
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004060353
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: SOUTH 
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RELIGION BRIEFS

\ SISTER CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS, in which a Roanoke-area Southern Baptist congregation is paired with a small New England mission, are now active among 13 churches. Churches in the Roanoke Valley and Bedford and Botetourt counties visit annually in the New England churches to help with evangelism, teaching and building construction. Expansion into rural New England represents home mission work of Virginia Baptists. About 70 Virginia congregations are now paired. Only 175 small Southern Baptist churches serve the several million people in New England.

\ A SYMBOLIC RE-ENACTMENT of Christ's Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem will be held in Highland Park at 10 a.m. Sunday. Worshipers, carrying palm fronds and banners, will move up Washington Avenue Southwest to Christ Episcopal Church.

\ MARJORIE McCULLOUGH, national president of the Woman's Missionary Union, will speak to Southern Baptist women from churches in more than 60 congregations during their annual meeting on April 17. McCullough of from Alexandria, La., will speak at Grandin Court Baptist Church, 2660 Brambleton Ave. S.W. The meeting will begin at 6:45 p.m. To reserve nursery care, call 774-8442 by Tuesday

\ THE VIRGINIA TECH CONCERT CHOIR will perform the Bach Cantata 4 for the Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m. at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, 402 Second St. in downtown Roanoke.

\ VIRGINIA HEIGHTS BAPTIST CHURCH, Memorial at Grandin Southwest, will open Holy Week Sunday at 11 a.m. with a monologue on the day of the palms by the Rev. Dr. Carl Collins, interim pastor.

On Good Friday at 7:30 p.m. the Dubois cantata, "The Seven Last Words," will be sung by the combined choirs of Virginia Heights and West End United Methodist churches. Several guest soloists and instrumentalists will be included in the presentation at West End, 13th Street at Campbell Avenue Southwest.

\ AN EASTER VIGIL, a historic service beginning in the darkness of Good Friday and ending with the light of Easter, is scheduled April 14-15 at St. John Lutheran Church, 4608 Brambleton Ave. S.W. It will begin at 11:30 p.m. on Easter Eve.

\ STEPHEN SERIES PASTORAL CARE TRAINING has been completed by seven adults from Our Lady of Nazareth and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic churches in Roanoke and Salem. The men and women have completed several months of seminars to teach effective visitation in crises. Those recently commissioned were Phyllis Crawford, Walter Kephart, Carol Lachowicz, Steve Lukas, Kathy Sizemore, Barbara Smith and Paul Lamastro.

\ JERUSALEM BAPTIST CHURCH, 1014 Norfolk Ave. S.W., has scheduled a Palm Sunday cantata with narration at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m. the E.T. Burton Choir of Sweet Union Baptist will sing for the anniversaries of the deacon and deaconesses boards. The J.E. Young Mass Choir also will sing.

\ CHURCH WOMEN UNITED, a national ecumenical and interracial fellowship, is marking its 50th anniversary in 1990. The Roanoke Valley unit will observe the event on Dec. 13.

\ FIRST DIVINE SCIENCE CHURCH, 5000 Carriage Drive S.W., will mark Good Friday with a Passover seder to recognize the Jewish heritage. To reserve a place at the 6:30 ritual meal, call 774-5512 by Sunday.

\ SUDDENLY SINGLE, a video seminar featuring Christian counselor Clyde Besson, will be shown Friday night at 7 at Maranatha Fellowship center at 4011 Melrose Ave. N.W. For more information about the program on coping with the loss of a mate, call 986-0115 or 268-2806.

by CNB