News

News Briefs: December 09, 1996

—Samuel M. Sherrard is the new president and chief executive officer of Youth for Christ International (YFCI). Sherrard, 55, founded Youth for Christ in Colombo in his native Sri Lanka in 1966. He became executive director of Youth for Christ in Hawaii in 1974 and YFCI Americas area director in 1994. For the past 18 years, Sherrard has also pastored Leeward Community Church in Pearl City, Oahu, now the largest Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Hawaii.

—The Russian Orthodox Church has taken formal steps to begin a canonization process of Nicholas II, Russia’s last czar. Nicholas, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were executed by revolutionist Bolsheviks in 1918, the beginning of an atheist Communist reign that lasted until 1991. Unlike the Catholic church, which bases sainthood on holiness or miracles, martyrdom itself qualifies as a condition of sainthood in the Orthodox church.

—The Church of England has appointed its first pub chaplain, 57-year-old layman Colin Shaw. In the unpaid post, Shaw gives counsel to patrons at Cambridge Blue, a tavern in the university city. Shaw, who studied pastoral theology at Cambridge University after retiring, has been a pub regular for seven years..

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Also in this issue

Christmas Unplugged: Should spending less and turning off TV be part of the church's mission to the world?

Cover Story

Christmas Unplugged, Part 2

Cover Story

Christmas Unplugged, Part 1

God's Missionary to Us, Part 2

Northern Ireland: Christian Peace Activists Refocus on Forgiveness

Evolution: Pope Says Evolution More than a Hypothesis

Military Chaplains Sue Over ’Project Life’ Ban

Colorado: Parental, Charity Tax Measures Fail

The Holy Inefficiency of Henri Nouwen

God's Missionary to Us, Part 1

Episcopalians: Penthouse Expose Could Spark Church Teaching

Lutherans, Episcopalians Talk Unity

Worldwide Faith News Goes Online

Voters Reject Betting Measures

Few Rank Jesus' Birth Top Holiday Focus

World Relief Staffers Murdered

First English Translation Published

Bethlehem Bible College Buys Land

Part of the Truth

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Missions' Wild Olive Branch

News

News Briefs: December 09, 1996

Letters

Editorial

Judging the Justices

Editorial

When Relief Is Not Enough

What British Evangelicals Do Right

The Most Dangerous Baby

Fatherhood Aborted

The Monk Who Came in from the Cold

Recovering the Chruch’s Memory

Sex, Drugs, and the Varieties of Religious Experience

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from December 09, 1996

Jerry Falwell's Uncertain Legacy

Bakker: Falwell Was ’Totalitarian’

Falwell's Son Could Carry on the Legacy at Liberty

View issue

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We’re eager to ask whether it could have happened. We shouldn’t forget to ask what it means.

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Excerpt

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As we learn from the surprising journeys of several holiday classics, the term defies easy definition.

Advent Calls Us Out of Our Despair

Sitting in the dark helps us truly appreciate the light.

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