Pics: Umesh Marapalli

Daijiworld Media Network- Udupi(HB)

Udupi, Jan 6: Thousands of devotees witnessed the grand inauguration and blessing of the newly built Mount Rosary church at Santhekatte (Kallianpur) here on Tuesday January 6.

Jerry Vincent Dias,vice president of parish pastoral council and president of builders association with and Molly Dias inaugurated the stage programme symbolically by releasing balloons.

Dr Gerald Issac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi diocese blessed the gathering. He said that the church does not belong only to christian community but also to all the people of other religions.

Dr Aloysius P DSouza, bishop of Mangaluru, offered the first Eucharistic service in the new church in the presence of hundreds of priests, nuns and thousands of christians as well as non-christians.

After the service he said We have to keep our soul clean first, external beauty is not important. While entering the church the designs look attractive, but our prayers to seek the blessings of God are much more important."

Oscar Fernandes speaking on the occasion said This is my birth place and I always used to go to church for prayer here. It reminds me of my childhood days. We have to indulge in welfare programmes and think on development, only then can we achieve our goals."

Read more:
Udupi: Mount Rosary church at Santhekatte inaugurated

For the first time in nearly a century, the Turkish government has approved the construction of a church, Agence France-Presse reports. The decision comes more than a month after Pope Francis visited Turkey, where he discussed the Islamic State group and its persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.

The church will be built in Yesilkoy, a suburb of Istanbul, and will belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, a Christian denomination with about 25,000 followers in Turkey. The area already houses Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic churches, all of which were built before the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

It is the first since the creation of the republic, a government source told AFP Saturday. Churches have been renovated and reopened, but none have been built from scratch. Many existing churches have been converted into mosques.

Plans to build the $1.5 million church, to be called the Virgin Mary Syriac Church, were made during a luncheon between Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and minority leaders on Friday at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Daily Sabah reports. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has allocated land on a Catholic cemetery for the churchs construction. It will have three subterranean floors, two of which will be for parking. Three floors will be located above ground.

Turkey, which became a constitutionally secular republic in 1923, is a predominantly Muslim country. Its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was initially seen as an Islamic leader with democratic ideals who was making strides to join the European Union when he was elected in 2003. Now, he is being criticized for introducing religion into the public realm: He has moved to restrict alcohol sales and rescinded a ban on head scarves in public institutions, the New York Times reports. In public schools, Ottoman Turkishlanguage classes are mandatory. Classes known as religious values are also taught.

Meanwhile, religious minorities say they face discrimination. Their officials are banned from teaching at minority schools. Others have complained they face passport problems and their travel documents are valid for just six months.

Still, freedom of religion remains on the books. Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Apostolic Christians and Jews remain the three largest religious denominations in Turkey after its 99.8 percent Sunni Muslim population.

"There is no problem in terms of practicing their religion, but there is historical baggage by which some religious activity is perceived to be suspicious," Ilter Turan, emeritus professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul, told the BBCreferring to religious minorities. It's only recently that the native Christian populations have begun once again to aspire to holding public office. At the late stages of the Ottoman Empire, that was normal and that only began to change after the First World War. So it seems that we are back to a period of restoration."

See the article here:
First Church To Be Built In Turkey In Nearly A Century

January 4, 2015|11:02 am

The imposing structure of Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, Turkey. The building began as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, was converted to a mosque in the 15th century, and was then made into a museum in the 1930s.

The Islamic government of Turkey has authorized the construction of a new church, for the country's tiny Syriac community, for the first time since the establishment of the modern republic in 1923.

The Syrian Christian church will be built on state-owned land not far from Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic churches in the Istanbul suburb of Yesilkoy on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a meeting of religious representatives in Istanbul, according to Agence France Presse.

Of the 80 million people in Turkey, mostly Muslim, about 100,000 are Christian. While Turkey was the birthplace of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, the country's government had thus far allowed only renovations of existing churches.

"It is the first since the creation of the republic," the newswire quoted a government as saying. "Churches have been restored and reopened to the public, but no new church has been built until now."

The move could be aimed at pacifying the European Union.

The country was recently criticized for making efforts to erase its Christian past, as was reflected in the conversion of an ancient Byzantine church into a mosque.

The Hagia Sophia Museum, a former Greek Orthodox church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, was used in July 2013 for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.

The mufti of Trabzon was joined by local Muslim residents for the Islamic prayers in the 13th century church building. The Christian murals were covered with curtains, and the bell dome was used as a minaret.

Go here to see the original:
Turkey Allows New Church for First Time Since Ottoman Empire's End in 1923

THE WOODLANDS Twenty months of construction are now complete on the new 1,000-seat Harvest Worship Center at The Woodlands United Methodist Church.

The church is commemorating the opening and dedication of the new worship venue with a live, continuous reading of the entire Bible. Hundreds of church members are volunteering to read scripture and pray through the 70 hours preceding the first worship service in the new space at 9:30 a.m. today. Doors are open to visitors and people are encouraged to come in and listen to the live Bible readings and pray for this worship community.

A new caf, bookstore and community meeting areas will open this weekend as part of the Harvest Worship Center. The auditorium is equipped to provide media-rich experiences through music, video and theatrical lighting.

The space features theater-style seating, surrounding a semicircular-shaped stage built for contemporary worship.

We hope this is a centerpiece for our faith community a place where friendships and family connections are strengthened, said Ed Robb, senior pastor. Weve designed a special place where people want to spend time, on Sundays and throughout the week.

Plant, Grow, Harvest is our theme and our focus for 2015, said Rev. Mark Sorensen, lead pastor of the Harvest worship community. We pray everyone who worships with us will become firmly rooted here and make meaningful connections with God and with others.

The Harvest Worship Center is the third of three building projects to open at the church as part of the $20 million Imagine capital campaign. The complex sits across the street from the new Whole Foods Market, currently under construction in Hughes Landing. The church is expanding to keep pace with new construction in Town Center and overall population growth in The Woodlands and South Montgomery County.

The Woodlands United Methodist Church is an 11,000-member congregation offering nine live worship services each week in four unique worship venues. TWUMC streams Sunday worship live, online each week at watch.thewoodlandsumc.org. Learn more about TWUMC at thewoodlandsumc.org and loftchurch.com.

Here is the original post:
Harvest Worship Center opens at The Woodlands United Methodist Church

SINGAPORE: Ongoing tunnelling work for the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) along Upper Thomson Road appears to have forced the Church of the Holy Spirit to close its chapel indefinitely, after some floor tiles within buckled.

The Catholic church revealed this in a post showing the affected tiles on its Facebook page on Thursday, preceded by another post of pictures of a long crack on the exterior of its building.

The floor tiles on the left side of our chapel have buckled, possibly due to extensive TEL MRT tunnelling work next to the parish. Some tiles have cracked. For safety reasons, our chapel is closed indefinitely, the post said.

The church, which is more than 50 years old, is located next to the construction site for the Upper Thomson MRT Station.

The contract for the stations construction was awarded to Sato Kogyo Singapore. Work began in the first quarter of last year and it is expected to be completed in 2019.

TODAY saw that the buckled tiles ran along the left side of the chapel during a visit yesterday. There were also some chipped tiles between the pews and loose tiles along the main aisle of the chapel. However, the cracks on the exterior of the church building have been patched up.

Mr Joseph Bong, the churchs head of pastoral care for the Sick Ministry, said it discovered the issues about two to three weeks ago. The road beside the chapel was also cracked, but has since been repaired by Sato Kogyo, he said.

Mr Bong added that it is in close contact with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the construction firm. Both have been informed of the problems and have been to the church to take photos, he said.

The three parties have also been meeting monthly since September last year to discuss the effects of the MRT work as well as traffic management, he added.

Mr Bong said he does not feel that the issues are serious and the church will commence repair work soon. It is sourcing for quotations and hopes to reopen the chapel by the middle of the year, he added.

The rest is here:
Buckled Tiles Prompt Closure Of Chapel Near MRT Work Site

THE WOODLANDS Twenty months of construction are now complete on the new 1,000-seat Harvest Worship Center at The Woodlands United Methodist Church.

The church is commemorating the opening and dedication of the new worship venue with a live, continuous reading of the entire Bible. Hundreds of church members are volunteering to read scripture and pray through the 70 hours preceding the first worship service in the new space at 9:30 a.m. today. Doors are open to visitors and people are encouraged to come in and listen to the live Bible readings and pray for this worship community.

A new caf, bookstore and community meeting areas will open this weekend as part of the Harvest Worship Center. The auditorium is equipped to provide media-rich experiences through music, video and theatrical lighting.

The space features theater-style seating, surrounding a semicircular-shaped stage built for contemporary worship.

We hope this is a centerpiece for our faith community a place where friendships and family connections are strengthened, said Ed Robb, senior pastor. Weve designed a special place where people want to spend time, on Sundays and throughout the week.

Plant, Grow, Harvest is our theme and our focus for 2015, said Rev. Mark Sorensen, lead pastor of the Harvest worship community. We pray everyone who worships with us will become firmly rooted here and make meaningful connections with God and with others.

The Harvest Worship Center is the third of three building projects to open at the church as part of the $20 million Imagine capital campaign. The complex sits across the street from the new Whole Foods Market, currently under construction in Hughes Landing. The church is expanding to keep pace with new construction in Town Center and overall population growth in The Woodlands and South Montgomery County.

The Woodlands United Methodist Church is an 11,000-member congregation offering nine live worship services each week in four unique worship venues. TWUMC streams Sunday worship live, online each week at watch.thewoodlandsumc.org. Learn more about TWUMC at thewoodlandsumc.org and loftchurch.com.

More:
Harvest Worship Center opens at TWUMC

Photo by: Rick Danzl/The News-Gazette

Bishop Lloyd Gwin and his wife, Mary, look over construction at the Church of the Living God building in Champaign.

Image

Image

CHAMPAIGN The new Church of the Living God in Champaign shines like the sun, but inside there's work to be done.

A lot of work, according to the church's pastor, Bishop Lloyd Gwin.

It's his prayer that the new building will be ready for worshipers sometime in 2015.

Inside the gleaming structure, workers are installing drywall, insulation and electrical systems.

Still to be installed: sprinklers, heating and air conditioning, lighting, plumbing for restrooms and, of course, carpeting and furniture.

But the building at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Bradley Avenue is taking shape.

View original post here:
Pastor hopes new church transforms North End from 'notorious' to 'glorious'

In 2013-2014we celebrate one hundred years of the restoration of water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find examples of this practice throughout church history, but key events in the early twentieth century led to the greatest revival of this message since the third century.

The Jesus Name message was renewed in the modern Pentecostal movement, which originated with a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, in January 1901 led by Charles Parham and with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, from 1906 to 1908 led by William Seymour. Based on the examples in Acts, some early Pentecostals began to baptize in Jesus name, including Parham (1901), some in Los Angeles during the Azusa Street Revival (1907), and Andrew Urshan, a Persian immigrant in Chicago (1910).

The practice did not yet have strong doctrinal significance, however. Two notable events led to the development of the Jesus Name message as a distinct movement: the Worldwide Camp Meeting in Arroyo Seco in April 1913 and the rebaptisms of Frank Ewart and Glenn Cook in April 1914.

The Worldwide Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting was organized by R.J. Scott and George Studd and held at Arroyo Seco near Los Angeles, on a campground used by the Azusa Street Mission. The month-long meeting began on April 15, 1913, and perhaps two thousand people attended.

The main speaker was Maria Woodworth-Etter, a well-known Pentecostal evangelist. Expectations were high, and 364 people received the Holy Spirit. Many miraculous healings occurred as Woodworth-Etter prayed in the name of Jesus. At a baptismal service Robert McAlister, a Canadian minister, explained that single immersion was the proper mode for baptism, not triple immersion. As proof he cited the baptismal accounts in Acts. The apostles baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; they never baptized using the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as triple immersion requires.

McAlisters observation planted a seed in the minds of several people. A man named John Schaepe was so inspired that he spent the night in prayer. Early the next morning he began running through the camp shouting that he had received a revelation of the power of the name of Jesus. Quite a few campers were greatly stirred as Schaepe fervently explained his newfound understanding.

Another man who was deeply impressed was Frank Ewart, originally from Australia, where he had been a Baptist bush missionary. In 1903 he immigrated to Canada, in 1908 he received the Holy Spirit in Portland, Oregon, and in 1912 he became pastor of a Pentecostal mission in Los Angeles founded by William Durham. Ewart had been studying the name and oneness of God for some time, so McAlisters comments were especially intriguing to him. Ewart invited him to his home, where they discussed the theological implications of using the name of Jesus in water baptism. They concluded that when the apostles baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they properly fulfilled Christs command to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).

After the camp, Ewart began working in Los Angeles with McAlister and Glenn Cook, a noted evangelist who had been the full-time business manager of the Azusa Street Mission. These men continued to study the name of Jesus and the doctrine of God. After several months McAlister returned to Canada and shared their thinking with ministers there, particularly Franklin Small. At some point they also included in their discussions G.T. Haywood, a ministerial friend and a prominent African American pastor in Indianapolis.

In November 1913 at a convention in Winnipeg, McAlister preached the first sermon on the name of Jesus in water baptism. Small had charge of the baptismal service and baptized thirty new converts in the name of Jesus Christ. These were the first Jesus Name baptisms to result from the Arroyo Seco meeting.

Back in Los Angeles, Ewart and Cook concluded that, following the apostolic pattern, water baptism should always take place with the invocation of the name of Jesus. They also concluded that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not three distinct persons but three manifestations of the one God, and Jesus is the revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The reason why there is such power when believers preach, pray, and baptize in Jesus name is that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus.

Read more:
Home - United Pentecostal Church International

FLORIDABLANCA -- Fr. Jess G. Manabat of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish here is regarded as the "builder priest" of Pampanga.

Devout Roman Catholics disclosed that Manabat had built a church, parish hall and convent at the Mawaque Resettlement Center (MRC) in Mabalacat City when he was assigned in the area for about four years beginning 1998.

"Father Jess is the builder priest of Pampanga. He builds the houses of God and improves the church's facilities as soon he takes over a parish," said long-time MRC residents who witnessed how Manabat had started from scratch and then worked for the construction of all the necessary facilities in the parish dominated by victims of Mt. Pinatubos eruption.

Manabat said he had initially lived at the MRCs hospital because there was no shelter for me and not even a chapel for the thousands of residents. He said what he had immediately done was to remind people that the lack of a church or chapel should not stop them from holding Holy Masses. He added that he had turned one of the rooms at the hospital into a chapel. Manabat said they held Holy Mass on Sundays at the streets.

We continue the mass at the streets even when the rains are strong. Expressing faith and devotion to God should not be stopped by the lack of an ideal place and rains, he added.

Manabat said he had asked families at the MRC to donate at least P20 each for the construction of the church and other facilities. Many of them gave more than P20 each. They were determined to have their own church, he added. Manabat said the church, parish hall and convent at the MRC were all completed over a period of fours year. He added: I was starting to enjoy the collective fruits of labor when I got a new assignment as a parish priest in another place.

A very challenging experience but a rewarding one, said Manabat in describing his stint as parish priest of the MRCs Christ the Prince of Peace Parish. He said he was down by dengue while living at the MRC hospital. He added that he almost died and his doctor had to use 15 bags of blood to save him.

In recent interview at the Sacred Heart of Jesus convent-church at the Palmayo Resettlement here, Manabat said he is attracting parishioners with liturgical arts. "I make the Church and its facilities very attractive to the people so they will attend mass and other religious activities more often than usual. Then I implant in their hearts and minds the importance of working together to keep the Church beautiful and sacred. More importantly, we have to remember that the real church is the people of God. The People of God is the Body of Christ, which is the Church."

Manabat said he was an elementary student when he felt "the artist in me," particularly on designing rooms and buildings. "I ended up as a priest and not an architect or interior designer," he added in a jest.

Manabat, a native of Macabebe town, studied at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary at the City of San Fernando, Pampanga and he was one of the 30 students of the 1984 batch. He said they were asked to transfer rooms yearly at the seminary. He added that his classmates had raced to win the rights to occupy the room he just vacated. I design and fix my room well. I do the same thing on a larger scale when I am assigned as a parish priest.

Here is the original post:
Priest builds houses of God to renew faith

A man is accused of stealing copper from a construction site at a church, according to police.

Palm Beach police said Leon Primus, 48, took copper from a construction site he was working at on Dec. 26 at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, 141 South County Road.

He was arrested Tuesday.

According to an arrest report, a church employee saw Primus at the construction site by himself on Dec. 26. She became suspicious because she knew the construction workers had taken time off over the holidays. Police said the woman recognized Primus as one of the construction workers who had installed gutters earlier in the week.

When Primus saw her, he played it off like he was on the clock.

"Looks like we are the only ones working today," he told her, according to the report.

Officers found out Primus had sold about $4,000 worth of copper later that day, netting about $160.

He is charged with burglary, grand theft, dealing in stolen property and false verification of ownership. He is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $26,000 bail.

View post:
Man accused of stealing copper from church construction site