wfn.org | Church of the Brethren congregations in path of Rita

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Sept. 23, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100  F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
Sept. 23, 2005
 
Brethren congregations are in the path of Hurricane Rita.
 
Sept. 23, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Three Church of the Brethren  congregations in

Louisiana and Texas are in the path of Hurricane Rita and are  in areas under

mandatory evacuation orders: Falfurrias (Texas) Church of the  Brethren, 
Roanoke (La.) Church of the Brethren, and Lake Charles (La.) Community 
Church of 
the Brethren. The three churches have a combined membership of	197.
 
A Joan Lowry, district minister for the Southern Plains District of the  
Church of the Brethren, encouraged the denomination to be in prayer for those
 who 
are on the road seeking places of safety. She knows where Roanoke pastor  
James Balmer has evacuated to, but of the rest of the three congregations,
she  
said, "They're on the road somewhere, the church folks as well as those they 
are  helping." The Lake Charles church had been housing four families
evacuated 
from  Hurricane Katrina, including about 17-18 people.
 
Lowry expressed the sadness of the situation, especially for those who are  
evacuating for the second time. "And now they're displaced again," she said. 
Ea
ch of the evacuated families sheltering at the Lake Charles Community Church 

of the Brethren had already found employment in the Lake Charles area, she  
said.
 
"God is good and faithful, and we just have to keep trucking," she said,  
expressing her deep faith in God to care for the people of the district
during	
this critical time.
 
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_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
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 that Newsline is cited as the
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