'ChristiaNet'
Monthly Global News and
Information for members and friends of the
Christian - Churches of Christ -
Disciples of Christ family of churches around the world from 'World
Convention’
Number
47 – March 2007
To contact us, or
discontinue, write only to worldconv@aol.com ChristiaNet uses a
send-only address. Clinton J. Holloway,
Editor
New Stone-Campbell
Resource Available
The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian
Imagination and the Dream of An African Democracy
by Pepperdine University Professor Michael W. Casey has
been released by Baylor University Press. It can be purchased for $29.97 (USD)
at (www.buy.com) or through a number of other
online distributors. Garfield Todd of New Zealand rose from the ranks of a
missionary to head of state as the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe) from 1953-1958 (see Zimbabwe profile on our webpage). In this volume
Casey argues that Todd’s religious heritage in the Stone-Campbell Movement
explains his political rhetoric. Sir Garfield and Lady Grace were strong
advocates of World Convention during their lifetimes. Contact the author at Michael.Casey@pepperdine.edu
Call for
Communion Meditations
A feature of the 2008 World Convention will be the
launch of the bicentennial celebrating the 1809 publication of Thomas Campbell’s
Declaration and Address. The
Bicentennial Task Force is planning a special book to commemorate the event and
issue a new call to Christian Unity. One feature of the book will be the
inclusion of up to six communion meditations from international voices. Others not chosen for inclusion in the volume
may appear on the forthcoming www.greatcommunion.org website.
Writers are invited to submit a communion meditation of 250-300 words under the
theme “The Unity We Share at the Table.” Scripture texts should be included but
need not be part of the overall word count. Deadline for submission is June 1, 2007 and should be
sent as an email or attachment to Clinton J. Holloway at milligan95@yahoo.com under the subject
heading “Communion Meditation.”
Manuscripts may be sent to 5043 Briarwood Drive, Nashville, TN
37211 USA. We look forward to your
submission.
World’s Oldest
Member of Stone-Campbell Movement Dies at 108
Sister Laura
Keeble died
Monday March 5,
2007 at a Nashville, Tennessee nursing home. Sister Keeble was the widow of the famed African-American Evangelist Marshall Keeble, reported to have begun more than 250
congregations and baptized tens of thousands of people during his lifetime and
did much to bring about integration in the South. Sister Keeble, known for her support of her husband’s ministry and
her own immense spiritual strength, born in 1898, her life spanned three
centuries, and is thought to have been the oldest person in the Stone-Campbell
Movement. To read stories of Sister Keeble’s life go
to http://christianchronicle.org
Christian
Unity in Action
Austin,
Texas area churches are working to show Christian Unity in
action to their community and to the world. Seeking to actively explore God’s
call of unity among believers Western Hills Church of Christ of Austin formed a committee
to initiate fellowship and communication in 2006. Their initial effort brought
together over fifty ministers and elders from twenty congregations representing
the three streams of the Movement. Today their efforts are growing and producing
much fruit, which will include hosting a unity breakfast as part of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue this weekend.
For more on their efforts go to www.unity-christian.com
Prayer
Focus
As we pass through the Lenten season
looking towards our celebration of the Resurrection give thanks to God for his
indescribable gift of love towards us.
New
Briefs
As noted above plans for the Bicentennial of the Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address are
evolving. Kick-off of the celebration will occur at the World Convention and
conclude October 4,
2009. A press release detailing plans underway can be found at http://discipleshistory.or/about/news/press_release_030907.htm Please feel free to share the release with
your media outlets and periodicals.
Standard Publishing of Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1866 is perhaps the oldest
continually operating publishing house of the Stone-Campbell Movement has
announced a move from the Hamilton
Ave location it has occupied for the last five
decades. Standard Publishing will now be located at 8805 Governor’s Hill Drive,
Suite
400, Mason,
Ohio 45249. In preparing to leave their
former facility, which included seven acres under one roof, Standard Publishing
is donating thousands of historical documents from their archives to Nashville’s Disciples of Christ Historical Society,
whose mission is to preserve the history of all three streams of the
Stone-Campbell Movement.
Mission Connect is looking for Christian professionals
from Christian, Disciples and Churches of Christ congregations who want to serve
on short-term mission trips to do humanitarian work in remote rural regions of
western Romania. Mission Connect has sponsored
seventeen evangelistic, humanitarian, educational, medical, and agricultural
teams since 2001. Contact jsweitzer@insightbb.com or visit www.missionconnect.net for more
information.
International Disaster Emergency Services
announces a new
user-friendly website at www.ides.org
Issue 53 of World Christian is currently at the
printers. However you can get an early bird preview as the full color edition is
now posted on our website at www.worldconvention.org
Australia’s Overseas Missions Board has changed
their name to Australian Churches of
Christ Global Mission Partners
as a reflection of their desire to keep in step with where they feel God is
leading them as the facilitating body between churches and individuals in
Australia and their current
mission partners (Fiji,
Zimbabwe, India,
PNG/Vanuatu) and beyond. Contact valomb1@bigpond.net.au for further
information. (See the World Convention website for national profiles on each of
these countries!)
February storms resulted in at least
$400,000 to the Kulpahar Kid’s Home and Christian School in
Kulpahar, Uttar Pradesh, India. Kulpahar has the site of a Stone-Campbell Movement mission
since the U.S. Christian Woman’s Board of Missions purchased land there in 1906.
Contact kulpkids2004@yahoo.com for
how you can help.
The National
Evangelism Workshop for 2007 will be held immediately before the Disciples’
General Assembly in Fort
Worth, July 18-20. NEW07 will feature three tracks: 1)
evangelism/transformation, 2) church planting and, 3) coaching. Registration is
only $99 through March and can be found at www.NEW07.org
World
Convention on the Road: Executive
Director Jeff Weston is traveling throughout India
visiting churches and engaging in deputation work on behalf of the World
Convention. Through March 19 Jeff is with Dr. Philemon Pawar in Mumbai. March 19-22 Jeff will be visiting Kirin
Gaikwad of Hosanna Ministries and for the last leg of
the trip, March 23-27, will be visiting Iris Paul at Helping Hand Society. Please keep Jeff in your prayers!
2007 Calendar of Events
March 27-30, Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee will present their annual Frederick
Kershner Memorial Lectures, “Pray Without Ceasing, The Apostle Paul & the Life of Prayer”
with guest lecturer Dr. Bonnie B. Thurston. For more information go to www.esr.edu
April 13-14, Stone-Campbell Journal Conference, “To the Ends of the Earth: The Christian
Mission in New Testament Perspective,” Cincinnati, Ohio, Contact: www.stone-campbelljournal.com
May 1-4, Pepperdine University Bible Lectures, Malibu, California
May 21-25, Festival of Homiletics, Nashville, Tennessee, contact dhowell3@earthlink.net
May 31-June 2 Oklahoma Christian University Quest,
Focusing Ministry on Transformation, www.oc.edu
June 4-8, 58th Annual Blue Ridge
Encampment and Educators Conference, Great Smoky
Mountains, www.blueridgeencampment.org
June 4-7, “The Ascending Voice,” An International Symposium of Sacred A Cappella Music, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, wwwpepperdine.edu/provost/conferences/ascendingvoice
World
Convention seeks to build up fellowship, understanding and common purpose within
the Christian - Churches of Christ - Disciples of Christ family of churches, now
serving and witnessing as part of Christ's church in no less than 178
countries.
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July 30 – August 3, 2008