c. 2006 Religion News Service
Catholic Bishops Plan Response to Revivalist Movements
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican convened Roman Catholic bishops in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday (July 17) to discuss the inroads Christian revivalist movements and Evangelical churches have made into regions once dominated by Catholic missionaries.
The weeklong seminar aims “to find a pastoral response to the emerging challenges, particularly the rapid growth of new religious movements _ Pentecostal, Evangelical and charismatic ,” the Vatican said in a statement released Monday.
Revival churches have been eating away at Catholicism’s numbers in Africa, Asia and Latin America in recent years. Followers of Pentecostal and charismatic churches preach a more direct relationship with Jesus Christ than Catholic theology typically allows. Worship is often accented by speaking in tongues and can involve faith healing.
The growth of Pentecostalism has been particularly rapid. The movement, which marked its hundredth anniversary in April, claims up to 600,000 members worldwide.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is presiding at the meeting.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Free Will Baptists Convene National Meeting This Week
(RNS) Free Will Baptists don’t get as much attention as some of their bigger denominational brethren.
“We don’t have any megachurches like the Southern Baptists,” said the Rev. Keith Burden, executive secretary of the National Association of Free Will Baptists. “We don’t have a Bellevue Baptist or a Saddleback Church.”
Free Will Baptists worship mostly in small, rural churches, but they have been growing, with national membership of 308,000 in 2,500 churches, and this week they will be holding a national meeting in Birmingham, Ala., that’s expected to draw about 6,000.
Free Will Baptists are characterized by a belief that the Bible is divinely inspired and error-free and that salvation is attained through a spontaneous spiritual decision to accept Christ.
They believe that a person can be saved only once, and if someone later commits apostasy by denying the tenets of Christianity, salvation can be lost. “We believe it’s possible to turn from faith and lose your salvation,” Burden said.
Free Will Baptists practice three “ordinances of the gospel,” baptizing by immersion and, from one to four times a year, celebrating the Lord’s Supper and having a foot-washing ceremony.
Many attending the conferences will take part in outreach to the homeless and other service projects while in Birmingham, said the Rev. Mike Cox, pastor of the 100-member Forestdale Free Will Baptist Church in Birmingham.
“Although we’re historically rural, it’s becoming more of a metro denomination,” Cox said.
“Our newer churches are being started in growing areas, in suburbs,” he said.
_ Greg Garrison
Christian Media: More Clergy than Lay People Use It
(RNS) Usage of Christian media is much higher for Protestant clergy than for Protestant lay people, a new survey shows.
The survey, by Phoenix-based Ellison Research, found that 78 percent of Protestant churchgoers listen to music that is specifically Christian, and Christian music makes up about 42 percent of their listening choices. Ninety-four percent of Protestant ministers listen to Christian music, which makes up about 66 percent of their music choices.
The research suggests that Christian media’s wide reach is big business. “Secular corporations have been backing movies with strong religious themes, buying Christian publishing companies, and releasing albums from Christian artists,” said Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research.
But Christian media did not generate as much interest as secular choices among those surveyed.
Christian Web sites attracted 64 percent of Protestant churchgoers, which accounted for 20 percent of their total Internet usage. For pastors, 83 percent visit Christian Web sites, accounting for 51 percent of the sites they visit.
Only 44 percent of churchgoers read any Christian magazines, compared to 87 percent of clergy who read them.
Ellison Research conducted the survey using a representative sample of 806 Protestant church ministers with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent, and a companion survey of 1,184 adults who attend a Protestant church at least once a month, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
The results was published in the July/August edition of Facts & Trends, published by LifeWay Christian Resources, a publishing entity of the Southern Baptist Convention.
_ J. Edward Mendez
Quote of the Day: NAACP Chairman Julian Bond
(RNS) “We have values, we vote our values, and we demand to be valued in return.”
_ NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, speaking in a keynote address Sunday (July 16) at the African-American organization’s annual convention in Washington about how an appearance by President Bush at the meeting would show he hears the concerns of black Americans. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DSB/JL END RNS
