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Date: March 11, 2003
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

SPECIAL REPORT
 1) General Board calls new general secretary, wrestles with
difficult issues.

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 1) The unanimous call of a new general secretary for the
denomination's primary ministry and administrative arm highlighted
a meeting otherwise often clouded by uncertainty and concerns for
the future as the General Board met at the Brethren Service Center
in New Windsor, Md., March 8-11.

Stanley J. Noffsinger, who has overseen the work of the Brethren
Service Center since June 1999, will begin his new role in July. He
will succeed Judy Mills Reimer, who is retiring after leading the
agency for the past five years. Noffsinger, who called it "an
incredible discernment process," was the only candidate brought to
the board by its search committee.

"I'd love to take my jacket off and my tie off and roll up my
sleeves, because we have a lot of difficult work to do," Noffsinger
said to a packed room. He said the church was "at a crossroads" and
called all Brethren to join in the hard work as the board embarks
"on a venture of faith."

Noffsinger, a member of Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren,
will maintain his residency in Maryland, with dual offices of the
general secretary in both New Windsor and at the agency's General
Offices in Elgin, Ill., which will continue to serve as
denominational headquarters. (For more details on Noffsinger's
call, see the special March 10 Newsline posting at
www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline.)

Earlier, the board wrapped up the current work on its evolving
comprehensive plan, asking for particular attention to
congregational giving patterns, the need for cooperation and
creativity in the denomination's agency structure, and building a
greater sense of Christian and Brethren identity in the church.
"We're in some new water here," board chair Warren Eshbach of
Thomasville, Pa., said. "This isn't planning as usual. . . . This
is new territory."

The priority on funding came as the board heard of a $700,000-plus
deficit for the agency in 2002, a reduction of $384,000 in the
budget parameter for 2003 (mainly through staff reductions)
approved earlier via mail ballot, and ongoing future financial
challenges amid flat or decreasing donations and rising expenses.
Assistant treasurer Dennis Kingery noted that "long-term problems
still exist."

A large crowd of visitors attended an afternoon session, many of
them speaking to the recently announced decision to merge the
Brethren Witness office and the Church of the Brethren Washington
(D.C.) Office into one position based in Washington. Reimer
emphasized that Faith Expeditions, the Global Food Crisis Fund, and
other key peace and witness efforts will continue.

Board members acted on an item related to the denomination's peace
witness, joining the On Earth Peace board in affirming a "Call for
a Living Peace Church" that will now go to this summer's Annual
Conference. One board member said the call moves the denomination
from being just a "historic peace church" and into thinking about
what that means today.

The board's Anti-Racism Training (ART) team led the board, staff,
and visitors through an exploration of racism issues and the
meaning of "white privilege" during two sessions. "God created us
as a family," team member Barbara Cuffie of the Dundalk (Md.)
Church of the Brethren said. "We just have to learn to live like
one."

In other action, the board called Vickie Whitacre Samland of
Littleton, Colo., as its board-appointed at-large member, to be
affirmed by Annual Conference; engaged in dialog about the
denomination's name; heard an update on talks with church groups in
India and a business item on India relations currently on the table
at Annual Conference; took part in a World Day of Prayer worship
service and other worship times; visited in area congregations
Sunday morning; and heard uplifting stories and updates from other
General Board programs and ministry partners.

The board's Executive Committee, in its March 7 meeting prior to
the gathering of the full board, named Doris Faus of the Chiques
congregation (Manheim, Pa.) as General Board representative to the
Germantown Trust and approved a $30,000 grant to famine-plagued
North Korea from the board's Global Food Crisis Fund.

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 special editions as needed.
Newsline stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited
as the source. 

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