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The largest estate gift ever received by Eastern Mennonite Missions came from a quiet, frugal seamstress who married late in life. Edna Hershey Girvin of Salunga, Pa. had created a charitable trust for stock she owned in a local technology fund. The value increased dramatically when the company was sold and the trust re-invested the funds, leaving a bequest of $1.8 million that helped the mission agency through a tight budget period in 2004.
—Mennonite Weekly Review
44 percent of churchgoers want to hear more scriptural teaching on sex, twice the number of pastors (22 percent) who feel they should spend more time on the subject, according to a survey by Christianity Today International. An equal number of people (44 percent) say they’re satisfied with the number of sermons on sex. Both groups see pornography addiction as number one on their list of damaging sexual issues.
—Leadership
The Chinese MB ministerial of B.C. is launching a project to help two Chinese MB churches in Venezuela. It will include three to five short-term mission trips to the country for outreach and training. Pastor Isaac Chang of Pacific Grace MB Church, Vancouver, is coordinating the project.
—MB Chinese Herald
The Asia Mennonite Conference met for its sixth General Assembly Nov. 10–14 in Shamshabad, India. The theme was “Responding to Asian Challenges”; these challenges were identified as poverty, lack of resources and persecution. The next meeting will be held in Japan in 2010. Yoshihira Inamine of Japan is new chair of the group.
—Mennonite World Conference
Twenty more women trained in theology by 2009: this is one of the goals of the African Women Theologians committee of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in Africa. They also hope to make their churches more aware of women’s contributions, help girls develop a sense of belonging in the church, liberate themselves by biblical interpretation of oppressive beliefs and practices, and raise $1,000 among themselves to maintain an office.
—Mennonite World Conference
Signs that North Korea’s closed totalitarian regime may be crumbling include a “slow-motion exodus” of people out of the country, assisted by a Christian network that helps them reach South Korea and other Asian countries. Times reporter Michael Sheridan says his contacts confirmed escapers knew they should look for buildings displaying a cross and ask for people who knew the word Jesus.
—Times Online
The tragic death of a 21-year-old from Summerside Community Church, Edmonton, has resulted in many new people attending the church and making commitments to Christ. The third baptism of this year was celebrated in February; 80 people are currently attending the Alpha program. Ray and Katherine Wiens lead the congregation.
—Evangelism Canada
James Dobson says his comments about SpongeBob SquarePants, widely mocked in the media, were badly misrepresented. What he did say was that SpongeBob is one of 100 popular animated characters co-opted by the We Are Family Foundation to promote acceptance of homosexuality by children. This group, he says, “has very strong homosexual advocacy roots and biases.”
—EP News
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of the film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s fantasy novels directed by Andrew Adamson of Shrek fame, was introduced to the “faith community” in Burbank, Cal. in December. Paul Lauer of Motive Entertainment, who led the grassroots marketing campaign that mobilized churches around “The Passion” movie, used the preview to assure over 30 faith-based groups that the Narnia films will be faithful to the Narnia books, including their explicit Christian imagery.
—EP News
A new law governing the freedom of religion in China took effect March 1. The Religious Affairs Provisions may help Christians cut through bureaucratic difficulties when applying for official registration, safeguard religious property rights, and get permission to establish social service projects. But the law also includes new provisions to punish unregistered religious groups and will likely exacerbate tensions between the state and religious communities.
—Compass Direct
A comprehensive ban on human cloning passed a United Nations committee Feb. 18 and will now go to the General Assembly for a final vote. The non-binding proposal “to prohibit all forms of human cloning in as much as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life” was sharply contested within the committee; the vote passed 71–35 with 43 abstaining.
—reports
MCC News photo: Jenna A. Stoltzfus |
Luis Yanez (right) and Transito Morales work on a road project organized by a Baptist church in La Linea, El Salvador, which is a Mennonite Central Committee partner. Volunteers graded and paved a quarter mile of road, replacing an uneven dirt path that had been troublesome for residents lugging water and cooking gas containers by hand. MCC contributed $7,200 Cdn. for materials. La Linea was settled by people displaced by the Salvadoran civil war from 1980 to 1992 and was struck by an earthquake in 2001. MCC has since helped build or upgrade 90 homes in the community.
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Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region has begun an “Adopt-a-Home” build project for 2005, sponsored largely by Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren churches in the area. Actual building will take place in August. Members will be involved in everything from making sandwiches to building to befriending the new homeowners. The first donation to the project was $50 from a 12-year-old girl who had asked for donations to Habitat instead of birthday gifts. Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region has built 59 homes since 1988.
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