Short stuff

MCC News photo: Doug Hostetter

A street vendor sells food in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. While armed conflict continues in western Sudan’s Darfur region, the people of southern Sudan are beginning to recover from a 21-year civil war, says Rob Haarsager, Mennonite Central Committee representative. Juba was a garrison town during the war, but people now come and go freely. MCC works with Sudanese organizations to help communities recover from the trauma of displacement and war. They provide seeds and tools to displaced farmers, and are also involved in a peacemaking project that supports dialogue between ethnic groups divided by the conflict.

—MCC

Need some “aha” moments to use in worship services or inspirational settings? Family Life Network team members share openly and with vulnerability at Studio 225. The stories are packaged on 4-story DVDs, available without charge. “We’re not just sharing the life change of those we’re serving,” says David Balzer, who taped the first story about an experience on GodTalk radio. “We’re sharing our own.”

Studio 225 technical producer Grant Hoeppner and producer Melissa McEachern

—FLN

36 students from various MB churches across North America participated in one of three 6-day retreats held at the MB Seminary campus in Fresno, Cal. as the first stage of Ministry Quest. They played leadership games, heard from professors, built friendships, and discussed “what is a leader?” Once home, the students continued learning by being mentored in their churches. They will meet for a joint retreat in B.C. in February.

—Ministry Quest

Billy Graham, 88, said he and his wife Ruth are still “prayerfully” considering where they will be buried, and that their family “remains close and united in our deep faith in God.” The evangelist was responding to media reports that the family was divided on the issue, with son Franklin wanting the couple to be buried at the site of the Billy Graham Library opening in Charlotte, N.C. next year, and son Ned supporting his mother’s wish to be buried at The Cove, the Billy Graham Association’s conference centre in Asheville, N.C.

—Evangelical Press News

China Educational Exchange (CEE) recently marked its 25th anniversary and changed its name to Mennonite Partners in China (MPC), to more clearly identify it as a Mennonite program. More than 260 North Americans have taught in China for at least a year, but often staying 3 years or more, since MPC was founded. It is a program of Mennonite Mission Network, Mennonite Church Canada Witness, Mennonite Central Committee, and Eastern Mennonite Missions.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

The Amish community, which inspired the world with acts of forgiveness after a Pennsylvania schoolhouse shooting, was named “newsmaker of the year” for 2006 by the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) and Beliefnet. Other top picks included the violent reaction of Muslims to the publication of Muhammad cartoons, Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict’s use of a quote linking Islam and violence, and the Episcopal Church’s further alienation of conservatives by electing Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop.

—Evangelical Press News

Police burst into the Vietnam Mennonite church and residence of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang Jan. 9, broke up a prayer meeting, and arrested 17 people. All were released, after officials demolished part of the church/residence. Most of the buildings in the area were constructed without proper permits more than 20 years ago, but authorities seem to be singling out the Mennonite building for selective enforcement because of Pastor Quang’s advocacy for religious freedoms.

—Compass Direct

Ugandans celebrated the birth of a new circle of four Mennonite churches in southwestern Uganda in December. The churches are the result of outreach efforts, in communities where no vital congregations existed, begun in 2004 by the Kenya Mennonite Church. Ugandans serve as leaders, and the church is in the process of registering with the government as the first Mennonite Church of Uganda.

—Mennonite World Conference

Laura Loewen has decided not to renew her term as executive director for Mennonite Central Committee B.C. at the end of her term in June 2007. The decision was made for personal reasons and was accepted “with deep regret” by the board of MCC B.C. Loewen has served in the role since August 2000. Previously she was pastor at Mennonite Fellowship in Montreal and also served with MCC in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

—MCC B.C. release

Retracing the Great Trek: Two professors of Bethel College in North Newton, Kan. plan to retrace the journey made by Mennonites who trekked to Central Asia in 1880 to await the second coming of Christ. The visionary preacher Claas Epp led about 600 people into what is now Uzbekistan; he believed Christ’s return would occur Mar. 8, 1889. The 2007 version of the so-called Great Trek, to be held May 25–June 9, will start in the former Mennonite colonies of Ukraine and end at Ak Metchet and Khiva, where Epp ultimately settled.

—Mennonite Weekly Review

What’s best for the kids? There’s an urgent need for full study of the impact on future generations when longstanding social policies are changed to suit adult desires, says the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada about the Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent decision to recognize that a child may have more than two legal parents. EFC legal counsel Don Hutchinson says the three parent decision is an unfortunate example of allowing courts to make decisions in areas where government should determine public policy. The decision “will have a definite ripple effect throughout our society,” he says.

—EFC

“Infomania”: People are becoming addicted to e-mail and text messages, says a study done for computing firm Hewlett Packard. Researchers found that excessive use of technology reduced workers’ intelligence. The effects of constantly breaking away from tasks to react to messages are similar to losing a night’s sleep. More than half of the 1,100 respondents said they always responded to an e-mail “immediately” or as soon as possible; 62 percent checked work messages at home or on holiday.

—BBC News