ChristianWeek

Agencies protest anti-panhandling posters’ message

Ads “take complexity out of homelessness in downtown core.”

Agencies working with the homeless in Calgary are protesting an advertising campaign that they say depicts all homeless as addicts. (Courtesy Calgary Downtown Association)

CALGARY, AB—People who work directly with Calgary’s homeless population are shaking their heads at an anti-panhandling campaign launched by the Calgary Downtown Association.

The association has placed 115 posters inside C-Train cars and downtown restaurants depicting panhandlers using the spare change they receive to shoot up or drink. Each ad suggests it’s better to give money to agencies that will feed and clothe the homeless.

However, at least three downtown agencies have asked to be removed from the downtown association’s website to protest the unfair portrayal of homeless people.

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Millions of dollars lost to
con artists

ABBOTSFORD, BC—Three years into a government-funded program of alerting churches about people who attach themselves to congregations just to steal their money, hospital chaplain John Haycock believes the message is beginning to make a difference. read more>

Financial advisors go counterculture

TORONTO—Chris Cahill is an advisor with a purpose. The successful businessman owns and operates Financial Strategies Group in London, Ontario, but channels a lot of his time and treasure to help a group of 30 children in the Dominican Republic.

Cahill is just one of a growing number of financial professionals who are keen to move from success to significance. read more>

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Popular pastor suspended for adultery

CALGARY, AB—The 1,700 member congregation of Westside King’s Church in the southwest community of Signal Hill is still reeling from the news that their senior pastor had been involved in two affairs in the last 10 years.

Tom Morris, 51, founder and self-proclaimed Atmospheric Architect of the large evangelical church planted in 1994 by First Assembly Pentecostal, was suspended May 4 by the board of trustees after admitting to two extramarital relationships.

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COCHRANE, AB—A smalltown Alberta boy who grew to become a pastor, teacher, author and eventually CEO of one of the largest Christian publishing companies in North America, died May 14 from a massive stroke.

Kenneth Neill Foster, who retired from his post as CEO of Christian Publications, Inc. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 2002, died in Calgary and is buried in Beaverlodge, Alberta. He was 70.

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New Montreal arts ministry helps at-risk students

MONTREAL, QC—Christian Direction officially launched the Innovation Youth Centre May 5, a collaboration of public and Christian efforts to offer a blend of art therapy and after-school homework help for marginalized teenagers.

Jenna Smith, the centre’s director, works closely with Catherine Davidson, a certified art therapist. Together they offer a variety of one-on-one and group activities that use the arts to allow at-risk youth to express themselves, to reflect and to bring balance and harmony to their school, home and social lives.

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