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

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Date: Aug. 30, 2002
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) Annual Conference announces theme for 2003.
 2) National Older Adult Conference begins on Monday.
 3) Indiana district takes action on congregational controversy.
 4) General Board begins process to call new general secretary.
 5) Church of the Brethren, others sound voice of peace for Iraq.
 6) Reports from some recent district conferences.
 7) Brethren travel to Honduras on Faith Expedition.
 8) Brethren bits: Northern Ireland, camp news, and more.

RESOURCES
 9) California Brethren hopes "Chicken Soup" is cure for violence.
10) Global Mission Partnerships sends out Middle East update.

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

 1) Annual Conference Program and Arrangements Committee has
selected "In Jesus' Name" as the theme for the 2003 Annual
Conference to be held in Boise, Idaho. Harriet Finney, district
co-executive for South/Central Indiana, will serve as moderator.

"The questions arises:" says a statement on the theme, "as we
worship God with others whose language or ethnic origin, whose
style of music or worship, whose political or theological
understandings may differ from our own, how can we become one Body?
What unites us when we sound and look and act so differently from
one another?"

The answer, according to the theme statement: "We are united in
Jesus' name." It notes, however, that this is not an "easy" unity
accomplished by merely ignoring differences.

The theme text comes from Colossians 3:17. Daily subthemes for
worship include "Together in Jesus' Name," "Jesus--The Name Above
Every Name," "Ask and You Will Receive . . . In Jesus' Name,"
"Healing in Jesus' Name," and "New Life in Jesus' Name." The
committee--which met in Elgin, Ill., earlier this month--is now
working on securing preachers, worship leaders, speakers,
musicians, and Bible study leaders.

"Our challenge throughout this next year," the theme statement
concludes, "is to experience and to know Jesus more deeply through
study of the scriptures, through worship and the singing of hymns
and songs, through prayer, through fellowship with one another in
Jesus' name, and through 'continuing the work of Jesus . . .
peacefully, simply, together.' "

Annual Conference officers made other initial plans for the 2003
Conference during the meeting, and Program and Arrangements
Committee worked on details of fees, exhibitor guidelines, and
other tasks. The Annual Conference Council also met, developing
plans to address 2002 business items and to maintain and update the
denomination's Manual of Polity and Organization. 

 2) The 2002 National Older Adult Conference (NOAC) kicks off
Monday in Lake Junaluska, N.C., and it could be the largest one
yet. Staff of the Association of Brethren Caregivers, which
sponsors the biennial event, say that about 1,100 people are
expected.

This will be the sixth edition of NOAC, designed for Brethren age
50 and up; in 2000, about 1,050 attended. The Sept. 2-6 gathering
includes worship, workshops, recreation, crafts, music and other
entertainment, late-night activities, and abundant ice cream
socials.

This year's theme is "While We Run This Race," based on Heb.
12:1-2. Featured speakers are Paul Mundey, Tony Campolo, Katie Funk
Wiebe, Richard Morgan, Marty Richards, and Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm. The
"Ministers of Music" group from Lancaster, Pa., and the Brethren
duo of Joseph Helfrich and Shawn Kirchner will provide featured
musical presentations, while former Juniata College president
Robert Neff will again lead all-conference Bible study sessions
during the week.

Live coverage of NOAC will be provided on www.brethren.org
beginning Sept. 2. For additional details on the event, visit
www.brethren.org/abc/special_events/NOAC2002/index.htm.

 3) The South/Central Indiana District board has taken several
steps in response to a fall 2001 decision by the Manchester Church
of the Brethren (North Manchester, Ind.) to permit same-sex
covenant services.

The district had been wrestling with the decision over the winter
and spring, with many other congregations expressing concern and
disagreement. In July the district board passed three items related
to the Manchester situation, two of which will require further
action.

A "Resolution Regarding Restoration of the Relationship of the
Manchester Church of the Brethren and the South/Central Indiana
District" cites Annual Conference statements that speak against
same-sex covenants and notes that Manchester's decision has
"increasingly strained" the "connectional bonds" between Manchester
and other churches in the district.

The resolution creates a District Advisory Board that will serve
from Oct. 1, 2002, to Sept. 30, 2004, including three people from
Manchester and three from outside the congregation, along with a
non-Brethren facilitator. The advisory board will work to reduce
the risk of "fractured relationships" and begin healing, give
counsel to the district board and Manchester's executive board for
improving communications, provide a "connectional presence" with
Manchester, and help to identify the "issues which have caused
division" and name possible solutions.

Two other items passed by the district board will go on to the
South/Central Indiana District conference, to be held Sept. 13-14
in Anderson, Ind.

A "Query on Congregational Disagreement with Annual Conference
Decisions" raises questions about the larger issue of conscience
and scriptural interpretation among Brethren. If passed at district
conference, it will ask the 2003 Annual Conference to appoint a
study committee that would "offer guidance on how congregations can
disagree with Annual Conference decisions yet remain, as much as
possible, in unbroken fellowship with their sister congregations,
including how district boards should respond in these situations."

The other business item, "Intra-District Consequences for
Congregations Performing Same-Sex Covenant Ceremonies," is for
district conference action only. It would require congregations
that knowingly conduct same-sex covenant services to forfeit any
leadership within the district, barring all members of that
congregation from serving on the district board or in any of its
appointed offices, or from representing the district on General
Board or Standing Committee. Positions named directly by district
conference, such as representatives to the camp board or Manchester
College, would not be affected.

The penalty would begin 90 days after the district board verifies
the occurrence of a same-sex ceremony, during which time members of
the congregation would be permitted to move their membership to
another congregation and continue in leadership. If other
ceremonies are held after the first instance, additional three-year
leadership bans would be instituted, either concurrently or
consecutively. The policy would be reviewed by the district board
every five years. To date, Manchester has not yet conducted any
same-sex covenant services.
  

 4) The Church of the Brethren General Board executive committee,
with affirmation of the full General Board, has appointed a
nine-person search committee to call the next general secretary of
the organization.

The search committee will include the six members of the executive
committee--Warren Eshbach, chair; Donna Shumate, vice chair; Merle
Crouse; Jan Thompson; Jill Bosler Best; and Glenn Mitchell--and
three others: current board members Angela Lahman Yoder and Jaime
Diaz, and former board member Stafford Frederick.

The group plans to hold its first meeting Sept. 27-28 in New
Windsor, Md., at which time the committee will organize itself and
call a chair. Further information on the process will be reported
in Newsline and other denominational publications as it becomes
available.

 5) As talk of a possible US military strike against Iraq continues
to heat up, the Church of the Brethren and other groups are taking
action of their own on several fronts to encourage peace and
restraint.

The Church of the Brethren General Board's Brethren Witness office
this month sent out a letter to those who have been involved with
the issue, urging them to sign a petition and send it to President
George W. Bush. The petition says, "We strongly urge that our
nation not initiate a war with the nation of Iraq" and names
several areas of concern over such a war.

The mailing also included a video from the General Board's December
2001 delegation to Iraq and a painting by an Iraqi artist. In
addition, a promotional video spot on the Church of the Brethren
prepared for airing on the Hallmark Channel highlights Brethren
involvement with Iraq. Additional information and resources are
being posted to the Brethren Witness and Church of the Brethren
Washington Office sites of www.brethren.org, and Global Mission
Partnerships sent out an update this week (see story #10).

Several online petitions are also circulating among Brethren,
including one from the group MoveOn at www.moveon.org/nowar.

Elsewhere, Christian Peacemaker Teams---in cooperation with Voices
in the Wildnerness---has begun a "Generations of Peace" effort to
place peacemakers in Iraq for two-week delegations. The multi-
generational teams (minimum age 21) will stay in Baghdad and other
Iraqi cities, giving a presence willing "to stand in the way of US
bombs." The groups will endeavor to connect with churches in Iraq
while there.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), a longtime Church World
Service and Church of the Brethren partner, has also been
monitoring the situation closely and raising concerns.

"The churches in the Middle East are truly alarmed," MECC general
secretary the Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour said this month in a statement.
"All that military offensive will leave behind is ruin and a
shattered country."

 6) Reports from two recent Church of the Brethren district
conferences:
 *Michigan: Held Aug. 15-17 at Wesleyan Conference Center in
Hastings. The conference elected people to district offices,
enjoyed a district board report given in a quiz show format,
celebrated the installation of interim district executive Marie
Willoughby as the permanent executive followed by a pie and ice
cream gathering, and took part in worship with guest speaker Nancy
Faus preaching, a presentation on capital punishment and
forgiveness by SueZann Bosler, and an energetic youth-led Saturday
service highlighting National Youth Conference. The gathering was
also held with some tension in the wake of the district board's
decision to ordain Matthew Smucker, who is openly gay, early in the
summer, and subsequent Annual Conference action not to recognize
the licensing or ordination of homosexual persons. A concerned
group within the district brought a petition to the conference,
asking for affirmation of the Annual Conference statement and
directing the district board not to license or ordain anyone who is
homosexual and to discontinue any such existing licenses or
ordinations. After lengthy discussion, delegates narrowly voted
(42-37-1) to suspend action on the item until the 2003 district
conference. Delegates then considered a "Query for Clarification of
Confusion" brought by the district board. The query, which was
passed on to Annual Conference, asks for clarification on several
points, including whether or not the 2002 action is polity or just
a suggestion, consistency with the 1983 Human Sexuality paper,
implications for district boards and ministry commissions, and
other "ambiguous" language in the statement.

 *Northern Ohio: Held Aug. 9-11 at Ashland (Ohio) University.
Registered attendance was 436, with 94 delegates representing 46
churches. The conference was led by moderator Paul Bartholomew,
pastor of the Mohican congregation, with the theme "That I May Know
Him" from Phil. 3:10. Friday evening, the senior high performing
arts camp presented the musical "Where Jesus Is" under the
direction of Leslie Lake. In the business session, district
officers were elected, and a budget of $193,955 was adopted. John
Ballinger, pastor at Maple Grove, was elected as the new district
board chair during the board's reorganization. Craig Smith,
district executive of Atlantic Northeast, spoke Saturday evening,
and on Sunday morning the junior performing arts camp did the
musical "Esther" under the direction of Amy Bory, followed by
worship with Bartholomew preaching. At the close of worship, Reid
Firestone and Bruce Jacobsen were installed as moderator and
moderator-elect for 2002-2003. The conference ended with a time of
recognition and farewell for district executive Tom Zuercher. 

 7) Thirteen Brethren from 10 districts took part in an Aug. 4-14
Faith Expedition to Honduras sponsored by the General Board's
Brethren Witness office in cooperation with the Honduran Christian
Commission for Development.

The group spent a week in the poor community of Tablones Arriba, on
the southern coast of Honduras, assisting residents as they
continue to rebuild after 1998's Hurricane Mitch. Among other
experiences were visits to two communities that have benefited from
Global Food Crisis Fund grants; an evening with Brethren Volunteer
Service workers in the community of Santa Rosa de Copan; and a tour
of the Mayan ruins along the Guatemalan border.

Another Faith Expedition to Honduras is planned for summer 2003.

 
 8) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
 *A reunion and "thank-you event" for all those who have served in
Northern Ireland through Brethren Volunteer Service since projects
began there 30 years ago and for the projects and people who have
hosted them is being held Sept. 6 in Belfast. A collection of
articles in the June issue of "Messenger" highlighted the
anniversary, and a site with more stories and photos is at
www.brethren.org/genbd/bvs/NoIreland.htm. 

 *Church of the Brethren disaster relief work in Siren, Wis., will
close tomorrow, Aug. 31, concluding a tornado recovery project that
began last fall. A flood relief project in Buchanan County, Va.,
near the Kentucky and West Virginia state lines, continues.
Volunteers are tearing out and repairing damaged homes. Noble and
Winnie Brown are currently serving as project directors, and Earl
Traughber will take over that role in September.

 *Mary Alice Engel, a missionary nurse in Nigeria in the late 1930s
and 1940s, died in July at the age of 93. Engel was returning to
Nigeria in 1941 when her ship, the Zam Zam, was sunk by a German
raider. All on board were rescued and detained by the Germans, but
Engel and two other mission workers were freed after several weeks
and returned to the US, which had not yet entered World War II.
Engel more recently lived in Taneytown, Md., and was a member of
the Union Bridge (Md.) Church of the Brethren.

 *Brethren from North Dakota and Montana discussed the future of
Camp Mon-Dak when they gathered for family camp in July. The camp's
main lodge burned in June, forcing cancellation of the junior and
youth summer camp schedule. A final decision about the future of
the camp will be made at the October camp board meeting.

 9) A peace activist in Pacific Southwest District is hard at work
on a new way to spread the gospel of peace. Linda Williams, a
member of the San Diego First Church of the Brethren, is heading up
a team to produce another book in the "Chicken Soup for the Soul"
series, this one titled "Chicken Soup for the Peace Lover's Soul."

Williams, along with the team of Dr. Candice Carter, Susanna
Palomares, and Dr. Bradley Winch, are gathering 101 true stories of
peacemaking efforts from men, women, and children. The stories,
quotes, and cartoons that will be contained in the book are to be
descriptive and moving portrayals of peace.

The group describes the effort as "a book about those who have
chosen to work for peace, how they have done it in their own lives
and in their relations with others, and how we each might be able
to do it in the future." Williams--who became intensely engaged in
peace efforts when her husband's grandmother was murdered in
1981--says she hopes people will pick it up and think,
"Non-violence! What a concept!"

The team has signed a contract with Chicken Soup for the Soul
Enterprises and is now accepting writings from all denominations,
with hopes to spread the message of peace widely. In additions to
writings from the general public, Nobel Peace Prize winners Dr.
Oscar Arias and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have both written pieces
for the book.

Williams hopes the Church of the Brethren can have a high profile
in the book, and is encouraging submissions from the denomination's
members. Submissions can be sent to submissions@PeaceLoversSoul.com
or to Linda K. Williams, 4967 Alfred Court, San Diego, CA 92120.
More details are available at http://chickensoup.peacestories.info.

 10) The General Board's Global Mission Partnerships office this
week has sent out a summary letter and information on the
increasingly tense situation in the Middle East and Iraq. The
mailing was sent to all congregations and others on the "Source"
mailing list.

In the cover letter, Global Mission Partnerships director Merv
Keeney describes his recent trip to the region and his meetings
there in partnership conversations between Church World Service and
the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). He visited Jerusalem
and other areas of Palestine and Israel during the trip, seeing the
current suffering there firsthand.

"The churches in the United States are called to be a voice for
peace in the world today as our nation moves increasingly toward
military interventions and war," Keeney writes.

He urges churches to take action, and suggests several resources at
the Church of the Brethren Washington Office website. A one-page
"Statement on recent situation concerning Iraq" from MECC is also
enclosed. It, too, expresses a commitment to peace and calls on
churches of the West to speak to their governments.

"The churches of the Middle East are committed to peace that comes
through the power of the Word to establish justice, and champions
the cause of the poor and downtrodden," MECC general secretary the
Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour writes in a separate letter. "We believe that
through peaceful intervention, the moral force of truth can break
the cycle of violence in Iraq, in Palestine, and throughout the
world."

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, with other editions as needed.
Newsline stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited
as the source. Duane Grady, Tony Kraybill, and Danielle Hart
contributed to this report.

Newsline is a free service sent only to those requesting a
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