The Life and Mission Agency and Project Ploughshares appointed Janna Payne to an eight-month internship based in Waterloo, Ont. She began work in October, and is the second of three interns to be hired in the joint program.

ENI – Christian communities should improve their knowledge of Islam, be good neighbours to Muslims and bear witness to their faith in an appropriate manner, 50 church leaders and experts said in a joint statement.

ENI – People in the poorest countries are being forced into poverty by having to repay hundreds of millions of dollars of illegitimate loans from wealthy Western countries to greedy dictators, an international meeting has heard.

R. G. Mitchell Family Books, Canada's largest Christian book wholesaler and retailer, declared bankruptcy in early September leaving over 150 unsecured creditors and $9 million in liabilities. The 74-year-old company has remained tight-lipped about reasons for the closure, and its sudden shutdown left many booksellers scrambling to find alternative distributors.

Nicole Morrow's unique fundraising drive for Evangel Hall was more than mere cosmetics. The mission-minded teen wrote a fundraising proposal on behalf of Evangel Hall for the Toskan Casale Foundation's Youth and Philanthropy Initiative, which was established by the tycoons behind Mac cosmetics. Morrow was amongst the winners and a cheque for $5,000 was received by Evangel Hall. Seen here is Morrow with the Hall's executive director Joseph Taylor.

ENI – "Whether you are covering Creationism or Zionism, or want to know your apostle from your epistle, The Bible Style Guide is here to help journalists get started," said David Ashford, the interdenominational Bible Society's media development officer, who has written a guide to help journalists and broadcasters get up to speed on biblical matters.

Web guru Colin Carmichael joined the Life and Mission Agency this October as Associate Secretary, Communication and Resource Production, a position which has been vacant for almost a year.

ENI – The global financial crisis should not derail progress that has been made on fighting poverty worldwide, religious leaders request. "When the powers that be declare there is an emergency, there is mobilization," Rev. David Beckmann, president of the Washington-based anti-hunger group Bread for the World, urged the United Nations Millennium Development Goals should not be forgotten.

This summer, Rosedale and Bonar-Parkdale, both in Toronto, conducted widely publicized funerals for murdered youth. Oliver Martin, 25, one of two young men who were shot outside a friend's condominium, was buried from Rosedale while Katelynn Sampson, 7, was found in the home of her caregivers, just a few blocks from Bonar-Parkdale, where she was remembered.

ENI – Violence against Christians continued in India, as the nation celebrated the 139th anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi's birth in October. The All India Christian Council said in early October that 57 Christians had been killed in the violence in the Kandhamal district, and that 4,300 Christian houses, as well as 142 churches and many Christian institutions had been looted and torched. Often described as a prophet of non-violence, Gandhi led the Indian independence movement against the British empire through peaceful protest.

The Gifts of Change catalogue provides a number of unique opportunities to support ministry and development in Canada and around the world. The recipient of your gift will be sent a card in your name, and your donation will be used by PWS&D's partners to attain program goals. The catalogue can be ordered individually or collectively from the Book Room, and is also available online.

BURNABY – The Presbytery of Westminster recognized Burnaby Taiwanese, which began as a mission and preaching point of Vancouver Taiwanese, as a stand-alone congregation in January.

ENI – Christian Internet bloggers have received 10 commandments from Britain's Evangelical Alliance to help them avoid the danger of writing in haste what they might later regret at leisure.

ENI – On the occasion of his 77th birthday in October Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu expressed his continuing vision for "culture that espouses listening, of fellowship, dialogue, mutual respect and of working together across generations.

"It has always been less about politics and more about service," said Jane Pitfield. "For me, it was about the message. I'm speaking up for people who have concerns that need to be heard." Pitfield ran for mayor of Toronto in 2006, and served for eight years previously as a city counsellor. She attends Leaside, Toronto.

The tireless group of pink hammer carpenters from Durham, Ont., built one house during their one week in Tijuana, Mexico in July. Together with other missionaries who had traveled to Tijuana from across North America, they built nine houses that week. First they had to raise $14,000 so they could afford to be missionaries. They were enterprising to say the least; and, really know how to carry a pink hammer. Back row: Stephan Smit, Ron MacIntyre, Jared McConnell. Middle row: Shannon Becker, Ané Smit, Caitlyn Osborne, Nicole Vander Meulen, Emily Hutchinson, Sam Becker, Mary Buller (honourary Canadian from Colorado). Front row: Rev. Jim Johnson, Linda Johnson, Kathleen McConnell.

ENI – One of the world's smallest nations, Tuvalu is slowly but surely sinking into the Pacific Ocean. Political and Church leaders want the world to join them in saving their nation of 12,000 people, and in doing so, save the world itself from the worst effects of climate change.

Bella Lam is leaving Presbyterian World Service and Development after five years as the Africa and Middle East program co-ordinator.

ENI – To boost morale and ease the Monday blues, the (Anglican) Church of England offered early morning commuters on September 1 a prayer published in a freesheet morning newspaper read by some 1.5 million who travel by train and subway on their way to work throughout Britain.