ENI – The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank for pioneering small loans to poor people to set up in business, which has been hailed as a major boost for what is now called microfinance.
Kenneth Kim was officially installed as the new director of Presbyterian World Service and Development on Nov. 3 at a recognition service at church offices. His new position follows 11 years of service in Central America with International Ministries.
Asked why he teaches English in Taiwan as a volunteer, retired missionary Murray Garvin has a definite answer. “I enjoy the students more than anything else,” he told the Record during a visit to church offices in June. “They're mostly third-generation Christians. They're very dedicated, and there's a fervour that you don't see very often in the Canadian church. Most are pretty motivated.”
The story of Presbyterian missionary George Leslie Mackay came to the big screen in November, with a special launch screening at the University of Toronto. The documentary takes its title, The Black Bearded Barbarian: Mackay of Taiwan, from the name given to Mackay by the people he served. The documentary also aired on Omni, in available television markets.
The Jewish community recently honoured a Canadian Presbyterian minister who helped Jews and Christians escape Nazi persecution during the Second World War. Rev. Dr. Fred Metzger, now retired, was declared “righteous among the nations” at a Yad Vashem ceremony in Vancouver in May. Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador to Canada, flew in from Ottawa for the presentation.
Montreal's largest congregation received its new assistant minister, Rev. Steve Filyk, on a celebratory afternoon in October. The congregation of St. Andrew and St. Paul, along with presbytery members and ministers from around the city gathered at the historic church for the service of ordination.
ENI – The Malawi Council of Churches and a multi-faith grouping, the Public Affairs Committee, are urging the government to introduce a law barring prostitution, which they say is fuelling the spread of HIV/AIDS.
After declaring victory last year on Taco Bell for the treatment of Florida tomato pickers who supply the food chain, the Alliance for Fair Food, in association with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, are now going after McDonald's, the biggest fast food chain in North America.
When George van Beek gave his first $5,000 grant to start the Experimental Fund back in 1981, he wasn't really sure what would become of it.
ENI – A Roman Catholic priest who won approximately US$70,000 in a Polish television game show has said he plans to use the money for a new church in his parish that has been under construction for the past three years.
Upon my return from the central committee of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, I read a rather interesting comment from a Presbyterian minister friend, written in response to the newly elected WCC moderator, which spoke about the need for “new life” in the ecumenical movement. My friend wrote, “Like a probe sent to Mars, finding life may be a product of where you look for it. I see it all about me in my city. It is here that I see so much vitality and growth in ecumenism, along with growing acceptance and sharing.” After all, he suggested, the local expressions of ecumenism, in his city, are vibrant and healthy. People of different backgrounds regularly worship together, work on issues of common concern and have, through those involvements, broken down many of the historic divides in the Body of Christ. What more is needed on a national or international scale?
Dr. Ernie Regehr was named the 2007 recipient of the E.H. Johnson Award for someone working on the “cutting edge” of mission. Regehr was a co-founder of Project Ploughshares where he was worked diligently over the past several years. He is also adjunct associate professor in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo. Next year he will teach a course on “disarming conflicts” at Wilfrid Laurier University. Regehr publishes widely on peace and security issues and maintains a broad range of international engagements related to nuclear non-proliferation and regional conflicts. He has served as an NGO representative and expert advisor on a variety of Government of Canada delegations to multilateral disarmament forums and, among his current appointments, he is a Commissioner on the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs and a member of the Board of Directors of the Africa Peace Forum of Nairobi, Kenya.
ENI – German chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised as “self censorship” the cancellation of a Mozart opera in Berlin because of concern that a scene featuring the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad could lead to attacks by Muslims.
“This is a real marriage of theology and architecture,” Dwight Duncan, Ontario's energy minister told architect Roberto Chiotti who designed the “green” St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church in Toronto.
A long friendship in Christ was confirmed in September, when a twinning covenant was signed by the Saskatoon Native Circle Ministry and The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal.
ENI – Hungarian church leaders have urged politicians to show greater responsibility, following days of street protests calling for the resignation of the country's premier after he admitted telling lies about the economy.
The choir of the Hungarian Theological Seminary from Romania, under the direction of mission staff person Brian Johnston, arrived in Canada in late September and performed to standing ovations across the Maritimes and Ontario for two weeks. In introducing the choir to church office personnel, Annemarie Klassen thanked Johnston and the choir for bringing their ministry to Canada. A choir member later returned the compliment by thanking the Presbyterian staff for supporting them in their mission.
A diverse coalition of religious and civil liberties groups spoke out against a U.S. House bill in which a provision was passed stating military chaplains should be mindful of the pluralistic nature of the army and provide non-sectarian and inclusive prayer if necessary. Chaplains or their endorsing groups filed no complaints. However, the civil liberties coalition felt the provision was “unnecessary and unwise.”
ENI – Members of Canada's largest Protestant denomination are going to drink tap water at future meetings and not the bottled variety that has become institutionalised at gatherings, if church leaders have their way.
The stubborn resistance to empire exhibited in the Bible by the Jews in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament is a model to be emulated by Christians today, a panel of World Alliance of Reformed Churches theologians stated earlier this year from Manila, Philippines.