wfn.org | Newsline - Church of the Brethren weekly news update

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      May 1, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                     April 30, 1998

News
1) Survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and Lake Nyos,
     Cameroon, tragedy tell their stories and describe how their
     unlikely friendship has helped bring them peace.
2) More than 2,000 care kits for North Korean children were
     assembled over the past four months by Church of the
     Brethren members.
3) Brethren bragging rights and more were at stake last weekend
     in Springfield, Mass.
4) Brethren Benefit Trust adds an international common stock
     manager and approves three items that will be presented to
     Annual Conference delegates this summer.
5) Congregational Life Ministries announces individual
     assignments its Congregational Life Team members have added
     to their portfolios.
6) The members of the General Board's New Church Development Task
     Group are announced.
7) Two Church of the Brethren districts will hold their annual
     disaster auctions on Saturday.
8) Volunteer construction workers are being sought to work at a
     disaster site before, during or after Annual Conference.
9) Eldon Coffman and Esther Norris have been called to serve as
     co-interim executives for Missouri/Arkansas District.
10) Joan Daggett has been called to serve as Shenandoah District
     associate executive.
11) SERRV International is seeking a manager of Administration.
12) Camp Eder of Fairfield, Pa., is seeking a facilities manager.
13) The vice president of deacons for Iglesia Bautistat Emmanuel,
     an El Salvador congregation, is gunned down while going to
     church.

Feature
14) Brethren Witness director David Radcliff, just back from
     Guatemala, reflects on the triumph and tragedy that country
     experienced last weekend with a joyous celebration     last
     Friday followed two days later by a brutal murder of a top
     church official. 

1) Their presence together at first can seem quite puzzling: What
is the connection between the survivors of the Oklahoma City
bombing of 1995 and the survivors of Cameroon's Lake Nyos
disaster of 1986? 

There was no connection before last April, when Heifer Project
International flew 14 survivors from the Oklahoma bombing to
Cameroon. Out of that trip and a trip by eight Cameroonians to
the United States that is currently underway, a close bond has
developed that has transcended languages, continents and
religions. It is a friendship formed through mourning, listening,
compassion and the first-hand experience at tragically losing
loved ones.

On Wednesday at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in
Elgin, Ill., COURAGE (Cameroon Oklahoma Uniting in Recovery and
Growth through Exchange) members told their stories of tragedy,
of hopelessness, of grief, of mourning, and of trying to cope
with it all. The group consisted of seven Lake Nyos and several
Oklahoma City bombing survivors.

On a seemingly routine day 12 years ago, Sule Umaru, 35, left his
village near Lake Nyos only six hours before a build up of carbon
dioxide gas was released naturally from below the lake. More than
1,700 people in his and surrounding villages suffocated,
including Umaru's mother, brothers and about 50 other relatives.

Tang Mary Bih, 43, lost her parents, three children and an uncle
to the disaster. Eight months pregnant at the time, she gave
birth two weeks later -- the child died within the next week.

Janet Walker's husband, David, was 54 when he died in the
Oklahoma City bombing. He worked for the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development on the 8th floor of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building. "He was my world," Walker said.

Sharon Coyne, 27, was relieved to find that her twin sister was
safe following the building-shaking explosion. Then she walked
outside to find that the building across the street, which housed
her 14-month-old daughter's second-floor day care center, had
been bombed. It took seven days for Jaci Rae's body to be found. 

These were the stories told by those who spoke on Wednesday,
stories that have been repeated at many stops throughout a
seven-state, midwest tour over the past three weeks; stories that
were repeated at many stops over three weeks in Cameroon last
April.

HPI, which has been working in Cameroon since 1974, immediately
assisted Lake Nyos survivors following the disaster. With the
death of over 4,000 head of cattle, HPI brought in new cattle so
that the survivors would have long-term milk and food. Following
the Oklahoma City bombing, the Interfaith Disaster Recovery
Center of Oklahoma City began assisting survivors.

The two organizations connected and discussed a possible exchange
with the hope that the Lake Nyos survivors might give some
Oklahoma City bombing survivors assistance in dealing with their
losses, having had more than a decade to deal with their own.

HPI, deciding to send 14 Oklahomians to Cameroon, sent
informational fliers to over 2,000 bombing survivors.

Walker and Coyne both went on that trip and their lives and the
lives of the other American participants were again forever
changed. And so were the Cameroonians. Both groups were touched
by a people they had not known or understood.

The Americans were overcome by the love shown to them by their
hosts. One person walked for more than six hours over tough
terrain to hear their stories. The Americans also learned to give
in addition to receiving. "The love they have for visitors is
something we need to have here in the U.S.," Walker said.

The Cameroonians, who did not have counselors or doctors or
therapists or analysts to help them process their grief, were
able for the first time -- after 11 painfully long years -- to
talk about their losses. In one setting, only the survivors from
both tragedies were allowed to participate. For the Cameroonians,
it was like a floodgate had been thrown open.

"The memories don't go away," Umaru said. "It was the first time
we had sat and talked about the disaster. The relationship that
was built between us and those who survived (the Oklahoma City
bombing) is the first of its kind."

Since arriving in the United States on April 13, the Cameroonians
have experienced the trivial as well as the gut-wrenching. Fast
food and shopping were on the agenda, as was a trip to the
survivor's memorial located underneath where the Murrah building
formerly stood. 

After leaving Oklahoma, the group then made stops in Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana before spending three days this
week in the Chicago area. With the Church of the Brethren's close
involvement with Heifer Project International -- Brethren Dan
West founded HPI  -- a visit to the Church of the Brethren
General Offices was a natural stop. Merv Keeney, director of
Global Mission Partnerships, served as their host.

"We share in your losses and seek to be a part of your healing,"
Keeney said.

Out of the exhanges this year and last COURAGE members from both
countries have come to believe that some good has, indeed, come
out of their tragedies. For Umaru, the disaster gave him an
opportunity: As his village's only reader and writer, he became
acquainted with HPI as it tried to assist people in his village.
This connection led him in 1989 to Massachusetts and a degree in
animal science. Upon earning that degree, Umaru returned to
Cameroon and has been assisting Lake Nyos survivors ever since.  

Bih said the disaster enabled her to meet brothers and sisters
from the United States.

Through her experience and her introduction to HPI, Walker
learned that life is also about giving. "And that's what I want
to be in the United States," she said. "I want to be a giver."

Coyne learned how to give, and then received a gift she'd never
imagined. After meeting an HPI employee in Cameroon named Eugene,
she also was introduced to Eugene's wife and infant daughter. A
close connection quickly developed and Coyne ended up giving baby
Thelma some of the last of Jaci's possessions she still had --
some clothes. Eugene and his wife honored Jaci by changing
Thelma's name to Thelma Jaci Rae.

The story of the group's common sorrow and exchange visits became
front-page stories for Chicago area newspapers, including the
Chicago Tribune, the Courier News of Elgin and the Daily Herald
of Arlington Heights.

2) More than 2,000 child care kits for North Korean children were
assembled over the past four months by Church of the Brethren
members from over 110 congregations. This effort was in response
to a December request from the General Board's Brethren Witness
office. Deadline for the kits to be received at the General
Offices in Elgin, Ill., was April 15. The first kits received are
now at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Other kits
recently received are at the General Offices waiting to be
shipped to Maryland.

"The response has been very gratifying," said David Radcliff,
Brethren Witness director. "The items in each kit may seem
insignificant in and of themselves, but for children who only
have the bare minimum of even the most basic things, these care
kits will be a great encouragement -- and quite useful as well."

Radcliff added that details regarding the shipping of the kits to
North Korea are nearly finalized. 

3) It isn't often that Brethren have an "us versus them" matchup
that has national implications, but that's exactly what happened
Saturday in Springfield, Mass. Meeting for the NCAA Division III
men's volleyball national championship, the Juniata College
Eagles defeated the University of La Verne Leopards 15-13, 8-15,
15-9 and 15-13. Juniata and La Verne are two of the six colleges
and university affiliated with the Church of the Brethren.

Despite ending its year with a losing record, 13-16, Juniata was
seeded first in the tournament based on its performance during
the latter half of the season. La Verne, which concluded its year
with a 12-12 mark, was seeded third.

"I am very pleased and happy for this group," said Ryan Patton,
Juniata head coach. "We started the year 4-14 and we just kept
trying to tell the team that we were on the right path and that
things were going to be fine. This weekend, all of the close
losses that we had were worth it. We played hard all year and
learned from the setbacks. As a result, we were able to build a
lot of character and we came into this weekend with something to
prove and we did."

4) The Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) board added an international
common stock manager and approved three items that will be
presented to Annual Conference delegates this summer when it met
April 18-19 for its spring meetings.

Walden Capital Management of Boston, Mass., has been hired to
serve as the fourth manager of the BBT pension plan's common
stock fund, reported Darryl Deardorff, chief financial officer.
An estimated 15 percent of the common stock fund, which currently
is invested in domestic stocks, will be allocated to Walden's
socially responsible international common stock index fund, he
said. Deardorff added that Walden's president, Geeta Bhide Aiyer,
is noted for her leadership in socially responsible investing. 

"By moving to a more global perspective in our investment
program, we are pleased that we now offer even greater
diversification of BBT investments," said Wil Nolen, BBT
president.

Walden will also serve as manager of a fifth fund choice for
BBT's Brethren Foundation Asset Management Service -- an
international common stock index fund that will be active by
July. Foundation clients currently have four fund choices  -- a
domestic common stock fund, a balanced fund, a bond fund and a
short-term fund. 

The BBT board also approved sending three items to this year's
Annual Conference delegates for approval -- revisions to its
Articles of Organization, the nomination of a new board member,
and a proposed Church Workers' Assistance Plan.

The Articles of Organization changes would allow BBT to provide
services to nonBrethren individuals and organizations that "share
the values of the Church of the Brethren," said Nolen. He added,
however, that "our primary function is to serve the Church of the
Brethren."

If the proposal is approved, BBT would then consider offering the
following services, paid for through service fees -- pension
benefit plans, welfare benefit plans, financial assistance
programs, legal and tax information, financial management
(consulting and training), financial operations (administration
and support), information systems (development and management),
investment management, mutual insurance products, financial and
estate planning, and deferred gifts (development and management).

Annual Conference delegates will be asked to approve Richard
Pogue to a four-year term on the BBT board. Pogue, a retired
executive of Investment Company Institute, Washington, D.C.,
currently is serving the 1 1/2-year unexpired term that was
vacated in 1996 when Jim Replogle, now a BBT staff member,
resigned from the board. 

Delegates will also be asked to approve expanding the Retired
Church Workers' Fund and renaming it the Church Workers'
Assistance Plan. The approval for expansion would enable the fund
to provide --
     * financial assistance to active pastors and other church
          workers who have "extraordinary financial needs." 
     * assistance with legal and tax issues.
     * personal financial and retirement planning.

In other business, the board heard reports on the repayment of
the Bethany Theological Seminary loan, the work of the General
Board's Site Committee, the launching of BBT on the official
denominational web site, and staff priorities through 2001.

Additional coverage of the board meeting and BBT's annual
employee dinner can be found at www.brethren.org.

5) When the General Board's Congregational Life Teams (CLTs) were
created through the Board's recent redesign, the plan called for
team members to resource congregations and to assist with a
handful of other ministries that formerly resided in the
portfolios of Parish Ministries staff. How this assistance with
other ministries would be accomplished was not defined when the
redesign went into effect last July as CLT staff had yet to be
hired. This week, with 13 team members in place and only one more
vacancy to be filled, Congregational Life Ministries announced
the assignments that the CLT staff have added to their
portfolios. Some of the assignments are classified as working
relationships, others are purely for communication links. The
list includes the name of the organization, the CLT staff member
and their primary area of service, their e-mail address and phone
number --

Working relationships
     * Association for the Arts in the Church of the Brethren
          (AACB), Jan Kensinger, CLT Area 1 coordinator,
          JKensinger_GB@Brethren.Org or 888 411-4275. 
     * Church of the Brethren Association of Christian Educators
          (CoBACE), Jeff Glass, CLT Area 5 coordinator,
          JGlass_GB@Brethren.Org or 888 826-4951.
     * Ecumenical Center for Stewardship Studies, Beth
          Sollenberger-Morphew, CLT Area 2 coordinator,
          BSollenberger_GB@Brethren.Org or 800 323-8039.
     * New Life Ministries Management Team, Don Myers, CLT Area
          1, DMyers_GB@Brethren.Org or 717 747-9073.
     * Education For a Shared Ministry (EFSM), CLT staff.
     * Outdoor Ministry Association (OMA), David Smalley, CLT
          Area 4 coordinator, DSmalley_GB@Brethren.Org or 
          888 526-9589.

Communications links
     * Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC), Nada Sellers,
          CLT Area 5, NSellers_GB@Brethren.Org or 626 797-6412.
     * Hispanic Committee, Carol Yeazell, CLT Area 3,
          CYeazell_GB@Brethren.Org or 813 654-5054.
     * Ministry of Reconciliation (MOR), Jim Kinzie, CLT Area 2,
          JKinsey_GB@Brethren.Org or 616 374-8066.
     *New Church Development, Julie Hostetter, CLT Area 3
          coordinator, JHostetter_GB@Brethren.Org or 
          800 244-5896.
     * On Earth Peace Assembly (OEPA), Linda McCauliff, CLT 
          Area 1, LMcCauliff_GB@Brethren.Org or 814 254-1048.
     * Urban/Black Committee, Duane Grady, CLT Area 2,
          DGrady_GB@Brethren.Org or 317 546-3220.
     * Women's Council, Carol Bowman, CLT Area 5,
          CBowman_GB@Brethren.Org or 509 663-2833.

6) Members of the Church of the Brethren General Board's New
Church Development Task Group, a group whose formation was
approved by the Board in March, were announced this week by
Congregational Life Ministries.

The members are Julie Hostetter, chair, General Board staff; Bob
Kettering, pastor and former General Board staff for New Church
Development; Gilbert Romero, pastor and General Board member;
David Shumate, district executive; Ron Fleming, pastor of a new
church start; Bob Crouse, pastor of a new church start.

The group is scheduled to meet May 21-22 in Lititz, Pa., to
evaluate current church planting philosophies, write
recommendations regarding new philosophy guidelines and models,
review the status of the Board's Church Loan Fund, project how
recommendations for General Board/district linkages for
implementing new policies/practices might be developed, and
discover ways to network with other Anabaptist denominations.

The group is expected to draft a proposal stemming from its
meeting. It then will seek feedback from district executives
before presenting a first reading this summer at Annual
Conference. A final version of the draft is expected to be
presented to the General Board in October.

7) The Mid-Atlantic and West Marva districts of the Church of the
Brethren will hold their disaster response auctions on Saturday.

Mid-Atlantic's 18th annual auction will be held at the
Westminster, Md., Agriculture Center. Sixteen quilts, 20
comforters, three baby quilts and two wall hangings will be among
the auction items. The quilt auction will begin at 12:15 p.m. 

The day will start with breakfast at 7 a.m., followed at 8 a.m.
by a special sale by the Rubbermaid Corporation, which will offer
commercial grade products at below wholesale prices. The general
auction will begin at 9 a.m. Special items to be auctioned
include baseball card sets, collectible trucks, an Onyx lamp and
vase, two Longaberger baskets, pork, clocks, a watercolor
painting, a Hammond organ, a treadle sewing machine table, Marth
Washington doll and a porcelain vase, a sailboat cruise, a
"Brethren Flyer" wagon, and a wood freight train.

Last year's auction raised $43,800. In the auction's first 17
years, $536,816 was raised.

This year's West Marva District auction will be held at the
Barbour County Fairgrounds between Philippi and Belington, W.Va.
The flea market will begin at 9 a.m., the auction at 10 a.m.
Items expected to be sold include antiques, tools, toys, two
quilts, leathercrafts, furniture and household items. A butchered
cow will also be auctioned.

Denver Stemple of Mount Zion Church of the Brethren, near
Meadowville, W.Va., will serve as auctioneer. This auction is
expected to draw 200-250 participants and raise about $5,000.

8) Brethren who plan to attend Annual Conference this summer in
Orlando might consider packing their hammers. Unlike the past two
years, however, when conferencegoers constructed houses for
Habitat for Humanity, this year's building experience will come
in the form of emergency response work in the wake of severe
storms that struck Florida in February.

The Church of the Brethren has been invited by Interfaith:
Operation Love to assist with rebuilding projects in Winter
Garden. Specifically, the General Board's Emergency
Response/Service Ministries office is seeking qualified project
directors who can work for one-month stints, supervising mostly
local workers. 

However, ER/SM is seeking Brethren to work in Winter Garden
before, during or following Annual Conference. Volunteers must
sign up by calling 800 451-4407.

In related news, ER/SM has agreed to construct six new homes for
families in Carter County, Tenn. These families have decided to
relocate in the aftermath of floods. This project is expected to
run continue into autumn.

9) Eldon Coffman and Esther Norris have been called to serve as
co-interim executives of Missouri/Arkansas District, effective
today.

Coffman is a retired pastor who worked for many years at a Navaho
Indian School in Utah. In his new role Coffman will coordinate
pastoral placements and will relate to the Council of District
Executives. For many years Norris served in nursing and hospital
administration. In her new role she will relate to the district's
congregations and various commissions.

For more information, contact the district office at 660
747-6216.

10) Joan Daggett has been called to serve as associate executive
of Shenandoah District, effective July 15. She has served as a
co-pastor, director of Christian Education and author of
curriculum since graduating from Bethany Theological Seminary in
1989. She is a 1983 graduate of Bridgewater (Va.) College.
Daggett will be ordained next month.

Daggett's husband, Kevin, is pastor of Mill Creek Church of the
Brethren, Tryon, North Carolina.

11) SERRV International is seeking a manager of Administration.
This person will supervise finances, inventory, computers and
buildings and grounds for the New Windsor, Md.-based Church of
the Brethren ministry that sells crafts made by artisans from
developing countries. For more information, contact Ellen Hall at
410 635-8781.

12) Camp Eder of Fairfield, Pa., is seeking a facilities manager.
Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and sewage plant
operations skills are helpful. Interested people should send a
cover letter and resume to Camp Eder, 914 Mount Hope Road,
Fairfield PA 17320.

13) Cesar Hunberto Lopez, vice president of deacons for Iglesia
Bautista Emmanuel, a parish in El Salvador that has a
relationship with the Manchester Church of the Brethren, North
Manchester, Ind., was gunned down April 17 while on his way to
church. According to the Manchester congregation, Lopez was
active in peace and justice causes. A motive has not been
determined. Agusto Cotto, who has visited the Manchester church
through the exchange program, is leading the investigation for
the National Police Corp.

Two Manchester members -- David Rogers and Worth Weller -- will
attend a memorial service for Lopez at Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel
on Sunday.

14) For the past four years Guatemalans have been telling their
stories of suffering, in the aftermath of 36 years of civil war.
This process, known as Project for the Recovery of Historic
Memory (REMHI), reached its celebratory conclusion on Friday when
the results of this project and a monument to the civil war's
victims were unveiled at a ceremony in Guatemala City. David
Radcliff, director of Brethren Witness for the Church of the
Brethren General Board, was one of 12 North American visitors in
attendance at the invitation of the Archbishop of Guatemala.

Monsignor Juan Gerardi, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of
Guatemala since 1984 and founder and coordinator of the Human
Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala, presided over the
even at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Gerardi was the coordinating
bishop for the interdiocesan project, "The Recuperation of
Historic Memory," which produced the REMHI report.

Two days later Gerardi was brutally murdered as he entered his
home, a murder that was widely reported by the U.S. press. What
follows are Radcliff's reflections on the brutal murder following
last Friday's ceremony that had given many Guatemalans reason for
hope—

On April 24 the people of Guatemala let their voices be heard
after more than three decades of fear-induced silence. On that
day, the Project for the Recovery of the Historic Memory (or
REMHI as it is known in Spanish) was released in the cathedral in
Guatemala City before thousands of witnesses. This report,
gathered over the past four years, records the testimonies of
some 6,500 Guatemalans, each of whom had seen their lives and the
lives of their loved ones torn apart in a brutal civil war—a war
which left over 150,000 civilians dead, another 40,000 missing,
200,000 orphans, 40,000 widows and 1 million refugees. REMHI is
the first nation-wide attempt to allow people to speak of what
they had seen and experienced and hopefully take a significant
step toward personal and community healing and national
reconciliation.

Two days later, on Sunday, a brutal effort was made to once again
impose the reign of silence. By cover of darkness, Juan Gerardi
was murdered in the doorway of his home by a
cement-block-wielding assailant. Even in a nation now gripped by
a tidal wave of common crime, robbery has been ruled out as a
motive. That left but one plausible explanation: The powers that
be in Guatemala—a collusion of military, political and economic
interests—had found the truth of REMHI too hard to bear. 

As one of those invited to witness the presentation of REMHI in a
delegation organized by the U.S.-based Campaign for Peace and
Life in Guatemala, I traveled to Guatemala last week to share in
this important occasion. I made the trip because of Brethren
involvement in Guatemala over the years, including the current
presence of Brethren-supported accompanier Melinda Van Slyke and
Brethren Volunteer Service worker Tom Benevento. I also am
concerned that the denomination continue to be involved with this
nation that seems blessed with equal parts of beauty and tragedy.

For several days, our group of a dozen U.S. Christians heard
presentations about REMHI and about the present and past
political context. We frequently asked our guests what they
expected the response of the political establishment to be to the
report. While nearly everyone commented on the new "space" that
had been created in the 18 months since the signing of the
Guatemalan Peace Accords, there was also nearly universal
recognition that the structures that had overseen the horrors of
the past 36 years were still in place and that they could return
to their former ways if sufficiently provoked.

REMHI may well have provided this provocation. The peoples'
testimonies implicated the Army and its security apparatus in 79
percent of the atrocities, with the remainder attributed to the
guerrillas or other groups. Such a stark indictment of the
government forces must have appeared as an affront to those used
to acting with near complete impunity.

The motives for the attack may have been an effort to stop the
final stage of REMHI, that is, to return the results of the
report to the people of Guatemala, both to bring understanding of
the extent of the damage caused by the war and to expose the
structures that made the war possible. Or it may have simply been
to remind Guatemalans that there is still a price to be paid for
speaking the truth.

Gerardi knew these costs quite well. Due to army attacks and
intimidation in the early 1980s, he had had to close the entire
Quiche diocese which he administered. During that period, he
narrowly escaped an ambush attempt. Then, two days before his
death, he spoke of these realities in his homily at the REMHI
presentation from the cathedral pulpit. "We want to continue the
building of a country different than the one we have now. For
that reason, we are recovering the memory of our people. This
path has been and continues to be full of risks and can only be
built by those that have the strength to confront those risks."

I would encourage our nation to join with the international
community in condemning this brutal assault on Bishop Gerardi,
and by implication on the people of Guatemala. Our government
should demand a full investigation of the crime and full
accountability for the perpetrators. After all, we have had a
hand in bringing Guatemala to this point, first by our support of
much of the repression of the past decades and of late by our
efforts to provide assistance in the rebuilding of the nation.  

At the unveiling ceremony last Friday, the massive cathedral
echoed with the refrain of the opening song, "We're still
singing, we're still praying, we're still dreaming, we're still
hoping." Our hope, prayer, dream, and song can be that one more
act of cruelty will not be nearly enough to stop the people of
Guatemala from claiming what is rightfully theirs—the freedom to
speak the truth as they have experienced it. Therein lies the
hope for their healing as a people and for a future of peace as a
nation. 

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the General
Board's News Services. To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 800
323-8039, ext. 263, or write CoBNews@AOL.Com. Newsline is archived with an
index
at http://www.cob-net.org/news.htm and at http://www.wfn.org.