Front Page

Pope Shenouda III Receives Condolences from WCC Delegation

January 9, 2011 – Visitors from the Geneva offices of the World Council of Churches (WCC) were honoured to be received in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday 8 January 2011 by Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, led the group to Cairo in order to offer personal condolences in the aftermath of the lethal bomb attack at the New Year on a church in Alexandria. Tveit expressed the sympathy and support of the WCC member churches to Pope Shenouda at this difficult time for Egypt. He gave his assurance that the fellowship of churches was united in prayer for the Coptic Orthodox Church and for all the people of Egypt.

In New Year Message, Archbishop of Canterbury Addresses Impact of King James Bible

January 3, 2011 – Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has celebrated the impact of the King James Bible since its publication 400 years ago. "When we try to make sense of our lives and of who we really are, it helps to have a strongly defined story, a big picture of some kind in the background," said Williams, in his annual New Year message, recorded for the BBC. "As the King James Bible took hold of the imaginations of millions of people in the English-speaking world, it gave them just that – a big picture, a story in which their lives made sense."

General News

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Sign of the Times – Need for Ministry to the Unemployed Grows

January 4, 2011 – Lee County, Florida, has had its share of tough times. Having gained notoriety in 2009 as the foreclosure capital of the nation, its unemployment rate continues to hover around 13 percent, far above the national average. As the ranks of the unemployed struggle to make ends meet, two Fort Myers churches are offering spiritual comfort – as well as some practical advice – to some of the nearly 35,000 people in the area looking for a job. The Unemployed Support Group meets twice a month at St. Hilary's Episcopal Church, where Deacon Diane Millott and her husband, Bob, who is a deacon at nearby St. Luke's Episcopal Church, run the program that offers scriptural relevance and prayer support along with a practical presentation at each meeting.

Online Prayer Conference Opportunities

January 4, 2011 – Two important Assemblies of God prayer events are being held this week and thanks to the Internet, travel is not required to participate. The 2011 Prayer and Bible Conference and a Midwest Latin American District prayer meeting will both be available live online. The 2011 Prayer and Bible Conference begins tonight, Tuesday, January 4, at 7 p.m. (CST) and continues throughout tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5. The services will be streamed live, courtesy of the Media Ministry Department at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where the conference is being held.

Pillowcase Dresses Aim to Cheer Haitians

January 7, 2011, FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Every little girl loves a pretty new dress, especially if she has never, ever owned one. And members of the Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tenn., are doing their best to make sure more than a handful of girls in Haiti receive a coveted dress. So far, they have sewn 110 "pillowcase dresses," crafted from brightly patterned pillowcases and other colorful fabric.

Deacon Called from One Life to Another

January 4, 2011 – God's plan for Stacey Harwell came as a surprise to her. "If you would have told me at the beginning of my time in college that I was going to be ordained in the Methodist Church, I would have laughed at you!" said the Rev. Harwell, 25, a deacon at Centenary United Methodist Church in Macon, Georgia. Harwell's call into ministry didn't lead to a pulpit but rather to a ministry that has "one foot in the world and one foot in the church."

Jacob's Hope: the Assemblies of God Launches Global Outreach to Jews

January 7, 2011 – Jeff Friedman grew up in a Jewish family, attended an Orthodox Jewish synagogue every week, and lived in the city with the world's largest Jewish population: Brooklyn, New York. The brief encounters he had with Christians left him with a negative impression of the faith during his first 26 years of life. "Christians offended me; they turned me off," Friedman says. "I basically hated Christians." One day in 1980, after Friedman moved to Miami as part of his job as a government pharmacist, he went to get a haircut. Mitzi, the hairstylist at the salon, was a Jewish woman – who attended an Assemblies of God church. "She challenged me as a Jew to study the Jewish Scriptures as they pertain to the Messiah," Friedman recalls. "She spoke to me in a way that made sense."

Single Adult Ministries/Young Adult Ministries Offer Online Calendar Opportunity

January 7, 2011 – AG Single Adult and Young Adult Ministries are now offering district and other major local, regional and national single adult and young adult ministry events the opportunity to be listed for free on the AG Single Adult or Young Adult Ministries national websites. According to Single Adult/Young Adult Ministries Director Dennis Franck, giving exposure to events is beneficial to single adult and young adult leaders, as well as the single adults and young adults themselves. "It seems no matter how well an event is promoted, someone is always left asking why they didn't hear about it," Franck says with a smile.

Ecumenical News

ELCA, Episcopal Church Mark 10th Anniversary of Full Communion

January 7, 2011, CHICAGO – Ten years ago this week, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Episcopal Church launched a relationship of shared mission and ministry in a worship service and ceremony at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. This relationship, known as full communion, is described in Called to Common Mission: A Lutheran Proposal for a Revision of the Concordat of Agreement adopted by both churches. The document states: "We do not know to what new, recovered, or continuing tasks of mission this Concordat will lead our churches, but we give thanks to God for leading us to this point. We entrust ourselves to that leading in the future, confident that our full communion will be a witness to the gift and goal already present in Christ, ‘so that God may be all in all' (I Corinthians 15:28)."

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA: Episcopalians and Lutherans Celebrate Shared Mission, Ministry

January 7, 2011 – Seventeen years ago in Uptown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, neighbors noticed children on the streets during summer months – kids too young to be on their own, yet too old to be in daycare. In an attempt to assist the youngsters, then-Diocese of Central Pennsylvania Bishop Charlie McNutt approached then-Bishop Guy Edmiston of the Lower Susquehanna Lutheran Synod about the use of a building. One thing led to another and St. Barnabas Center, an after-school program and summer camp, was founded as a joint ministry between the diocese and the synod.

Spanish News

Cristianos En El Medio Oriente, "Blancos Legítimos" De Al-Qaida

2 enero 2011, GINEBRA, Suiza – El sangriento atentado de Año Nuevo contra una iglesia copta en Alejandría confirmaría que Al-Qaida sigue adelante con su propósito de atacar a cristianos en la región, exacerbando así las tensiones entre las grandes religiones en el Medio Oriente. El atentado en Alejandría, que dejó un saldo de veintiún muertos y noventa y siete heridos, fue un ataque "contra todos los egipcios" realizado por "elementos extranjeros," dijo el presidente Hosni Mubarak. La autoría de al-Qaida parece evidente en razón "de los aspectos técnicos, el alto número de víctimas y las amenazas de al-Qaida en Irak," declaró Diaa Rashwan, un especialista del Centro al-Ahram en Cairo.

New York Metro News

Mass Meeting for Living Wages on January 13

January 8, 2011, NEW YORK – Over 40 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. rallied striking sanitation workers and their supporters in Memphis, TN saying, "It is a crime for people to live in this rich nation & receive starvation wages." Today, in NYC we are asking the City Council to call a hearing on the Fair Wages for New Yorker's Act which will guarantee that all workers in taxpayer subsidized developments are paid at least $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 without. We are going to kick off 2011 and honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by uniting community, faith and labor from around the city for the common cause of dignity and a living wage. We must show the city council through our massive numbers that the people of New York will not stop until a Living Wage is won.

National News

Milwaukee Eighth Diocese to File for Bankruptcy
Critics Say Move Aimed to Avoid Disclosure of Sex Abuse Documents

January 5, 2011 – The Archdiocese of Milwaukee Jan. 4 became the eighth U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy, claiming financial hardship because of payouts to people claiming to have been sexually abused by priests as children. Archbishop Jerome Listecki made the announcement a year to the day following his installation as head of the country's 21st largest diocese, with some 640,000 Catholics. Listecki, who said the move was necessary so that the church could continue to function while negotiating with alleged victims, recalled his installation homily. "I spoke of the devastation of sin and its effect on us personally and as a community.

MASSACHUSETTS: Bishop Solemnizes Marriage of Two Female Priests

January 3, 2011 – The Very Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, dean and president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and the Rev. Canon Mally Ewing Lloyd, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts canon to the ordinary, were married Jan. 1 by diocesan Bishop M. Thomas Shaw. The marriage at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston took place just more than a year after Shaw gave diocesan clergy permission to solemnize marriages for all eligible couples. Massachusetts allows same-gender couples to marry. "God always rejoices when two people who love each other make a lifelong commitment in marriage to go deeper into the heart of God through each other," Shaw is quoted in an EDS press release as saying during the service.

Fire Destroys Florida Church Education and Administration Building

January 7, 2011 – At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, December 30, a massive fire broke out in Pine Forest Assembly's Education and Administration building. Reverend Gene Hudson, who pastors the Cantonment, Florida, church, reports that the fire resulted in the total loss of the 4,660 sq. foot facility. Hudson says the fire started in the closet where the building's air conditioning and heating units were located, but authorities are still trying to determine the exact cause. Pine Forest Assembly's sanctuary, which is located in a separate building, was not damaged, but the youth and fellowship building, which was connected to the education and administration building, will not be able to be used for at least a month due to smoke damage and loss of power.

International News

The Anglican Communion Rallies in Prayer and Support Behind Sudan

January 7, 2011 – People across the Communion have stepped up to support of the people of Sudan as the country prepares for its historic referendum on Sunday (9th). Online demonstrations of concern for the country and its pending vote include prayer walls, a Facebook campaign, videos and blogs. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams issued a statement on Friday calling the 9th January "an immensely important day for Sudan." He urged everyone to stand with the Sudanese people "to ensure that the referendum takes place peacefully and that the process and the results are fully respected."

Future Plans Discussed at Global Gathering

January 4, 2011, HAIFA, Israel – Senior officers of the Baha'i Faith from around the globe have gathered at the Baha'i World Centre to discuss the future development of the worldwide community and its activities. The conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors commenced on 28 December. Plenary sessions – which ran until 1 January – are now being followed by further consultations among geographic groups. 79 of the world's 81 Counsellors, from some 58 countries, are in attendance. They were appointed to a five-year term of office by the Universal House of Justice on 26 November 2010. 33 of them are serving as Counsellors for the first time. The main focus of the Counsellors' deliberations was outlined in a document from the Universal House of Justice, presented at the gathering.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Addresses Coptic Church Bombing in Egypt

January 7, 2011, CHICAGO – The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), assured the bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles of the ELCA's "heartfelt desire" to stand in solidarity with Coptic Christians in the United States and the world in the wake of the New Year's Day bombing in a Coptic congregation in Egypt. At least 22 people were killed and 79 injured as a result of the car bombing that occurred as worshipers were leaving a Mass at the Church of Saints Mark and Peter in Alexandria. The terror attack was widely condemned by a host of religious and political leaders, many of whom noted more frequent attacks on Christians in the Middle East in recent months.

Episcopalians, Sudanese Partners Unite in Prayer for a Peaceful Referendum

January 7, 2011 – Vigils, meditation and prayer are uniting people throughout the Episcopal Church and the world around a common cause this week – for Sudan's referendum on independence to be conducted fairly and peacefully and for an end to the civil upheaval that has plagued the African nation for several decades. "So many prayers have been answered already, and peace seems to be within our grasp," Robin Denney, an Episcopal Church missionary based in Sudan, wrote in a Jan. 7 e-mail to ENS sent from Juba, the capital city of southern Sudan.

Church Empowers African Businesswomen

January 6, 2011, JINJA, Uganda – Every African woman going into business is not going to be successful. Esther Nalongo, for example, had customers in hand and an economic plan when she borrowed $50 from United Methodist Women to start a small business selling charcoal. What she did not count on was rising wholesale prices. "Within six months, my business was no more with either profits or capital," Nalongo told more than 100 women who gathered recently for a seminar at Wanyange United Methodist Women Training Center.