000 for renovations. – Christianweek
W.A. Criswell, influential pastor of the largest Southern Baptist church for nearly half a century, died Jan. 10. He was 92. Criswell pastored First Baptist Church in Dallas, Tex. 1944–1991. During that time, the church grew from 8000 to nearly 30,000 members. Criswell helped to move the denomination in a more conservative direction theologically, but was also willing to dialogue with the more liberal National Council of Churches. He wrote 54 books, including Why I Preach That the Bible is Literally True. In 1969, as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, he renounced his earlier position opposing racial integration, and opened his church to blacks. – Evangelical Press News Service
Mark Earley became president of Prison Fellowship Ministries on Feb. 1. He replaces Thomas Pratt. Ministry founder Charles Colson will continue as chairman. Earley, 47, was Attorney General of Virginia 1997–2001, when he resigned to run (unsuccessfully) for governor in the November 2001 elections. – Evangelical Press News Service
Vietnamese Montagnard refugees have fled to neighbouring Cambodia to escape religious and economic persecution from the Vietnamese government. Vietnamese officials are demanding the refugees who are staying in United Nations-run refugee camps to be returned to Vietnam by the end of April. However, after Vietnamese officials “invaded” one of the camps in March, the UN cancelled an earlier agreement to return the refugees. Cambodia and the UN have now agreed to resettle the 1000 refugees, most of whom are evangelical Christians, in another country. Refugees returning to Vietnam report imprisonment and mistreatment at the hands of Vietnamese authorities. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Liberty Commission
According to a study published in a recent issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, “religious commitment has a significant impact on depressive symptoms, satisfaction with life, hospital use and alcohol use.” Attendance at weekly worship services had the greatest impact on patients’ mental health. The study also found that patients with religious beliefs tended to feel that they were doing better in spite of their problems. One of the researches said, “In psychiatry we’ve always perhaps been under the assumption our patients are either less religious or use religion in a negative way.” – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Ottawa Citizen
The Miserete Kristos (Mennonite) Church of Ethiopia held jubilee celebrations in Addis Ababa Jan. 18–20. For many of the 8000–10,000 people who gathered for the anniversary, it was the first time they had heard about their roots and the early missionaries who came to Ethiopia in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1965, a revival among the youth called the “Heavenly Sunshine Chapel” brought many to the church, and it spread to other churches. The missionaries handed control of the churches over to Ethiopian Christians before 1982, when the new Marxist government seized all MKC church properties and closed the churches. Leaders were imprisoned and most missionaries left. Yet the church grew very rapidly during the years of persecution and afterwards. Today the MKC ministers to 178,622 people spread across 16 regions and has 260 congregations with 88,090 members. The Misirak Church, where the celebration was held, is probably the largest Mennonite church in the world, with 5000 members and a large stone building in the shape of a cross featuring a lofty dome over the altar. – Mennonite World Conference
Andrew and Amie Reimer were commissioned Mar. 10 as “Tri-Conference” church planters for Winnipeg’s north end. The Tri-Conference is made up of three small Mennonite denominations – Chortitzer Mennonite Conference, Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference and Evangelical Mennonite Conference. By 1998, the three denominations had decided to explore a joint mission venture. Inner City Youth Alive, an outreach program working in the city’s north end since 1986, joined the mission project in 2000. The Reimers, both graduates of Steinbach (Man.) Bible College, which is operated by the three denominations, were hired as church planters in fall 2001. – The Messenger
A grenade attack on 70 worshippers at International Protestant Church in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 17 killed five people, including two Americans, and injured 40 others. No group has claimed responsibility. The nondenominational church is 400 yards from the US embassy. – Evangelical Press News Service
Carl McIntire, who used his radio program to present fundamental Christian doctrine and ultra-conservative political views, died March 19. He was 95. McIntire was ordained by the Presbyterian Church (USA), but the denomination withdrew his ordination in 1935 after finding him guilty of “sowing dissension in the church” for his attacks on liberal leanings in the Church. His congregation withdrew from the denomination and founded the Presbyterian Church of America. When McIntire determined that the new denomination was too liberal, he started a third denomination, the Bible Presbyterian Church. He pastored Bible Presbyterian Church in Collingswood, N.J. 1938–98. His half-hour radio program The 20th Century Reformation Hour was heard on as many as 600 stations throughout the US and Canada in the 1960s. On the program, McIntire attacked communist infiltration of the government, homosexuality, liberal theology, fluoridation of water, modernism and socialism. McIntire lost his radio licence in 1973 for failing to make airtime available for opposing views on political issues; the loss of stations consequently contributed to a decline in ministry revenue. – Evangelical Press News Service
There were 337,249 live births in Canada in 1999, down 1.5% from 1998, according to Statistics Canada. The fertility rate, which estimates the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, continued its nine-year fall to a new low in 1999 with 1528 births per 1000 women aged 15–49. That 1.528 fertility rate is well below the 2.1 rate needed to keep the population from declining. Women aged 25–29 had the highest rate with 100.3 births per 1000 women, but the rate for this age group has decreased 24% since 1990. The report indicates more women are delaying their first pregnancies into their 30s. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14% of live births to first-time mothers. By 1999, this proportion was 32%. – Voice For Life
Mennonite Church USA has created two peace advocacy positions to make peacemaking and justice work an integral part of the new denomination’s ministries. Susan Mark Landis is serving as half-time peace advocate. She will push MC USA agencies to make peace emphases part of their programs; be responsible for a peace and justice presence at the denomination’s conventions; network with the MC USA anti-racism committee and people of colour associations; and provide a link to Mennonite World Conference, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Peace Tax Fund, Mennonite Central Committee and other inter-Mennonite groups. Leo Hartshorn is serving as full-time missional church consultant for peace and justice. Hartshorn will help make peace and justice a part of church planting, urban ministries, new immigrant ministries, evangelism and church development. He also will help to develop peace and justice resources. In addition to these new positions, an assistant director of witness and peace ministry will be sought. – Mennonite Church USA
The Lolaguzar Refugee Camp in Afghanistan has 875 displaced families living in makeshift tents of blankets and straw mats. Most of the camp residents are women and children. Mennonite Central Committee worker Doug Hostetter was in northern Afghanistan Nov. 1–8 where he visited Lolaguzar and other refugee camps and helped distribute food. MCC has contributed 21,000 comforters and food aid valued at over $4.49 million for Afghanistan since September.
Ryan Snider holds a child from a refugee camp in Afghanistan. Refugee children are born into poverty; many have seven or more siblings, and their families cannot afford to send them to schools. Refugees live in tents made of plastic sheets and cardboard. After 23 years of war in Afghanistan, roads are in poor shape, school buildings are riddled with bullets, hospitals are barren and the supply of electricity is sporadic. Snider is relief project manager for Samaritan’s Purse International; he is a member of Kitchener (Ont.) MB Church.
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Last modified April 30, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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