Canada: Marion Pardy, minister of Gower Street United Church in St John's, Newfoundland since 1990, was elected moderator of the United Church of Canada at its national council in August. The moderator - a full-time post - is expected to offer "spiritual leadership" to the UCC and to speak on its behalf. Describing herself as "a congregationalist with a national and global concern", Pardy says that one of her hopes is to bring the church's work and outreach closer to the congregations "in a way that evokes commitment and passion". She acknowledges that one of the most painful issues facing the UCC is justice for and reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples - the First Nations. Pardy succeeds Bill Phipps, best known in WARC circles for engaging the UCC - Canada's largest Protestant church - in the "Faith and the Economy" project.

Lebanon: The Armenian genocide during the first world war was the first of many such stains on the record of the 20th century. Brutal massacres and deportations of Armenians living in the Anatolian lands of Turkish Armenia saw many thousands die and others flee into Russian Armenia. Rev Dikran Antreassian (1888-1962) was a driving force in convincing the Armenian population of Musa Dagh to retreat to the mountains and fight for their existence in 1915 and, as president of the three-member leadership team, was also instrumental in the outcome of the heroic defensive battle.

The 57th annual assembly of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) was held at the beginning of July in the Armenian-populated town of Anjar in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon, under the presidency of Rev Megrdich Karagoezian. The participants represented Armenian Evangelical churches and organizations in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Greece, Turkey, and Australia, in addition to guests from the USA and Armenia.

Highlight of the assembly was the special ceremony of the reinterment in Anjar of Dikran Antreassian, the Armenian national hero of Musa Dagh. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of Armenians from Anjar and Beirut as well as official, political, and clerical representatives of the Armenian community of Lebanon. Among those taking part was Paul Haidostian of the UAECNE national committee, who also serves on the WARC executive committee.

French Polynesia: What relevance has the sex of a minister to the proclamation of the word of God? In view of God's free choice of those he needs to serve him, has a church the right to discriminate in its choice of pastors on gender grounds? The 116th synod of the Evangelical Church of French Polynesia (ECFP), which met in Mataiea at the beginning of August, declared its conviction that the church is ready to accept women pastors and its satisfaction with the women currently preparing for ordained ministry. "It is our condition of servant, our education, the renewal of our actions, not forgetting the profound sense of calling to the service of God, that unites us," the synod said.

The synod condemned growing injustice in the territory. It pledged its support to the human rights league "Teturaetara", which is requesting the International Federation for Human Rights to carry out an investigation in French Polynesia, as well as to the association "Taatiraa Moruroa e Tatou" for its active struggle against the negative effects of nuclear testing. It called on the territory's leaders to respect the native language and to protect the land, lagoons, sea and marine resources.

South Africa: The church should be different from the world, says Diane Vorster, new moderator of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA). Answers to the moral and ethical dilemmas of the day can be found only "in an encounter with the 'Christ of indignation', who was disturbed by the oppression and abuse of the dispossessed".

Vorster, the first woman to head a major denomination in South Africa, was inducted as moderator on September 17, during the general assembly at Gordon's Bay, near Cape Town.

The UPCSA was formed last year by the union of the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Neither of the uniting churches had ever appointed a woman moderator at the highest level in the denomination. In her address at the assembly's opening worship service, Vorster said that her induction represented a new style of leadership.

Zambia: Thousands of mourners turned out on Tuesday, September 5 for the funeral at Chilenje Reformed Church of Petronella Peninah Simango Ndhlovu, who died in childbirth three days earlier; she was 36. Her dead baby was buried with her. Petronella, the wife of Japhet Ndhlovu, general secretary of the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ), was the first woman in the church to be allowed to train in theology, graduating from Justo Mwale theological college with a B.Th. with distinction. She was head of the social sciences department in her school, and someone to whom both teachers and pupils regularly turned for spiritual counselling. Active in the campaign for women to be allowed to be pastors, she had the satisfaction of knowing that a fortnight before she died, the RCZ synod had finally approved the ordination of women pastors.

Petronella had asked that no wreaths be put on her grave, but that the money go instead to a trust fund for her son Chitonthozo's education: a special offering for this during the funeral raised about K1,000,000 (approximately $330). The trust fund for Chitonthozo is held in the Lusaka central branch of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia plc, PO Box 32238, Lusaka; account number 012018502700.