Survivor: Remote Bible Translator

Wycliffe Canada is organizing 'Race to 2025: India' September 11 - 13. Four-member co-ed teams will compete in a two-day race through the Canadian Rockies that includes whitewater canoeing, extreme hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing -- all in search of a remote 'Bibleless' tribe. Teams will share an ethnic meal with authentic villagers, conduct a mini language survey and talk each night with veteran missionaries. Each team is required to raise at least $2,600 to support five Bible translation projects in an isolated region in northern India. This is the fifth such fundraising race sponsored by Wycliffe Canada since 2007.

They've waited 60 years for a home

Ten Mennonite churches in Canada have expressed interest in sponsoring families from the Al Hol refugee camp along the Syria-Iraq border. Ed Wiebe, coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee's refugee programs, anticipates Mennonite churches will sponsor more than 50 of the 336 refugees in the camp. Altogether, there are about 3,000 people trapped in camps along the border. The ones that will resettle in Canada are mostly second-generation descendants of Palestinians who fled to Kuwait in 1948 following the establishment of Israel; they fled to Baghdad, Iraq, in 1993 during the Gulf War and then tried to flee to Syria in 2003 after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Canada is the only country in the world that has a private sponsorship program for refugees. Each year, the Canadian government resettles about 7,500 refugees through its programs and an additional 3,500 through sponsorships. The sponsorship program started 30 years ago when MCC Canada negotiated an agreement with the government to allow Mennonite churches to sponsor refugees from Southeast Asia. Since then, Mennonite churches have helped more than 50,000 refugees resettle in Canada.

Sri Lanka needs help

Geoff Tunnicliffe, director of global initiatives for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and international director of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), has called on Christians worldwide to help the Sri Lankan church meet the humanitarian crisis affecting that country. Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war has left more than 300,000 displaced people desperately in need of food, medical assistance and other basic needs. Although Christians are a small minority in the country, the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan chapter of the WEA, is presently feeding over 10,000 people every day. Tunnicliffe travelled to Sri Lanka with an international delegation of Christian leaders and diplomats June 1 - 6. The EFC has set up a Sri Lanka relief fund.

Been there, done that

Cbm, a relief agency based in Stouffville, Ontario, has stepped up its efforts in Sri Lanka through long-time national partner organizations such as LEADS. Cbm has a three-phase plan of action to help: 1) feed 53,000 camp residents three meals per day, provide sanitation and hygiene kits, and provide two large shelters for common use; 2) provide 200 shelters and 40 sanitation facilities with accessibility for people with disabilities, provide orthopedic surgeons to help those injured in the war, and offer counseling for people traumatized by the war; and 3) provide families with portable "sack gardens", provide physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and vocational training, and help displaced families resettle. Cbm has been working in Sri Lanka for 33 years.

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Need traffic cops

World Vision Canada has released a report called '10 Things You Need to Know About Human Trafficking' in support of Bill C-268, which would impose mandatory minimum sentences on anyone convicted of human trafficking in Canada. The bill is expected to be voted on later this month.

One Lord, one faith, one board

The Canadian Council of Churches elected a new executive at its governing board meetings in Ottawa last month: president Bruce Adema of the Christian Reformed Church; vice presidents Gillian Brown of the Salvation Army, Gilles Cazabon of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and John Jillions of the Orthodox Church in America; and treasurer Don Taylor of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Church and state meet (but not together)

The G8 Summit -- an annual gathering of the leaders of Canada, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan and Italy -- will be held in Huntsville, Ontario June 25 - 27, 2010. For the sixth year in a row, global faith leaders will hold a parallel event in the same country, as 100 faith leaders from the G8 nations and Africa meet at the University of Winnipeg June 21 - 23, 2010. The goal of the faith leaders is to push the political leaders to keep their commitments to help the poor and vulnerable.

New master of business

Andrea Soberg has been appointed dean of the School of Business at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. Soberg has been associate dean since 2005. She holds a Master of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto and a BA from Simon Fraser University, and is a Certified Human Resource Professional in Canada. She also has her own consulting business called People First Consulting. The School of Business was launched in 2000 and now has more than 500 students and 18 faculty and staff. The school at first offered undergraduate degrees, but a Master of Business Administration degree was added in 2007.

His name is Bill, but you can call him Dean

Western Christian College, a Christian high school and college in Regina, Saskatchewan, has appointed Bill Schwartz as academic dean. A native of Edmonton, Schwartz has done extensive research into the relationship between clergy and congregational health, pastoral care and counselling, and is currently completing his Doctor of Theology at the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. Western Christian College was founded in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and later relocated to Dauphin, Manitoba before moving to Regina. Its motto of 'Changing Lives One Student at a Time' is exemplified by the college's REACH program, which gives underprivileged young people in Regina's inner city opportunities to complete a high school diploma.

June 18/2009