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Show c3 The Salt Lake Tribune RELIGION Saturday, May 2, 1998 WORLD VIEW Britain Exports Popular Evangelism Program to U.S. Churches Food, fellowship and discussion of Christian principles areall part of 10-week Alpha courses,called ‘evangelism forordinarypeople’ BY ADELLE M. BANKS RELIGION NEWS SERVICE FALLS CHURCH, Va. — On recent evening in the fellowship hall of The Falls Church, more than 100 people caught up Compiled by PeggyFletcher Stack Poll of Teens Contradicts Stereotypes on each other's lives as they prepared to settle into their weekly session of the Alpha course. After socializing with platesoffish, corn and salad on their laps, the mixed crowd of longtime churchgoers, new Christians, “seekers” and agnostics turned to the more serious aspect of their evening — asking hard questions about prayer and heating. “How de you go about prayer for yourself without being a prayer hog?” one woman asked. The Episcopal church’s rector, the Rev. 4 A New York Times/CBS News Poll of teen-agers under- 8 mined some long-standingste- reotypesthis week. Ninety- Jobn Yates, dressed in a whiteshirt andtie, answered the question by drawing on personal experience. “T pray this way regularly — ‘Father, I feela little funny asking you for this he admitted. Food, fellowship and discussion are the key aspects of Alpha, a 10-week course of study on basic Christian principles that is little-known in the United States. It began at Holy Trinity Brompton, a charismatic Anglican church in London, two decades ago. Now,after being revampedin the early 1990s from a course for new Christians to an outreach to non-churchgoers, it has swept through British churches and becomie as much a movementas a curriculum. The course is being offered in homes and churches — Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal — across the globe. Alpha officials say there are about 10,000 churches in 75 countries offering the course. Half of those courses are in GreatBritain, where plans are under way to invite everyonein the nationto take part in the study in the fall through a massive billboard campaign. gospel messagein a different form. The focus on all three aspects of the “I never imagined Alpha would work outside of our parish,” the Rev. Nicky Gumbel, an English Anglican on the Trinity — peril! the Holy Spirit — isa key part of the weeks, course partiipants are encoureged to take part in a weekend retreat where they can learn about baptism in the Holy Spirit, whick may include speaking in tonguesor gifts of prophecyor healing. Brompton parish staff who reworked the curriculum for non-churchgoers, told the audience at a mid-April conference in Bethesda, Md. Gumbelis the author of Questions ofLife, the book on which the course is based. Somechurch leaders have chosen not to include the charismatic focus, but Gumbel thinks the courseisn’t the same withoutit. Organizers hoped the two days of train- ing at the Maryland Alpha conference would lead to more courses in the United States. Mostof the 450 attendees — Catholies and Protestants, Baptists and Pentecos- He said churches surveyed in England found those leaving out the emphasis on the Holy Spirit were theleast satisfied. tals — knew almost nothing about Alpha Theseries of sessions end with a ‘‘cele- and cametolearn if it was for them. bration supper,” which allows participants to invite friends and family members who Gumbel, the chaplain to Alpha, calls the course “evangelism for ordinary peopie’’ they hopewill take the next course. Course leaders hope past participants will either start attending church or become moreinvolved in a congregation who don't consider themselves natural evangelists. He compares it to a modern version of a crusade, proclaiming the same four percent of the teens said they believe in God, 51 percent | said they got along “very well” with their parents, and 46 percent said they related “fairly well,” The poll of 1,048 teens betweer the ages of 13 and 17, taken through nationwideteie| phone interviews April 2-7, | had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, Almost half — 53 percent of girls and 41 percent of boys — said sex before marriage is “always wrong.”Larger major- ities — 58 percent of boys and 47 percentof girls — said ho- mosexuality is “always wrong.” Fewerthan one in four said they had ever had sex, but 7i percentsaid “a lot” or “some” of their peers at school were | having sex. While aimost half of the same teens said they did | not approveof sex before mar| riage, they supported thedistribution of condoms in schools. — Religion News Service o Recruiting Priests The Rev. David Bonnar was oneofeight priests ordained by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1988. This year, there may,be two; in 1999, there will be none. But Bonnar,director of vocations for the diocese responsible for recruiting priest candidates, has a plan. He is encouraging each parish to identify and encour- age men td consider the priesthood. The diocese also is pro- ducing a'video for males of high schod] and college age detailing the priestly life. Priests and seminarians visit schools and parishes to share their experiences. Pittsburgh's 218 Israel Tackles vorce, said Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a Yale-trained lecturer in The Big Issue of family law at Bar-Ilan University. Church & State ty settlementby a religious court tend to appealto the civil courts — appeals that are expensive and @ Continued from C-1 not always available to the poor. One of the ironies of Israel’s birth as a modern state in 1948is that although its socialist founders aspired to create a de- mocracy, they never envisioned an American-styie system in which religion andstate are kept completely separate. “David Ben-Gurion [Israel’s first prime minister] was completely secular, but he believed thatreligion had played an impor- tant role in Jewish history and was crucial to social unity,” said Eliezer Don-Yehiya, a professor of Israeli political history at BarHan University. In June 1947 as the 650,000 Jews of Palestine waited anxiously to hear if the United Nations would recommend creation of a Jewish state, Ben-Gurion sent a secretletter to leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis seeking support for She noted that affluent women deprived of a fair divorce proper- Such glaring inequities have galvanized younger Israelis who are increasingly calling for change. “The system today lendsitself li citizens. Some secular Israelis, meanwhile, have opted to challenge the status quo on the cultural front — seeking to provide their peers with a liberal interpretation of Jewish thought andtraditions. “We want Orthodox leaders to get off our backs, quit being pa- ceremonies. to a conventional wedding. They iauded the attemptto rethink!the relationship betweenreligion nae last 100 years the Jewish law has reached a point of stagnation, and clerics have decided change is . has not been adapted to the needs and requirements of people today.” A minority of Israeli leaders has called for a complete separation of churchandstate,including the head of the Jewish Agency, Avraham Burg, himself observant. They argue that the current needed. Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg, from the Jerusalem suburb of Har Adar,leads a group ofseveral dozen community rabbis calling for the creation of civil mar- system discriminates among Jews thousands of Israelis, many of them new ‘ants from the former Soviet Union, cannot marty today in Israel because Ortho- riage in Israel. “The government has anobligation to marry and bury people,” said Rothenberg, noting that Ministries Me Two chaplains’o1 Ree Reiteae FIRST CHURCH 352 & THKD $0. SUH. SCHOOL A SEBVICE TT AM, WED. 77K, SECOND CHURCH 1165 FooTHLL DR, {SUR SCHOOL A KERVICE 1030 AM. WED, 720 P.M. THIRD CHURCH 1396 E SPRING LA. (5000 5) SUM. SCHOOL A SERVICE 10 ADA WED. 720 FM, Even today,the silent majority of Jewish Israelis are married and Schaumburg,Il, and the As- buried by Orthodox clerics — lege of Chaplains, based in sociation of Mental Health Ciergy in Knoxville, Tenn., will merge this month to create the Association of Professional Chaplains. United Methodists constitute a major portion of theleadership of several pasforal-care, counseling and education groups,said the Rev. Richard Stewart, president of the college of chaplains. — Methodists Make News o Available ‘Trusteeg for the Southern Baptist-affiliated University of Mobile agreed Tuesday to seek another university to take over the Alabama school’s strug| gling 5-year-old campus in Nicaragua. Mark Foley, the university's new president who took over the financially strapped university March 1, said the trustees are “unified” in their determination to solve the univérsity’s financial problems andsatisfy all requirements of ifs accrediting agency such as the young couple wed at the Tel Aviv botanical gardens — even though they may not give a moment's thought to religion in the intervening years. “T think my generation accepted many of the restrictions imposed on us by the rabbis because we were a generation of children who had been born of Holocaust survivors,” Beilin said of the status quo “We agreed to get married with ‘an Orthodox rabbi because we understood that we had to make concessions in orderfor Jews to build a nation together. But I don't think the sameconcessions will be accepted by our children.” In fact, what has evolved is a double standard ofreligious and civil laws under whichaffluentIsraelis increasingly buy their way out of the system. Public transportation shuts down Friday ev: for the Sab. bath, but those who can afford it simply get in their private cars and head for the beach or elsewhere.Left at homearethe poor, elderly and children with no way — the Southern Associatios for Colleges and Schools of getting anywhere — other than (SACS), ‘The university was park -— during the Sabbath period. Similarly, secular Israelis who can afford the plane fare to Cyprus, Europe or the United States increasingly are choosing civil marriages abroad thal are subse- placed on six months accreditation probation in June after SACSlearned the university's Nicaraguan. venture had placed the entire schoolin fi- nancial jeopardy. — Religion News Service a Unemployment ‘Evil’ Pope John Paul Ii, in a speech on the eve of Labor ’ Day — celebrated on May | in many European nations —~ said ‘Thursday that unemployment is an “evil” and rising unemployment may becomea “real social calamity,” Unemploy- mentis “in any case an evil and, when it reaches certain levels, can become a real social calamity,” the pope said in a Spevch (o labor consultants from Italy, Spain and Poland. — Religion News Service ) + walking to 4 nearby synagogue or In addition, their proposal would permit more public transportation lines, cultural and recreational centers to remain open on the Jewish Sabbath — although existing “blue laws’’ would be applied even more vigorously to commerce and industry. Finally, Beilin and Lubotzky want to revamp the teaching of dealing with family law and di- changed. “The idea of a new covendiit is encouraging. But on the one hand, it probably goes too far to have a chance of succeeding right now, and at the sametime, it doesn’t go far enough,” said Halperin-Kaddari. Jewish topics in the state secular Church of Religious Science ‘CALVARY CHAPEL OF SALT LAKE CITY Oakwood Village Center 5448 S. 900 £. 265-8601 “Is It Really Ever Over?” Rev. Donald Graves 7136 5.1700 E. Set ake Chy Saturday Evesing Service t6 es ‘tam &60pm svening Service 7pm Word of God roast theWo Neralby Ve he. SALT LAKE PRLLOWSHI 618 E 9800 S, Sandy S72-0211 See us at worwakelong sna 208-3253. Five Virtues FIRST (6-28 CHURCH 69 so, 15c eas Oquirch- Shadows Rev. Tom rvs Intergenerational Service: 10:20 am ETLttyMOgel Are You Sure? eee Christian Family Church UNITARIAN Services: ipo bn fod 1100 sa Retigious Education and Nursery Care: 18 [Sanam ham on 5p) 957,997. The Episcopal Church Welcomes You For complete information on wéekday and other Sunday , please call the numbers listed below, Family Church “Promoting and devaloping a stroag 10:00 & 6:30, 6:20 Wed. Prayar & Hour of Power. 6:30 & 7:30 at Center Square Plara, Midvale (2/10 mile west of State SL on 7720 8) ‘Sunday Night Youth Services: Ap Affitate of Rheme Bible Church, Tulsa, OK "SodLoves Families” Free, Liberal & Democratic Worship, Sunday Schoo! & Nursery Care: 10:30 a.m = Pastor and Mrs. Williard Richard of peed Pionned” WORD ALIVE FELLOWSHIP Rev. Robert Coates, PhD livia you to worship, ‘with Orve, 487.1987 Nursery Provides the Richards are gradvates of Rhema UNITED METHODIST FIRST UNITED METHODIST 203 S, 200 E. - 326-8726 “The Circle of Listening, For more information please contact et 969-5115 or 969-3618 Observance and Celebration” Rev. Robert A. Sewell Worthip Sorvics 1100 am. Chi Care Sundey Schoo! 9:30 am, Provided ’ 4 CHRIST UNITED METHODIST 2975 €. 3300 So. - 486-8473 “Breakfast By The Sea” AND I's GROWING Ron Hodges Preaching 00 am & 6:00 pm We planted a gew church andit's i. A church ip tow real roblems. Anew messages that will really mae a difference your life. at 10:30 am Worstie Services: 8:00, 9:90 & 11:00 am Church School 9:30 ONkd care provided Miniter: Ron Hodges, Brian Hare-Digos The Cathedral Church of St. Mark 231 Esst 100 South Salt tate. City, UT 84111 22-3400 Sunday Holy Eucharist Rite 1 8:00am Santa Eucharistia 9:00am, Holy Eucharist Rite 1 10:30am WORSHIP SERVICES SCHOOL (all ge ) 9:30 & 11:00 AM. HILLTOP UNITED METHODIST 988 E. 10800 So, - 571-8777 “Our Brother Joseph” Rev. Robert Hamilton Worship Services 8:15, 9:30, 1:00 ‘Adult Chiidron Sunday School at @:30 am Nursery Provided ‘St. James Church 322-5869 or322-5871 Sunday Holy Bucharist Rite | 8:00am Sunday Holy Buchariet Rite 1 10:00an R iipasdalarrity pent Te| C WASA’ PRaSSYTENAN Dr. Robert 8. Leeda Rev. Buddy Herrington 1700 South 1700 Eest 487-7876 we #1 840 &100em “At South Valley Community Church, we believe church” shouldobe enjoyable ”as well Worship & Church Schoo! at 0:00am Brian Hare-Diggs Preaching at the Seventh ‘Day Adventiet Sout ["Ea8 362-0700" Sunday Holy Ruchariat 10:00am Church of The Rast Py La, NAWCREATION c 295-1960 Sunday Holy Buchariet 0:90am ckTIMES SERVICE St. Luke's Church 4808 Nerth Sliver Spr Parke Cit Sunday Haly Bucharist & a1 the Park Ave Chapel 10 a.m. Main Chapel = Sa A) | vs chiidren and youth” ‘Sunday Wc All Saints Church 7486 Union Park Ave. Midvale, UT 84047 566-1311 Sunday Holy Eucharist 6:00 & 10:00am & Span T iieeacoeet 10300 $ Redwood Ra. 284-1998 Congregational Church 6) Great Harvest 1710 Foothill Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84108 582-0380 Sunday Holy Eucharist 8:00 am, 9:30 & 11:00 om nitySpiritual Center “The Spirituality of thinking their side has been short- Sunday Services 10:15 a.m. Centerville UFBA0i4 Lite the document has come gway Rev. Sue Spence: quently recognized by the state, rather than a religious ceremony at home, Most striking, perhaps, is the disparate treatment women and men receive in religious courts state, most observers dou 0 ill come quickly or cea Since the operative word in‘the Beilin-Lubotzky proposalis compromise, almost every interest group andlobby group reviewing SOUTH VALLEY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY “The Stories of Our Lives” the Sabbath — as had Jewish communal institutions such as the public bus system in pre-state days. Likewise, he promised reli- gious life in the next five decades, While manyIsraeli figuresHave also propose legislation that would draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students for national service, from which they so far have been exempt. ATTEND THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE Jewish dietary laws, and close on tions, the 3,300-member Col- until recently Orthodox rabbis also had a hegemony over burial United States — as an alternative ported, would remain administra- Qo casket when they die,” said’ Lubotzky, referring to the fact that more acceptedin Israel than the In exchange, Ben-Gurion promised that Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders in the new stateof Israel would continue to arbitrate issues of marriage and divorce for their respective communities — just as they had under British and Ottoman rule. Public offices would observe the British mandate period. Those commitments — later dubbed the “status quo’ —- set out the pattern for {sraeli reli- be forced to be buried in Hebrew College to teach Jewish thought and philosophyin a secu- the Zionist enterprise. tively autonomous, as they had in while they are alive, rather than stance, create an Israeli contract for “cohabitation” — which is gious schools, while state-sup- — The Associated Press “I'd prefer that people learn more from the Jewish bookcase who have put forward the most comprehensive proposal for change. Their proposed “covenant” on religion and state would, for in- who founded the innovative Alma to abuse,” said Halperin-Kaddari, who is herself religious. “Over the Jews — all of whom maybeIsrae- school system, wherestudents are exposed to little more than the Bi- bie. ternalistic,” said Ruth Calderon, lar frameworkto a generation of Israelis largely ignorant of the classical sources. Even some younger Orthodox and has created different standards for Muslims,Christians and dox Jewish law does not recognize them as Jews because of pastintermarriage in their families. But it is Beilin and Lubotzky SUNDAY . 10AM fi GPM WEDNESDAY aGHOOL DF THe Ruma. TPM " eaTARNHiNG: Te aeLieven wove ano neroRY thmouan Paites wus 0 484.0099 1760 SOUTH -1100-FAST |
