MCC News photo: Tara Tharayil |
Patrick Rochon (second from right), 18, of Église chrétienne évangélique de Saint-Eustache (Quebec) is having a busy summer. He is one of eight participants in Summerbridge, a Mennonite Central Committee program that gives Canadian youth from diverse backgrounds a chance to develop their leadership skills and strengthen ties to their congregation by allowing them to serve in their home communities for a summer.
Patrick is using his experience accompanying individuals with mental disabilities in some of his Summerbridge placements, including working at a summer camp for people with mental disabilities at Camp Péniel. In addition, he was chosen to be one of two leaders for Youth Mission International’s two-week outreach program, SOAR 2005, in Montreal. “I want to help spread joy to those I meet,” Patrick said. “I hope that I can build upon my own relationship with Jesus by serving in His name.”
Other participants are (l–r): Felix Poon (B.C.), Paul Girvan (N.S.), Christian Parent (French translator from Que.), Matthieu Lambert (Que.), Vanessa Vaillancourt (Que.), Patricia Nagant (Que.), Patrick Rochon, and Phillip Regner (B.C.)
Communities of Restoration, which Prison Fellowship International has established in 12 countries, have proven significantly effective in reducing recidivism: as low as 6% compared to 60–80%. Communities of Restoration are faith-based prison units that provide a supportive environment where prisoners are encouraged to grow in their faith, take responsibility for their behaviour, and restore broken relationships.
—Prison Fellowship International
Coordination of ministries and theological unity were the focus of the first Institutional Summit of the U.S. Mennonite Brethren Conference, which brought together leaders from MB schools (the Seminary, Tabor College, Fresno Pacific University), the five district conferences, MBMS International, and MB Foundation. The Summit is a feature of the governance structure provisionally adopted by the U.S. conference in 2004. Les Stahlke, who also guided Canadian MBs through their restructuring, has been retained as consultant.
—Christian Leader
Four ads on “Supernanny,” ABC’s reality program about a British nanny who helps couples manage their often unmanageable children, drew more than 70,000 hits to Focus on the Family’s website, with more than 15,000 people registering for additional information. The ads let people know that Focus on the Family has resources for families who are not the “one in a hundred thousand” who get picked for the show.
—Evangelical Press News
Twenty-five years ago, thousands of “boat people” – refugees from Southeast Asia – arrived in Canada. Many were hosted by Mennonites. A history conference sponsored by the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada and Mennonite Central Committee Canada, to be held Sept. 30–Oct. 1 at University of Winnipeg, will analyze, reflect on and celebrate this “moment in history” and the relationships that resulted.
—release
Ninety-three hospital beds, 1,111 newborn kits, 4,000 baby blankets and a variety of other medical supplies from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) will help stock a new maternity wing of Patan Hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal where MCC workers Fred and Cyndi Langworthy serve. Fred is the construction consultant for the 120-bed wing and Cyndi teaches ultrasound techniques to doctors. The hospital is operated by a local board and United Mission to Nepal.
—MCC News
St. Petersburg Christian University (SPCU), which provides theological education in the evangelical free church tradition in the former Soviet Union, graduated 29 students this spring and also installed their new rector, Alexander Negrov, one of the first graduates of SPCU. Negrov went on to study at Briercrest Bible College in Saskatchewan and earn a doctorate at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. SPCU was founded by Logos International; Herb and Maureen Klassen are executive secretaries of the Canadian branch.
—Logos Canada
They didn’t get Live 8’s publicity, but a group of Christian leaders also recently called on wealthy nations to do more to help the world’s poorest people. The group that gathered in London in late June included Robb Davis, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Jim Wallis, executive director of Sojourners, and Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action. Davis said he was glad for commitments G8 nations made at their Scotland summit but urged continuing education and advocacy for “just implementation of the promises made.”
—MCC, Mennonite World Conference
A 100-year-old Mennonite Brethren congregation in Dallas, Oregon closed its doors this January. Mennonite Brethren first came to the Dallas area in the 1890s when several Manitoba families migrated there in search of land. The first small church closed within several years. The current congregation was founded in 1905 and reached peak attendance in 1956 with 363 members, but declined steadily since. Its legacy to the community is a large retirement and seniors facility, as well as the local Victim Offender Reconciliation Program.
—Christian Leader
Hundreds gathered in Abbeville, South Carolina, July 12 to hear white leaders from a group of churches apologize to blacks for lynchings and other racial strife that occurred in their area’s history. The idea came when a 1916 lynching in the area was highlighted during the U.S. Senate’s formal apology in June for not outlawing lynching. “We confess to the sins of our fathers,” the church leaders said. Ministers representing the black community extended forgiveness.
—Evangelical Press News
Three paintings by Cuban artists that belong to the “In God’s Image: A Global Anabaptist Family” exhibition, on their way from Winnipeg to the Mennonite Church assembly meetings in Charlotte, N.C. in early July, had to be removed from the exhibition at the border. Curator Ray Dirks was informed that regulations allowing Cuban art to enter the U.S. as an exception to the embargo had changed. The exhibition celebrates the Anabaptist family of faith in 17 countries; Dirks was disappointed the Cuban church, which is “growing and full of life,” would not be represented to Americans.
—release
The Crimean village formerly known as Tchongrav (now called Kolodiazne), where a sizeable Mennonite Bible school and church existed in the 1920s, is the site of a recent church planting effort by Disciple Making International (DMI), a ministry of MBMS International. In May, a church planter couple from the area (Boris and Elena Timolayev) were appointed, DMI participants did door to door evangelism, and a building was rented for services.
—DMI Connector
Refugees returning to southern Sudan after a 21-year civil war will be helped by $990,000 Cdn in aid from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), which will include blankets, clothing, soap, school kits, household supplies and training of community leaders in peacemaking to deal with potential conflicts during resettlement. An estimated 4 million southern Sudanese refugees currently in northern Sudan are expected to return, following this year’s peace agreement between the government and former rebels in the south. MCC is appealing for donations of school kits.
—MCC News
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