Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990 TAG: 9005190283
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RELIGION FRANCES STEBBINS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
According to the Rev. Jack Austin of Lynchburg, the Disciples regional minister, a national merger of the two churches is a long-range goal. He does not expect that to come about in the near future.
He noted that national dialogues have been in progress for more than 20 years.
The UCC is the only major American denomination not represented among the churches of the Roanoke Valley. For years, its principal spokesman nearby has been the Rev. Alvord M. Beardslee of the Hollins College faculty.
The denomination has roots in the German Reformed movement and until 30 years ago was represented in Roanoke by a small parish. About the time the UCC came into being in a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed and Congregational Christian groups, the Roanoke church closed.
Austin said it has been hard to interest Virginia Disciples in a possible merger with their UCC counterparts because they are unfamiliar with the sister church.
Disciples "are strongest in Western Virginia while all the larger UCC congregations are in the northern Shenandoah Valley or the Tidewater cities where we have less influence."
The two denominations actually have some common roots in Scottish Presbyterianism of the American colonial period. The founder of the branch of Christendom known as Disciples, Alexander Campbell, broke with the Presbyterians of his childhood. He saw them as narrow in their doctrinal positions, unwilling to cooperate with other Christians and too little interested in Communion.
More than 150 years ago, Campbell's followers began what was to become a major American religious group, although it has since divided into several others which emphasize different elements of his thought.
Austin said the Disciples branch still stands for the ideal of the Christian church as one body. The UCC takes liberal theological positions and is the product of several mergers accomplished over the past 60 years.
The resolution to come up at the Lynchburg annual meeting asks for expanded cooperation with the UCC. Already, said Austin, the two denominations work jointly in overseas missions, and at the national level their governing assemblies have approved full Communion exchanges.
Austin and his UCC counterpart shared a recent Sunday service in Woodstock in an area where the UCC is strong. They pledged to stay in close touch and to join wherever possible in activities.
New England is a stronghold of UCC churches, and considerable joint ministry goes on there, Austin said.
The next step toward merger likely will be shared calls to congregations in which a Disciples pastor might be eligible for consideration by a UCC parish.
In a recent report of his work, the Rev. John Sylvester-Johnson told the members of St. John's Episcopal Church that the parish's next program in its growing outreach mission may be supervised, low-cost infant and child care.
The Roanoke church, which soon will mark its centennial of service from the downtown site of Elm Avenue and Jefferson Street, is the largest in membership and in giving to the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
St. John's recently was designated a Jubilee Parish by a national agency of the denomination in recognition of programs developed over the past eight years to help the needy.
People who work at city churches throughout Western Virginia are used to frequent appeals from street people. Fifteen months ago, it was not unusual to have 20 per day show up for emergency help at the St. John's office.
At that time, Sylvester-Johnson, a Baptist minister experienced in social service, was hired as outreach pastor. He's the husband of the Rev. Joy Sylvester-Johnson, whose family operates the City Rescue Mission.
St. John's has long supported the mission, as it does the jail chaplaincy ministry of Richard Harris, the TAP Transitional Living Center, the Pastoral Counseling Center, and Summer Enrichment day camp for inner-city children.
Street people still come to the church, though Sylvester-Johnson's office has freed other staff for their specialized jobs. During his tenure, he said, nearly 3,000 interviews have been done with 1,700 different families.
About 60 percent of the 550 families seen this year have received small amounts of money to pay bills, the outreach minister said. There aren't funds for any more.
The church also has programs to provide emotional support of AIDS victims and families and a meeting place for recovering alcoholics as part of the commitment to "an open parish."
Nearly a decade ago, St. John's began helping the mentally ill in cooperation with the tax-funded Mental Health Services agency. Its Community Living Club for young adults with chronic emotional problems is the most elaborate of several church-sponsored support groups for those released from institutions.
St. John's now owns an apartment house with low-rent quarters for the elderly. It soon will break ground for another complex where Mental Health Services clients can live with some help.
by CNB