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Date: May 2, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN	NEWSLINE
May 2, 2005

SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY MINISTRY CENTER BOARD APPROVES  INCORPORATION

May 2, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- The governing board of the  Susquehanna
Valley Ministry Center--formerly the Susquehanna  Valley
Satellite--approved articles of incorporation at its April  6
meeting. The action completed a nine-month process of changing the
name  and structure of the center, which is affiliated with the
Church of the  Brethren’s Bethany Theological Seminary. The center
now meets the  requirements for operation of the Pennsylvania
Department of Education, the  state in which it is located, reported
Marcia L. Shetler, the seminary's  director of Public Relations.

The process brings the center's structure  in line with its
governance and strengthens the ties with the seminary, said  Ed
Poling, a member of Bethany's Board of Trustees and representative
to  the center's board. To meet the requirements of the Pennsylvania
Department  of Higher Education, the seminary is required to approve
and accredit all  graduate-level courses offered by the center.
Certificate-level courses must	be endorsed by the Brethren Academy
for Ministerial Leadership, a joint  program of the seminary and the
General Board. Bethany president Eugene Roop  represented the center
to the department of education in the approval	process.

Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center is located on the campus  of
Elizabethtown (Pa.) College.  Along with the seminary, five  Church
of the Brethren districts in the northeast are partners in  its
operation. Warren Eshbach serves as the center's dean, Donna Rhodes
as  dean of Certificate and Continuing Education Programs, and Mary
Schiavoni as  program coordinator and registrar. Bob Neff is chair
of the center's  governing board.

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.

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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
Brumbaugh-Cayford,  director of news services for the Church of the
Brethren General Board.  Newsline stories may be reprinted provided
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