User talk:HopeChrist

An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit
Another editor has added the  template to the article An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but the editor doesn't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and has explained why in the article (see also What Wikipedia is not and Notability). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia or discuss the relevant issues at its talk page. If you remove the  template, the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. BJBot (talk) 23:59, 24 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I see no links to the deletion discussion - either active or resolved! IMO the article should be kept based on my initial perusal. It is definitely notable and quite salvageable.  Please let me know if there is an active discussion about this.  Slofstra (talk) 15:56, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Watchman Nee
Regarding your contributions to Wikipedia about books by Watchman Nee:

My reason for deleting them was not that they do not meet our criteria for notability. In fact, based on our article on Mr Nee, it would be most appropriate for us to have articles about his books. However, what you submitted were...

...this is difficult to say. Your submissions were not coherent. They were so far from our recommended style for articles about books that I felt they could not be salvaged, and that the best solution was to delete them and start over.

I strongly suggest that you spend some more time reading our articles on other books, so as to get a better feel for the recommended style. I apologize for any hurt feelings this may have caused, but since you respect Mr Nee so much, you should understand how to properly document his books. DS (talk) 02:24, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The Economy of God
Why did you add the inappropriate tone tag to this article that you have almost entirely written yourself? Could you explain it on the Talk:The Economy of God? Thanks.Brian0324 (talk) 14:03, 3 April 2008 (UTC)


 * This is an article on the Economy of God, a book on major teaching of W Lee. I am asked by an another wiki editor (Brian0324) to explain why I have added the tone tag when I myself have created/started this article.


 * The justifications are: 1. The first tone tag was added by RussBot (an application wiki software) on 1 April. (See history) So later I edited this article further and removed the tone tag when I felt that the article sounds like wiki now.
 * 2. Although I contribute heavily on wiki but still I am comparatively a new editor here so I am learning a lot about writing on wikipedia. (for example: on the wiki page we have on watchman nee -- I recently saw major edits/changes by an another editor Brian0324) I studies his edits and learned a lot of things about the POV. So, to make this page on Economy of God a perfect wiki article I decide to just restore the "tone tag", which I myself removed few days back. As the tag is present on this page -- it might attract the interest of other editors and thus our article will get better.
 * 3. I am learning quite fast about the usages of "red-flags word" on the wiki articles .. for eg, words like much, beloved, best, never, always, self-less, renound, .. etc are quickly deleted/changed . These words come under the overtly POV thing, no matter whether that is true or not, or factual or not. So I want this article to be reviewed by other editors on wiki community to make it appropriate for all the readers of wikipedia.
 * 4. Finally, I would say, lets make this article better for everyone.

HopeChrist (talk) 18:15, 3 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I have just restored the tone tag and have also changed the tone of this article significantly ... if anyone of you feel that the tone is ok or fine for wiki (which I think it is with few minor edits), then feel free to remove the tone tag. I don't want to remove it myself (this time) unless no one takes the interest. Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 18:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

About Watchman Nee
Hello HopeChrist,

Thank you for the personal message. I attempted to respond to most of your points on the Talk:Watchman Nee page. I am not an expert on Nee, nor do my edits reflect anything other than an adherence to Wikipedia policy regarding neutrality. I did remove several things that you added to the article about Watchman Nee, but these were apparently un-sourced opinions about him. I did not add any of my own POV to the article, but your contributions must be sourced and attributed properly so that the subject that you are so interested in can be presented in a fair and reliable way.

I'm not sure if I understand everything that you wrote to me, but I respect your civility and openness. I do not assume that someone in the Local Church is a cultist & I make no assumptions about your character. As with everyone on Wikipedia, our contributions speak for themselves and I think that it is easy to recognize how our faith motivates our work in some way. But my goal is to present the story of Christianity in China in a reliable and verifiable way that can be appreciated by anyone. When I see articles that display a Christian bias, I do attempt to bring them into conformity with Wikipedia's standards of neutrality - so that they can be better understood by Christian and non-Christian alike. All the best.Brian0324 (talk) 21:51, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Changes to Indian Christianity Wikiproject/workgroup
Upon discussion and consensus ( see here) , The following changes and decisions were taken w.r.t to Indian Christianity workgroup :-
 * The scope of workgroup will be limited to Indian region only for now.
 * The workgroup will be renamed to Christianity in India instead of Indian Christianity.
 * The changes will effect the project pages, Portal and the templates.
 * The templetes will be replaced by a Indian map instead of Tricolor flag picture.

This is FYI - Tinucherian (talk) 04:50, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

HopeChrist
You are one of the very few sold-out Christians writing on this site. If you go to many of the other WikiChristianity editors' User pages, you'll find many self-proclaimed, "Christians," whose lifestyles all are wildly off the tracks (of the Holy Scriptures). So, I'll look forward to writing and editing with you. Canihaveacookie(talk)

No.2 Wow! Praise the Lord! I was doing something on Wikipedia, and your message to me showed up on my screen. I got it minutes after you'd sent it, though my computer clock time is five hours behind your time. I'd forgotten I'd written to you. Thanks for writing back. While my "expertise" on certain subjects of interest to Christians isn't as extensive as yours, my expertise is in research, writing and editing. In Christ, Canihaveacookie(talk) 19:55, April 29, 2008 (UTC)

No.3 Brother, watch out for the wolves in sheep's clothing on Wikipedia. They are the ones who may even say they're "Christians" after they've "edited" you, though they might only be religious. But, I think they are on our pages just to neuter the truth and the glorious Gospel. However, here's a good word of advice. Even if it takes you extra time and zaps your strength, please source and cite every idea you put into an article. That way nobody who has a clear conscience would speak against your work and say it's just your personal opinion you're writing, because in truth it would either be the author's view or a quotation/view from one of the author's subjects you would be referencing, not your own opinion. In Christ, Canihaveacookie(talk) 0:02, May 1, 2008 (UTC)

Christian Conventions - Trinity
Here is my take. I've never heard a worker in my 28 years claim Jesus was "only a Man". It is a difficult issue. One of the things about this movement is that you will see some differences of opinion in Biblical interpretation because, to be honest, the Bible is not always clear on every point we can ask about. Although it is clear on what we need to know, and the following is clear. So, yes, Jesus is God. Workers have said that. However, there is no specific teaching on the Trinity - even though the workers believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Are you interested in putting the question up on Truth Meeting Board (Google it) and see what develops? You'll get answers from people professing in the movement, also anti- movement types. If you like I'll post the question for you, but it can be done anonymously. Incidentally, that board is a zoo - do not be alarmed. Of course, so is wikipedia :) Slofstra (talk) 15:50, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Regarding faith and Jesus
Dear brother Tor,

I have a question for you regarding the theological stand of the churches as mentioned in the article "Christian Convention", on the "deity of Christ". Does this movement believe that "Jesus" is (and was) God? Is it true that diffreent churches at diffrent places hold different views even on serious Biblical truths such as whether Jesus is God or not?

For example, Here in North Dakota, during this last month convention, one of the brother spoke that "Jesus was only a good man" (which is dead wrong and hurting to hear); and when I found that later from my notes (taken during the Convention), I went and asked this to some of the brothers and sisters. It seems to me that here in the North Dakota - Minnesota (or at-least in my area, Hunter, Fargo, Jamestown, and others), this group doesn't believe in the deity of Christ! Please reply on my talk page or here (doesn't matter); I am very hurt and distressed by this. But reply in honesty and truth. Jesus is the Lord and the very triune God. In Christ. HopeChrist (talk) 03:26, 6 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Dear HopeChrist -

As far as a general consensus, I believe that most of the people who belong to the "Christian Conventions" faith group believe that Jesus existed in the eternal past - though unlike the Father, the Son had a specific "beginning" as the "first creation of God." They believe that the Son came to Earth and dwelt in the form (body) of a man. They believe in the conception by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin birth. However, there seems to be some variance as to whether they believe if Jesus had the Presence of God (the Holy Spirit) "in him" or "with him" until later in his life. Many seem to believe that he was mainly dependent on the guidance and influence of his family and his family's home atmosphere until he came to an age of reasoning or understanding, at which point he began to follow the direction of his heavenly Father (God). While this line of thought is sometimes taught, at the same time I have never known any to teach that Jesus was NOT the Son of God at any time during his life. The few scriptures that specifically refer to Jesus as "God" are usually explained away as meaning that Jesus was only "LIKE God (the Father) in every way." Some go as far as to state emphatically that "Jesus is NOT God." They say, "There is only one God, the Father. Jesus is the Son of God." But most in the church do not think to deeply on this subject, nor make a thorough study of the related scriptures. Eddie Tor (talk) 20:27, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 21:54, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

the Word fundamentalism
Dear Kevin, I saw that you removed the catg: Christian fundamentalism from the articles such as Local churches, Watchman Nee, and several others, based on the assumption that a "fundamentalism doped" article should contain at least one mention of the word fundamental or its derived. Well, I don't know much about the other groups and people, but I do think that the above three article I mentioned falls under the criteria C. F (appropriately, if you read them).

The another thing I wanted to say is that, Say, if I add a paragraph in these articles and use the word "fundamentalism" in some sense then the article becomes suitable under the cat: Christian Fundamentalism. How silly is this, Kevin!! Let's give a thought on this and reply me with what your understandings are regarding the inclusion of articles on wikipedia under the category "C. F".

Ya, I just want to discuss this (minor but important), otherwise I have no other reason writing on your page or some duty to put these articles on the catg: C. F. Please give it thought! Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 17:33, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Hello, HopeChrist. It is good to write to you.

After reading the articles, I agree that Local churches or Watchman Nee are fundamentalist in the sense of "affirming the fundamentals of the Christian faith". However, in the United States, "fundamentalism" has become a perjorative term. It still has the meaning of "affirming the fundamentals of the Christian faith", but this is secondary to the meaning of "an aggressive ... religious movement which, in coalition with ... political forces, seeks to combat what is regarded as the ... takeover of the state, family and church...." (quote from Fundamentalist Christianity)

I agree with you that it would be silly if the sole criteria of whether an article should be a part of Category:Christian fundamentalism is whether it has "fundamentalism" or "fundamentalist" in the body of the article. However, because of their perjorative meanings, "fundamentalism" or "fundamentalist" have become terms that require explanation. An article on Watchman Nee would have to answer the questions, "Is Watchman Nee a fundamentalist?" and "What type of fundamentalist is Watchman Nee? A theological fundamentalist? A political fundamentalist?" If I see an article in Category:Christian fundamentalism without this explanation, I assume (sometimes incorrectly) it is used in the perjorative sense and remove it.

These are my understandings about catg: C. F. What are your thoughts?

P.S.: I have put a copy of this on my talk page and your talk page. Because this discussion helps catg: C. F. and Wikipedia as a whole, I have also added this to the category's talk page. I will try to keep the three synchronized.

-- Kevinkor2 (talk) 09:57, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Your Kind Words
Brother: Thanks for writing me. I just got your message. It's two minutes to midnight here. I must go to sleep. So, I'll write to you later. Pray for me. I have tests at a hospital tomorrow. Sorry, I deleted my "talk" page. I'll explain to you later. Canihaveacookie 23:58, June 4, 2008 (UTC)

As of today, I've relisted my "Talk" page link on the Wiki Christianity Members' page. However, I didn't realize that I hadn't really deleted the "Talk" page fully in the first place. Canihaveacookie (Talk) 18:57, June 5, 2008 (UTC)

Brother in Christ, The Lord Jesus Christ has seen to it that I need no further testing and that I need nothing beyond these tests to ensure my health and/or my life. I am from the continental United States. This means that I live on the continent of North America, versus living in Hawaii or in Alaska. Also, the person who is trying to say that God's Trinity is difficult to prove has never read about or forgotten about reading Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River. It was recorded that after the baptism God the Father spoke, and at least some onlookers heard it, and the Holy Spirit alighted on Jesus' shoulder in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:13-17). If that isn't a very clear narrative of God's Trinity, I don't know what else is. Canihaveacookie (Talk) 20:46 CDT, June 6, 2008 (UTC)

Talk page deletion
Brother, I told you that I would tell you why I removed my "Talk" page from Wikipedia. And, now you will understand. On Wikipedia, I have my "Angrygirls" too. And, I've begun to wonder how fruitful it is for a Christian to wrangle and fight with other editors all the time for what is essentially useless. Satan has this world in every sense. But, Jesus Christ has won the victory already. Christians all need to fight for what is right, no question, even on Wikipedia. But, Christians also need to pick their battles and limit their fighting. I have to think: Are the editing wars that I've been having worth the time of weeks and months or longer of my life? So to me, these wars just aren't worth that kind of time, even though they're definitely worth some fight - just not large blocks of never-ending, never-see-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel time. Also, having a reputation as a Christian who squabbles and wrangles endlessly about, really, nothing is a reputation that I don't want to have. Plus, at the time of my troubles, I wasn't sure how to go about getting the help on Wikipedia that you seem to be getting for your troubles, Praise God! So, by the time an admin did contact me to ask me about my lack of participation, my desire to do much of anything on Wikipedia had ended. However, then, you contacted me again, and my desire to work on Wikipedia is cautiously returning. However, I think I'll be a much wiser and more prepared editor now. Canihaveacookie (Talk) 23:15 CDT, June 16, 2008 (UTC)

Mr. Lang
Brother, thanks so much for your kind words to me. Praise God! He has given me the ability to be clear and concise. I just want to let you know that I may actually be able to help you with the "Lang's" biography, of which I didn't think I'd be able to help much at first. However, for the last 18 months or so, I've been attending a Plymouth Brethren fellowship. An older brother in our fellowship, a psychiatrist by profession, just finished a series of four meetings on the history of the Brethren Movement. So, within the fellowship I attend, I believe there's quite a bit of knowledge of the Brethren history, either through teachers or through reading material. Yet, I personally know next to nothing about Mr. Lang to this point. I will have to do some studying for this. In Christ, Canihaveacookie (Talk) 16:50 CDT, June 17, 2008 (UTC)

Brother, I just came back from looking at your Lang's page. It's a good start. However, you need to cite your biographical sources. Unless what you're writing about Mr. Lang is common knowledge in the world, you need to tell any and all readers of your Lang's article where you got your information about him. That means, if your information is coming from a book, you need to reference the author, the book title, the page number(s) for the information and the year the book was published. Otherwise, anyone can say anything about anything or anyone on Wikipedia and there's no way to check or challenge an editor's claims, even if the claims are dubious or slanderous. Please go to Wikipedia's, "Isobel Kuhn" article. I wrote the majority of that article, though I wasn't the one who initiated the article. Yet, there is still work that has to be done on this article. But, look at how I sourced every idea and every single-word quote (unless some other editor changed something after me). For every corresponding number throughout the article, the entire reference must be written on the editing page. Then, the information about the book you cite, and every other source you cite, shows up in order if you add a "Notes" section at the bottom of your article, as is added to the "Isobel Kuhn" article. Brother, this must be done to every article you write to maintain your credibility on Wikipedia and to ultimately shut the mouths/stop the pens of all naysayers of your Wikipedia work, because if your sources are cited correctly nobody with a conscience can come against your work. In Christ, Canihaveacookie (Talk) 17:44 CDT, June 17, 2008 (UTC)

gijones - re: local church edits

 * Regarding local church controversies (Original Post)


 * Hi,


 * There are few things in my consideration to write to you specifically. I have noticed that you are one of those people who are not from the local church movement but are more factual than biased. I was thinking and praying at the same time to work on the article "local church controversies" with you. It would be good if you'll be available to monitor my work and edits and giving the article a NPOV. However, there are few things I would like to share/discuss with you, 1) Some of controversy items should be removed which are kind of outdated, defaming and attacking in nature, and irrelevant to the present local churches; and which has no application, importance, and place in today's local churches around the world. 2) The history of controversy section is a fully biased and laded with anti-local church them and therefore should be removed. If you think some of the things should be kept from there, plese write them in the form of paragraphs and then put back. 3) Few things about daystar issue, and witness lee's involvement in the lawsuits are not factual and are not true, so please be very careful and present everything with a citation and not just a citation form some critics website. Let all the citations should be either from press or published books with NPOV. Let me know what do you think and I will start editing this article soon. Thanks. - HopeChrist (May 2008)

Sorry, I have really busy and had no time over the past few months to check or edit any wiki article and just received your message from May. I have grown very tired of trying to keep any local church articles non-biased and accurate. Many or your edits are very biased, not necessarily with your words, but with your edits. You are guilty of often softening facts with words that may be easier for your ears to hear but are not nearly as accurate. Don't ask me to pull examples because that is more work than I care to do at this point, but it is something that I am very sure of. Mostly because the edits after you make them give the entry a greater "local church flavor." I can tell that you are a supporter of the local church purely on your edits.

I say that as a point, because, I am a former member who began editing these entries when I was a current member. I added the Daystar entry as a member and made numerous edits while being a member. At no time, has anyone accused my edits as pro or con local church (ok, once, but I was more than willing consider softening a word or two--even if they were accurate). I strive to be as objective as possible, recognizing that while claims of something like modalisim is not really true but is extremely valid as a concern or criticisim. Simply deleting or softening what I don't like is a violation of the spirit of wikipedia. I think many of your edits violate that spirit. Plus, your nature of hunt and peck edits make going back and sorting bias out a real mess, because you make so many small sequential edits that are difficult to adjust without undoing them all... even when large portions are quality additions or changes.

Ultimately, I found the attempt to reach an unbiased article futile and have abandoned any real effort to make it so. I will continue to contribute to discussions, but that seems futile as well, too many zealots edit without a sense of commitment to the community. Thanks for your request to work with you, having such a spirit of cooperation is admirable. You need to follow your convictions and serve your own conscience in this matter, I wish you the best with your effort. If you are concerned with bias and simply want someone to offer you feedback, feel free to contact me off wikipedia.

--Gijones (talk) 13:26, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Praise the LORD!!


 * Hi gijones,


 * You are both right and accurate regarding the local church related articles. I'll write this letter in brotherly love and fellowship. You are right in pointing that my edits can easily reflect that I am a pro-local church editor but the truth is I am NOT. Although my edits are reflecting that somehow (unfortunately), however I am only willing to speak and present the truths and facts. One can easily point out, that on the good side, I've added some of this so called "truths" and "facts", but on the bad side I have removed the somehow weaker facts and overtly biased lies. You can view this as a biasing but you tell me, until the bad part of the "controversy" is NOT presented in a balanced view, how can you call it an online encyclopedia? Controversy is a sensitive thing. It is NOT simply bad but more and much different than just bad.


 * I understand and can touch your spirit by reading your post on my talk page. Also, for any given topic, pro- writers will want to cast the group in as favorable light as possible. Con- writers will want to show the negative aspects of membership in the group, and the negative effects of the group and society in the world. Following Wikipedia guidelines helps to prevent topics from becoming pro- and con- battlegrounds. (So everything should be cited.) That means adding an in-line reference for each line being written, so that the fact is numbered, and a footnote made in the reference section. IMO, if it's not cited and it's in any way controversial you should not add the point at all.


 * An encyclopedia is informative in nature, essence, and content. The articles I edited in past few months was to make them more informative and factual and yes, as there are no other good faith editors willing to work on it, it might look "HopeChrist's POV", but brother, trust me, I have worked on these article's very carefully. It is NOT HopeChrist's POV but the neutral facts and an encyclopedic entry on local churches. If you find it NOT real neutral, let's work on it together. I have no pain in that rather I rejoice.


 * I am not afraid (or concerned) about any of the local church controversy or any such bad things (which you think I removed or made soft) as "the church is the church". A believer is a believer, and so is so. I am a believer and we believers make church. If you see this truths, you will easily appreciate the fact that an encyclopedia should be informative in nature and nothing more. Now, if there are issues with Daystar, or Mr. Philip Lee, how come that is related to hundred and thousands of believers meeting as local churches? How come Philip Lee or Daystar is so important and informative to put in the "local churches" article? Are they the local church or are they the events of local churches. No they are just believers in the church and the Daystar is an event and it is NOT a local church.


 * The whole article had a tone about the movement. I tried to make it on local churches and as well as on movement. But there are 1000 of events in this movement so why we pick up only the bad ones and leave other 998. Is this the true spirit? Is this the work of an encyclopedia? Is this what a man is looking for! If someone wants bad things on local church, let them do a Google search, and they will have their food. If someone wants good about and from local church let them go to "Christian website" or "lsm's" website . They too will have their diet. But are we to do the same on Wikipedia on the name of Neutral or balanced? Are we to definitely put some bad to make an article neutral or balanced or informative? Is that the spirit, brother!


 * Another example, there is a local church in my hometown, and none of us have ever seen or met Mr. Nee, Lee, Darby, Gyoune, Sparks, or Peter or Paul or James. None of us have ever heard of Mr Philip lee, Daystar or what happened with SCP. I am talking about my own hometown and this is a fact which can not be disputed. All we knew there was the common faith, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the writings of Mr. Nee and Lee. That's all. And that is a local church.


 * And we meet as a local church. The Wikipedia now has an article on local church. Now, brother, you please tell me, how come this article is informative regrading "local church" by telling less about local church and local churches and more about Br. Lee's few mis-represented teachings, Daystar, SCP, and all sorts of non-informative things about local churches. We should better have a separate articles dedicated to Daystar, Philip Lee, etc. (That would serve the purpose much better and with honesty.) But the local churches are NOT brother Philip Lee, Witness Lee, Watchman Nee, Living Stream Ministry, Lawsuits, or Daystar. And some of them have their own separate articles. Local churches are simply local churches. This is my burden! When would we be purely on "local churches". Nevertheless, the few genuine controversies are the part of that and it should be specified if felt important and necessary. And I am 100% positive towards that and I am open to that.


 * And I can confirm you brother, most of these cries on wiki are just empty natural behavior of man and that is anti-peace, anti-love, and anti-logic, but self-glorification and self-publication. Everyone has a point of view. And most of these point of views have just one common source, "impatience" + "Satan".


 * Dear gijones, I need you help here. This is the summary of my spirit on Wikipedia: Trust me, I won't disappoint you and I am NOT biased. (And I want my edits to speak this!) Nor do I want to violets the spirit of the Wikipedia and NPOV. I am a believer, and I love the Lord Jesus, and yes, I do meet in local church but then these very things make my spirit even more sensitive and truthful toward all the issues you pointed in your reply on my talk page.


 * I am not running away from the truth and never will I, but I just want the truths and informative piece article on Wiki. If the Daystar issue happened, let it be told so (if that is really informative according to you). But please don't write for the sake of the writing. If the Headings says, "Local Church Controversies" then we have to write controversy anyhow! This is NOT a college exam or some test. This is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia. Every words counts here. Also, If Moses killed an Egyptian, or if David committed the adultery, let it be so written and let it be told so. And so is our Bible. (Every words counts.) There is NO problem in that, however, ... to insert one's hostility into the "local churches" article's just because one doesn't like it -- is even more than worst. Watch for all things you stand for and stand against for, as whether are we helping the reader with information or making their mind a battle ground with bunch of "nonsensical things" and "meaningless past".


 * I don't wish that you read such a long email from me, that too, on the very first time. But then read it couple of times and watch the articles in the local church movement category and then reply me with your understanding and further concern. I wish and pray that you will "re-read" it with an open heart.


 * Yours faithfully,


 * HopeChrist (talk) 17:18, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


 * PS: If we (including myself here) see and live such a life when writing or presenting on Wikipedia or anywhere on anyone or event or topic, Christ will be glorified and informations (facts) will be served to all mankind. The Truth will live. HopeChrist (talk) 17:18, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Movement and church
Dear brother friend,

Both the words has its two sided definition. The Lord is moving (for example in Ezk. "the wheels"), so are HIS servants. So moving with the L-O-R-D makes/causes a "movement". The movement should be dynamic and forward. Once we were in the age of Moses, then the Gospel came; and now we are in the book of Revelation. Soon to the New Jerusalem. So there is a movement going on of God with man. This is the positive side of the term.

The negative side seems(/points to) the organizational, humanly effort of trying to achieve something; trying to do something. But then it all depends upon how we look on something and what are we? Are we the children of our Father God, living in the Spirit or are we the natural man of this world!

The same goes with the word "church" too. Any non-Christians reading the article will not see any difference; and any hater of the "church" (The Truth/The Way) will still feel the same.

But then we have two fold responsibilities today (even on Wiki): Be like the Son of God in life and our conduct and nature, and also being righteous, patience, calm, quite, silence, and "to the point" in our writing and speaking. The facts should be told unhindered and without reservations. So be calm brother friend. Look to Jesus Only!

Peace be to you brother friend, grace be multiplied:

In HIM,

Your little brother,

HopeChrist (talk) 19:59, 14 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Humme, .. ya, that was right, that I am not "pin-pointing" anything here. I just thought of Christian fellowship. But anyhow, well, I thought of leaving a notice that when the "article" will be reviewed by the team of editors (in near future), it won't remain the same as it is now. Also, it might not present the things as you one or few people want, see, or understands!


 * I took back all my gender based remarks. I apologize! The opposite of "condescending" is friendly, so I thought let your "pov" it be so. Anyways, I have nothing much valuable to say. Happy editing! (Jesus is the L-O-R-D!) Thanks, HopeChrist (talk) 06:10, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Donama, Please don't take any of my comments in a negative aspect. I believe in the same church as mentioned in the article Christian Conventions. I see and find believers practicing, living, and enjoying the truth both in the local churches and The Way. Also, please don't bother yourself in replying to me each time. (I assume you are an older and matured Christian than I). Thanks. HopeChrist (talk) 15:26, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * For what it's worth, not older and not religious, but this has no bearing on the discussion anyway. Donama (talk) 03:55, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

==Lordoliver †

Brother in Christ,

I would like you to know I have added your name to my Heroe's list, you are such an inspiration. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lordoliver (talk • contribs) 19:30, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Hello Brother,

I see God in you brother you are such an inspiration, I would love to keep in contact with you. Lordoliver † —Preceding undated comment was added at 02:02, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

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Image:SALIL.jpg listed for deletion
An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:SALIL.jpg, has been listed at Images and media for deletion. Please see the to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. OsamaK 22:45, 30 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks, OsamaK. I think it is okay for this picture to be deleted. HopeChrist (talk) 15:46, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

local churches
Yes, I did that-- but you comments are unclear.

Do you object to the idea that the Local Churches Movement is a "denomination" or object to the idea that it is related to the "Stone-Campbell movement"? -- Carlaude (talk) 20:26, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually both! I do not understand how the Local Churches Movement is related to the "Stone-Campbell movement"; also it do not falls under the category of christian denominations as the entire movement is based on 'anti-denominational' interpretation of the Bible. What do you say? HopeChrist (talk) 02:57, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

About section of local churches (reply)
HopeChrist,

I believe your change of the about section is acceptable based on NPOV and probably better so that it matches the disambiguation page, though I see from that page's history that you had a hand in making that one, too. ;)

Just note: from a NPOV, the local churches fall on the border between a movement and organization, because it is very specific group of cooperating individuals but does not have the infrastructure of an organization, per se. Just don't be offended if someone changes both of them in the future, as both words do apply. Also, even though they are two different groups technically speaking, the local churches are very heavily associated with LSM, and removing that association would not have been appropriate if it were not already mentioned in the first sentence of the article. Khalfani Khaldun  20:48, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Do agree with you. Thanks for the reply. HopeChrist (talk) 02:57, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

One question
I want to start new subproject in project Christianity. Can you help me?--Vojvodaeist 17:42, 6 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Dear Vojvodaen,


 * Glad to get your message. Its my pleasure to meet you. I am busy with work these days, however, I will be both willing and happy to help you with project Christianity and its sub-projects. I might not be able to do a lot of writing but I can definetely do the editing work and will give my timely feedback. Please let me know, when you start and let me know the articles you are working on or are planning to start, translate, et all...


 * Christ is Life, HopeChrist HopeChrist (talk) 06:31, 11 February 2009 (UTC)


 * PS: For more information, please visit my user-page.

What Can I Do?
Thank you for your apology for prejudging me. Here are some suggestions as to what you can do: —Preceding unsigned comment added by Localchurch (talk • contribs) 18:00, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

1) Realize that you do not have a NPOV when it comes to the local churches and Witness Lee and therefore not qualified to edit them without introducing a biased perspective.


 * that might be true. Ryoung 122 07:04, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

2) Sell all you have give it to the poor and follow Jesus.


 * Wikipedia is NOT the place for evangelism, proselytyzing, apologism, or pushing POV...also, HopeChrist apparently already follows Jesus. The problem with "Localchurch" is that he thinks that only his version of Jesus is the "right" Jesus...but unless his material is published in reliable sources, putting it on Wikipedia is a violation of WP:RS policy. Ryoung 122 07:07, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

I know but HopeChrist asked "What Can I Do?" (see heading above) and so I offered my suggestions. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

3) Understand the Lord's words: "First take the log out of your own eye...." were intended to show you that you can't fix others because there will always be another log in there. So exercise righteousness on your self and mercy toward others until you find yourself in a place called "The New Jerusalem".


 * In my opinion, "HopeChrist" does NOT have a "log in his eye." Also, the Bible does NOT say that there is always another log...the words were directed to "hypocrites". Other scriptures tell brothers to admonish one another with spiritual love, something Localchurch knows nothing about. Ryoung 122 07:09, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

We all have logs in our eyes. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

4) Judge yourself not by how much you think you are filled with the divine triune processed all-inclusive life-giving seven-fold intensified Spirit, but by how much you have helped those in need.


 * That's not what the Bible says. Ryoung 122 07:32, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes it does say that, check out the book of James (or have your torn that book out?). Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

5) Understand that no matter how many adjectives you give to the Spirit of God they are just meaningless words unless you do 2) above.


 * That's not what the Bible says. Ryoung 122 07:32, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

6) Stop going to all those meetings passively listening and spend time helping others if you want to be spiritual (i.e. become a doctor and devote you life to healing the poor).


 * Learning is not "listening passively." Ryoung 122 07:32, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

It is just my opinion and this was our conversation, not Roberts. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

7) Repent from reading Witness Lee's footnotes and get back to the Bible only. Localchurch (talk) 17:03, 1 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Again, proof that "Localchurch" is anti-Witness Lee and anti-local church. Lee's footnotes are useful, effective, and help make the Bible more meaningful, in part by bringing together similar verses in the Bible. It took 70 years for Lee to complete his work...that's a lifetime. "Localchurch" spends his time tearing down others, not building things up. Don't listen to him. Ryoung 122 07:32, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

No, I just think enough is enough. I know of local churches that "prayread the footnotes". Pretty soon the Bible is forgotten and colored. This is an appropriate comment to HopeChrist who told me to take off my colored glasses so I could see clearly. However, I think the same applies to HopeChrist. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Dear HopeChrist, you should have not apologized. "Localchurch" is NOT a "brother"...he is an opposer. He is an evil person whose mission is to spread lies. Look, I don't care if someone is Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, or whatever...as long as they can be trusted. But when it is their mission to deceive, that is not acceptable.

Ouch! Oh but I am a brother who holds to the common faith and was mysteriously born of the Spirit. Bzzzzzzt, wrong, but thank you for playing. That is not Christian of Robert to say that and reflects poorly on the local churches if that is their attitude, because they keep saying in print that they would never say that those who disagree with them are not brothers. Please assure me, HopeChrist, that this is not the view the local churches hold. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, Wikipedia is NOT the place for theological debates, apologism, or any of the like. It is an ENCYCLOPEDIA and as such, the goal of Wikipedia is to be as objective and NPOV as possible...clearly this is NOT "Localchurch's" goal.

Now, come on Robert. I am trying to be objective and NPOV. I am trying very hard and writing edits that help Wikipedia to be more NPOV. I only am discussing this with HopeChrist because he asked me to. Localchurch (talk) 17:15, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Ryoung 122 07:04, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Still an Issue
I think that you were disengenuous in saying I was bringing up issues from 20 years ago. Researching the internet I find you guys are still dealing with the same issues: http://twoturmoils.com/ Where shall we summerize these things, Witness Lee or Local Churches? Appropo (talk) 02:01, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Recent Witness Lee and Local Church
I have reviewed the new way on Witness Lee and thought it appropriate to move the 2nd paragraph to the Local Church controversies page since it didn't have to do with Witness while alive. I reviewed as you suggested and felt that everything I wrote with a few minor edits was NPOV. If you think differnently please be specific. Please also if there is anything you feel is POV on the local church controversies page let me know or change it. Appropo (talk) 06:04, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

By the way, I took a look at the oldest version of Witness Lee, and thought, unlike you that it was pretty good and that maybe we should use some of the material from back then. Here it is in its entirety:

Witness Lee (李常受 Pinyin: Lǐ Chángshòu) was born in Chefoo, Shandong Province, China in 1905. He became a Christian in 1925, and later came under the influence of the late Chinese Christian worker Watchman Nee. Witness Lee moved to Shanghai several years later to work with Nee. He became a full-time co-worker of Watchman Nee in 1933. In the late 1940's as the Communists were advancing on the mainland China, Witness Lee was sent by Watchman Nee to Taiwan, in order to continue Nee's ministry there. During the 1950's, he worked closely with T. Austin-Sparks who held conferences with Lee in Taiwan in 1955 and 1957.

In 1948, Lee extended his ministry from Taiwan to cities in Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1950 his ministry reached Manila, Japan in 1957, the United States in 1958, Brazil in 1959, Canada in 1963, South Korea in 1965, New Zealand and Australia in 1970, Germany and Nigeria in 1971, and Ghana in 1972.

According to Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, the Lord's recovery can be traced back at least to God's raising up of Martin Luther and the reformers, and continued in recovering lost biblical truths through others such as Madame Guyon, Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian Brethren, John Nelson Darby, the Plymouth Brethren, Watchman Nee, and himself. He believed that one of the primary items that God used him and Watchman Nee to recover was the oneness of all believers in Christ, and the practical expression of this oneness in the practice of the local churches.

Witness Lee visited the U.S. in 1958 and 1960. He began meeting with a number of Christian fellowships in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. In 1962, Lee returned to the U.S. and established his residence and helped raise up the local church in Los Angeles. He established the Stream Publishers in 1965, which later became Living Stream Ministry in Anaheim, California, primarily as a publishing vehicle for his and Watchman Nee's spoken and recorded messages. He gave numerous conferences, mostly in the United States and Asia.

A Man Apart

Although Lee taught that Christians should be unified, he distanced himself and his movement from other Christian church groups and organizations. Lee believed that any church not organized on the foundational principle of one church per city (what he called "the local ground of unity") was apostate and that recognizing such churches by attending services in anything but a qualified stance was sinful.

Lee cared little for the acceptance and validation of contemporaries outside his movement. Believing that Christianity had become hopelessly corrupt, he followed his own unique theology, based on Nee's, which emphasized a deep, personal, ongoing encounter with God, and a practical, daily commitment to one's local church. Lee believed, as Nee did, that all Christian work was ultimately for the sake of the edifying of the church and that all other benefits were secondary. Since, in his view, all of Christianity was organized in a way that invalidated its stand as the proper church, there was nothing for him to do there. The totality of his work was done in his movement for his movement.

Some of the most foundational aspects of Lee's theology were the most controversial. Lee's model of the Trinity was condemned by some as modalistic, although he strongly denied this, warning his accusers that they acutally might be guilty of tritheism themselves.

Late in his life Lee revealed what he called the "crystalization" of all his teaching, including the declaration that God became man in Jesus so that man could become God in Christ. Although Lee qualified this teaching by saying that man does not become part of the Godhead, but rather only becomes God in "life and nature," the teaching was nonetheless taken by some as heretical.

Lee's teachings are recorded in tens of books, most of which are edited transcriptions of his spoken messages. His major work, The Life-Study of the Bible, comprising 32 volumes, is also an edited transcription.

Witness Lee died in June 1997 in Southern California.

Appropo (talk) 06:20, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit
I have nominated An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time.Please contact me if you're unsure why you received this message. Khalfani Khaldun  03:14, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter - July 2009
John Carter (talk) 22:56, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Proposed church article rename
Hi, I'm contacting you because you were involved in early discussions on the Wikipedia article name for the topic currently at Christian Conventions. It has been proposed to rename to Two by Twos. Please join in the discussion if you have an opinion on this at Talk:Christian Conventions. Cheers Donama (talk) 00:58, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Christian terrorism
I noticed you contribute to WP:Chritianity, I'm calling for your urgent attention to matters discussed on Christian terrorism's talk page, thank you. Eli +  20:21, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

The Shalom Show on TV
Dear HopeChrist,

Could you kindly assist with the following: I wrote an artice about the a TV program in the USA since April 1979, entitied the Shalom Show. This public affairs program promotes a better understaning of the challenges facing the Holy Land - Israel, where the centers of Christianity and Judaism are located. The article I worte is correct and true, but needs to be enhanced and not deleted. Could you kindly assist in this? I ask that my article please not be deleted. May I ask you to remove that risk, simply because the article is correct and true and may just need more editing and References. Could you please assist? I have not checked this article for weeks due to health and recent surgery, but I’m back and would like to ask for your assistance in correcting this article please. I apologize that I probably am not communicating with you the correct way. About references; Could Dr. Abraham Fischler, President Emeritus of Nova Southeastern University serve as a secondary reference source? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_S._Fischler He would be glad to. How do I submit him to Wikipedia as a secondary reference source? The Shalom Show features in depth interviews with leaders in many fields, also with politicians from left and right. It had Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansing as a guest, please click on and scroll down: http://www.shalomshow.com/RecentShows.htm It just had U.S. Presidential Candidate Speaker Newt Gingrich on the show: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/9020820/video/79716175-newt-gingrich-on-shalom-show-with-richard-peritz-on-current-issues-and-israel. Would this article and the Speaker’s team serve as a reference? In a Google search the Shalom Show brings up many articles, including Fox News. Could the following serve as references: http://nation.foxnews.com/religion/2011/02/03/rep-allen-west-says-muslim-congressman-represents-antithesis-america-s-founding- Could YouTube serve as a reference? http://www.youtube.com/user/SHALOMshowTV Even in Pakistan: http://pktube.onepakistan.com/www.shalomshow.com/ MSN: http://tv.msn.com/tv/series-episodes/shalom-show/ AOL: http://television.search.aol.com/search?o_q=shalom+show&s_it=topsearchbox.search&q=shalom+show+richard+peritz www.wn.com (WorldNews): http://wn.com/Amb_Yehuda_Avner_interviewed_by_Richard_Peritz_on_Shalom_Show_841 http://www.world-tour.co.il/2011/05/harris-rosen-on-shalom-show-838-with-richard-peritz/ http://www.therightscoop.com/allen-west-speaks-truth-on-islam-israel   in the United Kingdom http://www.jltv.tv/profile.php?user=ShalomShow2010 http://www.bnaibrith.org/opeds/Kohn11192010.cfm   Bnai Brith is a big international organization:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith Official website link is correct, however the External Website link was not. It should also be: www.shalomshow.com  I think I succeeded in correcting this myself. I respectfully again ask that my article please not be deleted. It is all factual. Could you please assist me? Many thanks! Josephn18 (talk) 21:20, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

File source problem with File:W lee.jpg
Thank you for uploading File:W lee.jpg. I noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you did not create this file yourself, you will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If you obtained it from a website, please add a link to the page from which it was taken, together with a brief restatement of the website's terms of use of its content. If the original copyright holder is a party unaffiliated with the website, that author should also be credited. Please add this information by editing the image description page.

If the necessary information is not added within the next days, the image will be deleted. If the file is already gone, you can still make a request for undeletion and ask for a chance to fix the problem.

Please refer to the image use policy to learn what images you can or cannot upload on Wikipedia. Please also check any other files you have uploaded to make sure they are correctly tagged. Here is a [ list of your uploads]. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. –Drilnoth (T • C • L) 23:32, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Ichthus: January 2012
 In this issue...   - Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here
 * From the Editor
 * What are You doing For Lent?
 * Fun and Exciting Contest Launched
 * Spotlight on WikiProject Catholicism

Ichthus: May 2012


From the Editor
This month marks the observation of Pentecost, one of the most important feast of the Christian liturgical year. It is our hope here that all of you, regardless of your religious affiliation (if any), find that the holiday, and its accompanying activities, an enjoyable and beneficial experience. We also hope that this "Birthday of the Church" is one which gives you the same joy as the birthday of yourself or your loved ones.

Ichthus is the successor to the long running WikiProject Christianity newsletter, run under the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department. As such, you will continue to see information about our latest featured and good articles, DYKs, as well as new members who have joined our project. You might also see links to Christianity related news from the mainstream media! With that, I wish you all happy reading!

John Carter, Asst. Editor

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity-related topics Noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

Help Bring Wikipe-tan "into the fold"
As many of you may know, our unofficial mascot, dear Wikipe-tan, hasn't yet indicated any particular beliefs. However, yes, as we all know, ahem, some people might object to our beloved mascot running around in a French maid outfit. People do talk, you know. ;) If anyone might be able to develop an image of the dear lady in a image more, well, "Christian," I would like to see perhaps a vote for next month as to which, if any, image of the dear girl we might make our own unofficial mascot. Please post your images here.

By John Carter

Christianity in other wikis
As many of you might now, there are a large number of other Wikimedia Foundation projects, including WikiSource, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, WikiQuote, and others. I certainly believe that Wikibooks and Wikiquote might be among the more directly relevant sister projects. If any of you can think of any particular efforts in these other projects which you think would benefit from more input, please let us know here, so we can help spread the word around.

By John Carter

Spotlight on the Outreach department
Ichthus will spotlight a different subproject or workgroup of WikiProject Christianity. This edition will spotlight on our vital Outreach department. This comparatively small, but vital, project unit is dedicated to welcoming new editors to Wikipedia and the Christianity related content, and to providing information to the various project members, in forms like this newsletter.

The scope of articles with which this group deals is truly enormous, and, given the wide variety of material with which we deal, we would very much welcome the input of more individuals, particularly individuals who are particularly knowledgeable of the less well-known and less frequently monitored articles related to Christianity.

Speaking personally, I would be very, very gratified if we were to have this become a very, very large and active unit, with members from the broad spectrum of Christian beliefs, practices, and groups. The broader the spectrum and areas of expertise of members we have, the better we will be able to help manage the content. Please consider whether you believe you might be able to contribute in this vital area.

By John Carter

- Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) 20:30, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

Ichthus: June 2012


Membership report
The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 331 active members. We would like to welcome User:Sanju87, User:Psalm84, User:Zegron, User:Jargon777, User:Calu2000, User:Gilderien, User:Ronallenus, Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor
Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. We have recently added some new sections to the newsletter. Please let us know what you think of the new departments, and if there are any other suggestions for departments you would like to see. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

Church of the month
by Berthold Werner Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Vote for the project mascot
We had last month asked our members to help "bring into the fold" Wikipe-tan as the project's mascot. Voting will take place this month for which image we should adopt at WikiProject Christianity/Outreach/Wikipe-tan. Please take a moment to review the images and vote for whichever is your favorite, or, if you so prefer, suggest an additional one.

By John Carter

DYK

 * ...that Anna of Kashin, a Russian medieval princess, was twice canonized as a holy protectress of women who suffer the loss of relatives?

Calendar
Thie coming month includes days dedicated to the honor of Beheading of John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul, the Nativity of John the Baptist, and Saint Barnabas.

Featured content and GA report
Alec Douglas-Home recently achieved FA status. This picture, in the Church of the Month section, was recently promoted to Featured Picture status. Our thanks and congratulations to all those involved.

Wikimedia Foundation report
Wikisource currently has many old texts available, most of them in the public domain. This is a potentially very valuable source for several things, including for instance links to Biblical verses, because we know that it will, basically, be around as long as we are.

By user:John Carter with inspiration from History2007

Christian art
This section would include a rather large image of a specific work of art, with a link to the most directly relevant article. Suggestion: Resurrection of Christ, an English 15th century Nottingham alabaster. Groups of painted relief panels were sold via dealers to churches on a budget, who had wood frameworks made to hold them locally. From a huge new donation of images from the Walters Art Museum to Commons, see By Johnbod

Spotlight
A new WikiProject relating directly to Christian history is being developed at WikiProject Christian history. Also, a group specifically devoted to the Mennonites and other Anabaptists is now up and running at WikiProject Christianity/Anabaptist work group. Anyone interested in assisting with the development of these groups and topics is more than welcome to do so.

By John Carter

I believe
... in the statements contained in the Nicene Creed. I believe that the Bible is one of the two defining bases for belief. The other is the Sacred tradition, which provides us with means of interpreting the Scriptures, as well as some teachings which have been handed on by God outside of the scriptures. I believe that the Magisterium has been empowered to fill this interpretative function. I believe that clerical celibacy is a rule that should generally be followed. I am a member of the Catholic Church.

By John Carter

Help requests
Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

- Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) 02:46, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Ichthus: July 2012
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 336 active members. We would like to welcome User:Emilymadcat, User:Toa Nidhiki05, User:DonutGuy, and User:RCNesland, Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. We have recently added some new sections to the newsletter. Please let us know what you think of the new departments, and if there are any other suggestions for departments you would like to see. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

Church of the month by User:JaGa Mission Santa Clara de Asis

Vote for the project mascot We had last month asked our members to help "bring into the fold" Wikipe-tan as the project's mascot. Voting will take place this month for which image we should adopt at WikiProject Christianity/Outreach/Wikipe-tan. Please take a moment to review the images and vote for whichever is your favorite, or, if you so prefer, suggest an additional one.

By John Carter

Calendar Thie coming month (mid-July through mid-September) includes days dedicated to the honor of Mary Magdalene, James, son of Zebedee, Ignatius Loyola, Saint Dominic, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Transfiguration of Jesus.

Featured content and GA report Grade I listed churches in Cheshire was recently promoted to Featured List status. This picture was recently promoted to Featured Picture status. Bartolome de las Casas and Edmund the Martyr were promoted to GA level this past month. Our thanks and congratulations to all those involved.

Wikimedia Foundation report Wikibooks welcomes the development of textbooks of all kinds, children's books, recipes, and other material. It currently has just under 2500 books, including several Wikijunior books for the 12 and under population. There is, at present, not even a book on Christianity. Anyone interested in helping develop such a textbook is more than welcome to do so.

By John Carter

Christian art

The portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger. By John Carter

Spotlight A new WikiProject relating directly to Christian history is being developed at WikiProject Christian history. Anyone interested in assisting with the development of these groups and topics is more than welcome to do so.

By John Carter

I believe ... in the tradition of Thomas the Apostle, Mar Addai, and Saint Bartholomew. I believe that Jesus had two essences (or natures), human and divine, unmingled, that are everlastingly united in one personality. I am a member of the Assyrian Church of the East.

By John Carter

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) 15:40, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity August 2012 newsletter
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 341 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, User:David_FLXD, User:Alexsbecker, User:Penguin 236, User:Gugi001, User:John D. Rockerduck, and User:Margaret9mary. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. We have recently added some new sections to the newsletter. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month by User:Diliff Frauenkirche (Church of Our Blessed Lady) in Munich, taken from the tower of St. Peter's Church

Contest of the month We currently have a remarkable lack of Wikipedia-Books. Right now, Category:Wikipedia books on Christianity contains only 12 books. We certainly could have at least one book on each major grouping within Christianity. One of the challenges for this month, then, is working to put together books on relevant topics. For this month, one contest is for editors to assemble the basic Wikipedia books for each of the main topics of the extant related projects. When finished, they should their creation of the books at the main Christianity noticeboard, and at the end of the month the project will award barnstars to those who have made a significant efforts in developing this underdeveloped content.

Also this month, we are going to have have a challenge to create and improve some of our more important missing or low-quality articles. As biographies are often a bit easier, this month we are choosing two biographies: Karl Behm, which has yet to be started, and the currently Stub-class article Nerses IV the Gracious. A barnstar will be awarded to any editor who can get these articles up to DYK quality level and ultimately selected for the DYK section of the main page.

Calendar Thie coming month (mid-August through mid-September) includes feasts dedicated to the honor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bartholomew the Apostle, Nativity of Mary, and the Exaltation of the Cross.

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, William de Chesney (sheriff), Knights of Columbus, and  Angelus Silesius were promoted to GA level. Our thanks and congratulations to all those involved.

Wikimedia Foundation report Wikinews is our sister site for developing news stories. Several events relating to Christianity, like the installation of bishops for instance, do not necessarily merit extensive coverage in wikipedia encyclopedic articles, but can and easily could be covered at greater length in a news article format. Given the number of significant news events that relate to religion, including claims of miracles, assignment of bishops and other religious leaders, church conferences, and other events, this site provides an excellent opportunity to provide in-depth coverage of current events at greater length than wikipedia.

Christian art

Christ Crucified by Diego Velazquez.

Spotlight One of our newer editors, User:David_FLXD, has recently gone through much of our content related to Methodism and assessed it. We are very grateful for his efforts, and that of all the editors who have had a role in developing that content. We have every reason to believe that this will make it significantly easier for the Methodism work group to create and develop content relevant to Methodism. To help that along, we certainly encourage everyone to do what they can to help David and the other Methodism editors to bring the content relevant to their tradition to the highest possible level of quality.

I believe ... in the Holy Trinity, the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, the Arminian conception of free will through God's prevenient grace, and the regular renewal of the individual's covenant with God. I am a Methodist.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~

WikiProject Christianity September 2012 newsletter
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 344 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, User:Floating Boat, User:Dewey420, and User:Jpacobb. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. We have recently added some new sections to the newsletter. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month by User:Diliff The Chapel of Keble College, Oxford

Contest of the month We currently have a remarkable lack of Wikipedia-Books. Right now, Category:Wikipedia books on Christianity contains only 12 books. We certainly could have at least one book on each major grouping within Christianity. One of the challenges for this month, then, is working to put together books on relevant topics. For this month, one contest is for editors to assemble the basic Wikipedia books for each of the main topics of the extant related projects. When finished, they should their creation of the books at the main Christianity noticeboard, and at the end of the month the project will award barnstars to those who have made a significant efforts in developing this underdeveloped content.

Also this month, we are going to have have a challenge to create and improve some of our more important missing or low-quality articles. Last month's challenge articles were Karl Beth and Nerses IV the Gracious. Both articles are currently candidates for the DYK section of the main page. This month's challenge articles are the Stub-class article James Hastings and the not yet started Rudolf Sohm, A barnstar will be awarded to any editor who can get these articles up to DYK quality level and ultimately selected for the DYK section of the main page.

Calendar Thie coming month (mid-September through mid-October) includes feasts dedicated to the honor of the Martyrs of Korea, Saint Matthew, Vincent de Paul, Michaelmas, Saint Jerome, Theresa of Lisieux, the Feast of the Guardian Angels, Francis of Assisi, Our Lady of the Rosary, and Teresa of Avila.

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, Albertus Soegijapranata, and Reginald Heber were promoted to FA. Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester was promoted to Featured List, and Jackie Hudson, Joyce Kilmer, Divine command theory, Bosa of York and Argument from morality were promoted to GA level. DYKs featured this past month include Church of Saint Benoit, Istanbul, All Saints Church, Hollingbourne, Neustädter Kirche, Hannover, St Mary's Church, Kirkby Lonsdale, Albert Ndongmo, If We Are the Body, List of places of worship in Tonbridge and Malling, Kulubnarti church, All Saints Church, Ulcombe, Val-Saint-Lambert Abbey, Igny Abbey, Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Brăila, Places of Worship Registration Act 1855, Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, and St Matthew's Church, Burnley. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Wikimedia Foundation report As some of you may have seen, the Simple English Wikipedia has been experiencing some difficulties lately. This particular entity could be of great value to several individuals who are trying to learn English. As some of you who do speak foreign languages know, one of the most easily available, and, in general, useful learning aids for people is a text they know already, which allows them to focus on the specific words of the new language. Various recorded readings and translations of the Bible are among the best examples of this. Any efforts to try to enhance this vital means of informing a large segment of our readership is more than welcome. People interested in helping develop it are encouraged to leave a note regarding their specific articles of interest at the Christianity noticeboard. It would be wonderful if we could report some significant contributions to this sister site next month. And, of course, if we do have something to report, those involved would receive our greatest thanks.

Christian art

The Guardian Angel by Pietro da Cortona.

Spotlight WikiProject Calvinism is one of our more important subprojects. It is specifically devoted to developing content relating to the Calvinist tradition, and the primary point for development of content relating to the Pilgrims, Presbyterians, Reformed churches, Congregational church, Reformed Baptists, and Low church. We definitely encourage everyone to do what they can to help this project develop the content relating to this extremely important Christian tradition.

I believe ... that human nature is insufficient for salvation, and the grace of God is required to do so. I believe that God has preordained who will and will not achieve salvation. I believe that Jesus's atonement was sufficient for the purposes for which it was done. I believe that God's grace is of such power that it can overcome any person's resistance. I believe that those whom God has chosen for salvation will, by the undeniable power of God, persevere in God's grace. I am a Calvinist.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~

WikiProject Christianity October 2012 newsletter
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 347 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, User:Dplcrnj, User:Danmuz, User:Zigzig20s, and User:Jasonasosa. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. This newsletter is one of the ways we do try to help people keep up with the project. We would always welcome any input for things to be included in it or additional editors to keep it going. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month by User:Taxiarchos228, recently promoted to Featured Image St. Paul's Church, Basel

Contest of the month For the upcoming month, the contest will be to develop content related to the Christmas season, including Advent and other related topics. Please feel free to see and take part in the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Christianity noticeboard.

One of last month's challenge articles, Rudolf Sohm, has been substantially developed by User:Jack1956 and User:StAnselm. Our deepest thanks to both of them!!

Calendar Thie coming month (mid-October through mid-November) includes All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day and major commemorations dedicated to the honor of the Ignatius of Antioch, Luke the Evangelist, Simon the Canaanite, Saint Jude, the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the beginning of the Nativity Fast, James of Jerusalem, Reformation Day, and others.

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, Augustinian theodicy by User:ItsZippy was promoted to FA. Grade I listed churches in Merseyside by User:Peter I. Vardy was promoted to Featured List. The images in the Church of the Month and Christian art sections of this newsletter were promoted to Featured Picture status. John Wheelwright by User:Sarnold17, Christmas Party (The Office) by User:Gen. Quon and If We Are the Body by User:Toa Nidhiki05, were promoted to GA level. DYKs featured this past month include Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, Craiova, by User:Biruitorul, Nerses IV the Gracious by User:John Carter, Church of St Candida and Holy Cross by User:BarretB, St Laurence's Church, Morland by User:Peter I. Vardy, St Mary's Church, Longfleet by User:Bermicourt, Chor von St. Bonifatius by User:Gerda Arendt, St Andrew's Church, Penrith by User:Peter I. Vardy, Holy Rosary Cathedral (Vancouver) by User:Bloom6132, Sacred Heart Cathedral (Kamloops) by User:Bloom6132, St Columba's Church, Warcop by User:Peter I. Vardy, St Oswald's Church, Ravenstonedale by User:Peter I. Vardy, and W. E. Biederwolf by User:John Foxe. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art

Portrait of John Henry Newman by Sir John Everett Millais. This image was promoted this past month to FM by the work of User:Spongie555. Thank you, Spongie! Spotlight WikiProject Holidays/Christmas task force is the group whose purpose is to help develop the content related to the Christmas season, including Advent, New Year's, and related holidays. As many of us know, in several parts of the world, including the United States, the Christmas season is not only the time of one of the greatest holidays of the Christian liturgical year, but it is also the "make or break" time for many retailers, whose profitability for the year often depends on their success in this time of the giving of sometimes significantly expensive gifts. In other parts of the world, the winter solstice period and sometimes specifically Christmas itself means something that might surprise many Christians, like the Christmas in Japan, where Christmas is one of the times hotels receive the greatest number of, often unmarried, couples staying there for the night. The solstice season is also significant to several other religions. Many of these days are also legal holidays in several places. In Belarus, for instance, both the Western and Eastern Christmas commemorations are legal holidays. We would certainly welcome the members of this project to donate some of their time and talents in the upcoming months to improving this significant content.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~

WikiProject Christianity October 2012 newsletter
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 349 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, User:Hayayika and User:Pikachu Bros.. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. This newsletter is one of the ways we do try to help people keep up with the project. We would always welcome any input for things to be included in it or additional editors to keep it going. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month Saint-Augustin, Paris by User:Saffron Blaze Recently promoted to Featured Image. Great work!

Contest of the month For the upcoming month, the contest will continue with the Christmas theme, including Advent and other related topics. Please feel free to see and take part in discussion at the Christianity noticeboard.

Calendar This coming month (mid-November through mid-December) includes the Advent season. Other major feasts are those of Margaret of Scotland, Matthew the Evangelist, Hilda of Whitby, Elizabeth of Hungary, Edmund the Martyr, the Presentation of Mary, Saint Cecilia, Clement of Rome, Catherine of Alexandria, Andrew the Apostle, Francis Xavier, Saint Barbara, John Damascene, Nicholas of Myra, Saint Ambrose of Milan, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lucy of Syracuse, and others.

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych by, among others, User:Truthkeeper88, User:Ceoil, and User:Kafka Liz and Mitt Romney by User:Wasted Time R were promoted to FA. List of 2000s Christian Songs number ones by User:Toa Nidhiki05 was promoted to Featured List. The two images in the Church of the Month and Christian art sections of this newsletter were promoted to Featured Picture status, as were these two images of Michelangelo's Pieta and of Giovanni Bellini's Saint Francis in the Desert. Derek Webb by User: Pepsi2786 and others, and Scipione Piattoli by User:Piotrus were promoted to GA level. DYKs featured this past month include Archdiocese of Râmnic, by User:Biruitorul, Diocese of Caransebeş by User:Biruitorul, Wythburn Church by User:Peter I. Vardy, St. Gumbertus, Ansbach by User:Gerda Arendt, User:Dr. Blofeld, and User:Nvvchar collectively, St. Johannis, Ansbach by User:Gerda Arendt, User:Dr. Blofeld, and User:Nvvchar collectively, Nikollë Bojaxhiu by User:ZjarriRrethues, All Saints Church, Lydd by User:Dr. Blofeld, User:Rosiestep, User:Gilderien, and User:Ipigott collectively, St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell by User:Peter I. Vardy, St Eata's Church, Atcham by User:Peter I. Vardy, Nativity of St. John the Baptist Church, Piatra Neamț by User:Biruitorul, Anna Schäffer by User:Shii, List of Archbishops of Vancouver by User: Bloom6132, James Francis Carney by User:Bloom6132, St Luke's Church, Chelsea by User:PKM and User:Johnbod, Gregory Orologas by User:Alexikoua, Ambrosios Pleianthidis by User:Alexikoua, and St Giles' Church, Barrow, by User:Peter I. Vardy. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art

Three scenes of the legend of the Miraculous Sacrament, in which communion wafers were reported to bleed after being stabbed, in the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels by Jean-Baptiste Capronnier. This image was promoted this past month to FM by the work of User:Alvesgaspar. Thank you, Alvesgaspar!

Spotlight The core topics work group is the group whose specific purpose is to help identify and develop those articles which are of greatest importance to an overall understanding of the broad subject of Christianity, based on what is included in the core topics list. These articles include some of specific churches and individuals, history, philosophical and theological matters, and more. We have had some recent discussion regarding which articles should be included in this list, and it probably makes sense to revisit the selections, and try to figure out how best to work to make them high quality articles. Discussion is beginning at WT:X regarding these matters, and all input is welcome.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter - December 2012
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 350 active members. We would like to welcome our newest member, User:Harishrawat11. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. We would be able to achieve nothing here without the input of all of you. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. This newsletter is one of the ways we do try to help people keep up with the project. We would always welcome any input for things to be included in it or additional editors to keep it going. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month This image of The Baptistry of Saint John in Pisa by User:NotFromUtrecht was recently promoted to Featured Image. Thank you and congratulations for the great image!

Contest of the month As I imagine many of our editors will be editing at a greatly reduced level for the next few weeks, what with the Christmas and New Year's holidays coming, there is no specific content-related contest this month. The contest, if anything, is to make the most of the season, in whatever way, if any, you deem appropriate.

Calendar This coming month (mid-December through mid-January) includes the Advent season, and one of the two greatest holidays of the Christian year, Christmas. Other major feasts in the next month include those of the Feast of the Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Saint Stephen, Thomas the Apostle, Holy Innocents, John the Evangelist, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Saint Genevieve, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Saint Sava.

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, Anne Hutchinson nominated by User:Sarnold17 was promoted to FA. Grade I listed churches in Lancashire by User:Peter I. Vardy was promoted to Featured List. The image in the Church of the Month and Christian art sections of this newsletter were promoted to Featured Picture status. Come to the Well by User:Toa Nidhiki05 and others, and Dwight Christmas by User:Gen. Quon and others were promoted to GA level. DYKs featured this past month include King's Chapel, Gibraltar, by User:Prioryman, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Albany, New York) by User:Daniel Case, Tingsted Church by User:Ipigott and User:Rosiestep, St. Mary's Church (Albany, New York) by User:Daniel Case, Stubbekøbing Church by User:Ipigott and User:Rosiestep, Notre Dame Cathedral (Phnom Penh) by User:Bloom6132, and St. James' Church, Cardington by User:Peter I. Vardy. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art

The nave of the Parish Church of Urtijëi. This image was created by User:Moroderen. Thank you, Moroderen!

Spotlight In the spirit of Christmas, the spotlight for the coming month might actually best be on those people closest to you. We know that a lot of our editors here are associated in some way or another with schools, and many if not most of them are going on rather extended breaks for the holidays. This can give some of us a chance to meet up with old friends, spend time with our families and those close to us, and, in a sense, "recharge" for the new year. So, for all of you who are in some way part of that group, we wish you the very best of holidays. We hope you all return to editing after the holidays with your spirits lifted and with your energies at peak level. There are some small matters in development here as well, and it is our hope that some of them will be ready come the next newsletter. But, until then, we wish you all the happiest and holiest (if appropriate) holidays.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~
 * EdwardsBot (talk) 02:33, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter - January 2013
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 354 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, Alliereborn, Iselilja, Peterkp, and Sosthenes12. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. We would be able to achieve nothing here without the input of all of you. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor Ichthus is one of the ways that the WikiProject Christianity’s Outreach department helps update our members. This newsletter is one of the ways we do try to help people keep up with the project. We would always welcome any input for things to be included in it or additional editors to keep it going. Please let us know if there are changes you would like to see in the format, or if there are any particular things you would like to see included. And if you have anything you would personally like to add, by all means let us know. The talk page of the current issue is probably the best place to post such comments. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By John Carter

Church of the month This image of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn, Estonia by User:Poco a poco was recently promoted to Featured Image. Thank you and congratulations for the great image!

Contest of the month No particular contest this month. I am however getting rather close to getting together a more or less complete set of articles relating to different areas of Christianity which can be found in recent reference sources on the broad topic of Christianity, and about various subtopics, which I hope to have finished in the next few weeks. I wonder what the rest of you might think of, maybe, making the contests of future months be basically directed at filling in the gaps of our existing coverage of topics, like those topics given significant coverage in specialized reference works which we don't yet have content on, and giving the thanks, and rewards, whatever they might be, to those who create and develop such content. I am starting a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Christianity noticeboard, and would very much welcome any input from interested parties in how to set it up, determine winners including how many winners, etc.

By John Carter

Featured content and GA report Since the last report, the image in the "Church of the Month" section of this newsletter was promoted to Featured Image status.

Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40 by Gerda Arendt and others, Teuruarii IV by Lemurbaby, KAVEBEAR and others, and Peace on Earth (Casting Crowns album) by Toa Nidhiki05 and others, were all promoted to GA status.

Also this past month, the DYKs on the main page included St James' Church, Cardington by Peter I. Vardy, Bishop's Palace, Kraków by Poeticbent, Kippinge Church by Ipigott and Rosiestep, Trinitatis Church, also by Ipigott and Rosiestep, Steindamm Church by Olessi, St Laurence's Church, Church Stretton by Peter I. Vardy, Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Meteora, by Peter I. Vardy, Sonrise Church, by Aboutmovies, St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Albany, New York), by Daniel Case, All Saints Church, Claverley, by Peter I. Vardy, and Church of the Holy Virgin Mary of Lourdes, by  Poeticbent. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art

The Tower of Babel'' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder This image was created by User:Dcoetzee. Thank you, Dcoetzee!

Spotlight The Spotlight this month turns to the the Syriac Christianity work group. The scope of this project includes the various traditions of Syriac Christianity, including the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Saint Thomas Christians. One of these groups, the Assyrian Church of the East, is considered by scholars to have probably been, for several hundred years, the largest Christian grouping in the planet, with its numerous members in Central Asia and Eastern Asia. Numerous texts, traditions, and practices unique to these groups exist, including the Jesus Sutras and the belief of the Assyrian Church of the East that the bread they use in the preparation of their Eucharist uses the same basic yeast as that used in the bread of the Last Supper itself. Sadly, given the linguistic barriers to much of the content relative to these groups, and the comparative lack of notoriety they have in the Western world, much of this content does receive less attenion, and thus less development, than much other content. There is a large amount of extremely valuable historical material here still waiting to be adequately developed by editors with an interest in the topic, and I personally very much hope that we can draw more attention to these topics, and the content related to them.

By John Carter

Calendar This coming month (mid-January through mid-February) includes The Presentation of Christ in the Temple or Candlemas and the Conversion of Paul. Other major feasts in the next month include those of Saint Agnes, Saint Francis de Sales, Saints Timothy and Titus, Thomas Aquinas, John Bosco, Saint Agatha, Paul Miki, [{Saint Scholastica]], and Saint Anskar.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) ~
 * EdwardsBot (talk) 03:44, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter April 2013
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 357 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, Thomas Cranmer, Mr.Oglesby, and Sneha Priscilla. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. We would be able to achieve nothing here without the input of all of you. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor

We apologise for the hiatus in the publication of this newsletter due to unforseen circumstances leading to the wikibreak of John Carter, and so I have taken over as acting editor, and have taken this opportunity to move the publication date to the start of each month as planned, to better reflect on the previous month and look ahead to the next. This issue covers the period of time from mid-January to the end of March.

Since the last issue we have seen the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis. This has received much coverage both in the world media and on Wikipedia. While there is still much work to do, several quality articles have been written and the editors involved are thanked for their efforts.

This month we look ahead to Easter and the celebration of God's love for mankind through the crucifixion and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. With that, I wish you all happy reading!

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By Gilderien

Church of the month This image of the Church of Saint Ildefonso, Portugal by Poco a poco was recently promoted to Featured Image. Thank you and congratulations for the great image!

Contest of the month No particular contest this month. I am however getting rather close to getting together a more or less complete set of articles relating to different areas of Christianity which can be found in recent reference sources on the broad topic of Christianity, and about various subtopics, which I hope to have finished in the next few weeks. I wonder what the rest of you might think of, maybe, making the contests of future months be basically directed at filling in the gaps of our existing coverage of topics, like those topics given significant coverage in specialized reference works which we don't yet have content on, and giving the thanks, and rewards, whatever they might be, to those who create and develop such content. I am starting a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Christianity noticeboard, and would very much welcome any input from interested parties in how to set it up, determine winners including how many winners, etc.

By John Carter

Featured content and GA report Since the last report;

Grade I listed churches in Cumbria was promoted to Featured List status, thanks to Peter I. Vardy, and the image above of the Church of Saint Ildefonso was promoted to featured picture status.

Martin Luther King, Jr., by Khazar2, was promoted to GA status, as well Third Epistle of John by Cerebellum.

Also these past months, the DYKs on the main page included St Mary's Church, Cleobury Mortimer by Peter I. Vardy; Marion Irvine by Giants2008; Margaret McKenna by Guerillero; Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity by Epeefleche; St Edith's Church, Eaton-under-Heywood by Peter I. Vardy; Vester Egesborg Church by Ipigott, Rosiestep, Nvvchar, and Dr. Blofeld; Undløse Church by Ipigott, Rosiestep, Nvvchar, and Dr. Blofeld; St Martin's Church, Næstved by Ipigott, Rosiestep, Nvvchar, and Dr. Blofeld; St. Peter, Syburg by Gerda Arendt and Dr. Blofeld; Østre Porsgrunn Church by Strachkvas; Church of Our Saviour (Mechanicsburg, Ohio) by Nyttend; Dami Mission by Freikorp; Mechanicsburg Baptist Church by Nyttend; Acheiropoietos Monastery, by Proudbolsahye; T. Lawrason Riggs, by Gareth E Kegg; McColley's Chapel, by Mangoe; Oświęcim Chapel, by BurgererSF; Second Baptist Church (Mechanicsburg, Ohio), by Nyttend; Church of the Holy Ghost, Tallinn, by Yakikaki; Old Stone Congregational Church, by Orladyl Heath Chapel, by Peter I. Vardy; St. Joseph's Church, Beijing, by Bloom6132; Church of St Bartholomew, Yeovilton, by Rodw; and St. Michael's Catholic Church (Mechanicsburg, Ohio) also by Nyttend. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art Complete recording

Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22, a cantata by the German composer J.S. Bach, was promoted to GA this month and was written by Gerda Arendt. Many thanks for her continuing work in the area of early 18th Century Church music.

Spotlight The Spotlight this month turns to the the Jesus work group. The scope of this project includes the life and teachings of the central figure of Christianity, Jesus Christ and aims to write about them in a non-denominational encylopædic style. Top-priority articles include Jesus, Christ, Resurrection of Jesus, and Holy Grail, whereas High-priority articles include Aramaic Language, a former FA, as well as Sermon on the Mount, Lamb of God, and Passion (Christianity). The workgroup has also published two books, covering Christ's final days and the Parables of Jesus. The workgroup has two GAs, Nativity scene, and Jesus in Islam, but unfortunately the flagship article, Jesus was delisted in 2009. It is also responsible for three WP:1.0 articles, and the WikiWork of the project is 4.56, which indicates the "average" article is between Start and C class.

By Gilderien

Calendar This coming month (end-March through end-April) includes Easter Sunday in Western Christianity and both Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday for the Eastern Orthodox Church. Other major feasts in the next month include those of Saint George, Saint Mark the Evangelist, Saint Stanislaus, James, son of Zebedee, and Benedict the Moor. - Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here EdwardsBot (talk) 12:31, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter (May 2013)
 Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 363 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, Pleonic, MJWilliams1998, Iloilo Wanderer, Jkadavoor, Sir Ian and McBenjamin. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. We would be able to achieve nothing here without the input of all of you. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

From the Editor This month we hear the news that the Bible is to be made into a film after outstanding success of a biblical miniseries on the History Channel, and we have seen the release of Iraqi Pastor Ali Hamzah from his confinement in Iraq.

After last month's spotlight on the Jesus work group, the flagship article, Jesus, was nominated for Good Article status after much work from FutureTrillionaire and History2007, and provisionally passed by the reviewer, although they have requested a second opinion. Our many thanks for the hard work that has gone into restoring this article to a quality piece of work.

This month the second largest denomination of Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox Church, celebrates Easter and the death and resurrection of the Son of God Jesus Christ.

P.S. Please [ click here] to add the new Christianity noticeboard to your watchlist to follow the latest discussions relevant to WikiProject Christianity and subprojects.

By Gilderien

Church of the month Wells Cathedral was this month promoted to GA status. Rodw has appealed for any help project members can give to improve this article for a FA nomination.

Contest of the month No particular contest this month. I am however getting rather close to getting together a more or less complete set of articles relating to different areas of Christianity which can be found in recent reference sources on the broad topic of Christianity, and about various subtopics, which I hope to have finished in the next few weeks. I wonder what the rest of you might think of, maybe, making the contests of future months be basically directed at filling in the gaps of our existing coverage of topics, like those topics given significant coverage in specialized reference works which we don't yet have content on, and giving the thanks, and rewards, whatever they might be, to those who create and develop such content. By John Carter

Featured content and GA report Since the last report;

Featured report; Madonna in the Church, by Ceoil, Truthkeeper88, and Johnbod was promoted to Featured Article status. Crucifixion and Last Judgement was promoted to featured picture status, after nomination by Crisco 1492.

Wells Cathedral, by Rodw, Robert of Ghent, by User:Ealdgyth, Christianity in Medieval Scotland, by Sabrebd, and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, also by Sabrebd were promoted to GA status.

Also these past months, the DYKs on the main page included Lectionary 311, by Leszek Jańczuk; Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn, by Gerda Arendt; Whalsay Parish Church, by Ipigott, Rosiestep, Nvvchar, Dr. Blofeld; Interpretatio Christiana, by Altenmann; First Congregational Church, Salt Lake City, by Orlady; Church of King Charles the Martyr, Royal Tunbridge Wells, by The C of E; First Church in Albany (Reformed), by Daniel Case; Pope Anastasius II, by AbstractIllusions; Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Palma, by Dr. Blofeld, Ipigott, Rosiestep; Colan Church, by Rosiestep, Nvvchar, Ipigott; Notre Dame Cathedral, Papeete, Bloom6132, Church of St. Wenceslaus (New Prague, Minnesota), by Elkman; St. Joseph Catholic Church (San Antonio, Texas), by Gilliam; Doubting Thomas, by Johnbod; Robert of Ghent, by Ealdgyth; and Holy Trinity Church, Holdgate, by Peter I. Vardy. Our profoundest thanks and congratulations to all those involved!

Christian art

This depiction of the Crucifixion and Last Judgement was painted by Dutch artist Jan van Eyck and promoted to Featured Picture this month.

Spotlight SPOTLIGHT

This month, we turn our attention to the Encyclopedic articles sub-group, which aims to provide "a collection point for lists of articles contained in other reference sources relating to Christianity, which could serve as a basis for developing our own content". Created by John Carter, it is primarily a list of links, red or otherwise, for subjects which have an article in the reference works listed therein. This serves as a very useful list if any project members are "stuck for what to do" and there remains lots of potential for articles developed from this list.

By Gilderien

Calendar This coming month (end-April through end-May) includes Easter Sunday for the Eastern Orthodox Church. Other major feasts in the next month include those of Matthias the Apostle, The Venerable Bede, and Empress Helena. - Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe remove yourself from the list here EdwardsBot (talk)17:16, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter (June 2013)


From the Editor Since its formation in 2006, WikiProject Christianity has come a long way. A significant number of new articles have appeared on a wide range of topics, and the quality of some key articles has seen dramatic improvement. Yet, by the very nature of the open, crowd-sourced development environment in which we operate, as the number of pages in the project has increased at times our attention has been naturally diluted. We should of course strive for quality everywhere, but we should remember that this newsletter is called Ichthus.

Starting this month we will start a "Focus on" series, where we will try to "bring Jesus back" and focus on him. For five consecutive issues we will focus on one aspect of the study of Jesus. The goal of this series is to inform our members of what the project contains and highlight those articles which have reached quality and stability.

From this month until November we will focus on the historical Jesus, a topic which has been the subject of much discussion on article talk pages, as well as the general media. This is an important topic, and we have a good set of well referenced articles on that now. Then, starting in December we will focus on Christ, and the spiritual and theological elements that the title entails. Following that the review of the life and ministry of Jesus in the New Testament, his miracles, and parables will take place. And each month the "Bookshelf" will mention a book that fits the theme of the month.

We hope you will enjoy this journey as we present a new aspect of Jesus each month. And given that as the number of project pages increases, the ratio of those watching the pages declines, we hope that more of you will watch some of these central pages that help define this project.

Church of the month The current building of All Saints' Church, Winthorpe in Nottinghamshire, England which was completed in 1888, is at least the third version of the church, which dates back to at least the early 13th century.

Good articles and DYKs The article Jesus received the good article mark last month, as did Cleeve Abbey. A number of churches were featured on the main page in the DYK section in May, namely St. Lamberti, Hildesheim, Karja church, Braaby Church, St Patrick's Liverpool, Vlah Church, Freerslev Church, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Mata-Utu, St. Michael's Cathedral (Sitka, Alaska), St. Lamberti, Hildesheim, Karja church, Braaby Church, St. Pierre Cathedral, Saint-Pierre, Mont Saint Michel Abbey, St Patrick's Church, Liverpool, Vlah Church, St Catherine of Siena Church, Cocking, Catedral Nuestra Señora de La Asunción, Roholte Church, Notre Dame Cathedral, Taiohae, Leicester Abbey, Caracas Cathedral, Caldey Abbey, King's Mead Priory, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Hong Kong) andAll Saints' Church, Winthorpe, as well as the hymn What Wondrous Love Is This.

Focus on... THE H</BIG>ISTORICAL <BIG>J</BIG>ESUS

Did Jesus exist? Did he walk the streets of Jerusalem? The Historicity of Jesus article answers these questions with a firm affirmative. Historicity does not discuss if Jesus walked on water, but if he walked at all. The issue was the subject of scholarly debate before the end of last century, but the academic debate is almost over now. As the article discusses, virtually all academic opposition to the existence of Jesus has evaporated away now and scholars see it as a concluded issue. The discussion is now just among mostly self-published non-academics.

In 2011 John Dickson tweeted that if anyone finds a professor of history who denies that Jesus lived,he would eat a page of his Bible (Matthew 1 he said). Dickson's Bible is still safe.

The article discusses the ancient sources that relate to Jesus and how they fit together to establish that he existed. The evidence for Jesus is not just based on the Christian gospels, but by inter-relating them with non-Christian sources, and the fact that they all "fit together". Moreover, the existence of Jesus is not supported just by Christian scholars and in recent years the detailed knowledge of Jewish scholars and their discoveries (e.g. Shlomo Pines' discovery of the Syriac Josephus) has proven highly beneficial. We encourage you to read and follow the article, for the existence of Jesus is central to the existence of Christianity.

From the bookshelf Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence by Robert Van Voorst, 2000 ISBN 0-8028-4368-9

Just a few years after its publication, Van Voorst's book has become the standard comprehensive text for the discussion of ancient sources that relate to Jesus and his historicity. This detailed yet really readable book has received wide ranging endorsements - Blomberg and Harris separately referring to it as the most comprehensive treatment of the subject.

Did you know...
 * ... that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the initials "S. D. G.", for Soli Deo Gloria, at the beginning and end of all his church compositions to give God credit for the work, and that Handel at times did the same?

Calendar The coming month includes days dedicated to the honor of Beheading of John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul, the Nativity of John the Baptist, and Saint Barnabas.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is published by WikiProject Christianity. For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe remove yourself from the listhere EdwardsBot (talk) ~

WikiProject Christianity Newsletter (July 2013)
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From the Editor Welcome to the July 2013 issue of Ichthus. We focus on the chronology of Jesus, as well as looking back at the project content improved over the last month.

WP:X has gained another Featured Article, Gospel of the Ebionites, by Ignocrates. The Gospel of the Ebionites is the name scholars give to an apocryphal gospel that supposedly belonged to a sect known as the Ebionites. It consists of seven short quotations discovered in a heresiology known as the Panarion, written by Epiphanius of Salamis, and its original title remains unknown. The text is a gospel harmony composed in Greek, and is believed to have been written during the middle of the 2nd century.

St Mihangel's Church, Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn was promoted to Good Article status, as was two other welsh churches, St Enghenedl's Church, Llanynghenedl, and St Peter's Church, Llanbedrgoch.

The main page also featured several DYK hooks for articles in our project, namely Bob Fu, List of places of worship in Tandridge (district), Catholic Press, Garendon Abbey, St. John's Episcopal Church (Jersey City, New Jersey), Pargev Martirosyan, Praskvica Monastery, Heather Preceptory, St. Augustin, Coburg, Longleat Priory, St Mihangel's Church, Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn, St Enghenedl's Church, Llanynghenedl, Christianization of Moravia, Christianization of Bohemia, Repton Abbey, St Peter's Church, Llanbedrgoch, Medingen Abbey, Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church, St. James on-the-Lines, and Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch.

Church of the month St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is part of Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev in Ukraine. It is a functioning monastery that dates back to the Middle Ages.

Membership report The parent Christianity WikiProject currently has 367 active members. We would like to welcome our newest members, Newchildrenofthealmighty, Evenssteven, Kerna96, and FutureTrillionaire. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

Focus on... <BIG>T</BIG>HE <BIG>H</BIG>ISTORICAL <BIG>J</BIG>ESUS

When did Jesus live? When did he die? How do we know? We do, in fact, have excellent information about the time intervals for the life and death of Jesus. As in other people who lived and died in the first century, this gives an approximate date range, but still, give or take 3-4 years and we have pretty good estimates confirmed by a number of really diverse sources, ranging from inscriptions in Delphi to Roman and Jewish sources. The Chronology of Jesus article discusses how a wide variety of Christian, Jewish and Roman sources are used to establish the time-frame for the life and death of Jesus.

And all of his data fits together. For instance, the chronology of Paul had been discussed based on the Book of Acts long ago, then the Delphi Inscription is found in the 20th century in the Temple of Apollo. And guess what.. it confirms it and totally dates his trial in Corinth, which helps reaffirm the date of the crucifixion of Jesus. The same date range is independently estimated from the writings of Josephus on the Baptist's death. And it fits Isaac Newton's astronomical models for the crucifixion date as well as the independent lunar calculations of Humphreys. As that article shows, all these dates just fit together.

From the bookshelf Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies edited by J. Vardaman, E. M. Yamauchi 1989 ISBN 0-931464-50-1

This two volume book (with a very apt title) is gem-filled with scholarly research. Paul Maier's article in the first volume is a classic study on the chronology of Jesus and provides a useful summary of a number of issues.

Did you know...
 * ... that the Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch who in 1894 originated the story that there was evidence at the Hemis monastery that an adult Jesus had traveled to India, later confessed to fabricating his evidence?

Calendar This month (July) contains the feast days of Mary Magdalene, and James, son of Zebedee.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from a variety of other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is published by WikiProject Christianity. For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe remove yourself from the list here EdwardsBot (talk)20:42, 30 June 2013 (UTC) This issue was distributed on behalf of Gilderien, current editor of the Ichthus, at 20:42, 30 June 2013 (UTC). Comments and other feedback are always welcome at his talk page.

August 2013 WikiProject Christianity Newsletter
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From the Editor

Welcome to the August 2013 issue of the WikiProject Christianity newsletter. We focus on the historical Jesus and reflect on the last month.

The project has another featured picture, The ruins of Holyrood Chapel, a digitisation of an oil-on-canvas painting. Our top-importance article, Jesus, has been nominated for Featured Article status, the discussion can be seen here; Knights of Colombus has also been nominated as a FAC.

Ecgbert (bishop) and Church architecture in Scotland have both this month achieved Good Article status.

Our project had several of its articles featured in the main page DYK section, including Hinckley Priory, Little Chapel, St Peter's Church, Ropsley, Chip Ingram, St John the Evangelist's Church, Corby Glen, Great George Street Congregational Church, St Mary's Church, Walton-on-the-Hill and Bunge church.

Our thanks go to all of those who have worked to achieve these article milestones.

Church of the month This image, of Maillezais Cathedral and created by Selbymay was this month promoted to featured picture status.

Membership report We would like to welcome our newest members, Thechristophermorris, Psmidi and Jchthys. Thank you all for your interest in this effort. If any members, new or not, wish any assistance, they should feel free to leave a message at the Christianity noticeboard or with me or other individual editors to request it.

Focus on... <BIG>T</BIG>HE <BIG>H</BIG>ISTORICAL <BIG>J</BIG>ESUS

What was Jesus like? What did he preach? Did he claim to be the Messiah? Did he predict an apocalypse? What can we know about him outside a religious context? The Historical Jesus article discusses what can be known about Jesus with various degrees of probability. While scholars agree on the over all flow and outline of Jesus' life (his baptism by John, debated Jewish authorities, healings, and his crucifixion by Pilate) they have built various and diverging portraits of the rest of his life. These range from minimalist portraits that accept very little of the gospel accounts to maximalists who accept most of the accounts as historical.

The portraits of Jesus have at times been unwitting reflections of the researchers themselves, and Crossan once quipped that some authors "do autobiography and call it biography". However, the study of historical Jesus has made one thing clear: there is so much to learn about Jesus that the more one looks, the more there is to discover.

From the bookshelf Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of His Life and Teaching by Maurice Casey 2010 ISBN 0-567-64517-7

In this book Maurice Casey not only draws on his special expertise in the Aramaic traditions and the Q source, but provides a comprehensive review of the various approaches to the historical Jesus.

Did you know...
 * ... that in 1951 Christianity was the second largest religion in the world with 500 million followers, compared to 520 million Buddhists, but by 2013 it had gained the top spot with about 2.2 billion Christians?

Calendar This month we celebrate the feasts of St Lawrence, St Bernard, and St Augustine.

- Help requests Please let us know if there are any particular areas, either individual articles or topics, which you believe would benefit from outside help from other editors. We will try to include such requests in future issues.

Ichthus is published by WikiProject Christianity. For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe remove yourself from the list here EdwardsBot (talk)22:07, 31 July 2013 (UTC) -- Gilderien Chat&#124;What I've done 22:07, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

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Proposed deletion of File:Salilwiki.jpg


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Improving coverage of Network states
Hello Editor. I saw you included some information about network states and wanted to know whether you'd be interested in joining a wikiproject that is attempting to increase coverage about them.

Would you be interested in drafting a page with us on the Network State (Draft)? Mr vili (talk) 03:10, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

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