Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993 TAG: 9308280158
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - with which most Western Virginia Lutheran parishes are affiliated - is in session through Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo. About 1,000 voting members in this chief legislative body will set direction and policy for the 5.2-million-member church.
The agenda includes hearings that provide voting members with details of issues they will be addressing. Social statements are being presented on the environment; racial justice; church finances; a major report on professional ministry; theological education; talks with Reformed bodies, such as the Presbyterian; children living in poverty; and world hunger relief.
The most attention is likely to be given to the report on ministry, which offers 59 recommendations. It has grown out of the 1988 merger of the three major Lutheran groups. Recommended in the report are establishment of a diaconal ministry and the ordination of deacons through a rite different from the one for pastors. The board of the church forwarded the report to the assembly, but dissented from the recommendation that diaconal ministers be ordained. -Staff report
\ Brethren schedule Heritage Day
Churches of the Brethren in the Virlina District have scheduled the annual Heritage Day festival for Oct. 2. It will be at Camp Bethel, the district conference center near Nace in Botetourt County. Hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Included at the celebration are a food sale, history memorabilia from several congregations, "crafts of yesterday," an auction, games, fishing and activities for children. The get-together provides a time for members of Brethren congregations in southern Virginia and North Carolina to enjoy fellowship and to introduce their cultural and religious traditions to the public.
Camp Bethel is four miles off U.S. 11 north of Troutville. Call 992-2940 for more information. -Staff report
\ Winter coats for Armenians
United Methodists throughout Western Virginia are collecting heavy winter coats for people of all ages in Armenia. The garments, clean and in good condition, must be packed in 16-by-12-inch boxes. Melrose United Methodist Church, 1301 Melrose Ave. N.W. is the collection point. Call 345-8727 before Sept. 13 for more information.
An estimated 100,000 people in the mountainous, war-torn nation, formerly part of the Soviet Union, are in need of warm garments this winter. -Staff report
\ Tenor in concert
Tenor Gary Fulsebakke will present a concert of gospel and religious music Sunday afternoon 5 at Central Church of the Brethren on Church Avenue in downtown Roanoke.
Admission is free. Fulsebakke sings at First Baptist Church in Roanoke. He has appeared in opera productions in Roanoke and elsewhere, and has taught voice at several area colleges. - Staff report
\ Ministries relocating
The first steps have been taken to move the headquarters of United Methodism's Board of Global Ministries from New York.
The move to a site more accessible to a majority of the church's members was approved by the 1992 General Conference of the church. A 13-member task force is studying financial aspects of the move, which will affect 364 staff members based in New York and an additional 96 working elsewhere. Global Ministries is the denomination's largest agency and administers home and overseas mission work. -Staff report
\ Task force to publish social teaching guide
A 17-member Task Force on Human Sexuality of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will publish a social teaching statement in October for guidance of members. It will cover not only the most controversial subject of homosexuality but also heterosexual moral issues. The first draft of the paper is being put together following a July meeting in Schiller Park, Ill.
The task force is using the several thousand responses received following the issuance of a 50-page study guide in 1991, which has been discussed in churches throughout the nation for grass-roots opinions. Many who responded said they had never discussed human sexuality in the context of their faith and thought such discussion was needed. -Staff report
\ Chosen People Ministries
"Messiah in the Passover," will be the theme of the Rev. Larry Jaffrey, who will visit First Grace Brethren Church in Buena Vista on Sept. 26 at the 10:50 a.m. service.
Jaffrey is a representative of Chosen People Ministries, an organization that seeks to convert Jews to Christianity. The church is at 100 East 29th St. -Staff report
by CNB