News Worth Noting: February 15, 1963

A METHODIST EXPERIMENT—The Holman Methodist Church of Los Angeles is holding Monday evening services in an effort to reach people who can’t or won’t attend on Sunday mornings. “We have had as few as 17 worshipers, and as many as 100,” says the pastor, Dr. L. L. White. “I do not intend to measure the value by the usual yardstick, the size of attendance. We will measure it by what happens to the people who do come.”

PROTESTANT PANORAMA—Evangelist Billy Graham is reported to have agreed to a second major crusade in Chicago, June 4–13, 1965. Last year’s evangelistic series drew an aggregate of 703,000 persons with nightly meetings in McCormick Place and a closing rally at Soldier Field.

Anglicans plan a major expansion of their ministry in Latin America. Provisions include a “top quality program of theological education in an ecumenical setting.” The thrust was formulated at a four-day consultation in Cuernavaca, Mexico. On hand were 25 leaders of the Church of England, the Church of Canada, the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, and the Church of the Province of the West Indies.

The Southern Presbyterian Board of World Missions approved a proposal to give national churches greater control over the denomination’s missionary activities abroad. The recommendation had been made by a consultation on world missionary strategy convened by the board last October in Montreat, North Carolina.

Trans World Radio says its will put into operation on October 1 the world’s most powerful Protestant radio station. The transmitter will be located on the island of Curacao, about 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela. In addition to an initial 250,000-to-500,000 watt short-wave transmitter, an AM transmitter of at least 50,000 watts, and possibly as great as 750,000 watts, is being planned.

A resolution calling for law and order in complying with court or federal mandates on integrating public schools was tabled by the Alabama Episcopal diocese, 110 to 94. The Episcopal bishop of Alabama and his coadjutor were among 11 clergymen in the state signing a statement warning against “hatred and violence” and “inflammatory and rebellious” declarations in connection with the possible desegregation of public schools.

An estimated 10,000 persons filed into Manila’s Plaza Miranda for an evangelistic rally which took the form of a prelude to the Billy Graham crusade scheduled in March. Among the evangelists who spoke were Greg Tingson and Muri Thompson.

MISCELLANY—Plans are being laid in Holland for a joint Roman Catholic-Protestant church building campaign. Proposals under consideration involve many new churches at seaside resorts and other tourist centers. Suggestions have been made to build one or more of these seasonal churches for the use of both Catholics and Protestants.

Construction began on a $10,000,000 brewery “within smelling distance” of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. An appeal has been filed with the state Supreme Court asking for a ruling that would allow a local option liquor election in the precinct.

Ecumenical Press Service quotes missionaries who say there is “a ready market” for literature in the Congo. The Bible is said to be a best seller. Archie Graber of the Congo Inland Mission was quoted as saying that “interest in buying the Scriptures is at least double anything I’ve known in my 32 years in Congo.”

The words of the national anthem of Uganda have been modified to invoke the name of God. Instead of “O Uganda, thy people praise thee!” the words will read, “O Uganda, may God protect thee!”

The 275th anniversary of the birthday of Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian, was marked in Washington, D. C., by a tribute from the Swedish ambassador to the United States, Gunnar Jarring, who described him as “one of those universal genuises who turn up perhaps once in a century.”

The U. S. Senate observed the 45th anniversary of Ukrainian Independence Day by inviting the Rev. Joseph J. Fedorek, rector of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, to serve as its guest chaplain. The prayer marked the day in 1918 when the Ukraine declared its independence as a nation, a freedom later extinguished through Communist conquest.

Dr. Joost de Blank, Anglican Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, will preach the closing sermon at the Anglican World Congress in Toronto next summer. It will mark his first trip abroad since he suffered a coronary attack last summer.

Baptism was castigated as a “health menace” and “a senseless and dangerous rite” in the weekly pro-atheist broadcast of Moscow Radio. The Communist commentator said “thousands” of babies died of pneumonia following christening ceremonies and that “weak hearts” and “weak lungs” in adults had been traced to baptism in their early years.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION—Decatur (Texas) Baptist College, said to be the world’s oldest junior college, has been invited to move to Dallas to form the nucleus of a proposed Baptist university there.

Trustees of Gordon College and Divinity School authorized conversion of the academic calendar to a trimester program. Students will attend three equal periods of 14 weeks each which will enable them to complete undergraduate work in three years.

A group of presidents of private church-related colleges in North Carolina gave general approval to a plan whereby state financial aid would be provided their students. A committee, appointed by the group and headed by Dr. Carlyle Campbell of Meredith College, a Baptist school, will study specific proposals.

PERSONALIA—Dr. Helen Kim, president emeritus of Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, named to receive the 1963 Upper Room Citation for distinguished contributions to Christian fellowship around the world.

The Rev. J. Martin Bailey appointed editor of United Church Herald, official organ of the United Church of Christ.

The Rev. Philip Crouch named president of Central Bible Institute, ministerial training college of the Assemblies of God.

J. Edward Smith elected executive director of the Pocket Testament League.

WORTH QUOTING—“If I’ve learned anything in the last two years in working on the local level, it is that when the clergy provides leadership, we can move ahead.”—Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, in an address at the monthly meeting of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D. C.

“Prophetic preaching has been an integral part of the life of the Church at least since the eighth century B.C. Many times it has rescued civilization from the brink of disaster, and I for one am confident that it can do it again.”—Dr. K. Morgan Edwards of the Southern California School of Theology.

“The Church today needs time out to tune up. We are so busy building a bigger orchestra that we cannot stop to tune our instruments. What good is a big orchestra if two-thirds of the members never show up for practice or else are off key when they perform?”—Dr. Vance Havner, in an address to a conference of the Evangelistic Association of New England.

Deaths

WILLIAM CARDINAL GODFREY, 73, Archbishop of Westminster and leader of Britain’s five million Roman Catholics; in London.

DR. ROLAND QUINCHE LEAVELL, 71, president emeritus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

DR. J. ERNEST RATTENBURY, 92, leader of the opposition to the Methodist union in Britain in the late 1920s and former superintendent of the West London Mission; in London.

PROFESSOR AARON E. KOPF, 36, director of admission at Concordia Theological Seminary; in Springfield, Illinois.

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