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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      April 23, 1999
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                     April 23, 1999

News
1) Church of the Brethren agencies, congregations, and
     individuals continue to the continuing conflict in the
     former Yugoslavia.
2) The General Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries
     expands its Hurricane Georges-related response work,
     allocates new related disaster grants.
3) Three additional EDF grants totaling $35,000 are allocated for
     disaster response work.
4) More than 100 Brethren participate in this year's Christian
     Citizenship Seminar.
5) Church of the Brethren representatives travel to India to lay
     the groundwork for a hoped-for meeting between Indian
     Brethren and the Church of North India.
6) Brethren from across the United States will protest the School
     of the Americas May 1-4 in Washington, D.C.
7) Patrick Bugu, an EYN minister, is promised a U.S. visa to be
     able to study this fall at Bethany Seminary.
8) Mary Cline Detrick is attending the Ninth Quadrennial Meeting
     of the World Day of Prayer International Committee.
9) The Brethren Peace Fellowship honors Roy and Violet
     Pfaltzgraff.
10) The CPT Steering Committee hears an impassioned plea to help
     stop the next Kosovo.
11) Remembered -- Warren Moorman.

Personnel
12) Janine Katonah has been called as interim Illinois/Wisconsin
     District executive.
13) Dale Minnich has been named executive director of college
     operations at McPherson College. 
14) Brethren Press seeks a full-time marketing manager.
15) OEPA announces two volunteer and one internship openings.

Feature
16) Sarah Leatherman Young, Prince of Peace Church of the
     Brethren pastor in Littleton, Colo., talks about this week's
     deadly shooting at nearby Columbine High School.

1) As NATO bombs continue to drop in the former Yugoslavia,
humanitarian relief assistance and other forms of action continue
throughout the Church of the Brethren.

Two Emergency Disaster Fund grants totaling $140,000 this month
have been allocated by the Church of the Brethren General Board's
Emergency Response/Service Ministries -- $100,000 in response to
a Church World Service appeal for relief supplies in Europe and
for the shipment of supplies from the United States, and $40,000
in support of an earlier CWS appeal to purchase tents, blankets,
and mattresses for refugees being served by Diaconie Agape and
International Orthodox Christian Charities.

These Church of the Brethren monies are contributing to CWS'
current $1.8 million of appeals for assistance in the former
Yugoslavia. CWS has just released $265,000 to provide 15,000
blankets, 10,000 bed linens, 2,000 mattresses, and 5,000 pillows
and cases. CWS had already sent $100,000 for blankets and bedding
and $800,000 for tents, blankets, and mattresses, which are being
purchased in Albania.

Meanwhile, the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., is
busy receiving and sending material aid that is intended to
assist with humanitarian efforts in the area of conflict. Eight
trucks full of supplies, which included 1,260 tents and 1,600
bales of woolen blankets, were shipped to Skopje, Macedonia, on
April 17-18 on behalf of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster
Assistance. On behalf of CWS, the center is geared up to receive
much-needed family gift kits from congregations and individuals
nationwide. These kits must include --

* sanitary napkins (16 to 18 per package)
* white cotton women's panties (three-pair package, size 7 or 8)
* white cotton men's briefs (three-pair package, sizes 36 or 38)
* white cotton crew socks (three-pair package, men's shoe size
     6-12)
* white cotton children's socks (three-pair package, shoe size
     12C-6Y)

All items must be new; estimated cost is about $27. These items
are to be boxed, marked "Kosovo Response," and sent to the
Brethren Service Center Annex, P.O. Box 188, 601 Main Street, New
Windsor, MD. 21776. The items must be received at New Windsor by
May 7. 

During this frenetic time the Brethren Service Center also
shipped seven 40-foot containers with 1,875 bales of quilts and
750 bales of sweaters to Armenia for Lutheran World Relief.

With Wednesday's announcement by President Clinton that up to
20,000 refugees will be permitted to relocate in the United
States provided they already have family members here, ER/SM is
prepared to assist in the relocation of refugees in the
Baltimore, Md., region, should such assistance be requested. 

Response to the NATO air strikes has also come from a Brethren
district, congregations, and individuals. Middle Pennsylvania
District Witness Commission and Disaster Response Committee has
committed $27,000 to provide 1,000 of the family gift kits. 

Coventry Church of the Brethren of Pottstown, Pa., has scheduled
a Proclamation and Prayer for Peace service on May 2, featuring
intercessory prayer focused around Micah 4:1-4, Matthew 5:1-16,
and Matthew 5:38-48. Members will also be encouraged to
participate in related action items listed in that day's
bulletin. An ecumenical peace vigil was held April 14 at Highland
Avenue Church of the Brethren, Elgin, Ill, which was attended by
about 175 people. A community prayer vigil was organized by the
Sunnyslope Church of the Brethren-United Church of Christ on
April 11, which was attended by about 60 people of various faith
traditions. Ankeny (Iowa) Church of the Brethren has been holding
a Prayers for Peace service one evening each week. And Williamson
Road Church of the Brethren, Roanoke, Va., held a Good Friday
evening prayer service.

About 50 participants of the recently concluded Church of the
Brethren Christian Citizenship Seminar also held a prayer vigil
April 13 in front of the White House. Participants made protest
signs and some of the youth led the readings and the prayers. The
vigil concluded with the spontaneous singing of "Freedom" while
others knelt in prayer.

2) Hurricane Georges emergency response work coordinated by the
Church of the Brethren General Board's Emergency Response/Service
Ministries this month is entering a new phase. A new project is
opening in Biloxi, Miss., to assist in rebuilding projects still
needed in the wake of last September's storm that tore through
the Caribbean and onto the Mississippi Coast. Many rural poor and
elderly families in Biloxi suffered flood, wind, and water damage
to their homes. ER/SM's work will involve major repairs, with the
possibility of one or two rebuilds. The initial work team is
expected to start next week. 

ER/SM's other ongoing Hurricane Georges response efforts continue
in Caimito and Castaner, Puerto Rico; and in San Juan, Dominican
Republic. To assist in these projects, ER/SM this month received
approval for three Emergency Disaster Fund requests that total
$107,000 --

* $50,000 in support of emergency food relief and long-term
     reconstruction programs in the Dominican Republic. One-fifth
     of these funds will be forwarded to the Dominican           
     Church of the Brethren for a short-term food relief program.
     The remaining funds will support a long-term reconstruction
     program in San Juan.
* $37,000 in support of the shipping of medical supplies to the
     Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Honduras by Church
     World Service.
* $20,000 in support of the new Biloxi, Miss., project.

3) Three additional Emergency Disaster Fund grants totaling
$35,000 have been allocated this month by the General Board's
Emergency Response/Service Ministries office for response efforts
in California, Colombia, and Sudan --

* $15,000 in support of the Church World Service response to the
     December California freeze that damaged citrus and seasonal
     crops and affected up to 28,000 workers. These funds will
     help provide direct aid to affected families.
* $10,000 in support of the Church World Service response to the
     Jan. 25 earthquake in Colombia, which killed 1,300 people.
     These funds will help provide shelter for 700 
     families, seismic-resistant housing, sanitation, tools,
     economic regeneration, and food.
* $10,000 in support of the Church World Service response to food
     shortages and malnutrition in Sudan. These funds will
     support a long-term food security and agricultural
     rehabilitation program.

As of today, 15 EDF grants have allocated this year totaling
$385,360.

4) More than 100 senior high youth and advisers from across the
country gathered for this year's Church of the Brethren Christian
Citizenship Seminar, April 10-15. Held annually except during
National Youth Conference years, the seminar begins with three
days in New York City and ends with two in Washington, D.C. This
year's focus was on the environment. 

Speakers during the week included David Radcliff from the Church
of the Brethren General Board's Brethren Witness office, several
members of the Oakton (Va.) Church of the Brethren who are
involved in government work, and a representative from the
National Council of Churches. Youth also visited area churches
for Sunday morning worship and toured the United Nations
headquarters in New York, made visits to representatives and
senators on Capitol Hill, and attended a play at the Kennedy
Center.

Free time was also allowed for sightseeing. About half the group
used part of this time to participate in a prayer vigil
concerning the current NATO military campaign in the former
Yugoslavia in front of the White House.

The Youth/Young Adult Ministry Office and the Washington Office
of the Church of the Brethren sponsor the event.

5) A team of Church of the Brethren representatives visited
former Brethren mission churches in India March 19-31. Led by
Mervin Keeney, the Church of the Brethren General Board's
director of Global Mission Partnerships, the group also included
Shantilal Bhagat, GMP staff consultant, and Bob Gross,
coordinator of On Earth Peace Assembly's Ministry of
Reconciliation. The purpose of the visit was to lay the
foundation for a hoped-for joint meeting between the Church of
North India and Brethren who have separated from CNI.

Churches begun by the Church of the Brethren, which started
mission work in India in 1894, united with CNI in 1970 as part of
an indigenization strategy. However, some members began
withdrawing from the union as early as 1978. According to Keeney,
continued tensions have diverted the energies of both groups from
fully pursuing God's mission and continue to divide the body of
Christ in an increasingly difficult Hindu context. The Annual
Conference last spoke on the situation in India in a 1988 action.
Recommendations in the 1988 statement included encouragement for
General Board staff to facilitate cooperative ministry and
reconciliation between the groups.

"We heard a variety of perspectives and recommendations regarding
unresolved issues," Keeney said of the India experience. "The
trip renewed the Church of the Brethren connection with the
church in India, and began to explore ecclesiastical, historical,
and legal issues toward possible ways of moving forward."

Keeney added that the next step, a joint meeting to bring the two
groups together, is projected in the next six months.

6) A handful of Brethren from around the country plan to attend a
protest and vigil May 1-4 in Washington D.C., aimed at closing
the U.S. Army-run School of Americas. The SOA has long trained
Latin American soldiers, many of whom have been linked to
thousands of human rights violations. The Church of the Brethren
General Board in 1997 approved a resolution calling for the
school to be closed. This event comes on the heels of legislation
being introduced into Congress by two congressmen on April 15
that would close the school.

The vigil is being planned by the SOA Watch, which currently has
on its staff two Brethren Volunteer Service workers. Activities
will include speakers from Latin America and the U.S., a
"Celebration of Hope" concert, nonviolence training and other
workshops, congressional visits urging the close of the SOA,
nonviolent civil disobedience at the Pentagon, and a vigil on the
Capitol steps.

7) Patrick Bugu, a pastor for Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (the
Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), has been promised a visa by
the U.S. government that will allow him to attend courses this
fall at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind. If this
promise is fulfilled, Bugu will become the first EYN member
granted a visa to study at Bethany in about five years. He is one
of two students whose visa applications have repeatedly been
rejected during that period.

Bugu has served as pastor of the Yola congregation, but over the
past few years he has served as librarian for the Theological
College of Northern Nigeria, located in Jos.

Bugu's U.S. studies will be sponsored by the Church of the
Brethren General Board's Global Mission Partnerships office and
by Bethany Theological Seminary.

8) Mary Cline Detrick, associate executive of Mid-Atlantic
District, is attending the Ninth Quadrennial Meeting of the World
Day of Prayer International Committee in Cape Town, South Africa.
This meeting began April 9 and concludes today. As a member of
the Executive Committee, she has provided leadership for
approximately 200 women from 85 countries who plan and promote
the worldwide celebration, which is held each year on the first
Friday of March. For the past 14 years, she has served as
coordinator of World Day of Prayer in the United States. 

World Day of Prayer has been observed for 112 years in 179
countries. It is a time when people pause to pray for the needs
and hopes of a specific country, using the same service written
by women of that country. This meeting was used to select the
next five writing countries and for prayer, participatory Bible
studies, and for business.

9) The Brethren Peace Fellowship held its 33rd Annual Dinner
Meeting at Brethren Village, Neffsville, Pa., April 8. SueZann
Bosler of Fort Lauderdale, Flor., served as keynote speaker (see
April 1 Newsline).

At that meeting, Roy and Violet Pfaltzgraff, 30-year missionaries
to Nigeria, were honored as Brethren Peacemakers of the Year.
Violet served as a nurse and teacher; Roy is a leading authority
on leprosy.

The Brethren Peace Fellowship is an independent initiative of a
group of Church of the Brethren members.

10) The Christian Peacemaker Teams Steering Committee, meeting at
University Park Church of the Brethren near Washington, D.C.,
April 8-10, heard an impassioned plea from CPTer and Church of
the Brethren member Cliff Kindy to turn from the chaos in Kosovo
and prepare to stop the next war now brewing in Chiapas, Mexico.

"War breaks out and the soldiers are ready," said Kindy. "It's
time for peace to break out and we need to be ready. We know how
to do it. The CPT model works. But we need more than the four
CPTers currently in Chiapas if we are to prevent another
bloodbath like the one that engulfed neighboring Guatemala and
took 200,000 lives."

CPT Training Coordinator Kryss Chupp reminded the committee that
the independent Church of the Brethren and Mennonite organization
had received many requests for assistance in 1995 from nonviolent
groups in Serbia and Kosovo. "They said if we didn't come, there
would be a disaster, but we just didn't have the people and we
didn't go." Chupp added that CPT needs 12 additional full-time
staff immediately.

11) Warren Moorman, a longtime leader of the Nineveh Church at
Hardy, Va., was killed along with three other men in an air crash
near Shawsville, Va., on April 12. The funeral for Moorman, 73,
was held April 16, the 50th anniversary of his marriage to his
wife, Doris, who survives him.

12) Janine Katonah began serving as interim executive for
Illinois/Wisconsin District on April 1. She has been a member of
the district's board and Ministry Commission. Katonah served on
the General Board staff in the area of stewardship in 1979-80. At
her calling, Katonah was serving as instructor of English as a
Second Language students in Chicago.

13) Dale Minnich has been named executive director of college
operations at McPherson College.  In this capacity, he will also
serve as the college's chief financial officer providing
comprehensive leadership for the college's financial and physical
plant operations.  

Minnich has been employed at McPherson College since 1997.  He
began his service as Director of Planned Giving, and most
recently as director of college operations, an interim position.
Prior to joining McPherson, Minnich served as Church of the
Brethren General Board staff for 22 years.

14) The Church of the Brethren General Board is seeking a
full-time marketing manager for Brethren Press. This Elgin-based
person will be responsible for promoting Brethren Press products
to markets within and beyond the Church of the Brethren.
Application materials are due by May 26. Contact Elsie Holderread
at eholderread_gb@brethren.org or 800-323-8039.

15) On Earth Peace Assembly has announced two volunteer and one
internship openings. 

A full-time volunteer Peace Academy program assistant is needed
to assist with program promotion and with program implementation
and follow-up. Contact Audrey Osborne at audrey@oepa.org or at
410-635-8706.

A full-time, volunteer Ministry of Reconciliation program
assistant is needed to assist with program promotion and with
program implementation and follow-up. Contact Bob Gross at
bgross@igc.org or at 219 982-7751.

A full-time store manager/public relations coordinator intern is
needed to provide overall management of The Peace Place resource
store and to care for the public relations needs of On Earth
Peace Assembly. Contact Tom Hurst at tom@oepa.org or at 410
635-8705.

16) Following this week's deadly shooting at Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colo., the Prince of Peace Church of the
Brethren in Littleton received many inquires about the impact
felt by the congregation and the surrounding community. On
Wednesday, Sarah Leatherman Young, Prince of Peace pastor,
responded by sending the following letter to the CoB-L list 
serve -- 

Columbine High School is approximately five miles from Prince of
Peace Church of the Brethren.  None of our youth who are regular
participants in our youth group attend school there.
Nevertheless, our congregation and our community are shocked and
shaken by this violence and loss. It could have just as easily
happened at Heritage High School, which is a block from our
church, or at any of the other high schools our young people
attend. It points out the undercurrent of hatred and violence
that lurks in our society in general, and even in our very own
neighborhoods. 

As a church, and as neighbors, we are seeking to be of whatever
assistance we can. There are a number of ecumenical services
scheduled throughout the week. We canceled our scheduled
video/discussion series for Wednesday night so that members could
attend one of these services. We also contacted our youth and
offered them a time to come together and share. Members have been
encouraged to donate blood to help replace the amount needed for
treatment of the wounded. Some of our members with expertise in
disaster response made connections with authorities, and are on
call if needed.

Our Sunday morning worship service, which had been scheduled to
have an Earth Day theme, will instead be a time of reflection on
and prayer concerning this tragedy, which community members are
invited to attend. One of our members, Dean Farringer, a retired
social worker and licensed minister with experience in helping
people process emotional trauma, has made himself available to
anyone who would like to talk. 

We appreciate the prayers of our friends, families, and sister
churches for emotional and spiritual, and for the wounded the
physical, healing of our community. We also ask your prayer for
our youth, who are the most shaken by this, several of which are
scheduled to attend Regional Youth Conference at McPherson, Kan.,
this weekend.

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the Church of
the Brethren General Board's News Services. Newsline stories may
be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the source and
the publication date is included.

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