PTA-ML/2012/02 PROPOSALS invited from the parents of girls preferably teacher for a Keralite Protestant boy, 27 years, MBA, working in Delhi settled in Ghaziabad (UP) with family.  Contact: Roji Christopher. Cell : 8800767155.

PTA-ML/2012/03 Punjabi Pentacostal parents invite proposals for their daughter 27 yrs, 5’2′’ M.A. (Pub.Adm)+Software Diploma and pursuing MBA. Well educated and well settled born-again, cast no bar. Contact:9988835028,09463285117 E-mail:shalu_5842@yahoo.co.in

PTA-ML/2012/04 Pentecostal parents invite proposals for their daughter, born-again, 27 yrs, 5;3”, M.Sc. in Bio-technology, pursuing B.Ed. Pentecostal north Indian  born-again, God fearing spiritual boy  preferred. Contact : 9812221389, 9541512909

PTA-ML/2012/05 North Indian Pentecostal Mother Invite Proposals for Her son 33 yrs, 5’6′ inch, Evangelists (also involved in Real-Estate Business) Settled in Faridabad (NCR) Prefer a Girl who love’s Jesus and have burden for Ministry. Contact:08595465225

PTA-ML/2012/06 North Indian Pentecostal parents invite proposals for their daughter settled in Delhi, 27 yrs, 5’3”, good looking BA+ Music Diploma (Dress designing, cutting and tailoring from Govt ITI ), dedicated for ministry. Contact :  9971727958

PTA-ML/2012/07 North Indian Pentecostal parents invite proposals for their son, 24 yrs, pastoring a church in Delhi. Girl involved ministry and have great commitment is preferred. Contact : 9818916878

PTA-ML/2012/08 South Indian Pentecostal parents invite  proposals for their daughter age 26, 154cm, BBA, working in Gujarat, from parents of spiritually matured working boys settled in North India. Contact: grace_elizabeth1983@yahoo.com

PTA-ML/2012/09 Protestant Christian parents invite proposals for their daughter, 30 yrs, 5’5″, fair, pursuing BA studies. Also working in pharma company as an Office Administrator in Delhi  drawing Rs. 15000/- p.m. Staying in government accommodation in west Delhi. Only Delhiites preferred. Contact : Mr.Ivan Ismail (father) 91-9350875556

PTA-ML/2012/10 Pentecostal parents invite proposals for their son, born-again, 27 yrs, B.Th., B.D., settled in Gujarat. Girl to be God fearing Pentecostal settled in North India. Contact: shinujordan@gmail.com

PTA-ML/2012/11 Marraige proposal invited for a Punjabi pentecostal girl, 29 yrs, 154 cm, Fair complexion, Bsc, Bsc Nurse. Seeking suitable alliance from born again, God fearing, educated and settled in aboard. Contact: 09872647263 Email:saji4christ@rediffmail.com

PTA-ML/2012/12 Marriage proposals invited for Suitable match for North Indian Protestant Christian girl, 27 yrs. B.A. ; B.Ed working as Teacher in a school at Delhi. Convent educated, Fair, 5ft 2 inches. Looking for a well settled, God fearing Christian boy.”email id – glad_george001@yahoo.co.in Tel – 0120-3994055 / 08057905002 / 09311447557

PTA-ML/2012/13 Punjabi (Mehta) Pentecostal parents  invite proposals for their daughter,  born again and baptized, 28 yrs,  5 ‘ 4″, Complexion – wheatish, B. com + NTT + Accounting Diploma.  Working in convent school as an assistant accountant. Pursuing MBA. Contact: 09416636175, 01275 – 244018 Email : telmimkjoshi@gmail.com

PTA-ML/2012/14 Marriage proposal Seeking alliance for Pastor’s daughter, Kerala born settled in Gujarat. B.Th, 23, 5’4’, worship leader. From parents of field missionaries or pastors working in North India. Contact: 09979979005 Email:  J.solomon50@gmail.com

PTA-ML/2012/15 Marriage proposal for a 31 year old (6’3), (MA) Keralite boy living in New Delhi from parents of professionally qualified girls with a heart for the ministry. He is a Senior Trainer at an American institute. Involved in teaching & preaching ministry. Prefer those brought up outside Kerala. Contact:Contact: apromise2011@gmail.com , Ph: 09560179784, 0472-2896281

PTA-ML/2012/16 “Marriage proposals invited for Born Again Keralite Pentecostal boy (Parents both Gazetted Officers in CRPF Trivandrum) and is settled in Tiruvalla, Dist. Pathanamthitta for their son (29 years,174cm, Handsome, BCA, CCNA,  pursuing MBA Final year working in Hewlette Packard e-Global Service Ltd, Bangalore as Project Supervisor from  parents of God fearing Born Again Pentecostal Keralite  girl (B.Sc. Nurse or  with requisite qualification). Please Contact : Pastor Philip Thevelikkara, New Delhi : Phone (M) 9958882076 Email:Horebfellowship@gmail.com.

PTA-ML/2012/17  Proposals are invited for our Daughter, Syrian Christian Pentecostal, (27, 5ft 2 inches) fair, B.Com HONS, MBA from IIM Indore. Presently working as Finance Director of an Engineering College and a group of Schools from well educated young men preferably from Delhi, or willing to relocate to Delhi. Contact: 011-29552952, 09810184281

PTA-ML/2012/18 Keralite parents invite Proposals for their daughter. Born and brought up in New Delhi, Baptized. DOB 11/07/1984, Ornaments wearing. Height 5.1 P.G.D.B.M. working in MNC. Preferred professionally qualified match from North India. Contact no. 9990282335 7508680342

PTA-ML/2012/19 Born Again South Indian Delhi settled invites proposal for the missionary boy (33/174, Handsome, M.A.; M.Sc.; B.D.; M.Th; PhD*), from the parents of South Indian educated girl, desiring to work in themission along with profession. Send the details to E-Mail: administrator@elcsociety.org Mobile: 09717435775

PTA-ML/2012/20 Haryanvi Pentecostal parents invite proposals  fo their son, 24 yrs, 5’8′’ pastoring a fast growing church in Panipat Haryana. Girl to be committed for the ministy. Contact:09467519320

Lakshmamma approached the Chittoor district court on Monday to file a petition seeking euthanasia for her 36-year-old son C Janardhan.

Janardhan was paralysed in an accident in Bengaluru while applying for a visa to go to Australia after he was offered a job in 1997.

“I don’t know who will take care of him after my death. I can’t see him suffer any longer. If my son gets mercy killing, I can die in peace,” Lakshmamma said in her petition.

Janardhan, who has a degree in aeronautical engineering, is being taken care by Lakshmamma’s meager earnings as an agricultural labourer. Lakshmamma and her husband used all their savings and even sold their one-acre plot to pay their son’s hospital bills.

Meanwhile, responding to the petition, the court Monday said terminating life due to financial constraints was “unacceptable”.

“No one has a right to take a life. We are still premature to accept euthanasia,” the court said.

While admitting the petition, the court also questioned the district collector and health department for not extending medical help.

Those willing to donate to the family can send a cheque in the name of:

K Lakshmamma or K Janardhan

(Joint account holders) A/C No 037010011024577, Andhra Bank, Burma Street, 14-26-1, CTM Road, Madanapalli, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh 517325

Take the case of Arpita Nayak (not her real name), a Christian student from a poor family. She had secured 83% marks in her Senior Secondary School examinations. She sought an admission to an undergraduate program in a premium Christian college in the National Capital Territory. The college turned down her application. She noticed that a young man who had scored just 73% in the qualifying examination was given admission. When she enquired about this, she was told that she would have secured a seat had she belonged to a particular “mainline” Episcopal church. It just wasn’t enough to be a Christian!

This college enjoys a special “minority” status because it is run by “Christians.” And yet, it discriminates among Christians, pitching one kind of Christian against another. Does this college deserve to be a Christian minority institution? If yes, what is “Christian” about its fractured vision of the Universal Church? Are the college authorities saying that only those who belong to a particular denomination are Christians? Students like Arpita might stand a chance of studying in this college if this “minority institution” is brought under the RTE Bill. At least then, 25% of seats will be reserved for poor students.

Or take the case of Dalit Christian students. As of now, they do not get any benefit of affirmative action or reservation from the State. Worse still, Denominations that stand for ecumenism and social justice have not earmarked any seat for Dalit Christian students. When these students approach the aristocratic blue-blooded “mainline” churches, they are politely shown the door. “Go to a Pentecostal church; they will take good care of you” is the usual refrain! Do these students stand a chance while seeking admission to most “Christian colleges?” Not at all! They are denied entry into “mainline” church membership. Consequently, they are denied admission to “minority Christian” colleges. These students too will be happy to see Christian colleges and schools brought under the RTE Bill. Reservation of twenty five percent of seats for the poor is not such a bad idea after all.

If these Christian schools or colleges should continue to bask in their “minority” status, and consequently be exempted from the RTE Bill, they should at least regard all Christians as Christians. If Christians do not help one another, they do not deserve any special treatment from the State either.

Finally, minority institutions enjoy a considerable degree of freedom which is not fully utilized by many Christian schools and colleges. If a school must be called a Christians school, then it must have some key Christian characteristics. A school doesn’t deserve the title of “Christian” school just because it is run by a Church or some Christians! Unfortunately, only such superficial differences set apart the so-called “Christian” minority educational institutions from other educational institutions. Why don’t Churches or Christian NGOs run truly Christian schools—schools that set Christian values and principles at the forefront even if a majority does not like it? Why don’t we make our business goals subservient to the higher calling to bear witness to Jesus Christ, the greatest Teacher of all?

Statistics produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs show that India may be the worst place in the world to be born a girl. The case for this bold statement comes from the fact that an Indian girl-child below the age of five is 75 per cent more likely to die than her male counterpart.

The country has the worst gender-based discrepancy in child mortality rates in the world.

India’s situation remains different from that of its South Asian peers, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where girls’ survival rates are better than boys’.

Globally, overall child mortality is falling, but India and China are not experiencing the same improvements in girls’ mortality occurring in other countries.

Girls are naturally more likely to survive infancy, given the same access to resources as boys. But, female child mortality in India has worsened over the past four decades. By the 2000s, only 56 male children died for every 100 females who died—the average in the developing world is 111 deaths of the boy-child.

In India, boys are favoured over girls, who represent a cost to their families in terms of dowries and weddings.

China, however, fares worse than India when it comes to infant mortality (deaths among children under the age of one). In China, 76 male infants die for every 100 females. While in India, 97 males infants die for every 100 females.

The World’s Women and Girls 2011 Data Sheet published by the Population Reference Bureau, presents projections indicating that while China and the rest of the world are expected to improve their skewed sex ratios between now and 2050, India’s will remain constant at 108 boys for every 100 girls. The natural rate is 105 boys for every 100 girls.

The UK’s Telegraph spoke to Ranjana Kumari of the Council for Social Research, who spoke about parents’ own discrimination against their daughters. Indian mothers, she said, breastfeed girls for a shorter length of time than they do boys for fear that extended breastfeeding will speed the age of puberty and the need for an expensive wedding.

Parents also wait longer to seek medical care for their daughters, whose survival is not as important as their sons, particularly in rural India. Experts have also pointed to female infanticide as another problem.

Women and girls make up 60 per cent of the world’s hungry. They are among the first people to go without when food is scarce. This affects their overall health and wellbeing, including immune vulnerability to diseases.

India has the second-largest population in the world. In less than 40 years it will surpass China as the world’s most populous nation with more than 1.6 billion inhabitants. But 900 million people—about 76 per cent of the population—live on less than $2 a day.

A Three member Committee headed by G. K. Pillai, IAS (Retd.), former Union Home Secretary will shortlist the awardees from the nominations. The other two members are Koshy Koshy, IPS (Retd.) and Prof. M. Aslam, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU.

The awards will be given in three categories. Category I is for States/UTs in which two awards each of 2 lakhs will be given. In Category II, three awards will be given to individual officers of States/UTs. The award in this category will carry a commendation and Rs. 1.5 lakhs.

Category-III is for Non-Govt. Organisations/Civil Society Organisations (NGOs/CSOs) and two awards of Rs.75.000 each will be given in this category.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has called for nominations in Category I & II from the State Governments/UTs. NGOs/CSOs will apply through State Governments with an advance copy to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The last date for filing of nomination is March 5, 2012. The eligibility criteria for nominations in each category is also available on MHA website i.e. www.mha.nic.in.

Further, MHA has issued a comprehensive advisory on missing children/measures needed to prevent trafficking and trace the children. The advisory envisages a cohesive approach among all stake holders for tracing out missing children.

This would not have been possible without the hard work of the DNB Co-ordinator, all the Heads of the departments, Consultants of the teaching departments and other faculty members of BBH.  The management thanked them for their continuous teaching, support, guidance and care rendered to our students for making this possible.

Needless to mention the students are congratulated for their hard work and commitment.

Special congratulations for the Gold Medalists :

Dr.Ajay S.Shetty, General  Surgery 2004;

Dr.S.Balaji, General  Surgery 2007;

Dr.Sandhya.H. Obstetrics  & Gynaecology 2009;

Dr.Nithya.M. General Surgery 2010.

The State Government of Karnataka has constituted an Advisory Committee to examine quality in 14 major Government Hospital and obtain Accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Services. Three of the staff have been nominated as Chairman and members of this Committee.  Thus it puts the mission hospital on National and State map and given the hospital an opportunity to guide and learn with other government hospitals as they seek excellence in quality.- Dr. Alexander Thomas & B G Koshy

Russ Hersman, senior vice president of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, told The Christian Post that many of the works that critics like the organization Bible Missiology have pointed to as changing familial terms for God and Jesus have either done no such thing or have already been pulled from circulation.

“[Lives of the Prophets] was an audio drama that originally substituted inadequate familial terms in the mid-1990s. Since that time, the translation has been removed from circulation and will not be re-released until it has been corrected and revised,” said Hersman.

Biblical Missiology created an online petition demanding that Wycliffe Bible Translators and its partners stop the production of certain Arabic and Bengali translations of the Bible, believing them to have eliminated familial terms to describe God and Jesus.

“Apart from the recent statements, most of them do not clearly state that … the divine familial terms are NOT removed but rather that they are committed to ‘accurately conveying’ the ‘meanings’ of this terminology,” said the Rev. Adam Simnowitz, a minister with the Assemblies of God of Dearborn, Mich., who is part of Biblical Missiology.

According to Simnowitz and others, Wycliffe and its partners are removing familial terms to describe God and Jesus from their translation of the Bible in order to appease Muslim communities. Examples pointed out by them include replacing “Son of God” with “Messiah of God” and “God the Father” with words like “guardian.”

“Western missions agencies Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL are producing Bibles that remove Father, Son and Son of God because these terms are offensive to Muslims,” reads Bible Missiology’s online petition.

“By replacing or removing ‘Father’ or ‘Son’ from the text of Scripture, these translations fail to portray God as who he is: the familial, eternal, loving God the Father, Son and Spirit.”

Among the projects mentioned that Wycliffe Bible Translators and its partner Summer Institute of Linguistics have released included the Bengali Injil Sharif and Wycliffe’s “Lives of the Prophets.”

Dustin Moody, a spokesman for Wycliffe, told CP that “Wycliffe had little direct involvement with those two particular projects.”

In the past couple weeks, both Wycliffe and SIL released statements officially denying that their translations headed for Islamic countries removes familial terms to describe God and Jesus.

Geoff Tunnicliffe, Secretary-General, WEA, explained that, entrepreneurs are a catalyst for positive change within churches and the marketplace in communities worldwide. WEA wants to more effectively channel that energy by connecting leading entrepreneurs.

The ELO has successfully held six annual Entrepreneurial Leader Conferences in Vancouver, BC, Canada, attracting attendees from throughout North America, Asia and Europe. These conferences have become the leading event of their kind in the world. The next Entrepreneurial Leaders Conferences are planned for November 8th, 2012 in Vancouver and Toronto in Spring 2013.

This joint initiative will involve WEA connecting ELO with leading business groups in the WEA network in order to determine how best to cooperate for greater marketplace ministry on a global scale and to assist in providing support for conferences in various cities worldwide.

The WEA and ELO aim to establish an Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year Award to be granted at ELCs. The purpose of this award is to recognize those Christian entrepreneurial leaders who have been an example of making a positive difference in the marketplace.

ELO and WEA will establish an International Advisory Board to assist in shaping the direction of the conferences. The conferences will maintain a consistent and unique focus on equipping, connecting and inspiring Christian entrepreneurial leaders, while collaborating effectively with local partners.

Rick Goossen, Chairman, Advisory Board, ELO, commented that, the joint initiative with the WEA will facilitate the expansion of the very successful model developed in Vancouver to other key cities throughout the world.

In his recently completed doctoral dissertation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sanjay Purushotham, pastor of Asian Indian Baptist Fellowship in Carrollton, explores factors that keep most congregations from becoming multiracial.

Purushotham looks critically at “polycentric” churches—congregations where a sponsoring church and a cluster of smaller ethnic churches operate separately on the same campus.

While that model represents “a significant step forward in recognizing diversity” compared to congregations that make no effort to reach beyond a single race or culture, “it falls short of the unity that Christ calls for,” he writes.

Purushotham identifies three major influences that produce single-race churches in the United States—devotion to the church growth movement’s teaching about the homogenous unit principle, a consumer-driven view of religion and a tendency to be driven by individualistic cultural preferences.

Purushotham examines the homogenous unit principle promoted by church growth guru Donald McGavran in the 1970s—the idea that people don’t want to have to cross racial or ethnic barriers to worship, and churches grow best when they represent a single racial, ethnic or socio-economic group.

He critiques that approach as “anthropologically and sociologically based, having been birthed in a homogenous cultural context, in India, where a rigid caste system existed.” He sees the homogenous unit principle as “void of substantial theological reflection” and not reflective of the New Testament ideal.

He believes the homogenous unit principle violates the focus of Christ’s Great Commission. “The church growth movement has erroneously propagated methodology that continues to separate God’s people on sociological and cultural grounds,” he writes. “Jesus has not commissioned the discipling of separate homogenous units. Jesus’ disciples are called to make disciples of all peoples everywhere.”

Furthermore, Purushotham critiques the way marketing has become the guiding force for many churches, as they seek to compete for the attention of religious consumers.

“A consumer-driven ethos is increasingly overtaking both the membership and leadership in the marketplace of American religion,” he writes.

Too many churches equate evangelism with gaining a sizeable market share, he writes. Consequent-ly, they develop strategies for capturing a segment of the market through racially and socially homogenous niche congregations.

“A consumer mentality, rather than a biblical theology, has become the starting point of church growth, leading once again to the formation of churches that are racially homogenous,” he writes.

Purushotham also takes issue with the way many churches are shaped by culture and individual preferences, rather than by a vision of Christian unity.

“Many churches start with a parochial view that holds, ‘Our way is the only way.’ This model views immigrants as ‘not really part of us,’” he writes. These churches “are open to people from other cultures to attend their churches as long as they are willing to accept the status quo. No willingness or attempt to reach out to people of other cultures exists. Rather, people from other cultures are expected to become like the dominant culture.”

Other churches choose to be culture-specific—perhaps to provide a sense of refuge against the perceived negative influences in the dominant culture or to nurture and promote their own native culture.

Purushotham offers the multiracial model as closer to the spirit of the New Testament. He refers to Jesus’ prayer for unity as recorded in John 17 as one biblical mandate for multiracial churches.

In a congregation that includes multiple races and ethnic groups, Christians learn from each other and grow as disciples of Christ, he asserted.

“Multiracial churches can become harbingers of peace and racial reconciliation in a racialized society, good stewards of God-given resources and authentic witnesses in a world which desperately needs the gospel,” Purushotham concluded.

On January 28, the Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI) launched the Centenary Year 2012 with a thanksgiving service held at Serampore, West Bengal.

The service was held in the midst of students, senior friends and leaders from different church communities. The centenary public lecture was delivered by Dr. Ruth Manorama, a renowned social activist and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award.

“SCMI has lot of students’ history and movements within itself, and has had pre and post independence experiences. The journey has crossed many milestones and boundaries,” says the chief of the organisation, Rev. Raj Bharat Patta.

SCMI was formed in the year 1912, in Serampore, the birth place of the modern missionary movement in India. Since its founding, the movement has inspirited the youth to commit to Christ and participate in the life of the Church.

The movement, affiliated to the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), presently comprises of over 10,000 members across 19 states.

“Although it had a very humble start, over the years it contributed widely in translating faith into actions and has brought a spiritual awakening among student communities with Christ’s principles of love and justice,” says Patta.

Now, he notes, SCMI has come to this juncture of a centenary with wider and broader challenges at hand. “One has to be aware of the changing landscapes in our college campuses, concentrations and competitions for a career oriented lifestyles, increasing privatization of education, the ongoing saga of discrimination and oppression, and prosperity spiritualities.”

“These challenges call for renewed and re-invigorated mission engagements of SCMI in order to contemporize and make our faith in Jesus Christ realistic,” he says.

Giving the Presidential address at the thanksgiving service, Dr. Geevargheese Mor Coorilos, a Syriac Orthodox bishop and the SCMI chairperson, encouraged the student ecumenical movement to take faith in Jesus Christ seriously and to make the Gospel socially relevant.

(Dibin Samuel)