People & events

January 22, 2006 is World Fellowship Sunday for Anabaptist-related churches around the world. Writers from India and Indonesia chose this year’s theme, “Bringing peace in difficult times,” and have prepared worship material that reflects the life and struggles of churches in Asia. The material outlines an entire service and can be adapted for local situations. It is available at the Mennonite World Conference website.

—Mennonite World Conference release

Canadian Foodgrains Bank, working through its member agencies, is responding to a food crisis affecting 12 million people in parts of southern Africa where the maize harvest is the poorest in 10 years. Projects are underway to distribute over 6,500 metric tonnes of food in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. It is hoped Zimbabwe will also receive aid, after political constraints to distribution are overcome.

—CFB release

Small steps for the environment: In June, staff at the Mennonite Central Committee Ontario office in Kitchener joined 2,004 others in Waterloo Region’s 6th annual commuter challenge, leaving their single occupancy cars at home and saving 34,341 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the environment. In August, MCC Ontario purchased a Toyota Prius, a gas–electric hybrid.

—MCCO “Tidings”

Assisted suicide and euthanasia will be the next major public debate facing Canadian Christians, writes Bruce Clemenger, president of Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Though seemingly unrelated to the redefinition of marriage, he says, the same value questions drive both debates: that of human autonomy and human dignity.

—FaithToday

Should the military do humanitarian work in conflict situations? A representative of the Canadian Armed Forces at “Guns, Food and Medicine,” an Oct. 13 forum sponsored by Winnipeg’s Menno Simons College and Mennonite Central Committee, said wars in “failing states” like Somalia and Chechnya require the military to “fight, provide security and do humanitarian work.” Aid group representatives, however, said no, the roles should not be intertwined, because this endangers humanitarian workers as well as civilians.

—Canadian Mennonite University release

Simonhouse Bible Camp near Cranberry Portage, Man., a Manitoba MB conference camp that serves its northern churches, has commenced construction of a new lodge complex. The 7,700 square foot building will serve as a dining and administrative facility and will include modern shower and washroom facilities.

—release

Hundreds of people died and many lost their homes when tropical storm Stan pummeled areas of Central America in early October. Mennonite Central Committee has responded by sponsoring teams of Mennonite youth and young adults from Belize, Guatemala City and Guatemalan K’ekchi communities to do cleanup, reconstruction and social work in the vicinity of Santiago Atitlan.

—MCC News

“Oasis communities” of Christian believers are emerging in North Africa because of the Arabic media ministry of Family Life Network (FLN). MB Mission and Service International will partner with the MB media ministry in holistic church planting, providing discipleship materials for these believers. MBMSI director Randy Friesen says, “There is an unusual openness to the gospel at the present time in one of the driest places on the planet.” A team and assignment details are being developed.

—MBMSI Global Bridge

Most Canadian families feel satisfied with the way they handle their finances, according to a national Environics survey commissioned by MasterCard Canada. Statistics Canada, however, reports that Canadians’ personal savings rate – the difference between their spending and their disposable income – fell into the red for the first time since 1961. Credit Counselling Canada spokesperson Laurie Campbell said, “Canadian families need a reality check” on how they are managing their money.

—familyfacts.ca

MCC News Service photo

Seedlings for Haiti: From left, Sevner Elisdort, Pepe Antwan and Matthew Van Geest (an MCC worker from St.Catharines, Ont.) work at a distribution of tree seedlings near Desarmes, Haiti. Mennonite Central Committee has sponsored the distribution of about 8 million tree seedlings in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley since 1982.

—MCC News

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) sent an exploratory delegation to Burundi, Eastern Congo and Northern Uganda in October and November to consider how CPT can partner with peacemakers in the region. Africa is home to 15 of the 36 armed conflicts in the world today, and these regions experience terrible violence, though little is reported in the western press.

—CPT “Signs of the Times”

Two-thirds of Americans believe Intelligent Design (ID) should be taught alongside evolutionary theory in schools, according to a July poll by the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life and the Pew Research Center. ID, which has emerged from biochemical research, makes the case for a cosmic “designer,” without identifying this as God, as creationism does. The poll responses did not divide along political or Christian/secular lines.

—Christian Courier

Christians in a remote village of Uzbekistan are being beaten, humiliated and driven from their homes and jobs for converting to Christianity. A local strongman is orchestrating harsh opposition to every villager known to have “abandoned the Muslim faith of their parents.” The water supply to Christian homes has been cut off. The church of nearly 100 has dwindled to 20 under the pressure.

—Compass Direct