24 December 2008
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] Jacksonville, Florida Woman Fights Church Discipline
[4] The Reformed Resistance Blog Announced
[6] Denominational Representatives Call for Easing Cuban Travel Restrictions
[7] Former United Reformed Church Moderator the Rev. John Morgans Publishes an Account of Welsh Life
[8] Colts Neck Reformed Church Elder Elected to New Brunswick Theological Seminary Board of Trustees
[9] EPC Home Missionary Publicizes a Need in Post-Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana
[10] CRWRC Helps Rush Ten Thousand Tons of Food Aid To Zimbabwe
[11] Kuteb Tribesmen Honor Johanna Veenstra, First CRC Missionary in Nigeria
[12] Scottish Bible Society to Mark 200th Anniversary
[13] Princeton Seminary Invites Participation in ‘A
Year with the Institutes’ in Honor of John Calvin’s 500th Birthday
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[1] Jacksonville, Florida Woman Fights Church Discipline
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A divorced Jacksonville, Florida woman in a sexual relationship with a man not her husband has made public the attempts of her former church to carry out scriptural discipline.
The woman complains of harassment from Grace Community Church due to her behavior, and says that the elders of the church told her that because she has refused to end the sexual relationship that they have no other choice but to carry out the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:17 by bringing the matter to the attention of the entire congregation.
The woman has since left Grace Community Church for another church, and says that her former church should now leave her alone. She plans to send a letter to Grace Community Church making it clear that she is no longer a member.
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+ News 4 Jacksonville, 4 Broadcast Place, Jacksonville, Florida 32207, 904-399-4000, jaxnews@news4jax.com
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[2] Head of U.S. Episcopal Church Admits Stances on Homosexuality Conflict With Biblical and Traditional Christian Moral Teaching
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Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC), Katharine Jefferts Schori, in a 16 December 2008 address to the National Press Club in Washington DC said that her approval of the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop and her church’s affirmation of same sex unions conflict with biblical and traditional Christian moral teaching.
The Rev. Rob Schenck, President of the National Clergy Council and it’s lay affiliate Faith and Action questioned Schori following her address and afterwards said, “Bishop Jefferts Shori’s openness to being wrong on an issue of such enormous importance and consequence has tremendous implications. It suggests that the damage done to the Episcopal Church [TEC] and the wider Christian Church by this moral apostasy might have its origin in the ambivalence in her own soul and those of her church’s leadership. She must settle this personal conflict before she inflicts any more damage.”
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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
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+ Episcopal Church Center 815 Second Avenue New York, New York 10017, 800-334-7626, cdawkins@episcopalchurch.org
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[3] Eleven Virginia Anglican Congregations Win Legal Fight to Leave Episcopal Church and Keep Their Property
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On 19 December 2008, a Virginia judge finalized earlier court rulings holding that all eleven of the congregations that left the Episcopal Church (TEC) and formed the Anglican District of Virginia in 2007 could retain their property. The eleven churches included colonial era Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, and The Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia.
Fairfax County Judge Randy Bellows ruled in April that the eleven congregations could invoke the War Between the States-era Virginia Division Statute that says majority rule applies when a division in a denomination or diocese results in the disaffiliation of an organized group of congregations.
The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which filed the lawsuit against the departing congregations, plans to appeal the rulings.
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+ Cybercast News Service, 325 South Patrick, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 703-683-9733
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+ Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, 110 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23220, 800-346-2373
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[4] The Reformed Resistance Blog Announced
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A new blog called The Reformed Resistance has been established by several mainline pastors and writers for purposes best explained in their inaugural post:
“In light of decades of grievous sins against God, His Word, and our own Constitutions and Confessions, we the confessionally committed followers of Jesus Christ take our stand and call the ‘mainline’ Reformed churches – now in theological shambles – to forsake their nakedness, repent, and return to Jesus Christ. (Ezekiel 16:36-38; Revelation 2:4)
We who were drawn to Jesus Christ and called to serve by Divine Providence in and through our connection to the historic North American church declare our intentions and commit ourselves to God, one another, and our vision for a renewed church in a renewed land.”
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+ The Reformed Resistance
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[5] Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference Inside Out and On The Road – Gearing Up Atlanta at the Peachtree Presbyterian Church 18-19 February 2009
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The Presbyterian Global Fellowship (PGF) is conducting a regional conference called Inside Out And On The Road – Gearing Up Atlanta at the Peachtree Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Atlanta, Georgia 18-19 February 2008.
The featured speaker, Reggie McNeal, will offer two sessions titled Shifting Gears, described by PGF as follows: “The missional renaissance is the biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation. God seems to be having a new conversation with the church about who we are and our role in what he is up to in the world. Church leaders who want to get in on this conversation will find that they will need to make three significant shifts. During these sessions Reggie will detail those shifts and their implications for us as leaders of existing congregations.”
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+ Presbyterian Global Fellowship, C/O Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30305, 404-846-4386, pgf@presbyterianglobalfellowship.org
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[6] Denominational Representatives Call for Easing Cuban Travel Restrictions
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Denominational representatives including those from the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), Reformed Church in America, and United Church of Christ, on 18 December 2008, signed a letter to U.S. President-elect Barack Hussein Obama asking him to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, which they say hinder their religious work in that country.
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+ Associated Baptist Press, 200 Maryland Ave Northeast, Washington DC 20002, 202-548-5244, david@abpnews.com
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
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+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
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[7] Former United Reformed Church Moderator the Rev. John Morgans Publishes an Account of Welsh Life
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Sixty-nine year old former United Reformed Church Moderator the Rev. John Morgans began keeping a diary in 1952 at age twelve, and over a period of more than fifty years penned more than 5 million words that he has now distilled into a single volume.
Journey of a Lifetime chronicles events in his life and in his homeland from the post-World War II Wales of his youth through the birth of modern Wales.
Journey of a Lifetime was printed by Cambrian Printers, Aberystwyth, Wales and can be obtained by emailing jonomo <at> btinternet.com.
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+ Media Wales, Six Park Street, Cardiff CF10 1XR, Wales, 029-2022-3333, enquiries@mediawales.co.uk
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+ The United Reformed Church – National Synod of Wales, Synod Office, Minster Road, Roath, Cardiff CF23 5AS, Wales, 029-2019-5728
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[8] Colts Neck Reformed Church Elder Elected to New Brunswick Theological Seminary Board of Trustees
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Colts Neck Reformed Church (RCA) elder Nancy Hartog Ruiter of Freehold, New Jersey was one of seven people recently elected to the New Brunswick Theological Seminary‘s board of trustees.
Ruiter is past Classis president and delegate to the General Synod and Regional Synod of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantics for the Reformed Church in America, and is the board treasurer for the Court Street School Education Community Center Inc. in Freehold Borough and office manager in the college counseling department for the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
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+ Greater Media Newspapers, 3499 Route 9 North, Suite 18, Freehold, New Jersey 07728, 732-358-5200, gbean@gmnews.com
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+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
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[9] EPC Home Missionary Publicizes a Need in Post-Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana
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Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Home Missionary Kevin Brown, Executive Director of the Trinity Christian Community (TCC) in New Orleans, Louisiana, reports a special need for consideration. Post-Hurricane Katrina, TCC has been working with a grandmother with limited means to rebuild her home. There is a shortage of US$8,340, which needs to be covered by 12 January 2009. If you or your church is interested in this special giving opportunity, please contact Kevin Brown at TCC.
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+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 17197 North Laurel Park Drive Suite 567, Livonia, Michigan 48152, 734-742-2020, Fax: 734-742-2033, webmaster@epc.org
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[10] CRWRC Helps Rush Ten Thousand Tons of Food Aid To Zimbabwe
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The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and other members of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank are working to send 10 thousand tons of emergency food supplies to families in Zimbabwe. The corn, soy, oil, and ground nuts will feed approximately 120 thousand people for five months and will sustain them until the next harvest.
The aid project was influenced in part by a recent United Nations prediction that 5.1 million Zimbabweans will require emergency food aid for the first three months of 2009.
The CRWRC additionally participated in a Pan-African Day of Solidarity for Zimbabwe with the Global Call to action Against Poverty (GCAP). GCAP called for an independent commission to investigate human rights abuses, posting of human rights monitors, solutions through reconciliation and dialog, restoration of an independent judiciary, and accountability for security forces and law enforcement agencies.
Zimbabwe has been ruled by the Marxist dictator Robert Mugabe since he came to power in 1980 in the country formerly called Rhodesia.
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+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
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+ BBC, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS, England, Fax: 020-8008- 2398
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[11] Kuteb Tribesmen Honor Johanna Veenstra, First CRC Missionary in Nigeria
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Four members of the Kuteb tribe in northern Nigeria made a trip in mid-November 2008 to clean and better mark the grave of Johanna Veenstra, the first Christian Reformed Church (CRCNA) member to go as a missionary to that African country.
Veenstra went to Nigeria in 1921 and was stationed at Lupwe, near Takum, now in Taraba State, and eventually became director of the mission there.
During her ministry in Lupwe, a number of people especially of the Kuteb tribe became Christian. The roots of the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN) lay in part in the work of Johanna Veenstra.
Veenstra died in Nigeria on Palm Sunday in 1933 and was buried in a non-descript grave in the community of Vom. The grave, which had been relatively untended over the years, is located near a hospital and car body shop.
In about 1940, the Christian Reformed Church in North America adopted the northern part of Nigeria as one of its mission fields. Over the decades, missionary work flourished. There are now more than 75 thousand CRCN members worshiping in one hundred churches. Numerous evangelism sites, preaching centers, and church plants throughout Nigeria are supervised by these one hundred churches.
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+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
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+ Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria, Post Office Box 31, Takum, Taraba State, Nigeria, 234-802-479-1381, Fax: 234-73-57719, crcnheadquarters@yahoo.com
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[12] Scottish Bible Society to Mark 200th Anniversary
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2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the Scottish Bible Society (SBS), and the SBS is using the opportunity to spread God’s Word to even more people.
The SBS is planning events and projects to run throughout 2009 to help people engage with the Bible in new ways, according to the latest edition of the Church of Scotland’s Life and Work magazine.
The SBS was founded 200 years ago when a group of men gathered in Edinburgh’s City Chambers to form a society to “promote the wider circle of Holy Scriptures without note or comment”.
The SBS is credited with helping to establish God’s Word in Nigeria, China, Malawi, Japan and Korea among other countries around the world.
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+ Christian Today, 200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB, England, 44-0-20-7378-5705
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+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722
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[13] Princeton Seminary Invites Participation in ‘A Year with the Institutes’ in Honor of John Calvin’s 500th Birthday
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Princeton Theological Seminary is inviting the church and individual Christians around the world to celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth by participating in “A Year with the Institutes,” a daily reading of Calvin’s major work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, during 2009.
The seminary website will provide a daily reading schedule, text, and audio recording of a three-to-six-page section of the 1559 version of the Institutes for each day of 2009, except Sundays and Christmas Day. Each week, an invited scholar or pastor will provide a reflection paper on that week’s readings, and participants will be able to comment on both the readings and the reflection papers.
For information about how to participate in “A Year with the Institutes,” and for answers to questions, visit the seminary website or send an email.
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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+ Princeton Theological Seminary, 64 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08542-0803, 609-921-8300
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[14] The Confessional Presbyterian, Volume 4, 2008 Edition is Available and Shipping
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The 2008 edition (Volume 4) of The Confessional Presbyterian is available from the publication’s website for US$18 postage paid for individuals in the U.S. and US$25 postage paid for institutions and orders from outside the U.S.
All four volumes from 2005-2008 are currently on special for US$50 postage paid for individuals in the U.S. and US$80 postage paid for institutions and orders from outside the U.S.
The 2008 articles include ‘American Presbyterianism, Geology, and the Days of Creation’ by Frank J. Smith, ‘Olevianus and the Old Perspective on Paul’ by R. Scott Clark, ‘John Calvin on Human Government and the State’ by David W. Hall, and many more.
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+ The Confessional Presbyterian, Post Office Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214
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