Hope for Kenyan orphans

Charles Mulli documentary in the works

By Allison Barron ChristianWeek Correspondent | June 14, 2015

Abandoned by his family at age six, Kenyan Charles Mulli survived alone until age 16, got a job and became a successful businessman. He then gave up his wealth to provide for slum children, calling them his own.

When the team of Scott Haze (Director), Elissa Shay (Producer) and Lukas Behnken (Producer) of Sterling Light Productions read Father to the Fatherless—a book documenting Mulli’s story and written by Canadian Paul Boge—they were deeply moved.

“There is nothing I am more committed to than using the medium of film to ignite minds and affect hearts of people across the world,” says Haze. “I couldn’t have been blessed with a more potent story than that of Charles and Esther Mulli.

“It’s stories like these that create global change and inspire us and generations to come. I just feel truly fortunate.”

John Bardis of Bardis Productions read the book, which inspired him to finance the film and set the project in motion.

Author Paul Boge is encouraged that Bardis Productions decided to take on the project and produce a documentary, entitled Mully, with plans for a Winter 2015 / Spring 2016 release.

“The Mully documentary will give audiences an opportunity to see why a man like Charles Mulli, who rose from the ashes of African poverty to become wealthy, would give it all up to rescue street children,” says Boge. “Scott Haze, Lukas Behnken and Elissa Shay are creating a critical film that will inspire us to examine how we look at our lives.”

In the making of this film, Sterling Light Productions spent many months on the ground in Kenya with Mulli and his Mully Children’s Family. Many of the rescued children are part of the documentary, as well as Charles, his wife Esther, their biological children, immediate family, and many other people who know him or know of him.

“All of our lives have been changed for the better as a result of working on this project,” says Behnken. “Traveling to Kenya for two very long journeys, filming in major international cities like Nairobi and in desperately poor slums, seeing beautiful new cultures and poverty on a level we had never known changed us on its own.”

Haze, Behnken and Shay hope the documentary will inspire people to incorporate more acts of service into their lives as well as highlight the huge impact Mulli has had in his home country.

“So much work is needed all over the world, and we can all make great impacts in our own local areas,” says Behnken. “We believe this film will lift hearts and eyes to a new level, taking viewers momentarily out of their own stories and reminding them of the beauty and transforming power of faith in action.”

“We hope everyone who sees it or hears of it shares it with others.”

About the author

Allison Barron
ChristianWeek Correspondent

Allison is a writer, editor, and graphic designer with a BA in English from Canadian Mennonite University and a Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She currently manages Area of Effect magazine and is a missionary with Geekdom House in Winnipeg, MB.

Christian professors help Omar Khadr face life outside prison walls

“For me and my colleagues, this is the call God has put before us,” says Arlette Zinck.

By Allison Barron ChristianWeek Correspondent | June 14, 2015

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EDMONTON, AB—Known by some as a wrongfully imprisoned child soldier and by others as a terrorist and murderer, Omar Khadr is free after nearly 13 years in prison.

The 28-year-old, accused of war crimes and imprisoned since he was 15, was released on bail on May 7. A group of Christian educators is applauding the decision, and continuing their quest to help Khadr upgrade his schooling.

Arlette Zinck, a professor at The King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta, first heard about Khadr’s story from his lawyer, Dennis Edney, when he came to speak at the university in 2008.

“He [Edney] spoke of a profoundly wounded teen with a fist-sized bullet hole in his chest who was nicknamed ‘buckshot’ by guards because of the many shrapnel wounds in his body, and made to carry heavy pails of water until his wounds wept,” Zinck writes in “Love Knows No Bounds: A Christian Response to the Omar Khadr Story,” a briefing written for the Chester Ronning Centre.

“He talked about sleep deprivation and the petty cruelties of cold temperatures. He told the students how, despite all of this, and in the context of years of conversations, he had never heard Omar Khadr speak an ill word about anyone.”

Zinck, along with many students and faculty at King’s, were moved to action by Khadr’s story. Some students organized events and rallies to support him, others began correspondence with him through his lawyer.

A small group of the faculty, including Zinck, made a curriculum for Khadr so he could study in prison. Khadr is still studying with them now while he is on bail.

Zinck tells ChristianWeek that Khadr plans to continue his education and they are just taking it one step at a time.

“He’s come a long way with his studies that he began as a student who left off at approximately Grade 8,” says Zinck.

Zinck sites Matthew 25 as a metaphor for their relationship with Khadr. “That’s the passage where you’re supposed to feed the hungry,” she says. “It doesn’t ask you to become judge and jury. It just says to be faithful and answer the call that God has put before you. For me and my colleagues, this is the call God has put before us.”

Zinck says it’s important for Christians to look at what’s happening in Canadian prisons, to think about corrections and our Christian understanding of reconciliation.

“All of us as Christians are pressed to use both our hearts and our minds when we engage with the world,” Zinck says. “So often it’s one or the other—rationalizing miserable ways of behaving or reacting emotionally instead of using a more thoughtful approach.

“A third way between the voices of culture is using a spirit of intelligent charity. This is an hour of history where we can pay attention to ways that revenge is used as a substitution for justice. I’m grateful for the experience working with Omar… I think we’re called to think carefully to think about the Christian perspective on corrections in Canada.”

Captured as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan, Khadr is the only juvenile tried for war crimes since the Second World War. A Canadian citizen, he was taken to Afghanistan by his father who had ties with al Qaeda. Among other charges, he is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier during a 2002 firefight.

After being picked up in the battlefield, terribly wounded, Khadr was held at Bagram, and subsequently at Guantanamo Bay, before being moved to Bath, Ontario, in 2012 and then to a maximum-security prison in Edmonton in 2013. He applied for bail while his Guantanamo conviction is appealed in the U.S.

In the CBC documentary titled Omar Khadr: Out of the Shadows, Khadr reflects on his time in Guantanamo and in prison, where he was interrogated and abused.

“This one guard in Guantanamo, he would go out of his way to just humiliate me, antagonize me…” says Khadr. “I thought, I wanna know who that guy is… so I can get back at him the next time I get an opportunity… And then I was thinking, you know… I’m giving him a place in myself that he doesn’t deserve. He’s not worth me caring about him.

“You can only imagine what this guy is going through. The thing is, if a person can inflict pain on another person and find pleasure in that… he’s probably living in worse pain than me. What he’s causing me is temporary… but he’s the one who’s gonna have to deal with his conscience later.”

While on bail, Khadr lives at his lawyer’s home.

“I try not to dwell on the past,” Khadr says. “It was either that or me engulfed in hate and misery and thinking of how bad life is. But that’s not going to get me anywhere. I try to think of things that will hopefully make my life and hopefully the life of people around me better.”

About the author

Allison Barron
ChristianWeek Correspondent

Allison is a writer, editor, and graphic designer with a BA in English from Canadian Mennonite University and a Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She currently manages Area of Effect magazine and is a missionary with Geekdom House in Winnipeg, MB.

Trinity Western professors explore science and faith

“There are believers who have reconciled excellence in science with a vibrant Christian faith”

By Craig Macartney Senior Correspondent | June 14, 2015

LANGLEY, BC–Trinity Western University (TWU) is celebrating academic recognition amid the broad campaign to delegitimize its proposed law school. Two of its professors are among 25 successful international applicants selected to participate in an elite seminar at Oxford, exploring the interaction between science and faith.

The seminar, titled “Bridging the Two Cultures of Science and the Humanities,” includes funding and scholarly support for individual research projects proposed by each professor, as well as funding to establish a science and religion club at the professor’s home campus.

“Of the 25 recipients in this seminar, Trinity Western is the only school that received two applicants,” says Myron A. Penner, professor of philosophy at TWU and one of the seminar participants. “That speaks to the climate here for exploring science and religion.”

Penner’s project is a manuscript focused on helping students from conservative Christian backgrounds overcome any fear in engaging science.

“There are Christians who have a fear of what is being claimed by the scientific community, especially when it comes to implications of a scientific worldview in the age of the Earth and the nature of human origins. The book I am working on isn’t specifically about evolution, but evolution is one case study that is helpful in understanding the larger phenomenon of this science fear.”

Penner explains the tension is not necessarily between science and religion, but between science and specific interpretations of Scripture. There are good reasons, he says, to believe scientific claims like the Big Bang, evolution and the age of the Earth.

“Our unshakable commitment to [the gospel] needs to be distinguished from our own interpretations of what the Bible says on any particular point of doctrine,” says Penner. “Right through the present day, there are believers who have reconciled excellence in science with a vibrant Christian faith. It seems the height of ego for someone who doesn’t have the ability to navigate the data to ignore what science is saying because they don’t like it.”

The other TWU participant is biology professor Dennis Venema, who is writing a book to help Christian professors who are not biologists better understand the scientific basis for evolution and how the theory of evolution can be complementary to a Christian worldview.

“Many Christians oppose evolutionary biology because they feel it conflicts with the Genesis account,” he says. “There is good evidence, however, that the Genesis narratives are not speaking in terms of modern science. We need to recognize that we not only need to translate the language of Genesis, but also the culture and expectations of the original recipients of the text.”

Venema says many Christians don’t understand how drastically recent discoveries support evolution.

“Evolution is so well supported, and the evidence for it so compelling, that one cannot reject evolution and claim to have an up-to-date view of science.”

Of the 25 projects being funded by the grant, seven are overtly connected to the evolutionary view, while none approaches human origins from a traditional creationist perspective.

Venema says this is because the Templeton Religious Trust, the foundation funding the seminar, “typically doesn’t fund anti-evolutionary work, because of its many scientific shortcomings.”

Stan Rosenberg, executive director of SCIO, the group organizing the seminar, says it is focused on the broader dynamics of the cultures of science and humanities, rather than simply the science of human origins.

While he identifies himself also as a theistic evolutionist and believes that modern science cannot genuinely be used to support a traditional creationist view, he is clear that applicants views on the subject were not considered in selecting proposals.

“I think [theistic evolution] makes the most sense of reality. That doesn’t presume that I’ve found all the answers. I’m interested in engaging with deep, reflective thought wherever I find it. I’ve changed my views on this over the years and it’s because of trying to listen to others.”

Critics of the theory of evolution, however, highlight that it remains unproven, despite the tremendous amount of time and money being dedicated to exploring it. They also emphatically state that there is substantial, modern scientific support for the biblical narrative of creation.

Gary Chiang, professor of biology at Redeemer University College, says, “There is a wealth of scientific knowledge that fully supports creation as written in Scripture. The existence of living fossils [such as the platypus or crocodile] tells us that organisms have the capacity to stay the same. Species reproduce generation after generation as the same species, as described in Scripture.”

While the debate about human origins will likely continue for the foreseeable future, Penner says one thing he appreciates most at TWU is the openness to embrace differences.

“Among the staff and students, there are a variety of perspectives. We are a climate of freedom and safety to pursue both scientific expertise and a vibrant faith in a complementary way.”

About the author

Craig Macartney
Senior Correspondent

Craig Macartney lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where he follows global politics and dreams of life in the mission field.

Malaria society researches unique tea to combat disease

Efforts could lead to drop in malaria cases around the world

By Allison Barron ChristianWeek Correspondent | June 14, 2015

VANCOUVER, BC—A Canadian organization is determined to eliminate malaria one cup of tea at a time.

Artemisia annua, a plant native to Asia, is used to produce anti-malarial drugs; the Bye, Bye Malaria Society maintains that regularly drinking tea steeped from the plant can cure and prevent malaria. It is an inexpensive solution for the poor, and the Society is conducting experiments in India to determine its effectiveness.

Stuart Spani, president of the Bye, Bye Malaria Society, learned about simple malaria clinics, called ZoClinics, operating in Mizoram, India in 2005. He was inspired to help. In 2012, Spani and his grandson visited five countries in Africa to set up a network for establishing ZoClinics there.

“It was at this point I recruited four friends and formed the Bye, Bye Malaria Society,” says Spani. “The name came from the fact that when the first African ZoClinic technicians received their microscopes, one held hers up and proclaimed ‘Bye, bye malaria!’”

Spani learned about Artemisia annua from missionaries at Mission Fest Vancouver; one was from Africa and another from Indonesia. They were both using the plant as a cure and preventative for malaria.

“I began to research this plant and our society started to work closely with a German group called Anamed,” Spani says. “The founder, Dr. Martin Hirt, has a doctorate in pharmacy and had worked as a medical missionary in Congo for six years. While there he found modern medicines were either unavailable or too expensive for the poor to use and he made a deep study of traditional medicines.”

Spani says he was encouraged by Anamed’s success stories, among them a patient who had repeat malaria every month for 10 years, but who has been free of malaria for more than four years after being treated with Artemisia.

“I traveled to Mizoram this past March with the plan to conduct an experiment in one village this year, and begin to build a network to attempt to eradicate malaria in the entire state by 2016,” says Spani.

The Society initially went to the village of Darzo, though the experiment grew when two villages nearby heard about it and wanted to be included.

“A similar experiment has also been set up and planting has started in five Anglican dioceses in Rwanda, Africa, and we are in early talks to do the same thing in both Togo, Africa, and Sierra Leone, Africa,” says Spani.

As a Christian organization, Spani says the Bye, Bye Malaria Society believes Christian principles can solve problems and are determined to make agricultural villages better places to live.

“No one has tried using [the tea] for eradication on this scale, but we do know that even if it doesn’t eradicate malaria it will reduce the amount dramatically,” says Spani. “We will use the internet to let the world know the results and pray that many others will follow the example.”

See www.malaria-defeated.org for more information.

About the author

Allison Barron
ChristianWeek Correspondent

Allison is a writer, editor, and graphic designer with a BA in English from Canadian Mennonite University and a Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She currently manages Area of Effect magazine and is a missionary with Geekdom House in Winnipeg, MB.

Creator’s Arts Centre encourages students to dance outside the box

“We make no apologies for the fact that Creator’s was founded on Christian principles and I make no apologies myself for being a Christian woman”

By Allison Barron ChristianWeek Correspondent | June 9, 2015

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KELOWNA, BC—For Laura Elliott, the artistic director of Creator’s Arts Centre (CAC), running a Christ-based organization means managing a dance studio with Christian principles at its base.

“We encourage people,” says Elliott. “We encourage them to take risks, to be bold, to laugh, to cry, to dream, to push hard, to explore, to lift each other up and to be the best artist they can be.”

The dance studio has more than 200 students, and the faculty creates class recommendations for each person based on what will benefit him or her as an individual.

“They are not just ‘dancers,’” says Elliott. “They are individual people who need encouragement because they are people, not because they’re creatives.”

“We believe that all people who come through our door—regardless of age, gender, ability or religious affiliation—deserve to be treated with love and respect. We strive to find a place for them at our studio where they can be challenged and grow physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

With its choreography, costuming and music choices, CAC strives to honour God with performances that are age appropriate and meaningful, even though a large percentage of their student base doesn’t identify with a particular faith background. Students come to CAC because they value things like love, encouragement, excellence, and age-appropriate content, says Elliott.

“I’m very honest with everyone who comes in this door that we are not a church and we do not profess to be everyone’s version of Christianity,” says Elliott.

She says the studio has received some flak in the past for allowing a variety of music to be used, as long as it doesn’t contain swear words, drinking, drug or sexual references, and isn’t appropriately aggressive or mature for the age of the students who are dancing to it. Some families believe only praise and worship music is acceptable.

“To that type of person, we are a huge disappointment as an organization because we don’t fit into their box of Christianity,” Elliott says.

She says although those working at the studio believe both that music is powerful and that they need to be careful in the messages they expose students to, they don’t choose to draw a line at secular music.

“It’s a tricky line to walk as an organization. On the one hand we have families who feel we are not ‘Christian enough’ and on the other families who would never come back because we prayed before the start of a performance and they were offended.”

“We make no apologies for the fact that Creator’s was founded on Christian principles and I make no apologies myself for being a Christian woman—I just walk out my faith the best I can in this place and in the rest of my life.”

About the author

Allison Barron
ChristianWeek Correspondent

Allison is a writer, editor, and graphic designer with a BA in English from Canadian Mennonite University and a Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She currently manages Area of Effect magazine and is a missionary with Geekdom House in Winnipeg, MB.

Ontario physicians stand up for conscience rights

Doctors protest ruling requiring participation in controversial procedures

By Craig Macartney Senior Correspondent | June 7, 2015

ORILLIA, ON—The Christian Medical and Dental Society (CMDS) has taken the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to court in defence of conscience rights for Ontario medical professionals.

CMDS members believe their Charter rights of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are being violated by a new policy the College issued in mid-March, which requires all Ontario physicians to refer patients for controversial procedures such as euthanasia and abortion.

“Our feeling is that we have a Charter right not to have our consciences infringed and that the College has to demonstrate exactly why they feel there is a requirement to infringe the conscience rights of Christian physicians,” explains Larry Worthen, executive director of CMDS.

Worthen says they object to the policy on several grounds in addition to its requiring doctors to make controversial referrals. He explains the policy vaguely refers to “emergency situations” where physicians would be required to actually perform procedures that go against their conscience or religious beliefs.

“They talk about an ‘emergency situation,’ but they don’t define what an emergency is,” he states. “That leads us to ask what kind of emergency. How are our conscience rights protected if all someone has to do is invoke this ‘emergency clause’ and that would require us to do something that goes against our consciences?”

Worthen’s concern has a historical precedent. Abortion was first legalized in Canada in 1969, but then only in cases where there was risk to the woman’s health. However, numerous pro-life organizations say that by 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down all Canada’s remaining laws restricting abortions, the “woman’s health clause” was being loosely used to include her financial or even social health.

Worthen says both the College and various abortion and euthanasia advocate groups are aggressively targeting Christian physicians.

“The attitude of the College is that if people are not prepared to do these things they should leave medicine. We would like the courts to clearly send a message to the CPSO that they can’t trample on the conscience rights of physicians. We have a right to practise. We have a right to our profession. We want to continue to serve our patients and not be forced out of the medical profession.”

Diane Haak, an Ontario anaesthetist and also the president of CMDS, says her obligation to her patients has never been in conflict with her faith until the College issued their recent policy. She says her colleagues have always respected her decision not to be involved in providing anaesthetics for abortions, however, under the new policy, she won’t have that right.

“I hope I never have to deal with that situation. I have thought it through and would not leave the province to avoid this happening, nor would I go against my moral belief that I can’t be involved with abortions. If that situation arose I would have to face the College.”

Haak says she believes there is an intentional agenda against the Christian faith by a small, but increasing group of people.

“It’s puzzling that they would make this decision when it is unnecessary to do so. The procedures that are morally controversial can all be self-referred. It is a big dilemma for Christian physicians and I believe [these attacks] will start to move into other work sectors.”

However, despite the current climate, Worthen is hopeful.

“I’m quite optimistic about this [court challenge]. In the recent Carter case [on euthanasia], the Supreme Court of Canada clearly stated that no one could be forced to perform an abortion or participate in euthanasia. They also said that participation in euthanasia is a conscience issue. We feel that is a signal to people like the CPSO that they have to accommodate people who do not agree with ending the lives of patients, whether in the womb or otherwise.”

While they wait for a court date to be set, CMDS has launched a fund-raising campaign, with a goal to raise $150,000 to cover legal fees.

About the author

Craig Macartney
Senior Correspondent

Craig Macartney lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where he follows global politics and dreams of life in the mission field.

Lessons from Mike Duffy

Does “always did it this way” make it right?

By Henry Friesen | June 7, 2015

Canadian senator Mike Duffy couldn’t have imagined the recent twists and turns his life has taken. His political metamorphosis from butterfly to caterpillar could hardly have been more dramatic!

What happened? And why? Until Duffy’s autobiography provides his version of the facts, the clues are coming from the news wires. How he endeared himself to his political cronies while bending the rules. How he kept meticulous notes of his deeds and misdeeds. And how he knows more, but is waiting for the right moment to spill the beans.

As the story of the senator’s financial transgressions slowly winds its way through the courts, some bigger questions have arisen. It appears the rules governing senator expenses are not really rules. Suggestions maybe, but definitely not rules as you and I understand the word.

Perhaps Canada’s first senators really were stellar where ethics and money were concerned, but we’ll never know. It seems senator accountability has never been obligatory. And the little that may have been required of them was kept safe within the hallowed senate halls. Until now!

The recent audit of many senator expense accounts reveals that Duffy has a lot of company. That’s not surprising when the shades of grey embedded in the rules practically invited diverse, sometimes creative, interpretations.

Some might argue that the dollars misspent by senators are just a drop in the money bucket, and not worth the cost of audits and courts. Others counter that the principles at stake far outweigh the price tag of the investigation.

On a corruption scale, Canada compares favourably with the rest of the world. A “world corruption map” produced annually by Transparency International rates Canada as 10^th out of 175 countries.

On the face of it, that sounds great! Canada’s yellow colour contrasts sharply with the bright reds in most of the world. But should that provide any comfort? Realistically, how can Canadians withstand a world saturated with corruption? New financial rules in the senate would definitely help, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

If there were more transparency on Parliament Hill, would it have been necessary to drag Duffy’s case through the courts? Likely not, but if this is what it takes to motivate positive change, all Canadians should be grateful.

Should Senator Duffy be given a hero’s crown or the boot? Think about it! He has become a lightning rod, giving senators a unique opportunity to improve their financial act and regain trust. Let’s hope they don’t squander it. And let’s make sure the political leaders we elect understand that substantive change is needed.

There are also lessons much closer to home. The next time you complete your income tax return, make sure you are not part of the problem. Not reporting income or exaggerating expenses affects the same government coffers Duffy took advantage of. Keeping Canada from sinking to Third World status begins with you. Hero or not, consider hanging a picture of the senator prominently in your office as a reminder!

Henry Friesen is a chartered accountant near Winnipeg who deals with many “Duffy type” questions.

About the author

Henry Friesen

Henry Friesen is a chartered accountant who lives in a small town near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Faith group supports politicians through challenges of leadership

Leading Influence pioneers chaplaincy services for elected officials

By Allison Barron ChristianWeek Correspondent | June 6, 2015

VICTORIA, BC—“God has always been interested in leaders,” says Tim Schindel, president of Leading Influence, an organization that supports men and women serving in politics. “Throughout history, He has placed His people in their lives and circles to serve and minister to them in significant and meaningful ways.”

Founded in 2006, Leading Influence has been serving at the B.C. Legislature since 2007. Today it has chaplains in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

“We are pioneers in providing chaplaincy services to elected officials in Canada,” says Schindel. “We function as a relationally based ministry of presence with no political agenda.

For Christian politicians, Leading Influence provides regular prayer times, office visits with a pastoral focus and regular ongoing care. For politicians who are not believers, care is expressed by demonstrating sincere interest, concern and support for them as individuals, Schindel says, regardless of their political ideology.

Leading Influence focuses on relationship building to express the love of Jesus to people who may normally be unreceptive.

Schindel says most politicians face daily challenges filled with high expectations, long hours and endless criticism by the public and the media.

“Add to that list the stress that comes along with being responsible for everything from the economy, public safety, the environment and education and life becomes pretty intense,” he says.

“Part of what we do is position ourselves to be available in the midst of the storm and to be a source of comfort and strength while we point people to the source of comfort and strength.”

Schindel believes one of the best ways Christians can serve their political leaders is to pray for them.

“It’s important to understand that God has placed these people in positions of leadership and authority over us,” he says. “We don’t always understand why or agree with positions and decisions, but our first responsibility is to pray that God will guide them and direct them as they lead.”

Schindel says another way Christians can get involved is to become political leaders themselves.

“Our world needs good and godly people who understand that political service isn’t about ‘imposing’ our worldview,” he says, “but rather…serving our world through humble and gracious leadership.”

For more information, visit www.leadinginfluence.com.

About the author

Allison Barron
ChristianWeek Correspondent

Allison is a writer, editor, and graphic designer with a BA in English from Canadian Mennonite University and a Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She currently manages Area of Effect magazine and is a missionary with Geekdom House in Winnipeg, MB.

Photography charity takes a step of faith

Charity unites hundreds of photographers around the world for Haiti school

By Steven Sukkau | June 4, 2015

VANCOUVER, BC—A young couple’s bold step of faith is galvanizing hundreds of photographers to make a change in Haiti. Jamie and Randy Watson are behind an ambitious fundraising project uniting more than 500 photographers from across Canada and around the world for one cause.

Participating photographers hold photo shoots in their hometowns and cities, pledging to donate their fees to build a school in Mellier, Haiti. So far, The School Sessions have helped raise more than $43,000 for the town still devastated by the 2010 earthquake. The money will go towards purchasing the land where the school will be built. Organizers hope to raise another $150,000 to build the school in a follow-up event in 2016.

For the Watsons the experience has become a testament to what faith can do if you’re willing to take the step, and having the faith to press on when you don’t reach your goal as soon as you’d hoped.

“There was so much fear of failure,” Jamie explains, at the outset of launching such a big project. “But ultimately it’s not our project.”

The realization that they could only trust God with the dream they were given was comforting, Jamie says.

“Without faith you just look at tangible things, but by faith we’re seeing how many people have been encouraged,” she says. “So many negatives can turn into positives with faith.”

The couple hopes to raise the remaining $150,000 by holding another School Sessions event next April to complete the school building project. The couple is encouraged they will reach their goal after the tremendous support they received this year.

“When we started the initiative earlier this year, we could only hope that it would take off like it did,” says Jamie, a photographer in Vancouver. Jamie put out a call to her friends and peers, asking if they would sign up and donate 100 per cent of their profits from a portrait session to the cause.

“We are so touched to have had such an amazing response from photographers willing to support this program,” Jamie says.

The couple is excited for what the project will mean for children in E.C.C.A School in Mellier and the lasting impact it will make in their lives.

It all began when Randy travelled to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake rocked the country. As a carpenter, Randy was helping with disaster relief building projects and saw first-hand the need for a new school after visiting teachers in Mellier. An estimated 5,000 schools were destroyed, including E.C.C.A School, leaving students without an adequate facility to learn. Today, students in Mellier gather in make-shift shelter to be taught by teachers who volunteer their time.

In 2014, convinced they needed to take action, the Watsons decided to combine their two passions: Jamie’s photography and Randy’s carpentry, for a single project, and the School Sessions were born.

“If I can make my business about other people and not just about myself, that would be a game-changer,” Jamie says. “We are super excited for what this means for the children at the E.C.C.A. School.”

Learn more at theschoolsessions.com.

–

About the author

Steven Sukkau

When the Church gets messy

We need to take the time to discern before passing judgement

By Tim Perry ChristianWeek Columnist | June 3, 2015

It only takes a few seconds to share that tweet or tap out a Facebook message skewering someone for their “unforgivable” mistake. And if the message goes viral, as we’ve seen in recent days in the North American media, the perpetrators will pay with their reputations and even their jobs.

We can take a lesson from history here.

The persecution that took place under Roman emperor Diocletian (284 to 305 CE) was especially severe in North Africa. As a result, the question of how or whether to re-admit Christians to worship who had recanted their faith was very difficult, especially when they were priests or even bishops.

Some insisted that lapsed believers could not return, or if they could, it could only be after a protracted and public period of repentance. Priests and bishops could never return to their former roles. Others were more lenient. After a period of repentance, mercy and forgiveness should determine the course. Priests and bishops could also return to their ministries.

St. Augustine was convinced by his reading of the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30), that the Church would never be pure until the Final Judgment. Until then she would be a mixture of sinners and saints, people resisting grace and resting in it. Communities should not be too quick to judge who’s in or not, even among the leadership.

I wonder whether some of my friends on the religious right and the red-letter left could learn from Augustine’s reluctance to rush to judgment. On just about every hot-button issue today, we find Christians divided amongst ourselves. To our collective shame, we far too easily call down the judgment of God on those who disagree with us.

We act in this way because we want a pure Church. We want to presume upon the judgment of God; we want to short-circuit the path to the Day of Judgment. We want, if I may put it more provocatively, to present God with a holy Church of our own making all the while refusing to receive the holiness that is God’s gift in Christ to His Church. We act this way because we are sinners as much as our opponents are.

When the behaviour of believers becomes a scandal to their unbelieving neighbors, the Church needs time to discern the source of the scandal. If the scandal is rooted in fidelity to the gospel (as with Stephen in Acts), then the Church celebrates a prophet, a saint, or possibly a martyr. If the scandal is rooted in persistent sinfulness (as with the immoral brother in 1 Corinthians), then the Church disciplines even to the point of exclusion from the community.

What is lost in so much debate today is precisely the wisdom and time needed to discern. We want to identify who’s right and who’s not and pass sentence right away. But that is not how the Church should work. Discipline working rightly recognizes that every situation is different, and even someone caught in serious sin (like those who lapse under persecution) may need restoration with a gentle hand rather than condemnation.

Instead of skewering someone online for their latest failure, leave room for the Church to be messy. Leave room for the Church to discern. Leave room for the judgment of God.

Tim Perry is rector at Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, Ontario. He blogs about theology, religion, politics and sometimes the blues at texasflood.ca.

About the author

Tim Perry
ChristianWeek Columnist

Tim Perry is rector at Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, Ontario. He blogs about theology, religion, politics and sometimes the blues at texasflood.ca.