Run, Santa, run

The annual Santa Shuffle Fun Run and Elf Walk takes place in cities across North America December 5. The event is designed to raise money for the Salvation Army.

They know how to celebrate Christmas in the great west

Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, is hosting the fourth annual Great West Life Spirit of Christmas Celebration December 4 - 5. The family friendly event includes concerts (by Vancouver VOC Soul Gospel Choir, Showstoppers, Mennonite Educational Institute choirs, Zaac Pick and Rachelle Kostelyk), an outdoor living nativity, a petting zoo, a craft fair, balloon sculptors, a children's activity centre, and a Christmas tree decorating contest. Groups and businesses pay $30 to decorate a tree in the contest; the trees are judged in advance (the entry deadline is November 20), with prizes awarded in three categories: most creative, most beautiful, and best representative of an organization or department. The event attracts thousands of people from the community each year. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged to the Salvation Army red kettle campaign.

Students try to set a good example

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students kicked off their annual Pearson Challenge October 28. The event challenges students at the Christian university in Winnipeg to donate 0.7 percent of the amount of their tuition to foreign aid. The donations will be channelled to the Global Family Project, a foreign aid program of Mennonite Central Committee. The challenge is named for Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who presented a 1969 Partners in Development commission report to the World Bank which recommended that wealthy nations contribute 0.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product for development assistance. The recommendation was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly and by the Canadian government, but the Canadian government has never reached this level; it currently gives about half that much to foreign aid.

Students plant a garden for the environment

Trinity Western University's Environmental Club and students from the Environmental Studies department developed the idea of having a community garden on the campus this year. During Earth Week in spring 2009, a section of TWU's land was broken, tilled and divided into seven plots. The plots produced a bountiful harvest this fall. Assistant professor of biology Karen Steensma served as an advisor on the project. She and the other professors involved with the project hope to expand the garden next year and start a demonstration garden which would show people how to grow plants and take care of the land. They say community gardens provide inexpensive, local fruits and vegetables, but also build a sense of community and a connection with the environment.

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It's still about the Creator

Creation Festivals has decided to move the location of Creation Festival Northwest from the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, where it has been for the past 12 years, to the Enumclaw Expo Center in Enumclaw, Washington. The new location has a cooler climate and is closer to the cities of Seattle and Portland. The Christian music festival also attracts a large number of Canadians, particularly from British Columbia. The next festival will take place July 21 - 24.

Catholics support life

The Catholic Organization for Life and the Family (COLF) wrote to all Members of the House of Commons and of the Senate of Canada last month asking them to vote against Bill C-384, which would amend the criminal code to permit euthanasia in some circumstances). COLF has also produced a new internet publication on the issue called 'Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Why Not? -- Quick Answers to Common Arguments.'

Evangelicals support housing

Don Hutchinson, director of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's (EFC) Centre for Faith and Public Life, and Julia Beazley, coordinator for the Streetlevel, the EFC's National Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness, appeared before the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Human Resources November 5. They made a submission in support of the private member's Bill C-304, an act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians. The bill calls for a national affordable housing strategy. The EFC/Streetlevel submission, called 'Moving Forward Together on Affordable Housing,' noted that "next to government, the church is the second largest provider of care to the poor."

Churches oppose nuclear weapons

The Canadian Council of Churches, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, World Council of Churches, and Conference of European Churches sent a joint letter to the leaders of NATO and the European Union this week, commending reductions in nuclear weapons and supporting the call for a world free of nuclear weapons. The church bodies also wrote to US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev as leaders of the states with more than 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.

Untangled webs

Two Christian ministries have developed new websites. Insight for Living Canada (IFLC), based in Abbotsford, BC, offers more than 800 books, CDs, and DVDs with an emphasis on Christian discipleship, as well as audio messages by IFLC founder Chuck Swindoll. The Ratanak Foundation, based in Vancouver, was founded by Canadian Brian McConaghy to provide relief and development assistance to the people of Cambodia.

November 12/2009