CHURCH NEWS

LITTLE FALLS - "Seeking a Gospel Life," a one-day retreat by Father Lester Bach, OFM Cap, focuses on living a life founded on the Gospel and finding time for contemplation and will be at 8:30 a.m. March 28 at Franciscan Sisters Convent, Little Falls. Cost is $19 in advance and $21 at the door which includes lunch.

The event is sponsored by the Fioretti Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, Brainerd.

For more information or to pre-register, call Patricia Feiler, SFO, at 829-5363, or Esther Reagan, SFO at 820-9220.

Pancake breakfast

HILLMAN - A pancake breakfast will be 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hillman. Immanuel is located at the junction of Hwy. 25 and CR 47.

Brainerd Deanery

Lenten Retreat planned

EMILY - The Brainerd Deanery Lenten Retreat for the Council of Catholic Women will take place at St. Emily's of Emily on March 31. Registration will take place at 9 a.m. Guest speaker will be Brian Pizzalato from the Diocesan Chancery office speaking on St. Paul's teaching on the meaning of suffering. This will be followed by Mass at 11 a.m. and lunch at noon. Eucharistic Adoration and Reconciliation will take place after lunch. Cost for registration and lunch is $10.

Call your reservation in to your parish president by March 23.

Exploring Contemplative Prayer

Exploring Contemplative Prayer, preceded by soup, sandwich and bread, will be 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesdays from now until April 1 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Brainerd.

Lord of Life World Day of Prayer

BAXTER - Lord of Life will be the hosting the annual World Day of Prayer service at 1 p.m. Friday.

This year, the service was written by women from Papua, New Guinea. The theme is "In Christ, there are many members, yet one body."

Brainerd Ministerial

Association to meet

The Brainerd Ministerial Association will meet from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Oak Street Chapel in Brainerd. The meeting includes lunch. The presentation will be "Pre-Marriage Resources and Research: What Works for Pre-Marital Couples." Pastors are invited to bring their favorite pre-marital materials they use with couples to share with others or to just learn what others are using. For questions or more information, call Pastor Ron Hunt at 330-5306.

In HIS Name concert

In HIS Name will be in concert at 7 p.m. Friday at The Church on the Wise Road, one mile north of Brainerd's Mississippi Bridge on CR 3, then 1/4 mile west on CR 49 (Wise Road).

Concordia Chapel Choir to perform in Nisswa

NISSWA - The Concordia Chapel Choir from Moorhead, under the direction of Michael Smith, will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa. The 85-member choir will be singing during the Lenten service in the Celebration Center. The choir will present additional selections from their Minnesota tour following the service.

Adult enrichment forum

The adult enrichment forum at First Lutheran Church in Brainerd will feature Kevin Pelkey on "Habitat for Humanity." The forum takes place from 9:15-10 a.m. Sunday in the Upper Room.

Midweek Lenten services

Midweek Lenten services at First Lutheran Church in Brainerd will continue on Wednesday with the theme "The Cross, Our Home: Our Rest." Services are at 4:30 and 7 p.m. with a soup supper from 5-6:45 p.m.

Spiritual Life retreat

The Park United Methodist Seniors will be participating in a day long "Retreat for Body and Soul" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday at the church at Sixth and Juniper in Brainerd. The book "Three Simple Rules" by Bishop Rueben P. Job will be used for discussion and inspiration.

Kids Against Hunger

The Park United Methodist Seniors and the youth of Park United Methodist Youth will be working together the afternoon of March 18 on the Kids Against Hunger project.

Kids Against Hunger is a service project which packages nutritionally complete meals for individuals in poverty stricken conditions, disaster areas, etc. Each package of a mixture of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and a vitamin and mineral enriched flavor base can be mixed with boiling water to produce six complete meals. Last year, the group produced 9,624 meals in an afternoon and most of these meals were sent to Haiti and Ghana to help their hungry citizens.

UCC adult forum

"What Is Hospice?" is the topic of First Congregational United Church of Christ's adult forum at 11 a.m. Sunday. A representative from The Good Samaritan Society's hospice program will explain hospice and how families can benefit from its services.

LOL to present 'The Centurion'

BAXTER - More than 45 members of the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Baxter will present a three-day run of the play, "The Centurion" at 7 p.m. on the three days after Palm Sunday April 6-8.

"The Centurion" tells the story of a Roman military official sent to oversee the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He questions the key participants and discovers the truth behind the event.

Lord of Life member Jennifer Pedersen directs the play. Church council president Steve Mau plays the title role of The Centurion with more than 40 other church members performing supporting roles including the parts of John the Baptist, King Herod, Caesar, High Priest Caiphas, Pontius Pilate and the Bethlehem Innkeeper.

General seating tickets for all shows is $7.

Tickets can be purchased between Sunday worship services, ordered by calling Lord of Life Church at 828-9374 or logging on to www.lolbaxter.org.

Spiritual discussion

Discover inner peace for yourself and learn simple spiritual exercises that will help you gain insight into living your best life today from 1-2:30 p.m. March 14 at Brainerd Public Library, 416 S. Fifth St., Brainerd. Based on Eckankar Religion of the light and sound of God.

For more information, call the message line at (800) 717-0371.

St. Michael's Parish Quilt bingo

BUCKMAN - Quilt bingo and raffle sponsored by St. Michael's Christian Mothers/Women will be 1 p.m. March 15 at the Parish Center in Buckman. Winners choose their quilt. Quilt given for door prize. Free lunch will be served.

Lenten services at

Trinity Lutheran

Lenten services will continue at Trinity Lutheran Church at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Intern Levi Bollerud will speak on the Lenten theme, "Shadow of Stress." A soup supper will be served by the Tanzania Trippers Vision Trip members beginning at 5:15 p.m. in the fellowship hall.

Catholics, Southern

Baptists lose members

NEW YORK (AP) - Membership in the nation's two largest Christian church bodies, the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention, declined slightly in 2007, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The Catholic church remains the largest body of believers in the U.S., with 67 million members, the yearbook said. But from 2006 to 2007 the church shed 398,000 members in the U.S. - a 0.59 percent drop. Southern Baptists reported 16.2 million members for a decline of 0.24 percent, or a loss of nearly 40,000 members.

Although the declines are relatively small, both churches historically have reported growth. The yearbook is published by the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical group based in New York.

Among the 25 largest churches in the U.S., four are growing, the yearbook found: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church (up 1.6 percent), the Assemblies of God (up nearly 1 percent), Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2 percent), and the Church of God of Cleveland, Tenn. (up 2 percent).

Mainline Protestant denominations lost members, but were not alone in suffering declines. Those churches in the yearbook experiencing the highest rate of membership loss include predominantly white, mainline denominations the United Church of Christ (down 6 percent), the Presbyterian Church (USA) (down nearly 3 percent) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (down more than 1 percent).

A more conservative Lutheran denomination, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, reported a decline of nearly 1.5 percent. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church suffered a 3 percent drop.