The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 59, No. 11, Ed. 1, November 2002 Page: 1 of 35
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INSIDE STORY .
INSIGHT
INTERNATIONAL
LETTERS
OPINION
OBITUARIES ...
PEOPLE
REVIEWS
INSIDE
• •
CALENDAR
CURRENTS
.28
.17
Kids won't
eat their veggies?
Try “Jonah/Veggie Tales'
new movie in theaters.
Page 32
INSIDE
Retooling
for a new era
After the Wall, Vienna's
Eastern European Mission
reinvents itself.
Pages 17-19
Outdoor
Spiritual
Adventures
Hunting — a
new tool for
evangelizing?
Page 8
SEE THE CHRONICLE ONLINE:
www.christianchronide.org
K.
Vol. 59 No. 11
November 2002
Africa: When
Lynn
See CENSUS, Page 29
(
f
I
*
armies clash,
churches suffer
BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
BY LINDY ADAMS
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
lion Americans — half of the U. S. population
— are associated with one of the 149 religious
bodies reporting, said Dale E. Jones, chair-
man of the committee of the Association of
Statisticians of American Religious Bodies
which compiled the data.
The largest groups in the United States are
Catholics (62 million), Southern Baptists (20
million) and United Methodists (10 million).
For the first time, Muslims were included in
the findings, with an estimate of 1.56 million
devotees.
Conservative religious groups that demand
high commitment grew faster than other reli-
gious denominations, the New York Times
reported of the suvey’s findings. Conservative
groups showing high growth rates include
Assemblies of God and the Church of God.
Churches of Christ rank 13 of the 149 reli-
gious groups included — with a total number
of adherents of 1,645,584. (“Adherents”
CHURCH PRAYS FOR ZIMBABWE RELIEF .
SUDAN REFUGEES ATTACKED IN UGANDA
12
14
1
CHRISTIANS WERE CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE as military
forces rebelled against governments in the Ivory
Coast and Uganda in recent months.
OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Hail to the chief: Oklahoma Christian inaugurates O'Neal
Mike E. O'Neal, center, receives a standing ovation after his inauguration as Oklahoma
Christian University's fifth president in a ceremony Sept. 27 on the OC campus, Oklahoma City.
Applauding O'Neal are (from left) Foy O'Neal, the president's brother; Don Millican, chairman of
the OC Board of Trustees; and Terry Childers, secretary of the Board of Trustees. An Oklahoma
native and OC alumnus, O'Neal took office on June 15 after a 26-year career with Peppefdine
University, Malibu, Calif., where he was vice chancellor.
“What a marvelous jewel we have in Oklahoma Christian University," O'Neal said."lt is
wonderful to be home."
FOR INAUGURAL SPEECHES and reports, see www.oc.edu/president
statistician Mac Lynn.
In fact, the RCM study reports that instead
of gaining, churches of Christ — a cappella —
have lost 35,429 adherents since 1990 for a
loss of 2.1 percent
But although church mem-
bers can’t claim bragging
rights from the reports find-
ings about growth, the study
does offer fascinating data
about churches of Christ and
other religious groups in the
United States, said Lynn, who
represented our fellowship in
the study.
The RCM report published by the
Glenmary Research Center, Nashville, Tenn.,
in September, is as close to a United States
religious census as exists, Lynn said. Every
10 years Glenmary publishes the data, which
is collected at the same time as the U.S.
Census.
For starters, the study showed that 140 mil-
Church members had to rethink their
delight about the growth rate of churches of
Christ reported in “Religious Congregations
and Membership in the United States: 2000”
after the study’s findings were clarified.
A reference to “Christian Churches and
Churches of Christ” among the fastest-grow-
ing groups — after the first-ranked Latter Day
Saints — meant, in reality, “Christian
Churches and Churches of Christ —
Instrumental.”
In the Northern United States instrumental
churches aligned with this conservative
branch of the Restoration Movement often use
the name “Church of Christ,” said church
A SERVICE OF OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
It has been mostly quiet... but with occasion-
al gunfire (even as I write). ... Bouake (our
town) and Korhogo are in the hands of the
rebel soldiers. ... BBC news says the govern-
ment is sending reinforcements up from
Abidjan. I expect things may heat up when they
get here...
In sporadic e-mail to U.S. supporters,
Rachel Baggott related the nightmare of war.
On Sept 19 a military force seized Bouake,
the second largest city in the Ivory Coast, a
French-speaking country in west Africa.
Baggott, her husband, Barry, and their
sons, Andrew, 12, and Matthew, 9, left their
home for Yamoussoukro, a loyalist-controlled
town, as part of a caravan of refugees Sept.
26. French and U.S. special forces organized
See IVORY COAST, Page 29
MORE ON AFRICA
Census shows we're down, not up, as some thought
CHURCHES OF CHRIST ARE NOT one of the fastest-growing
churches in the U.S., as some inferred from the
recently released religious census, but findings do
offer insight about our size and where we are found.
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McBride, Bailey & LaMascus, R. Scott. The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 59, No. 11, Ed. 1, November 2002, newspaper, November 2002; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1308284/m1/1/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.