Earth Hour, March 29, 2008: People across the world turned off their power for one hour. KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, an NGO supported by the Presbyterian Church, held an event at Holy Trinity, Toronto, where the gathered signed a petiition to Prime Minister Harper to redirect oil and gas subsidies to more sustainable energy sources.
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“We have to re-formulate our identity,” Rev. Daniel Cho told the Life and Mission Agency Committee in March. “And how it is articulated and communicated to ourselves and others, because that perception will reflect and influence our work.”
ENI – The moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rev. Sheilagh Kesting, has warned that anti-English bigotry in Scotland is akin to sectarianism and should not be tolerated. She stirred a recent heated debate in the Scottish press when she said that anti-English banter during sporting events between the two countries could be harmful and might lead to more sinister behaviour.
ENI – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to the “Stolen Generations” – Indigenous people removed from their families under old policies aimed at assimilation – in February. Church leaders applauded the apology and called for practical steps to address Indigenous disadvantage.
ENI – “The fact that a newspaper needs a short sentence, or that radio stations have only a few minutes in which to report, often does not fit in with how we talk in church. A sermon lasts at least 15 minutes, and a theological lecture at least 45,” German Lutheran Bishop Margot Käsmann said in a speech at the Protestant Media Academy in Berlin.
ENI – At 2.25 per cent, Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States experienced the largest percentage increase in membership among the top 25 denominations, according to the US National Council of Churches' 2008 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Jehovah's Witnesses are the 25th largest church in the States with 1,069,530 members.
About a year ago, a group of female students at Presbyterian College, Montreal were discussing how we managed our lives outside of school. We shared our experiences of answering God's call by meeting the demands of student life while also being wife or mother, single woman or friend, and in many cases, living far away from home in order to do so. We laughed and groaned as we swapped stories. Yet as we witnessed a new sense of solidarity emerging, we learned that we were not alone.
The Group of Eight countries have made a lot of promises “in good faith” a political science professor said at a public gathering in Winnipeg, but they “have now fallen badly behind. However, they have delivered big in the past and still control their own fate. But from their people they now need a push and advice on what their priorities and path should be.”
Teenager Beth Yando spent part of February in Geneva, Switzerland, as a steward at the World Council of Churches' central committee meetings. The committee meets occasionally between assemblies to further discuss the council's policies, programs and budget. For Yando it was an eye-opening experience as she joined young people from around the world with very different points of view but all committed to ecumenism. “The very process of dialogue enables each of us to become more comfortable in our own faith stance and secure enough in our relationship as Christian churches to open ourselves even further in inter-religious dialogue and relationships.”
The Ontario branch of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a celebration on June 22 to be held at Country Heritage Park near Milton, Ont. A catered chicken and rib barbeque will be served at 5:30. Seating is limited and tickets are available before June 8 for $30.
St. Andrew's Hall at the Vancouver School of Theology Date: Monday, May 12, 2008 Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Shaughnessy Heights United Church Speaker: Dr. Robert […]
ENI – Kenyan Methodist, Rev. Samuel Kobia, effectively resigned from his position as general secretary of the World Council of Churches in February during a regular meeting of the central committee. Kobia was expected to run for a second term.
The fate of Trinity, Oro, Ont., has been decided. At a meeting of the Barrie Presbytery in February, the interim moderator, Rev. Neal Mathers, reported Trinity is healthy and warrants continuation.
A young member of the Bull Rock Dancers enlivens the Grand Entry Procession in Ottawa's Museum of Civilization where the Aboriginal and Church Leaders' Tour had its first stop on March 2. An estimated 500 people were in attendance. The second stop in Vancouver was also very well attended. The Record will feature the tour in the May 2008 issue.
The indefatigable Rev. Dr. John Johnston died on January 10, seven weeks after suffering major injuries in a vehicle accident. He was 80. About 1,000 people attended his memorial service a week later at McNab, Hamilton, Ont.
Presbyterians Sharing … contributions were down slightly from 2006, but have surpassed givings for the three years before that. The final tally for 2007 is $8,734,120 – with almost $2 million of that received during the first two weeks of January.
ENI – Lithuanian bishops are clashing with the country's media mavens over their support of laws restricting advertisements for alcoholic beverages.
ENI – A proposal to make religion a required subject in the first seven years of school has triggered severe criticism from religious and secular quarters in Bulgaria – officially atheist in the years of communist rule but in which most of the 7.7 million population profess allegiance to the orthodox church.
ENI – WCC general secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Kenyan, said in January he hoped Kenya “will overcome the prevailing situation and that the churches will play an important part in speeding up that time.”