wfn.org | CoB Newsline- black church rebuilding, disaster relief, OEPA, North

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Korea
Date:     March 20, 1997
Contact:  Paula Wilding
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline         March 20, 1997  

This is Newsline for the week of March 20. In the news today:  

1) The rebuilding of the Butler Chapel Church by Brethren 
     disaster volunteers will begin on April 6. 
2) Mac Charles Jones, the National Council of Churches' leader of
     its black church rebuilding project, died unexpectedly last
     week. 
3) Brethren Disaster Relief is busy in the wake of floods. 
4) An appeal for "Gift of the Heart" clean-up kits is made to
     Brethren congregations. 
5) The Emergency Disaster Fund allocates over $93,000 last week.
6) The likelihood that famine will strike in North Korea has 
     increased. 
7) An open search for the director of Brethren Witness is 
     announced. 
8) The Beef Canning Project of Mid-Atlantic and Southern 
     Pennsylvania districts begins this week. 
9) On Earth Peace Assembly's Board announces its plans to move 
     OEPA's offices from the Brethren Service Center in New 
     Windsor, Md. 
10) Odyssey cable network to present four days of Easter 
     programs.   

1) After several months of delays for a variety of reasons, work
on Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopalian Church in
Orangesburg, S.C., has begun. According to Joe Mason, interim
director of the Church of the Brethren's Refugee/Disaster
Services, the floor was recently poured and the foundation will
soon be completed.   

Jiggs Miller of Lake Odessa, Mich., and Michigan District
disaster coordinator, is scheduled to serve as project
coordinator for the first month of work. Miller is scheduled to
arrive in Orangesburg on March 31. The first shift of volunteers,
from Shenandoah District, will begin work the week of April 6.
Volunteers from Virlina District are scheduled to work the week
of April 13. For more information, contact Refugee/Disaster
Services at 410 635-8731; or at
CoB.Disaster.and.Refugee.parti@Ecunet.Org.  

2) Mac Charles Jones, civil rights activist and associate for
Racial Justice with the National Council of Churches, died on
March 6. Jones, who was instrumental in leading the NCCs black
church-burning response, died suddenly of an embolism while in
Dallas. "His energy for racial justice and reconciliation
breathed new life into the dry bones of our institution," said
Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary. The memorial service
was held March 12 at St. Stephen Baptist Church in Kansas City,
Mo., where Jones was pastor for 13 years.   

3) In addition to the rebuilding of Butler Chapel Church, several
floods are keeping other Refugee/Disaster volunteers busy. Denver
Harter, member of Oakland Church of the Brethren, Gettysburg,
Ohio, and Southern Ohio District disaster coordinator, has been
assessing the situation in the wake of the flooding of the Ohio
River in southwestern Ohio. A clean-up project is being started
in the Blue Creek and Manchester areas. Workers will be housed
and fed at Camp Woodland Altars, the Southern Ohio Brethren
church camp located in Peebles, Ohio. During the first weeks of
the project, Southern Ohio District will supply work teams.
Additional people wanting to help may contact Harter at home, 513
548-8211, or at the camp, 800 213-1161.  

Terry Bouse of Silver Lake, Ind., and disaster coordinator for
South/Central Indiana District, is expected to keep in touch with
the Red Cross regarding the flood situation in southern Indiana.
Noble Brown of Lawrenceville, Ill., and disaster coordinator for
Illinois/Wisconsin District, will do the same for the Illinois
flood area.  

Cooperative Disaster Child Care caregivers are being provided in
the Shepherdsville, Ky., area, near Louisville. Homer and
Rossetta Fry, members of Logansport (Ind.) Church of the
Brethren, are managing this project in cooperation with the
American Red Cross.  

A project of refurbishing 10 to 14 homes in the Payette, Idaho,
area has begun. Jan and Keith Vardaman, members of Lincolnshire
Church of the Brethren, Fort Wayne, Ind., will be the first
project directors in cooperation with Verl King, Idaho District
Disaster Coordinator. The Vardamans will arrive March 25; work
will begin the week of March 31st. During the first two weeks,
volunteers from the surrounding area will provide the labor.
Surrounding Church of the Brethren districts (Oregon/Washington,
Pacific Southwest and Western Plains) will then be asked to
assume control of the project, which is expected to take two to
three months to complete.   

4) An urgent appeal for "Gift of the Heart" clean-up kits has
been made to Brethren congregations by Joe Mason, interim
director of the Church of the Brethren's Refugee/Disaster
Services. These kits are needed immediately in areas recently
ravaged by floods. Each kit contains: 
* 1 bucket filled with sponges 
* 1 wire brush 
* 1 scrub brush 
* 1 can of powder cleanser 
* plastic garbage bags 
* rubber gloves  

Each kit is to be packed in an individual box. The box should be
labeled "Clean-up kit." There are warehouses in Arkansas,
Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia that will receive the
kits. For more information, call Refugee/Disaster Services at 410
635-8731.    

5) In other Disaster Response news, the Emergency Disaster Fund
allocated over $93,000 to six projects last week. Funds were
given to close four projects -- Hurricane Marilyn, $68,263;
Habitat House project in Cincinnati, $5,407; flooding in
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas, $6,413; and flooding in
Washington and Oregon, $3,131. Two grants of $5,000 each were
allocated in response to flooding: one will be used for the
Payette, Idaho, repair project; the other will assist volunteers
in southwest Ohio.   

6) As reported in the March 12 Newsline, the Church of the
Brethren General Board's Executive Committee earlier this month
approved a plan to appeal to congregations for $75,000 to go
toward the purchase of seed corn for North Korea. This appeal was
made because reports out of North Korea -- including one made by
David Radcliff, the General Board's director of Denominational
Peace Witness, following his February trip to that decimated
country -- indicate that famine could soon strike.  

According to a report in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune, daily food
rations in North Korea currently amount to 100 grams per person
-- about 350 calories. This is one-quarter of the amount needed
long-term for survival. One of the paper's sources, Catherine
Bertini, head of the World Food Program, states that the North
Korean government will likely run out of food by the end of
April, if not sooner.  

Previous grants from the Emergency Disaster Fund and the Global
Food Crisis Fund have provided food and seeds, including barley
seed for a first-ever attempt at double cropping. Canned beef and
medical supplies have also been donated by districts.  

"Our food aid is first of all a response to pressing human need,"
said Radcliff. "Additionally, as our gifts are received by the
Korean Christian Federation, they will further nurture our
relationship with the Christian community in the north. And we
can hope that responding in this way at this time will help build
bridges of understanding and peace between our two peoples,
especially as the United States and North Korea have never signed
an official treaty ending the Korean War."  

The April Messenger will feature an article on the food crisis in
North Korea. Information on the $75,000 appeal will arrive in
congregations over the coming weeks. Congregations will be
encouraged to respond to the appeal by mid-April.   

7) An open search for the director of Brethren Witness position
was announced this week. The director will be a member of the
General Board's newly-created interim Leadership Team. The
director will assist people and congregations in giving voice and
shape to Brethren beliefs, values and witness - particularly in
the areas of peace, justice and care of creation. The director
also will work collaboratively with districts, congregational
teams and General Board staff. Applicants should have five years
experience in administration and a related field, be an active
member of the Church of the Brethren and be well-grounded in
Brethren heritage, theology and polity.  

Tentative start date is July 15; employment at the General
Board's central offices is preferred. For more information,
contact Glenn Timmons, director of Congregational Life Ministries
for the interim Leadership Team, at 800 323-8039 by May 15.   

8) The 17th Annual Beef Canning Project of Mid-Atlantic and
Southern Pennsylvania districts is scheduled to take place Monday
through Wednesday, and on March 31 and April 1-2. The project is
staffed by volunteers; 450 participated in 1996. Congregations in
both districts also contribute financially; collections have been
taken in churches from both districts over the past few months.  

The project, which is held at Meadow Brook Turkey Farm in York,
Pa., has the goal of processing 60,000 pounds of beef this year.
The beef chunks are sent to designated areas overseas, and to
charitable and church agencies within the two districts. For more
information on the project, contact Mid-Atlantic District Office,
410 465-8777, or Southern Pennsylvania District Office 717
624-8636.   

9) At its meeting this week at Camp Eder, Fairfield, Pa., the On
Earth Peace Assembly Board unanimously adopted a resolution to
find a new location to house OEPA's offices and book store. The
board determined that the Brethren Service Center, New Windsor,
Md., where OEPA currently is located, "is no longer the best
available location from which to carry out our ministry."
According to Tom Hurst, director of OEPA, an OEPA Board Task Team
has been formed to work on finding a new location.   

10) Odyssey, an ecumenical cable network of which the Church of
the Brethren is a member, will air special programming for the
Easter season, March 27-30. On Thursday, "On the Road to
Jerusalem: Holy Week" with Terrence Prendergast will air at 9
a.m.; the Mass of Chrism will air at 11 a.m.; and "The Last
Supper," a documentary/drama will air at 10 p.m. and at 1 a.m.
Friday. Also on Friday, the Tenebrae service will air at 9 a.m.
and again at 11 a.m. "Via Crucis"/"Stations of the Cross" with
Pope John Paul II will air at noon. On Saturday, various
children's programming will air  -- "Davey and Goliath" will air
at 7 a.m.; "Follow That Bunny" will air at 10 a.m.; "The Last
Leaf" will air at noon; and "The Hero" will air at 12:30 p.m.
"Handel's Messiah" will air at 6 p.m. Saturday and at 3 a.m.
Sunday. Also on Sunday the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will perform
at 6:30 a.m. and again at 2:30 p.m.; the worship service
"Resurrecting Hope" will air at 7 a.m.; the drama "The Lamb of
God" will air at 3 p.m. "Easter Dream" will air at 3:30 p.m.;
Easter Mass will air at 4 p.m.; and "The Lives of Jesus" will air
at 6 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. For more information, contact
Odyssey at 212 964-1663.   

Newsline is archived with an index at
http://www.tgx.com/cob/news.htm. It also may be found at 
www.wfn.org.  

This message can be heard by calling 410 635-8738. To receive
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