By Tom Froese

KAMPALA, UGANDA – Remember Kienan Hebert, the three-year-old in one of Canada’s biggest feel-good stories of 2011? In September Kienan was abducted from his B.C. home and later returned by, of all people, his abductor.
Twitter and Facebook lit up. Christians proclaimed God is alive and well and listening to prayer.
One wrote the Toronto Star online: “To those who aren’t aware that God answers prayer, I show you the return of Kienan Hebert. Now if we prayed on an ongoing basis for the protection of children and for those disturbed in mind and spirit, abductions like this would rarely occur.”
Now come to Uganda and consider my personal top story of the year. It unfolded soon after Kienan’s return,

A North American aboriginal creche.

(Photo: Lorraine o’donnell Williams)

By Lorraine O’Donnell Williams

WILL YOU BE displaying a crèche this Christmas in your church or home? The Protestant Reformers did not encourage nativity scenes and the Nazis tried to ban them. Nonetheless, according to Dr. Janet Ritch, “St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1276) “knew the need people have to see…the sacred events of their salvation.” The York University social historian said, “The saintly friar did see clearly the need to visualize in a tangible manner the events surrounding Christ’s birth.”
Dr. Ritch was speaking at the fifth bi-annual conference

By Debra Fieguth

CANADIAN Grant LeMarquand has been appointed an area bishop to the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt, responsible for the Horn of Africa.
A professor of Biblical Studies and Mission at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania for the past 14 years, LeMarquand will move with his wife, Wendy, to the city of Gambella in western Ethiopia,

IN A SURPRISE MOVE on Dec. 5th, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) withdrew from the pastoral oversight of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. There was a breakdown in talks between Rwanda and AMiA, which was exploring the possibility of reorganizing

IRAN’S SUPREME COURT has ordered a retrial for a pastor sentenced to death for apostasy. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has refused to recant his faith in Jesus Christ in appeal hearings, despite being told that the death sentence