Front Page

Message of the Presidents of the WCC at Pentecost 2010

May 18, 2010 – "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) In 2010, this year just as at the time of the first Pentecost, Christians throughout the world, in their respective churches, will celebrate Pentecost in hundreds of different languages and will sing hymns in their own languages giving praise to the Lord. Jesus' disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit that first Pentecost because they were waiting for it in trust. They were gathered together waiting, confident in God's promise.

General News

Christians and Marriage Organizations Launch "7-Minute Blessings Card"

May 16, 2010 – How long has it been since you had a heart-to-heart talk with your loved ones? In response to deteriorating family relationships in contemporary society and the growing distance between family members, Taiwan Association for Happy Marriages began a campaign recently by urging Taiwanese people to sign a "7-Minute Blessings Card." The association also held a forum on May 4th based on the theme "Come Back Home, Love Your Home." During the forum, organizers showed the card and explained its purpose and functions. The card's purpose is to promote more interaction and dialogue between family members, which strengthens marriages and families.

New Reformed Church Organization to Be Launched at Global Assembly in the United States

May 19, 2010 – The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) are coming together in a new union representing more than 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide – the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). "This is an opportunity to celebrate unity and understanding among Reformed churches worldwide," says REC president Peter Borgdorff. WARC president Clifton Kirkpatrick agrees,"We are blessed to be gathering at this time and place to reflect and learn together." The Uniting General Council (UGC) that launches this new Reformed organization will be held from 18 to 26 June in Grand Rapids, Michigan – a community in the United States where WARC and REC churches have a tradition of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and reaching out in healing mission together.

MARYLAND: Bike to Church Sunday Brings Blessings to Pedal Pushers May 20, 2010

In its first-ever Bike to Church Sunday on May 16, 42 people pedaled their way to St. Anne's Parish of Annapolis. The bicyclists, blessed with perfect weather, came either from home or from a state Department of Natural Resources parking lot rally point in Annapolis. Some early risers, including the clergy, rode to church in time for the 8 a.m. service. The majority, preceding the 9:45 a.m. service, were greeted by a crowd of parishioners who cheered as they approached St. Anne's. Each rider, ranging in age from seven months to seven decades, wore a yellow bandanna. The church service included a special litany and a blessing of the bicyclists. The social hour after the service was a typical bicyclist "rest stop" with oranges, bananas, cookies and bagels in addition to prizes for the riders.

ENGLAND: Bishops Issue Statement on Women in the Episcopate

May 18, 2010 – The House of Bishops of the Church of England has issued a statement in support of a committee report and draft legislation that could pave the way for women to be consecrated as bishops. The legislation – and its accompanying 142-page report – will be debated at the next session of General Synod, the church's main governing body, when it meets in July. The bishops, whose statement was issued at the conclusion of their May 17-18 meeting in York, noted that the forthcoming meeting of General Synod would be a key moment in the legislative process when all 470 members will have the opportunity to debate the report and proceed to a clause-by-clause consideration of the draft measure and amending canon.

ELCA Worshiping Communities Intent about Being Welcoming

May 20, 2010, CHICAGO – A group of Lutherans in Galena, Ill., worships at a local hotel. Another group in Elk River, Minn., worships at an elementary school. Although in separate locations, both groups have something in common – they left their primary congregations to start new congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Members of Central Lutheran Church in Elk River, Minn., voted earlier this year to terminate their relationship with the ELCA, but some members there sought to remain in the ELCA and have started their own worshiping community.

Commission Takes Aim at Clergy Job Guarantees

May 19, 2010, COLUMBUS, Ohio – The lifetime job guarantee for United Methodist elders is a promise the church can no longer keep, according to a study group. "Guaranteed appointments" are a major factor contributing to mediocrity and ineffectiveness and emphasize the needs of the ministers rather than the mission of the church, declared the interim report of the denomination's Commission to Study the Ministry: 2008-2012. The report, presented to the United Methodist Council of Bishops at its recent spring meeting, recommends doing away with guaranteed jobs for elders in good standing, while retaining the ability of bishops to move clergy to different assignments and churches.

Pastors Say Job Assurance Part of Covenant

May 21, 2010 – The Rev. Pam Estes has led a charge of three tiny churches in rural southern Arkansas and a small city church in Little Rock. Altogether, she has served Arkansas United Methodists in ordained ministry for 21 years, always going where her bishop sends her. That is the covenant the church has had with its ordained elders: Serve where you are assigned and you always will have an appointment. Now that promise could be threatened: The denomination's 2008-2012 Commission to Study the Ministry has made a preliminary recommendation of doing away with clergy job guarantees. Estes worries about the uncertainty that she and other pastors will face if such a proposal is approved by the 2012 General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body.

Ecumenical News

Interfaith Bible Study Focuses on God's Compassion

May 16, 2010 – Muslims, Christians and people of other faiths should witness together to God's compassion in a world where too many suffer destitution and injustice, a Muslim scholar and a Christian leader agreed during an interfaith Bible study held at a 12-16 May German church convention (Kirchentag) in Munich. Ultimately, it is "no advantage for Jews to be Jews, Christians to be Christians, and Muslims to be Muslims," said Muslim scholar Dr Ataullah Siddiqui. What really matters, Siddiqui argued, is the "human concern" for "the poor and the needy." For the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, "God is compassionate" and therefore asks people "to be compassionate." All human beings have a common calling "to live according to God's will in this land."

Archbishop Tutu to Address Bid Teams for 2014 Parliament of World Religions

May 19, 2010 – Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu will deliver a special address on Thursday, May 20 at 1 p.m. CST to the four city bid teams for the 2014 Parliament of the World's Religions, welcoming them to the bid process and emphasizing the impact that hosting the parliament can have on their cities. Tutu will appear via a live video stream from Cape Town, South Africa, which hosted the 1999 Parliament of the World Religions. The four participating bid cities for the 2014 parliament are Brussels, Belgium; Dallas, Texas, USA; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico.

Editorial Page

Generous God vs. Cheap Church

May 17, 2010 – I am calling for a ban on the following practice that I observe in many of our churches: the freewill offering basket placed at the refreshment table during coffee time. At a stewardship seminar I recently attended, Nelson Searcy of the Journey Church in New York City said that a theology of abundance underlies everything his church does in terms of stewardship. If we expect people to be generous in their giving to the church, he said, then the church needs to model that generosity and sense of abundance. He further chastised churches that serve day-old, halved doughnuts during the coffee time. Churches need to treat people with the really good stuff!

Spanish News

Crecimiento Del Pentecostalismo Será Menor, Dice Sociólogo

21 mayo 2010, SAO PAULO, Brasil – El pentecostalismo tiende a no crecer, en los próximos tempos, en el mismo ritmo experimentado en este primer siglo de presencia en tierras brasileñas, cuando alcanzó 30% de la población del país. El análisis es del sociólogo Ricardo Mariano, profesor de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Río Grande del Sur (PUC-RS), en artículo para el diario Folha de San Pablo del domingo, 1 de mayo. "En Brasil y en otros países de América Latina, la pluralización del campo religioso, la explosión pentecostal y la creciente concurrencia religiosa trajo un paulatino proceso de revigorización comunitaria e institucional del catolicismo.

Conversación Interreligiosa Y Estudio Bíblico Se Centran En La Compasión De Dios

20 mayo 2010 – Los musulmanes, los cristianos y los creyentes de otras religiones deberían dar juntos testimonio de la compasión de Dios en un mundo donde demasiadas personas sufren la indigencia y la injusticia. Ésta fue una de las coincidencias entre un erudito musulmán y un líder cristiano durante una conversación interreligioso y estudio bíblico que tuvo lugar en la convención de la iglesia alemana (Kirchentag) celebrada en Múnich del 12 al 16 de mayo.

Califican a Partidos Religiosos De Peligro Para La Democracia

21 mayo 2010, SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – "La presencia de partidos claramente autodefinidos como religiosos en el Primer Poder de la República, es un contrasentido por donde quiera que se examine el punto," según palabras del profesor Hugo Mora, de la Universidad de Costa Rica, en un artículo publicado en el diario La Nación, la pasada semana. Según el catedrático, las instituciones democráticas están en peligro cuando el fundamentalismo religioso las infiltra, refiriéndose, de manera específica, a la participación de dos partidos minoritarios, liderados por dos pastores protestantes en pugna, durante la nueva Asamblea Legislativa de ese país.

El Ecumenismo Es Portador De Esperanza Para Las Iglesias

18 mayo 2010 – Esperanza y tesón son cualidades indispensables para el movimiento ecuménico, declaró el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), Dr. Olav Kykse Tveit, con ocasión del segundo Kirchentag ecuménico, que se celebró en Munich (Alemania), del 12 al 16 de mayo. "A pesar de las paradojas y contradicciones que vivimos en el movimiento ecuménico y el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, uno y otro son portadores de esperanza para muchas iglesias y personas en situaciones de minoría, para las iglesias involucradas en luchas de liberación, para las iglesias que tienen divergencias unas con otras," expresó Tveit el 14 de mayo en su alocución sobre "Ecumenismo: interpelación y esperanza," en una mesa redonda sobre ecumenismo.

Iglesia, Generaciones Emergentes Y Violencia, Eje De Análisis De Jóvenes Del Continente

19 mayo 2010, SANTO DOMINGO – Un grupo de veintiséis representantes de la región latinoamericana y caribeña, realizaron una consulta sobre el tema de la iglesia, generaciones emergentes y violencia. Esta consulta – del 27 al 29 de abril – fue organizada por Raíces, Viva y Compasión Internacional y auspiciada por el Movimiento Lausana y el Movimiento Juntos por la Niñez en Latinoamérica y El Caribe. Los y las jóvenes participantes analizaron la situación de la juventud en la región, reconociendo que, aunque el continente cuenta con al menos el 43% de la población con menos de 20 años, más del 50% vive en situación de pobreza, representando al menos 58 millones de personas.

Según Estudio, El País Azteca Es Número Uno En Secuestros

20 mayo 2010, CIUDAD DE MÉXICO – México ocupa el primer lugar de secuestros, a nivel mundial, con más de 8 mil casos de raptos, cifra en la cual, según una nota del diario El Universal, no se cuentan los llamados "exprés" que, muchas veces no son denunciados, según reportó la empresa conocida como Grupo Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial. Las regiones del país donde más ocurre este tipo de delito son el Distrito Federal, el Estado de México, Sinaloa, Chihuahua y Guerrero, según las estadísticas de dicha compañía que lleva el record de los casos denunciados ante las autoridades locales de esos lugares.

En Busca De Una Paz Con Justicia

19 mayo 2010 – "Nuestro compromiso con la paz, como iglesias y como cristianos, es algo que hemos heredado por nacimiento, es más, desde el nacimiento del niño de Belén," dijo el obispo Martin Schindehuette de la Iglesia Evangélica en Alemania, hablando durante un foro dedicado a la Convocatoria Ecuménica Internacional por la Paz durante el Segundo Kirchentag (o convención eclesial). Ecuménico celebrado en Múnich del 12 al 16 de mayo. El foro involucró a los participantes en el Kirchentag en debates en grupo con militantes por la paz, políticos, obispos y representantes del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) sobre los distintos aspectos de una "paz justa."

Orar Juntos Nos Insta a Ser Uno: Presentación Del Libro

21 mayo 2010 – Mientras el Segundo Kirchentag (o convención eclesial) Ecuménico de Alemania se acercaba a su fin, el 15 de mayo al atardecer más de tres mil personas se reunieron en un culto ecuménico para orar, cantar y celebrar en distintos idiomas lo que "nos hace uno." Las oraciones y canciones utilizadas en el culto provenían del libro plurilingüe "Laudate omnes gentes. Orar juntos. Textos y cantos para celebraciones ecuménicas," que fue lanzado la semana antes de Pentecostés.

Mensaje De Los Presidentes Del CMI En Pentecostés De 2010

19 mayo 2010 – "Arrepentíos y bautícese cada uno de vosotros en el nombre de Jesucristo para perdón de los pecados, y recibiréis el don del Espíritu Santo." (Hechos 2:38) En este 2010, al igual que en la época del primer Pentecostés, los cristianos y cristianas de todo el mundo celebrarán Pentecostés en sus iglesias en cientos de idiomas diferentes, y cantarán himnos alabando al Señor. En ese primer Pentecostés, los discípulos de Jesús recibieron el don del Espíritu Santo porque lo estaban esperando con confianza.

Científicos Perfilan Fuga De Crudo En Louisiana
Como Desastre Ecológico Superior Al De México ‘79

19 mayo 2010, ESTADOS UNIDOS – El pozo de petróleo localizado a una profundidad de 500 metros y a 67 kilómetros de la costa de Louisiana, podría convertirse en un desastre ecológico que supere el ocurrido en el Golfo de México en 1979, si no se detiene a tiempo el derrame de cinco mil barriles diarios, cuando la emergencia lleva más de 27 días sin poder ser controlada. Según científicos y ecologistas de ambos países, la cantidad podría llegar a ser hasta 10 veces mayor y el vertimiento de hidrocarburos daría lugar a uno de los más grandes desastres ecológicos del Planeta.

El Ecumenismo Es Portador De Esperanza Para Las Iglesias, Afirman Desde El CMI

19 mayo 2010, GINEBRA, Suiza – Esperanza y tesón son cualidades indispensables para el movimiento ecuménico, declaró el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), Dr. Olav Kykse Tveit, con ocasión del segundo Kirchentag ecuménico, que se celebró en Munich (Alemania), del 12 al 16 de mayo. "A pesar de las paradojas y contradicciones que vivimos en el movimiento ecuménico y el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, uno y otro son portadores de esperanza para muchas iglesias y personas en situaciones de minoría, para las iglesias involucradas en luchas de liberación, para las iglesias que tienen divergencias unas con otras," expresó Tveit el 14 de mayo en su alocución sobre "Ecumenismo: interpelación y esperanza," en una mesa redonda sobre ecumenismo.

New York Metro News

GTS Announces Financial Plan, Explores Possible Sale of Property

May 20, 2010 – General Theological Seminary's Board of Trustees has agreed on a series of steps that they say will assure that the Manhattan-based school will continue "for the next several years." The trustees said in a news release that they agreed May 18 to create a $10 million operating reserve fund that could be built in part by selling as many as four residential apartments in the seminary building known as "Chelsea." The fund will also be built by what the release called "special philanthropic efforts, which have already resulted in $1.5 million in firm commitments."

National News

LCMS Families among Victims of Tennessee Floods

May 20, 2010 – LCMS members hit hard by flooding in the Nashville, Tenn., area were "surprised but grateful" when LCMS World Relief and Human Care's Rev. Carlos Hernandez and local pastors visited their damaged homes to offer words of concern and encouragement. "It means a lot when the church shows up and people have an opportunity to tell their stories," said Hernandez, WR-HC director of Districts and Congregations, who met May 10 with families impacted by record-setting rains that swelled rivers, killing at least 20 people in Tennessee, according to reports. "The flooding in Nashville is horrible – way beyond what you see in the media."

EPPN Urges Support for Environmental Protection Agency

May 21, 2010 – The Episcopal Public Policy Network is encouraging its members to call on their senators to vote against a bill that would limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate the emissions of greenhouse gases that it determines as a danger to the public health and welfare. The May 20 EPPN policy alert, titled "Tell Congress – Let the EPA Do Its Job!" is a response to S.J. Res. 26, a bill amendment introduced by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski that would "undermine the EPA's authority to act in the best interest of the nation's public health by officially disapproving of the EPA's finding of endangerment and prohibiting its regulation of gases from taking effect." The U.S. Senate is set to vote on the bill within the next two weeks.

International News

Old Church Adopts New Look for the Sake of Evangelism

May 16, 2010 – Near the spot where Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell first began his ministry in Taiwan more than 100 years ago is an old PCT church known as Cihou Church. This church held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 8 in anticipation for a 2-year church construction project. The new church building will include a museum for locals and tourists to view the church's history. According to Cihou Church's pastor, Rev. Yu Yi-feng, the old church building was already 75 years old.

Homes, Hopes Restored for More Cedar Rapids Families

May 18, 2010, CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – It's been two years since a flood forced Donald McSpadden and his wife to move away from their damaged house, but today, surrounded by family and volunteers, the McSpaddens saw the rebirth of their home. The McSpaddens were joined by family, well-wishers and some 40 volunteers, as humanitarian agency Church World Service and its national and local partners celebrated the end of the Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids project – a six-week effort that brought together volunteers from across the U.S. and Canada to help 14 families return home.

Church Raises Funds for Homeless Walk-In Clinic

May 16, 2010 – Right after Sunday worship services ended on Mother's Day, Chi-Nan Presbyterian Church's patio was abuzz with chatter and activity. One could hear people calling out the names and prices of different items on sale – much like peddlers do when they pass by your neighborhood. Chi-Nan Presbyterian Church has held a mini-fair every Mother's Day in recent years to raise funds for social organizations. Full proceeds from this year's fair will go to En-You Clinic. En-You Clinic was established last year near Taipei Train Station to serve homeless people that frequent that area. Every patient that enters the clinic is financially poor and cannot afford to see a doctor, but those are precisely the people the clinic wants to serve.

German Ecumenical Convention Sends Message of Hope

May 20, 2010 – An ecumenical church convention which had attracted more than 130 000 participants from the whole of Germany and beyond, 12-16 May, has given a crucial impetus to the ecumenical movement in the country. This positive evaluation was given by the two presidents of the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag, as the event is officially known, at the final service celebrated in Munich's Theresienwiese by a crowd of 100 000. "Ecumenism is alive" said the Roman Catholic president Alois Glück. The "dream of unity and diversity of the churches" has partly become true already in Munich, his Protestant counterpart Dr Eckhard Nagel added.

WCC Living Letters Team in Nigeria Listens to Survivors of Violence, Prays at Mass Grave

May 20, 2010 – It was a deeply moving experience for the Living Letters team visiting Nigeria on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) when they gathered to pray around a mass grave at Dogonahawa, near Jos, in the Central Plateau State on Tuesday. About 323 locals murdered last March have been buried at the site. In early March 501 people, mostly women and children from two adjacent villages, Dogonahawa and Bukuru, were killed in their sleep during an outburst of communal and ethnic violence. Dogonahawa is a hamlet of about 100 houses, all clustered in a circle. It is located just seven miles from Jos, the capital city of the Plateau State.

School Principal Favors Christian Life Education over Buddhist Aphorism

May 16, 2010 – Four years ago, a small church in Sinpi Village, Pingtung County, decided to hold a children summer camp every year. Since Sinpi Presbyterian Church had very limited resources, it enlisted the help of youth from Taipei's Chien-Cheng Presbyterian Church. Since then, youth from Chien-Cheng have traveled to Pingtung every summer to serve at this camp. One of the beneficiaries of this summer camp is Shiang-Tan Elementary School, a small school that has received a lot of help from both churches in the past few years. Chien-Cheng Church recently held a concert to raise funds to help Shiang-Tan School provide healthy lunches to students.

INDIA: Churches Concerned about Clerics' Alleged Involvement in Crimes

May 19, 2010, THRISSUR, India – Church leaders in south India say the alleged involvement of a number of clerics in criminal activities shows corruption needs urgent attention in the church. "We are making wrong headlines. This is not how our leaders should be known," the Rev. Mohan Labeer, a pastor and former principal of Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary, told Ecumenical News International on May 14. Labeer was reacting to the arrest of Church of South India Bishop Manikiam Dorai of Coimbatore a week earlier in connection with the assault on a priest of the diocese for joining a street protest by church members against alleged corruption by the bishop.

People in the News

Diane Bruce, Mary Glasspool Consecrated Bishops
In Joyous Celebration in Los Angeles Diocese

May 15, 2010 – Two historic ministries were welcomed in a huge and joyous celebration May 15 as thousands witnessed Diane Jardine Bruce and Mary Douglas Glasspool being consecrated bishops suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. During the three-hour service at the Long Beach Arena, , themed ‘Rejoice!' Bruce and Glasspool were ordained and consecrated the 16th and 17th women bishops in the Episcopal Church. Bruce is the first woman to be elected a bishop in the Los Angeles diocese. Glasspool, elected Dec. 5, a day after Bruce, is the diocese's first-and the Episcopal Church's second-gay, partnered bishop.

Reviews

Praying Together Calls Us to Be One – Book Launch at German Ecumenical Convention

May 20, 2010 – As the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany drew to a close, more than 3000 people gathered on the evening of 15 May for an ecumenical service to pray, sing and celebrate in different languages what "makes us one." The prayers and songs used in the service came from the multilingual book "Laudate omnes gentes – Praying together. Resources and songs for ecumenical celebrations." Launched in the week preceding Pentecost, each prayer in the book appears in six languages.