wfn.org | CoB Newsline-Finance reform, North Korea, Youth Conference

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      February 18, 1997
Contact:  Paula Wilding
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

This is Newsline for the week of January 17. In the news today:  

1) Preliminary end-of-the-year financial figures show 1996 
     figures for General Board programs are better than expected.
2) The Church of the Brethren General Board responds to flooding  
     in the Northwest. 
3) Jubilee, the children's curriculum produced by Brethren Press  
     and three other publishing organizations, is ranked number 
     one by nine denominations. 
4) Karen Peterson Miller signs a letter to President Clinton on 
     reducing nuclear arms. 
5) Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 224 begins orientation this 
     weekend. 
6) Manchester College to celebrate Civilian Public Service at an  
     April event. 
7) The Brethren Homes Forum for Collaboration is scheduled for 
     June. 
8) The Cedars, a Brethren retirement home in McPherson, Kan., is  
     now on the World Wide Web. 
9) DuPage County residents vow to buy Bethany Seminary's 
     Oakbrook, Ill., property. 
10) Virlina District congregations allocated more than ever to 
     the district in 1996. 
11) The office of District Ministry is searching for an executive 
     for Mid-Atlantic District. 
12) The Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist  
     Groups at Elizabethtown College is searching for a director.
13) The 1997 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins Saturday.
14) The General Offices and Brethren Service Center will be 
     closed on Monday.   

1) The General Board's Finance Office reported Thursday that
preliminary end-of-the-year financial figures for the General
Board are better than expected. Although the figures were
produced through a first-run look at the books and prior to the
year-end audit, Judy Keyser, General Board treasurer, reported
some tentative yet positive news during Thursday's employee
meeting at the General Offices in Elgin, Ill.  

According to Keyser, congregational giving exceeded budget
projections by $87,000 and direct gifts exceeded budget
projections by $124,000. The Brethren Service Center's Center
Operations was expected to end the year with a $16,250 deficit,
but preliminary figures show it ended the year about $40,000 in
the black. This information and the following information were
answered by rounds of applause, as employees celebrated the good
news. SERRV International and Brethren Press both expected to end
the year with a slight surplus, but figures show that surplus to
be far greater than projected--SERRV's is expected to be about
$100,000; Brethren Press' about $20,000. The Andrew Center, which
was budgeted to break even, is expected to show a surplus of
about $16,000.  

Overall, Keyser expects the General Board's budgeted deficit of
$268,130 to come in much lower than that once final figures are
determined.  

"These types of numbers could not have been achieved without much
effort and sacrifice on the part of the people in this room, at
the Brethren Service Center and our other locations," Keyser told
staff during her report. "The strong support from our
constituency lends a great feeling of support during these
times."   

2) The Church of the Brethren General Board is responding in
several ways to the recent flooding in the Northwest. Disaster
response coordinators in Pacific Southwest and Oregon/Washington
districts are currently assessing the situation and action may
taken once the assessments are made. Cooperative Disaster Child
Care volunteers set up child care centers and provided child care
services from Jan. 4-11 in Modesto, Calif., and in Medford, Ore. 

Brethren nationwide can aid those affected by the floods. Church
World Service announced on Jan. 13 that its "Gift of the Heart"
kit supply is low and asked congregations to contribute kits to
be sent to those affected by the floods, as well as people in
need around the world. To learn how to construct "Gift of the
Heart" kits, see page 12 of Messenger Magazine, December 1995.
For more information, contact CWS at 219 264-3102.   

3) Jubilee, the children's Sunday school curriculum developed by
the Church of the Brethren, the Mennonites and Brethren in
Christ, was rated the best curriculum in a phone poll of over
1,300 people in nine denominations involved with the survey.
According to Wendy McFadden, Brethren Press director, "Jubilee
rated highest in customer satisfaction and emerged as a model for
future curriculum planning." The survey was conducted for an ad
hoc ecumenical publishing group, including Brethren Press, that
is planning curriculum for the next century. An equal number of
members from each denomination were polled.  

"Churches that use Jubilee gave it high marks for the way it
appeals to children, and for its ease of preparation and hands-on
activities," McFadden said. "Of the polled denominations, Church
of the Brethren members were most satisfied with their
curriculum." The researchers who conducted the survey, from the
United Methodist Publishing House, recommended that the
publishing houses explore the success of Jubilee as it plans new
curriculum.   

4) Karen Peterson Miller, interim general secretary for the
Church of the Brethren General Board, signed a letter on Jan. 10
to President Clinton on reducing nuclear arms. Miller joins other
heads of communions that belong to the National Council of
Churches in encouraging the president to "make reduction of
nuclear arms a priority of your second term and . . . reaffirm
the United States' commitment to the goal of nuclear weapons
abolition."   

5) Orientation for Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 224 will be
held beginning Sunday through Feb. 7 at Camp Ithiel, Fla.
Nineteen volunteers will be participating, including three from
Germany and one from the former Yugoslavia. For information on
BVS, contact the program at 800 323-8039 or
CoB.BVS.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

6) Manchester College's Peace Studies Institute is hosting a
conference honoring Civilian Public Service's 50th anniversary,
April 20-21, on its campus in North Manchester, Ind. The
conference, titled "Civilian Public Service Revisited . . . CPS a
half century later," will focus on the alternative service
program initiated by members of the Brethren, Mennonite and
Quaker denominations. Men and families of men who were involved
with the organization that placed 12,000 conscientious objectors
into alternative service in the mid-1940s are invited to the
conference. William Yolton, executive director emeritus of the
National Service Board for Conscientious Objectors, will give the
keynote address. For more information, contact Jim Garber at 219
982-5343 or 201-4017@mcimail.com.   

7) A Brethren Homes Forum on Collaboration is scheduled for June
1-3 at the Brethren Service Center, New Windsor, Md. The event is
sponsored by Association of Brethren Caregivers' Fellowship of
Brethren Homes and is designed for Church of the Brethren
retirement home board members and staff leaders. Michael Winer,
an adjunct consultant for American Association of Homes and
Services for the Aging, will lead the workshops. "The purpose of
this forum is to explore new ways that Brethren homes might work
together to preserve and strengthen their denominational
relatedness, their values, their mission and their survival,"
said Jay Gibble, director of Association of Brethren Caregivers.
For more information, contact ABC at 800 323-8039 or at
CoB.ABC.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

8) In other Brethren homes news, the Cedars, a Church of the
Brethren affiliated retirement community located in McPherson,
Kan., last week announced its presence on the World Wide Web. The
site includes and can be found at
http://www.mcpherson.com/418/community/cedars.html.   

9) A group of 300 to 400 residents who live in DuPage County,
Ill., near the vacated Bethany Theological Seminary property in
Oak Brook, Ill., have established the DuPage Bethany Village
Coalition to purchase the land from the seminary with the intent
of turning it into a combined youth home and retirement facility.
The group, which has been interested in purchasing the land since
1993, hopes to raise $25 million through contributions by the end
of the year. Bethany Seminary, which moved to Richmond, Ind. in
1994, has been unable to sell the 51-acre property.   

10) Virlina District announced that its congregations in 1996
gave over $200,000 to the district for the first time, a 2.6
percent increase over last year. Eighty-nine of the district's 96
congregations in the district allocated funds to the district.
Camp Bethel, the district's church camp, was also allocated more
last year than ever before -- $50,000, an 8.7 percent increase
from 1995.  

In other news, Virlina also announced that its 1997 District
Directory is available. The directory includes 1996 District
Conference minutes and historical material. For a copy, contact
the district at 540 362-1816 or Virlina@AOL.Com.   

11) A search for a district executive for Mid-Atlantic District
has been opened by the office of District Ministry. The position
includes placing pastors in the district, overseeing the district
program and developing leaders for church growth. Applications
are due by March 5 to the Office of District Ministry, 1451
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120. For more information, call 800
323-8039 or write to Georgianna.Schmidtke.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

12) A search for a director for Elizabethtown (Pa.) College's
Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups is
underway. The center provides classes at the college, interprets
the cultural heritage of Anabaptist and Pietist groups and heads
research and publication of the center's concentration.
Applications should be sent to Martha Farver-Apgar, director of
Personnel, Elizabethtown College, One Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown,
PA 17022, and received by Feb. 15. For more information, call 717
367-1151.   

13) The 1997 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is Jan. 18-25.
For information, contact the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious
Institute, 914 424-3458.   

14) The General Offices, Elgin, Ill., and the Brethren Service
Center, New Windsor, Md., will be closed Monday for Martin Luther
King Jr. Day.   

Newsline is archived with an index at
http://www.tgx.com/cob/news.htm.   

This message can be heard by calling 410 635-8738. To receive
Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 800 323-8039, ext. 257, or write
CoBNews@AOL.Com.