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Date: April 13, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN	NEWSLINE
April 13, 2005

CARING MINISTRIES ASSEMBLY SPEAKERS WILL FOCUS	ON `PEACE BEYOND OUR FEARS'

April 13, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Speakers  for the next Caring
Ministries Assembly will focus on the theme, "Peace  Beyond Our
Fears." The assembly, sponsored by the Association of  Brethren
Caregivers (ABC), will be held Aug. 11-13 at Bridgewater  (Va.)
Church of the Brethren. ABC is an agency of the Church of  the
Brethren.

"Fear has become a more prominent part of daily life,"	ABC said in
a release about the event. "Brethren deacons, pastors,	chaplains,
and caregivers are invited to explore how people of faith  respond
to threats and fears that are ever present in this  world....
Through worship, keynote presentations, workshops, and	intentional
times of silence, planners hope that participants will explore	the
character of fear and invite God to reshape it."

Keynote speakers  Robert Wicks, Louise Baldwin Rieman, Carol Yoder,
and Andrew Murray will take  different approaches to explore
transforming fear with faith. Wicks,  professor of pastoral care at
Loyola College in Maryland, works with clergy  and first responders
on prevention of secondary stress and the integration  of
spirituality and psychology. Rieman co-pastors Northview Church of
the  Brethren in Indianapolis with her husband, Phil, and has served
as a  missionary in Africa. Yoder directs STAR, a justice and
peace-building	program at Eastern Mennonite University, and has
worked with relief workers  in the Middle East and Africa as well as
with victims of war and torture.  Murray founded Juniata College's
Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and  has served as a
college chaplain and a pastor. Bible studies will be led by  Stephen
Reid, academic dean and professor of Old Testament at  Bethany
Theological Seminary.

The assembly will feature more than 25	workshops with special
tracks for chaplains and deacons. A post-assembly  EFSM/TRIM
academy-level course will be offered (information will be  included
in the registration booklet or call Marilyn Lerch at  540-961-0354).

Registration is $100. Hotels are available for housing.  Meals will
be available for purchase at the Bridgewater Retirement  Community,
adjacent to the Bridgewater church. Registration materials will  be
mailed in May to each congregation's deacon contact,  pastors,
chaplains, and past assembly participants. Posters announcing  theme
and speakers have been sent to congregations in a Source  mailing.
Information will be posted at www.brethren.org/abc/ as it  becomes
available.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian  denomination committed to
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply,  and to living
out its faith in community. The denomination is based in  the
Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the  three
Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary  in
2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United States	and
Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil,  the
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
# # #

For more  information contact:

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News  Services
Church of the Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin,	IL 60120
847-742-5100 ext.  260
cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org

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The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl
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