Front Page

Christian Leaders Continue to Pressure President to Intervene on Child Tax Credit Benefit

June 26, 2003, WASHINGTON - The National Council of Churches USA (NCC) today continued to pressure President George W. Bush to urge Congress to restore the child tax credit benefit for low income families that was dropped from the final tax bill, which he signed into law last month. With the quickly approaching Congressional recess, the NCC sent a second copy of the letter that was signed by Christian leaders last week to encourage the President to intervene on behalf of nearly 12 million families that would not receive the tax relief.

General News

NCC's Friendship Press Transfers "Peters Map" to New Distributor

June 11, 2003 – It's been featured on the TV series "The West Wing" and has been discussed in mission studies in thousands of churches across America. Now, the Peters Projection World Map is getting a wider distribution channel that will expose its concept to an even larger audience. Friendship Press, the publishing arm of the National Council of Churches, first introduced this pioneering map of the world in 1983 as a teaching tool to help church leaders in the NCC's 36 denominations visualize a more accurate picture of the relative land mass of the world's countries and continents. This map technique, developed by cartographer Dr. Arno Peters in Europe, avoids the distortions prevalent in other map projections which exaggerate the size of some land masses, especially in the northern hemisphere, and "shrink" other land masses. Decisions and attitudes formed by these distortions can thus be inaccurate. For example, on the traditional Mercator map, Greenland and Africa look the same size. But in reality Africa is 14 times larger.

New Hunger Resource Available to Congregations

July 1, 2003, WASHINGTON - A revised, updated edition of a major hunger resource has been reissued. Bread for the World Institute, an international research organization, has issued a new edition of "Hunger No More," a packet of educational materials designed for use by congregations.

"The Bible Teaches God's View on Sex and Marriage" says Archbishop Peter Jenson

July 2, 2003 – Readers cannot fail to have noticed reports of the recent lively debate in the Anglican Church on the appointment of bishops who are or have been practicing homosexuals, and also on the blessing of same sex unions. The Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Dr Peter Carnley, provided his own views on the matter recently. I have been invited to respond to Archbishop Carnley.

Camp Dogwood Springs to Life, Mobilizes to Battle Hunger

July 1, 2003 – The soil at Camp Dogwood is blooming again with fresh vegetables and new hope - the hope of becoming a national model of hunger relief, agricultural renewal and community uplift. Camp Dogwood, a historic rural tract of 250 acres near Nashville, Tenn., is being worked into farmland that will serve as a fresh-food supply link to low-income urban neighborhoods - and a business opportunity to youngsters. Produce raised there this summer - as much as 40 tons - will be brought to town and sold at makeshift farmers' markets at two United Methodist churches. The aim is to revive neighborhood economies that lack grocery stores and vital businesses by linking unused farmland and urban need.

Ecumenical News

WCC General Secretary to Visit Russian Orthodox Church

July 2, 2003 – Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser will pay his last visit as World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary to the Russian Orthodox Church, 4-8 July. It will be his third visit to the church - the first was in 1993 soon after he had began serving as WCC general secretary, the second in 1998 before the WCC Assembly in Harare. "Just as I had made inaugural visits to the leadership of the two most prominent Orthodox churches at the beginning of my service as general secretary, so I felt I should offer this visit in order to 'take my leave'," Raiser explained. A visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople is planned for November. Raiser retires at the end of 2003.

British Methodists Say 'Yes' to Closer Ties with Anglicans

July 2, 2003, LLANDUDNO, Wales - British Methodists have voted "yes" to a partnership with Anglicans that will pave the way for the two denominations to mutually recognize each other's ministers and liturgical practice as well as share resources, facilities and decision-making structures. The July 1 vote at the annual British Methodist Conference is the latest milestone in a process dubbed the "Anglican/Methodist Covenant." It reflects the results of a churchwide canvas of individual congregations in Wales and England, in which 75 percent of those responding voiced support for the covenant. The Church of England officially votes to accept or reject the covenant on July 13, but already a similar canvas of Anglicans shows that nine out of 10 favor closer ties with Methodists.

VBS Program Promotes Faith, Community and Heritage

July 2, 2003 – The squirming circle of energetic 5-year-olds fell out of their chairs laughing every time their vacation Bible school teacher tried to get them to recite their memory verse. "Wisdom is like a baobab tree: no one person can encircle it," Earline Clark says, trying again. Every time she says "baobab" it comes out a little more mangled than the last time. "It's bowbob tree!" the children shout in unison after every mispronunciation. The kids had it down. Clark, like most of the grown-ups, was still having trouble with the word at the end of four days of teaching and learning the new VBS program, "Under the Baobab Tree," at Edgehill United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Baobab (which is pronounced bow - as in "wow" - bob) is just one of the African words children learn in the program written and produced by the United Methodist Publishing House.

Men, Stand up and Be Counted - NCCI Letter

June 16, 2003 – The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) deeply regrets the inability of Parliament to adopt the Womens Reservation (Amendment) Bill for the fourth time on May 6th, 2003. Inspite of approval from all the major Opposition parties the Bill has failed to find acceptance where it was most needed on the floor of the House. Since May 7th, political parties are once again talking of consensus with alternative formulas.

Spanish News

Visita del secretario general del CMI a la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa

2 de julio de 2003 – El Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser hara su zltima visita como secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) a la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa del 4 al 8 de julio. Sera su tercera visita a esta iglesia, habiendo tenido lugar la primera en 1993, poco despuis de haber sido nombrado secretario general del CMI, y la segunda en 1998, antes de la Asamblea del CMI en Harare. "Del mismo modo que al comienzo de mi mandato como secretario general hice visitas inaugurales a los dirigentes de las dos iglesias ortodoxas mas importantes, me parecis que debma realizar ahora esta visita 'de despedida'," explics Raiser. Una visita al Patriarcado Ecuminico de Constantinopla esta prevista para noviembre. Raiser se retirara al final de 2003.

National News

Lutherans Manage Recovery after Tornadoes, Forest Fires

July 2, 2003, CHICAGO - Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS), is organizing recovery efforts after tornadoes struck Minnesota and Nebraska, and after forest fires broke out in parts of Arizona this month. Zion Lutheran Church, Buffalo Lake, Minn., lost half of its roof and may have sustained other structural damage after a tornado cut through the city June 24, said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director of Lutheran Disaster Response. Zion is a congregation of the ELCA.

International News

Saving Lives and Limbs - PDA and Partners Help Clear Land of 'Anti-personnel'

June 30, 2003, LOUISVILLE - In one sense, it's a numbers game, and the numbers can be daunting. It typically costs $1 to $5 to manufacture an "anti-personnel" land mine. On average, it costs $1,000 to remove one safely from the ground. About 100 million unexploded mines are deployed around the world, in about 90 different countries. A mine can remain functional and lethal for 20 years or more. Every year, 15,000 to 20,000 civilians, 90 percent of them children, are killed by mines. In 2001, people were hurt or killed by land mines in 69 nations, only 23 of which were at war at the time. Worldwide, about a quarter-million people, most of them civilians and most of them children, have lost one or both legs to land mines.

Letter from Uganda: Humble Place Will Offer Hope to Children

June 30, 2003 – Sometimes you look at yourself and can't imagine how or why you landed in a particular moment - but you absolutely wouldn't be anywhere else. That's the situation I find myself in as I dodge cars and motorized bikes in the bustling city of Kampala, capital of Uganda. The Rev. Daniel Wandabula, dean of superintendents of the United Methodist Church in Uganda, guides me by the elbow through the chaotic maze to his favorite lunch spot and demands "matoke" (plantains served over rice) for the wide-eyed American visitor. He's agreed to meet me and discuss a local project in progress called Humble Place.

Mothers' Union in Ghana Calls for Third World Debt Cancellation June 30, 2003

The Joint Anglican Diocesan Mothers Union in Ghana has called for total cancellation of debt owed by the developing countries. The Union pointed out that it was the surest way to help those countries to forge ahead and make some progress. The Mothers Union made the appeal at an awareness campaign in Ghana where they paraded to stress the need for the cancellation of the crippling debt on the necks of Third World Countries.

South African Church Leaders Call for Prayer and Support
in the Lead up to Historic Church Leadership Assembly

Senior church leaders in South Africa have called on the international Christian community to uphold the South African church in prayer next week, July 7 to 11, when Christian leaders from all walks of life meet to attend the South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA), in the nations capital Pretoria. SACLA promises to make history as the most denominationally representative church assembly ever held in South Africa, and possibly even Africa. SACLA will bring together thousands of Christian leaders, from all sectors of society and the church, to look at ways of tackling HIV/AIDS, crime, violence, poverty and unemployment, racism, sexism and the family crisis. These giants are the major problems facing South African society and any of them, unchallenged, could bring the country to its knees.

Liberian Educator Pleads with United Methodists for Help

July 2, 2003 – While fighting between rebel and government troops for control of Monrovia continues, a Liberian United Methodist living in Muncie, Ind., is pleading for the church and the U.S. government to intervene. A brief cease-fire in Liberia collapsed June 26, and thousands of Liberians, who had begun to return to their homes, are once again fleeing for safety.

Cuttington President Seeks Help in US for Liberian College

July 1, 2003 – Dr. Henrique F. Tokpa is a college president, but his professional life is about as far from the ivory towers of academia as it is possible to get. He is the president of Liberia's Cuttington University College, established by the Episcopal Church in 1889 - and for many years caught in a war zone. For most of the past year, Cuttington, based in the central Liberian town of Suacoco - a site of extensive rebel activity - has been forced to hold classes in the capital of Monrovia, as the government of President Charles Taylor and forces calling themselves Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) fight for control of the West African country.

Middle East News

CWS Sends $1.2 Million in Medical Supplies to Iraq

July 1, 2003, NEW YORK - The global humanitarian agency Church World Service this week is shipping $1.2 million in donated medical supplies to Iraq, reports CWS Executive Director the Rev. John McCullough. The medical supplies are to be used in local hospitals and medical facilities. With the United States focused on law and order and rebuilding efforts, "Church World Service is keeping front and center the extreme humanitarian and health conditions that many Iraqi people are still experiencing - especially the children," notes McCullough.

Diocese of Jerusalem School Book Campaign Draws to a Close

July 1, 2003 – Dear Friends, Salaam and greetings to you from Jerusalem. Welcome to the last month of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem Book Campaign. The Diocese of Jerusalem has a powerful educational ministry, witnessing the love of Christ to almost 6000 students this academic year. We believe that children are the future, and that a quality education gives them the tools that will enable them to become productive and creative members of society. The School Book Campaign aims to provide a sizable addition of books to the libraries, in each of ten Diocesan schools. The campaign has profiled a different school each month, for the current academic year. This month we will introduce St John's Episcopal School in Haifa, Israel.