wfn.org | Grammy-winning group to perform during 2001 General Synod/Assembly

["Office of Communications"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: July 27, 2000
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
E-mail: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

00b-43

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- A performance by Grammy-winning group, Sweet Honey 
in the Rock, will highlight the joint meeting of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ.

	The "common gathering" of the United Church General Synod and Disciples 
General Assembly will convene July 13-17, 2001, in Kansas City, Mo. The 
theme for the synod/assembly is "Gather at the Welcome Table." 

	This will be the second joint meeting of the churches' plenary bodies. 
The first time was in 1993 in St. Louis. Business sessions of the assembly 
and synod were conducted side-by-side in ‘93. In 2001, however, some joint 
meetings are planned of the decision-making bodies.

	Sweet Honey in the Rock is an African American female a capella ensemble 
that has deep musical roots in the sacred music of the black church 
including spirituals, hymns, gospel, as well as jazz and blues.

	Opening night, July 13, will feature a jazz service with a sermon by 
Disciples minister, the Rev. Mary Donovan Turner. A highly regarded 
preacher in churches nationwide, Turner is a professor of homiletics at 
Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. She is coauthor of Saved 
from Silence: Women, Voice, Preaching.

	The schedule also includes a July 16 service led by UCC and Disciples 
youth, and a July 14 address by Native American storyteller Ray Buckley. 
He heads the United Methodist Church's Native American Communications 
Office in Nashville, Tenn.

	Speakers for two of the five evening worship services have not been 
confirmed.

	Other activities during the synod/assembly include a "big jammin' youth" 
event that is hoped to attract up to 4,000 UCC and Disciples young people. 

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