wfn.org | Renowned Disciples ecumenist to offer key Christian unity

["Clifford L. Willis"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

message
Date: September 2, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

98a-55

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Once a year, the Peter Ainslie Lecture and 
Celebration of Christian Unity renews the global spirit and substance 
of global ecumenism by bringing a world-renowned ecumenist to the 
pulpit to share her or his vision. 

	The Ainslie Lecture, held all over North America in the last 16 
years, this fall returns to Indianapolis for the first time since 
1984. The Rev. Paul A. Crow Jr. will present the lecture. Crow is 
president of Council on Christian Unity of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ), the ecumenical body founded by the Rev. Peter 
Ainslie.  

	The celebrated lecture will be held this year in conjunction with 
the annual meeting of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis. 
It is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at Christ Church 
Apostolic, Indianapolis. There is no charge for the lecture or the 
reception that will follow at 5:30 p.m. Those attending the Ainslie 
Lecture may attend the Church Federation's dinner and annual meeting 
which will begin at 6:00 p.m. There is a charge for the dinner. 

	The poignancy of Crow's appearance is sharpened by his impending 
retirement at the end of 1998. His Ainslie speech will be grounded in 
more than four decades of distinguished global ecumenical ministry 
including 25 years as the Disciples chief ecumenical officer. 

	Crow has been a pastor and professor of church history. He served as 
the first general secretary for the Consultation on Church Union. He 
has been a member of the World Council of Churches Central Committee 
for nearly a quarter of a century and of the WCC's Faith and Order 
Commission for 30 years. He was moderator of the board of the 
Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, and served on the board of directors of 
the U.S. Conference of the WCC. 

	Crow coordinated ecumenical partnership conversations between the 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of 
Christ. He has been the Disciples voice in the international 
dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church, the World Alliance of 
Reformed Churches, and the Russian Orthodox Church. 

	The Ainslie Lecture is the highlight of several days of activities 
celebrating Christian unity. On Saturday, Nov. 7, at 5:00 p.m., a 
Eucharist will be celebrated at Christ Church Cathedral, 
Indianapolis, followed at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and dinner in 
Crow's honor at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. On Monday, Nov. 9, 
there will be a breakfast seminar for pastors and lay church members 
at 8:00 a.m. at the Krannert Room (lower level), Clowes Memorial 
Hall, Butler University. The seminar will be an opportunity to 
discuss Crow's Ainslie Lecture and the future of the ecumenical 
movement. There is no charge for the breakfast seminar.

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