MC News
Mitri Raheb is a pastor of a small Lutheran congregation in Bethlehem, five miles south of Jerusalem, a world away from the Lutheran churches of south central Wisconsin.Yet on Friday morning, he was talking with a couple of hundred area Lutherans about the way things look from the Palestinian side of the separation barrier that separates the West Bank from Israel.Read more of this story.
Once a repository for earthly harvests, the old concrete silo at Fox River Congregational Church in the City of Pewaukee is getting a higher calling. Soon, it will be the Silo Prayer Tower, an intimate, embracing space where anyone can drop in for private prayer, meditation or small-group services at any hour.Read more of this story.
Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation on Friday filed suit against the Rio School District for allowing a evangelical group to use its facilities for religious activities for free. The lawsuit, filed in Dane County Circuit Court, also alleges that Child Evangelism Fellowship Group benefits from school resources because paid district personnel help post and distribute promotional material for the group to district students, some as young as 5 years old.Read More >>
Tom Stanton’s disaster relief ministry began 2001 when a major tornado hit Siren, Wis. The following day -– after a sleepless night -– he felt "called" to go to Wisconsin."I had no clue what I was going to do," said Stanton, who first learned to sharpen chainsaws as an 18-year-old logger in Montana. "My first paycheck was a chainsaw."Read more of this story.
Oprah Winfrey is such a big star that we know her by one name, like Elvis, Madonna or Bono. She rules an entertainment empire worth nearly $1 billion. Yet she is so much more than an entertainer. Thousands of articles have been written about Oprah’s rags-to-riches life story and her philanthropy. (Oprah’s Angel Network has raised more than $50 million to fund nonprofit organizations worldwide).But one of the most controversial aspects of her cultural influence derives from the emphasis she places on religion and spirituality. In 2002 Christianity Today declared she “has become one of the most influential spiritual leaders…
For Robert Holz, the question always lingered. He’d worked as an accountant for nearly two decades. He was basically happy. He was 40 years old. Still, the question was there. "Is God calling me? Or not?" he said. Read more of this story.
Racial and ethnic diversity is increasing on campus. A March 10, 2008, article in the Washington Post projects that minority populations on U.S. college and university campuses will grow from 30 percent three years ago to 37 percent by 2015.InterVarsity has multiethnic chapters and ethnic specific chapters on many campuses. Currently 29 percent of our active students define themselves as minority or multiethnic. Ethnic reconciliation and justice are long held core values. But InterVarsity’s campus staff members are noticing that student attitudes on race are also changing.Read more of this story.
CHICAGO (ELCA) — The General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) will consider a proposal for full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) when it meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. The proposal, "Implementing Resolution for Full Communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church," has been years in the making. Read more of this story.
When Prince Caspian the movie—the sequel to 2005’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe—opens in theaters next month, viewers might be interested to know that there are a number of parallels between the title character and the author of the Chronicles of Narnia.Read more of this story.
It’s one of the largest and most trusted humanitarian organizations in the world that leverages compassion and generosity to help the most needy. Yet on Tuesday, World Vision announced a cutback on the number of people it can feed this year as it feels the effects of a slowing economy.Read more of this story.