Christian Reformed women clear leadership hurdle
“Women can serve in the centre, instead of at the margins of this church circle.”
Sophie Vandenberg
Special to ChristianWeek
GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Just one year after ruling women could not serve as delegates to its annual synod, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) has changed its mind.
Last year, CRC delegates decided they would not allow women to serve as synod delegates, and recommended a seven-year "Sabbath rest" from discussing the matter.
However, in what proved to be a dramatic turn-around for the denomination, that Sabbath came to an abrupt end this year when numerous communications from CRC churches across North America put the discussion squarely back on the table for 2007. This time synod ruled that women may serve as delegates, beginning in 2008.
Council gives national voice to anti-poverty champion
A passion for the poor has earned John Rook a new appointment heading a national council that examines issues of poverty.
Rook, CEO of The Salvation Army Community Services Calgary, accepted leadership of the National Council of Welfare on June 6.
"[Rook] is a leader and a valued member of our community," says Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. "He will be a considerable asset to the National Council of Welfare."
The Council has examined issues of poverty since the 1960s. At present, it is finishing a report on aboriginal poverty and planning work on a national anti-poverty strategy.
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Anglicans appoint first aboriginal spiritual authority
Amid confusing doctrinal waters, Canadian Anglicans are charting even more new territory with the installation of the first national indigenous bishop, Mark MacDonald.
The hopeful June 25 installation in Winnipeg is another step toward full recognition of the authority and identity of Aboriginal Peoples, says outgoing primate Andrew Hutchison, and is meant to "give a place for their ways in the protocols of the churches.
"We're hoping to bridge the divide between the gospel, which has been a powerful force in native culture, with the less accepted authority of the Western institutional church," says MacDonald.
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Aboriginal Covenant re-affirmed
On the spiritually significant National Aboriginal Day, nine major Canadian churches re-affirmed their commitment to a 20-year-old covenant with Aboriginal Peoples that calls for constitutional recognition and self-government.
The June 21 solstice signing capped a joint day of liturgy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and the Anglican Church of Canada, where the dominant theme was the importance of water.
“For us, it is important that we move forward,” says Métis Nation’s national leader Clement Chartier. “The initiative of the Church is important to us.” He cited the help of the justice initiatives church coalition—KAIROS—for introducing the Métis to the United Nations.
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Exchange program provides forum for humanitarian message
After living and working in Canada for the past year, a young, north Ugandan woman is returning to her homeland with a broader, but perhaps a more sombre, view of the disparity between the two countries.
Nestar Lakot has been in Canada for the past year through the International Visitor Exchange Program established by the Mennonite Central Committee. She has worked with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank as a public speaker, delivering her humanitarian message to fight world hunger to more than 12,000 people across the country in more than 140 presentations.
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