The United Church of Canada is investing $6-8 million on a two-year project that aims to attract new parishioners between the ages of 30 and 45. Emerging Spirits will include internet, television and radio campaigns, support and education for congregations on how to target this age group, and resource teams stationed throughout the country to help congregations in this endeavour.
Suzie McNeil, step-daughter of Rev. Ian McPherson of Erindale, Mississauga, was chosen as one of the finalists for Rock Star INXS, a reality show to choose the next lead singer for the band. The show aired during the summer of 2005.
ENI – The World Association for Christian Communication, a global media development and advocacy network, is relocating its headquarters from London to Toronto following a decline in grants from European donors to cover its core budget.
William Sloane Coffin, a former Yale University chaplain, civil rights activist and self-proclaimed "disturber of the peace" who revelled in infuriating his critics, died, aged 81 in April. Receiving an award in 2003 he said, "American Christians need forcefully and fearlessly to remind our leaders that it was the devil who tempted Jesus with unparalleled power and wealth," Coffin said. "And it is the devil in each American that makes us love to feel powerful."
Presbyterian minister Rev. Dr. Robert P. Fourney has been deposed from office for sexual misconduct following an investigation by the Presbytery of East Toronto and its Sexual Abuse and Harassment Committee.
"Canada Ministries has looked after Malvern as a child of its own," Christy Kurian, clerk of session, told the Record. "It can be proud of the way Malvern has turned around." Malvern, Scarborough, Ont., is 29 years old and for that time has been working off its manse loan. On April 9th, Mathew Goslinski, administrator for Canada Ministries, handed the manse keys to the church trustees, Sid Latchana, Myra Moyo and Margaret Horigan.
In response to the drought in Kenya, Canadian Foodgrains Bank is going to deliver over 5,000 metric tonnes of maize, beans, yellow split peas, and edible oil. The value of the food aid will be approximately $2.7 million.
Ontario recently banned all forms of religious arbitration in family matters, including Sharia law. Bill 27 was passed Feb. 14, making it illegal for religious bodies to hold their own court to decide matters related to family law. Such practices were allowed in Ontario since 1991, and had been used most extensively in Jewish circles.
Rev. Chuck Congram, right, was a highlight at the REAP Evangelism Conference in February in Hamilton. Relevant Effective Accessible Practical — this was the second of three conferences focusing on outreach ministry. Glen Soderholm, left, led worship with his original music: "May the Peace of Christ go with you, and also with you." Look for another conference next year!
Trinity York Mills, Toronto, and Evangel Hall are teaming up for the fourth straight year to raise money for the inner-city mission. “People in the community see a congregation doing something that's not abstract. And there's real excitement in the church,” said Jerry Crowder, an elder at Trinity.
It's always the case: if you want something done, ask somebody who is busy. Take Marilynne Grant for example. She is an elder at Knox, Oakville, Ont., and she also sits on the executive of of the Oakville May Court Club, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The club's 200 members raised $65,000 last year for a variety of different projects. One of the most popular is a puppet project that visits schools, teaching various life lessons, and a lunch box program that delivers food items to 11 schools in the Oakville area. They also support local groups working with disabled adults, cancer patients and people living with HIV, run a scholarship program which gave $20,000 to 21 students last year, and organize several annual fundraisers that support various community initiatives. “I've made so many close friends,” Grant told the Record. “And you work really hard to raise money and give it back to your community.”
Canadians marched outside of Toronto's City Hall on March 22 for World Water Day, a time for countries to draw attention to the United Nations' recommendations for global access to fresh water. Led by KAIROS and other social justice bodies, protesters were pressing for community control of water services throughout the world.
(AM) — The world's major international ecumenical bodies are proposing joint work, meetings and even a merger in the near future, signifying “an appetite for renewal and reform” within these bodies, according to Rev. Stephen Kendall, principal clerk of the Presbyterian Church and chairman of the finance committee at the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. “Primarily, it's an expression of the unity of the church,” said Kendall.
Sattler's Stained Glass Studio in Nova Scotia launched the first Maritime Stained Glass Registry to document the Maritimes' stained glass treasures last summer. The purpose of the registry is to serve as a record if a window is lost or damaged, and to act as a conservation aid.
Former moderator Rev. Mark Lewis has been appointed to one of the denomination's largest congregations, St. Andrew's, Kitchener, Ont. He will be inducted on May 7, and will fill the gap left after a three-member ministerial team had its pastoral ties severed by a presbytery-appointed committee in September 2004.
Wilma Welsh, an elder at Knox, Guelph, Ont., has been named moderator-elect for the 2006 General Assembly, to be held this year in St. Catharines, Ont. Her name will be presented at the opening session of assembly, where commissioners will vote.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada's website will feature a link to a new online questionnaire for the 2006 Census of Population, handled by Statistics Canada. The link will be available beginning May 2, while the census officially starts on May 16.
After several years of planning, studying, researching and debating, Assembly Council adopted several recommendations from the Healing and Reconciliation Design Team to establish a national Healing and Reconciliation initiative called Walking Together. The new commitments are as follows:
The Canadian Bible Society is celebrating 100 years of reaching “every man, woman and child with the life-giving Word of God” by distributing, translating and publishing the Bible in Canada and around the world. The Canadian Bible Society has translated Scripture into 134 languages, including 23 aboriginal languages. It also offers Bibles in large print, Braille and on tape. The society distributes New Testaments to prisons and the Canadian Forces, Scripture readings to hospitals, nursing homes and funeral homes, and offers 100 free Bibles to churches destroyed by fire.
Presbyterians are responding to the disaster left by Hurricane Katrina by volunteering their time and energy for short-term mission trips to Mississippi and Louisiana. A 26-person team from Ivy Presbyterian in New Tecumseth, Ont., will be making its way to Baton Rouge in August to rebuild homes that were destroyed by the hurricane. Ages of the mission-goers range from 12 to 70-something.