wfn.org | Religious Communication Congress receives Lilly grant

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Dec. 14, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally((615)742-5470(Nashville,
Tenn.     {732}

By United Methodist News Service

Lilly Endowment Inc., has awarded $200,000 to help with programming for
an interfaith Religious Communication Congress to be held in Chicago
March 29-April 1, 2000.

"This grant allows our planning team to invite presenters from around
the world and increase our ability to include state-of-the-art
communication technology along with oral and print tradition," said
Shirley Whipple Struchen, a United Methodist Communications staff member
in New York who is producer and chairperson for RCC 2000.

"Faith Stories in a Changing World" is the theme for the once-a-decade
congress started in 1970.  The program will focus on five major ways of
sharing faith stories: spoken, electronic, cyberspace, written and
artistic. The event will include workshops, speakers and interactive
dialogue.

Different faith understandings will be featured each morning and evening
during the congress. The Rev. Cynthia Winton-Henry, an ordained minister
in the Disciples of Christ Church, will coordinate the "Faith
Expressions."  She and  Phil Porter, co-directors of Body Wisdom Inc. in
San Francisco, will also lead workshops showing participants how to tell
their own stories using movement and verbal improvisation.

Featured presenters at the congress will include John White, Pulitzer
Prize winning photo journalist form the Chicago Sun Times and Pradip
Thomas, director of Studies and Publications for the World Association
of Christian Communication in London.

An opening banquet program will feature "Images of Faith" a video
montage being produced by a consortium of Canadian communicators.  The
three-part video will highlight the passion and commitment which has
driven people of faith to communicate their beliefs through art, music,
the printed and the spoken word throughout the centuries.  It will also
highlight profound spiritual  moments in historical events.

RCC 2000 is a forum for communication of religion that is international
and multi-faith.  The congress is being planned and hosted by North
American faith groups with special interest in more effective global
communication of religion.

Lilly Endowment is a private foundation that follows the wishes of its
founders by supporting the causes of religion education and community
development. 

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/