ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 28, 1996 TAG: 9612300022
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Lutheran pastors
Women seeking calls to churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wait longer for their first job as an ordained pastor, a recent study from the denomination reveals. Recent research shows that women wait an average of three months longer than men with it generally taking at least six months for a qualified female seminary graduate to win an offer. Age at ordination also is a factor with older candidates waiting longer regardless of gender. The average woman pastor is 35 at ordination with men being 29. Women made up 13 percent of nonretired Lutheran pastors last year. Several serve Western Virginia parishes. The ELCA has ordained women since 1970.
Bible study
The Disciple Bible Study, a national adult education program in use in the United Methodist church for 10 years, has gone into its third series of materials with more than 32,400 people enrolled, according to its publishers in Nashville, Tenn. The program, which is carried on in many Western Virginia congregations, requires disciplined study, regular attendance, trained leaders and a fee for materials. More than 400,000 people have completed the foundational study on the international level.
Interim general secretary
The Rev. Karen Peterson Miller, a Church of the Brethren administrator from Hagerstown, Md., has been named interim general secretary for the denomination for one year beginning Wednesday.
Now director of district ministry, Miller will move to Elgin, Ill., for her interim appointment. She will succeed, until a permanent national administrator is named, the Rev. Donald E. Miller, who resigned several months ago after a 10-year tenure.
Clinic fund-raising
The Tri-County Health Clinic, a Roman Catholic free ministry serving low income people in several Southwest Virginia counties, has raised 93 percent of its $300,000 goal. The clinic for which medical personnel give their time, was begun in 1992 by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. It has helped more than 8,000 people in its four years of operation.
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English cornerstone
The cornerstone in the new Trinity Ecumenical Parish building in Moneta comes from the Yorkshire dales in England, a symbol of an international relationship the Episcopal members of the three-denominational congregation have with the Anglican Diocese of Bradford. Laid several weeks ago in the church building under construction, the limestone block is a gift of British church members who are linked with Trinity. The Moneta building, which will be shared by Episcopal. Lutheran and Presbyterian members, is expected to be ready for Easter with English guests being present at its dedication in the fall of 1997.
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