WORLDWIDE PHOTOS LTD The Religious Media Agency WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW December 19, 2002 INDEX AUSTRALIA: 1. ADRA'S $51,000 DROUGHT RELIEF PACKAGE (ADRA) 2. BAPTISTS RESPOND TO DROUGHT RELIEF (Baptist Union Website) 3. CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (CTA News) 4. MUSLIM CO-ORDINATES CHAPLAINCY NETWORK (ANGLICARE Victoria) 5. JEEP & PEPPERS TRAIL HELPS RURAL FAMILIES (Wesley Mission) 6. FUNTASTIC & MUSEUM VICTORIA HELP SALVOS (Slvtn Army News) OVERSEAS: 7. PRESIDENT ALLOWS CHRISTIAN RADIO SHOW (ASSIST News Service) 8. U2'S BONO LAUNCHES AIDS AWARENESS TOUR (UMNS) 9. FORGOTTEN PRACTICE OF READING THE BIBLE (C of E Newspaper) 10. SHOE BOXES BRING JOY IN UGANDA (Samaritan's Purse) 11. MARRIAGE IS 'GOLD STANDARD' (Christian Herald) 12. SACLA TO OFFER 10 VITAL TRACKS (African Enterprise) 13. RAISING MONEY BY GIVING IT AWAY (A/G News) 14. 'MORE TEA, VICAR? (Christian Herald) 15. NOT YOUR USUAL CHURCH EVENT (Challenge Weekly) -oOo- 1. ADRA'S $51,000 DROUGHT RELIEF PACKAGE (ADRA) The Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) has given $51,000 to Rural Financial Counsellors in seven Shire Council areas of NSW and Victoria to assist victims of the current drought. The financial assistance, which is to be used to help pay telephone and electricity bills, as well as Council rates, has gone to Rural Financial Counsellors in Bourke, Brewarrina, Walgett, Coonamble, Nyngan and Wentworth/ Balranald. A sum of $8500 has been made available to each counselling service, and is not restricted to farming families but also individual needs at the discretion of the counselling service. Gary Christian, National Program Director for ADRA Australia, regrets that the assistance could not be more. Additional assistance is being given by others within the denomination. "We have one of our city churches which has sent Christmas hampers and toys to the Bourke and Brewarrina area, and another in the Gosford region that will be spending an additional $1,000 on food parcels in Bourke before Christmas," said Mr Christian. 2. BAPTISTS RESPOND TO DROUGHT RELIEF (Baptist Union Website) In a statement prepared by Ian Charles on behalf of the Regional Superintendents of the Baptist Union of NSW & ACT, it was explained how churches and individuals can best help those in the drought areas. Firstly, donations of $2 or more, given to the Baptist Union of NSW Relief Fund are tax deductible. Secondly, there is also great value in fellowship in assisting churches directly. However, make contact with the churches first. "In some cases you will find that giving toys and food parcels will not be well received, as this has a detrimental effect on the local economy and it could be better to give the local church money and allow them to make the purchases locally, or issue gift vouchers." Make contact with local churches direct, or preferably, through the Regional Superintendents. 3. CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (CTA News) The Seven Network has confirmed that CTA's Christmas Special will screen at 2.00pm on Christmas Day. This year's special comes from Brisbane's South Bank Piazza with the Garden City Christian Church production "The Singing Christmas Tree". This one hour program will feature Chicago based singing group "Light Of Love", Jet The Wonder Dog - for the kids, and a special Christmas message from Pastor Bruce Hills. 4. MUSLIM CO-ORDINATES CHAPLAINCY NETWORK (ANGLICARE Victoria) The first Muslim chaplain to co-ordinate a multi-faith and interdenominational prisons chaplaincy team has been commissioned at Victoria's Port Phillip Prison. Chaplain Aziz Cooper has been commissioned as the Co-ordinating Chaplain for the chaplaincy team at Port Phillip Prison. The Rev. Jonathon Chambers of the Chaplains' Advisory Committee said the appointment of a Muslim Co-ordinating Chaplain was believed to be the first in Australia. "The Muslim community is keen to serve others in the Australian community therefore this appointment provides an ideal opportunity," he said. "Most importantly, it's a message of solidarity from people of faith in today's political and social climate of uncertainty and fear." Mr Cooper will head up a diverse Chaplaincy team consisting of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist Chaplains. 5. JEEP & PEPPERS TRAIL HELPS RURAL FAMILIES (Wesley Mission) Peppers Retreats & Resorts and Chrysler Jeep Australia are combining to help raise funds for Wesley Mission's drought appeal through a five-day tour of NSW from March 2-6, 2003. Wesley Mission ambassador Paula Duncan and husband and adventurer Steve Mason are hosting the "Jeep & Peppers Trail". The event will take in the Hawkesbury, Port Stephens, the Hunter region, the Blue Mountains and the Southern Highlands. Participants will stay at the Peppers Retreats and Resorts with proceeds going to Wesley Mission's drought appeal. The five-day tour will cost $2750 per couple. 6. FUNTASTIC & MUSEUM VICTORIA HELP SALVOS (Slvtn Army News) The Salvation Army in Melbourne, has received a donation of $20,000 worth of toys from Funtastic Ltd. The substantial donation came following an urgent call for donations put out by The Salvation Army, due to the massive increase of in demand they are experiencing this Christmas. According to John Dalziel, Communications Director for The Salvation Army, demand is up 30% this year. "With donations as generous as this one we will hopefully be able to provide gifts for those who would otherwise not receive anything this year. Museum Victoria also helped the Salvos along with the staff and patrons placing gifts under Christmas Trees at Scienceworks, Melbourne Museum and the Immigration Museum. John Dalziel said "the spirit of Christmas is flourishing this year. Museum Victoria have shown excellent initiative and for this we are grateful. These gifts will bring joy to many" . 7. PRESIDENT ALLOWS CHRISTIAN RADIO SHOW (ASSIST News Service) Just over a month after he signed what critics call "Europe's most restrictive religion law," the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has agreed to allow a Christian radio program to air daily in his ex-Soviet republic, an official said Tuesday, December 17. In a move organisers describe as "an answer to prayers" the President made it clear that Christians can broadcast the "Alpha Hour" show on Alpha Radio, the country's second largest FM radio network, said Operations Manager J. Gator Henry. Henry, 38, said that the station's president, "has personal assurances" that the "Alpha Hour" show "will be allowed to air 7 days a week, one hour per day," for a potential audience of 1,5 million in Minsk and the nearby city of Vitebsk. 8. U2'S BONO LAUNCHES AIDS AWARENESS TOUR (UMNS) When rock star Bono wanted to tour the American Midwest to draw attention to the devastating plague of AIDS in Africa, he turned to the church. On World AIDS Day - the lead singer of U2 spoke at Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, for the launch of a weeklong, seven-city "Heart of America Tour: Africa's Future and Ours." The tour was sponsored by DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa), an advocacy group that Bono helped found. Throughout the week, he urged churches to action, describing AIDS as the leprosy of today. "'Love thy neighbour' is not advice," he said. "It is a command." 9. FORGOTTEN PRACTICE OF READING THE BIBLE (C of E Newspaper) Poor preaching is behind a massive fall in the number of people reading the Bible, claims one of Scripture Union's most senior figures in the United Kingdom. John Grayston, Scripture Union's Director of Bible Ministries, believes that the clergy are partly to blame for the high levels of biblical ignorance. He said: "As scholars studied the Bible and started to take it apart, there was a loss of credibility in the scriptures themselves, which has left people wondering whether they are believable." Sales of Scripture Union's Bible notes have fallen by 43 per cent since 1992, the organisation revealed, and nearly a fifth of people going to church hardly ever read the Bible. Mr Grayston said: "Adults in their 20s, 30s, and even 40s are the lost generation when it comes to Bible reading." 10. SHOE BOXES BRING JOY IN UGANDA (Samaritan's Purse) Hundreds of children in Uganda are celebrating Christmas like never before. They are among the first children to receive gift-filled shoe boxes from Operation Christmas Child this season. In the coming days and weeks, similar gifts will be handed to some six million children in 100 countries. Distributions began in the capital city of Uganda, where families wracked by poverty and AIDS experienced unimaginable joy as boys and girls brought home boxes of gifts that were almost too full for some to carry. Janet Museveni, the first lady of Uganda, was among the special guests helping to hand out shoe boxes at the Kampiringisa Home, which serves street children and troubled youths. Distributions in Uganda are focusing on orphanages, clinics, schools, and churches that serve children infected or orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A 4-year-old girl named Sarah quickly pulled on lacy white socks-which her teacher said is probably the first pair she has ever owned. 11. MARRIAGE IS 'GOLD STANDARD' (Christian Herald) Government plans in Britain to extend marriage partnership benefits to same-sex couples have been rejected by CARE and the Evangelical Alliance. The groups will be responding individually to the consultation on the matter announced by Barbara Roche, Minister for Social Exclusion and Equality. They plan to raise their principal concerns which focus on the impact on marriage, saying that civil partnerships are unnecessary to bring the benefits of greater justice outlined by the Minister. 12. SACLA TO OFFER 10 VITAL TRACKS (African Enterprise) The 2003 South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA), is expected to offer about 10 tracks to the 9 000 senior representatives expected to attend. Christian leaders from all sectors of the South African Church will consider issues vital to the country. SACLA is to be held in Pretoria Show Grounds from 6 to 13 July, 2002. Mark Manley, African Enterprise's South African Team Leader and co-convenor of the SACLA Steering Committee with Rev Moss Nthla, General Secretary of The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa, and Bishop Bethlehem Nopece, Anglican Bishop of Port Elizabeth, said the tracks will be carefully designed to cater for Christians in the different leadership sectors. "We're targeting those people who can make an impact and bring about changes that will result from SACLA," Mark said. 13. RAISING MONEY BY GIVING IT AWAY (A/G News) Abundant Life Assembly of God in Stafford, Virginia, USA, committed to raise $20,000 to help build four new churches at $5,000 each in Central Asia, after missionaries shared about their work there. Senior Pastor Tommy Winstead prayed about how the church was to raise the funds over and above the church's budget. With $5,000 donated to start the project, Winstead gave each family or person who wanted to participate, a $100 bill. He charged them to use it as "seed money" over a six-month period, and return it with any profits. Participants did work to earn cash, or sold items including coffee and donuts before church, dinner after church, strawberry pies, firewood, handmade jewellery, golf-type shirts or handbags with the church's name, and tee-shirts proclaiming, "I helped build a church." Not counting the initial $5,000 which started the fund, over $28,000 was raised--more than a 500 percent increase. 14. 'MORE TEA, VICAR? (Christian Herald) Food, hygiene and safety regulations could put routine church events - such as the Alpha supper, or tea and biscuits after the service - at risk. Coventry's diocesan newspaper, Diamond, warned in its December edition: "Few people realise that all of them are subject to a string of laws and regulations, which could eventually become a dangerous legal minefield for an unwary church." Among the regulations are those which form part of the Food Safety Act 1990 and Food Premises Regulations 1991. 15. NOT YOUR USUAL CHURCH EVENT (Challenge Weekly) Hundreds of young people made their ways through the doors of St Matthew-in-the-city last week for a dance party which promised to go through until 3.00am. In the pulpit was the DJ for the night. Glow-sticks replaced the candles and the usual organ music was replaced by loud party music. The Vicar of St Matthew's Ian Lawton said: "A rave is as much a spiritual event as a church service. There's a strong sense of community that happens between 'ravers' that is enhanced by the music. In a way, it's like a Sunday church service, just with more volume.: The aim of the event was not to preach the Gospel or play Christmas music. It was to celebrate - last day of school! -30-
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