People & events

The largest Anabaptist church building in the world, a “holy stadium” built by the Jemaat Kristen (JKI) conference of churches to seat 12,000, is close to completion in Semarang, Indonesia. People have been moved to contribute and the building is going up debt free. Permission documents from 12 governmental departments as well as from the mayor, a Muslim cleric, were received in just four days. Started in 1997 with 25 people, the church now has more than 8,000 attending, most of them young people.

—Mennonite World Conference

A resolution to allow a local option for pastors to perform blessings for same-sex couples, presented to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) at its convention in Winnipeg July 21–24, was defeated. Of 408 votes cast on the third day of convention, 5 abstained, 183 voted yes and 220 voted no. The resolution needed a two-thirds majority to carry.

—ELCIC

Ron Mathies, recently retired as executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, has been awarded the inaugural Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar Award from Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont. He served as head of MCC since 1996 and is the former Director of Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel College. Mathies will teach a course and give various presentations. The award honours former Conrad Grebel pesident Rodney Sawatsky, who died in 2004.

—Conrad Grebel release

A step forward but far from perfect: that’s how KAIROS, a partnership of churches and related organizations (including Mennonite Central Committee) dedicated to social justice, summed up the G8 debt plan announced at the Gleneagles G8 Summit. Too much aid is tied to procurement of goods or consultants from donor countries, says the disappointed organization, and much of Canadian and U.S. aid is going to reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than Africa. The complete analysis is found at KAIROS Canada.

—KAIROS

Nearly a thousand people attended the 30th annual Exodus Freedom Conference, held in Ridgecrest, North Carolina in July. The first conference in 1975 birthed Exodus International, which now has more than 130 member ministries in North America. Membership director Randy Thomas says continued growth is “a testament to the power of Christ, and friends and family, to help those struggling to change.” Responding to criticisms that Exodus “plays on people’s hopes and fears,” spokespersons emphasized that their message is not coercive but “there’s an alternative” and that they help homosexuals who choose to change.

—Evangelical Press News Service, AgapePress

Cindy Mochizuki of Vancouver is the recipient of the 20th Canadian Japanese Mennonite Scholarship, awarded by Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCCC) and the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) annually since 1986 as a tangible expression of regret for the treatment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Mochizuki attends Simon Fraser University’s School of Contemporary Arts, and will use film, art and writing to express the feelings associated with memory and the internment of Japanese Canadians. Her passion for the subject stems from her own family’s experiences.

—MCC Canada

The Codex Sinaiticus, the 4th century manuscript of the Bible with the oldest known copy of the complete New Testament, is set to become accessible online. The manuscript is named after the monastery in Sinai, Egypt where it was written. A team of experts from several countries is currently digitizing the 400 parchment pages, as well as using hyperspectral imaging to photograph them in order to find hidden or erased text. The project will take about four years and then be available on a free website developed by the British Library.

—BBC News

Christian leaders in India fear a proposed new government law to stop the flow of foreign donations for “anti-national activities” will be misused to reduce foreign donations to churches in India. The new bill states an organization applying for registration must not have “indulged in activities aimed at conversion through inducement or force”; if enacted, it would give the government more power to control foreign donations and to refuse or cancel the registration of non-profit organizations.

—Compass Direct

The first English periodical of Canadian Mennonite Brethren, the Mennonite Observer, was launched 50 years ago this month, on September 21, 1955. While not explicitly a conference paper, the Mennonite Observer was published for MB church members. Leslie Stobbe was the first editor, followed by Gerhard D. Huebert. It appeared until 1961. The MB Herald took its place as an English-language conference periodical the following year.

Mosaic 2005 is a congress about church planting in Canada and about innovative ways of establishing new churches. Sponsored through Outreach Canada, it will be held in Toronto, Nov. 16–18. Speakers include Erwin McManus, pastor of an international congregation in Los Angeles; Samuel Donkor, founder of All Nations Full Gospel Church in Toronto; Ray Aldred of the Swan River (Alta.) Cree Nation; and Joyce Heron of Jacob’s Well in Vancouver.

—thecongress.ca

A wave of arrests of Chinese Christians since March has dashed hopes of greater religious freedom after a new law on religion, which encouraged house churches to register, took effect in March. Younger leaders were optimistic about the law while the older generation, which survived the Cultural Revolution, was suspicious of the government’s motives. In Jilan province, some 600 house church Christians were detained in May. In Henan province, approximately 100 pastors were arrested while meeting for leadership training. In June, Roman Catholics reported a wave of arrests in Hebei province.

—Compass Direct

Some 3,500 Germans have settled in the Winkler, Man. area since 1998. Although the area has a well-established community of Mennonites with German-speaking roots (including Canada’s oldest MB church), the new immigrants are less homogenous in religion. Attracted by inexpensive real estate and many opportunities for employment, they tend to have large families. Six of Winkler’s schools have added portable classrooms, with another school under construction.

—Western Standard