Church Building

A LOT can happen in 50 years. Half a century ago there were no computers, e-mail, microwave ovens or Ford Mustangs. But the community did have the Townsend Avenue Baptist Church, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week.The church, on the north side of the Baltimore-Anne Arundel border, was formed in the summer of 1948, and met at the Brooklyn home of Mr. & Mrs. Alford Miller. Land at the corner of Townsend Avenue and Fifth Street was donated to the church in 1949, and worship services were held there in a large tent.

The county Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing Sept. 30 on the granting of a building permit for New Covenant Church's education, sanctuary and fellowship hall on Jones Station Road in Arnold.The meeting will be held at 6: 30 p.m. in council chambers on the first floor of the Arundel Center, 44 Calvert St. in Annapolis.Those interested should call the Board of Appeals at 410-222-1119 to confirm that the hearing will be held.

Despite a scaled-back proposal to expand the First Baptist Church of Guilford, a group of nearby residents remains opposed to the project, saying last night that the church is still too large for a residential community.At a hearing before the Howard County Board of Appeals, residents objected to the latest plans calling for a 1,502-seat church in the 7400 block of Oakland Mills Road -- compared with the current seating capacity of 400."We could support a 1,000-seat church and a reduction to the structure," said Kari Ebeling, president of the Oak Ridge Homeowners Association.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening moved to energize his base during a series of stops in Baltimore yesterday, including a rousing meeting of a church-affiliated political action group that promises to turn out 10,000 voters for the Nov. 3 election.On a campaign swing that took him from a street fair in Highlandtown to a crowded church in one of West Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods to a gay nightclub in Mount Vernon, the governor touched base with a diverse group of Democratic constituencies.A strong turnout in Baltimore is seen as vital to his hopes of defeating Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey in the election.

Epiphany Episcopal Church, a congregation of about 75 middle-class families in Odenton, is launching a $1.55 million building project today that begins with the construction of a $750,000 children's center.The congregation has raised and pledged $250,000 to begin construction on the 4,400-square-foot center to be built on church grounds a block from the Odenton train station off Route 175.Bettye Woodruff of the Maryland Committee for Children, Michael Fox of Odenton Town Plan Committee and County Councilman Burt L. Rice are expected to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at 1 p.m. today at the church, which RTC was built in 1917.

The Howard County Board of Appeals has approved plans to raze a 76-year-old Elkridge church and build a larger one -- over objections from some residents and church members.The new St. Stephen's African Methodist Episcopal Church, on a 1-acre Mayfield Avenue site, will feature a child day care center and community center.At least two residents expressed opposition to the proposal before the appeals board. One feared the expanded church would block access to two acres of land he owns. Another doesn't want the old church building to be demolished.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The highest ranking security official of the apartheid era to testify before South Africa's truth commission said yesterday that police were responsible for the 1988 bombing of a church building thought to used by anti-apartheid groups and implicated a Cabinet officer in the operation.Johan Van Der Merwe was commanding officer from 1986 to 1988 of the security branch of the police, those given prime responsibility for fighting liberation groups. He was the country's top police official from 1990 to 1995.

Leaders at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Westminster have unveiled a $3.6 million construction and renovation plan that includes a new church with a seating capacity that would rival Baltimore's Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.The proposal also calls for expanding the elementary school, converting the rectory into offices and meeting rooms, renovating the convent into a home for the priests and building smaller living quarters for the religious staff on the 29-acre property, between Route 140 and Monroe Avenue.

Parishioners and friends of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church carried lighted candles in an outdoor procession and saw the bones of martyrs placed in the church altar as the Cub Hill church's long-awaited consecration took place among ritual and pageantry yesterday.Longtime members who had nourished St. Demetrios since its founding 25 years ago said they were proud and honored to attend the nearly three-hour ceremony formally dedicating the church building, which has been open since 1984.

It's a dream that eludes many small religious congregations in Howard County: worshiping in a building they can call their own.Red tape, expensive land and high construction costs in the growing area have forced many new and small congregations to rent space at local schools or other secular settings while they struggle to put together financing for their own buildings, ministers say."It's frustrating, in a word," said the Rev. Terry J. Stockman Sr., pastor at Hope Baptist Church in North Laurel, whose 175-member congregation spends $14,000 a year to rent space at Forest Ridge Elementary School.