As reported in The Irish Times (August 15th), the president of the church, the Rev Kenneth Todd has just returned from the Lebanon, where, with the chaplain general to the Defence Forces, Mgr John Crowley, he visited the Irish troops serving with UNIFIL.
He expressed his warm appreciation of the quality of those who are serving there, and the humanitarian work they are carrying out.
In Ireland, the president has visited two Christian holiday camps. In Coleraine he spoke to those who gathered at New Horizon on the subject of Christian leadership. He later addressed the Castlewellan Holiday Week where he discussed ways of reaching beyond the boundaries we have created.
A very busy programme is now taking the president and Mrs Todd to Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the former he will be visiting Irish mission partners the Rev David and Mrs Rhoda Nixon. They are working at Choma, in the southern part of the country. Mr Todd will address the Methodist Conference in Zimbabwe, while his wife, Mrs Francis Todd, attends the Ruwadzano Women's Convention.
They will visit two Irish couples working in Zimbabwe, the Rev Mervyn and Mrs Claudette Kilpatrick and the Rev Clifford and Mrs Ruth Taylor.
The Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland (ECONI) is holding a conference at Grosvenor House in Belfast on the theme "Seek the Welfare of the City".
An impressive panel of speakers has been gathered from Northern Ireland and Scotland, both clergy and lay people, including the Archbishop of Edinburgh. Subjects for consideration include "A Marginal Church?", "Churches Together?", "The Challenge of Social Change", "Politics and Social Policy" and the churches' contribution to the political process.
The conference gathers in the morning of Monday, September 25th, and concludes at teatime on Tuesday, 26th.
That evening at Union Theological College, Prof Duncan Forrester of Edinburgh will deliver the Catherwood lecture on "Trust and Risk: Christian Virtues in Politics".
Those who have not attended the conference will be equally welcome at the lecture. Details may be had from ECONI at 028 (from the Republic 048) 9032 5258.
The morning worship to be broadcast by RTE Radio 1 on Sunday, August 27th, will come from the Methodist Church at Whitehead, Co Antrim. This church is celebrating its centenary this year and the service will be led by the minister, the Rev Wesley Campbell.
The announcement of examination results has given many young people an indication as to where they will be spending the next few years, if they have the necessary points for the third-level course of their choice.
Chaplains to the universities and the other colleges are reminding ministers that they would be happy to hear from new students.