A new Conference Fund administered by the Life and Mission agency is available for anyone in the Presbyterian Church planning a small or large conference. Conference planners may apply for up to one-third of the cost of the conference to a maximum of $8,000. Those submitting an application must provide a proposed budget for the event, along with goals and expected benefits to the church, in order to be considered. Since the fund's inception about a month ago, it has already assisted the Body, Mind and Soul Conference held in May in Montreal, the Canadian Association for Parish Nursing Conference also in May in Ingersoll, Ont., and a Presbyterian Church of Taiwan/Presbyterian Church in Canada Theological Consultation to be held in Vancouver this month.

A love of nature led the late Don Elliott and his wife, Heather to ensure a rare and mature seven-hectare woodlot in southern Ontario's Oro Moraine was conserved and protected for future generations. Known as Elliott Woods, the land was donated to the Couchiching Conservancy in November 2006, whose mandate is to uphold the natural features of the forest while sharing it with the community. It's exactly what Don Elliott had hoped for the area.

ENI – A Japanese study group of Christian educators and doctors say sex education should be promoted from Christian perspectives.

CNW – The Canadian International Development Agency and Canadian Lutheran World Relief are contributing $632,000 to improve access to essential health care in the Palestinian Territories. The funding will be directed to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, the only institution offering specialized medical services like cancer treatment and dialysis to Palestinians.

The Presbyterian Record was awarded third place in the general excellence category for denominational magazines at the recent Canadian Church Press awards ceremony and convention in Cambridge, Ont., and narrowly missed placing in the same category at the Associated Church Press in Dallas just two weeks before that.

Rev. Bob Graham at Knox Presbyterian church in Alliston, Ont. learned of a Canadian invention which could purify dirty water and make it drinkable. The invention had been donated to Samaritans' Purse by the inventor in hopes that it could help the suffering people in some third world countries. The device was very simple and could be built on location where it was needed with training by volunteers. Dirty water poured in the top is filtered through sand and gravel which traps dirt and parasites which then feed upon one another. Clean water is forced up a tube and comes out drinkable.

ENI – The rice shortage, which the Philippines, an agricultural country, has been experiencing since March, is not only a matter of scarcity but also the result of a spiritual crisis, says an activist Roman Catholic priest.

Janice Carter, editor of The Presbyterian Message, died on March 17 after a three and a half-year battle with cancer. She was 50 years old.

Rev. Cheol Soon Park of Toronto Korean has been named moderator-elect for the 2008 General Assembly this June in Ottawa. After he is formally voted in just after the assembly's opening worship service, Park will become the assembly's first Korean moderator. Park moved to Canada in 1983, received his Master of Divinity degree from Knox College in 1987, and is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry program. He is also clerk of the Presbytery of Eastern Han-Ca, and has served on the Committee on Church Doctrine, the Evangelism Committee, the Centre for Asian-Canadian Theology and Ministry at Knox College, and the Board of Governors of Knox College.

Al Jazeera.net – A Catholic Church has been erected and was consecrated on Easter weekend in Doha, Qatar. The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary will serve Doha's nearly 150,000 Catholics, comprised of expatriate workers mainly from South Asia and the Philippines.

Barna – Seventy-eight per cent of American adults get married at some point in their life, and among those who have been married, one out of three have been divorced at least once, according to a new study from The Barna Group.

ENI – The Vatican says it respects and esteems Judaism, despite tension over a Good Friday prayer revived by the pontiff which some Jews say demeans their religion.

ENI – Christian journalists meeting in divided Cyprus urged unbiased and well-informed reporting on divisive issues founded on principles of equality, accessibility and dialogue.

A document that has “the capacity to change the World Council of Churches” was the subject of discussion at a series of meetings held in Toronto in early April. Called To Be One Church challenges churches to act upon the unity they seek with each other, Rev. Canon Dr. John Gibaut, Director of the WCC's Faith and Order committee, told an assembly of members from the United States and Canada. The brief document – at 2,300 words it is a filtering down of various other statements on the nature and purpose of the church dating to 1998 – “challenges us with 10 questions” that set the WCC's 349 member churches on “a call to journey … an arduous yet joyful path.”

The United Church Observer, the independent magazine of the United Church of Canada, is sponsoring a traveling exhibition focusing on the life and work of Charles Darwin currently on display at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

Alex Macdonald is the new program coordinator for work in Central America at Presbyterian World Service and Development. He has been the program assistant for communications since June 2006, and will fill the position effective June 2. He is fluent in Spanish, and has already been busy travelling to Central American countries to meet the church's partners and familiarize himself with the projects there. The Central America portfolio was previously managed by Guy Smagghe, who also coordinates PWS&D's work in Asia and government relations. According to Ken Kim, PWS&D's director, the change “reflects the increase in complexity and scope of our programming throughout the region.”

When I applied for the internship offered by Presbyterian World Service and Development to work with the Institute for Women's Research Training and Development in El Salvador for nine months, it was not done on a whim. I had spent the last three years looking forward to the moment that I would apply for a position overseas. In my final year of undergraduate study – majoring in International Development and Women's Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax – a friend told me about an international internship program funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. I immediately did some research and decided that I too would participate in an overseas internship following graduation.

ENI – CNN founder Ted Turner, who once called Christianity “a religion for losers,” has launched a joint initiative with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the United Methodist Church to raise US$200 million to fight malaria in Africa, which kills more than one million people each year.

ENI – A new reference book lists 648 denominations and movements, making the Netherlands the country with the second-largest number of Christian groups in the world, after the United States which tops at 2,000 in a similar book.

Rev. Dr. Hans Kouwenberg told Assembly Council, at its pre-General Assembly meeting in March, that the Aboriginal and Church Leaders' Tour on which he represented the Presbyterian Church was “one of the most phenomenal experiences of my life.” The Church's healing and reconciliation animator, Lori Ransom, reported that the turn-out for all four stops along the Canadian tour exceeded expectations (with about 1,500 people attending). There was strong Aboriginal participation, and it was a true step forward in having these two groups “walk together.”