People & events

The Lord’s Resistance Army is a cult-like rebel group in Uganda that mixes Christianity, traditional beliefs and worship of leader Joseph Kony. Over the last 17 years, it has abducted 26,000 children and forced them into its service. Such children now make up 90% of the LRA. 800,000 people in the northern region have been forced into “protected villages” to escape LRA attacks. Schools have been closed, and 90% of the land in some areas is left untilled, leading to widespread hunger. Both sides in the civil war in nearby Sudan give support to the LRA.

—Compass Direct

In Latin America in the past decade, mortality rates for children under 5 have dropped by 25%, polio has been wiped out, and tetanus has dropped 90%. However, 500,000 children still die annually from curable ailments, and there are 200,000 AIDS orphans.

—World Pulse

A group of prostitutes in Concepción, Chile is suing a Christian group because the Christians are interfering with business, have turned the city’s largest brothel into a church and play loud music in the morning when the girls are sleeping.

—Evangelical Press News Service

The number of abortions in the US dropped from 1.61 million in 1990 to 1.31 million in 2000. The current rate of 21.3 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 is the lowest since 1974, well below the peak rate of 29.3 in 1980 and 1981.

—Evangelical Press News Service

In January 2003 a team of US and Canadian experts inspected fields littered with human remains in Sudan. Witnesses said that in April 2002 heavily armed soldiers of the northern Islamic government slaughtered one-third to one-half of the 6000 unarmed men, women and children living in the villages of Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji and Yawaji.

—Evangelical Press News Service

Mennonite Church Canada is cutting its annual budget by $2 million from $7.5 million to $5.5 million, after the denomination finished the 2002–2003 year (ending Jan. 31) with a $600,000 deficit, even after reducing some expenses and drawing on its reserves. Three main factors are responsible for the deficit. First, halfway through the year, it was discovered that certain administrative expenses had been miscalculated and would be actually be about $450,000 more than budgeted. Second, it was discovered later in the year that $500,000 calculated as revenue in the Mennonite Church Canada budget was actually intended to be passed on to binational Mennonite Church ministries. Third, contributions from the churches were $4 million, $1 million less than expected. Some of the problems were a result of staff changes and inexperience with Mennonite Church’s new structure. Mennonite Church Canada is the largest Mennonite denomination in Canada (slightly larger than the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches) and was formed a couple of years ago through a merger of Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. The cuts to Mennonite Church Canada’s budget include the laying off of 21 staff (equivalent to 18.75 full-time positions); the elimination of cost-of-living wage increases for all staff; a $231,000 reduction in funding to Canadian Mennonite Bible College (one of the partners in Canadian Mennonite University); and the reduction or elimination of a number of other programs.

—Mennonite Church Canada

40% of those who view child pornography also abuse children, according to detective sergeant Paul Gillespie, head of Toronto’s sex crimes unit. He was commenting on Operation Snowball, a two-year international investigation of Internet child pornography which has identified thousands of users worldwide, including 2329 in Canada. Only 100 of the 2329 have been charged so far because of the difficulty of compiling evidence.

—ChristianWeek

Mennonite Mission Health Association is an organization of Christian health and business professionals and others for the purpose of providing resources to Mennonite health care facilities in the developing world. It was founded in fall 2001 when nine men met in Denver, Colo. to discuss how they could help the Mennonite Brethren Medical Centre in Jadcherla, India provide quality health care to its community. MBMS International facilitated the first meeting and continues to have a representative on the MMHA board. MMHA now has two commissions, one to continue assistance to the original work in India and a second to assist medical work in Congo.

—MBMS International

Walt Disney World in Florida has announced that it is discontinuing its 28-year-old tradition of offering Christian worship services on weekends. The services attracted up to 1500 people. Christians have speculated that the move is in response to criticism by other groups, including homosexual organizations.

—Evangelical Press News Service

Government officials in Ethiopia have apologized to evangelical Christian leaders for violence that occurred Dec. 29 and announced on public radio that such attacks will not be tolerated in future. On Dec. 29, a fanatical group from the Coptic Orthodox Church attacked a three-day conference of evangelicals at a stadium in Mekele. They threw stones, beat some evangelicals and vandalized churches. One church belonging to the Meserete Kristos Church, a Mennonite denomination, had the canvas roof of its meetings place burned, along with Bibles, hymnbooks, choir gowns and sound equipment.

—Mennonite World Conference

400,000 Christians live in Iraq, about 1.5% of the population, down from over 2 million 20 years ago. Most are Catholic or Orthodox, but there are several dozen evangelical congregations in urban centres. Some of the Christians are ethnic Kurds. Others are Assyrians, descendants of a people group who accepted Christ in large numbers in the first century and then helped spread Christianity to China. Iraqi vice-president Tariq Aziz is a member of the latter group. Christians in Iraq sometimes have had more freedom than Christians in other Muslim countries because Iraq has considered itself a secular state. However, the Iraqi government has been increasingly pressuring them to deny their ethnicity and call themselves Arabs. After the first Gulf War in 1991, Saddam Hussein also began encouraging devotion to Islam, building scores of mosques and schools. Some Christians have been attacked by Muslim extremists in recent months.

—Compass Direct, B.C. Christian News

1945 Palestinians have been killed since the Intifada (uprising) began Sept. 29, 2000, according to the Israeli defence department. Of these, 130 were children under age 16 and 235 were noncombatants, mostly women and older men. However, some of the “children” were youths throwing firebombs or operating firearms.

—Council on American–Islamic Relations

“The Anabaptist Martyr in an Ecumenical Context” is a scholarly conference to take place July 15–16 at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. The conference is an outgrowth of the dialogue that has been taking place over the past five years sponsored by Mennonite World Conference and the Roman Catholic Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. Keynote speaker will be Brad S. Gregory, whose book Salvation at Stake (Harvard University Press, 1999) is the first major study of Anabaptist martyrs by a Roman Catholic scholar. For further information, see the website.

—Mennonite World Conference

“First Nations and First Settlers in the Fraser Valley (1890–1960)” is a conference scheduled for June 5–7 at the University College of the Fraser Valley, co-sponsored by UCFV and the Yarrow Research Committee. Presentations will focus on pre-settlement and early settlers, early religious life, immigrant life in Yarrow, art and literature, educational institutions, and economic initiatives. Keynote speaker will be Marlene Epp. The conference will include a tour of Yarrow, followed by a banquet of “ethnic” food at Yarrow MB Church on June 6. This event is part of the celebration of Yarrow’s 75th anniversary. For further information, see the website or phone the Jolly Roger Barbershop 604-823-4313, Chilliwack Museum 604-795-5210, Lora Sawatsky 604-795-5197, Mennonite Historical Society 604-853-6177 or David Giesbrecht 604-853-0382.

—Yarrow Research Committee

St. Petersburg Christian University’s new dormitory was opened to students on Jan 31. The University, which trains Russians for church planting and other Christian ministries, is assisted by LOGOS Canada and other charitable organizations in the West. It purchased two buildings several years ago and renovated the first as a teaching/administrative centre, then worked on the dormitory building as funds were available. The dormitory has rooms for men, women and married couples. About $80,000US is still needed to finish the dormitory building, particularly the chapel.