31 December 2008

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] URCNA Pioneer Peter Moen Dies
[2] Free Church of Scotland History Book Available Online
[3] Church of Scotland Minister Reacts to Roman Catholic Pope’s End-of-Year Address
[4] Missouri Union Presbytery (PCUSA) and Hungarian Reformed Church in Partnership Twenty-Four Years
[5] Hope College Professor to Speak at First Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan on 4 and 11 January 2009
[6] CRC and RCA Partner to Establish a Congregation at Michigan’s Ionia Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility
[7] Calvin Reformed Church of Norwalk, Connecticut Holds English Classes for Immigrants
[8] Belgic Confession Sunday School Notes Available Online
[9] Alliance of Reformed Churches in Africa Urges Implement of the Accra Confession
[10] United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Says Iraq is Now One of the Most Dangerous Places on Earth for Religious Minorities
[11] Police in the Peoples Republic of China on Christmas Eve Raid Homes of Earthquake Victims Helped by Christian Volunteers
[12] Illinois Supreme Court Rejects Blagojevich's 'Emergency Rule' Forcing Pharmacies to Stock and Disburse ‘Morning After Pill’ Contraceptive and Abortifacient
[13] ACLJ Asks “Will Pro-Life Demonstrations be Crushed at the Obama Presidential Inauguration?”


[1] URCNA Pioneer Peter Moen Dies

Peter Moen, 72, of Pequannock, New Jersey, died 2 December 2008 from brain cancer that he had battled during the previous year.

Moen was a member of Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church of Pompton Plains, New Jersey since joining the church in 1966, served there in the offices of deacon and elder, and was a board member of Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer, Indiana.

Moen, in the 1990’s, was a chairman of the Alliance of Reformed Churches and was instrumental in bringing to birth the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). He regularly served as an Elder delegate to the URCNA Synod meetings.

Moen served in the New Jersey Army National Guard from 1955 – 1964, graduated from Rutgers University in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts in History, and was employed by New Jersey Bell, later AT&T, from 1954 until his retirement in 1987. He then worked for several years as the church and cemetery manager at the Pompton Reformed Church of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

Peter Moen is survived by his wife of fifty years Ann Stols Moen, by sons Peter, Neal, and Mark, and by his brother Edward and his sister Barbara.

Moen’s funeral service was held 8 December 2008 at the Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church.

+ Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, New Jersey, 07470, 973-696-2900, Fax: 973-628-9437, vandermayfuneralhome@vandermay.com

+ United Reformed Churches in North America, C/O Mr. Bill Konynenbelt, 5824 Bowwater Circle Northwest, Calgary, Alberta T3B 2E2, Canada, 403-286-0521, Fax: 403-286-0759, urcna@shaw.ca


[2] Free Church of Scotland History Book Available Online

The Free Church of Scotland: Her Origin, Founders and Testimony, Second Edition, by Peter Bayne, LL.D., published by T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1894, and in the library of Princeton Theological Seminary, has been digitized into PDF, full text, and several other formats and is available from the Internet Archive.

+ Internet Archive, 116 Sheridan Avenue, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94129, 415-561-6767
Fax: 415-840-0391, info@archive.org

+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk


[3] Church of Scotland Minister Reacts to Roman Catholic Pope’s End-of-Year Address

In response to the Roman Catholic pontiff’s end-of-year address where he called on the [Roman Catholic] Church to protect man from the "destruction of himself" saying that tropical rainforests deserved protection but man as a creature "does not deserve any less", Church of Scotland minister the Rev. Ewan Aitken accused the Pope of teaching death rather than love.

Aitken said, "The Pope has crossed the line when he suggests that 'saving the world from homosexuality' is more important than saving the environment. There is nothing more important than saving the planet. The human race is in self-destruct mode but not over who we love and how we make love but how we are treating the planet without which there will be no place to make or be in love (or both).”

Aitken went on to say the Roman Catholic pontiff should spend "what moral authority he may have" calling people to consume less and care more about their carbon footprint than worrying yet again about who is sleeping with whom.

+ The Scotsman, Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 8AS, 0131-620-8620

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722

+ The Vatican


[4] Missouri Union Presbytery (PCUSA) and Hungarian Reformed Church in Partnership Twenty-Four Years

In a 22 December 2008 article on the Missouri Union Presbytery (MUP) (Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)) website, Vicki Schildmeyer describes the presbytery’s twenty-four year covenant relationship with the Hungarian Reformed Church (HRC).

Schildmeyer describes how in early years of the relationship that began in 1984, efforts were concentrated on reopening the seminary at Saraspatak, which was founded in 1531, but had been closed during almost 50 years of Communist oppression. The Saraspatak Academy now includes a primary school, a high school, and a seminary.

Schildmeyer describes MUP’s partnership with the HRC district in Ukraine, and how in more recent years, much of the mission support has been a joint outreach ministry to the desperately poor church in Ukrainian and Roma (Gypsy) communities. During 2008, MUP and individual churches sent over US$22,000 to support ministry in Ukraine, Romania and Hungary.

Schildmeyer additionally says that some members of the HRC live outside the current borders of Hungary because the denomination extends to territories that were part of Hungary prior to 1923. The HRC is comprised of 9 church districts, which include 64 sub-districts. In 2009 a unified constitution will be presented, hoping to solidify unity among the Reformed Christians in Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Transylvania (Romania).

+ Missouri Union Presbytery, 915-A Leslie Boulevard, Jefferson City, Missouri 65101, 573-635-9221, Fax: 573-635-9222, dnldbay@aol.com

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005


[5] Hope College Professor to Speak at First Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan on 4 and 11 January 2009

Lynn Japinga, Associate professor of religion at Hope College, will be speaking at First Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan at 11:00 a.m. on 4 and 11 January 2009 on the topic of “Women as Leaders in the Christian Tradition.”

The 4 January session will look at some of the ways that women have been denied positions of power and authority within the church and society. The 11 January session will explore the lives of women who did exercise significant leadership, from Esther and Vashti in the Old Testament to Catherine of Siena in the 14th century to Sarah Grimke in the 19th century.

Professor Japinga teaches American religious history and women’s studies at Hope College. She has served as interim preaching pastor at Hope Church and authored the book, “Feminism and Christianity: An Essential Guide,” Abingdon Press. Her current project is a study of the Reformed Church in America since 1945.

+ Holland Sentinel, 54 West 8th Street, Holland, Michigan 49423, 616-546-4200, Fax: 616-393-6710, peter.esser@hollandsentinel.com

+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org


[6] CRC and RCA Partner to Establish a Congregation at Michigan’s Ionia Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility

A prison church established through a partnership of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) held its first service at Michigan’s Ionia Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in November 2008. Inmates help plan worship, assist in the service, and eventually will have elders and deacons elected from amongst themselves. The church and the inmates are supported by three dozen pastors and volunteers from several other churches.

Pastor and developer of the prison church the Rev. Richard Rienstra says that the congregation is different from the other religious services and worship gatherings offered at the prison, as it provides inmates the opportunity to form and nurture a community of believers.

Head of chaplains for the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Rev. Michael Martin, said that state officials approved the church as a pilot program of its Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative to help ex-offenders move back into civilian life.

+ Abilene Reporter News, 101 Cypress Street, Abilene, Texas 79601, 325-673-4271, webmaster@reporternews.com

+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org

+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org


[7] Calvin Reformed Church of Norwalk, Connecticut Holds English Classes for Immigrants

Calvin Reformed Church of Norwalk, Connecticut pastor the Rev. Ervin Betts and congregant Gail Deaver, an English teacher, decided several months ago that their church should offer English classes to the group of immigrant day laborers they passed by each Sunday on their way to church services.

Deaver signed up for and completed a community college methods course for teaching English as a second language, and after several months of recruiting students in the neighborhood, began offering the English class to the immigrants in December 2008.

Deaver’s class is designed to teach the students the type of English they will need in order to work and get through everyday life. The students learned Christmas carols in English in order to help them remember the English phrases therein.

Deaver said the people of the Calvin Reformed Church have learned a valuable lesson from this experience as well. The Calvin Reformed Church used to be a church for mostly Hungarian immigrants, but due to the passage of time, many of them find it is difficult to remember or understand that process.

Pastor Betts says that the church has become so interested in helping the immigrant population that it plans to host other events, such as voter registration and citizenship classes in the future.

+ The Hour Publishing Company, 346 Main Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851, 203-846-3281, Fax: 203-840-1802

+ Calvin Synod, C/O Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop, 7319 Tapper Avenue, Hammond, Indiana 46324, 219-931-4321, kkludwig@aol.com


[8] Belgic Confession Sunday School Notes Available Online

Christopher Coleman is a Masters of Divinity student at Westminster Seminary California and is licensed to "exhort" in the United Reformed Churches in North America.

Coleman teaches a high school-aged Sunday School class on the Belgic Confession at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, California, and has made his lecture notes available through his blog The Belgic Confession.

+ The Belgic Confession, chrisafari@gmail.com


[9] Alliance of Reformed Churches in Africa Urges Implement of the Accra Confession

Following their meeting in Maputo, Mozambique ending 6 December 2008, the Alliance of Reformed Churches in Africa, an Area Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), urged its member churches to continue to promote and implement the Accra Confession for the sake of the weak, poor and marginalized of Africa.

The Accra Confession is the major statement of the 24th General Council of WARC, which critiques neoliberal economic globalization, stating that Christians cannot remain silent in the face of its destruction of people and the planet.

+ World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 150 route de Ferney, Post Office Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6240, Fax: 41-22-791-6505, warc@warc.ch


[10] United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Says Iraq is Now One of the Most Dangerous Places on Earth for Religious Minorities

In response to what it calls the Iraqi government's tolerance of severe abuses of religious freedom and for tolerating attacks on Christians and others, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a body appointed by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. president, has declared Iraq as now being one of the most dangerous places on earth for religious minorities.

The report comes after 1,500 Christian families fled attacks and intimidation in the northern city of Mosul in October, and the city's Christian archbishop being kidnapped and murdered earlier this year.
The U.S. State Department says that the Christian population in Iraq has halved since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. An estimated 700 thousand remain, with the rest having fled Iraq to seek refuge in neighboring countries.

Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church.

+ Iraq Updates Ltd., Suffolk House, George Street, Croydon CR0 0YN, England, 44-0-207-582-6222, support@iraqupdates.com

+ The Vatican


[11] Police in the Peoples Republic of China on Christmas Eve Raid Homes of Earthquake Victims Helped by Christian Volunteers

ChinaAid contacts report that on Christmas Eve 2008, more than forty police raided four households in the Sichuan, China earthquake disaster area because they received the help of Christian volunteers from outside the area.

The policemen beat, swore at, and insulted the people at the scene. They threatened to demolish the house, newly built by the earthquake victims. Finally, the police took away Li Zenggui, a local earthquake victim, and Christian volunteers Cao Gang, Brother Yang, and others. They also seized Bibles, hymnals, televisions, motorcycles and many other items owned by the Christians. During the raid, the police refused to present documents to prove their actions were legal.

+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com


[12] Illinois Supreme Court Rejects Blagojevich's 'Emergency Rule' Forcing Pharmacies to Stock and Disburse ‘Morning After Pill’ Contraceptive and Abortifacient

The Illinois Supreme Court on 18 December 2008 reversed a lower court ruling that effectively upheld the "Emergency Rule" issued by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2005 requiring pharmacies to dispense the Plan B “Morning After Pill” contraceptive and abortifacient without delay and without regard to the religious beliefs or conscience of the dispensing pharmacist.

LifeSiteNews.Com reports that the high hormones doses of progestin in Plan B also cause the abortion of a conceived human embryo and leave women vulnerable to health risks.

The Governor stated publicly that "pharmacists with moral objections should find another profession," and "must fill prescriptions without making moral judgments." Blagojevich's rule was eventually adopted as an administrative rule, and within weeks of its final enactment the Department of Financial & Professional Regulation began prosecuting pharmacies or pharmacists alleged to have violated the rule.

In response, pharmacists Luke Vander Bleek and Glen Kosirog challenged the Rule in court, claiming in a nine-count complaint that the governor's dictate and the administrative rule that followed were violations of their statutorily and constitutionally protected rights to conscience and free exercise of religion.

+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, Post Office Box 25382, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220, 866-787-9947, lsn@lifesitenews.com


[13] ACLJ Asks “Will Pro-Life Demonstrations be Crushed at the Obama Presidential Inauguration?”

Pro-life activists unsure if their events will be allowed to happen during the January 2009 inaugural parade and inaugural week celebrations are being represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, which has sent a letter to the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. National Park Service seeking a meeting to resolve the matter.

Reformed Presbyterian Pastor the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, has good reason to believe that the pro-life message will be quashed during the inaugural, as during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado in August 2008, two young women were writing pro-life messages in sidewalk chalk on the public sidewalk near then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama's hotel when police officers rushed in and violently arrested the girls without warning or provocation. Mahoney was also arrested and threatened with a felony for leading the event. They all were later released.

Mahoney states:

"Pro-life activists are very troubled and concerned that their First Amendment free speech rights will be denied and trampled during the Presidential Inauguration. After meeting with government officials, we were told they could not guarantee our pro-life demonstrations could take place.

A Presidential Inauguration should be a time to celebrate and honor the First Amendment and free speech rights not crush them. It is our hope that federal law enforcement officials and the Presidential Inaugural Committee will honor the Constitution and allow these peaceful demonstrations to take place. Censorship should not be a part of the new Obama Administration."

+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Christian Defense Coalition, 540-538-4741