Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9311170250
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: from staff and wire reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Registration is open for an Advent spiritual growth retreat on Dec. 3-4 at the Phoebe Needles Conference Center in Franklin County. It will be led by Diane Elliot of Roanoke, a student at the Shalem Institute training school for spiritual directors. The $55 fee covers a Friday meal at 7 p.m. and two Saturday meals. The retreat, ``Body Praise,'' will be focused on training the body through various movements to be receptive to God. Call 483-3381 for more inform ation. The center, open to those of all faiths, is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. The Rev. Christine Payden-Travers is its director.
Guest lecturer
Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, a professor at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, will be the Curtis G. Dobbins lecturer Sunday at Salem Presbyterian Church, Main and Market Streets in downtown Salem. The author and adjunct faculty member at the seminary will speak at 11 a.m. on ``On living in Reality.'' A potluck supper is scheduled at 6 to be followed by an informal service, ``A New Age in Religion,'' starting at 7:15. Nursery will be available.
Achtemeier, who teaches preaching at the seminary and is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is the author of 18 books ranging in themes from preaching from the Old Testament to sermons for the family. Her husband, Paul, also is a seminary professor.
The lecture series honors Salem business leader and elder in the church, Curtis G. Dobbins, who died in 1983. It annually brings contemporary religion leaders to the community.
Peck workshop
A Community Building Workshop based on principles of Dr. M. Scott Peck is open for registration. It will be at Camp Bethel Conference Center in Botetourt County Nov. 5-7 with a limit of 35 registrants. Call 343-3727 for more information. Peck, a psychiatrist who spoke recently in Roanoke, is the author of several books integrating religion and psychology.
Retreat rescheduled
Reflections '93, a spiritual retreat postponed from an earlier date, is scheduled Nov. 19-20 at the Phoebe Needles Conference Center in Franklin County. It is intended for unemployed people and those making vocational transitions in their lives and will be led by the Rev. Rob Goldsmith, the Rev. Christine Payden-Travers and Edward Boley. To register, send the $10 registration fee to Phoebe Needles Cebter, Rt. 1, Box 440, Callaway, Va. 24067 or call 483-3381.
Religious competition
In Russia, where United Methodists are working with both Russian Orthodox Christians and an influx of evangelical Christians from America, Bishop Ruediger R. Minor, the Methodist liaison, said currently all religious activity is being hurt by competition. Reporting to the denomination's Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the bishop, who is a native of Germany, said a focus on Christ's inclusive love may be an answer to this problem. Evangelicals err when they assume that Russians have no religion and that they ``are the first ones to name the name of Christ,'' he said. Orthodox Christians who put too much emphasis on their historic ties to apostles and the old Czarist government of Russia also hinder the new spirit of God that is capturing many in the former Soviet Union.
Singing program
A Great Day of United Methodist Singing program is scheduled Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. at Heritage United Methodist Church, 582 Leesville Road in Lynchburg. It will be directed by Jane Marshall, a professor of choral music at the Perkins School of Theology, as the climax of a two-day training event for church musicians in the Lynchburg and Bedford areas. The concert is free. For more information about the workshop, call 586-8878 or 804-230-4291 before Nov. 1.
by CNB