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 9. In the news today: 

1) Church of the Brethren district executives and General Board 
       salaried staff will meet in consultation next week. 
2) Council of District Executives will meet this weekend. 
3) Several General Board staff changes are announced. 
4) The General Board's Washington Office makes its presence on 
       the Web. 
5) A $35,000 grant from the Global Food Crisis Fund is approved 
       to aid North Korea. 
6) Training events for congregational peace coordinators are set  
       for 1997. 
7) Another Habitat for Humanity house will be built at this 
       year's Annual Conference. 
8) SERRV International marketing director Brian Backe appeared on 
       CNN on Christmas Day. 
9) The National Council of Churches offers a young adult ministry 
       training event. 
10) The World Council of Churches publishes a report that calls 
       for the Nigerian government and Shell Oil to take  
       responsibility for their actions against the Ogoni people.
11) Christian Peacemaker Teams holds its fifth annual 
       demonstration against violent toys in Chicago and its 
       third Peacemaker Congress in Washington, D.C. 
12) Newsline correction.   

1) Church of the Brethren district executives and General Board
salaried staff will meet in Lake Geneva, Wis., Monday through
Wednesday, for their annual consultation. "Acknowledging the
place where we are at this time in our history, the consultation
seeks to focus on the people in transition," according to Jim
Tomlonson, Southern Ohio District executive and chairman of the
consultation design committee. "This event will affirm that (we)
all are going through a time of transition regardless of our
ministry setting." The yearly consultation is held in accordance
with an Annual Conference directive.    

2) Council of District Executives will meet for two days prior to
the staff consultation. During their time together, district
executives will focus on transitional and ministry issues. CODE
meets biannually -- once in January and again around the time of
Annual Conference. CODE also sponsors an annual professional
growth event. This year's event, which will be held in September
at Shepherd's Springs, Sharpsburg, Md., will focus on church
leadership.   

3) The General Board announced several staff changes on
Wednesday. Mervin Keeney, representative to Africa and the Middle
East, has been named director of Global Mission Partnerships for
the redesigned General Board. Keeney's responsibilities will
include administering and monitoring the General Board's current
and future global mission work. He will work with the
yet-to-be-created Mission Planning Council to discern new global
mission projects.  

James Replogle, former director of Planned Giving, is working
part-time with the General Board in the Planned Giving Program
for up to six months while the General Board searches for a
director of Mission Funding for the redesigned organization.  

Ron Finney has been named interim director of District Ministry
to replace Karen Peterson Miller, who on Jan. 1 began serving as
interim general secretary. Finney serves as co-district executive
in South/Central Indiana District with his wife, Harriet. The
District Ministry program will relocate to the South/Central
Indiana District office in North Manchester, Ind., during
Finney's tenure, which begins immediately.  

Phil and Louise Rieman completed their service to the General
Board on Jan. 4. The Riemans served as mission interpreters in
the U.S. since May; before that they worked for about four years
with the New Sudan Council of Churches. They have accepted an
interim team pastorate at Wabash (Ind.) Church of the Brethren.  

4) The Church of the Brethren Washington Office is now on the
World Wide Web. The Washington Office publication, "Witness to
Washington," as well as other publications and press releases are
available at the Washington Office's newly established home page.
Using the address http://members.aol.com/Washofc/main.html,
readers can access information concerning the public policy
ministry of the Washington Office. Also included are all office
publications; fast-breaking action alerts on topics of current
interest to Congress and the Clinton Administration; specific
information regarding various issue areas such as disarmament,
the environment and handgun control, as well as links to other
internet sites on these topics; and a general overview of the
mission, purpose and function of the Washington Office.  

In the future, the Washington Office site will contain a section
with information on how to contact each member of Congress,
including telephone numbers and an e-mail addresses. Also, as
Congress dictates, the site will post updates of the status of
legislation important to Brethren and all people of faith, such
as the Peace Tax Fund Bill, projected military spending, health
care reform and foreign policy directions. For more information,
contact John Harvey, Washington Office interim director, at
WashOfc@AOL.Com or (202) 546-3202.   

5) A $35,000 grant from the Global Food Crisis Fund was approved
this week for North Korea to assist in a first-time effort at
double cropping. The funds will help planting wheat, barley and
rice on over 1,600 acres that will feed nearly 3,000 families for
a year. The assistance is in response to flooding in North Korea
over the last two years because, according to David Radcliff,
director of Denominational Peace Witness, "International agencies
estimate that over three quarters of the population is
experiencing some form of malnutrition." Radcliff is scheduled to
visit North Korea in February with a delegation that includes the
Heifer Project International Asia director. "With Brethren
encouragement, HPI is actively exploring opening projects in that
country," Radcliff said.   

6) In other Denominational Peace Witness news, five districts
will hold training events for congregational peace coordinators
during the next six months. Middle Pennsylvania -- Jan. 19, Camp
Blue Diamond, Petersburg, Pa.; Northern Ohio -- March 15, Ashland
(Ohio) City Church of the Brethren; Southern Pennsylvania --
April 27, Carlisle (Pa.) Church of the Brethren; Pacific
Southwest -- May 16-18, location to be announced; and Western
Pennsylvania -- June 7, location to be announced.  

"Peace coordinators are selected by congregations to serve as a
peace resource person for the church, while also representing
ways to involve the congregation in various forms of peace
witness," said Radcliff. Participants will learn of resources and
ideas for peacemaking, the biblical and Brethren basis for peace
and denominational action in peace. For more information, contact
Radcliff at 800 323-8039.   

7) Church of the Brethren members will once again have the
opportunity to assist in the building of a Habitat for Humanity
home at Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif., July 1-6, as
they did at last year's Conference in Cincinnati. General Board
programs Brethren Volunteer Service, Refugee/Disaster Services,
The Andrew Center and News Services will again serve as the
sponsoring programs. A $50,000 grant from the Emergency Disaster
Fund has been approved to build the house.  

In other EDF news, an $8,000 grant was approved to help 240
Haitian families in the Dominican Republic during the season
known as "dead time," when there is no sugar cane cutting work
available. The funds will help buy food and other necessities.   

8) "It has been a great media year for us," said Brian Backe,
SERRV International marketing director, after he appeared on
Cable News Network (CNN) on Christmas Day to promote SERRV in a
seven-minute segment on alternative giving. CNN contacted Backe
following SERRV's segment on National Public Radio last month.
Backe showed several SERRV crafts during the segment that was
filmed at the CNN studio in Washington, D.C.  

Backe added that after a successful holiday season, SERRV sales
were up for 1996 and believes that the organization turned a
profit last year.   

9) The National Council of Churches Young Adult Ministry Team is
inviting young adults and young adult leaders from participating
denominations to an ecumenical young adult ministry leadership
training event, "Come to the Table," May 22-25, in Atlanta. Chris
Douglas, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry and
co-sponsor of the event, invites young adults and congregational
and district young adult leaders to join her. Andrew Young,
former mayor of Atlanta, is the slated keynote speaker. For more
information, contact Douglas at 800 323-8039 or
CoB.Youth.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

10) The World Council of Churches, an ecumenical group of 330
churches worldwide of which the Church of the Brethren is a
member, published a report on Jan. 3 calling for Nigeria's
military regime and Shell Oil to take responsibility for its
actions against the Ogoni people. The report was written by
Deborah Robinson of the WCC's Program to Combat Racism, who
visited Ogoniland last year. The report makes 28 recommendations,
which include calling on the Nigerian government to restore
democracy, and to release detainees and the bodies of the nine
Ogoni people who were executed in November 1995. The report also
calls Shell Oil to take an environmental responsibility for the
Ebubu oil spill, as well as other oil spills in the area.  

In December, the WCC's Program to Overcome Violence approved a
grant of $13,000 to the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni
People.   

11) Christian Peacemaker Teams held its fifth annual
demonstration against violent toys on New Year's Day in Chicago.
A group of 30 Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers began the protest
at the Chicago Art Institute and then walked to a nearby Toys "R"
Us. Although the group was not allowed into the store, they
remained outside in a peaceful protest that included singing of
Christmas carols. The Chicago Tribune covered the protest and an
article appeared in the Jan. 2 edition. Featured in the
accompanying photo is Cheryl Cayford, interim associate director
of Association of Brethren Caregivers.  

In other CPT news, CPT and New Call to Peacemaking held Christian
Peacemaker Congress III, Dec. 27-30, in Washington, D.C., under
the theme "Joining the Nonviolent Struggle: Getting in the Way."
The over 200 participants ended the event by circling the
Pentagon, singing and praying. Participants read these words from
a statement: "We have come to the Pentagon from across America to
lament the harvest of violence which our nation is reaping in the
form of unemployment, hunger, poverty, homelessness, depression,
crime and despair." Participants also brought pieces of condemned
buildings, toy guns, used syringes and empty grocery bags "as
symbols of the harvest of military spending in North America."
Members of the Atlantic Life Community poured their blood on the
facade of the Pentagon "in witness to the shed blood of victims
of war." Three of the participants of the demonstration were
arrested.   

12) In Newsline for the week of January 2, the phone number to
reach Kim Yaussy Albright at Bethany Theological Seminary for
information on the Advanced Pastoral Seminar was incorrect.
Bethany's correct number is 800 287-8822.   

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
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