Front Page

India Methodists Celebrate 150 Years of Ministry

October 31, 2006, LUCKNOW, India – 700 Indians and dignitaries from other nations celebrated 150 years of ministry in this South Asian nation. Meeting Oct. 20-23 at Isabella Thoburn College, delegates from the 12 regional conferences of the Indian church and Methodist leaders from other nations celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Methodist Church of India, a 649,000-member autonomous denomination affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Dignitaries came from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, the United Kingdom and the United States.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Urges Minimum Wage Increase

November 1, 2006, WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined 10 other Christian leaders in the United States in an appeal to Congress to increase the federal minimum wage as "a matter of economic and racial justice." In an October 24 letter the church leaders asked members of Congress to vote to increase the minimum wage after they return here from the elections. "Minimum wage workers today have less buying power than minimum wage workers did in 1950," the church leaders wrote, calling the current minimum wage a "poverty wage."

General News

Council Leader Challenges Bishops to Put Hope into Action

November 3, 2006, MAPUTO, Mozambique – Now is the time for United Methodist bishops to lead the church in putting hope into action, to address the needs of a world struggling with a "powerful spiritual hunger," the president of the Council of Bishops told her peers. Bishop Janice Huie gave that challenge Nov. 2 in an episcopal address to more than 70 bishops attending their first meeting outside the territorial United States. She focused on hope, leadership, vision and risk-taking in calling her colleagues to act. "We live in a threshold time," said Huie, who leads the denomination's Houston Area. "Globally we face a new context for ministry" that includes the challenges of poverty, disease, hunger, violence, war and genocide, greed, suicide, school shootings and ecological destruction. Despite the despair and chaos, people are seeking God's word, she said.

Cookie Factory Feeds Midshipmen, Raises Funds for Missions

October 30, 2006, ANNAPOLIS, Md. – This is not your ordinary church bake sale. Members of Calvary United Methodist Church here are known for doing things in a big – and delectable – way. "Wouldn't be anything without chocolate chips," said Jean Graf, mixing the dough at Calvary's Cookie Factory in the church kitchen.

Ecumenical News

Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Addresses Life Beyond Death

November 2, 2006, CHICAGO – The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in Round XI met Oct. 12-15 in Baltimore for its third session to discuss "The Hope for Eternal Life." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) selected the topic at the end of Round X in 2004 to examine issues related to the Christian's life beyond death. The conversation stems from principles of life-after-death developed in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church signed Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany. Dialogue members are considering such issues as purgatory, indulgences, and masses and prayers for the dead.

Spanish News

El Islam Y Sus Aportes En América Latina, Tema Central De Un Congreso Mundial

30 octubre 2006, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Con objetivo de establecer las bases de un fuerte diálogo interreligioso entre todas las confesiones y hacer conocer al mundo en general y a Latino América y el Caribe en particular, cual es el verdadero Islam, se abrirá hoy en Buenos Aires, el Congreso Internacional "América Latina y el Mundo Islámico: Civilización y Cultura." "El Islam revelado por Dios, como última religión monoteísta, el que ha convivido con todas las culturas y civilizaciones y ha aportado su conocimiento en todos los ordenes, como las ciencias, la tecnología, las matemáticas, la física, la medicina, etc., es el que buscamos dar a conocer," dicen los organizadores, miembros de la Organización Islámica para América Latina y el Caribe (OIPAL).

La Reforma Y Sus Desafíos Estarán En El Centro De Las Reflexiones

31 octubre 2006, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – El Día de la Reforma será recordado hoy en diversos actos y cultos de las iglesias provenientes de aquel hecho sucedido en el siglo XVI en Alemania. Qué tiene para decir la Reforma en el siglo XXI, es el pensamiento y la reflexión casi obligada. La Reforma del siglo XVI se inicia históricamente el 31 de octubre de 1517, cuando el Dr. Martín Lutero, un monje católico, clava en las puertas del Templo de Wittemberg en Alemania sus 95 tesis contra la venta de indulgencias, a fin de provocar una discusión académica, de acuerdo con las costumbres de la época. Se denomina Reforma al movimiento que produjo la separación de la Iglesia Protestante de la Iglesia Católica Romana.

Luteranos Rinden Homenaje a Castellanos Figueroa, Revolucionario Salvadoreño

30 octubre 2006, SAN SALVADOR, El Salvatore – En una mañana espléndida, con el cielo azul y los vientos de octubre acariciando los árboles del Cementerio de los Ilustres en esta capital, se realizó el culto ecuménico en homenaje al revolucionario salvadoreño Raúl Castellanos Figueroa. El reverendo Ricardo Cornejo explicó que como Iglesia Luterana Popular (ILPES) "rendimos tributo a la memoria de este ejemplar luchador popular que denunció las injusticias que se cometen contra nuestro pueblo y que sembró la semilla del socialismo por medio de su militancia en el Partido Comunista de El Salvador (PCS)."

Teólogos Latinoamericanos Discutirán Propuestas De Superación De La Violencia

2 noviembre 2006, LIMA, Perú – En el espíritu del Decenio para Superar la Violencia, iniciativa del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, y con el auspicio del Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias (CLAI), la Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (FTL) ha convocado para los días 2 al 4 de noviembre a una consulta regional denominada "Teología y Violencia" en la que discutirá el perfil para una teología de la paz que no justifique ni legitime ningún tipo de violencia en el mundo y en particular en América Latina.

Pastores Metodistas Denuncian La Violencia Y La Injusticia En Oaxaca

2 noviembre 2006, MÉXICO, DF – Ante la gravísima situación en el estado de Oaxaca, agravado por la decisión gubernamental de reprimir y avanzar con tropas el pasado fin de semana, un grupo de pastores y pastoras metodistas dieron a conocer un comunicado, pidiendo oración y reflexión en las congregaciones. El Presidente de la Fraternidad de Pastores Metodistas de la Conferencia Anual de México (CAM), presbítero José Luis Oyoque dio a conocer una declaración ante la crisis del Estado Mexicano de Oaxaca, con la aclaración de que no es una declaratoria oficial de la Iglesia Metodista Mexicana.

International News

Bishops Meet Outside U.S., Greet Mozambican President

November 1, 2006, MAPUTO, Mozambique – When the United Methodist Council of Bishops opened its fall meeting Nov. 1 with a welcome service in the city of Maputo, the event marked the first time the council has met as a body outside the United States. Nearly 70 episcopal leaders of the United Methodist Church came to this sub-Saharan country to "demonstrate to the United Methodist Church and to all the world that we are a global church," said Bishop Janice R. Huie, president of the council. "We embody a global reality by being here." Africa, she said, is a place where the church is "exploding." She noted that it "is a place where we have a unique opportunity to participate in kingdom-building" and to further the denomination's more than 116-year relationship with Mozambique.

ELCA Presiding Bishop, LWF President Preaches in Historic ‘Black Church'

November 2, 2006, BRASOV, Transylvania – Preaching in a historic Lutheran church here on Reformation Day, Oct. 31, was a "great privilege" and "very moving" experience, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), as he concluded an eight-day visit to Hungary and Romania. Hanson preached his Reformation Day sermon at the historic "Black Church," so named because a fire in the city about 300 years ago left the exterior stone structure darkened.

Reviews

Devotional Exercises for Physical and Spiritual Wellness

October 30, 2006, MINNEAPOLIS – While on a pilgrimage trek through Thailand, Murray D. Finck discovered the benefits of daily stretching and quiet prayer. On the physical level, after only one week, the chronic back pain that had plagued him for twenty years disappeared. On a spiritual level, the poses deepened his prayer experiences. The Stretch and Pray DVD: A Daily Disciple for Physical and Spiritual Wellness, a companion to Finck's popular Stretch and Pray book, is now available for those looking for holiday gifts or motivational resources for resolutions for the New Year.