People & events

The power of fiction: According to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted this spring, almost 1 in 5 Canadians believes author Dan Brown’s fictional line (in The Da Vinci Code) that Jesus’ death was faked and that he married and had a family. An Opinion Research Business poll conducted in Britain found that people are twice as likely to believe Jesus fathered children after reading the book. Finding the results “shocking, frankly,” Ipsos Reid vice-president Andrew Grenville said, “It speaks to the power of storytelling.”

—CanWest, Reuters

“Arabic people love their satellite televisions,” said missionary Samir Youssef at this year’s first Celebration Missions Night, hosted by Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International at Northview Church, Abbotsford, May 7. “I even remember seeing a satellite dish outside of a tent in the desert.” The evening’s focus was North Africa, and Youssef and general director Randy Friesen shared their vision for satellite ministry there. Similar celebration events will follow throughout North America.

—MBMS International

And the winner is . . . Christian Peacemaker Teams. The newly-founded Michael Sattler Peace Award, established by the German Mennonite Peace Committee in memory of the reformed-era Anabaptist burned at the stake in 1527, was awarded to Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Rottenburg, Germany, May 20. CPT seeks non-violent alternatives to armed conflict and currently has teams in Baghdad, Hebron/Palestine, Columbia, and the U.S.–Mexico border.

—release

How many planet Earths would we need if everyone lived like you? Humanity is in “ecological overshoot” with annual demand on resources exceeding what the earth can regenerate each year, says Mathis Wackernagel, co-creator of the Ecological Footprint, which measures human demand on the earth. How many planets? Take a personal ecological footprint quiz at their website or learn more in “The Ecological Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet,” a DVD available from Mennonite Central Committee resources.

—MCC

Lots of turkey: Mennonite Central Committee’s 2005–2006 meat canning season yielded a record 566,322 cans of meat (479,695 of which were turkey). In a tradition dating to 1946, the 4-person canning crew took the mobile meat canner to 13 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between October and April, where they and thousands of volunteers cut, cooked, stirred, and canned donated meat. Each can feeds 5 to 10 people.

—MCC

Spain used to be called a missionary graveyard, but there’s real spiritual renewal happening now, says Ernesto Pinto, producer of the Spanish radio program Encuentro, who recently spoke at 5 outreach rallies there. He found people very responsive to the gospel and credits the influx of Christian immigrants from Latin American countries. Encuentro, a ministry of Family Life Network, based in Winnipeg, is aired on 21 stations in Spain.

—FLN

Civic education posters that depict the process of voting as well as human rights and economic development are being used by Mennonites in the DR Congo to help their communities prepare for the country’s first democratic election in 46 years. “The Mennonite vision is to rebuild the country with nonviolent methods,” says Pascal Kulungu, a Mennonite Brethren leader serving as chair of the inter-Mennonite effort. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is providing $94,000 Cdn. to train conflict mediators, election observers, and civic educators, as well as host some 20 international observers. Election day has been postponed several times but is now scheduled for July 30.

—MCC

Conscientious objectors in World War II will be under the lens at a history conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 21–22, sponsored by the Chair of Mennonite Studies (University of Winnipeg), several Mennonite historical societies, and Mennonite Central Committee Canada. “War and the Conscientious Objector” will look at the mostly untold story of 10,000 Canadians who sought alternatives to military service (including some 60 percent of Mennonite men who were called up) and seek to interpret it in today’s context. More information at their website.

—release

Visa denials: Mennonite church leaders seeking explanations for the denial of entry visas to more than 10 percent of delegates to the General Council of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) in California this March were stunned to learn that every travel applicant is now required to be interviewed and assumed to be an intended immigrant. No amount of documentation provided by an agency or political leader will suffice for approval. The meeting with a Washington official provided information for working with the procedures. “We learned a lot,” said MWC president Nancy Heisey, “but came away sobered by how difficult things really are.”

—MWC

100 years: The modern Pentecostal movement celebrated its beginnings this April, as some 20,000 people gathered in Los Angeles, site of the Azusa Street Revival. In 1906, William Seymour, a black pastor with an eclectic background (including stints in Catholic and Methodist Episcopal churches), began preaching about the then-new idea of “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” The Pentecostal/charismatic movement is Christianity’s fastest growing stream, with more than 580 million adherents worldwide.

—Evangelical Press News, Christianity Today

Amish teachers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana are working alongside Old Colony schools in Mennonite colonies in Mexico, to help them expand their curriculums and textbooks, provide teacher training, maintain attendance records, and organize school boards and parent–teacher conferences. The Amish have experience teaching in one-room Amish schools and are well accepted by the conservative Mennonites. The assistance was organized through the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

—MCC

Hearing, healing, helping, horizon: This is how one participant described the first global meeting of Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International country representatives, held in Abbotsford Apr. 3–7. He said he felt he was being heard by the MBMS International lead team, experiencing healing in his own life, finding the sessions helpful, and returning to his ministry with a renewed vision. The gathering will be repeated annually.

Pictured are (back, l–r) Ricky Sanchez (Thailand), Laurence Hiebert (Japan), Darren Duerksen (India), (middle) Otto Ekk (Portugal), Richard Funk (Austria), Ray Harms-Wiebe (lead team – global programs and initiatives), MBMS International board member Paul Dyck, (front) DMI director James Nikkel, Trever Godard (Mexico), Vic Wiens (Brazil). Not pictured, Murray Nickel (Congo).