wfn.org | Newsline - Church of the Brethren weekly news update

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Feb. 12, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com
Newsline           Feb. 12, 1998

News
1) Heifer Project International to close its regional office in
     New Windsor, Md.
2) Emergency Response/Service Ministries initiates a new project
     in Tennessee.
3) Eighty-four volunteers attend Emergency Response/Service
     Ministries' disaster relief training retreat at the Brethren
     Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
4) A plea for a nonmilitary solution between the United States
     and Iraq is sent to President Clinton by Joseph Mason,
     interim executive director of the General Board.
5) The Church of the Brethren joins an international effort to
     send medical supplies to Iraq.
6) The National Council of Churches and its member communions
     send a petition to President Clinton asking that he and
     Congress not approve school vouchers.
7) The well-being of our children should be the first beneficiary
     of any settlement between the United States and the tobacco
     industry, says the National Council of Churches.
8) The General Board grants $100,000 in relief aid to North
     Korea.
9) Ken Brown, a Manchester College professor, receives Fellowship
     of Reconciliation's 1998 Martin Luther King Jr. award.
10) J. Rogers Fike is appointed interim executive of West Marva
     District.
11) Howard Miller is appointed interim associate executive of
     Mid-Atlantic District.
12) The keynote presenters of this year's National Older Adult
     Conference (NOAC) are announced.
13) The General Board's Congregational Life Teams now have
     toll-free phone numbers.
14) The employees of six Church of the Brethren-affiliated
     organizations now have easy-to-figure-out e-mail addresses.
15) The New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center is urgently seeking
     volunteer hostesses and hosts.
16) Conflict resolution training for congregations will be
     offered in March. 

Feature
17) In October, Chris Bowman, pastor of Martinsburg (Pa.)
     Memorial Church of the Brethren and chair of the Church of
     the Brethren General Board, was stricken by a Multiple
     Sclerosis flare-up. Now, four months later, he reflects on
     his illness, his community, his faith.

1) In the wake of former regional director John Dieterly's
resignation earlier this year, Heifer Project International on
Wednesday announced it will be closing its southeastern regional
office, located at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor,
Md. 

The closing of the office, effective April 10, will affect four
full-time and one part-time employees. 

"In order to better serve our volunteers and donors as far away
as Florida, we've decided to recruit and hire a church relations
staff person in the Atlanta area, or at least more centrally
located for all the states in the Atlantic South region," reads a
Heifer Project statement that was released Wednesday in New
Windsor. "We have appreciated the relationship with employees and
management at the Brethren Service Center, and our prayer is that
we will continue the long and endearing friendship that has been
enjoyed by the Church of the Brethren and Heifer Project. We ask
that you will continue to pray for our endeavors and for HPI
staff as we begin this transition for the benefit of the entire
organization."

Dan West, a Church of the Brethren member, started a ministry
that in June 1942 became an official program of the Brethren
Service Committee. That ministry eventually evolved into Heifer
Project International, which became an independent, nonprofit
organization in April 1953.

2) Following the assessment of damage in Tennessee caused by
recent flooding, the Church of the Brethren General Board's
Emergency Response/Service Ministries on Saturday began a new
project at Roan Mountain, Tenn. Homeowners in the area lacked
flood insurance because floods there are rare.

In other ERSM news, work continues in Grand Forks, N.D., where
volunteers are installing drywall, replacing floors and
insulation, repairing basements and hanging new doors.

The Material Resources division of ERSM recently shipped seven
20-foot containers of relief materials to North Korea under the
auspices of Church World Service. The contents consisted of
clothing, blankets, quilts and medicines with a total weight of
111,816 pounds. This week two additional 40-foot-long containers
full of blankets will go to the Republic of Georgia under the
auspices of the United Methodist Committee for Relief.

ERSM also announced this week that Roy Johnson has joined its
volunteer staff. Johnson, a retired pastor and New Windsor, Md.,
resident, will be volunteering one day each week to work with
ERSM's media relations and web site.

3) The annual training conference for disaster response
volunteers, sponsored by the Church of the Brethren General
Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries, was held Jan.
31-Feb. 3 in New Windsor, Maryland. Eighty-four disaster response
volunteers from across the country gathered for a variety of
workshops and training experiences.

Beverly Abma, administrator for Disaster Response for the
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), was the guest
speaker at the Saturday evening banquet. Abma and her family have
been involved in mission work in Africa for several years.
However, she currently works out of CRWRC's Grand Rapids office.
Abma has served as a disaster child caregiver and trainer, and
was instrumental in developing disaster child care in Canada. 

ERSM manages three Church of the Brethren ministries -- Disaster
Response, Refugee Resettlement and Material Resources. 

The Disaster Response unit assists in relief efforts in areas
suffering from natural or man-made disasters, providing
volunteers to help with cleaning, repairing, rebuilding and
caring for children. The program was organized in 1941 as the
denomination's response to the biblical mandate to "bear one
another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2).  Since then, Disaster Response has
given much-needed assistance to survivors of over 140 disasters
throughout the United States.

One attendee of the conference was forced to use her training
sooner than she might have thought. Upon her return home to Big
Sur, Calif., Suzanne Tennyson found her home in the middle of a
natural disaster caused by heavy rains. She had to be lowered
onto her property by helicopter because the roads were closed.

4) A letter urging restraint in the use of military force in the
confrontation with Iraq was sent this week to President Bill
Clinton by Joseph Mason, interim executive director of the Church
of the Brethren General Board. The letter declares that "a
long-term solution to the problems facing our nation and the
world in this troubled region will not be advanced by military
means. In fact, this is likely only to make the situation with
Iraq and its neighbors more intractable."

Rather than acting in "a nearly unilateral fashion" in seeking to
eradicate the Iraqi arsenal of weapons, the U.S. government is
urged to collaborate with other members of the United Nations in
taking steps to resolve the current crisis.

"Let us be open to God's guidance and to the leading of Christ in
all we do," Mason concludes.

5) Church World Service (CWS) has announced it will join a $2
million international appeal for aid to Iraq, which has frayed
social and economic conditions, in response to the increasing
possibility that the United States will strike out militarily
against that country. The Church of the Brethren has allocated
$10,000 from its Emergency Disaster Fund to assist in that
appeal.

Action by Churches Together (ACT) International has announced the
appeal in an attempt to reach 120,000 Iraqi beneficiaries over
the next 10 months. As an ACT member, CWS has agreed to seek
$150,000 from its 34 member communions, including the Church of
the Brethren. Two-thirds of that aid will purchase medicines,
medical supplies and other essential medical treatment items;
$50,000 will contribute to operational costs, which include
shipping the supplies and storing them in Jordan. CWS also will
send $325,000 worth of in-kind donations, including 50,000
blankets and 10,000 layettes for newborn children.

A second EDF allocation has been made this week -- $48,385.84 --
to cover the deficit in the Ecumenical Refugee Resettlement
Social Services fund balance. This is the accumulated expense
over income from the beginning of the Church of the Brethren's
serving as an affiliate for Church World Service.

6) The heads of the National Council of Churches' 34 communions,
including Joseph Mason, interim executive director of the Church
of the Brethren General Board, have joined the American Jewish
Committee, the Baptist Joint Committee and others in telling
President Bill Clinton that they do not support existing
proposals that would provide tax-supported vouchers for children
to attend parochial or private schools. "We are joining together
to resist this trend and to rally support for high quality public
education," the petition reads. "We believe that public funding
for parochial schools is bad for our religious communions and bad
for civil society in America."

Calling the proposed vouchers a bad remedy for the ills of some
of today's public schools, the petition states, "We believe they
will harm American public education to the grave disadvantage of
the most disadvantaged Americans, and undermine the separation of
church and state that has largely spared our nation the religious
strife that has plagued so many lands."

7) With the an agreement between the tobacco industry and the
U.S. government seemingly drawing near, the National Council of
Churches has released a statement urging that revenues from any
such settlement be applied first "to the health and well-being of
America's children."

According to the release, children and youth have long been
perceived by tobacco interests as an inviting and attractive
potential market. "And yet churches in sacred rites and
sacramental acts baptize and/or dedicate the youngest of our
citizens and therein pledge the whole community's commitment to
protect, nurture and safeguard our children. These same children
and youth should not need now to fear the indifference of their
own government. The weight of moral obligation is placed upon the
Congress of the United States to determine whether there will be
a 'peace dividend' for America's young."

The NCC commends proposed national legislation that "puts
children first" by raising cigarette prices, improving early
childhood opportunities, increasing the quality of child care and
promoting after-school activities.

"We celebrate these initiatives, even while looking toward the
day that we as a society place upon children's health such
priority that it is cared for as a first order of business in
federal budget building. It is in that day that our children
might live the lives for which they were created."

8) Two grants for North Korean famine relief were made last week
from the Church of the Brethren General Board's Global Food
Crisis Fund -- $45,000 in response to a $500,000 appeal by Church
World Service in January that will help provide food, medicines,
blankets and clothing; and $55,000 to purchase 100 metric tons of
barley seed for a double-cropping initiative. When harvested,
this grain will provide a year's worth of rations for 2,500
families.

Both grants are the result of a $100,000 appeal approved by the
General Board in October.

"Recent reports out of North Korea continue to paint a grim
picture," said David Radcliff, manager of the Global Food Crisis
Fund and director of the General Board's Brethren Witness office.
"Hospitals without medicines, children and elderly women combing
harvested fields for a few more handfuls of rice, an entire
nation wasting away. There continues to be a desperate need for a
compassionate international response.

Radcliff added that there are safeguards in place to ensure that
the aid gets sent to the areas where it is most needed.

9) Ken Brown, professor of religion and philosophy and director
of the Peace Studies Program at Manchester College, North
Manchester, Ind., has been named the recipient of the Fellowship
of Reconciliation's (FOR) 1998 Martin Luther King Jr. award.
Brown is a member of Manchester Church of the Brethren.

Established in 1979, the award is given annually to a person
"because of their significant contributions to the furtherance of
Dr. King's radical practice of nonviolent approaches to racial,
economic and social justice concerns," according to a Manchester
release. 

King was a member of the FOR Advisory Council at the time of his
death.

"Ken Brown has carried on Dr. King's dream in many ways -- from
the way he interacts with his students to the way he works as an
activist," said Jo Young Switzer, Manchester vice president and
academic dean. "His intellectual intensity, gentle spirit and
persistent work on behalf of those who are less fortunate reflect
his deep commitment to Dr. King's values."

Over the past 25 years Brown has co-founded the War Tax
Resisters' Penalty Fund, founded the North Manchester Chapter of
the Fellowship of Reconciliation and has served six years on the
American FOR Executive Committee.

10) J. Rogers Fike has been appointed interim executive of West
Marva District. He is a former General Board member and former
interim executive of West Marva District.

11) Howard Miller of Westminster, Md., has been called to serve
as interim associate executive of Mid-Atlantic District. He
recently retired from General Board employment as a Financial
Resources counselor. He is an ordained minister and has pastored
two congregations. Miller has agreed to serve the district at
least through June and possibly through 1998.

12) The featured speakers for this year's National Older Adult
Conference (NOAC) will be --
     * W. Andrew Achenbaum, history professor and senior research
          scientist for the Institute of Gerontology at the
          University of Michigan, and "the nation's best known
          scholar on the history of aging and old-age policy."
     * Merrilyn Belgum, a stand-up comedian, and former social
          worker and faculty member at the University of
          Minnesota.
     * Susan Boyer, pastor of Manchester Church of the Brethren,
          North Manchester, Ind. Boyer has preached at Annual
          Conference, at National Youth Conference 1994, and she
          will preach again at National Youth Conference 1998.
          She earned her Master's of Divinity from Bethany
          Theological Seminary.
     * Gayle Appel Doll, who has worked in the fitness industry
          for over a decade, teaching older adults exercises that
          are designed specifically for them.
     * Steve Engle, a Brethren ventriloquist who makes over 200
          appearances each year. He also is a published composer,
          with many selections included in the Brethren Songbook.
     * Lynn Huber, who has worked with issues of aging for the
          Episcopal church. She developed the Affirmative Aging
          Program for the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.        
          Her master's degree is in social work and her doctorate
          is in social welfare, with an emphasis on gerontology.
     * Alvin Jackson, senior pastor of Mississippi Boulevard
          Christian Church, Memphis, Tenn. During his tenure,
          Mississippi Boulevard has grown from 350 members to
          more than 7,000, making it the fastest-growing
          Disciples of Christ congregation in the nation. Jackson
          earned his Master's of Divinity degree from Duke
          University.
     * Don Pedi, a musician with an extensive repertoire of
          popular and archaic music.

Walter Burghardt, a senior fellow of the Woodstock Theological
Center, Washington, D.C., will serve as Bible study leader.
Burghardt is founder and director of Preaching the Just Word, a
workshop to improve the preaching of justice issues across the
country.

This fourth biennial older adult conference is scheduled for Aug.
31-Sept. 4 at Lake Junaluska, N.C. For more information, contact
Association of Brethren Caregivers at ABC@Brethren.Org or at 800
323-8039.

13) The Church of the Brethren General Board's Congregational
Life Team coordinators now have toll free phone numbers. Their
names, respective areas and phone numbers are --
     * Jan Kensinger, Area 1 (Atlantic Northeast, Mid-Atlantic,
          Middle Pennsylvania, Southern Pennsylvania and Western
          Pennsylvania districts) -- 888 411-4275.
     * Beth Sollenberger-Morphew, Area 2 (Illinois/Wisconsin,
          Michigan, Northern Indiana, South/Central Indiana,
          Northern Ohio and Southern Ohio districts.)
          -- 800 323-8039.
     * Julie Hostetter, Area 3 (Atlantic Southeast, Shenandoah,
          Virlina, Southeastern and West Marva districts) 
          -- 800 244-5896.
     * David Smalley, Area 4 (Missouri/Arkansas, Northern Plains,
          Southern Plains and Western Plains districts) 
          -- 888 526-9589.
     * Jeff Glass, Area 5, (Idaho, Oregon/Washington and Pacific 
          Southwest districts) -- 888 826-4951.

14) Most employees of the following Church of the Brethren
organizations now have Brethren.org e-mail addresses -- the
Annual Conference Office, Association of Brethren Caregivers,
Brethren Benefit Trust and the General Board. 

A typical address uses an employee's first initial of their
primary name and their complete last name. Their last name is
followed by an underscore, which is followed by an abbreviation
of the employee's respective organization. This is followed by
@Brethren.Org.

The organization abbreviations are AC (Annual Conference), ABC
(Association of Brethren Caregivers), BBT (Brethren Benefit
Trust) and GB (General Board).

Thus, to write to the top administrators at these organizations a
person would use --
     * SMason_ABC@Brethren.Org (Steve Mason, Association of
          Brethren Caregivers).
     * DSteiner_AC@Brethren.Org (Duane Steiner, Annual Conference
          Office).
     * WNolen_BBT@Brethren.Org (Wil Nolen, Brethren Benefit
          Trust).
     JMason_GB@Brethren.Org (Joe Mason, General Board).

A listing of all Brethren.Org addresses and other denominational
addresses will eventually be posted on the official
denominational web site, WWW.Brethren.Org. 

Two other Brethren organizations also have e-mail addresses that
are easy to figure out.

Addresses at Bethany Theological Seminary use up to five letters
of a person's last name, followed by the first two characters of
their primary name. This is followed by @Earlham.Edu. Thus,
President Gene Roop's e-mail is RoopGe@Earlham.Edu. Rick Gardner,
dean, can be reached at GardnRi@Earlham.Edu. People uncertain
about this system can send e-mail to BethanySem@AOL.Com, which
will then be distributed to the appropriate person.

Finally, the newly independent On Earth Peace Assembly also has
new e-mail addresses. For all general correspondence, write to
OEPA@OEPA.Org. For director Tom Hurst, write Tom@OEPA.Org. For
Kate Johnson, program coordinator, write Kate@OEPA.Org. For
OEPA's Ministry of Reconciliation, write MoR@OEPA.Org.

15) The New Windsor Conference Center at the Brethren Service
Center, New Windsor, Md., is in urgent need of volunteer
hostesses and hosts. These volunteers will help coordinate and
provide hospitality and conference services to a variety of
guests. Though the center is close to Baltimore, Md., and
Washington, D.C., it is located in a rural setting, which is
reflected in its theme, "A quiet place to get things done."

Furnished apartments and meals will be provided for volunteers.
For more information, contact the Conference Center at
PHenline_GB@Brethren.Org or at 800 766-1553.

16) Congregational conflict will be the focus of a two-day
workshop, "Conflict Resolution Skills for Congregational
Leaders," March 6-7, in North Manchester, Ind. Sponsored by
Education for Conflict Resolution (ECR), this workshop "will give
people more understanding of how conflicts develop between
individuals, and give them skills for dealing effectively with
conflict," said Bob Gross, ECR's director of Training and a
member of the Church of the Brethren. The workshop is designed
primarily for pastors, deacons, committee chairs and active
church members.

"We hope that people will see reconciliation as part of their
faith experience and a part of what they are called to do within
the family, the church or their workplace," Gross added.

The workshop fee is $45 per person or $90 for three people from
one congregation. For more information, call ECR at 219 982-4621.

17) Last fall, Chris Bowman, pastor of Martinsburg (Pa.) Memorial
Church of the Brethren and chair of the Church of the Brethren
General Board, was afflicted by a Multiple Sclerosis flare-up, a
flare-up for which he now gives a call of thanksgiving. In the
following article commissioned this week by Newsline and titled
"Life in the Storm, Part Two," Bowman explains --

Three years ago, I wrote an article for Messenger magazine titled
"Life in the Storm." In the article, I suggested that people of
faith find tremendous opportunities for growth during the "storm"
times of life. The very lack of control and the limits found in a
"storm" provide opportunities for significant deepening of faith. 
As in the gospel story, the very waves which threaten to capsize
the boat also provide the surface on which Jesus walks toward us
in the darkness.

Well, last year a storm hit my life.

In the fall, I experienced an attack of Multiple Sclerosis. For
almost three months I was kept from working or driving. The
attack affected my speech, sight and stability. At its worst, I
was unable to walk without assistance when I suffered a
debilitating episode of vertigo. The storm-waves were getting
pretty big and my boat was taking on a great deal of water.

My garbled speech reminded me of Henri Nouwen's slurred speech in
a 1994 talk he gave about risk, life and faith. One of his most
poignant illustrations was of trapeze artists in a German circus.
Nouwen was amazed by the skill with which they flew through the
air with the greatest of ease. He was especially drawn by that
moment in which the trapeze artist let go of the security of the
swinging bar and flew through the air toward the others in the
troupe.

In talking to the performers after the show, he asked, "How do
you train yourself to fly through the air like that and catch the
person swinging out to meet you?" "Catch?" the trapeze artists
laughed. "The worst thing you can do is to try to catch the
catcher. You just let go, reach out toward the catcher and trust
that you will be caught. If you try to catch the catcher you'll
be sure to fall."

Nouwen made a powerful point. Free from the security of our
previous life, we cannot catch ourselves; we can only trust that
we will be caught.

In my case, the MS attack meant that I could not fulfill my
responsibility to serve as chair of the General Board meetings in
October. The board asked Lori Knepp (our extremely gifted
vice-chair) to serve until I could return. And soon I began
receiving calls, e-mail and cards from people all over the
denomination. People in the local congregation brought food (a
great Brethren tradition!), watched our children during my doctor
visits, drove me to appointments and took on various tasks at the
church. In short, my church -- local and national -- put into
action the words of Christ: "I give you a new commandment, that
you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should
love one another." The presence of God was made concrete in the
Christian love I received.

This support and prayer from the church provided me and my family
with a "safety net of love." Above this network, I was invited to
reach out for the One who would catch me as I tumbled through the
air. The blessing of support allowed me to reach out, not to
catch, but to trust that I would be caught. Regardless of the
medical outcome, a spiritual one was being formed.

I am delighted that our prayers have been answered with healing.
Today, I'm able to drive, I work regular hours, I can read again
and my wife and I walk together on a regular basis. Praise God
from whom all blessings flow. Yet as I lift thanksgiving for
healing, I also feel called to lift thanksgiving for the storm.
Without it, I might never have felt the tremendous undergirding
of love from my Brethren brothers and sisters. Without the
attack, I might not have realized the depth of support that
exists for me and my family in my local church. Without the
storm, I might not have recognized the Savior who reaches out to
catch us in times when our hands have been pried loose from the
security to which we've become attached.

Certainly, there are residual health problems; but nothing that
cannot be overcome. Certainly, some have told me that people with
disability over-tax an already tired system; but not many.
Certainly, the experience provides theological questions about
God's grace with and without remission of disease; but those are
questions that will be answered only with time. Certainly, I
would confess a preference for smooth sailing rather than the
rough waters of the storm; but only in the short term. In the
long term, with or without disease, I would pray and prefer to be
caught and held close by God.

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the General
Board's News and Information Services. Newsline may be reprinted
in newsletters, magazines and other publications, including
electronic publications, as long as Newsline is attributed as the
source and the date of publication is listed.

To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 800 323-8039, ext.
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