26 September 2007

Headlines:

[1] DRC Sri Lanka Changes Name
[2] Gerald W. Sovereign
[3] Presbyterians Today To Remain Under GAC
[4] New Persian Bible Translation
[5] Murphy Presbyterian Church Turns EPC
[6] Phillip Radmer Could Get 16 Years for Fraud
[7] Rex Humbard Pioneer TV Evangelist
[8] Gay Partnership No Block to Office Says Norwegian Church Body
[9] Odenor St. Cyr[
[10] American Brethren Turn 300
[11] Christians in Chiapas, Mexico Town Deprived of Water


[1] DRC Sri Lanka Changes Name

After several years of waiting, the Sri Lankan Parliament has passed a bill officially changing the name of the Dutch Reformed Church to the Christian Reformed Church. The church had decided to change its name earlier, hoping to have it completed by its 350th anniversary in 1992. However, it needed a private members motion in Parliament to make the change legal, and such motions are considered only rarely.

The CRCSL wanted its new name to present a clearer identity. During the Dutch occupation the church was the home for the colonialists and for the class known as Burghers, who mostly worked in civil service. In the last few decades, however, even as the Burgher class declined, the church has expanded into both the Sinhalese and the Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. Services now occur in all three languages each Sunday.

Because Christians are a minority, the CRCSL determines it would be a more effective witness to have the word Christian in its name instead of Dutch. Still, the leaders retain an appreciation for their heritage.

The CRCSL President, Roshan Mendis, wrote in a letter announcing the change, "We certainly thank God for our ‘Dutch’ roots and for the ‘faith of our fathers and mothers,’ and trust the Lord to lead us in this ‘life changing moment.’"

+ Christian Reformed Church in Sri Lanka, c/o 363, Galle Road, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka


[2] Gerald W. Sovereign

Ruling elder Gerald W. Sovereign, 82, died 23 August 23, 2007 in Daytona, Florida. Mr. Sovereign was the moderator of the 15th Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly (1987). A member of Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church in Port Orange, Florida, Sovereign is survived by his wife of 60 years, Kathleen.

+ Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church, 1705 Taylor Road, Port Orange, FL 32128


[3] Presbyterians Today To Remain Under GAC

The General Assembly Council (GAC) unanimously approved a report that keeps Presbyterians Today (PT) magazine under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and not under Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC). The vote came during the opening day of work of the GAC meeting in Louisville 17-21 September and takes the monthly magazine off the hotplate of uncertainty about its future.

The task force “unanimously concluded that the GAC should retain control of the magazine,” the group said in its report. The Presbyterians Today Task Force was appointed in 2006 by the GAC executive committee to study an offer by the PPC to take over publication of Presbyterian’s Today.

+ Presbyterian Church (USA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396 (888) 728-7228


[4] New Persian Bible Translation

"Today's Persian Version” was officially dedicated in Istanbul, Turkey, in August. The last Persian translation of the Bible was done in the 1890s. Persian is the language of more than 100 million people worldwide, with the majority of them living in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

The translation was a project of United Bible Societies, a world fellowship of Bible societies. The New Testament appeared in 1975 and work then began on the Old Testament. The project was interrupted in 1980 and did not resume again until 1991.

The Presbyterian Church sent missionaries to Iran in the middle of the 19th Century.

+ Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon SN5 7DG United Kingdom

[5] Murphy Presbyterian Church Turns EPC

The Murphy Presbyterian Church has transferred into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The congregation joins a migration which began in 1981 and has gained speed as the Presbyterian Church (USA) has declined.

Murphy obtained title to its property in exchange for US$10,000, to be paid to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. Presbytery commissioners voted 31 July to let the congregation go in exchange for a US$2,000 payment each year for five years to the presbytery's mission initiative.

+ Murphy Presbyterian Church. 252 Valley River Ave. Murphy, NC 28906-2921


[6] Phillip Radmer Could Get 16 Years for Fraud

Disbarred lawyer Phillip Radmer was found guilty 23 September of stealing land from a South Side church. Prosecutors alleged Radmer sold land that legally belonged to the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago and reaped more than US$600,000 from the bogus transactions. After a three-day bench trial, Cook County Judge Stanley Sacks agreed.

"For Sale by Non-Owner -- that's the five-word biography of Phillip Radmer," Sacks said according to reports published by the Chicago Sun-Times First Presbyterian, at 6400 S. Kimbark, owns several vacant lots on the South Side. According to prosecutors, Radmer formed his own corporation called First Presbyterian Church of Chicago and sold four of the lots to people who did not exist. The land was then sold back to a company Radmer controlled.

When confronted by authorities, Radmer allegedly claimed to have a philosophical objection to churches not paying real estate taxes. Records show that First Presbyterian was paying taxes. The Rev. Jerry Wise, pastor of the 174-year-old church, said it discovered the sales in part because it began receiving fewer tax bills.

Radmer, 53, faces up to 16 years in prison after being convicted of forgery and theft by deception.

+ First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, 6400 S. Kimbark Ave, Chicago (773) 363-0505

[7] Rex Humbard Pioneer TV Evangelist

Alpha Rex Emmanuel Humbard, who has been called the world's first televangelist, and who conducted the funeral of Elvis Presley, has died at the age of 88. A former itinerant preacher who settled in Akron, Ohio, in the early 1950s, Humbard was the first US evangelist to build a ministry through television programming. He made his first on-screen broadcast in 1949, the BBC reported after Humbard's death on 21 September. "The vast majority of people do not go to church and the only way we can reach them is through TV," Humbard explained in his autobiography, "Miracles in My Life".

By 1952, Rex Humbard was broadcasting weekly to millions of viewers from his 5,400 seat church the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio. His weekly program was carried for nearly three decades by 360 stations across the US and Canada and over 2,000 stations worldwide in 91 languages.

+ Ecumenical News International, PO Box 2100, CH - 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland

+ Cathedral of Tomorrow, 2700 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio


[8] Gay Partnership No Block to Office Says Norwegian Church Body

The national council of the (Lutheran) Church of Norway is recommending to the denomination's general synod that it allow homosexuals in registered partnerships to serve as bishops, priests, deacons, or catechists. However, a bishop should still be able to refuse to ordain people in same-sex registered partnerships if the bishop believes it would be a violation of church teaching to do so, the council stated.

Current Church of Norway policy is that people in same-sex partnerships should not hold consecrated offices. Still, several dioceses already have priests and deacons living in same-sex partnerships, as some bishops have chosen not to follow existing church policy.

The latest statistics indicate that 86 percent of the population belongs to the national church and three percent attend services regularly.

+ Council of Norwegian Bishoprics, POB 1937 Gronland, 0135, Oslo, Norway


[9] Odenor St. Cyr

Odenor St. Cyr, the long-time director of the Haitian Program for Training Diaconal Organizations (PWOFOD), was shot to death in Port au Prince 18 September. Leanne Geisterfer, Latin America team leader for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, reports that the attackers shot St. Cyr several times while he and his wife were driving away from church on Tuesday evening.

Geisterfer said she believes the shooting was a random act of violence and likely started as a kidnapping attempt. "This is a hard blow for the Christian community in Port au Prince. We have lost a cherished leader," Geisterfer said.

St. Cyr was employed by PWOFOD for 15 years, most recently as its director. PWOFOD is a Christian community development organization working with churches in the poorest urban neighborhoods of Port au Prince, empowering church leaders to reach out into the community with capacity-building training in small business ownership and adult literacy, among other programs....

+ Henry Hess, Christian Reformed Church, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue, SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 (616) 241-1691


[10] American Brethren Turn 300

On Sept. 15-16 Germantown Church of the Brethren in Philadelphia hosted the opening event of a year-long celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Brethren movement, which began in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany.
Events took place at the "mother church," the first congregation of Brethren in the Americas, and featured worship, workshops, tours, exhibits, and music. Participants came from across the country and from across the Atlantic Northeast District of the Church of the Brethren, as well as from several of the different Brethren denominations and faith groups. Close to 220 people attended worship on Sunday, filling the Germantown sanctuary to capacity.

Throughout the weekend, the historic setting remained at the center-- alongside recognition of the current ministry of the Germantown church. "For 285 years...the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached" at Germantown, said pastor Richard Kyerematen as he led worship Sunday morning.

The congregation was founded on Christmas Day 1723 by German immigrants to the Americas, and its meetinghouse built in 1770 was the first Brethren meetinghouse in the United States. Today the predominantly African-American congregation includes several members from African countries, with pastor Kyerematen himself coming originally from Ghana.

+ Church of the Brethren General Board, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, (800) 323-8039 ext. 260

[11] Christians in Chiapas, Mexico Town Deprived of Water

More than five weeks after town bosses in Chiapas state, Mexico, signed an agreement to restore water lines cut off from Christians since January, the Protestants still rely on dirty, distant, wells and puddles for washing and drinking.

The 23 April agreement calls for the autocratic rulers or caciques of Los Pozos, near San Cristobal de las Casas, to withdraw a threat to expel 65 Christians, cease forcing them to pay for “traditionalist Catholic” festivals and restore electricity and water services of several Protestant families.

The caciques and other traditionalist Catholics showed up for the April signing with a proposal of their own negating nearly all the terms of a verbal agreement reached 28 February. Their proposal would have obligated the Protestants to pay for past festivals and fines accumulated for refusing to contribute to previous traditionalist Catholic events, but state officials nixed it.

Evangelical pastor and attorney Esdras Alonso Gonzalez told Compass that water lines cut since 30 January had not been restored. “Everyone in the municipality is respecting the agreement, except in the matter of water – it’s horrible,” Alonso said. “We don’t know when they’re going to restore the water; the brethren have not been able to get good information.”

+ Compass Direct News, PO Box 27250, Santa Ana CA 92799-7250

19 September 2007

Headlines:

[1] New Presbytery Formed in Wisconsin
[2] Van Marter Will Head NCC Communications Commission
[3] Ten Commandments Display Can Stay in Kentucky Courtrooms
[4] General Social Survey, 2006
[5] Chinese House Church Leader Cai Zhuohua Released
[6] Turkish Judge Pressured to Withdraw from Christians' Trial
[7] Agencies Sued for Firing Case Worker
[8] Church Vigilantes Raid Hostels


[1] New Presbytery Formed in Wisconsin

Reflecting a trend toward decentralization, a new regional church court, Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest, held its inaugural meeting in Oostburg, Wisconsin, on 14-15 September 2007. Elected Moderator was Pastor Marty Waltho, one of the world’s leading experts on desalination equipment.

The new judicatory is committed to classic Christianity, as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, the historic standard for Presbyterianism. The court adopted the original version of the Westminster Standards, formulated at an international assembly in London in the 1640s.

Among the actions taken the first day was the adoption of an Address to the Christian World from the Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest. The document declares the presbytery’s “intention of affiliating with and ultimately joining with other believers, so as to heal some of the brokenness of the visible church in a broken world.” It continues: “At the same time, we announce our desire to cultivate the portion of the Lord’s vineyard in which we have been planted. We will seek to do so not with an arrogant spirit, but with love for the brethren and with respect for what the Lord is doing in and through our fellow believers around the world; not in a standoffish fashion, but with cooperation so long as such does not entail compromise of the doctrine of Scripture or of the gospel.”

The Presbytery also adopted an agreement with the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly (RPCGA) for the handling of appeals and complaints, and approved exploring the possibility of merger with the RPCGA.

+ Rev. Dr. Frank J. Smith, Stated Clerk, Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest W2941 County Highway A South, Oostburg, Wisconsin 53070 (920)564-6501


[2] Van Marter Will Head NCC Communications Commission

The Rev. Jerry Van Marter, coordinator for news services for the PC(USA), has been elected chair of the Communications Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) effective January 2008.
The NCC’s Communications Commission brings together communications professionals of the council’s 36 member communions to address issues such as news and media relations, Web design and content, electronic media production and distribution, and media education and advocacy. As well as sharing “best practices,” the commission seeks to coordinate the member churches’ efforts in those areas.

+ Presbyterian Church (USA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202


[3] Ten Commandments Display Can Stay in Kentucky Courtrooms

Federal District Court Judge Karl Forrester of the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled 18 August that a display of the Ten Commandments, together with other historical documents in the Rowan County Fiscal Courtroom, is constitutional. Liberty Counsel represents Rowan County, Kentucky, in a lawsuit that was filed in 2001 by the ACLU of Kentucky, claiming that the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

The display that Judge Forrester upheld is a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display including the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Charta, the Star-Spangled Banner, the National Motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, and a picture of Lady Justice.

Public displays of the Ten Commandments have enjoyed unprecedented favor in both the courts and the legislatures since Mathew Staver argued the McCreary County, Kentucky, case at the US Supreme Court in 2005. McCreary County involved the exact display that was upheld by Judge Forrester yesterday. The McCreary County case is back at the district court for another ruling but is likely to return to the Supreme Court, where a majority is expected to uphold the display.

These displays are spreading throughout the Nation. In 2006 the Georgia legislature passed a law allowing a similar display in government buildings.

+ Liberty Counsel, Box 540774, Orlando, FL 32854 (800) 671-1776


[4] General Social Survey, 2006

The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972 except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed as part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. The 2006 GSS includes a topical module for mental health. Items in the 2006 GSS include questions on religious self-identification, denominational affiliation, personal beliefs, and religious upbringing.

+ Association of Religion Data Archives, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802


[5] Chinese House Church Leader Cai Zhuohua Released

Chinese house church leader Cai Zhuohua, jailed since 2004 for “illegal business practices” by distributing Christian literature, has been released with stern warnings to stop practicing his faith outside of the government-sanctioned church. Bob Fu of China Aid Association told Compass that on 13 September, three days after Cai’s release, officials of the Public Security Bureau took the well-known Beijing pastor to their offices and tried to intimidate him with threats. “They warned him to be careful – not to be interviewed, to obey the law and not attend religious activities,” Fu said.

Officials from the National Security Bureau – China’s equivalent of the US Central Intelligence Agency – on two occasions gave Cai similar warnings before he was released, Fu said. As an ex-convict whom the government is especially interested to control, Fu said, Cai must report to the PSB once a month.

Deprived of his Bible while in prison, Cai was forced to make soccer balls for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for 10 to 12 hours a day, according to the CAA.

+ Compass Direct, PO Box 27250, Santa Ana CA 92799-7250


[6] Turkish Judge Pressured to Withdraw from Christians' Trial

A Turkish judge announced his withdrawal this week from the case of two Christians charged with “insulting Turkishness.” Judge Neset Eren said at a hearing on 12 September that he was quitting to “distance the court’s decision from any form of indecision or doubt.” Eren’s announcement came after the plaintiffs’ ultranationalist lawyer submitted a written request that he resign; Kemal Kerincsiz accused Eren of failing to deal impartially with the case. Eren had been expected to deliver a ruling at the hearing on 19 September.

Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal have been charged with insulting Turkish identity, but at a previous hearing, State Prosecutor Ahmet Demirhuyuk said there was “not a single piece of credible evidence” against the two converts from Islam.

A new state prosecutor, Adnan Ozcan, replaced Demirhuyuk at Wednesday’s hearing. “If [Tastan and Topal] had been acquitted, there would have been a large protest,” said the Christians’ lawyer, Gursel Meric.

Scores of Turkish academics and writers have been charged in the past two years under article 301 of Turkey’s penal code for insulting the Turkish Republic, institutions of state or “Turkishness.”

A recent European Commission report said that indictments related to non-violent expressions of opinion had doubled in Turkey in 2006, the Turkish Daily News (TDN) newspaper reported today. The report noted that more than half the incidents were raised under article 301.

+ Compass Direct, PO Box 27250, Santa Ana CA 92799-7250


[7] Agencies Sued for Firing Case Worker

Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit 18 September in federal court on behalf of Dennis Hughes against a youth services agency that terminated him when he refused to stop allowing troubled teens in its program to attend his church and church-sponsored activities. Also named in the lawsuit is the agency that manages the program and orchestrated his dismissal, the University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC).

Hughes was a case manager for Bay Area Youth Service (BAYS) in the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program, a program which provides case management services to juvenile offenders. If a juvenile enrolls in and completes the program, the State's criminal charges are dropped. BAYS receives virtually all of its annual revenue from the State of Florida. The program essentially operates as an arm of the State, but Florida has no law forbidding church leaders from attending functions with juvenile offenders in state programs.

For several years BAYS accommodated Hughes' religious activities during his free time, while he served first as youth pastor then as assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel of Tampa. During that time, some of the juveniles under his supervision voluntarily attended church services and sports activities sponsored by Calvary Chapel. One of the activities was held at the University Area Community Center Complex. UACDC, which also manages the Community Center, objected to the religious content of the Calvary Chapel youth activities, banned the activities from the Center and insisted Hughes end his participation.

Since UACDC also funds and manages the Prodigy program, BAYS adopted a policy that juveniles in the program could not attend any event where Hughes was present, even though no problems had ever arisen with the juveniles because of the church events. BAYS terminated Hughes, although he had excellent performance reviews, only because he would not agree to either stop attending his church or prohibit juveniles in the program from attending.

After Hughes was terminated, BAYS sent him its newly adopted policy, stating that staff members are not allowed to "oversee, supervise, coach, mentor, counsel, or recreate with any active program youth or families as part of any outside activity or organization." The policy is so broad that it prevents any church leader or youth activities volunteer from working in the juvenile program, because the leader would have to either leave a church meeting or make a juvenile and their family leave. It even prevents church leaders from attending the same church or participating in any church-related activity with a family member.

+ Liberty Counsel, Box 540774, Orlando, FL 32854 (800) 671-1776


[8] Church Vigilantes Raid Hostels

Instead of attending church on Sunday 16 September, a congregation of about 900 people rampaged through Nyanga hostels, businesses and informal settlements in search of articles stripped from their church at the weekend.

The congregation had been shocked to find their church, the WPT Ndibongo branch of the Presbyterian Church, stripped of doors, chairs, tables, electrical wiring and other movable items by thieves who seemed to have gained entrance through the roof. The toilets and basins had also been maliciously broken.

So, instead of holding their church service, the congregants, many of them pensioners, dressed in white jackets, and with the ward councilor David Tshambula in tow, went looking for the stolen items.

Church member Noluntu Mda said that during their search in the area, congregation members had seen people selling the church's chairs, doors and tables on the streets.

+ Ntomboxolo Makoba, St Georges Street Chambers, 118 St Georges Street, 1st Floor (IOL), PO Box 4116, Cape Town, 8001 South Africa

12 September 2007

Headlines:

[1] Peters Creek Joins the Exodus from the PC(USA_
[2] Paisley Will Not Strand for Reelection
[3] Training on Microfinance and Microenterprise Development
[4] Kirkpatrick Will Not Run for PC(USA) Clerk
[5] Ivory Moves from PC(USA) to WCC
[6] Korean Conference Flourishes
[7] Christ Covenant Purchases Sheridan School


[1] Peters Creek Joins the Exodus from the PC(USA_

Members of a Washington County, Pennsylvania, congregation took part in an emotional vote over whether or not to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) on 9 September. The final vote total came down to 273 active members of the Peters Creek Presbyterian Church voting to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, while 86 voted against leaving. All 15 elders voted with the majority.

+ Peters Creek Presbyterian Church, 250 Brookwood Road, Venetia, Pennsylvania 15367 (724) 941-6210 <http://www.peterscreekchurch.org/>


[2] Paisley Will Not Stand for Reelection

After a five-hour meeting on 7 September, of presbytery, Dr. Ian Paisley announced he would step down as Free Presbyterian of Ulster moderator in January. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader also said he intended to continue his work as a clergyman.

Speaking to his congregation at Martyrs' Memorial Church in Belfast on the Sabbath, Lord Paisley said he had agreed to stand down because the church was facing a "very real crisis.". "While I am no longer going to carry the weight which I have carried for over 56 years as moderator of our Presbytery, I have news for you . . .I will be here and I am praying to God that I will be able to preach right to the end of my days," he said in reports distributed by the BBC.

Paisley has been elected moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church every year except one since he founded the church in 1951. The DUP which also owes its present status to Paisley is the largest political party in Ulster.

+ DUP Headquarters, 91 Dundela Avenue, Belfast, BT4 3BU, Ulster, Northern Ireland

+ Dr. Ian Paisley, Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church, 356 Ravenhill Road, BT 5 Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland


[3] Training on Microfinance and Microenterprise Development

According to ByFaith Online, the Chalmers Center for Economic Development, a part of Covenant College, offers email-based distance learning courses on how to minister to the poor without creating dependency. This training helps the church to help the poor help themselves. A course called "Principles and Practices of Christian Microfinance and Microenterprise Development" provides an overview to microenterprise development and microfinance and orientation to the selection and design of a holistic intervention appropriate for your ministry context. Cost of this seven-week course is US$199 plus the cost of course material. The course will be offered on 7 January – 22 February 2008. [BFOL]

The prerequisite course is "Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry." It teaches appropriate goals and strategies for conducting Christian development in poor communities. Cost of this four-week course is US$75 plus the cost of course material. The course is scheduled for 22 October 22 – 16 November 2007, and February 4 – 29, 2008.

To learn more, including information about a discount for Two-Thirds World participants, or to register, visit or call 706-419-1805.

+ The Chalmers Center, 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750


[4] Kirkpatrick Will Not Run for PC(USA) Clerk

Clifton Kirkpatrick has announced that he will not seek a fourth term as stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) when his current term ends in June 2008.

Kirkpatrick indicated he wanted to spend quality time with his family and devote more energy to his role as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of WARC, said in a 11 September letter to Kirkpatrick that the Reformed family worldwide is grateful for his ministry at the Presbyterian Church (USA), WARC and in the wider ecumenical movement.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) brings together 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries - united in their commitment to making a difference in a troubled world.

+ World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 150 Route de Ferney, PO Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland


[5 ] Ivory Moves from PC(USA) to WCC

Elenora Giddings Ivory, who for nearly two decades has been director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Washington Office recently announced plans to take a position with the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Ivory’s last day leading the PC(USA)'s public policy, information and advocacy office in Washington, DC, will be in late October. She will then become director of the WCC's Public Witness: Addressing Power and Affirming Peace program area, pending final approval from the WCC executive committee when it meets in Armenia, 25-28 September.

The program area Giddings Ivory will lead focuses on concerns of WCC members regarding violence, war, human rights, economic injustice, poverty and exclusion - voicing these concerns to such intergovernmental organizations as the United Nations and various international financial institutions in hopes of influencing policy decisions.

+ Presbyterian Church (USA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202 (888) 728-7228


[6] Korean Conference Flourishes

The Korean churches of First Associate Reformed Presbytery held a conference at Bonclarken Conference Center, Flat Rock, North Carolina, over the Labor Day Weekend. There were 73 in attendance. Dr. Suk Ho Moon, senior pastor of the Hyo Shin Presbyterian Church, New York City, was the keynote speaker. This is the second year the conference has been held. It is planned to make this an annual event.

+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1 Cleveland St., Suite 110, Greenville, SC 29601-3646 (864) 232-8297


[7] Christ Covenant Purchases Sheridan School

Christ Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church soon will be the new owner of Marion Elementary School. The Sheridan Community School Board on 10 September voted 4-1 to accept the church's cash bid of US$200,000 for the school building and 6 acres on Ind. 47 in Boone County.

"This is a huge answer to our prayers," said Jason Elmore, one of the church members at the meeting according to reports published by the Indianapolis Star. "We were already busting out of the old (church) building and were trying to figure out how to expand," he said. "It was definitely providential."

Marion Elementary has sat empty since it closed in 2004, the same year the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.

+ The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 607 N. Easton Rd., Bldg. E, Box P, Willow Grove, PA 19090-0920

5 September 2007

Headlines:

[1] Dr. D. James Kennedy 1930 - 2007
[2] Ireland Stands by the Sabbath
[3] Presbyterians Turn Vandal in Kenya


[1] Dr. D. James Kennedy 1930 - 2007

Slightly over a week after learning that Pastor D. James Kennedy would not be returning to his pulpit at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, church members heard the report that America’s leading Presbyterian had gone on to be with the Lord. According to Executive Minister Ronal Siegenthaler, Dr. Kennedy died peacefully in his sleep around 3 am on 5 August with his wife Anne at his side.

Pastor of a 10,000 member congregation and founder of Evangelism Explosion, Kennedy insisted on urbane and cultured presentation of the gospel. Impeccably dressed and backed-up by a magnificent pipe organ and professional grade choir, Kennedy blended history, logic, and rhetoric to make the Bible bear on government, cultural, and academic leaders.

According to Kennedy, in 1953, while listening to Donald Grey Barnhouse of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, he heard the question, “Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you, ‘What right do you have to enter into my heaven?’ What would you say?’”

After obtaining theological training at the Southern Presbyterian Columbia Seminary, Kennedy moved South Florida in 1959 and in nine months turned a 45-member congregation into a 17 member congregation. Evangelism Explosion soon followed and the steady march toward 10,000 members began. Today EE as it is known is organized openly in 211 nations.

A founder or benefactor to many Reformed institutions, Kennedy served on the ministerial staff of the Christian Observer under Converse and Elliott in a period stretching more than 40 years.

Kennedy left this message:

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”

+ Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, 5555 N Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33308 (954) 771-3187


[2] Ireland Stands by the Sabbath

For the present, a 60-year ban on Sabbath football games remains in effect in Northern Ireland. Football enthusiasts have announced plans to sue for their human rights, charging the ban is a vestigial relic of Protestantism.

Proponents of change will have to walk over the Free Presbyterian Church, the Orange Lodge, and the Democratic Unionist party first. The most powerful of Ulster parties, the DUP is dominated by followers of First Minister Ian Paisley and members of the Lord’s Day Observance Society.

Objecting to charges of racism, Rev. Mr. David McIlveen, the Free Presbyterian moderator noted that many African Christians now living in the province consider the Sabbath special and sacred.

According to reports published in the Guardian, McIlveen further noted, “We feel that a number of Christian sportsmen would be discriminated against. This would in general be a backward step for sport.”

+ Irish Football Association, 20 Windsor Ave, Belfast BT9 6EG, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom


[3] Presbyterians Turn Vandal in Kenya

The Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) has vowed to continue pushing for the removal of "satanic" symbols from Kenya’s Parliament Buildings and other government institutions. Church Moderator Rev David Githii said he would press for the eradication of the "offensive" symbols despite opposition.

Accusing the Government of failing to take the issue seriously, Githii insisted that the word Harambee and other signs in the National Assembly were un-Christian. “Politicians have ignored the Church's calls because 70 per cent of MPs were involved in witchcraft,” he said.

Githii asked Kenyans to pray so that God can give them a government that would remove the symbols. Speaking on Monday at Dr Arthur Memorial Church in Nakuru during celebrations to mark 70 years since its founding, Githii blamed the signs for social and economic problems in the country.

Githii practiced his brand of revisionism on the church before moving to the state. A dispute with Freemasonry has split the PCEA, leading to the removal of priceless historical fittings from its prayer houses.

At least 30 stained glass windows and metal grilles more than a century old have previously been removed from St Andrews Church - the main seat of the PCEA - and destroyed by supporters of one faction, who claim the designs are similar to symbols used by Freemasons, said by their critics to worship an alien God and to hold un-Christian principles.

+ Presbyterian Church of East Africa, PO Box 27573-00506, Myayo Stadium, Nairobi GPO Kenya