wfn.org | CoB Newsline- CCS, Andrew Center, BRF, OEPA

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      April 3, 1997
Contact:  Paula Wilding
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline             April 3, 1997  

This is Newsline for the week of April 3. In the news today:  
1) Nearly 90 senior high youth and advisors head to the East  
     Coast this weekend for Christian Citizenship Seminar. 
2) Robert Neff, president of Juniata College, announces his 
     plans to retire following the 1997-98 school year. 
3) The Andrew Center announces its plan of becoming a 
     self-supporting, independent Anabaptist center for
     evangelism. 
4) The workshop, "Does Your Church Really Care," will be held
     this weekend, and a date change for the Networking Business  
     Leaders Conference is announced. 
5) On Earth Peace Assembly announces a peace retreat for young 
     adults. 
6) Brethren Revival Fellowship holds the first of its training 
     seminars. 
7) The Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite  
     Church announce their merging plans.   

1) Eighty-nine youth and sponsors will participate in the Church
of the Brethren Christian Citizenship Seminar in New York City
and Washington, D.C., Saturday through Thursday. This year's
theme is "Ethnic Conflicts Around the Globe: How Should
Christians Respond," and the keynote speaker is Phil Rieman.
Rieman currently serves in a team pastorate with his wife, Louie,
at Wabash (Ind.) Church of the Brethren. From 1992-96, the
Riemans served with the New Sudan Council of Churches as
peacemakers between waring factions in southern Sudan.  

While in New York City, Saturday through Monday, participants are
scheduled to attend sessions with Rieman, visit the United
Nations and meet officers with the Lutheran Office for World
Community and the U.N. Department of Political Affairs. While in
Washington, participants are scheduled to meet with officials
from the U.S. Aid Office of International Development and an
agency called Demilitarization for Democracy. Participants also
will be given the opportunity to meet with their members of
Congress.  

CCS, which is co-sponsored by the General Board's Youth and Young
Adult Ministry and Washington Office, began in 1948 as a means
for Brethren to be involved with government actions and public
policy. Other issues focused on at past Christian Citizenship
Seminars have included the media, homelessness, racism,
peacemaking and nonviolence. The Statement on Child Exploitation,
a business item returning to Annual Conference this year for
approval, originated at the 1995 CCS.   

2) Robert Neff, president of Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa.,
last week announced his intention to retire following the 1997-98
school year. Neff has served as president of Juniata -- one of
six Church of the Brethren-affiliated colleges and university --
since 1986. After 12 years, he said "it is time to retire." Neff
also noted that the institution is preparing a new financial
campaign that will require a long commitment from its president,
"a commitment that I find myself unable to make. The college
community requires new leadership to move with vigor into the
21st century." Under Neff's leadership, Juniata has experienced
increases in the recruitment and retention of students and with
fund raising, and has increased its stature in the academic
community.  

Prior to joining Juniata, Neff held several positions within the
Church of the Brethren. He served as general secretary of the
Church of the Brethren General Board from 1978-86. He also has
served as professor of Biblical Studies at Bethany Theological
Seminary, the denomination's seminary, and has taught at
Bridgewater (Va.) College, one of the denomination's affiliated
colleges.  

Henry Gibbel, Juniata board member, was named chairman of the
presidential search committee. Gibbel also chaired the committee
that called Neff as president.   

3) An independent, self-supporting Anabaptist evangelism center
is what The Andrew Center aims to become by January, according to
a press release issued by the center last week. The Andrew Center
was established by the Church of the Brethren General Board in
1994 as an evangelism ministry that works in partnership with
other denominations. However, the General Board will cease
funding the center at the end of this year.  

Bob Kettering, The Andrew Center interim director, said
discussions have begun with the center's partner denominations --
the Church of the Brethren, the Brethren Church, the Mennonite
Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church -- with the
hope that an independent, self-supporting center will be ready to
be launched by January. This independence "will allow each
participating denomination to be a true and equal partner, with
the center acting as a service agency to each," Kettering said.
"The initial challenges will focus on reorganization, funding 
and the redevelopment of Living in Faithful Evangelism (LIFE) and
Passing On the Promise (POtP)." For more information, call 800
774-3360 or write CoB.Evang.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

4) This Saturday, The Andrew Center, will sponsor the workshop
"Does Your Church Really Care?" at Mountain View Church of the
Brethren, Boise, Idaho. The workshop will be led by Jim Moss.  

The Andrew Center also has announced that its Networking Business
Leaders Conference in Lancaster, Pa., has been postponed from
April 17 to Sept. 23. For more information on the conference,
contact Bob Kettering at 717 664-5181.   

5) Prophetic Peacemaking, a retreat for young adults, will be
offered by On Earth Peace Assembly April 25-27 at the Brethren
Service Center, New Windsor, Md. Session topics will include
current Brethren peace witness and characteristics of the
prophetic Christian life. Leadership for the retreat will be Matt
Guynn, a current Ministry of Reconciliation task force member and
1994 Youth Peace Travel Team member; and James Bowyer, a current
Bethany Seminary student and 1995 Journey of Young Adults member.
For more information, contact OEPA at 410 635-8706 or at
On.Earth.Peace.Assembly.parti@Ecunet.Org.   

6) Brethren Revival Fellowship held the first of its 1997 spring
training seminars on March 22 at Belvidere Church of the
Brethren, York, Pa. The workshop topics included personal
evangelism, the education of children, the book of Ruth,
correlation of biblical prophesy with current events, biblical
nonresistance, and the Christian woman's prayer ministry. BRF
will sponsor two more workshops this spring -- May 3 at Beech
Grove Church of the Brethren, Pendleton, Ind., where workshops
will focus on doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the Sermon on the
Mount, the Christian's devotional life, and Bible study tools and
translating; and May 10 at Beaverton (Mich.) Church of the
Brethren, where workshops will focus on Biblical Reliability: The
Key Issue, and Distinctively Brethren Practices. The teaching
seminars are held annually and often at the request of
congregations. For more information on the BRF seminars, contact
James Myer at 717 626-5555.   

7) Following their delegates' 1995 decision to merge, the
Mennonite and General Conference Mennonite churches decided last
month that they would complete their merger by 1999, becoming the
"Mennonite Church." At the Mennonite Church/General Conference
Mennonite Church Integration Committee meeting, Feb. 28-March 1
in Chicago, the committee approved the joining of the MC and GC
general boards. A 26-member general board is expected to be in
place by 1999; thirteen of those members will come from the
yet-to-be organized regions -- east, central and west in the
United States, and Canada. Five board members will represent
"councils" -- African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Native, women
and area conference leadership. Four program boards -- missions,
congregational resources, leadership and education -- also will
receive a seat on the board, as will the moderator,
moderator-elect and secretary. A churchwide assembly -- which is
comparable to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference --
will be held every three years, regional assemblies biennially
and conference assemblies annually.  

Decisions involving the general boards will need to approved by
those bodies before they are passed on to their respective
delegate assemblies this summer. The publishing boards and the
publishers of the magazines will need to approve decisions
involving their publications.   

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