Rev. Margaret Mullin, executive director of Anishinabe Fellowship Centre, part of Winnipeg Inner City Missions, was honoured with the 2007 YMCA/YWCA Manitoba Women of Distinction award. Mullin won in the Arts and Culture category, held at a gala dinner in Winnipeg in May.

Study tours hosted by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank have been announced for 2008. Tentative destinations include: West Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia) or Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador) in January and February, and a youth tour to Honduras in February. It is not too early to apply for one of these educational trips, where participants get to experience how CFGB is impacting communities. Visit CFGB's website at www.foodgrainsbank.ca for more information.

ENI — US church leaders are lauding a wage agreement between the McDonald's fast-food chain and a group representing migrant farm workers in the state of Florida.

Rev. Ron Wallace remembers Japan well from the 1970s, when there were 2,000 missionaries working in that country. He calls those the glory days for mission work in Japan. He was a missionary there from 1976-1981 (and was one of nine Canadian Presbyterians there).

“An increased education opens doors and opportunities,” said Debbie Burns, who had no prior experience as a teacher, before going to China last summer to teach English. “It can change lives. It can make a difference. Getting an education is a big benefit in rural areas.”

ENI — “The escalation of gun violence compels us to call for an end to the manufacture and easy distribution of instruments of destruction,” said Rev. Robert Edgar, the general secretary of the US National Council of Churches after the killings at Virginia Tech University. “A faith that expresses compassion for all God's children is opposed to violence in all forms.”

A gathering of 30 pastors from 16 countries met in Geneva in April to forge connections, reignite relationships and discuss the role of large, influential congregations in today's Reformed churches. Rev. Dr. Richard Topping, minister at St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal, lecturer at The Presbyterian College, and co-author of Together in Ministry: The Theology and Practice of Ministry, attended the meetings on behalf of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Canada's first Fair Trade Town is Wolfville, N.S., as designated by TransFair Canada, an organization that certifies fair trade products. The idea was adapted from an initiative in England started in 1999. It didn't take long for the idea to spread, and the UK now has more than 200 of these towns, with more sprinkled throughout Europe and the United States. Fair trade ensures farmers (often living in developing countries) are paid a fair price for their product.

ENI — Eleven German denominations, including Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican churches, have formally recognized each other's baptism, in German.

Bridlewood Presbyterian, Toronto, has been involved with MissionFest Toronto, in one way or another, since its inception in 1995. The latest event, held in March, was the biggest yet, attracting 22,000 participants and relying on 230 volunteers. MFT has grown to over 200 exhibitors, 40 seminars, concerts and special programs. As a former director of MFT, I have attended each year and am encouraged by the increasing number of missions (like Yonge Street Mission and The Scott Mission, two inner-city ministries supported by various Presbyterian congregations), which present their ministries in varied formats. Other Presbyterian churches that supported the event include Smyrna Korean, Etobicoke, St. Andrew's Islington, Toronto, Toronto Korean Yum Kwang, Markham, Young Nak Korean, North York, and Light Korean, Toronto.

Rev. Dr. John Johnston, January Will and Rev. Stephen Kendall unveil a portrait of Will's father, Rev. Dr. T. Melville Bailey during the dedication of the church's national archive's reading room in Bailey's name in late April. Bailey was the irrepressible force behind the creation of the archives (and the museum, which Johnston oversees). Bailey's historical interests included his church and his beloved hometown of Hamilton, Ont. A park there will be named after him on June 23.

Katharine Masterton has been named the new program coordinator for Justice Ministries, after serving in the position on a contract basis since last August. She had been filling in for Gail Turner, who was recovering from surgery after an extensive illness. Turner decided to retire as of April 30, turning Masterton's position into a permanent one. She brings a keen interest in public justice issues to this post, is a graduate of Carleton University with a Bachelor of Humanities degree, and is a member of Unionville Presbyterian Church.

A national advertising campaign kicked off in April to provide notice and inform former students of Indian residential schools of their right to decline the overall settlement agreement between government, churches and Aboriginal Peoples. The optout period for potential claimants will end on Aug. 20. The revised agreement will see lump sum payments distributed to all former students, with extra compensation for cases of serious abuse. The agreement also includes funds for national commemoration events, and a truth and reconciliation commission. If 5000 opt out the agreement will not proceed.

The Record received four first place citations at the Canadian Church Press 50th anniversary awards, in May.

ENI — Religious leaders praised Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, who died in April at age 76, for enabling a religious revival. “Boris Nikolayevich strove to maintain good relations between the state authorities and the Church,” Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church stated.

ENI — “What I believe we need for a renewed theological grasp of scripture, is the recognition that scripture is something heard in the event where the community affirms its identity and seeks its renewal,” the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said in Toronto in April.