The Presbyterian Church's website is going through a massive reconstruction. The new site is scheduled to be launched this summer, the result of a months-long process involving an outside web design company and a team of people at the national office. Keith Knight, associate secretary for communication, spearheaded the reconstruction process. “New technology allows us to transform our website from a library of resources into an interactive community where information is shared and conversation takes place.” He said new software allows people at the national office to easily update their portion of the website. The new format also makes the site easier to manage and navigate, and allows for the creation of discussion forums and blogs to provide for regular interaction with Presbyterians, sessions and presbyteries.

Guy Smagghe, of Presbyterian World Service and Development, right, visited the Kashtra refugee Camp, near Mansehra, Pakistan, for victims of the October 2005 earthquake that flattened many mountain villages. Over a thousand aftershocks since that fateful event have kept thousands, like the man beside him, from returning permanently to their traditional homes. PWS&D supports the camp through Action by Churches Together.

ENI — Global migration poses new challenges for churches worldwide, said Rev. Samuel Kobia, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

The Centre for Asian-Canadian Theology and Ministry at Knox College is hosting a seminar on May 28 on cross-cultural issues. The third and last in an annual series, the seminar aims to explore the histories of the Presbyterian Church in Canada along with those of the Korean, Ghanaian, Chinese and Taiwanese churches, and explore how these communities can share mission and ministry in the future.

New web manager arrives

ENI — Christians in Toronto commemorated the 200th anniversary of the law abolishing the slave trade in the then-British Empire, at a service in a church founded as the city's first black congregation in 1826.

ENI — Lent should be for penitence and fasting, and it should also be a time to live as the poorest people do and be united with them, say Roman Catholic labour activists in Hong Kong.

ENI — Churches in England and Scotland are taking part in wedding fairs to encourage couples to get married and to do so by marching down the aisle rather than into a registry office.

ENI — Religious groups have joined civic groups and international companies that include Volvo and General Electric in backing The Path to Climate Sustainability by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change. The coalition of more than 150 groups is calling for governments to set “scientifically informed targets” for reducing greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions.

The way Mission is organized and delivered, who is involved, and how the national office engages participants, will undergo a massive shift, according to a document discussed at the church's national mission agency committee meeting.

The Presbyterian Church recently signed a revised agreement between the federal government and the Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy for Corrections Services Canada, an advisory group on the provision of religious and spiritual care to inmates and the oversight of federal prison chaplains. Rev. Will Ingram, a minister at Morningside High Park, Toronto, signed on behalf of the committee, along with Correctional Services Commissioner Keith Coulter. The document describes the relationship between the two organizations and outlines how chaplaincy services are provided in correctional institutions.

Rev. Dr. J. H. (Hans) Kouwenberg of Calvin Church, Abbotsford, B.C., has been named moderator-elect for the 2007 General Assembly this June in Waterloo, Ont. Kouwenberg came to his current charge after 20 years at St. Giles', Prince George, and has served on a number of the church's national committees. He has been clerk and moderator of synod and presbytery, is currently convener of the board of St. Andrew's Hall and a member of the Committee on Theological Education, and has been on the governing bodies of all three theological colleges. In 2005, Presbyterian College awarded him an honorary doctorate. He has also acted as chaplain for the Royal Canadian Legion and for correctional services. He currently teaches literature at a Bible college in Abbotsford. Kouwenberg will be officially installed as moderator at the assembly.

The possibility of general assembly meeting every other year garnered the most discussion at an otherwise low-key Assembly Council meeting in March.

A Senate report released in February paints a bleak picture of Africa's economic state and chastises a Canadian agency for dumping billions of dollars into the continent with little to show for it.

Plans for the first mosque in Newmarket, Ont., have raised a national ruckus. A connection to Zafar Bangash, a controversial imam currently serving a large mosque in Richmond Hill, has some residents of this town about 50 kilometres north of Toronto wondering what will be taught in the renovated building.

Canadians across the country took to the streets, hosted public forums and wrote their politicians during the week of March 22, World Water Day, to draw attention to a range of water justice issues, including Canada's refusal to ensure that access to clean water is a human right, and problems created by bottled water consumption.

The Presbytery of Ottawa's worship and witness committee hosted an event in March called Hearing the Voices of Peace, a panel discussion exploring the work of peacemakers in Israel and Palestine. Panelists represented Jewish, Muslim and Christian perspectives. Pictured are (l to r): Diana Ralph, an anti-Zionist Jew; Rula Odeh, a Christian of Palestinian origin; and Samah Sabawi, a Muslim, Gaza-born Canadian writer and human rights advocate. “Our perspectives deepen when we take the time to listen to others' stories,” said congregation member Katie Munnik. “Peace is built on grassroots encounters like these.”

ENI — Austrian church leaders have accused retailers of devaluing human life after an abortion clinic opened alongside other stores at a new Vienna shopping mall.

The Presbyterian Record ran an advertisement last spring that just grabbed me. Here was an opportunity for mission in the Holy Land, a mission to walk where Jesus walked, attempting in some small way to bring justice, solidarity and presence to those being persecuted. Before retirement, I was the owner of a manufacturing company, experienced in interviewing job applicants. I now found myself in the opposite situation being interviewed by a dozen or so professional mission staff at PCC offices in Toronto. They were candid about the personal challenges I would face should I take on this mission to Palestine/Israel.

The Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu of 1968, all of which had their origins in bird flu, resulted in 40- to 50-million deaths. But new strains of avian-related viruses are potentially even more dangerous today. “Humans have no immunity to them,” said Dr. Michael Markus, a consultant in occupational medicine and travellers' health. “And as it jumps to other species that are closer to humans, it means the virus is getting more efficient.”