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Date: June 15, 2001
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

"And let us not grow weary while doing good ..." Gal. 6:9a

NEWS
 1) General Board reports progress in India reconciliation.
 2) Disaster Child Care teams heads to Texas.
 3) National Young Adult Conference looks at "being alive."
 4) Young adult workcamp group experiences Taize.
 5) Brethren respond to execution of Timothy McVeigh.
 6) Brethren Homes Forum takes place in Virginia.
 7) General Board funds issue trio of grants for disasters, hunger.
 8) District executives hold special meetings to evaluate
structure.
 9) ABC will present awards to four caregivers at Conference.
10) Two Faith Expeditions head to Central America.
11) BBT board's spring meeting focuses on policies, procedures.

RESOURCES
12) A light bulb marks a new idea from Brethren Press.

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 1) The General Board's Global Mission Partnerships Office is
reporting progress in efforts to open up communication and
constructive dialogue between the Church of North India (CNI) and
the Brethren in south Gujarat State, India.

As part of an ongoing effort at reconciliation, Bob Gross,
coordinator of Ministry of Reconciliation, traveled to India May
10-21 to meet with both churches separately in preparation for
joint meetings to be held later this year. Both churches have
agreed to send four-person delegations to meet in a neutral setting
in October to begin a dialogue on long-standing and more recent
concerns stemming from the Brethren group's withdrawal from CNI in
the 1970s.  

Rachel Din of Ankeshwar, a member of the Church of North India, and
Darryl Sankey of Valsad, a member of the Brethren group, have both
agreed to assist Gross as co-facilitators during the joint
meetings. The three met extensively during Gross' May visit to
India and worked as a team in the meetings with CNI and Brethren
representatives.

"Having Darryl and Rachel as co-facilitators has already improved
the quality of communication between the two churches, and their
leadership will be essential during the joint meetings in October,"
Gross says.

Merv Keeney, director for Global Mission Partnerships,
characterized the progress as "incremental." "This division in
India has existed for a generation," Keeney says, "and the way
forward is achieved in small steps."

Keeney expressed particular optimism at the preliminary training of
persons from each side to help facilitate the conversation and the
informal conversations that have begun on an interpersonal basis in
long-divided communities and even families. He urges prayer for the
churches in India, especially through the planned October meetings.

 2) Church of the Brethren Emergency Response/Service Ministries
has responded to the severe flooding in south Texas caused by
Tropical Storm Allison.

A team of five Disaster Child Care volunteers was scheduled to
travel late this week to Houston to provide child care in Red Cross
Service Centers. Lorna Grow of Dallas Center, Iowa will serve as
project manager. Other initial team members include John Grow and
Jackie Snyder of Dallas Center, Carolyn Nelson of Diagonal, Iowa,
and Donna Savage of Chesterfield, Mo. Other volunteers will follow
over the next several days.

The response provided a quick initiation for Roy Winter, who
officially assumed the position of coordinator of Disaster Child
Care June 11. Winter, who comes from Goddard, Kan., will be working
out of the ER/SM offices at the Brethren Service Center, New
Windsor, Md.

Church World Service has also responded, sending "Gift of the
Heart" cleanup kits to the Louisiana and working with interfaith
groups and church leaders across Texas and Louisiana on flood
recovery. 

 3) About 70 young adults from as far away as Iowa, Kansas, and New
England gathered Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, at Brethren Woods
in Keezletown, Va., for the Church of the Brethren's annual
national Young Adult Conference.

Annual Conference moderator-elect Paul Grout of Putney, Vt.,
brought to the young adults a theme he has carried throughout the
denomination in the past year--that of truly "being alive,"
particularly being alive in Christ. Using a variety of media and
underscoring the importance of art in faith, Grout described his
vision of the emerging church if it is to "get it" and be relevant
and meaningful in the postmodern 21st-century world.

"The church today cannot know Jesus because it believes it already
knows Jesus, and IT DOES NOT," Grout said emphatically. "The church
is in trouble because they believe they already have the answer."

The weekend, planned by the General Board's Youth/Young Adult
Ministries office and its Young Adult Steering Committee, also
included several powerful worship services, with parts of them
outdoors. A closing service used the image of water with a reminder
that believers become a new creation in Christ.

Other highlights included small-group Bible study sessions, Wacky
Olympics and other recreation, an annual variety show, and a chance
to enjoy abundant sunshine--a marked change from the rain-soaked
2000 conference.

The 2002 Young Adult Conference is scheduled for Memorial Day
weekend in Chicago, with an urban focus.

 4) From the City of Lights to the light of 1,000 candles, more
than 20 young adults experienced France during the first General
Board Youth/Young Adult Ministries workcamp of the summer.

The group began in Paris June 1 with some time for acclimation,
sightseeing, and group building before heading to Taize, a
spiritual retreat community run by more than 100 "brothers" who
lead a monastic lifestyle.

Living simply, helping with community chores, and joining in prayer
services three times a day, participants experienced a full week in
the cycle of Taize life. The prayer services emphasized short,
repeated choruses, times of silence, the Eucharist, and readings of
scripture, allowing for personal space and reflection. In the
Saturday evening service, all worshippers lit a candle as a symbol
of Christ's resurrection and heard a brief message from Brother
Roger, the founder of the Taize movement.

The community seeks to be ecumenical in its approach. In fact, the
volunteer who provided the orientation for one group of Brethren
was a Mennonite from Seattle. Worship elements also accommodate
people from various Christian faiths. One of the brothers
characterized their work as "planting seeds."

Brethren participants joined a handful of other US groups--mostly
Episcopal--from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and elsewhere, along
with hundreds of Europeans, including an especially large group of
Germans. The majority of those at Taize are youth and young adults.

Following the week, participants expressed appreciation for the
opportunity to live in community, experience a variety of cultures,
have room to explore, and spend some time in silence. The workcamp
concluded June 11. Nineteen other workcamps are scheduled this
summer through the Youth/Young Adult office.

 5) Brethren in several areas spoke out as the US government on
June 11 carried out the execution of Timothy McVeigh, convicted for
the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Held in Terre Haute, Ind., it was the first federal execution since
1963.

The Church of the Brethren Washington Office issued a statement
that said, in part, "While not absolving Mr. McVeigh of his
culpability in his horrendous and brutal crime ... we do not
believe that his execution is God's will or in congruence with the
teachings of Jesus--particularly those found  in Matthew 5." It
cites the 1987 Annual Conference statement opposing the death
penalty. 

The office is urging continued action by Brethren, suggesting calls
and letters to President George W. Bush to call for a suspension of
all executions. It also asks Brethren to observe 169 seconds of
silence, one second for each of the 168 Oklahoma City victims and
one for McVeigh.

More than a dozen Brethren held a vigil outside the post office in
North Manchester, Ind. Several other congregations also planned
observances or witness activities.

 6) More than 30 people representing 11 Brethren-affiliated
retirement centers from across the country participated in the
Fellowship of Brethren Homes' Forum 2001 held June 8-10 at the
Bridgewater (Va.) Retirement Community. It was the fourth annual
forum hosted by the Fellowship of Brethren Homes, a ministry of the
Association of Brethren Caregivers.

During the weekend, participants attended a worship service; toured
three retirement centers--Sunnyside Presbyterian Home, Virginia
Mennonite Retirement Community, and Bridgewater Retirement
Community; held affinity-group discussions for CEOs, board members,
chaplains, and resident services personnel; and attended an
information-sharing session.

Prior to the opening of the forum, 12 attendees participated in a
board development workshop, which focused on conducting effective
meetings. The workshop was led by Lee Schmucker, director of the
Center for Board and Leadership Development, which is co-owned by
the Association of Brethren Caregivers and Mennonite Health
Services. Schmucker led the workshop on Friday afternoon and spent
Saturday training facilitators.

 7) The Church of the Brethren General Board has issued two grants
from its Emergency Disaster Fund and one from its Global Food
Crisis Fund in recent weeks.

An Emergency Disaster Fund grant of $20,000 will go to North
Carolina, to provide continued support for Hurricane Floyd recovery
work in the eastern part of the state. Church of the Brethren
Emergency Response/Service Ministries has been engaged in the area
since shortly after the fall 1999 hurricane.

ER/SM recently accepted an invitation by the Wilson Interfaith
Recovery Committee to establish a disaster response project serving
disaster survivors in Wilson County, N.C., where people have been
living in damaged homes since the hurricane. It will be the fourth
Hurricane Floyd recovery project established by ER/SM; Harold
Hubbell will serve as opening project director in July. Another
project is ongoing in Rocky Mount, N.C., with Charlie Gillam
serving as disaster project coordinator this month.

A second grant, for $2,700, will cover the purchase of Church of
the Brethren clinic boxes through Interchurch Medical Assistance.
The boxes will aid 37 small communities in Honduras still
recovering from Hurricane Mitch.

The Global Food Crisis Fund, meanwhile, issued $60,000 for
development projects in Honduras. The funds will help replenish
livestock lost during Hurricane Mitch, allow a variety of training
courses to be held, and provide funds for a micro-credit project
for poor women. The large grant had been approved by the General
Board Executive Committee at its spring meeting.

 8) The Council of District Executives met at Heartland
Presbyterian Center, Kansas City, Mo., in late May for a specially
called meeting of prayerful discernment regarding the report of the
Review and Evaluation Committee to Annual Conference.

The report includes two observations with recommendations that
directly affect districts and/or the Council of District
Executives. The day of discernment was focused on improved
communications between the Council of District Executives and
agencies of the Annual Conference.  

The design of the meeting used Worshipful Work processes including
storytelling, study of scripture, group discussion, prayer, and
song. Participants reviewed the historic purpose of the Council of
District Executives with the emerging needs of districts and the
agencies of the denomination in mind. Written reflections were
passed on to the Review and Evaluation Committee.

Participants reported that it proved helpful to revisit the
fundamental reasons for forming and maintaining the council and to
discuss ways in which districts enhance the ministries of the
denomination. In addition, by consensus, a decision was made to
discontinue using the acronym "CODE" when referring to the Council
of District Executives.  

 9) The Association of Brethren Caregivers will honor four
caregivers at its annual recognition dinner, at 5 p.m., June 30,
during the 2001 Annual Conference in Baltimore. Tickets are
available from the Annual Conference office and should be purchased
ahead of Conference. Caregivers to be honored are Robert D. Cain
Jr., J.H. Caricofe, Robert B. Di Matteo, and Fred Swartz. 

Cain, a member of the Greenville (Ohio) Church of the Brethren,
will be recognized following his retirement as president and chief
executive officer of The Brethren Home Retirement Community in
Greenville, where he served for nearly 20 years. 

ABC will honor Caricofe, a member of the Union Bridge (Md.) Church
of the Brethren, for more than 40 years of practicing family
medicine. 

Di Matteo, board chair of Lebanon Valley Brethren Home, Palmyra,
Pa., is credited with envisioning and being a prime motivator for
establishing the Brethren home, and he has served on its board
throughout most of its history. He is a deacon at the Palmyra
Church of the Brethren.

Swartz will receive an award for his many contributions in the
Church of the Brethren. Swartz is pastor of the Manassas (Va.)
Church of the Brethren and has served on the Denominational Deacon
Cabinet of ABC as secretary, and as associate editor for the deacon
ministry department of "Caregiving." Swartz also leads deacon
training workshops and was instrumental in editing the Deacon
Manual for Caring Ministries.

 10) Two Faith Expeditions will be in Central America this month
through the General Board's Brethren Witness office.

A group of 12, led by Tom Benevento of the Global Mission
Partnerships office, left June 13 for Guatemala. Included in the
10-day itinerary will be a work project at an elementary school,
visits to communities assisted in small-scale development projects
by the Global Food Crisis Fund, presentations on the history and
current situation in Guatemala, and the opportunity to visit a
reforestation program that is supported by the denomination and
also hosts a Brethren Volunteer Service position. 

A June 17-26 delegation of 15 will go to neighboring Honduras. The
group will travel to an isolated mountain community to assist in a
construction project. Participants will also learn about the
overall social and economic situation in Honduras and visit
communities that have benefited from Global Food Crisis Fund grants
for chickens, pigs, and other small-scale economic projects.
Brethren Witness director David Radcliff and Pacific Southwest
District youth coordinator Dena Gilbert will provide leadership for
the group, which includes nine youth and young adults.

 11) The Brethren Benefit Trust board, during its spring meeting
April 20-22 in Elgin, Ill., approved a deliquency policy that
applies to all BBT insurance plans effective May 1. Staff had
already been following the practices outlined in the policy for
collecting past-due payments, but no written guidelines had
officially been approved.

Board members also heard a report about the possibility of the
General Board investing its Pastors' Housing Fund through BBT.
Employee Financial Services director Don Fecher said BBT's legal
counsel advised BBT that it could establish a "non-qualified"
pension plan for accepting contributions to this fund.

Other actions at the meeting included the following:
*An update on long-term care was given, following a survey of
pastors in 2000 that indicated an interest in a long-term care
product. BBT Insurance staff are obtaining bids for a plan that
would meet the needs of a wide audience.

*The Board's Investment Committee formally reviewed the five-year
peformance of the Foundation's two fixed-income (Bond Fund)
managers--Criterion and Income Research & Management--and found
each group's performance satisfactory, according to Investment
Committee chair Dick Pogue. The committee recommended continued use
of Criterion and IR&M, with staff to closely monitor their
performance.

*Board members received favorable comments from BBT's Budget,
Audit, and Review Committee about the results from the new auditor,
Thomas Havey LLP, after BBT switched from fund-accounting
principles to cost-accounting methods for financial audits as of
January 2001.

 12) "A Bright Idea for the Climate" is the theme of a new
initiative for youth to get involved in doing something to help out
with issues surrounding global climate change. Youth in
denominations throughout the US, including the Church of the
Brethren, will have the opportunity to sell Compact Fluorescent
Lamps (CFL) to their places of worship, families, and friends as a
way to raise money and, more importantly, to help US consumers
begin to reduce their energy consumption.

The Youth CFL Project is sponsored by the Eco-Justice Working Group
of the US National Council of Churches of Christ and by Brethren
Press, the publishing house of the Church of the Brethren, which is
handling marketing and distribution for the project in partnership
with various denominations. The project will be piloted with the
Church of the Brethren and the Presbyterian Church USA.

The Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs project offers youth groups the
opportunity to sell the energy-saving bulbs and make a profit of $2
on each bulb sold. A special information packet including a video
and study resources about the project is available from Brethren
Press for $4. For more details or to order, call 800-441-3712 or
write to Youth CFL Project, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120-9958,
or e-mail rmatteson_gb@brethren.org.

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. Linetta Alley and
Mary Dulabaum contributed to this report. 

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