Reuben Sheares
Template:TOCnestleft Rev. Dr. Reuben A. Sheares , a pastor and a former national leader of the United Church of Christ and ecumenical organizations, died in July at the Osteopathic Hospital in Olympia Fields, Ill. He was 58 years old and lived in Olympia Fields.
Dr. Sheares had been the minister of the Congregational Church of Park Manor in Chicago since 1988. The Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged in 1957 to become the United Church of Christ.
Surviving are his wife, the former Ora Myles; two sons, Reuben Sheares III , of Columbus, Ohio, and Bradley Sheares, of Chalfont, Pa.[1]
Church career
During the 15 years before he became pastor of the Chicago church, Dr. Sheares was the executive director of the national Office for Church Life and Leadership for the United Church of Christ. In that post he assisted ministers, lay leaders and congregations. He also recruited black clergymen.
Dr. Sheares served on the National Council of Churches governing board and executive committee and was an officer of the Consultation on Church Union, a unity movement of nine denominations.
He was born in Charleston, S.C. He graduated from Talladega College and Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and earned a master's degree in public administration from Roosevelt University and a doctorate from Chicago Theological Seminary.
Dr. Sheares served pastorates in Nashville, Tenn., and Jamestown, N.Y., became the minister of the United Church of Christ's metropolitan mission for Southern California and the Southwest and was later their national secretary for urban church development. From 1967-73 he was the associate executive director of Chicago's Community Renewal Society.
He also served on the boards of Evangelical Health Systems, Chicago Theological Seminary, Tougaloo College and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.[2]
Black Revolution forum
On December 12, 1968, the 19th annual meeting of the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference convened a forum on the "black revolution and its implications for an integrated community".
Panelists were;[3]
- Al Raby, civil rights activist, currently in graduate school
- Bill Maudlin, columnist and author
- Abner Mikva, Congressman, 2nd District
- Earl B. Dickerson, insurance executive and former independent Alderman
- Reuben Sheares, executive director of the Community Renewal Foundation
- Dr Quentin Young, editor of Health Rights News
Conference chairman Rufus Cook moderated the panel.