c. 1998 Religion News Service

Calif. congregation to leave United Methodist Church

(RNS) Some 200 members of the Kingsburg (Calif.) United Methodist Church _ virtually the entire membership _ have declared that”in Christian conscience”they can no longer remain in the mainline Protestant denomination.

Methodist officials said it is the largest single withdrawal of members since the recent flare-up earlier this year over the issue of same-sex marriage.

The congregation’s trustees maintained their membership in the denomination in order to manage the church property until its disposition is determined and settled. Departing members, who have formed an independent congregation _ Kingsburg Community Church _ said they wanted to buy the property.

In a June 28 sermon just prior to the vote to withdraw from the church, the Rev. Ed Ezaki said the United Methodist Church is plagued by”two separate faiths … that cannot be held together”and he criticized the denomination’s lack of doctrinal firmness, saying”anyone who breathes is now allowed to become a United Methodist.”There are some things in life that require absolute purity,”he said.”And following God is one of them.” The California-Nevada Annual Conference of the denomination has been a key battleground between evangelicals, who believe the church is sliding toward acceptance of homosexuality, and moderates who support a more tolerant attitude.

Earlier this year, a large group of evangelicals asked to be peacefully separated from the annual conference but the request was rejected. Church officials said the congregation has been moving toward a breach with the denomination since the March trial of the Rev. Jimmy Creech, the Nebraska pastor narrowly acquitted by a church court of disobeying church rules by performing a same-sex covenant service.

In its resolution announcing its intention to leave the denomination, the Kingsburg congregation said the annual conference had”broken trust with Scripture, the Book of Discipline and our heritage in John Wesley by supporting clergy who perform same-sex ceremonies, promoting sexual permissiveness and excluding biblical United Methodists from leadership.”

Ancient basilica unearthed in Jordan may be world’s oldest church

(RNS) An American archaeologist has unearthed in southern Jordan the remains of what may be the oldest building in the world designed for use as a church.

The ancient basilica was discovered in June in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, the Associated Press reported Wednesday (July 8).

Sawsan Fakhiri, an official with the Aqaba Antiquities Department, said the find was most likely”a church built in the late third century. But we need to study it closely before we come out with a resolute conclusion.” The earliest churches in Jordan were thought to have been built in the fourth century.

If it is determined the church was built in the third century, the Aqaba structure would be the oldest church in the world designed and build for that purpose, said Thomas Parker, a history professor at North Carolina State University who is leading the 53 Jordanian and American archaeologists at the site.

German leftists use Jesus’ image to combat anti-immigration policies

(RNS) The leftist Greens party in Germany has adopted an image of Jesus in campaign posters designed to attack the anti-immigration position taken by the rival Christian Social Union party.

The CSU, part of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s center-right government, want the posters withdrawn.

The placards show Jesus with the slogan”Beckstein would deport Jesus, too,”referring to Bavaria’s hardline Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein,”the Associated Press reported Thursday (July 9).

Greens party leaders defended the posters saying Jesus and his parents were refugees and would be subject to deportation under strict immigration laws if they were to arrive in Bavaria today.

The Greens said they would consider withdrawing the posters if the CSU agrees to moderate its refugee and immigration policies.

Germany has some 7 million foreigners, more than any other European nation.

English Anglicans reject ending government role in naming bishops

(RNS) A call to end the government’s role in the appointment of bishops in the Church of England has been firmly defeated by the denomination’s general synod.

Since 1977, bishops have been appointed by a process whereby a 12-member church committee, the Crown Appointments Commission, puts forward two names to the prime minister. The prime minister then forwards one of the names to the Queen for the actual nomination.

Under the rules, the prime minister can select the commission’s second choice or ask the commission to come up with two additional names. In the past, both have occurred, creating some criticism among church officials.

A resolution before the general synod called for scrapping what it said was the farcical procedure of the election of a bishop by the dean and chapter of the diocese concerned _ an”election”with only one candidate, the person nominated by the Queen. In 1983. the general synod passed a measure abolishing the elections, but in 1984 the measure was rejected by the House of Commons.

In 1985, the synod rejected a proposal to resubmit the measure to Parliament.

The synod did, however, call for a review of the whole procedure for the appointment of bishops as well as of the”election”of bishops by cathedral chapters. Such a review, however, is unlikely to change the church-state links embodied in the prime minister having the final say in episcopal appointments.

Update: New arrests of Christians in Saudi Arabia

(RNS) Nine more Filipino and Dutch Christians reportedly have been detained in Saudi Arabia, raising the number of foreign Christians believed held there to at least 18.

The Christians _ all of whom were working in Saudi Arabia _ reportedly were involved in illegally distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the staunchly conservative Muslim kingdom. Saudi Arabia allows no Christian missionary efforts, or even public expressions of Christianity, including worship services or the wearing of a cross.

In June, 11 Christians _ 10 Filipinos and one Dutch national _ were detained, although two Filipinos were later released. One Filipino woman detained was pregnant and reportedly gave birth to a girl while in custody. It was unknown whether she and her child were still being held.

Dutch and Filipino embassy officials in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Wednesday (July 7) reported the latest roundup of Christians. Eight Filipinos and one Dutchman were seized in the second wave of detentions.

Saudi officials have declined to comment.

Freedom House, a Washington-based religious rights group, has urged President Clinton to protest what it termed”this outrageous persecution of Christians for religious reasons.”

Quote of the Day: Assemblies of God executive Charles A. Brewster Sr.

(RNS)”When I was in the U.S. Secret Service, I protected presidents, but now I serve a King, my Lord Jesus Christ. Before, I carried a gun, but now I carry a sword. I was clothed with a bulletproof vest, but now I am clothed with the full armor of God.” _ Charles A. Brewster Sr., the new director of HonorBound: Men of Promise, the men’s ministries department of the Assemblies of God denomination, about his recent transition from being a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, in an interview published Wednesday (July 8) by the Assemblies of God News and Information Service.

DEA END RNS