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

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 7, 2001
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) Annual Conference announces 2002 theme.
 2) Statement comes out of Historic Peace Church Consultation.
 3) Gifts to General Ministries Fund remain well behind 2000
levels.

PERSONNEL
 4) Mary Lou Garrison named manager of human resources for the
General Board.
 5) Kim Stuckey named program coordinator for peacemaker formation
at On Earth Peace. 
 6) Camp Mack seeks an executive director.

RESOURCES
 7) The www.brethren.org website has several new additions.
 8) New book examines Brethren experience in India.

FEATURES
 9) Anabaptists in Connecticut find ways to keep in touch.

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

 1) A familiar phrase from the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom Come,"
will be the theme for the 2002 Church of the Brethren Annual
Conference in Louisville, Ky.

"Jesus came to introduce a new way of living, a new way of
thinking, a new way of being," begins a statement on the theme. "He
called this new way the Kingdom of God." 

Saying that Jesus provided the model of "kingdom life," the
statement says that there are two kingdoms, or ways of living,
present for Christians today--a "way of emptiness" and worldly
values or "another way," which is "the kingdom of God brought forth
in Jesus Christ."

Moderator Paul Grout has written a letter expressing his desire to
see next summer's Conference conducted in another way, where
repentance and listening to God come before queries and position
papers. He also hopes to see "the full unity of the delegate body
in decision-making" on any business that does come before the
Conference.

Sunday evening insight sessions will return to the 2002 Conference,
but none will be held on Sunday morning. Instead, a large Sunday
school time will take place in the main hall before worship.

The 2002 theme also carries a subtext from I Timothy 6:19b: "Take
hold of the life that is really life." The full theme statement can
be viewed online, at www.brethren.org/ac/Louisville/theme.htm.

 2) Those attending the International Historic Peace Church
Consultation in Switzerland in late June, including 10 Church of
the Brethren representatives, have released a statement in
connection with the Decade to Overcome Violence.

The consultation was held, in part, to answer the World Council of
Churchesb call for the Historic Peace Churches (the Brethren,
Mennonites, and Quakers/Friends) to share their experience and
gifts in peacemaking with the broader church.

"It was a full five days together," wrote On Earth Peace
co-executive Barb Sayler--one of the Brethren representatives at
the consultation--in the agency's summer newsletter.

"It's a unique experience to bring together a blend of Brethren,
Mennonites, and Quakers. It's even more unique that after less than
five days together, we had learned enough about and from each other
that we were able to respond to the World Council of Churches' call
to share our experiences."

The statement includes affirmations of the New Testament's
teachings related to peace and justice and nonviolence, confessions
of shortcomings of the Historic Peace Churches as they have blended
more and more into mainstream society, and commitments to and
suggestions for the Decade and its goals.

The suggestions offered include "pursuing an ecclesiological
approach to nonviolence," seeking out "experimental methodologies
for positive alternatives to violence," and "committing ourselves
to utilize resources from beyond ourselves, to pray for the courage
of our convictions, and to practice patience." 

The full text of the statement is being sent to congregations in
the October "Source" mailing. For more information, call the
General Board's Brethren Witness office at 800-323-8039, On Earth
Peace at 410-635-8704, or the Washington Office at 202-546-3202.

 3) Giving to the Church of the Brethren General Board has improved
in recent weeks, but still remains well behind 2000 levels overall. 

Through Sept. 4, gifts to the General Ministries Fund--which covers
most General Board programs--stood at $2,259,742 according to
financial reports. That's down from $2,554,254 a year earlier, a
difference of nearly $300,000. Congregational giving to the fund
was down about 6.4 percent through July 31.

The General Board's designated funds, however, were all faring
better. The Global Food Crisis Fund, buoyed by a major bequest, had
received $243,166 this year--up more than $30,000 from this time in
2000. Giving to the Emergency Disaster Fund, spurred on by several
major disaster events this year, is up nearly 40 percent, at
$402,910.

Special gifts were also up slightly, at $317,173, and the new
Emerging Global Mission Fund had received $30,485 through Sept. 4. 

 4) Mary Lou Garrison of Mount Morris, Ill., has been named manager
of human resources for the Church of the Brethren General Board.
She will begin employment at the General Offices in Elgin, Ill., on
Oct. 15.  

For the past 12 years, Garrison has been human resources director
for Pinecrest Community, a Church of the Brethren retirement
facility in Mount Morris. She had earlier served as a geriatric
social worker and director of programming/administrative assistant
for Pinecrest.

A member of the Mount Morris Church of the Brethren, Garrison has
a master's degree in family ecology from Western Michigan
University and a bachelor of science degree in psychology from
Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind. She has received
training in conflict resolution and is certified as a Senior
Professional in Human Resources.

 5) On Earth Peace has named Kim Stuckey of Hummelstown, Pa., as
program coordinator for peacemaker formation effective Oct. 1. She
will work at the agency's main offices at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md. 

Stuckey is a graduate of Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind.
with a degree in psychology that included studies in conflict
resolution and mediation. She completed a one-month student
internship at On Earth Peace during college.

She also served two years in Brethren Volunteer Service--the first
as coordinator of youth workcamps in the General Board's
Youth/Young Adult Ministries office in Elgin, Ill., and the second
as an assistant case manager/home visitor in Havre, Mont. Most
recently, Stuckey has been working with children in the mental
health field.

 6) Camp Alexander Mack, a 225-acre outdoor ministry facility in
Milford, Ind., is seeking an executive director.

Qualifications include being a Christian with an acceptance of
Brethren values and a passion for hospitality, ability to led a new
20-year master plan, a bachelor's degree, and ability to interpret
the camp to area congregations. The candidate should also be an
IACCA Certified Conference Administrator or working toward that
certification, and should have 10 years of administrative
experience with at least five of those in the camping/conference
center field.

Letter of interest and resume should be sent to Nancy F. Knepper,
Office of District Ministries, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Applicants should contact three to four people to provide
professional references; upon receipt of resume, candidates will
also receive an application form to complete. Application deadline
is Nov. 1.

 
 7) The additions to the denominational website, www.brethren.org,
continue. 

New from the General Board (www.brethren.org/genbd/) are a
downloadable monthly bulletin insert highlighting recent and coming
events and resources, maps for Brethren Volunteer Service projects,
a Human Resources section featuring current job openings, and a
redesigned Congregational Life section. 

On Earth Peace (www.brethren.org/oepa/) recently posted its summer
newsletter, and Bethany Theological Seminary
(www.brethren.org/bethany/) has added a 2001-02 calendar of events
and information on the latest issue of "Brethren Life and Thought."

Several new Photo Journal pages (www.brethren.org/pjournal/) and a
section on the Decade to Overcome Violence (www.brethren.org/dov/)
have also been added in recent weeks.

 8) Shantilal Bhagat's new 117-page book on India relationships,
"Church Union in India: the Church of the Brethren Experience," is
being distributed to congregations in the October "Source" mailing.
The resource was developed as background for current decisions
facing the US church.

The book looks at the union movement between various mission
churches in India and subsequent division, leading up to the
present situation of differences between the Church of North India
(CNI) and Brethren who joined CNI and later separated from it in
the 1970s.

"As this book goes to press, the relationships between the three
parties--the re-formed group of Brethren in India, the Church of
North India, and the Church of the Brethren in the United
States--are in transition," writes Merv Keeney, director of the
General Board's Global Mission Partnerships office, in the book's
foreword. "God's Spirit continues to move, and we trust that God
will guide next steps."

Individuals can also receive a complimentary copy from the Global
Mission Partnerships office by calling Mary Munson at 800-323-8039
or sending an e-mail to mission_gb@brethren.org.

 9) Once you head northeast of Pennsylvania, Church of the
Brethren congregations are hard to find. Only a handful exist in
the region--two in New York, one in Vermont, and three in Maine.

In the past few years, though, Brethren and Mennonites in
Connecticut have formed their own regular Anabaptist get-togethers
for a meal, singing, and fellowship. Jim and Lois Bare of New
Haven, Conn., currently have a list of about two dozen addresses
for sending announcements.

"We spend the majority of the time visiting and eating, but we
really love the singing," Lois Bare writes. "We take a brief time
at the end of the evening for prayer and are quite strict at ending
promptly at 8 p.m., because people come from literally all parts of
the state."

They are always looking for new names of people to invite, and they
encourage guests at the gatherings. The next one is taking place
this Sunday (Sept. 9) at the Bares' home. For more information,
e-mail JLBare1@compuserve.com.

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.

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