News briefs

Guild teaches creativity

The Word Guild is partnering with That's Life! Communications and World Vision Canada to offer creativity and writing workshops across Canada. The project will launch this fall with a 10-day tour through Eastern Canada featuring two workshops taught by N.J. Lindquist, writer and co-founder of The Word Guild. 'Release the Creative You,' an evening workshop, will be offered October 17 in Brossard, Quebec; October 20 in Sussex, N.B.; October 21 in Sackville, N.B.; October 22 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.; and October 24 in Dartmouth, N.S. The Brossard and Dartmouth events will be followed the next day by an all-day 'Recycle Your Personal Experiences' workshop. The Word Guild is hoping to offer similar workshops in the Toronto area in early November and in other parts of Ontario and Western Canada in the spring 2009. The Word Guild is "a national association of more than 300 members who write from a Christian faith perspective."

Two songitudes

Lutheran Church-Canada is preparing a French-language hymnal and prayer book called Liturgies et Cantiques Lutheriens. The book parallels but is not identical to the English-language Lutheran Service Book. -- The Canadian Lutheran

From one farm community to another

Westside Community Church in Morden, Manitoba has focused its international missions outreach on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through its denominational mission agency, MBMS International, the Mennonite Brethren congregation has supported the work of agronomist Edgard Kimbau. The congregation has purchased a motorcycle for Limbau, sewing machines for a women's training ministry, a 430-book agricultural reference library, two farms and a building. One church member, Randy Warkentin, ran in the Boston marathon and raised $20,000 for the project. -- Mennonite Brethren Herald

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Rewarding good neighbours

GodTalk, a Christian talk show on secular Winnipeg radio station CJOB, ran its second annual Great Canadian Neighbour Contest earlier this year. Listeners sent in stories of neighbours who had helped them. Donated prizes were given to some of the good neighbours, based on a random drawing from among the 120 entries. GodTalk is produced through an arrangement with Family Life Network, a Mennonite Brethren communications ministry.

You can't love your neighbours if you don't know who they are

The Community Research Guide for Church Leaders is a new resource from the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism. It offers practical steps and resources to help churches get to know their neighbours.

It takes amazing grace to sing together

The Anglican Church of Canada is inviting Canadian Anglicans to sing the hymn 'Amazing Grace' on November 23, record it and send the videos in to the national church office. The videos will be edited together and posted on the Internet.

Concern over Iranian persecution

Jocelyn Durston, international policy analyst for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, sent a letter of concern to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs David Emerson in mid-September regarding the ongoing religious persecution of seven Baha'i leaders in Iran as well as the development of an apostasy bill. The bill, currently before the Iranian Parliament, would impose a mandatory death penalty for anyone leaving the Muslim religion. It is seen as a threat to Baha'is, Christians and even some dissenting Muslims.

September 25/2007