c. 2005 Religion News Service

Christian Groups Join in Global Day of Prayer on Sunday

(RNS) Christian organizations around the country are gearing up for a worldwide prayer event to be celebrated Sunday (May 15) on Pentecost.

The Global Day of Prayer, scheduled on the day that Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, will bring together religious leaders from various denominations to pray for the world and to create Christian unity.

Organizers of the worldwide event said it will take place at thousands of sites in more than 150 countries.

In the United States, Dallas will serve as the main location for the day of prayer. However, many cities have coordinated their own affiliate events.

In Orange County, Calif., organizers have rented out a high school stadium and expect more than 3,000 participants to come out for the prayer day, according to Curtis Jessup, pastor at Eastside Christian Church in Orange County and one of the coordinators for the event in his area.

Sunday’s scheduled activities have been preceded by 10 days of prayer, and will be followed by a 90-day community initiative by the participating churches and religious groups.

The outreach effort will include projects like building low-income housing, painting schools, and mentoring children, said Bob Bakke, U.S. coordinator for the Global Day of Prayer.

The goal of this initiative is to build relationships with the community, Jessup said. “We’re trying to get outside of the four walls of the church,” he said.

_ Yogita Patel

United Church of Christ Considers Alternative Ordination Process

(RNS) The United Church of Christ will consider a proposal in July to allow alternative means for ordaining ministers, the church announced Thursday (May 12).

Like most mainline Protestant churches, UCC clergy traditionally attend the standard four years of college and three years of seminary. However, the church is mulling ways to ordain clergy who have not taken the traditional seven-year education track.

If approved by the church’s General Synod this summer, the plan could increase the number of pastors and boost the UCC’s ability to “provide leadership to many of our congregations in rural or transitional urban communities,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a statement.

This option would enable the church to focus more on the “unique qualifications of the candidate for ordination” than the “preparation process,” the UCC’s Council for Theological Education said.

While the formal theological education will remain the standard, the church is open to pursuing other options, the leaders said. Under the proposed change, the church’s forms of authorized ministry would stand: ordained, licensed and commissioned.

If the pronouncement passes in July, “the real work will just begin” for the 1.3 million-member denomination, Thomas said. The General Synod will be held from July 1-5 in Atlanta.

_ Heather Horiuchi

Disciples Leader Urges Calm After `Difficult Time’

(RNS) The head of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) appealed for calm after several controversies have troubled the internal waters of the 786,000-member denomination and led to a “difficult time.”

The Rev. William Chris Hobgood, general minister and president of the Disciples, said problems surrounding the search for his successor, financial troubles for an anti-racism initiative and the bankruptcy of a social services agency have been “deeply troubling” for him and the wider church.

“We cannot be a fair weather group of folks who sort of like each other some of the time if things are going well,” Hobgood said in a May pastoral letter. “We are the body of Christ, and we are called to be faithful to one another even if we don’t always see eye to eye.”

An initial slate of nominees to succeed Hobgood was rejected by church leaders. A second round produced the Rev. Sharon Watkins of Bartlesville, Okla., as the nominee, but only after some Disciples complained the process took too long.

“Sometimes we just aren’t in sync with God’s schedule, are we?” Hobgood said. Watkins’ nomination will be voted on at the church’s General Assembly in July.

Hobgood rejected criticism that funds had been diverted from an anti-racism initiative but acknowledged that it had not been adequately funded. The church is looking for ways to continue funding the 35-year-old program.

Hobgood also addressed the insolvency of the National Benevolent Association, the church’s social services arm, that was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell 11 senior citizen facilities. He said the larger church did not intervene sooner because the agency was structured to run independently. He said the stock market and rising costs of health care caused financial losses.

Hobgood expressed regret for the bankruptcy, but said there is “no clear answer” and urged the church to move on. “We do tend to turn on each other if someone appears like they are going to mess in our stuff,” he said. “Sometimes, sadly, we even seem to shoot our wounded.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Panel Will Broker Disputes Between Anglican Parishes, Bishops

LONDON (RNS) The leader of the Anglican Communion on Wednesday (May 11) formed a “panel of reference” to help broker disputes between conservative parishes and bishops who are at odds over homosexuality and other issues.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams appointed the primate of Australia, Archbishop Peter Carnley, to chair the panel. Carnley will also help conservative dioceses who feel alienated from the national church.

The panel was recommended “as a matter of urgency” by the primates, or chief bishops, of the Anglican Communion when they met in Northern Ireland in February. The aim was “to protect the integrity and legitimate needs of groups in serious theological dispute” with the church hierarchy.

The panel will likely be especially needed in the Episcopal Church _ the U.S. branch of Anglicanism _ as conservatives continue to protest the installation of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Many conservatives have demanded oversight by a likeminded bishop beyond their diocese. Some proposals to provide “pastoral care” have been rejected by not going far enough. Some liberal bishops, meanwhile, say conservatives are making unreasonable demands that threaten traditional lines of authority.

The nine-member Carnley panel, which will exist for at least five years, will be charged with supervising “the adequacy of pastoral provisions” for dissident parishes. Williams is expected to name the members of the panel soon.

The panel will inquire, on behalf of Williams, into situations “where there is serious dispute concerning the adequacy of schemes of delegated or extended episcopal oversight.”

The leader of the U.S. church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, said in a statement that he welcomed the new panel and said the American bishops “are committed” to ensuring adequate care for all parts of the church.

_ Robert Nowell

Magazine Highlights Late Pope’s Focus on Charismatic Movement

(RNS) A U.S. Pentecostal magazine has credited the late Pope John Paul II with encouraging charismatic renewal across the globe.

The pontiff will be featured on the cover of the June issue of Charisma magazine, which will be published May 15. While media reports have often described the late pope as “charismatic,” this Christian publication delves more than most into his links to the term’s religious definition.

“It’s an aspect that nobody else really cares about,” said the magazine’s editor, J. Lee Grady, in an interview.

Pentecostals and charismatics have emphasized what they call “gifts” or signs of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in unknown tongues, prophecy and healing. The magazine includes an article whose author says of his visits with the pontiff: “On some occasions he audibly `groaned’ in the Spirit while in deep intercession.” The author, Ralph Martin, said he didn’t know if the late pope had prayed in tongues.

The magazine details how the pontiff was supportive of Pentecostals during his time as priest, cardinal and pope.

“Had he never become pope, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla’s openness to the works of the Holy Spirit would have simply been testimony to the broadmindedness of a Polish clergyman,” writes author Stephen Mansfield in the cover story. “When he became pope, though, he was in a position to deepen the place for charismatic life that had been pioneered under Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and the brief term of Pope John Paul I.”

Stories in the magazine note that the late pontiff followed a daily practice of saying a prayer to the Holy Spirit he had learned from his father. He invited the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office to operate within the Vatican.

“John Paul II believed that every Christian was called to be charismatic _ alive to the Holy Spirit, open to and obedient to his gifts, led by him to carry out the work of evangelization,” wrote Martin, president of Renewal Ministries, a Catholic mission organization.

Grady said John Paul’s support of the charismatic movement was in contrast to other Catholic leaders.

“In the Catholic Church in America and in other places, there are many priests and bishops who fought it,” he said. “But for the pope to put his seal of approval on it was huge. … All the top leaders in the Catholic charismatic renewal really saw him as a champion of their cause.”

The monthly magazine, which is regularly sold in Christian bookstores, will appear on secular newstands nationally for the first time with the June issue.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

(RNS) “…He never made me feel that my faith and my intellect were at war with one another. He always made me believe that God gave you a brain, and he expects you to use it.”

_ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussing her faith and her father, a late Presbyterian minister, during a Wednesday (May 11) appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

KRE/JL END RNS

Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for a photos to accompany the story about Charisma magazine (fifth item).