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A service honouring the contributions of Benjamin and Maria Janz to the migration of over 20,000 Mennonites from Ukraine and Russia during the 1920s will be held Aug. 4 at 3 p.m. at the Gem of the West Museum in Coaldale, Alta. The program will feature a concert by granddaughter, European soprano Edith Wiens. A commemorative monument will be unveiled following the celebration. Seating is limited. Admission is by ticket (free of charge) only. For tickets, contact: Gem of the West Museum, 2206 18th Street, Coaldale, Alta. TIM 1G2.
US President George Bush’s five-year military budget calls for spending $470 billion US in 2007, compared to $268 billion in 1998. This proposed increase to the US military budget is in contrast to the overall global military spending, which declined from $1.2 trillion in 1995 to $812 billion in 2000. Bush is asking Congress for $365 billion for the 2002 military budget and $396 billion for 2003. The 2003 US military budget is more than the combined military spending of the next 25 countries, including Russia, China and Japan; 26 times the combined military spending of countries the US considers its most likely adversaries – Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria; 11 times the total US spending on domestic food and housing programs; and 39 times the amount the US spends on international development and humanitarian assistance (approximately $10 billion for 2003). US aid to poor countries is 0.1% of its national wealth, placing it among the least generous of affluent nations. European Union countries, on average, give 0.33% of their wealth. – Mennonite Central Committee US Washington Memo
Lymphatic filariasis, an incurable, mosquito-transmitted disease causing severe swelling of the limbs, affects 120 million people in 73 countries. Mennonite Central Committee is participating in a worldwide effort to eradicate the disease through the Interchurch Medical Association, a coalition of Christian agencies. A campaign to rid Haiti of the disease is set to begin in August. The project involves giving people medicine that kills the parasitic worms that cause the disease so that they can’t be passed on by mosquitoes to new victims. This approach has been successful in other countries such as Japan and China. – Mennonite Central Committee
Germany recently added animal rights to its constitution, giving animals the same rights as people. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Ottawa Citizen
7000 tonnes of wheat flour from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank will provide food assistance to 3 million women and children in North Korea for a three-month period. The women are pregnant and nursing mothers, and the children are in orphanages, kindergartens and schools. CFGB is also supplying iron and Vitamin A supplements, as the flour will be made into fortified biscuits and noodles in North Korea prior to distribution. The Canadian International Development Agency is providing 4:1 matching dollars to support this project. A United Nations agency reports that over 50% of North Korean children suffer from stunted growth and development, primarily due to a lack of food. The first CFGB shipment of 1000 tonnes left May 24 and was expected to arrive in North Korea in late June or early July. – Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Jason Berry, in his 1992 book Lead Us Not Into Temptation, estimated that 20% to 80% of Roman Catholic priests in North America are homosexual or have a homosexual orientation and that up to half of these are sexually active. – The Report
Volunteers at the MCC East Coast Material Resource Center, Ephrata, Pa., pack school kits made from the sleeves of purple pyjamas.
MCC News Photo: Benjamin Krause |
10,800 pairs of purple flannel pyjamas, donated to Mennonite Central Committee in July 2001 by a corporation in New York, are being made into baby clothes, comforters, dresses, diapers and school kit bags to be used in other countries. The transformed items are being sent to Honduras, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Yugoslavia. – Mennonite Central Committee
Slavic Christian MB Center in Tacoma, Wash. dedicated its new facility Jan. 20. The Slavic congregation bought a former telephone service centre and warehouse for $290,000 US and renovated the building to accommodate the needs of both the church and the school it plans to start this fall. The renovated 40,000-square-foot facility, valued at around $5 million, is topped with a 60-foot green cupola or dome, a symbol of a Russian church, and a 10-foot gold cross. The renovation project was completed in two phases using mostly volunteer labour. The sanctuary seats 1360. MB Foundation, the stewardship ministry of the US MB Conference, assisted the congregation in the final phase of construction. The congregation has over 1000 members and 900 children. About 75% of the congregation is under age 40. The congregation has also bought 57 acres for a Christian camp.
Another MB church in the Pacific District Conference, Slavic Evangelical Church in Fairview, Ore., dedicated a new three-storey facility Nov. 25, 2001. The 37,000-square-foot building, valued at $5 million, includes a main sanctuary for about 1200 people, a balcony that seats another 800 and a choir loft that seats 250. In 1997, Slavic Evangelical Church bought eight acres in the Portland suburb of Fairview with the help of MB Foundation. A year later, the church repaid the land loan and began construction. Since 1997, MB Foundation has approved loans for eight new church facilities. Half of these loans have assisted Slavic churches, composed of recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, in their building projects. – The Christian Leader
This year’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is Nov. 17. IDOP Canada is encouraging churches to set aside this day to remember the 200 million Christians around the world who face discrimination, persecution and even death for their faith. Other countries, such as the US, will be holding the special day of prayer Nov. 10. This year’s theme is Paul’s plea in Colossians 4:8 to “remember my chains”. IDOP Canada is asking churches to pray especially for Christians in Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan and Laos/Vietnam. IDOP has resource kits available for churches interested in participating. More information is available from IDOP’s Web site. – The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
The Northwest Mennonite Conference has decided not to join the new Mennonite Church Canada formed by the merger of the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church. Northwest, formerly a regional conference with the Mennonite Church, took the action at its annual meeting in March near Tofield, Alta. The decision, which passed with a 69% vote, takes effect Mar. 31, 2003. The factor driving the decision was Mennonite Church Canada allowing regional conferences to enforce differing levels of accountability. For example, the Northwest Conference decided two years ago to place Calgary Inter-Mennonite Church under discipline because it accepts practising homosexuals as members. However, another area conference, the Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada, has taken no action against similar congregations. The Northwest Conference mostly consists of congregations in Alberta and northern British Columbia. Its one US congregation is seeking to join the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA this summer while keeping its Northwest membership. The Northwest Conference, which had been a provisional member of Mennonite Church Canada, is seeking other affiliations. It is the second regional conference to decide not to join the merged denomination. Last year, the Puerto Rico Conference chose not to join Mennonite Church USA but to seek relationships with other Latin American and Caribbean Mennonite groups. – The Mennonite
Instead of gifts, 25 guests to a first grader’s birthday party in Albany, N.Y. brought 50 health kits that will provide essential hygiene supplies for people in Mozambique, Haiti, Ukraine and other countries in the world. The health kits, to be distributed by Mennonite Central Committee, include toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, fingernail clippers and a hand towel. – Mennonite Central Committee
St. Jude Rural Training Centre in the Masaka district in southern Uganda teaches Ugandans about composting, fruit drying and raising organic plants and animals. John and Josephine Kizza began operating the agricultural extension school on their family farm in 1991. Last year, 15,000 people took courses at St. Jude, including university students, seasoned farmers, kitchen gardeners, government officials and foreign development workers. Mennonite Central Committee gives technical assistance to the farm and financial assistance to some of the students. – Mennonite Central Committee
Art students from Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute and a group of ESL students from Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg work on collaborative artwork for an art exhibit entitled “Among Friends” that opened May 2 at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg. Also participating were three professional artists, Tibebe Terffa of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Rose Namubiru Kirumira of Kampala, Uganda; and Hanif Shabgard, formerly of Kabul, Afghanistan. At the opening, visitors were invited to smash over two dozen clay pots that the group of artists had painted. The coloured pieces were then glued together, creating a collaborative piece of art. Other artwork in the exhibit was provided by the professional artists as well as MBCI art students, who had created artwork during the school year focusing on the themes of peace and freedom in light of Sept. 11.
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Last modified July 19, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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