Africa to be highlight of Elgin church events

First Presbyterian Church of Elgin is holding several events as part of its "Build a Better World: Africa Project." The community is invited to attend.

• On Friday at 7 p.m., the church will show the 2006 Sundance Film Festival award winner, "God Grew Tired of Us." The film covers the life of four of the Lost Boys of Sudan over a four-year period as they leave the refugee camp and move to the U.S. A movie for children also will be shown.

• On Sunday, Linda Huffman Jones will lead worship and share her stories. Jones spent her junior year abroad in Nigeria, West Africa. She and her pastor husband, David, served in South Korea as short-term Presbyterian missionaries for two years in the 1970s. She continued in Asian human rights work for the next 19 years here in northern Illinois. As coordinator of the Church Committee for Human Rights in Asia in Chicago, she helped promote the country's democracy movement. She co-wrote a book about this, which was published in 2006 called "More Than Witnesses: How a Small Group of Missionaries Aided Korea's Democratic Revolution." She worked on hunger issues as Hunger Enabler for the Presbytery of Chicago for a few years, and also coordinated the Greater Chicago CROP Hunger Walk for three years. Jones received a masters of divinity from McCormick Seminary in 2001. Currently, she is spearheading an effort to launch a Cancer Wellness Center for cancer survivors in the Rockford area.

• During Sunday's education hour, Julia Jones, assistant director of the Great Rivers Region for Church World Service, the sponsors of CROP Hunger Walks, will facilitate the adult class. Jones has an impressive background in social work and volunteering. After earning a master of arts degree in Latin American Studies, she worked at the Presbyterian United Nations office in New York. She also spent a year as a mission volunteer in El Salvador, and most recently she traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, with Witness for Peace and Equal Exchange. Last year, she began working with Church World Service.

First Presbyterian Church is at 240 Standish St., Elgin. For more information, call (847) 742-6365.