wfn.org | UCC/Chavis meeting April 24

[powellb@ucc.org]

April 16, 1997
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Hans Holznagel
(216) 736-2214
E-mail:  holznagh@ucc.org
On the World Wide Web:  http://www.ucc.org

A D V I S O R Y 

Church committee to meet with Chavis,
make recommendation on his ministerial standing
Thursday, April 24, in Durham, N.C.

EDITORS AND PRODUCERS:  A key step in the United Church of
Christ's review of the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.'s
ministerial standing will take place Thursday,
April 24, in Durham, N.C.

The Church and Ministry Commission of the UCC's Eastern North
Carolina Association will review Chavis' standing during a
regular meeting that day at Mount Calvary United Church of
Christ, 1715 Athens Street.

Here is the day's schedule:  The Commission will convene at 10
a.m. EDT to conduct a number of items of business.  Chavis,
now known as Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, is scheduled to meet
with the Commission at 1 p.m. EDT.  The commission will have a
conversation with Chavis, excuse him from the meeting room,
discuss the matter further and then bring him back in to
notify him of its decision.  Afterward, the Commission's
chairperson, the Rev. J. C. Cheek, who is also pastor of Mt.
Calvary UCC, and the Rev. Rollin O. Russell, conference
minister of UCC's Southern Conference, which includes the
Eastern North Carolina Association, will make a statement
about the decision.

As with all its other actions, the Commission's recommendation
regarding Chavis' standing will then await a final decision by
the Board of Directors of the Eastern North Carolina
Association, which will meet at a later date.  The Board of
Directors temporarily suspended Chavis' ministerial standing
March 21 pending the April 24 hearing, given his Feb. 23
announcement that he was joining the Nation of Islam.

NOTE:  As with all reviews of ministerial standing, the
Commission's review of Chavis' standing will be held in a room
closed to all but the members of the Commission, the person
under review and others whom the Commission's chairperson may
admit to provide information related to the review.

For further information, contact the Rev. Rollin Russell at
the UCC's Southern Conference office, Graham, N.C., (910) 222-
8771.  Hans Holznagel of the UCC's national communication
office in Cleveland, (216) 736-2214, will be at the meeting
site April 24 to provide information and help to any reporters
present.
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