Orthodox Easter will be celebrated

Holy Pascha — Easter in the Orthodox Christian Church, will be celebrated on Sunday.

Eastern Orthodox Christians following the Julian calendar typically celebrate Easter on different dates from Christians in the West, who follow the Gregorian calendar. Sometimes the dates of Orthodox Easter and Western Easter commemorations are more than a month apart, but the observances were only a week apart this year.

Prison ministry workshop is planned

The Oklahoma Baptist State Convention’s Prison Ministry Workshop is set for April 30 at Fairview Baptist Church, 1700 NE 7.

Registration and networking will be from 11 a.m. to noon and the workshop will be noon to 4 p.m. Topics to be discussed including employment; voting; pardons, probation and parole; expungement; mental health and substance abuse; and drug court. Registration is $20 if paid by Friday and $30 after that date. Vendor space is available.

For tickets or more information, contact Donna K. Thompson at 405-2096750 or obscprisonministry@yahoo.com.

Jehovah’s Witnesses return to in-person services

All congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses across the world were encouraged to begin holding in-person meetings in April.

For most of the last two years, buildings for worship have remained closed globally due to the risks associated with meeting in person. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S. also suspended their public ministry on March 20, 2020. Since then, they have carried on their ministry through letters and phone calls while holding twice-weekly meetings in a virtual format.

Average attendance at these meetings exceeded 1.5 million each week in the U.S., even though there are fewer than 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in some 13,000 congregations.

As of now, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no plans to resume their public ministry, though their “alternative” ministry continues. In fact, since the start of the pandemic through November 2021 in the U.S. alone, Jehovah’s Witnesses spent more than 400 million hours in virtual Bible studies, writing letters of comfort to their neighbors and making phone calls. They have released 77 new language translations of the Bible and held two global virtual conventions in more than 500 languages.

For more information on Jehovah’s Witnesses go to jw.org.

PROVIDED The Rev. Darryl Stetler II preaches on Easter Sunday at Oklahoma City Bible Baptist Methodist Church in south Oklahoma City.

THE OKLAHOMAN William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply.