Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990 TAG: 9007060361
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
About 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses from 45 congregations in Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Ohio and Kentucky are expected at the Roanoke Civic Center on the weekends of July 12-15 and 19-22. The annual convention this year will have a theme of "Pure Language."
LeRoy N. Sassard of Roanoke said this refers to the unity Witnesses seek among peoples of many languages, as well as to the Bible as the pure word of God.
The meetings in Roanoke, open without charge to the public, are among 142 scheduled this year in the United States.
The annual conventions include baptisms, training for workers, lectures on Witness interpretation of Scripture as well as fellowship for all ages.
\ Women in ministry
Phyllis Trible, New York seminary professor and author of feminist theological works, will address the annual conference for women in ministry Oct. 21-23 at Camp Bethel. Trible, a native of Richmond, now teaches at Union Seminary in New York. The conference costs $110 for lay and ordained women staying at Camp Bethel. Non-resident registration also is open. Call 919-687-0408 for more information.
\ Men's Day speaker
The Rev. John I. Penn, associate pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Wilmington, Del., will be the guest speaker Sunday at 11 a.m. at Jerusalem Baptist Church Men's Day Celebration.
Penn has a bachelor of science degree in music education, master's degree in theology from Oral Roberts University and a master of divinity degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a 1959 graduate of Lucy Addison High School.
\ Growth program
ORANGE CITY, Iowa - The Reformed Church in America adopted a "98 by '98" program at its annual general synod here. The program calls for establishment of 98 new congregations by the 202,959-member denomination by 1998. - Associated Press
\ Call to confession
DRESDEN, East Germany - Bishop Johannes Hempel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony has invited all former agents of the now disbanded communist secret service Stasi who were active in church to come to confession. He said not a word mentioned would go into personal files, but it was simply a matter of casting off a "burden". - Associated Press
\ Against homosexuals
GROVE CITY, Pa. - United Methodist clergy of the Western Pennsylvania Conference have adopted a stand against homosexuals in the ministry that is considered stricter than the denomination's national policy.
That policy forbids ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," usually taken to refer to homosexual acts, but the regional stand appears to bar those of homosexual orientation, even if they remain celibate.
A majority of Western Pennsylvania clergy approved recent action by a board of ministry in defining "self-avowed practicing" homosexuals as those who acknowledge that they are "emotionally, mentally, spiritually or physically practicing as a homosexual." - Associated Press
\ Giving increases
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Members of the Knights of Columbus gave more than $92 million to charitable and benevolent activities in 1989, plus 32 million hours of volunteer service, the Roman Catholic fraternal order reports.
This represented an increase of about $7 million and nearly 5 million hours over the 1988 figures. - Associated Press
by CNB