Pakistan expels World Vision and Catholic Relief Services

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Pakistan expels World Vision and Catholic Relief Services

They had been accused of “deliberately spreading disinformation” and “non-compliance” by the country’s government – which did not give more details.

In a statement seen by Premier, World Vision said it had handed over responsibility for its poverty-reduction and health programmes to the state and had compiled with a 60-day deadline to leave.

 

It continued: “World Vision regrets the effect that the cessation of our work will have on the vulnerable communities with whom we worked, but respects the Government’s right to decide who may work in the country.”

Its expulsion follows a two-year battle by World Vision to formally register in Pakistan. The charity had been appealing a decision in December 2017 not to grant registration.

 

World Vision was employing in Pakistan 31 members of staff – using funding from Canada and the US.

The international organisation first began operating in Pakistan 13 years ago. Since 2015, it says it has helped 800,000 youngsters.

The statement continued: “[World Vision] will continue to discuss the possibility of…

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Austin, Texas City Code Could Force Churches to Hire LGBT Employees

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Austin, Texas City Code Could Force Churches to Hire LGBT Employees


Austin, Texas City Code Could Force Churches to Hire LGBT Employees


Austin, Texas churches may be required to hire homosexual and transgender employees if a city ordinance is implemented.


Under the ordinance, the city would guarantee “the opportunity for each person to obtain employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability.”


“Nondiscrimination is a core value in Austin and we need to defend it,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler told KXAN-TV.


In response, the U.S. Pastor Council and the Texas Values organization are suing the city of Austin over the ordinance. The groups are arguing that the city code forces churches to act against their religious beliefs. They are asking the city to apply exceptions to religious groups.


“The bottom line is that a threat to any of our Constitutional protections is a threat to all of our Constitutional rights,” said Texas Pastor Council President Dave Welch.


“Forcing churches to violate core convictions is not acceptable,” he added. “Once government does so, all of our Constitutional protections are essentially gone – all gone, for all of us, across all America.”


However, a city of Austin spokesperson said the city would defend the ordinance.


“The City is proud of our anti-discrimination ordinance and the protections it provides. The ordinance reflects our values and culture respecting the dignity and…

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Kenya’s President urges Christians to respect all faiths

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Kenya’s President urges Christians to respect all faiths

Uhuru Kenyatta comments were made at a Bible translation fundraising dinner to help translate the holy book into more local languages.

He told attendees at the Nairobi Club Ground on Thursday evening: “I’m a very proud Christian and I’m very proud to be President of a God-fearing nation.

 

“We are a country that knows God and that appreciates his power. And I myself can speak for what he has done for me in my own life.”

Islam is second largest religion in the country next to Christianity.

Kenya has seen increased tension amongst Christians and Muslims as a result of al-Shabaab militants launching several attacks in northeast Kenya.

Mr Kenyatta urged Christians to fully embrace religious teachings as a way of overcoming the national challenges.

 

He continued: “And when we see our Hindu brothers and sister, we must give them their space to do that which they believe in.

“When we see our Muslim brothers and sisters, let them have space, just as much as we as Christians are demanding our space.

“Let us also respect all other faiths and say that ‘we are all children of God’.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

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Secular Economist Proves Religion’s Positive Impact on Poverty

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Secular Economist Proves Religion’s Positive Impact on Poverty


Secular Economist Proves Religion’s Positive Impact on Poverty


Does a recent scientific experiment involving 6,000 households mean that being religious will cause people to earn more money?


That’s what the latest episode of a popular economics radio show and podcast, Frekonomics, was trying to answer. 


Host, Stephen J. Dubner, talked with three men who conducted a scientific experiment in the Philippines: James Choi, a finance professor at Yale; Dean Karlan, academic economist, president and founder of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA); and David Sutherland, Chair of the Board of International Care Ministries (ICM). 


Choi works with Karlan at IPA. They told Freakonomics that they wanted to study a Christian ministry to find out if religion causes real-world success in people’s lives or if it’s just a coincidence – a correlation, not a causality. But they had a hard time finding a Christian ministry to be a part of their experiment. Why? Because whichever ministry that agreed to the parameters would agree to not preach religion to a group of people (control group) – that’s how the scientists would be able to compare results, after all. 


But ICM took a look at the parameters and quickly agreed because they were interested in learning if what they were doing was really working. If the experiment suggested otherwise, Sutherland told Dunbar that ICM would want to be aware of that and change their program to…

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Welcoming William Wells Denison into the world

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Welcoming William Wells Denison into the world

William Wells Denison was born yesterday at 10:20 am in Dallas, Texas. He is the second son of Craig and Rachel, our younger son and his wife. Craig is the author of First15 and Chief Strategy Officer for our ministry. Janet and I are thrilled for them and our entire family.

Meeting my fourth grandchild yesterday (they will call him “Wells”) was a deeply emotional experience for me. I was filled with gratitude to God for the miracle of his life and so happy for Craig and Rachel. Janet already has a Christmas stocking with his name on it hanging by our fireplace. Our family is so blessed and truly grateful.

The two most important days in our lives

It’s been said that the two most important days in our lives are the day we are born and the day we discover why. I disagree. The two most important days of our lives are the day we are born and the day we are born again.

God was Wells’s father before Craig was. The One who “determines the number of stars” and “gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4) knew his name before we did. The Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14).

God made Wells for himself. He made him for eternal life with his Father in heaven. He made you and me for the same reason. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to salvation (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4).

A train painted like Air Force One

George H. W. Bush was eulogized yesterday at his home church, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. His body was then taken to College Station, Texas, where it was interred next to his wife, Barbara, and their three-year-old daughter, Robin.

The president’s remains were transported from Houston on a train specifically built to honor his life. The Union Pacific train was led by a locomotive dubbed “Bush 4141” and painted to resemble Air Force One.

Like most…

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Nativity scenes banned at UK shopping centre

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Nativity scenes banned at UK shopping centre

Managers at Thistles in Stirling declined a request to host props and figurines representing the first ever Christmas, saying customers would not approve.

A spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh told the Scottish Sun: “At this time of year, Christmas cribs grace many public squares all across the British Isles, bringing joy to nearly all who encounter them, regardless of their religion.

 

“It seems just a wee bit, well, Grinch-like for the Thistles Shopping Centre to ban the Christmas crib and, in the true spirit of Christmas, we would certainly ask them to reconsider their decision.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scotland told the newspaper: “We find it very disappointing that the true meaning of Christmas has been completely lost here.

 

“When a shopping centre can focus purely on commercialism to the exclusion of the reason for the celebration of Christmas it is a sad day for all of us.”

A member of the Legion of St Mary’s Association, Margaret Patterson complained to her local MP, Stephen Kerr, who took up the matter with Thistles.

 

A reply he received from the shopping centre said: “Thistles shopping centre prides itself on being religiously…

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Amazon founder gives £11.8m to Christian charities

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Amazon founder gives £11.8m to Christian charities

Catholic Church-run shelters in the New Orleans, Miami and Seattle areas of the US are each receiving $5 million from a charity created by Mr Bezos and her wife, MacKenzie.

He said: “We hope these grants provide the additional resources these leaders and their organisations need to expand the scope and impact of their efforts.”

 

The charities are among 24 organisations each taking a share of $97.5 million in grants. All the groups selected either help tackle homelessness or provide pre-school care in deprived areas.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami said it was “grateful” to the Bezos family for the funding it received through the Day 1 Families Fund.

Beyond The Barricade Photography/Wikimedia Commons

 

Chief executive, Peter Routis-Arroyo said: “We are grateful to Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos for their generous and timely Day 1 Families Fund grant that allows Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami to be at the forefront of providing social services to children and families experiencing homelessness in the tri-county area of South Florida.”

Denny Hunthausen from Catholic Community Services of Western Washington told Northwest Catholic the grant it received “will have a considerable impact on family homelessness in Pierce County”.

Seattle City Council

 

Meanwhile, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans said extra…

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Trailblazing Pope Francis to visit Abu Dhabi

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Trailblazing Pope Francis to visit Abu Dhabi

He will embark on a three-day trip to Abu Dhabi on 3rd February 2018 to attend an interfaith meeting, the Vatican announced.

The news was welcomed in a statement released by Bishop Paul Hinder, a leader of the Catholic Church in UAE, Oman and Yemen.

 

He said: “I wish that the short visit be a moment of deepening our faith and our adherence to the bishop of Rome who is the head of the college of all bishops.

“Please pray that the visit will be a spiritual event. Pray for the rulers of this country who make the visit possible.”

 

Francis has promoted inter-religious dialogue during previous visits to other Muslim-majority nations – including Turkey, Jordan and Egypt.

He was invited to the UAE by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Catholic Church in UAE.

 

Greg Burke from the Holy See Press Office said the theme of the visit will be ‘make…

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Five Types of Interventions for Churches Needing Revitalization

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Podcast Episode #491

SUBSCRIBE:
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Interventions can meet a great need in churches—and many churches need them. Today we discuss five types of interventions, and I tell the story of my strangest church consultation moment.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

  • Online coaching has the potential to help pastors and churches in a way we’ve never seen before.
  • One of the greatest encouragements to pastors is them knowing they are not going through something alone.
  • Revitalization requires a decision to stop doing what a church has been doing to decline and start doing something else in order to grow.
  • Knowing when it’s time to pass the baton to the next leader is a difficult decision for a leader to make.

The five intervention types we cover are:

  1. Coaching intervention
  2. Consulting intervention
  3. Community intervention
  4. Relaunching intervention
  5. Leadership intervention

Resources mentioned in today’s podcast

Episode Sponsors

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TREM Devotional 7 December 2018 – Your Sacrifice Will Announce You

CM Editor
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Topic: Your Sacrifice Will Announce You [TREM Devotional 7 December 2018]

“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” Matthew 26:7

Jesus visit to the house of Simon the leper would have passed like one of those visits if not for the action of a woman. Jesus was obviously not visiting this house for the first time. But this time there was a difference. A woman did something out of the ordinary. She broke an Alabaster Box of ointment and everything changed. Her sacrifice brought about two very different reactions: some were upset that she could go all out for Jesus. They were filled with indignation and began to murmur. Interestingly, one of the disciples of Jesus also murmured. You would have thought that if everyone else murmured, not a member of the inner caucus, Jesus’ immediate constituency, the disciples. Is that not like today? Rather than encourage someone who is labouring in the Kingdom, some people sit back and just grumble. But like the woman, don’t be discouraged. She did not look for the applause of man, she broke the Alabaster Box and let out the rich fragrance that changed the entire environment.

Then there was the second group of people, and this is where Jesus was. Like the popular saying, one with God is majority. It is not about the number, if God applauds you, no one can put you down. While the murmuring was going on and probably growing louder, Jesus shut them up. In verse 10, He said “Let her alone…”. Are you there sacrificing for the Kingdom and it appears that no one is encouraging you? You are not alone, it happened to Mary. But be encouraged, that singular act gave her a place in the scriptures. In the same way, your act, though it looks insignificant to man, is recognized by God. Stay consistent. It may be cleaning the restroom, keep at it. God will visit you in the place of service. Today, wherever the gospel is preached, Mary’s name is mentioned, just like Jesus said. In the same way, your service will announce you in Jesus’ name.

Further Reading: Matthew 26:6-13

Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Daniel 5-7; Evening- 2 John

“If you missed yesterday devotional click HERE to read TREM Daily Devotional by Dr. Mike Okonkwo’’

Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.

The post TREM Devotional 7 December 2018 – Your Sacrifice Will Announce You appeared first on Flatimes.

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