wfn.org | Newsline - Items 16-19

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Jan. 23, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.ComNewsline
Jan. 23, 1999
News

16) Clarification. The Jan. 8 Newsline told of the end of an era at
Peters Creek Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., as Estelle
Vinyard and Kathleen Craun retired together as organist and pianist
after 45 years of service.

Pastor Jack Lowe subsequently reported that although the two
accompanied each other for a total of 90 years, their total service
to the church totalled 145 years. Upon their retirement Jan. 1,
Estelle had played 75 years for the church. Kathleen, who played
for 70 years, had spent many of those early years at a Peters Creek
mission point.

17) A new paper on ministerial leadership within the Church of the
Brethren is headed to the General Board in March and, if approved,
will be sent on to Annual Conference delegates this summer. To help
spread the word of this proposed paper and to obtain feedback,
Allen Hansell, director of the Church of the Brethren General
Board’s Ministry Office, has utilized both the internet and the
automobile. He explains —

The Annual Conference Ministerial Leadership Committee, appointed
in 1990 to study ministerial leadership needs in the denomination,
submitted its final report to the 1996 Annual Conference. The
committee’s “Ministerial Leadership Statement” challenged the
denomination with nearly 20 recommendations, including thoughts
about the role and responsibilities of district ministry
commissions. When the third degree of ministry (the Elders body)
was phased out in 1975, significant ministerial responsibilities
cared for by the Elders were shifted to district ministry
commissions. Recognizing some of the difficulties that resulted in
that change, the Annual Conference committee recommended “that the
General Board, in consultation with the Council of District
Executives, undertake the following assignments —
     * Revise polity papers on ministry in light of this 1996 paper
          in order to update and focus the guidance to the church.
     * Review the status categories for ordination (active,
          inactive, emeritus, and terminated).
     * “Make provisions to continue conversation about how best to
          achieve both consistency and flexibility in the
          application of ordination standards.
     * “Find ways to support the districts as they fulfill their
          responsibilities related to ordination.”

A new paper on Ministerial Leadership was crafted last March, using
the skills of two members from the Annual Conference Committee on
Ministerial Leadership, the Ministerial Issues Committee of the
Council of District Executives (CODE), and the members of the
General Board’s ministry team. The new paper has been reviewed by
CODE, the Ministry Advisory Council, and the General Board. It has
also been reviewed by many individuals at the Ministry Office’s
home page, www.brethren.org/genbd/ministry/paper.htm. It will go
back to CODE this February for a final reading and affirmation, to
the General Board in March for adoption, and then on to Annual
Conference’s Standing Committee. 

Last September, I committed my office to visiting all 23 district
ministry commissions before this year’s Annual Conference. Nancy
Knepper, coordinator of District Ministries, is assisting me by
making five of the visits.

Why are these visits important? First, the Annual Conference paper
in 1996 reminded us about the importance on district ministry
commissions in their role of calling, educating, placing, and
supporting ministerial leaders. The commissions also have
significant oversight responsibilities with regard to ministerial
standards, ministerial ethics, continuing education, and
discipline.

The Districts have been very supportive of these visits. Most have
been willing to call special meetings for 3- to 4-hour blocks of
time. We provide copies of the new paper for commission members to
read in advance of the meeting. Going through the paper in each
meeting, page by page, is educational, both for me and commission
members. They often express appreciation for the opportunity to
work with me on this, saying things like —
     * “No one has ever done anything like this before to help us!”

     * “We have a big job and we need all the help we can get!” 
     * “I am glad that we are developing ministerial standards for
          all the districts!”
     * “I have been concerned for a long time about ministers
          coming to us from nonBrethren backgrounds who know very
          little about our church and perhaps don’t care about who
          we are. Sometimes these people cause a great deal of   
          trouble, especially in our small congregations. This
          paper will make it tougher for those people to get in.”

Secondly, the following comment, which I have heard again and
again, underscores a value stated in the redesign effort of the
General Board —
     * “I am pleased that someone from the General Board cared
          enough about what we think to come to us before the paper
          goes to Annual Conference.”

Redesign affirmed that the structures of the church, at all levels,
exist to strengthen the ministry of our congregations. When we
listen to those people at the district and congregational levels
who have to give oversight to the new ministry paper, we need to
know the issues as they see and experience them. These brothers and
sisters have a right to provide input into our Conference
statements before they become official statements.

Therefore, this Ministerial Leadership paper has continued to
evolve and change with each of the visits with district ministry
commissions. This sort of fluid process builds partnerships in the
denomination, so that the paper that actually gets on the floor of
Annual Conference should have a significant degree of consensus
behind it.

The District Ministry Commissions and our District
Executives/Ministers have been very supportive, insightful, and
encouraging. It is a great thing to be able to say that the General
Board is paying me to have fun as I travel about the country
visiting with brothers and sisters who care deeply about our
denomination and its ministerial leaders.

18) My wife Joyce teaches a Sunday school class in our church on
the theme “Making Room for the Spirit.” As a behaviorist and
counselor to college students, she attests to the power of God’s
Spirit in human relationships and personal growth. There are many
other perspectives in her class, but all members acknowledge that
astounding things happen when we make room for the Spirit and allow
God to work through us.

I believe God’s Spirit is also present in our work and in the
diligence of our efforts. I also believe we can create
opportunities for God’s Spirit to lead us. When we focus on a task
and use our gifts and abilities well, doors open and insights come
to us. As people of faith, we say, “This is truly the Spirit at
work.” 

Events leading up to just such an experience for Brethren Benefit
Trust started last year when Annual Conference delegates approved
an expanded role for our ministries. Among our new challenges was
to provide leadership for the denomination in information systems
technology. We devoted the rest of 1998 installing state-of-the-art
software and hardware that would position the Church of the
Brethren for the future.

At the same time we began looking for the best ways to use the new
technology. First we investigated how to link BBT with
congregations and national agencies. To share the power of our
financial software, we needed a fast, direct communications link
within the denomination. We were stumped until Concentric Network
of California said it could supply us with the technology to
establish a virtual private network coast to coast.

We were pleased but not completely satisfied. Questions lingered.
Were there ways to make the new system even better? Could we tap
into the power of the Internet? If we did this, how could we
protect our members from the Internet’s dark side? Could we do
something about the three pages of pornographic sites that
automatically popped up when we searched for such ordinary words as
“teenage jobs”?

As we pondered the possibilities, Concentric introduced us to N2H2,
a Seattle software company that supplied the answer with its
dynamic filtering technology. N2H2 told us it has 40 experts
working solely at updating and reprogramming its state-of-the-art
Internet filter and search engine. Company officials promised that
by using the two in concert, we could screen out objectionable
material. 

It was a remarkable moment for BBT! New ideas excited and energized
us. We recognized that if we could do this for our employees, we
could do the same thing for all Church of the Brethren members. We
also realized we could offer this service beyond our membership —
when it takes off, the income stream could be used for other badly
needed services! Seeing the possibilities, our board said “Do it!”

Out of this process, a new BBT Internet service emerged and its
first product, ClearViewNet.com, an Internet service provider, was
born. Final product testing begins in February and by mid-March,
new staff at ClearViewNet.com will begin mailing software CDs to
the first subscribers. This unlimited value-based Internet access
and e-mail service is priced at $19.95 a month. You might say this
will be our church’s America Online, using filter settings and
search engine results that will reflect Church of the Brethren
values. There will be no pornography, violence, hate, gambling, or
alcohol-related content. 

ClearViewNet.com was not a part of our original vision. The idea
was propelled by energy of its own. I also believe that as the
first vision was evolving, the person who would help us recognize
this unexpected opportunity walked into our offices. His name is
Michael Addison.

Michael came to us from the Boulder Hill Church of the Brethren in
Montgomery, Ill. We initially hired Michael as our controller, but
since then have asked him to redirect his energies and focus only
on running our information systems. His work is essential to
establishing a position of technological leadership for the
denomination.

As I reflect on our first “what if” conversations, I recall both
the excitement and anxiety I felt when realizing we were onto
something big! I have tempered the anxiety knowing that Michael’s
talent for building partnerships and his knack for energizing and
motivating our staff give us the ingredients we will need to
succeed with this project. 

I continue to be amazed that a challenge to ratchet up the
technological capabilities of our church has also given us an
exciting new way to advance our denomination’s witness in the
world. I see this new Internet presence as yet another prophetic
frontier for the Church of the Brethren, an opportunity to define
itself in the technological age.

As our Internet portal mirrors Brethren values and beliefs to the
world, the church, as a part of this project, affirms the value of
technology both for performing its ministries and for quietly but
effectively shaping an Internet that believers of all ages can use
with confidence. Astounding things do happen when we open ourselves
up to the power of the Spirit.

19) The Christian Commission for Development (CCD) in Honduras this
week sent a lengthy but detailed update on the situation in that
country and in Central America in general 2 1/2 months after the
region was devastated by Hurricane Mitch. The following are some
key points gleaned from that letter —
     * The economic impact of Mitch continues to be felt throughout
          the country. As a result, the migration by people
          northward is accelerating. A massive and prolonged     
          exodus of Hondurans appears to have begun. Mexican
          immigration officials say they are expelling twice the
          number of Central Americans as a year ago, most        
          of them Hondurans. Further north, United States
          immigration officials report that detentions of Central
          Americans along the U.S.-Mexican border are up four    
          times what they were one year ago. 
     * Internal migration is also occurring. Many of those
          currently looking for work in the industrial and
          commercial belt along the north coast are people from the
          south left homeless and jobless by the storm who have
          traveled north to compete for scarce employment
          opportunities. When the search for work on the north
          coast proves futile, many of these people are expected to
          continue further north.
     * The desperate situation in many communities is not produced
          by an overall shortage of food. The problem is logistics.
          On Jan. 7, government officials began opening more than
          1,100 containers piled up on the docks in Puerto Cortes.
          Filled with food and clothes from donors abroad, the
          containers were stuck on the quay because recipient
          groups couldn’t afford to truck them to affected 
          communities, and there was little room to unload arriving
          ships. The government seized most of the shipments and
          started distributing the contents to shelters. 
     * While material assistance, especially food, has arrived in
          impressive quantities, perhaps as much as $300 million in
          the first two months after the storm, the government’s
          finance minister recently complained that the government
          had received only $10 million in cash. Without funds to
          build new housing and create new jobs, the government is
          expected to face rising popular discontent, creating the
          conditions for what some have called “a social Mitch.”
          Signs of such discontent are becoming frequent. 
     * As many as 200,000 people are still living in temporary
          shelters across the country, many located in schools
          destined to be reopened for classes at the beginning of
          February. The government is pushing the construction of
          macro shelters where thousands of families can be housed
          during the coming months until arrangements are made for
          permanent housing. Many observers have suggested that
          these macro shelters will foment delinquency and
          violence.      
     * CCD continues to provide emergency assistance throughout the
          entire country. With new staff and warehouses in San
          Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, a massive amount of material
          assistance arriving from abroad is being dispatched 
          to needy communities throughout Honduras. 
     * As the reconstruction phase of the work gets underway, CCD
          is focusing on three principal areas of work — the
          rehabilitation of sustainable agriculture to guarantee
          food security; the rehabilitation of health services in
          affected communities; and the reconstruction of destroyed
          or damaged housing.
     * Some of the labor for the construction of these houses will
          be provided by as many as 100 volunteer groups per year
          from the U.S. and other countries.
     * By mid-January, CCD had hosted nine medical teams sponsored
          by Church World Service, including one from the Church of
          the Brethren. These groups have played a critical role in
          preventing epidemics. 
     * Because of concern about gender-related issues being lost in
          the rush to rebuild physical infrastructure, CCD is
          planning a conference on “Emergency and Gender,” to be
          held in Tegucigalpa March 22-26. The gathering will bring
          together relief workers, feminist activists, and biblical
          scholars for reflection on empowering women to
          participate fully in the process of national
          reconstruction. 
     * Originally scheduled for November but canceled in the
          aftermath of Mitch, the first-ever Latin American
          Conference on the Cancellation of the Debt is 
          scheduled for January 25-27 in Tegucigalpa. Co-sponsored
          by CCD, the meeting will bring together debt activists,
          church leaders, and politicians from around the region to
          examine the Jubilee 2000 movement’s call for debt 
          forgiveness for the world’s poorest countries, and to
          formulate concrete strategies for the coming months. The
          report noted that Hurricane Mitch left both Honduras and
          Nicaragua even more unable to continue servicing their
          respective foreign debts.

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the Church of
the Brethren General Board’s News Services. Howard Royer
contributed to this report. Newsline stories may be reprinted
provided that Newsline is cited as the source and the publication
date is included.

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