Disciples of Christ president to visit WNY

The first woman to head the 750,000-member Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will visit Western New York for a series of worship and discussion opportunities.

The Rev. Sharon E. Watkins will preach during the 10 a.m. worship service Nov. 5 at Amherst Community Church, 77 Washington Highway, Snyder.

She also will address the annual fall meeting of the Western New York Churches in Covenant - comprising area United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ congregations - that afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Cleveland Heights Christian Church, 4774 Union Road, Cheektowaga.

Rev. Watkins will speak about the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches, and their importance as witnesses to the wider world.

Watkins was elected general minister and president of the Christian Church on July 26, 2005 and will serve a six-year term. As general minister, she is the general pastor of the denomination; as president, she serves as chief executive officer of the church, based in Indianapolis.

She served as pastor of Disciples Christian Church in Bartlesville, Okla.; was director of student services at Phillips Theological Seminary; and has been a member of the General Board, the General Board Task Force on Reconciliation Mission, and part of the Stone-Campbell

Dialogue group, which looks, in part, at the traditions and history of the disciples.

Ordained in 1984 at Hamden, Conn., she also has a doctor of ministry degree from Phillips Theological Seminary, a master of divinity from the Yale Divinity School, and a bachelor's degree in French and economics from Butler University.

For further information, visit www.disciples.org/watkins or call 839-9385.