Front Page

Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year Message – God ‘Doesn't Do Waste'

December 31, 2007 -- By this stage of the holiday season, I imagine you might be looking with dismay at your overflowing rubbish bin, or the mountain of debris piling up outside your back door. Food, drink, presents – they all come with more and more packaging. Even the most eco-conscious of us is likely to have a bit of a bad conscience after Christmas. Despite constant talk about recycling and thinking "green" – we're still a society that produces fantastic quantities of waste.

PC(USA) Missionary Reflects on Bhutto Assassination Aftermath
Johnson Urges Prayers for Pakistan as ‘Relative Calm' Returns

January 3, 2008, LAHORE, Pakistan – The people of Pakistan need your prayers. Since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, there has been an air of uncertainty and melancholy here. Many of those who did not support Bhutto still see her death as a blow to civil society, and the chance to return the nation to democracy. Now that the violence has stopped, there are even more difficult questions that have arisen, none with apparent answers. What this nation needs now is healing: healing from the grief of Benazir's death, healing from the rage that accompanied that grief, healing from the anger being expressed at the government right now.

WCC Leader Calls for End to Violence in Kenya

January 3, 2008 – The Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya who leads the World Council of Churches, is calling upon both political parties and the churches to end the violence sparked by recent elections in that East African nation. Disputes over the re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki have, by some estimates, led to the deaths of several hundred people, including up to 50 who died Jan. 1 in a church that was set on fire in western Kenya. In his Jan. 2 statement, Kobia noted that people in Kenya and around the world are "appalled and concerned" by the killings, beatings and burnings.

General News

Patriarchal Declaration for Christmas, 2007

January 3, 2008 – Patriarch Bartholomew I leads the Christmas liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul, 2006. Patriarchal Declaration for Christmas, 2007.

Lilly Endowment Offers Pastor-Sabbatical Grants

December 31, 2007 – May 14 is the postmark deadline for congregations and their pastors to apply for grants of up to $45,000 each from the Lilly Endowment Inc. in its 2008 "National Clergy Renewal" program for pastors' sabbaticals and for congregational "renewal." Over the past decade, the national program has awarded 1,014 such grants to provide support for pastors' sabbaticals and "activities that enable the congregation as a whole to be renewed in its ministry" during that sabbatical. Pastors and congregations work together to design their renewal programs, which must be described when they apply for the grants.

United Methodists Revive Summer Mission Internship

January 3, 2008, NEW YORK – The mission agency of The United Methodist Church is resuming a program that places young adults in mission settings in the United States for 10 weeks of summer service and education. A dozen people ages 18 to 25 will be selected for 2008 as the program is reintroduced after nearly a decade of inactivity. The sponsor is the mission personnel program area of the denomination's Board of Global Ministries. The young people selected to take part will receive a $1,000 stipend, travel to and from their place of assignment, and room and board.

Jerusalem Bishop Objects to Conservative Anglicans' Planned Holy Land Pilgrimage

January 2, 2008, LONDON – A group of conservative Anglican leaders, including several Primates, who met in Nairobi in December, have announced that they will invite bishops, senior clergy and laity from every province of the Anglican Communion to attend a June 15-22 Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in the Holy Land. But the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, has objected, saying that he was not consulted about the planned conference that is set to be held in his diocese.

In San Joaquin, Episcopal Church ‘Alive and Well'
Clergy, Laity Report New Hope, Signs of Growth, Plan for January 26 Meeting

January 4, 2008 – The Rev. Martin Risard has planted five churches during 50 years of ministry and on January 6—Epiphany Sunday—the 82-year-old priest will begin a sixth, in a Sonora senior citizen center, even though "I've never done this without a bishop," he says. From Sonora to Bakersfield, from Stockton to Fresno, a growing number of remaining Episcopalians—those who opposed a December vote to realign the Central California Valley Diocese of San Joaquin with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone—are meeting in homes, community centers and other churches, excited to be "moving on" to evangelism, mission and Gospel good news. Fed up with years of rancor over the ordination of women and gays, they say healing is emerging after initial grief and loss over the split.

Ecumenical News

Churches Uniting in Christ Set St. Louis Meeting

January 4, 2008 – Member denominations of the Churches United in Christ (CUIC) will gather January 11-14 in St. Louis, Missouri. Meeting under the Plenary theme: "Seeking to Be God's Beloved Community," the meeting will be held at the Sheraton City Center Hotel.

International News

Pakistan Crisis Draws Comment, Prayers from Church Leaders

January 2, 2008, LONDON – The recent assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the resulting civil unrest has caused Church leaders to speak out against the instability that has roiled the South Asian Islamic Republic for years and raise concerns for the welfare of the country's Christian community. Pakistan-born Bishop Michael Nazir Ali of Rochester, England described Bhutto's "murder by extremists" as "a body blow for freedom and democracy in Pakistan." Bhutto had returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007 after years of exile following Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf granting her amnesty and dropping all corruption charges against her. The first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, Bhutto served as Pakistan's Prime Minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996.

Mission Leader Voices Concern on Kenya

January 4, 2008, NEW YORK – The interim leader of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is asking all groups in Kenya "to put peace and reconciliation ahead of personal or party gains." In a statement released Jan. 4, Bishop Felton E. May stressed that "Africa and the world cannot afford a civil war in Kenya, which has for years been a place of stability and economic prosperity in the volatile East Africa region." The outbreak of violence following the re-election of Kenya's president has resulted in an estimated 300 deaths and calls for an independent investigation into the election.

PDA Responds to Post-Election Violence in Kenya
Stated Clerk Issues Letter Expressing Concern over Unrest

January 4, 2008, LOUISVILLE – Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is supporting the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in its response to the spiraling violence sweeping Kenya following last month's re-election of incumbent president Mwai Kibaki. About 300 people have been killed and as many as 75,000 forced to flee their homes since Kibaki won a narrow victory in the Dec. 27 vote, according to Kenyan government officials. Much of the post-election violence, which has included horrific attacks and gangs of machete-wielding young men roaming the streets, has been attributed to political parties disputing the presidential results. The strife has also led to looting, destruction of property and injuries, according to a situation report issued Jan. 3 by PDA, the disaster-response and relief agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Lutherans Seek Resolution to Violent Dispute in Kenya

January 3, 2008, CHICAGO – Officials of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) called for peace in the Republic of Kenya and for resolution of a dispute over election results that has escalated into violence. The ELCA confirmed its missionaries in Kenya are safe, and it is sending an initial $25,000 to assist emergency relief efforts in east-central Africa. More than 300 people have died in violent protests in Kenya since the Dec. 27 presidential election, in which the incumbent Mwai Kibaki declared victory over Raila Odinga of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement. The government there estimates as many as 75,000 people have been displaced internally by the violence.

In Kenya, Desmond Tutu Joins Church-Backed Bid to End Violence

January 4, 2008 – Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu has arrived in Kenya to assist in a church-backed bid aimed at stemming the violent reaction to the country's presidential election results and reaching a peaceful outcome to the political crisis. "I appeal to both leaders to meet and talk about points of disagreement," said Tutu on his arrival in Nairobi from South Africa on January 3. Tutu said he was responding to a call by Mvume Dandala, a former leader of South Africa's Methodist Church and now general secretary of the Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches who is among church leaders seeking to play a peacemaking role.