People & events

The Christian Fellowship Chapel in Orillia, Ont. celebrated its 60th anniversary in May. Close to 200 people attended a pig roast May 29 where the anniversary cake was cut by founding members (l–r) George Whitney, Ethel Whitney and Bob Gowanlock. Dr. Brian Stiller, president of Tyndale University, Toronto, spoke to a full house at the anniversary service May 30. Celebrations ended Sunday evening with Eduard Klassen performing on his Paraguayan harp. The congregation originated as an outreach effort of the Ontario MB Conference; services began in 1944 with formal organization in 1961.

Sod was turned June 12 to mark the beginning of construction of a new 6-storey 95-unit housing facility for seniors in Abbotsford, B.C. The new, as yet unnamed building, defined as supportive housing (seniors live independently but can access some basic services), forms part of the larger Menno Benevolent Society (MBS) facilities. Completion is projected for September 2005.

—MBS

Finally, after two years of prayer and “leg work,” visas have been granted the Nsulunkas, a Congolese couple led of God to help in refugee work in South Africa. Meanwhile, MBMSI missionaries Silas and Djane Costa e Silva of Brazil are waiting and praying for their visas and release of an invitation letter from Angola.

—MBMSI

The Javanese Mennonite Church celebrated its 150th anniversary May 11–16 in Indonesia with the baptism of 150 new believers. Founded in 1854 through the work of Dutch Mennonite missionaries led by Pieter Jansz, it is the oldest Mennonite church outside Europe and North America. The Indonesian Mennonite Church has 71,300 members in 3 synods, of which the Javanese is one.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

Only one “big-name” speaker at the International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand in July promoted abstinence: Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, proponent of the ABC policy (abstinence, being faithful and condoms). Uganda has brought its HIV infection rate down from more than 30 percent in the 1990s to 6 percent last year; Museveni credits abstinence.

—Evangelical Press News

Gifts of grain and cash to Canadian Foodgrains Bank totalled $7.3 million in their 2003–04 fiscal year, the second highest level in the organization’s 21-year history, according to their annual report. People in 21 countries received food assistance and seed totaling 16,493 metric tonnes. A half-time coordinator is expanding CFB’s program into the Maritime region.

—CFB

John Drescher, “probably the most published Mennonite author alive today,” was honoured May 16 at Franconia (Pa.) Mennonite Church. He has served the Mennonite Church more than 50 years, as pastor, bishop overseer, teacher at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and editor of Gospel Herald. He has also written 37 books and many articles.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

Tell the truth about embryonic stem-cell research: this was the challenge James Dobson of Focus on the Family gave journalists at a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. June 25. The notion that embryonic research will yield cures to diseases like Alzheimer’s needs to be challenged, he said, as well as the idea that no moral quandary exists because the embryos are “leftovers” from fertility clinics.

—Evangelical Press News

The Mennonite Historical Society of B.C. has endorsed the “Bargen Project Fund” to film the story of Peter Bargen’s flight from Russia to Canada in 1929. For more information or to donate, contact Ruth Derksen Siemens at 604-574-3378.

Though it opposed Bill C-250, which added “sexual orientation” to Canada’s hate propaganda law, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is urging Canadians not to overreact now that it has become law. The EFC is compiling a dossier of threats against Christians when they speak out on marriage and sexual morality.

—Faith Today

Notre Dame de Grace, a Mennonite Brethren church plant in Montreal led by Dave and Heidi Gray, is opening a Ten Thousand Villages store. The back of the store will be used for community events such as immigrant awareness, displaying art, conflict resolution seminars, and perhaps also church gatherings and offices.

—Rendez-vous Montreal

Staff and alumni of United Mission to Nepal (UMN), the umbrella organization through which Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Board of Missions work in Nepal, celebrated 50 years of service near Kathmandu, May 22–24. About 100 MCC workers have served in Nepal, a country earlier closed to the outside world.

—MCC News

A tradition of offering Bibles to new citizens was halted recently by the Citizenship Commission of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The Canadian Bible Society began distributing Bibles at citizenship ceremonies in 1947, but since 1998 had been allowed only a silent presence with a table and sign offering the Scriptures. The Society is asking for reconsideration of the ban.

—ChristianWeek

Fire has claimed another Mennonite Brethren church in the U.S. According to reports, the Lakota Gospel Church, a mission church at Porcupine, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge reservation, was completely destroyed. The Hillsboro MB Church in Hillsboro, Kansas burned in March.

—Central District Newsletter

Goldfish rocks are the best selling product of Ten Thousand Villages in the U.S. These are river stones collected by farmers in central Vietnam and then coated with lacquer and foil goldfish graphics in Ho Chi Minh City. Their sales through fair trade organizations like MCC’s Ten Thousand Villages enables farmers to supplement their income and provides jobs for some 30 people in the city.

—MCC News

The ongoing war on terror requires contingency plans for a potential draft, agreed the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. board, meeting in June. Initial plans call for a consultation on the issue with denominational leaders and service agencies. The board also bid farewell to outgoing Executive Director Jose Ortiz.

—MCC News