News briefs

Rosebud Theatre's 25th

Alberta's Rosebud Theatre is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Rosebud, Alberta is situated 100 km northeast of Calgary and 35 km southwest of Drumheller. The theatre seats over 200 and the Rosebud School of the Arts has a post-secondary apprenticeship program focusing on theatre, music and creative arts ministry training. In 1988, the Alberta Legislature passed the Rosebud School of the Arts Act, creating a unique Christian arts guild school. In 1998, the Canadian Badlands Performing Arts Summer School also began.

CPJ responds to throne speech

Citizens for Public Justice, a Christian think tank has responded to the federal government's recent throne speech. They outline a vision for leadership and a better Canada and challenge the definition of leadership as one of exercising military might and imposing harsh punishments in order to protect "the right to safety and security. . . . The Bible offers us other visions of leadership, however. Through this lens, we can see that true leadership involves inspiration, responsibility, caring for the dispossessed and stewardship of creation."

LCC president steps down

After serving as Lutheran Church-Canada's president for four terms, Ralph Mayan has announced he will not accept nomination to another term and will step down in September 2008 following the election of a new president at the church's convention in June. Lutheran Church-Canada was founded in 1988 by Canadian congregations of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. With more than 325 congregations from Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island, it is the second largest Lutheran church body in Canada.

Winnipeg hosts 'Price of Freedom'

The 'Price of Freedom' conference will take place at the Eternity Centre in Winnipeg November 2 - 4. Organized by Majed El Shafie of One Free World International Ministries and Willard Thiessen of It's a New Day, speakers will include Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism; H.E. Alan Baker, Israeli Ambassador to Canada; and Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada. Call 204-949-3333 for more information.

CRC's ministerial candidacy

The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) has appointed David R. Koll director of ministerial candidacy. Koll, a veteran pastor, will begin January 2008 and be responsible for helping to identify prospective candidates and supervising their preparation to serve as ministers in the denomination. The CRC is a denomination with about 275,000 members in more than 1,000 congregations across the United States and Canada.

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Wealth and the Oil Sands

Regent College, A Rocha Canada and City In Focus will host the 'Creating Wealth & the Created World' conference November 2 - 3. It will be led by an an oil executive, a conservationist and a politician looking at the wealth potential of the Alberta Tar Sands and asking how Christians should create wealth within God's creation. Speakers include Clive Mather; Preston Manning; Cal DeWitt; Iain Provan; Paul Williams; Marie Connett-Porceddu; and Loren Wilkinson.

MCC appoints new director

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has named Arli Klassen its next executive director. She will be the first women to lead the 87 year old relief , development and peace-building organization. Klassen has worked for the past 16 years with MCC in Africa, the US and Canada.

Lutheran website

The Lutheran Church of Canada has launched a new website for people seeking spiritual answers. 'What You Believe - Life's BIG Questions' features extensive resources and a feature to submit questions about common areas of faith.

EFC posts radio files online

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has posted audio files that address issues of social concern to Christians on its web site 'Canada Watch Radio'. They are currently highlighting reasons to be concerned about the status of Bill C-22, a bill that seeks to protect children by raising the age of sexual consent. The government combined age-of-sexual-consent legislation with four other justice bills into omnibus Bill C-2, the 'Tackling Violent Crimes' act.

November 1/2007