OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

A number of our churches have conducted seminars on AIDS. Two of these are the Cross Lanes Church of Christ in Charleston, WV and the Bering Drive Church of Christ in Houston. A Houston elder, who is chief of internal medicine at Baylor Medical School, is quoted as saying that AIDS could become such an international economic crisis as to curb or even stop the arms race. Another doctor in the Houston church tells how he addressed a large high school on the subject and found the students unconcerned and bored - until he told them that a fourth of them might not live to be 30 because of this disease! That got their attention! The Houston church has formed an "AIDS Task Force" to help deal with the problem in their area. This kind of response to a social problem in our churches reflects an encouraging change. A generation ago we would have been inclined to stand aloof and talk about how sinful the world has become. Now we are responding like the salt of the earth that we are to be.

Wallace Bradberry of Billings, Montana tells us of a unity meeting held in Lincoln, Montana between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Dwaine Dunning was the main speaker. While some churches in the area did not participate, Wallace reports that it went well, and he hopes there will be more of them.

Ray Brinkley, now 81, has been going to India each year for some 20 years, staying as long as his visa allows. He reports that there are now 3,000 congregations of Christians. Most of his work has been in the small villages, which are most receptive to the

gospel. There are more than one-half million of these villages, and there are 16 different languages and 1600 dialects. Ray spends much of his time training natives to carry on the work. You can obtain his newsletter by writing to 1616 New York Ave., Orlando, FL 32803.