This is a translation of the original Afrikaans text of the confession as it was adopted by the synod of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in 1986. In 1994 the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa united to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). This inclusive language text was prepared by the Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (USA).
(PNS) Mary Lee Dayton, wife of the late Wally Dayton -- president of Dayton Development Company (Dayton department stores) -- has pledged $1 million to the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands (MIJHH) to support the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Cameroon, Africa.
Her gift was announced Jan. 22 during worship at Westminster Church in Minneapolis, Minn., where she is a member and where her father, the late Arnold Lowe, served as pastor. Her gift, which establishes a permanent endowment for the seminary through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, also represents an early commitment to the congregation's 150th anniversary campaign, slated for 2007.
Many of our congregations support missionaries at home and abroad with financial contributions and prayers but how much concrete information do members and officers have about the men and women who serve the church so faithfully? Certainly we can discover more by reading the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study 2006 every day (PDS 70-612-06-450, $8.50.) The companion book, 2006 Children's Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study (ISBN 1-57153-057-6, $ 5.50), is handsomely illustrated and is a great tool to teach elementary and junior high youth about the importance and excitement of mission. To learn about current missionaries on the field, the 2005 Directed Mission Support Guide (PDS, 800-524-2612, Item 68700 05-050) lists the missionaries and the countries they serve. A list of new workers for 2006 is available at the same address.
For those who have never had the opportunity to meet a mission worker personally or have not worked on a mission project, a new book provides an inspirational and invigorating glimpse into the life of courageous members who give up so much to proclaim Christ and work to bring healing and justice to other nations. Christ's Globe Trotter, The Legacy of Edward (Ted) Pollock (Franklin, TN: Providene House Publishers, 2005) was writen by Ted Pollock and Beverly Reeve. It chronicles six decades of Ted's breathtaking service with his wife Dolly, his children, grandchildren, fellow church members (he is active in First Presbyterian Church, Pittsford, NY), and friends from all over the world.
Those who have been fortunate enough to travel with Ted ( I went on church rebuilding trips to Ethiopia and Mozambique) know him to be a man of indefatigable energy and determination. Even though he is in his nineties he can run most younger men and women into the ground. His enthusiasm about God's work is so high-powered that people meeting him for the first time worry that he might hyperventilate as he describes it.
LOUISVILLE -- They want to take the leap.
The Worldwide Ministries Division committee of the General Assembly Council has recommended that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) set up a new charitable corporation to do relief and development work -- an effort to make the church's response to disasters more agile and to give potential donors the accountability, visibility and ease of use they expect.
That's a controversial plan -- and one that may provide some fireworks when the full council discusses it Feb. 11.
Some fear it will take away from the PC(USA)'s attempts to build a strong fund-raising structure to benefit the whole church. Some -- aware that the denomination needs to cut its budget again this spring and that layoffs are imminent -- suspect that some programs are being built up and protected at the possible expense of others.
Some say it's too much change with not enough time to figure out what's the best way to go.
But Susan Ryan, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, put it this way.
"There are enormous opportunities in this new time for us. We'll either be a visionary church or not."
LOUISVILLE -- Smaller, leaner, more focused on the big picture.
That's the hope for the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the years ahead -- as the council voted on Feb. 10 to restructure itself and downsize from 71 members to 48.
Before voting, council members asked plenty of questions -- among them, how the changes would affect the council's relationship with other groups in the church. Some of those groups have sent "corresponding members" to General Assembly Council meetings; the council has also assigned some of its members to be liaisons to these groups.
The council did amend the restructuring proposal from its Governance Task Force to continue to give the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly "corresponding member" status on the council -- which means that a COGA representative will continue to have voice at the council meetings, but not a vote.
Those losing corresponding member status on the council are: the Board of Pensions, the Presbyterian Foundation, the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program and the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.
The council also made a few other changes in the task force's proposal. The number of young adult representatives (considered to be someone 18 to 35 years old) increased from three to four. The number of presbytery executives was raised from two to three and the number of synod executives from one to two -- an effort to intensify the sense of connection between the national church and the grass roots. Two council members would have to be persons with disabilities.
LOUISVILLE -- The General Assembly Council has elected new leadership.
Allison Krahling Seed, a pastor from Lee's Summit, Mo., is the council's new chair. And Charles F. Easley Sr. of Atlanta was chosen vice-chair.
Seed, the pastor of Trinity Church in Independence, Mo. for more than a decade and a former moderator of Heartland presbytery, is currently chair of the council's National Ministries Division Committee.
In a statement to the council explaining her candidacy, Seed wrote: "I am unapologetically Presbyterian," and said she's daunted by neither change nor controversy.
LOUISVILLE -- A search committee looking for a new executive director for the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) hopes to have a candidate to nominate by May -- about a month before the General Assembly gets to work in Birmingham in June.
The General Assembly Council's executive committee is asking that the council gather for a special meeting in Chicago on May 23 to consider nominating to the assembly whoever is picked as the top candidate. John Detterick, the council's current executive director, intends to retire this summer to New Mexico.
On the executive committee, there was some discussion about whether to have the extra meeting in May, because of the expense -- estimated at around $40,000 -- and because the council already has a meeting scheduled in Louisville at the end of April.
But Detterick told the executive committee that it's "critically important" for all of the council members to meet in person the candidate being considered, because "you're selecting your head of staff for the next four years."
Karen Dimon, a council member from DeWitt, N.Y., who heads the search team effort, said a search firm has been hired and applications are coming in. Dimon said the search committee won't be ready to propose a candidate at the council's April 26-29 meeting. And "it's too important a decision to make by conference call," she said, so that's why an extra meeting is being requested.
In many ways, the council is at a crossroads -- with a new executive director on the horizon, with more budget cuts anticipated this spring, with major reports being considered on how the council is structured and how it focuses its work.
(PNS) A former Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary has been named one of 12 special advisors to the president of the interim government of a united Sudan.
Haruun Ruun, 65, a former executive director of the New Sudan Council of Churches, left mid-January for Khartoum, where he will assume his new post immediately. Ruun was appointed by President Omar al-Bashir.
Jeannette Early of Dallas, Texas, has made a $2.5 million gift to Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va. It is the largest contribution the seminary has ever received from an individual.
The gift will launch the renovation of the former library on the seminary campus to become an advanced center for teaching, learning, and worship.
In gratitude, Union-PSCE will designate the building as the Allen and Jeannette Early Center for Christian Education and Worship. Mrs. Early made the gift through a family foundation. Her husband, Allen, died in 1979. She is a 1937 graduate of the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (now Union-PSCE).
"The school means so very much to me, it gives me joy to think about students who will study in this building for generations to come. I am very grateful to the Lord who blessed us so much that we could be generous to Union-PSCE," she says.
Editor's Note: Fahed Abu-Akel, former GA moderator, Presbyterian minister, and executive director of the Atlanta Ministry with International Students, was speaking in the Richmond, Virginia area Jan. 6-8. He sat down with Martha Skelton, Outlook associate editor, to answer a few questions. This is part two of a two-part interview. Part 1 appeared in the Jan. 30 Outlook.
Q. If you are an Arab Christian in the Middle East what pressure do you feel from the Israeli/Jewish side, and from the Arab/Muslim side?
A. In the Israeli state, Palestinian Christians and Muslims have the right to vote, have the right for movement. The issue is you do not have the same opportunities. The situation in the West Bank is different. In Israel, Muslim or Christian, you are a citizen of the state of Israel. If you are a Palestinian in the West Bank, you are an occupied person. So if you are Christian or Muslim, you do not have the right of movement from your town.
As Presbyterians, historically we have always supported the state of Israel and people need to realize that. And after 1967, the GA always had actions that the Israeli occupation needed to end. At last year's GA, the only three things we added were, 1) The wall that Israel is building in the West Bank is illegal under international law and must stop ... because the wall is built to protect Israeli illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. If you want to build a wall, you build it on your border, you don't build it in the land of other people ... Nobody got angry at the Presbyterians. Second, we said that Christian Zionism is not biblical and not Reformed. Nobody got angry with the Presbyterian Church. A third thing we said: because we have been praying 38 years for the occupation to end, the overture that came from Florida concerning divestment and the divestment issue said we are not going to divest from Israel proper. We are going to divest from American companies that are doing harm in the West Bank. If you take the issue of divestment from occupation, it is meaningless. The Presbyterian Church is not anti-Israel, we are not anti-Semitic, and we are not anti-Jewish. We are anti-occupation. That overture brought our attention to the illegality of occupation . . . (The pastor of the Florida church that sent the overture told me) "Americans will wake up when you talk about the dollar."
ATLANTA -- The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) knows how to vote on gay ordination. It has lots of experience at that -- so much so that General Assembly veterans joke they can guess the speeches that folks are lined up at the microphones prepared to deliver.
But William Stacy Johnson, a lawyer and professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, wants to shift the discussion, and wants the PC(USA) to find a way to talk about gays and lesbians--their lives and commitments and faith--in a way that's theological, in the context of their relationship with God and with other Christians.
He's proposing that the church consider gays and lesbians in the context of what he calls the "Trinitarian drama" -- through the bold, amazing, ongoing story of creation, reconciliation and redemption.
At the most recent meeting of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA), Johnson presented a long draft of a paper on human sexuality that he's written and which the task force, while not formally adopting it, intends to add to its list of resources for the church.
The paper -- this draft is 140 pages -- is an extension and revision of an earlier one Johnson presented to the task force in August 2004, in which he described six ways in which Christians have thought theologically about homosexuality -- views ranging from affirmation to condemnation. In this new, expanded paper, Johnson describes seven views, encouraging people to think of them as sort of a "survey" of some of the literature and thinking that have informed the church's debate on gay ordination.
Editor's Note: Fahed Abu-Akel, former GA moderator, Presbyterian minister, and executive director of the Atlanta Ministry with International Students, was speaking in the Richmond, Virginia area recently. He sat down with Martha Skelton, OUTLOOK associate editor, to answer a few questions. This is part one of a two part interview. Part two was published in the Outlook Feb 6 issue.
Q. Because Ariel Sharon is no longer expected to be the leader of the nation, what impact do you see that having in relation to Palestinians both those who are Israeli citizens and those in the area of the Palestinian Authority?
A. First, I am praying for the recovery of Ariel Sharon. We need to pray for his family, for the nation during this critical time. As you look at the history of the prime ministers in the state of Israel, you can call it a land of miracles. You never dreamed that Menachem Begin would do peace with Egypt. He is the key founder of the Herut party, an extreme party. ... The next person, Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of the state of Israel, is the one who ordered the Israeli military to break the bones of Palestinian children. The same general ... to oppress the first Intifada stood with Yassir Arafat on the White House lawn and said we need to do peace. And both got the peace prize in Oslo. You go to the next, Sharon, has a mixed history. He was born in Palestine, a fighter from the beginning, fought in every war of the state of Israel, but was also responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut. He was the architect of the Israeli-Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. (He) becomes the prime minister, as an extreme person. (Yet) he is the one who forced eight thousand settlers to get out of Gaza. I have mixed feelings on that situation. One, if he drew out of Gaza, to control the West Bank, it is not going to work. ... Second--only one that will have the power with his military background could say to the Israeli Jewish people that withdrawing from Gaza is best for the Jewish people.
Right now the state of Israel is moving toward two decisions: 1) Continue to occupy the West Bank against the will of the indigenous Palestinian people or withdraw. Israel is facing two questions: Do we continue to be a Jewish state and forget about the dream of Zionism, or become a secular democratic republic. A secular democratic republic means ending the military occupation, having Palestinians have equal rights with the Israeli Jews, and the constitution will be the rule of law. Right now if we take the U.S. Constitution and apply it to the State of Israel, it will blow it to pieces.
GENEVA -- Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) is healing "tragic divisions" between Christians dating from the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The Pope spoke on Jan. 7 after a meeting with a delegation of the alliance led by its president, Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
"I pray that our meeting will itself bear fruit in a renewed commitment to work for the unity of all Christians," said Benedict, who said after his election in April that promoting Christian unity would be his "primary task."
WARC has more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches that trace their origins to the Reformation.
Kirkpatrick said after his meeting with the Pope that he hopes recent steps toward unity are the first of many.
"There is still much to be done to move beyond our past condemnations of one another, to truly respect one another as parts of the one body of Jesus Christ, serve God together without worrying about inhibitions in our nations and to come together at the table of our Lord," he said.
Kirkpatrick also urged joint action on social-justice issues.
"We are eager ... to pursue with you how Catholic and Reformed Christians might be partners together for God's justice in a world wracked by poverty, war, ecological destruction, and the denial of human freedom," he said.
Pope Benedict hailed the Catholic-Reformed dialogue, saying that it has "made an important contribution to the demanding work of theological reflection and historical investigation indispensable for surmounting the tragic divisions which arose among Christians in the sixteenth century."
ATLANTA -- They've faced some tough questions in the presbyteries, but their reception has mostly been welcoming and positive, members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are saying.
The task force, which began its work more than four years ago, is holding its last meeting Jan. 11-13 in Atlanta. Its 20 members are planning how to present their case when the assembly meets in Birmingham in June, in part through a special event focused on the report that will be held Thursday, June 15, before the assembly convenes.
People have asked them all sorts of things -- whether the task force report, if approved, would mean that more "practicing" gays and lesbians would be ordained or that the PC(USA) would essentially be divided into "red" and "blue" presbyteries.
If the denomination has a national standard which says those being ordained must practice fidelity if they're married or chastity if they're single, how can that not be considered "essential" and something that local governing bodies are required to follow? How can exceptions be granted?
What are the essentials of Reformed faith and practice anyway?
And what the task force wants to say back to the church in part is this:
We haven't proposed a new set of rules that will fix everything in the PC(USA). We can't make the battle over ordaining gays and lesbians magically go away.
But we are asking Presbyterians to consider lifting up a different and more faithful sort of spirit -- as Mark Achtemeier, task force member, put it,--to try to work through the differences in the denomination "loving one another as Christ has loved us."
LOUISVILLE -- The General Assembly Council would be skinnier, trimmed down from the current 71 members to 47.
The budget for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would be organized around eight priority goals -- which means existing programs will have to make a case for how they fit in to one of those priorities, if they are to survive.
And the denomination's budget will be less in 2007 and 2008 than it has been for the current biennium. The PC(USA)'s budget now stands at just over $116 million.
It's "too early to say" what level of budget cuts might be announced this spring or how many jobs might be lost, said Joey Bailey, the denomination's chief financial officer. But "we absolutely will have less money to spend in '07 and '08 than we had in '05 and '06."
John Detterick, the council's executive director, put it this way: "We do know that there will be a major reduction in funding for the next biennium."
When it meets Feb. 7-11 in Louisville, the General Assembly Council will vote on the gist of these proposals -- which are the results of the work of two council task forces that have been meeting to consider how the denomination can do its work more efficiently and more in line with the realities of mainline denominations in the 21st century.
Telling stories.
Powerful, personal, "God at work in the messy real world" stories.
In the buttoned-down, orderly Presbyterian world, that doesn't always happen.
But a new survey indicates that many believers have stories to tell about how God or things they can't explain have transformed their lives. And in some places -- in books, in churches, on the Internet -- Presbyterians have begun to tell their own stories of faith, stories of doubt and searching and power and peace.
Author Anne Lamott, a Presbyterian from California, in 2005 released the best-selling book "Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith," which is studded with stories of everyday life, of struggle and joy and a hard-won faith in God.
Preachers often weave stories into their sermons -- sometimes recycling anecdotes that have made the rounds, but other times drawing from their own encounters with ordinary people searching for meaning.
And some Presbyterian congregations have encouraged people in the pews to share their own faith stories -- stories which make it clear that for many folks the walk of faith comes complete with detours, dead-ends and surprising, joyous discoveries
To more completely address the vocational needs of students and the vocational and leadership needs of regional churches and denominations, Hanover (Ind.) College launched the Center for Church Leadership (CCL) Jan. 1. A $500,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, matched by the institution's resources, created the CCL, allowing the college to build on the success of its vocational mentoring program.
"Through this new Center we will serve the college's historical Presbyterian constituencies and tradition in meaningful and valuable ways," said Jane Jakoubek, Ph.D., vice president and dean of academic affairs. Under the direction of Michelle Bartel, Hanover College chaplain and associate professor of theological studies, the CCL will develop collaborative programs that provide opportunities for students, clergy and laity in congregations in and around Indiana. The Center will recruit and engage more students who wish to enter Hanover's pre-ministry program, students who will graduate to serve the church as ordained or lay leaders. At the same time, it will serve the needs of individuals and the church by strengthening relationships with those who recognize the value of producing leaders educated in the liberal arts.
Dwarfed by a giant bank of TV monitors, the rock star Bono gyrates across the arena stage -- a dancing shaman channeling the ecstasy of thousands of U2 fans. "In waves of regret, in waves of joy, I reached for the one I tried to destroy," he sings passionately. "You said you'd wait till the end of the world."
Hands reach out to him as he walks among the faithful. Video clips show tidal waves crashing, lightning flashing and a woman wailing.
The soundtrack to apocalypse? No, it's a splice of a TV special about a U2 tour of the early 1990s. It's also a sign of increased interest in the spiritual significance of this immensely popular Irish rock group.
The images are taken in by a class of Calvin College students, who are probing what Bono and his band have to say as Christians to the world of pop culture.
Plenty, Sharon Bemis says.
"You hear U2 everywhere," said Bemis, one of 14 students gathered in a Calvin video theater on a recent morning. "They have so much more influence as Christians than most other people who claim to be Christian."
Tim Gruppen calls them "brutally honest."
"They say a lot of things many Christians would be ashamed to 'fess up' to, some of the struggles they have," Gruppen argues.
But why a class on U2, one of the world's most adored rock bands, at a conservative Christian college? "Religion and rock 'n' roll can meld together," insists Katie Arbogast. "U2 does the best job of it."
When he was growing up, Mike Mignola had two great loves -- monster movies and superheroes. So when Dark Horse Comics offered him the chance to write and illustrate his own comic book, Mignola decided to combine the two.
The result is "Hellboy," a wisecracking, good-hearted, old-fashioned superhero with one small problem: He's a red-skinned, cloven-hoofed demon summoned by the Nazis to bring about the end of the world. When the Nazis' plans are foiled, the then-infant Hellboy is taken in and raised by human beings. He forsakes his demon heritage and pledges to fight for good.
But can he really escape his destiny? Mignola, who has been writing Hellboy comics since 1993, isn't sure. "It's the ultimate question of predestination versus free will," said Mignola from his home in New York City.
Mignola has discovered one of the untold secrets of the comic book world -- it's the characters, not the costumes and secret identities -- that matter most. From Superman to the recent Pixar film "The Incredibles," comics have served as social parables, with superhuman characters revealing insights about the human condition.
In "The Incredibles," superheroes are forced into hiding when public opinion turns against them. Mr. Incredible turns in his costume and "Incredible-mobile" for a Yugo-sized commuter car and a desk job at an insurance company. But he can't give up the desire to save people, no matter what it costs his family.
"It's not about super powers," says H. Michael Brewer, lifelong comics fan and author of "Who Needs a Superhero?", a book about "finding virtue, vice and what's holy" in comics. "It's about finding your place in the world and, dare I say, family values."
Eric Jacobsen speaks passionately about things like sidewalks and storefronts. But he's not an architect or developer. He's a Presbyterian pastor.
As Jacobsen sees it, city planning has an important influence on religious experience. He is an advocate for New Urbanism, the architecture movement that calls for interdependence among residents, with neighborhoods where shops and homes coexist, streets that are pedestrian-friendly and parks that are gathering places for residents.
New Urbanism has become a mantra for people interested in restoring urban centers and reconfiguring suburban sprawl. Its designs have sprouted across the country, from new towns like Seaside, Fla., to redevelopment in existing places like Gaithersburg, Md., or West Palm Beach, Fla. The Congress for the New Urbanism started small 12 years ago and now has more than 2,300 architects, developers, planners and urban designers.
Now Christian leaders are adopting the movement. They say the philosophy behind New Urbanism is a possible antidote to the isolation experienced by many churches and Christians. Across the country, influential Christians are thinking theologically about urban design and applying its principles to the church. They advocate for New Urbanist concepts because they force people to share with one another, dwell among their neighbors and allow for a healthy exchange of ideas.
With a $6 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) will expand its work with congregations nationwide as vital partners in identifying and cultivating gifted young candidates for vocations in Christian ministry.
The Endowment grant will fund "Calling Congregations," a regional FTE initiative involving local churches in grassroots programs to find and support the next generation of outstanding pastoral leaders for Christian denominations.
"We know that congregations are critical to the faith maturation and vocational discernment of young men and women," said Craig Dykstra, senior vice president for religion at Lilly Endowment Inc. "This grant is an investment in engaging congregations more deeply in this work. Given FTE's broad expertise, we are confident this can make a significant contribution to developing future leaders for the church."
Concerns about the need for professional clergy in mainline religious denominations have been growing for some time, as large numbers of "baby boomer" pastors prepare to retire and local congregations seek qualified young ministerial candidates. Statistics by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate clergy vacancies rank among the highest for professions requiring an advanced degree, with many denominations reporting significantly lower numbers of clergy under age 35.
FTE's program will establish a national network of 500 congregations and church-related institutions from four regions across the U.S. by 2009. These congregations will be members of an ecumenical partnership committed to supporting vocational discernment among their young church members, and the consideration of ordained ministry in particular. At least one-third of the member congregations will be from racially and ethnically diverse and rural communities.
(RNS) Christian leaders who have opposed embryonic stem cell research are praising the enactment of a new law that will enhance the..
George and Jan Beran, former Presbyterian missionaries now in their 70s and living in Ames, Iowa, have challenged other Presbyterians from Iowa to come up with $250,000 for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)'s Joining Hearts & Hands fundraising campaign. The money would be used to send two mission co-workers or a family to the Democratic Republic of Congo for three years to do agricultural work.
To kick things off, the Berans have pledged the proceeds from selling a duplex they bought 25 years ago as a rental property.
From their own time overseas, teaching as missionaries in the Philippines and later as Fulbright professors in Nigeria, the Berans have seen firsthand the impact of Presbyterian mission work.
They also know what grassroots believers can do. Close to 30 years ago, their adult Sunday school class at Northminster Church in Ames was studying world hunger. Members raised money to support mission work in Kenya and Tanzania -- underwriting projects that helped farmers learn to improve their crop yields, to store food and produce drinkable water.
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson Walker will join the faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in June as Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling. She currently is a professional counselor with the Georgia Association for Pastoral Counseling in Decatur, Ga., and an adjunct professor in the area of Persons, Society & Culture at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in religion and philosophy from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., and the Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. She earned her doctorate in theology from Gammon Theological Seminary and the ITC, where she completed her dissertation on "A Model of Pastoral Counseling with African American Women." Her clinical training was received at the Georgia Association of Pastoral Care in Atlanta. She is a licensed marriage and family counselor (LMFT), a Member Associate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and a member of the Society for Pastoral Theology.
(PNS) The recent murder of an Iranian pastor is generating fears that the government in Tehran is cracking down on Christian "house churches."
The body of Ghorban Tourani, 50, was tossed in front of his house shortly after he was abducted there by unidentified assailants.
Tourani converted to Christianity after hearing the gospel from visiting evangelists while held in a Turkmenistan jail for manslaughter, having killed a man in a knife fight. His house church was in Gonbad-e-Kavus, a town on the Turkmenistan border, just east of the Caspian Sea.
In his obituary, Tourani was described by an unnamed Iranian pastor as a "fearless Christian" who would "boldly share about Jesus in ... the streets, shops and bazaars."
In Iran, such proselytizing is punishable by death.
Compass Direct, a news agency that reports on persecutions of Christians, said 10 other Christians in several Iranian cities, including Tehran, were arrested shortly after Tourani's murder and tortured by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security
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