People & events

Ten families (or about 100 people) in the Pakistan-controlled area of Kashmir devastated by an Oct. 8 earthquake will be supported by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) during the next year. Working through a local artisan group, MCC will provide food and basic necessities, assist in temporary homes and then build earthquake-resistant houses, and develop job and educational opportunities.

—MCC

Brokeback Mountain, which chronicles a decades-long homosexual affair between two cowboys, only tells half the story of what it means to be gay in America, said Mike Haley, director of gender issues for Focus on the Family. There is no disputing the Oscar-nominated movie is well-made and well-acted, but its message is dangerous, especially to young people questioning their sexuality, he said. The movie suggests the choices the characters make are “the only ones available to them.” Young people must be told this “isn’t true.”

—Evangelical Press News

Six Congolese church leaders from two Mennonite conferences (Congo Mennonite Church and Congo Evangelical Mennonite Church) will visit Mennonite Church USA congregations and institutions in March as part of an ongoing church-to-church initiative. They are coming to Mennonite World Conference’s (MWC) mini-assembly in Pasadena, Cal. but also want to forge closer relationships with congregations in Kansas, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

—MWC

Lakeview Bible Church in Lethbridge, Alta. put “legs” to their interest in missions last year. The congregation sponsored a fourth house-building trip for 11 volunteers to Juarez, Mexico in October. Three young people worked in other parts of the world. Lyndon Dyck went to Thailand to assist with recovery from the tsunami. Rachel Bremer and Rachel Vermeer spent a year with the MCC SALT program, Bremer at the Stansbury Children’s Home in Bolivia and Vermeer at the Korea Anabaptist Centre in Seoul, South Korea.

—church report

Show your heart: Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is seeking quilt squares (6- and 9-inch) with heart motifs. They will be incorporated into quilts or wall hangings to be sold at MCC relief sales. More than 200 blocks, including some made of Japanese and African fabrics, have been donated already. For more information, contact Bev Patkau at 403-247-0512.

—MCC

Persecution worldwide: Compass Direct’s Top 10

Compass Direct is a Christian news agency that researches and reports on persecution of Christians worldwide. Their “top 10” news stories of the past year were:

1. Dramatic spike in Eritrea. Imprisonment and torture of Christians has accelerated greatly, as the number of Eritrean Christians confirmed to be jailed for religious beliefs reached more than 1,700 by October, double the number in April.
2. Hollow promises in Vietnam. In spite of a human rights agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam, and less restrictive legislation, persecution of Christians continues at high levels.
3. State-sponsored persecution in Iran. Christian lay pastor Hamid Pourmand was acquitted on charges of apostasy and proselytizing by an Islamic court, but official moves like these unleash vigilante “religious police” and acts of violence by extremists. “I will stop Christianity in this country,” Iran’s new hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said to his provincial governors.
4. Massive destruction in Pakistan. In November, four churches, a convent, a mission-run school and Christian homes were ransacked to “teach the Christians a lesson.”
5. Sunday school teachers jailed in Indonesia. This country has a relative degree of religious freedom, so the sentencing of 3 women to 3 years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian program is a disturbing development.
6. Sham trial in Egypt. Coptic Christian Shafik Saleh Shafik received a controversial conviction of abuse that appears religiously motivated following unsubstantiated accusations by a teenager in a shelter for troubled young women.
7. Pastor jailed in China. House church pastor Cai Zhuohua, leader of 6 Beijing house churches, and three of his relatives were found guilty of “illegal business practices” and jailed after distributing Bibles.
8. Legal and physical assaults in India. There have been weekly incidents of violence against Christians, Rajasthan is poised to become the 6th state restricting religious conversions and the Supreme Court on Nov. 28 deferred, for the third time, ruling on whether Dalit Christians can be denied job and education rights.
9. Islamization in northern Nigeria. Christians in Nigeria’s northern quarters were frequent targets of violence last year as the imposition of sharia in 12 states in 2001 continued to feed extremist rage.
10. Violence in Indonesia. A series of gruesome attacks showed signs of being attempts by Muslim extremists to provoke Christians into religious conflicts in several regions.

—Compass Direct News