More than goats

Joel Nagtegaal likes to get people's goats - and give them to other people. In spring 2009, he and his roller hockey buddies decided to raise funds to donate a goat to a needy family in Africa for every playoff game won by the Vancouver Canucks. The hockey team won only six games; but the 'Goat Canucks Goat' campaign, supported by a website, raised enough money for 1,073 goats. Now Nagtegaal, a university student from Langley, B.C., has launched a new effort called Goat for Gold. This time, he and his brother Danny are raising money to donate a goat for every gold medal Canada wins at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The goats will be distributed through the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.

Marching back

A group of churches, parachurch ministries and businesses have gotten together to reinstate an annual March for Jesus in Calgary. The first march is scheduled to take place June 20. The march coordinators are Jim Blake of Concerned Christians Canada and Artur Pawlowski of Street Church Ministries. A budget of $50,000 has been established for the event, which will include donations of food, clothing and toys to be given out to the needy. WEB: streetchurch.ca/index.php/20091113504/News/Journals/Street-Church-Comic.html

Economical thinking

The Christian think tank Cardus and the Marketplace Institute at Regent College in Vancouver are teaming up to host a conference called God and the Global Economy April 16-17. The event, to be held at Regent, is intended to be an evangelical Protestant consideration of issues raised by Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth).

Human rights are really divine

The Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada is recommending some changes to the new $100 million Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) which is being built in Winnipeg. ARPA is asking that the CMHR acknowledge the Judeo-Christian foundation beneath human rights, alongside the secular humanist understanding; that the CMHR emphasize responsibilities before rights; that the CMHR recognize the rights of the unborn, disabled, terminally ill and elderly; and that the CMHR "avoid the advancement of group or individual preferences as rights." ARPA Canada is a Christian non-profit organization devoted to promoting political awareness and action among members of Canada's Reformed churches.

Getting on the preacher's case

The legal battles are continuing for Street Church Ministries in Calgary. The City of Calgary announced just before Christmas that it is appealing a December 7 Alberta court decision acquitting Street Church founder Artur Pawlowski of seven charges for preaching using an amplifier and distributing food to the homeless in violation of city bylaws. Judge A.A. Fradsham said the charges violated Pawlowski's freedom of religion and freedom of expression and came close to being "excessive and an abuse of power." On December 30, Pawlowski said he was launching a human rights complaint after the city refused to fly the ministry's flag and declare December 'Jesus Month' -- even though the City had earlier flown the flag of a homosexual organization and proclaimed a 'Pride Month.' Pawlowski said the refusal violated the City's stated policy of flying the banners of "community groups, charitable or non-profit organizations... to highlight important issues, charitable events, civic-minded individuals, or memorable occasions." As well, on December 22, the Canada Revenue Agency took away the charitable status of King's Glory Fellowship, a church Pawlowski also leads, because "members of the Board of Directors espouse strong negative views about sensitive and controversial issues, which may also be viewed as political, such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce, etc." The charitable designation, which the church had had for 30 years, allowed it to give tax-deductible receipts for donations.

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Corren passes

Homosexual activist Peter Corren died December 30 of cancer at age 62. In 1993, he and his partner Murray successfully lobbied the British Columbia government to change adoption regulations to allow same-sex partners to adopt children. In the late 1990s, they were petitioners in a court case against the Surrey School Board to have three books featuring same-sex parents approved for use in kindergarten and grade one classrooms. They were the first of three same-sex couples to launch a lawsuit that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in B.C. in 2003 (and ultimately in Canada). They married in 2004, after changing their names from Peter Cook and Murray Warren to Peter and Murray Corren. In 1998, they filed a human rights complaint accusing the B.C. Ministry of Education of discrimination because the provincial school curriculum did not present enough positive images of gays. This led to the 2003 Correns Agreement, which created the grade 12 Social Justice course and launched a review process which will make every course in the curriculum gay-friendly. Another human rights complaint launched by the Correns is currently pending against the Abbotsford School Board, for delaying the optional Social Justice at one school which had offered the course to students before receiving board approval. Peter and Murray met in London, England in 1971; they moved to Canada 22 years ago. Peter walked with crutches most of his life, due to childhood polio and worked as a business analyst for the Coast Mountain Bus Company. Murray worked as a school teacher in Coquitlam, B.C.

Free at last

One Free World International, a human rights organization based in Toronto, has announced that, after three years of effort, a girl named Neeha and her family have been allowed to immigrate from Pakistan to Canada. OFWI says Neeha was raped at age two by the son of her father's employer -- after her father, a Christian, refused to convert to Islam. The family has been in hiding ever since. Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney granted a special ministerial permit to allow the family to come to Canada. Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship has also provided support for the family.

Getting a lifetime in Urbana

More than 1,800 Canadians were among the 16,000 students and young adults from over 100 countries to attend the 22nd Urbana conference, sponsored by Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship December 27-31 in St. Louis, Missouri. Through plenary sessions with international speakers, seminars and interaction with more than 250 mission agencies, the students were 'challenged to live a lifetime of purpose for the Kingdom of God.' The first Urbana conference was held in 1946 in Toronto. This year's theme, 'The Word Became Flesh' (based on John 1-4) was expounded by Ramez Atallah, former director of Inter-Varsity Quebec and now the general director for the Bible Society of Egypt.

He's come a long way from the boat

Vincent Nguyen, 43, was ordained as Canada's youngest Roman Catholic bishop and the first Canadian bishop of Asian descent, January 13 at a ceremony in Toronto. The appointment is significant because most of the Roman Catholic Church's growth in recent years has come from immigration. Nguyen and his family were 'boat people' refugees; he arrived in Canada in 1984. The installation received extensive coverage in the Globe & Mail. It was also streamed live on the website of Salt + Light Television, as was the January 12 ordination of Bishop William McGrattan. The ordinations will be rebroadcast on Salt + Light Television January 16-18.

Dead Sea Scrolls a crowd-pleaser

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario in Museum (ROM) in Ontario from June 27, 2009 to January 3, 2010 attracted 331,500 visitors. The exhibit helped boost the ROM's 2009 total attendance to 1,024,964 visitors. 'Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World' was touted as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century: the earliest record of biblical patriarchs and prophets known to Judaism, Christianity and Islam." The ROM also promoted the exhibit as "an opportunity for interfaith dialogue among varied traditions with shared roots."

People who pray together...

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place January 18-25. This year's theme is 'You are witnesses of these things,' based on Luke 24:46-48. The occasion has been observed since 1908.

January 13/2010