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1. Another church treasurer embezzlement story
Not all the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s financial woes are due to declines in giving by local congregations. The denomination says that its second-ranking financial officer, Judy Golliher, has admitted to embezzlement and that $100,000 is missing from the general operating fund.

The Courier-Journal notes, "Golliher was originally hired as interim controller in 2004 to replace Nagy Tawfik, who was fired because of allegations he had tampered with a bidding process. The church last month paid Tawfik $390,000 to settle allegations that he was wrongfully terminated, in part based on his national origin. Tawfik is Egyptian."

If this sounds familiar, by the way, you're probably remembering Ellen Cooke was convicted of embezzling $1.5 million as treasurer of the Episcopal Church USA. Or when George Patrick was arrested for embezzling $800,000 as treasurer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's New England Synod. Just so you know, this isn't what Christianity Today's newest sister publication, Church Treasurer Alert!, is about. It's for church treasurers—not a warning about church treasurers.

2. U.K. prison drops InnerChange out of diversity concerns
A month after a federal judge called Prison Fellowship's InnerChange Freedom Initiative "pervasively sectarian" and ordered the program in Iowa's Newton Correctional Facility to close, comes word that a sister program has been kicked out of Dartmoor prison in England. "There are two reasons for the closure," Prison Fellowship England and Wales chairman Lady Georgie Wates tells The Church of England Newspaper. "First we don't comply with the diversity policy of the Prison Service because we teach the sanctity of heterosexual marriage as the Bible says, which is seen as homophobic. And secondly, because we don't fit in with the multi-faith agenda. They think we should be teaching a bit of every religion and that what we're teaching offends other faiths." Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali tells the paper he worries that the decision could indicate a broader marginalization of Christianity in chaplaincies.

3. County says megachurch can't partner with seminary
McLean Bible Church, one of the country's most prominent congregations, wanted high-level Bible studies at its church, so it partnered with Capitol Bible Seminary to offer classes.

"[I]nvolvement with the seminary has not changed the church's educational program or purpose and … the scope, nature and relative size of the classes have not changed," says a press release from the American Center for Law and Justice. "In addition, the church does not issue any academic credit or attempt to confer any academic degrees."

But Fairfax County says that the seminary could in theory start offering credit for the classes, so the program is prohibited under the church's current zoning provision. If it wants to offer college-level classes, county administrators insist, McLean Bible must seek special zoning and approval as a college or university. As you've no doubt concluded by the above allusion to the ACLJ, the church is now suing over the matter.

4. Gordon-Conwell Seminary seeks a market among orthodox Anglicans
With the Anglican Communion fragmenting, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary says it sees an opening in ministerial training. "We really are being opportunistic here," academic dean Barry H. Corey told The Boston Globe. "Given what's going on in terms of the schisms in the Episcopal Church USA … as churches depart, they are going to need training for their ministers, and they are probably not going to send them to Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, because those schools pretty much have sided with the liberal end of the spectrum."

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July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50