c. 1997 Religion News Service
Researchers: Family disruption may keep GenXers from church
(RNS) Two researchers who have conducted a large study of so-called GenXers and other demographic cohorts say their findings may help congregations attract the missing young adults back to the church fold.
The Rev. Jackson W. Carroll, professor of religion and society at Duke University Divinity School, and Wade Clark Roof, a professor of religion and society at the University of California at Santa Barbara, surveyed 1,150 people in North Carolina and southern California about their worship styles, church-going habits and religious beliefs to get answers about religion and congregational life, reported the United Methodist News Service.
The survey included Generation Xers _ those born between 1964 and 1979 _ as well as Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1963, and so-called Pre-boomers, those born prior to 1946.”Forty-five percent of the Xers went through some sort of family disruption _ the divorce or separation of their parents _ or they were raised by a single parent,”Carroll said.”That compares to 27 percent of the Boomers and 23 percent of the Pre-boomers.” Carroll said the survey showed that more than 80 percent of each group have a belief in God but a majority of all three generations were dissatisfied with the vitality of their congregations.
The results of the study, Carroll said, can help churches become aware of the attitudes toward religious involvement and church of GenXers as well as the other groups. He said the most successful churches”function like a shopping mall.””People pick and choose among small groups that meet their particular needs like a variety of shops and boutiques. And they come in and out,”Carroll said.”Churches have to find a way of encouraging a greater sense of commitment, longer staying power and offer more direction,”he said.
North Korea asks Southern Baptists for winter coats for children
(RNS) North Korea has asked Southern Baptists for 180,000 coats _ most to be delivered by Christmas Day _ to protect the famine-ravaged country’s children from the cold.
In a”Coats for Christmas”drive, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board aims to collect new and used coats in good condition by Dec. 15 to send to the country. The drive is a joint project of the IMB, Women’s Missionary Union and the North American Mission Board, said Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.”We continue to see the door of opportunity open wider for Southern Baptists to demonstrate God’s love in North Korea,”said Mickey Caison, disaster relief director for the North American Mission Board.
North Korean officials fear that without the coats, children could freeze to death in several North Korean provinces. Leaders in the officially atheistic country asked for 102,000 coats by Dec. 25, and the rest in January.
Southern Baptists have given about $1.5 million since January 1996 for hunger relief to North Korea through the International Mission Board and other agencies.
The request came through John LaNoue, director of adult ministries for Texas Baptist Men, who spent three months traveling throughout North Korea. LaNoue said officials asked for massive amounts of food and clothing.
Methodist bishop longs to forgive Winnie Mandela
(RNS) – The Methodist bishop of Johannesburg wept at a hearing of South Africa’s truth commission Wednesday (Nov. 26), and said he longed to forgive Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who had branded him a child-abuser.
Bishop Paul Verryn testified at a public hearing of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which is investigating allegations that in the 1980s Madikizela-Mandela and her bodyguards kidnapped, tortured and murdered young anti-apartheid activists whom they suspected of being government informers, reported Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”I have been profoundly, profoundly affected by some of the things you have said about me, that have hurt me and cut me to the quick,”Verryn said.”I have had to struggle to come to some place of learning to forgive, even if you do not want forgiveness or even think that I deserve to offer that to you. I am struggling for the sake of this nation and the people whom I believe God loves deeply,”he said.
Verryn was accused by Madikizela-Mandela of being a child abuser after her bodyguards allegedly kidnapped four youth from his residence and took them to her house. The youth were beaten tortured, and 14-year-old activist Stompie Seipei, was later murdered.
The TRC, chaired by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is investigating human rights violations committed during the apartheid era.
In 1991, Madikizela-Mandela was found guilty of Seipei’s kidnapping and assault. During and after the trial, Madikizela-Mandela testified that the bishop sexually abused the youth. Verryn, who at the time of the 1988 incident was a minister in the black township of Soweto, denied the allegations and was later cleared by his church.
The TRC hearing is not a court of law and cannot prosecute anyone but can hear testimonies of atrocities committed during the apartheid era. From the hearings, the attorney-general may decide whether he wants to institute criminal proceedings.
Update: UN envoy says Farrakhan’s Iraq trip”unhelpful” (RNS) – Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s proposed visit to Iraq would be”unhelpful,”according to Bill Richardson, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Farrakhan, who was due to leave Monday (Dec. 1) for a 50-nation world tour, has said that among the countries he will visit are Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Cuba _ all nations with which the U.S. has less than friendly diplomatic . relations. The Washington Post quoted Farrakhan as saying he hopes to see Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during his visit to the country.”And I hope, when I go to Iraq, that I will be able to report to the American people that here’s a man that is ready to sit down, talk with the American administration and come to terms with the disagreements with America,”Farrakhan said.
Richardson said the United States and Iraq were in a”state of tension”over U.N. inspections of suspected Iraqi weapons sites and such a visit would send Iraq the wrong message.”We want (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein to comply fully with the U.N. Security Council resolutions. And we don’t want to send him a different signal from a prominent American leader,”Richardson said.
It is illegal for U.S. citizens to travel to Iraq without permission.
First public Mass at earthquake-stricken St. Francis basilica
(RNS) – About 200 worshipers attended the first public Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, two months after earthquakes devastated the upper level of the famed church building.
The public Mass was celebrated on the lower level of the church, the Washington Post reported.
On Sept. 26 quakes killed four people and destroyed part of a ceiling decorated with priceless early Renaissance frescoes.
Tremors still continue in Assisi and Umbria, the surrounding area.
Quote of the day: Patrick Taran, secretary of migration for the World Council of Churches.
(RNS)”We recognize that people may commit illegal acts, but to state that a human being is per se illegal is both unethical and dangerous. It criminalizes human beings by definition, and puts them in the same category as commodities, such illegal drugs or firearms. In doing so, it provides an apparent justification to treat such individuals as non-persons, without any human identity or basic rights.” Patrick Taran, secretary of migration for the World Council of Churches in Nov. 26 testimony before the International Organization for Migration in Geneva.
DEA END RNS
