wfn.org | CoB Newsline- Missiology Conference, North Korea, staff changes

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      April 25, 1997
Contact:  Paula Wilding
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline           April 25, 1997  

This is Newsline for the week of April 25. In the news today:  
1) Four General Board staff represent the Church of the Brethren  
     at a missiology conference of the Americas in Costa Rica. 
2) Participants at the Bridgewater Roundtable contribute over 
     $618 to the Global Food Crisis Fund appeal for North Korea.
3) Two new organizations contract the Brethren Service Center to  
     provide warehouse and shipping services. 
4) Miller Davis is named Emergency Response/Service Ministries
     manager for the newly designed General Board. 
5) An open search for manager of the New Windsor Conference 
     Center is announced. 
6) Two General Board staff are appointed to positions at 
     McPherson (Kan.) College. 
7) "Reaching Out to Young Families," an Andrew Center event, is
     scheduled for Saturday. 
8) CoBACE Conference is scheduled for this weekend in 
     Pennsylvania. 
9) Soil and Water Stewardship Week begins on Sunday. 
10) A new course on Brethren mission was offered by Bethany
     Seminary this year in conjunction with the General Board.  

1) What does Christian "mission" mean in the Americas at the
approach of the 21st century? Representatives from churches in
North America, Latin America and the Caribbean have been meeting
in San Jose, Costa Rica, since Monday, wrestling with that
question. This "Missiology Consultation" concludes today.  

Even in the consultation's opening hours, there clearly was
agreement that mission must address the problems and needs of the
people the churches are seeking to serve.  

And over and over again, participants, including four Church of
the Brethren representatives, kept coming back to one powerful
reality: the growing number of people in the hemisphere - indeed,
worldwide - who are being excluded from the increasingly
globalized economy in which profits soar as companies "downsize"
and exploit workers with low wages.  

Consultation participant Bishop Etchegoyen from Argentina summed
up this challenge to mission in one sentence. "How can the church
carry out Jesus' preferential option for the excluded in the
context of a global economic system that makes preferential
option for the wealthy?"  

The Missiology Consultation was planned by a North/South team
under the auspices of the Committee on the Caribbean and Latin
America of the National Council of Churches in the USA (NCC) and
preceded by a six-year series of conversations across Latin
America and the Caribbean.   

This is the first consultation since 1929 to bring together
official delegations from North American denominational mission
boards with work in Latin America and the Caribbean, and has as
its aim to "resume the dialog and cooperation among mission
boards," said the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, an NCC deputy general
secretary and executive director of that Council's Church World
Service and Witness Unit.  

The consultation includes the participation of two historic
African American denominations, indigenous people, people of
African descent, women, lay theologians, Roman Catholics,
evangelicals, Pentecostals and representatives of civil society
-- all absent from the 1929 meeting with its "mainline"
Protestant delegations.  

Four General Board staff have represented the Church of the
Brethren at the consultation. Merv Keeney, current representative
to Africa and the Middle East and director of Global Mission
Partnerships for the new General Board; Glenn Timmons, current
Parish Ministries Commission executive and director of
Congregational Life Ministries for the new General Board; Mariana
Barriga, coordinator of the Latin America and the Caribbean
Office; and Guillermo Encarnacion, representative for the
Dominican Republic.  

The General Board representatives are attending the consultation
in conjunction with the new General Board's desire to connect
congregations to mission. "A key guideline is that the impulse to
do good work needs to be informed by those whom we would serve,"
said Timmons. "That means the church must be willing to hear from
the poor, the faceless and the voiceless, and to see Jesus in the
disenfranchised, the marginalized, the least of these. The Church
of the Brethren prides itself in being 'hands-on;' we need to be
sure that what we do is what people need."  

"Mission means 'walking with' those to whom we are reaching out,"
said Barriga. "The challenge to the Church of the Brethren is how
to empower congregations for mission beyond our membership, but
with coordination."  

"A primary value among the Brethren is discernment of God's
leading by testing with the community of faith," said Keeney.
"Therefore, if we feel called to go help build a church in the
Caribbean, we check that out in the community to discern whether
or not others also see it as God's calling."  

Congregations interested in extending themselves in mission may
consider doing the following--research the situation; listen to
local voices and needs; explore denominationally and ecumenically
what else is going on in that area; attend relevant mission,
language and cross-cultural studies; discuss with other
congregations, districts and national staff partnerships for
potential projects, as well as other opportunities -- Carol
Fouke, NCC.  

The Church of the Brethren has 11 churches and four fellowships
in the Dominican Republic. There are 12 Hispanic congregations in
the US, and several in Puerto Rico.   

2) Over $618 was donated by participants at the Bridgewater (Va.)
College Roundtable for youth last weekend for assistance to North
Korea. The $618.72 given by participating senior high youth and
advisors will go toward the $75,000 General Board appeal through
the Global Food Crisis Fund, providing seed corn to help famished
people in North Korea.  

Over 300 Roundtable participants also added their signatures to
the International Campaign to Ban Landmines petition that will be
sent to Church World Service and then presented to President
Clinton next month. Over 2,000 signatures from Church of the
Brethren members have been collected as part of the campaign,
said David Radcliff, director of the General Board's
Denominational Peace Witness.    

3) Two organizations this past week signed contracts with
Brethren Service Center's Center Operations, New Windsor, Md.,
which calls for services to be provided for these organizations. 

The contract with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
(OFDA) is for storage and shipping services for one year, with
annual renewal options for four additional years. "The Brethren
Service Center is the only U.S. stockpile for OFDA material
resources which include tents and plastic sheeting," according to
Kathleen Campanella, director of Public Information for the
Brethren Service Center. The center also has agreed to prepare
and ship containers overseas for Medical Benevolence Foundation.  

4) Miller Davis, currently executive director of Center
Operations, Brethren Service Center, New Windsor, Md., has been
named Emergency Response/Service Ministries manager for the newly
designed General Board, effective July 21. Davis, who has served
at the center for over 25 years, will work with the Brethren
Disaster Response Network, Cooperative Disaster Child Care,
Refugee Resettlement, Global Food Crisis Fund and Material
Resources ministries.   

5) An open search is being held for a manager of the New Windsor
Conference Center, New Windsor, Md. The manager will be
responsible for the daily operations of the center, as well as
short- and long-range planning for financial goals. For more
information, contact Dale Minnich or Elsie Holderread by June 18
at 800 323-8039 or at EHolderread.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

6) McPherson (Kan.) College recently named two General Board
employees to its staff. Dale Minnich, associate general secretary
and General Services Commission executive, has accepted the job
of director of Planned Giving. Minnich will begin his work at
McPherson -- one of five Brethren-affiliated colleges and
university -- on Sept. 1. He has served the General Board since
1979.  

Also joining the McPherson staff will be Jean Hendricks,
currently director of Ministry Training. Hendricks, who has
served since 1991, has accepted the position as half-time
director of Church Relations.  

Both Minnich and Hendricks were informed in March that their
employment with the General Board will conclude July 18, as a
result of the Board's new design.  

"We are very pleased and excited to have these extraordinary
church leaders become part of McPherson College," said Bob
Knechel, director of Development.   

7) "Reaching Out to Young Families," an Andrew Center event, will
be held Saturday at Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren,
Kettering, Ohio. Steve Clapp, The Andrew Center senior
consultant, will lead the workshop. For more information, contact
The Andrew Center at 800 774-3360 or at
CoB.Evang.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

8) The Church of the Brethren Association of Christian Educators
(CoBACE) Conference will be held tomorrow through Sunday at Camp
Eder, Fairfield, Pa. "Trusted with a Wonderful Treasure: The
Scriptures Alive in Christian Education" is the theme of the
conference. Ron Guengerich, who pastors Zion Mennonite Church,
Archbold, Ohio, and who was the biblical/theological consultant
for "Jubilee: God's Good News" children's curriculum, will
deliver the keynote address. For more information on the
conference, contact Mary Biggers, conference coordinator, at 213
779-6428.   

9) Soil and Water Stewardship Week will be observed April 27-May
4. This year's theme, "Backyard Stewardship," focuses on care of
specific pieces of land. Religious and education materials such
as a leader's guide, videos, posters, bulletins, children's
booklets and worship resources are available through the National
Association of Conservation Districts Service Center at 800
825-5547. The Church of the Brethren is represented by Shantilal
Bhagat, director of Eco-Justice Concerns, on NACD's Soil and
Water Stewardship Advisory Committee.   

10) A seminary course of mission is the result of a
year-in-the-making effort of the General Board and Bethany
Theological Seminary. "Brethren in Mission" was the course taught
this semester by Jeff Bach, with General Board staff David
Radcliff and Mervin Keeney served as General Board resources.
Speakers brought in for special sessions included Wendell Flory,
Bridgewater, Va., who spoke on China; Glen Campbell, North
Manchester, Ind., who spoke on India; Roger Ingold, Hershey, Pa.,
who spoke on the indigenization of Nigeria; and Anet Satvedi,
Hudson, Ill., who spoke on his experiences with the Church of the
Brethren in North India and Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (The
Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). The General Board and Bethany
Seminary had been planning for the course since 1995.   

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