Before my wife, Heather, and I left for Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa last November, many friends and acquaintances advised us that this trip would be a life-changing experience — one we would never forget. They could not have been more right. As we drove into Blantyre, the largest city in the south of the country, our first impression was “this is not right — this is not normal.” Now that we are back in Canada we look around and think to ourselves “this is not right — this is not normal.” We had both done our homework and had read in-depth the articles and publications relating to the AIDS situation in Africa but all the studying could not have prepared us for what we were about to see. In Malawi, which is called the warm heart of Africa, we looked upon the faces that went with the numbers. We saw the giants of faith and marveled at an inner strength the Lord bestows on those who reach out to Him during times of hardship.

A preacher who concerns himself with how a medium can increase his audience will miss the significant question: In what sense do new media alter what is meant by religion, by church, even by God?– Neil Postman

I was hungry and you fed me,

AIDS has become a gender-based disease in Africa where women and girls are most at risk. In Malawi, women represent 56.8 per cent of HIV-positive adults. In many parts of Africa, girls are born into a society where they have no rights. Many face marital rape and men refusing to use condoms.

The problem of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is gigantic. It is difficult for Canadians to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Both adults and children can be infected with HIV, but if just adults are considered, the numbers infected in some of the southern African countries have reached as high as 30 or 40 per cent. Infection rates in East and West Africa are less than these figures but still remain very high. Canadians can only imagine how they would feel if a third of adults on their street or a third of their extended adult family were infected with HIV.

Something not right If despair could be a place it would be a palliative care ward in Malawi by Dave Mansell On a dusty road […]

Dear Readers:

Greta loves to garden, take pictures of her grandchildren and dance in her living room. A church-going woman all her life, she is a widow, and loves any opportunity to help others. She is 70 years old and a retired school teacher who travelled the world during summer vacations. Her growing congregation is always in need of volunteers, but Greta has only been asked to bake her famous lemon pound cake for Sunday coffee time and knit blankets for the church's mission project in Malawi. She wants to do something where her talents and knowledge would truly be put to use, but is hesitant to ask, believing the younger folk don't need an old biddy like her.

The Mocha Mission Fair Trade Choir is: Stephen Kendall, Assembly Office, guitar and vocal Don Muir, Assembly Office, vocal Guy Smagghe, Presbyterian World Service & […]

Practical concerns like making the building wheelchair-accessible, offering hearing aids, seat cushions and large-print Bibles and hymn books and providing free transportation to and from Sunday worship and church events are no-brainers, but there are other things that can be done to help seniors feel valued, involved and welcomed.

My wife, Irene and I (and two young children) returned to Canada in 1960, having lived and worked in India for five years. Not the mystic land of Rimski-Korsakoff's "Song of India" but village India, hot, dry, just one monsoon failure away from famine. The barren hills on the north side of the Narboda river are the home of tribesmen known as Bhils: Rudyard Kipling knew them as wild and independent people of the forest. They were our neighbours, our seat mates at church, our nursing and technical staff and our patients.

Jack, 80, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease three years ago. His 75-year-old wife, Agnes, is finding it increasingly difficult to care for him. He is starting to get his days and nights reversed, sleeping during the day and remaining wide awake at night. He slipped out of the house on one occasion and couldn't find his way home; Agnes had to call the police to help find him. She can no longer leave Jack alone for even a short time.

The ability to communicate — readily, at great distances, in robes of light — is so crucial and coveted that in the Bible it is embodied only in angels. When anyone can transmit any amount of information … at any time, instantaneously … the resulting transformation becomes a transfiguration.– George Gilder

Do not be afraid of hard work for Christ; a terrible reckoning awaits those who have an easy time in the ministry, but a great reward is in reserve for those who endure things for the elect's sake.– Charles Spurgeon

Dorothy Henderson, associate secretary for Christian education and ministry with children, youth and families, is also a member of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. She believes strongly in intergenerational programs as a means of promoting education and community, and breaking down barriers and stereotypes. In the Advocate, APCE's quarterly publication, she lists things that churches can do to encourage such learning:

"Creating Caring Communities" is the mantra at the Bethany Care Society, the non-profit organization serving more than 3,400 Alberta seniors and people with disabilities. Using a holistic approach that emphasizes dignity and respect, Bethany has been providing care, housing and community services for such people and their families for 60 years. Founded by five men — two of them ministers — Bethany has grown to include 1,250 staff and 950 volunteers, with six care centres, three independent-living properties, a home-care program and a response service for medical or personal needs.

Environmental stewardship is a God-given duty. Last year, General Assembly endorsed Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth, a document from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and endorsed a clean water initiative of KAIROS (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives) and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

The mission era is over, the partnership era is upon us. But what does partnership mean when one church no longer sends missionaries and the other no longer sends students for training? Last August the colleges of The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the colleges of The Presbyterian Church in Canada tried something new. Students and staff from the Canadian colleges went to Taiwan for a consultation with students and staff of the Taiwanese colleges on biblical interpretation. The professors from each college made presentations and professors from the other country responded. It made for lively and stimulating discussion.

A few ways a congregation can more Earth-friendly.

Between July and December of 2005, four international missionaries were stationed at one of Toronto's most troubled and racially diverse neighbourhoods, Jane and Finch. As members of a Joint Action Mission Team, which is sponsored by the Caribbean North America Council for Mission, the four lived, worked and played with the community. The Presbyterian Church is a member of CANACOM. The lone Canadian, Chelsea Masterman, is a United Church member from High River, Alta.