wfn.org | May digest

[DISCNEWS.parti@ecunet.org]

May 1997

Hamm escapes serious injury following auto accident

     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- General Minister and President Richard L.
Hamm escaped serious injury following an accident April 19 near Columbia, Mo.
The driver of the car, Bob Combs, Columbia, was not as fortunate.

     Hamm was en route to a workshop at Columbia's Broadway Christian
Church when the car in which he was a passenger was broadsided by a pickup
truck. Hamm was treated and released from an area hospital. 

     Combs also was hospitalized, suffering a crushed pelvis, internal and
head injuries. He is in critical condition, according to reports, but doctors are
"guardedly optimistic."

                     *****

 Disciples help rebuild burned African American church  
 
     CHELFORD, Ark. (DNS) -- It took one arsonist just a few moments to
destroy the church home of a small community of Christians in rural Arkansas. 

     It took 150 volunteers from across the United States just one day to defy
the evil of the crime and to erect the shell of a new sanctuary for St. Mark's
Missionary Baptist Church in Chelford, in southern Mississippi County. In only
10 days the new building was completed.
     
     The morning of March 17, at the very start of a 10-day "blitz build," those
volunteers and many of the three dozen members of St. Mark's stood on a bare
concrete slab and prayed over the task that lay ahead. 

     Organizers of the project promised a "miracle" and no one present could
find a more accurate way to describe what the powerful partnership of muscle,
precision planning and provisions had accomplished in so short a time.

     "Our church was destroyed by fire in 1995," the Rev. Waldo Campbell
said during the March 26 rededication service, "but because of the faith we had in
God -- they destroyed the building, but the church remained." Although "the old
frame structure was burned to nothing but ashes . . .  I met the church, and the
church was still on fire for the Lord," the pastor exclaimed before 200 worshipers
in the new sanctuary.

                      *****

   Disciples woman wins  best actress' award
 
     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- There's a star in the family---the wider church
family. Frances McDormand, daughter of a Benton, Pa., Disciples couple,
recently won the coveted Oscar award for best actress. She was recognized March
24 for her role as a "homespun Midwestern cop" in the movie "Fargo," directed
by her husband, Joel Coen, and produced by her brother-in-law, Ethan Coen. 

     Frances McDormand is the daughter of the Rev. Vernon and Noreen
McDormand. Vernon has been pastor of Benton Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) for 14 years. Noreen is a retired registered nurse.

     The actress was born in Illinois, but spent most of her growing up years in
Monessen, Pa., a Pittsburgh suburb, according to her father. Frances later earned a
bachelor's degree in theater from  Bethany (W.Va.) College and a master's degree
in theater and drama from Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

     The McDormands have one other daughter, an ordained Disciples
minister. The Rev. Dorothy A. McDormand is a chaplain at the State Correctional
Institute, Greensburg, Pa., and pastor of First Christian Church, Dravosburg, Pa.

                     *****

Barbara Reynolds heads list of quadrennial speakers

     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Former USA today columnist Barbara
Reynolds headlines the list of speakers for the 1998 Quadrennial Assembly of the
International Christian Women's Fellowship. Reynolds will speak June 26. 

     The June 24-28 event at Purdue University will attract some 4,000
Disciples women and ecumenical guests from around the world. The assembly
theme is "Rekindle the Flame."

     Others addressing the assembly include Jim and Kathy McGinnis, authors
and founders of the Institute for Peace and Justice, and Ophelia Ortega Suarez,
president of the Evangelical Theological Seminary, Matanzas, Cuba. The
McGinnises will speak June 27. Suarez addresses the gathering June 25.

     Registration for the quadrennial event will begin July 25 during the 1997
General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Denver.

                     *****

Disciples musicians write for Quadrennial Assembly

     INDIANAPOLIS -- A cassette and compact disc will be released July 25
during General Assembly featuring original music written by Disciples artists for
the 1998 Quadrennial Assembly. 

     Fourteen Disciples musicians from nine regions have written music for
the cassette and CD, relating to the Quadrennial Assembly theme, "Rekindle the
Flame." A packet of sheet music also will be available. 

     Several Indianapolis area artists, along with Bill Thomas, North
Hollywood, Calif.; the Rev. Gayle Schoepf, Orange, Calif.; and Andra Moran,
Nashville, Tenn.; have compositions on the recording.

     Music may be ordered after Aug. 1 from the Quadrennial Assembly
office, 130 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204. Cassette tapes and music
packets are $10 each, and CDS are $14.  

                      *****
Chavis Muhammad's ministerial standing temporarily suspended by UCC
                 regional body

     CLEVELAND -- Leaders of a regional body of the United Church of
Christ have temporarily suspended Benjamin Chavis Muhammad's standing as an
ordained minister, pending an April 24 appearance before a committee reviewing
the matter.

     The action was taken by the Board of Directors of the Eastern North
Carolina Association, a grouping of UCC congregations that ordained the former
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. in 1980.  His UCC ministerial standing, which has
remained in that association ever since, is under review by that body's Church and
Ministry Commission.

     Chavis Muhammad, who announced Feb. 23 that he was becoming a
Muslim and joining the Nation of Islam, has accepted an invitation to appear at
the next regular meeting of the Church and Ministry Commission on April 24,
said the Rev. Rollin Russell, conference minister of the UCC's Southern
Conference, which includes the Eastern North Carolina Association.

                     *****

NCC official calls for Burma sanctions following violence against refugees
                             
     NEW YORK (NCC) -- A Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) leader
with the National Council of Churches recently returned from Southeast Asia with
reports of violence against refugees on the border between Burma and Thailand
and reissued a call for the United States to impose sanctions on Myanmar
(Burma).

     "Burma is a pariah government and no one should do business with
them," said the Rev. Larry Tankersley, director of the Southern Asia office of the
NCC Church World Service Unit. "While I was there, the military Burmese
government---the State Law and Order Restoration Council---had begun attacking
refugee camps, burning them down and committing atrocities against the people,
causing them to flee into Thailand," he said.

     "People were fleeing in panic, their houses, food and everything
destroyed," Tankersley said. Since returning to the U.S., Tankersley said he
receives regular reports about continued incidents of violence on the border.
Eyewitnesses initially reported the Thai army had refused entry to all male
refugees, sending them back into a war zone. An international outcry led to better
treatment from the Thai government, but the refugees burned out of their camps
remain unprotected and without adequate shelter.

                     *****

COCU amendment fails in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

     LOUISVILLE, Ky. --  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations
recently turned back a proposal to participate in the "covenanting" provisions of
the Consultation on Church Union.  

     The April 1 official tally was 58 in favor, 85 opposed and two "no
action." The amendment failed because a majority of the 172 presbyteries either
voted no or "no action."  A majority of affirmative votes was needed for passage.

     A similar measure was approved in 1995 by the Disciples General
Assembly. Seven of the nine church bodies affiliated with Churches in Covenant
Communion have approved the proposal. 

                      *****
COCU committee meeting reflects struggle and hope
 
     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- "There is joy in the struggle for Christian
unity." Those words by the Rev. Paul A. Crow Jr., chief ecumenical officer of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), reflect the spirit of the March 16-18
meeting of the Consultation on Church Union executive committee in Memphis.

      Representatives from the nine COCU churches heard General Secretary
Daniell Hamby report on the work of the recently appointed Commission on
Theology, chaired by Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Theological
Seminary, Chicago. The Rev. James O. Duke, Fort Worth, is the Disciples'
representative on this commission. 

     In their first meeting the theologians expressed hope in dealing with the
theological concerns raised in recent years by the Episcopal Church. One
Episcopal theologian said, "All nine COCU communions can affirm 90 percent of
what is said in Churches in Covenant Communion. Only on the concept of the
episcopacy do we need to do more work."

     Other Disciples attending the ecumenical gathering were the Rev.
Mildred Slack, executive director of the Five Church Association, St. Louis, Mo.,
and the Rev. C. Roy Stauffer, senior minister of Lindenwood Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), Memphis.

                     *****

DISCNEWS - inbox for Disciples News Service, Office of Communication, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), PO Box 1986 Indianapolis, IN 46206, tele. (317) 635-3100, (DISCNEWS@ecunet.org) Wilma Shuffitt, News and Information Assistant; (CWILLIS@oc.disciples.org) Cliff Willis, Director of News and Information; (CMILLER@oc.disciples.org) Executive Director