People & events

Christian Fellowship Church, Lanigan, Sask. conducted an auction last spring to raise money for the purchase of a furnace, shingles, carpet and paint for a church plant. Another highlight of the past year was a missions conference in November with speaker Viktor Hamm of Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International. This February, 10 people from the church will join a group from Beechy for a short-term mission project in Mexico.

The Canadian Council of Anabaptist Leaders (CCAL) held their annual meeting in Winnipeg Nov. 28, to share highlights and concerns of their conference ministries, and to interact with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) representatives. Don Peters, executive director of MCC Canada, chaired the meeting.

Issues of common concern included governance models, women in ministry leadership and funding challenges. MCC reported on its “environmental scan” of its supporting constituency as it seeks to focus its mission and priorities. The conference leaders challenged MCC to state more clearly what has been implicit: that MCC is based out of and serves the church through its work.

Pictured are (back, l–r) Ron Dueck (MCC), Dick Wiebe (Chortitzer), Ron Penner (Evangelical Mennonite Conference), Don Peters (MCC), Jack Suderman (Mennonite Church Canada); (front) Henry Krause (Mennonite Church Canada), David Wiebe (Mennonite Brethren), Brian Bell (Brethren in Christ). The CCAL will host U.S. conference leaders at a joint meeting next December in Winnipeg.

—from report by David Wiebe

Borden (Sask.) MB Church hosted a centennial celebration June 30. About 200 people attended the service based on the theme “Giving God the Glory” and the barbecue and sharing that followed. Pictured are current and former pastors present in order of serving, beginning (bottom to top) with Tony and Michelle Martens (2000–present); Eldon and Marcy Fehr (1994–2000); Les and Marilyn Riediger (1989–1994); Rick and Gwen Schellenberg (1982–1988); Ewald and Linda Unruh (1978–1981).

Distribution, not numbers, is the main problem in pastoral shortage, say church leaders in Mennonite Church USA. “There is no shortage of candidates available for Menno-dense areas or for full-time pastorates or large, multi-staff teams,” comments denominational minister Diane Zaerr Brenneman. There is a shortage, however, for small congregations, for certain geographic areas, and for those willing to work part-time or bi-vocationally.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

A year after the tsunami’s devastation on India’s coast, poor Christians in the region face another “tidal wave”: religious discrimination. Dalits, long considered Untouchables, are accusing the government of denying them aid, social benefits and development help. Dalits represent 60 percent of India’s 25 million Christians. Already at the lowest rung of the caste system, many have lost all rights after conversion.

—Anglican Journal

Media watch: The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is monitoring the treatment of Christians in the media. Those who see “derogatory comments” can let the Ottawa office know.

—EFC release

An explosion of church growth in a remote part of Peru has been ignited, in part, by two young Peruvian Mennonites who have been living and working out of a van for two years, showing the Jesus film in Quechua. Whole villages have been welcoming the gospel. Quechua is one of 918 languages into which the Campus Crusade for Christ film has been translated.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

James Brenneman will serve as the 16th president of Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., beginning July 1. He is founding and lead pastor of Pasadena (Cal.) Mennonite Church, was president of the Center for Anabaptist Leadership and School of Urban Ministry in Los Angeles, and has taught in Old Testament studies at several schools, including Fuller Theological Seminary. He succeeds Shirley H. Showalter.

—MC USA News

The past year was tough for Canadian farmers, but the amount of grain donated to Canadian Foodgrains Bank increased. Poor quality meant its value was 85 percent of the previous year. However, cash donations also increased, to $3.9 million, the second highest amount in CFB’s 22-year history. Major recipient countries the past year were Sudan and North Korea.

—CFB Annual Report

Sarah Thompson, 21, the North American representative of Mennonite World Conference’s youth and young adult committee, AMIGOS, was named one of Glamour magazine’s “Top 10 College Women” in the USA and featured in the Oct. 2005 issue. A member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church, Elkhart, Ind., and student at Spelman College in Atlanta, Thompson entered the contest for fun. “I didn’t think Glamour would want anything to do with a young activist Mennonite whose history taught her to question critically mainstream culture’s emphasis on physical appearance, makeup and fashion,” she says. She was surprised by her win but thinks it will be great if it helps the cause of creating a global network of young Anabaptists.

—Mennonite World Conference news

Free audio and video programming for Apple’s latest iPod offered by Playboy Enterprises is “classic porn industry manipulation,” says Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action. “A company like Playboy introduces what it considers to be ‘acceptable’ content and quickly moves a user to harder material. It’s a calculated process of desensitization. . . . Once someone is addicted, they will pay.”

—Evangelical Press News

“The Shelter,” a youth drop-in centre run by Juliy and Roman Morozov (left) with their mother Ludmila in partnership with Family Life Network (FLN), Winnipeg, is significantly impacting the 720,000 people of Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. A local newspaper reports crime rates among youth dropped 300 percent since the centre opened. More than 60 youth have joined local churches. Juliy and Roman, whose father Alex Morozov produces radio programs for FLN, also want to launch a media program and recording studio.

—FLN release

Willow Creek Community Church took the lead in the decision by a number of prominent “seeker” and “megachurches” to remain closed on Sunday, December 25. The churches consulted before deciding to take the Sunday off. A spokesperson for Willow Creek Community Church said, “It’s being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy.” Critics said the decision indicated Christmas day is becoming more secularized, viewed even within the church as a holiday instead of a holy day.

—Evangelical Press News

Ben and Erna Falk, who have served in Siberia on two MCC assignments, participated in the 100th anniversary celebrations of the village of Neudachino, Siberia last summer. The provincial director of all villages in the Novisibirsk Oblast surprised his listeners, and moved many to tears, by apologizing for treatment the village experienced over many years of previous rule. He stated that the village’s success, despite roadblocks, was due to its founding by a people of faith. In 2007, the MB Conference of Siberia will commemorate its 100th anniversary; conference moderator Nikolai Dueckman extends an open invitation to join the celebrations.

—Falk letter