International Visitors to National Offices
“Unity cannot be in international organizations in an office in Geneva,” he said. “The unity we seek must be something that has a meaning and a proven reality at the local context of the church.”
John Nduna, head of the Action by Churches Together Alliance, visited Canadian partner agencies including Presbyterian World Service and Development in February. He met with staff and offered a presentation about the work of the Geneva-based organization, which coordinates emergency response and development projects through its web of partner agencies around the world.
“I think there has been a recognition that churches are doing just as much professional work [as secular organizations], if not better, because we are locally rooted … but globally connected,” he told the Record. “I think there’s a lot of respect now even within UN circles.”
Hakka Bible Complete
After 26 years in the making, Taiwan’s first Hakka Bible is complete. Missionary Paul McLean has been involved in the translation since the beginning. Six thousand copies are expected to be printed by the end of March.
“People are excited as they wait for the new Hakka Bible, not only in Taiwan but around the world,” said McLean. “We have received inquiries, plus words of encouragement and prayer support from interested people in Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Panama, England, the United States and Canada.”
McLean and his wife, Mary Beth, who works at the church’s national offices, will be in Taiwan in April for the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s General Assembly, during which the new Bible will be dedicated. The PCT will also be inaugurating a special year of Hakka mission.¦ —Erin Woods
Glynis Williams Appointed to International Ministries
Rev. Dr. Glynis Williams will be leaving her post at the refugee ministry she helped create and taking up the reigns of the church’s International Ministries office in Toronto this fall.
She will replace longtime associate secretary Rev. Dr. Ron Wallace who retires this June. Williams’ appointment should take effect Oct. 1.
The Montreal native founded Action Réfugiés Montreal, an ecumenical ministry of the Presbyterian and Anglican churches, and has served as its executive director since 1994. The Presbyterian College, where she studied, awarded her an honorary doctorate of divinity in 2009 and she was a nominee for moderator of the Presbyterian Church’s 2011 General Assembly.
International Ministries is a department of the Life and Mission Agency and is responsible for overseas mission staff, international partnerships, and an assortment of projects and programs. ¦ —Connie Wardle
Evangel Hall Raises Thousands
Evangel Hall Mission’s fourth annual Compassionate Hearts gala raised over $26,000 for the mission’s health and dental clinic. Held at Toronto’s Palais Royale with 160 guests in February, the evening’s highlights included a wine tasting sponsored by Tre Amici Wines and a musical performance by Agnes Zsigovics, who was accompanied by Michel Ross. A silent auction featured original art, jewellery and vacations in Ontario and Newfoundland.
“Homelessness … is associated with high rates of illness and poor oral health,” Evangel Hall’s executive director Joseph Taylor told the Record. “Mortality rates for homeless people are up to nine times higher than the general population.”
In the last year the clinic has served more than 1,100 individuals who have no other access to health and dental care. ¦ —EW
Equipping Parents
It is widely accepted that parents are the primary faith nurturers of young people, yet most often congregations focus on the one hour a week children and youth are at church, not on the countless hours they are within the family unit.
Members of eight churches met on Feb. 4, for a Family Circles Workshop at Central, Hamilton, Ont., learning, sharing and dreaming about families that regularly share meals, play together, talk and reflect on Bible stories, and pray together.
Using the Logos@Home: A Ministry Resource for Families curriculum, they experienced how a family would gather together to eat, play, worship and pray.
My family group had an Egyptian theme night as we recalled Jesus fleeing to Egypt shortly after his birth. First we played as we created our dinner placemats, spelling our names on them with hieroglyphic symbols. We continued in our play as I was wrapped as a mummy before we studied God’s word through a dramatic reading of Matthew 2:13-23.
As a parent of young children, I loved the possibilities in this curriculum. It is essential for us to assist families in the exciting and often intimidating task of passing on our faith to our little ones.
The event was sponsored by the Synod of Southwestern Ontario, the Presbytery of Hamilton and Central Church. ¦ —Colleen Wood
Update on PWS&D-CIDA
In December 2011 Presbyterian World Service and Development endorsed a three-year agreement with CIDA to fund maternal health programs in Afghanistan and Malawi. PWS&D is expected to sign the finalized agreement this spring. The total program budget is $2 million, with $1.5 million coming from CIDA.
“PWS&D needs to contribute its share of the program—25 per cent, or about $500,000 over the three years,” PSW&D’s senior program coordinator Guy Smagghe told the Record. The organization was one of 28 in Canada to submit successful proposals to the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, a project endorsed by the 2010 G-8 summit.
“In Malawi,” Smagghe said, “one main objective is to break the barriers preventing women from accessing care when they’re pregnant.” Many women suffer complications in childbirth because they do not have transportation to the hospital. Smagghe added, “They don’t feel they have the right to hospital care and/or they believe that their local birth attendant can handle the whole delivery at home.”
In Afghanistan, PWS&D’s work has a different focus. The country has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, mainly because of a lack of health care and health education. Child mortality is also high. PWS&D aims to work with existing clinics and health care providers to upgrade facilities, build new delivery rooms, change community attitudes toward maternal health care and train skilled birth attendants.
As the Muskoka Declaration requires, PWS&D’s new programs are led by partners in the beneficiary countries: the Uchembere Network for Maternal Health in Malawi and Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan. Those partners developed the initial proposal to CIDA and are now establishing baselines and targets to track the effectiveness of the programs. ¦ —EW
New Book Inspires Hope
Charlie’s Quest, by Don Davis, of St. Andrew’s, Owen Sound, Ont., spotlights a unique personal relationship with a disabled person, and the lessons of hope and determination that were learned along the way.
“My goal was to write an inspirational book that would help anyone who is facing a difficult life situation and offer them hope that there is a path to a new and more meaningful life,” Davis told the Record.
The book is based on a person Davis met in 1967; in 2000 he published an article in the Record titled Charlie: Lessons of Love from a Wheelchair. He has been working on the book for the past decade.
“Recovering from a major life-changing injury is a difficult process and many are unable to make the transition into a new and meaningful life,” he said. “The Canadian Armed Forces are now using my book as a rehabilitation tool with their injured soldiers.”
Charlie’s Quest is available through the WMS Book Room. ¦ —Amy MacLachlan
Canadian Ministries Updates Application Procedures
The Life and Mission Agency committee has changed Canadian Ministries’ grant policies to streamline the application process and place decision-making in the hands of a committee.
Previously, an application for a grant from Canadian Ministries had to be approved by two courts of the church—the applicant’s governing presbytery as well as the synod—before it could be evaluated by the grant committee and decided upon by the associate secretary of Canadian Ministries.
Since synods meet only once each year, exceptions were made; applications approved by presbyteries after their synod’s meeting were sent directly to Canadian Ministries.
The new process eliminates the need for synod approval. Missions and ministries will have their applications approved by their presbyteries, then sent directly to Canadian Ministries.
“I believe by leaving out the synod level we’ll be able to be more nimble in our granting process,” Ian MacDonald, associate secretary of Canadian Ministries, told the Life and Mission Agency committee at their March meeting.
Camps and other ministries at the synod level will have their applications approved by their synods rather than presbyteries, since the synod is the court to which they are accountable.
Changes have also been made to the form and function of the grants committee.
Previously made up of members appointed by their respective synods, the committee met once per year and acted in an advisory capacity. Final decision-making was left in the hands of the associate secretary of the department, with input from the general secretary of the Life and Mission Agency.
This committee has been replaced with a nine member LMA-appointed standing committee, with the associate secretary for Canadian Ministries and the general secretary of the LMA acting as voting ex-officio members. The committee will normally meet four times each year and will be responsible for decisions about grants. ¦ —Connie Wardle
Matching Needs Leads to Partnership
A mission-minded church without a coordinator and a mission without a space announced a partnership in February.
For almost 20 years, St. Andrew’s, Kingston, Ont., has offered a hot meal and fellowship on Sunday evenings from September to June for lonely people or those in need. However a flood in the church hall last summer—along with the lack of a coordinator for these meals—suspended operations.
Kingston Street Mission has parked its truck on a corner of St. Andrew’s property for almost the same amount of time. It provides a warm place, hot beverages, food, clothing, blankets and community for those who are trying to escape the cold nights on Kingston’s streets. The mission operates from 8 p.m. to midnight during the winter months.
The mission was facing the possibility of replacing its food truck at great cost and St. Andrew’s was looking for a coordinator for their Sunday meals. The partnership will enable both ministries to continue and evolve.
The mission will start using the church hall in March.¦ —with files from St. Andrew’s, Kingston, Ont.
College Convocations
The Presbyterian College, Montreal
When: May 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul (3415 Redpath St., Montreal)
Convocation speaker: Rev. Dr. Clyde Ervine, minister at Central,
Hamilton, Ont.
Honorary doctorate of divinity degree recipient: Rev. Dr. Linda J. Bell, minister at Gale, Elmira, Ont., and in 1992 the first woman to be elected moderator of a General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Knox College, Toronto
When: May 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Convocation Hall (University of Toronto)
Convocation speaker: Rev. Dr. Malcolm Warford, author of The Spirit’s Tether: Eight Lives in Ministry
Honorary doctorate of divinity degree recipient: Rev. Dr. Silas Ncozana, vice-chancellor and professor of church history at Sindima Memorial Institute, a former general secretary of Blantyre synod and a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi.
A pre-convention workshop entitled The Hidden World of Ministry will be led by Rev. Dr. Malcolm Warford from 9 until 12:30. Registration is $30 until April 20 and $45 thereafter. More information is available at knox.utoronto.ca/convocation.
Vancouver School of Theology
When: May 7 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Shaughnessy Heights United Church (1550 West 33 Ave., Vancouver)
Convocation speaker: Rev. Dr. Edwin Searcy, minister, University Hill United
Honorary doctorate of divinity degree recipients: Rev. Margaret Mullin, executive director of Winnipeg Inner City Missions, and United Church ministers Rev. Robert Burrows and Rev. Gary Paterson.
