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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      , 2000
Contact:  Walt Wiltschek
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) A CAIR team is dispatched to assist after the Alaska Airlines
crash near Los Angeles. 
 2) The Nuer Bible launching in Sudan is a time of joyous
celebration.
 3) Brethren members view and assist with work in Honduras.
 4) Church of the Brethren representatives hold talks with the
Church of North India.
 5) An Emergency Disaster Fund grant provides relief for earthquake
response in China.
 6) A Brethren environmental learning tour visits Belize and
Guatemala.
 7) Openings remain for many 2000 Youth/Young Adult summer
workcamps.
 8) Members of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes work at a new
Shared Services Program.
 9) Brethren bits: BVS, Renovare, spiritual discernment, young
adults, and more.

PERSONNEL
 10) Mark Sloan begins serving with the New Sudan Council of
Churches.
 11) Linda McCauliff resigns as General Board Congregational Life
Team member for Area 1.
 12) Bethany Theological Seminary seeks a director of planned
giving and major gifts.

COMING EVENTS
 13) The Great Plains Song & Story Fest is slated for Iowa in July.

RESOURCES
 14) The newest "in our midst" issue contains resources for Lent
and Easter.
 15) March's Source packet highlights summer events, Brethren Press
resources, and more.

    
***************************************************************

 1) Two Crisis in Aviation Incident Response team members,
including Church of the Brethren member Sharon Gilbert of the
LaVerne (Calif.) congregation, have been providing administrative
support to the efforts of the American Red Cross in Los Angeles
since Tuesday, following Monday's crash of Alaska Airlines Flight
261 in the Pacific Ocean.

Five additional CAIR team members traveled to Los Angeles on
Wednesday, according to CAIR administrator Lydia Walker. Those
members include Brethren Sheryl Faus (Chiques church, Manheim,
Pa.), Judy Gump (Prince of Peace church, Denver, Colo.) and John
Kinsel (Beavercreek (Ohio) church). Other members on the team
include acting CAIR team administrator Gloria Cooper and Betsy
Fiser of the United Methodist Church and Kathy Ickler from the
Roman Catholic Church.

CAIR service is provided through the General Board's Emergency
Response/Service Ministries based in New Windsor, Md.

 2) Editor's note: The last edition of Newsline carried an account
of the obstacles encountered en route to the Nuer-language Bible
launching in Sudan, including a site change and near-tragic plane
crash. This edition's article focuses on the launching ceremony
that followed:

For a small village that didn't know until the last minute it would
be hosting the launching ceremony for the first complete
Nuer-language Bible, Mading managed to put on quite a celebration.

Lester Boleyn of Citronelle, Ala., who represented the Church of
the Brethren at the mid-January ceremony along with his wife,
Esther, and David Sollenberger of Annville, Pa., said that nearly
900 people gathered for a worship service that Sunday morning in
Mading. It was too many for the village's church building, in fact,
so they set up outside. After more than an hour of worship, the
crowd stayed in the sweltering sun for another two and a half hours
of events to launch the long-awaited Bible.

"It was excellent," said Boleyn, who worked on the Nuer translation
with Esther and others in Sudan for almost a decade. "The people in
the village did a remarkable job of welcoming us and conducting the
whole thing."

The ceremony included a series of church leaders and other
speakers, including Boleyn, who gave orations to mark the occasion.
Finally, the big moment came, and Dr. Jan Sterk of the American
Bible Society presented the new Bible to Rev. Peter Riet Machar,
the vice moderator of the church in southern Sudan.

"They broke out in spontaneous singing, cheerings, and drumming,"
Boleyn said. "It was a spontaneous expression of joy. It went on
for five minutes before they could go on."

Nuer is the largest language group in southern Sudan and has been
a written language since the 1930s. A Nuer New Testament had been
in existence since the late '60s, and a few other individual books
had been translated, but this edition presents the first full
translation of all 66 books. Some other Bible study and
inspirational books have also been translated into Nuer, including
some written by Esther Boleyn.

Only three boxes of the new Bibles were able to be transported to
Mading for the ceremony, after last-minute political maneuverings
in Sudan forced relocation of the event from Akobo, about 60 miles
to the southwest. The Bibles were distributed to evangelists,
pastors, and other church leaders in Mading, while churches in
other locations celebrated at the same time. Other agencies are
transporting many more boxes of the new Bibles into Sudan from
Nairobi, Kenya.

"The launching service itself was quite inspirational," Lester
Boleyn said, "so inspirational it almost makes you want to come
back and be a missionary again."

 3) Eight Brethren are in Honduras this week, part of a 20-member
team of volunteers sent by the Illinois CROP office. The Brethren
from Illinois are Art Hunn, Bill Hare, and Joyce and Richard Person
of the Polo church; Richard Koch of the Milledgeville church; and
Ralph Miner of Highland Avenue church in Elgin; and from Maryland,
Eugene Hartman and John Hartman of the Greenhill church near
Pocomoke City on the Eastern Shore. The team is helping to
construct 18 new houses in Santa Catarino, a community near the
Nicaraguan border.

Howard Royer, staff for interpretation with the Church of the
Brethren General Board, also was in Honduras this past week, on a
communications visit conducted by the Christian Commission on
Development for a delegation from the ecumenical One Great Hour of
Sharing Committee. A special highlight for both the team of
volunteers and the OGHS group was visiting El Estribo, the Honduran
community where the General Board's Global Food Crisis Fund has
been working and where two teams of Brethren volunteers constructed
new homes last August.

David Radcliff, director of Brethren Witness, and Samantha Morris,
a Brethren Volunteer Service worker in Belize, also visited El
Estribo and several other communities in late January. Radcliff is
working with the CCD staff on plans for a Brethren work team going
to Honduras in June.

 4) On Jan. 31, Church of the Brethren leaders met in Toronto,
Canada, with leaders from the Church of North India, who had
attended the annual meeting of CNI's international partners in the
Ontario capital.

After three decades of good working partnership, the relationship
between the two parties is strained. Central in the shift is open
conversation by the Church of the Brethren with the group of former
Brethren who left CNI in the late 1970s and now seek recognition of
their body as a member of the global Church of the Brethren. In
October, the General Board established a committee to explore this
question. Steps taken in mid-1999 to secure a property trust were
also alienating for CNI. In the conversation, CNI and the Church of
the Brethren recognized their differing visions for Christ's church
in India but agreed to continue talking and acknowledged value in
the partnership.

Brethren mission had begun in India in 1895. CNI was formed from
the uniting of several denominations, including the Church of the
Brethren. The Church of the Brethren, a CNI partner since the
formation of the united church in 1970, was barred from the
international partners' meeting by CNI this year. 

Participating in the Toronto meeting from the Church of the
Brethren were General Board chair Mary Jo Flory Steury, General
Board executive director Judy Mills Reimer, former India and China
missionary Wendell Flory, and Global Mission Partnerships director
Mervin Keeney. Attending from CNI were moderator Vinod Peter,
deputy moderator Z. James Terom, general secretary V.S. Lall,
treasurer Enos Das Pradhan, and pastor Anita Templeton. Two other
CNI partners were observers: Bruce Gregersen, United Church of
Canada, who hosted the meeting, and Eric Gass, United Church of
Christ (US). Bob Gross of the Ministry of Reconciliation, who has
been retained to facilitate the Board's reconciliation efforts
between the separated Brethren and CNI, facilitated the meeting.

 5) The second Emergency Disaster Fund grant of 2000 will provide
$10,000 to support disaster recovery efforts through Church World
Service following two Jan. 14 earthquakes in China. The quakes
caused heavy destruction of homes and public buildings, with more
than 156,000 out of a population of 200,000 in the area rendered
homeless. Survivors have crowded into makeshift tents but have
insufficient clothes and blankets to keep warm in the sub-freezing
nighttime temperatures.

CWS is supporting an Action by Churches Together appeal of
$200,000. ACT, a worldwide emergency-response network of churches
and related agencies based in Switzerland, reports that food,
clothing, cotton quilts, and shelters are the most urgent needs of
the disaster survivors.

 6) Fifteen participants in an environmental learning tour to the
Central American nations of Belize and Guatemala experienced the
lushness of tropical forest and barrenness of heavily farmed
hillsides during their 10-day trip. The Jan. 7-17 experience is
thought to be the first trip of its kind to be sponsored by the
Church of the Brethren.

While in Belize, the group hiked through the jungle, canoed rivers,
explored caves, snorkeled coral reefs, and talked to Mayan farmers
who practiced centuries-old farming techniques and used natural
forest remedies for common -- and uncommon -- ailments, including
the bite of the deadly fleur de lit snake. Participants were based
at the Jaguar Creek Center, a solar-powered education facility in
the jungle. Brethren Volunteer Service worker Samantha Morris
(Evergreen Church of the Brethren), serving at Jaguar Creek,
organized the visit.

The Guatemala segment of the trip was hosted by BVSer Robert
Stiles, along with Sarah Stafford, a human rights Accompanier
serving in the Partners in Accompaniment program. Participants
toured villages where the Global Food Crisis Fund is supporting
stove and cistern projects, and observed denuded mountainsides
being farmed by poor Guatemalans without access to other land. The
group also happened upon an erupting volcano.

A second trip is planned for January 2001. Contact the Brethren
Witness office of the General Board at 1-800-323-8039 for more
information.

 7) The General Board's Youth/Young Adult office has good news for
anyone interested in attending a Church of the Brethren National
Youth Workcamp during the summer of 2000. Thus far only two
workcamps are full, so there is still time to register. The
workcamps in Indianapolis, Ind., and Richmond, Va., have already
filled, while four others (Crossnore, N.C.; Dominican Republic,
BRF; Lake Geneva, Wis.; and New Windsor, Md.) are almost full.
  
Adequate space is still available in all other camps depending on
group size. The following workcamps have the most space left: Young
Adult Dominican Republic; Intergenerational Harrisburg, Pa.;
Americus, Ga.; Orlando, Fla.; Jamaica; Trees for Life in Wichita,
Kans.; Washington, D.C.; Pine Ridge, S.D.; Tijuana, Mexico; and
Gould Farm, Mass. For workcamp brochures or more details, call the
Youth/Young Adult Office at 1-800-323-8039.

 8) Eight members of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, a ministry
of the Association of Brethren Caregivers, have become Charter
Partners in the new Shared Services Program offered through the
Fellowship.

The eight homes that have become Charter Partners are Hillcrest
Brethren Homes, La Verne Calif.; Brethren Retirement Community,
Greenville, Ohio; Garden Terrace, Wenatchee, Wash.; Good Shepherd
Home, Fostoria, Ohio; Peter Becker Community, Harleysville, Pa.;
Pinecrest Community, Mt. Morris, Ill.; Pleasant Hill Village,
Girard, Ill.; and The Cedars, McPherson, Kans.

Representatives from the Charter Partner organizations will form a
Partner Council, which will guide the continued formation of the
Shared Services Program. These representatives will meet March 5-6
in Elgin, Ill., with two representatives from the Fellowship of
Brethren Homes Steering Committee to define tasks for each group.

The Shared Service Program was created over the last year through
the leadership of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes. It is a
collaborative effort to offer standard programs and services for
those homes that choose to join the alliance. Since the program was
proposed at the Fellowship of Brethren Homes' Forum in August, the
steering committee has worked to continue the Shared Services
Program until the Partner Council was created. During that time,
committees were formed to work on the program's highest priorities
of corporate compliance, Brethren values, board training, and
leadership development. A Peer Consulting Program has been
established alongside the work of the priority committees.

In addition to the eight Charter Partners, seven Brethren
retirement facilities are associate members of the Shared Services
Program. All Church of the Brethren-related retirement communities
are now members of the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, with Garden
Terrace becoming the 24th member.

 9) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere:
  *Brethren Volunteer Service Unit #237 is meeting this month at
Camp Ithiel in Orlando, Fla. The unit of nine volunteers has
already spent time working for Habitat for Humanity and visited
area churches. They leave this weekend for a day in Sebring, where
they will work and visit at The Palms, then on to Miami, where they
will be hosted by the Eglise des Freres Hatiens (the Hatian church
in Miami). 
  *The Renovare spiritual renewal event planned for March 10-11 at
Elizabethtown (Pa.) College and sponsored by the Atlantic Northeast
District has filled its available space, with more than 800
registrations already received well over a month before the event.
  *A spiritual discernment team gathered together by the General
Board's Congregational Life Ministries Office met recently at the
Shepherd's Spring Outdoor Ministries Center in Sharpsburg, Md., and
made plans for future initiatives. Those who give spiritual
direction will be gathering at Annual Conference to help determine
the nature and purpose of such a network. "Yearning for God and
God's yearning for the church" is a key focus.
  *Theresa C. Eshbach, director of institutional advancement for
Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., has earned the
professional designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive from
the CFRE Professional Certification Board. More than 4,100 people
hold this designation, which requires numerous qualifications
including a written exam.
  *Emergency Response/Service Ministries is reopening a project to
meet ongoing needs of tornado survivors in Haysville, Kans.,
following an invitation from the Wichita Interfaith Disaster
Recovery Center. The project will reopen March 1.
  *The Young Adult Steering Committee met last weekend and, among
other business, planned events for this year's Young Adult
Conference. The conference, "Finding Common Ground," takes place
May 27-29 at Camp Harmony in Western Pennsylvania. For more
information contact the Youth/Young Adult Office at 1-800-323-8039.
  *About four dozen Bridgewater (Va.) College students spent the
night of Jan. 28 sleeping outside in cardboard boxes to briefly
experience homelessness, continuing an annual event for the
college. Twenty students and Bridgewater College chaplain Robbie
Miller will also be traveling to Philadelphia over spring break
March 5-11 to work at Habitat for Humanity sites.
  *Brethren Colleges Abroad representatives will meet in Marburg,
Germany, and Strasbourg, France -- the first two campuses of the
BCA program -- for strategic planning March 6-10. Elizabethtown
(Pa.) College president Theodore Long, BCA chair, will preside at
the meeting.
  *Members of Northern Indiana District are banding together to
form the New Millenium Players and put on a production of "The St.
Judas Passion," a contemporary opera, April 16-18 at the Middlebury
Church of the Brethren. Brethren composer Steve Engle wrote "The
St. Judas Passion" in 1972. Frank Ramirez of the Elkhart Valley
church will direct this production.
  

 10) Mark Sloan departed on Feb. 1 for Nairobi, Kenya, to begin
serving as special assistant to Haruun Ruun, the executive director
of the New Sudan Council of Churches. Mark joins Ruun and Merlyn
Kettering as the third member of the Church of the Brethren General
Board's Global Mission Partnerships team serving with the NSCC.

Sloan, from Stone Church of the Brethren in Huntingdon, Pa.,
completed graduate studies in theology and business administration
in December. He also completed two weeks of cross cultural ministry
orientation in New Mexico in preparation for work in another
culture.

 11) Linda McCauliff has resigned as a Congregational Life Team
member for Area 1 (Northeast) effective Feb. 25. McCauliff began
serving with the General Board in January 1998 and has worked with
the other team members in developing a more direct General Board
approach to congregations under the umbrella of Congregational Life
Ministries.

McCauliff will continue in her half-time associate district
executive position with Western Pennsylvania District.

 12) The Office of Institutional Advancement of Bethany Theological
Seminary is seeking applications for a full-time position as
director of planned giving and major gifts. Starting date is
targeted for April 1, but a later starting date is negotiable. 

Candidates should submit a letter of application, resume, and three
letters of reference by Feb. 29 to Theresa Eshbach, executive
director of institutional advancement, Bethany Theological
Seminary, 615 National Road West, Richmond, IN 47374-4019; or fax
to (765) 983-1840; or phone at 1-800-BTS-8822 for more details.

 13) The Great Plains Song and Story Fest will be held the week
before Annual Conference, July 9-15, at Camp Pine Lake near Eldora,
Iowa. This unique family camp, offered for a fourth straight year,
features the following Brethren leaders: Debbie Eisenbise, Dena
Pence Frantz, Joseph Helfrich, Rocci Hildum, Jonathan Hunter, Lee
Krahenbuhl, Jim Lehman, Peg Lehman, Mike Stern, and others. A
brochure and registration form are in the March Source packet.

 14) The newest installment in the "in our midst" series of
congregational resources produced by the General Board was mailed
to churches Jan. 31, this one filled with worship resources and
other materials for Lent and Easter.

The collection travels from the first Sunday in Lent through Easter
Sunday with a variety of calls to worship, invocations, offering
invitations, prayers, benedictions, and other pieces contributed by
about 35 Brethren. There are also Lenten meditations by Ed Poling,
pastor of the Carlisle (Pa.) congregation; a Maundy Thursday
service prepared by Christy Waltersdorff, pastor of the York Center
(Ill.) congregation; an Easter message by Wallace B. Landes, Jr.,
senior pastor of the Palmyra (Pa.) congregation; and worship center
design ideas by Carol Bowman, a General Board Congregational Life
Team member for Area 5 (West).

Extra copies of the packet can be purchased from Brethren Press at
$4.95 each. Call 1-800-441-3712.

 15) This March Source packet from the General Board's Office of
Interpretation includes information on upcoming events for the
Church of the Brethren Ministers' Association and the Association
of Brethren Caregivers at and after Annual Conference 2000, to be
held in Kansas City in July.

Three Brethren Press resources are also highlighted: "Hope Beyond
Healing: A Cancer Journal" by the late Brethren activist Dale
Aukerman; Anabaptist Vacation Bible School curriculum; and a new
volume of the Believers Church Bible Commentary Series.

Other pieces in the packet are a copy of "The Third Day"
environmental newsletter from the Office of Brethren Witness, a
Brethren Volunteer Service 2000 project book, a brochure for the
Great Plains Song and Story Fest, posters for One Great Hour of
Sharing and for the "Things Not Yet Seen" 2000 National Youth
Ministry Theme, details on new services offered by eMountain
Communications and on a jubilee event planned for Washington D.C.
April 9, and a New Life Ministries Report on Justice and Church
Growth.

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, manager of news services
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the first, third
and fifth Friday of each month. Newsline stories may be reprinted
provided that Newsline is cited as the source and the publication
date is included.

To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 1-800-323-8039, ext.
263, or write CoBNews@AOL.Com. Newsline is available at
www.brethren.org and is archived with an index at
http://www.wfn.org.