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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Sept. 18, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                         Sept. 18, 1998

News
1) Over $60,000 is allocated from the Emergency Disaster Fund for
     six projects.
2) The Global Food Crisis Fund allocates $10,000 for coastal
     communities in Honduras.
3) Virlina District holds six Ethics for Congregations workshops.
4) The 22nd Annual Brethren Disaster Relief Auction of Atlantic
     Northeast and Southern Pennsylvania districts will be held
     Sept. 25-26 in Lebanon, Pa.
5) Don Murray will deliver the Brethren Volunteer Service 50th
     anniversary address at the Brethren Service Center, New
     Windsor, Md., on Oct. 3.
6) The fourth Christian Peacemaker Congress will be held 
     Sept. 24-27 near North Manchester, Ind.
7) Four representatives of the World Friendship Center in
     Hiroshima, Japan, will tour the Brethren Service Center in
     New Windsor, Md., on Monday.
8) The annual fall Youth Ministry Workshop is scheduled for      
     Oct. 24 at Hagerstown (Md.) Church of the Brethren.
9) A half-time Mid-Atlantic District associate executive is being
     sought.
10) The October Source resource packet has been mailed.
11) Joanne Nesler is named guest coordinator for next year's
     older adult Brethren Volunteer Service orientation unit, to
     be held in the spring.
12) Enrollment is down slightly this year at Manchester College,
     North Manchester, Ind.
13) Rubbermaid products can be auctioned for disaster relief. 
14) The Mennonite Board of Missions is seeking a half-time
     video/Internet producer.
15) Two staff openings for "The Other Side" are announced.

Features
16) A celebrative reunion takes place with members of the Butler
     Chapel A.M.E. church and two Northern Indiana Church of the
     Brethren congregations.
17) Seeking grace in an ungraceful time.

1) Six grants totaling $62,500 were allocated within the past
three weeks from the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster
Fund to assist in a variety of projects.

Nearly half of those funds, $30,000, were allocated in response
to a Church World Service appeal to assist Action by Churches
Together International in emergency humanitarian work in
Indonesia. According to Miller Davis, manager of the Church of
the Brethren Emergency Response/Service Ministries, "a grave
economic and political crisis, drought, forest fires and ethnic
strife have all combined to cause enormous difficulties in
Indonesia during the last year." Davis said it is estimated that
50 million people will have difficulty maintaining a minimal
level of food intake in the upcoming months, with 40 percent of
the country's population expected to be below the poverty line by
year's end. This Church of the Brethren grant will be used for
one-time distribution of seeds and tools and for food-for-work
projects.

Other grants included --
     * $11,000 in response to the bombings of U.S. embassies in
          Kenya and Tanzania. This grant will be distributed
          through Church World Service and cooperating agencies
          to assist the long-term needs of survivors and their
          families; medical services to survivors, letters of
          support and concern, books of sermons from pastors in
          Oklahoma City who faced a similar experience following
          the bombing there in 1995, and an endowment to provide
          school fees to selected children whose                 
          families have been affected.
     * $10,000 for response work in Texas following Tropical
          Storm Charley and in North Carolina following Hurricane
          Bonnie. Flooding in Texas damaged or destroyed         
          1,500 mobile homes or rental units. In North Carolina,
          over 1,000 registrations for disaster assistance in the
          northeastern part of the state have been made.
     * $7,500 to assist with the cost of producing and
          distributing Church World Service emergency response
          information on the World Wide Web. This is a one-time  
          expense.
     * $2,500 in response to a refugee crisis in Gambia.
          According to Davis, recent fighting in Guinea Bissau
          between pro-government forces and anti-government
          rebels has resulted in a fresh influx of refugees into
          Gambia. This grant will be used for emergency food,
          shelter and medicines, with longer-term assistance to
          include farming tools and educational help.
     * $1,500 in response to a Church World Service appeal to
          provide short-term assistance to families affected by
          recent heavy rains in the Czech and Slovak republics.
          Over 50 people were killed and scores were left
          homeless. This grant will be used to provide cleanup
          and building repairs, trauma counseling and pastoral
          care, hygienic items, clothing and cooking appliances.
     

2) A grant of $10,000 was allocated Sept. 9 from the Church of
the Brethren General Board's Global Food Crisis Fund to assist 17
southern coastal communities of Honduras. According to David
Radcliff, director of Brethren Witness and supervisor of the GFC
Fund, the effects of El Nino and a recent drought are adversely
affecting nearly 800 families. Priority will be given to the
provision of supplemental food to 472 of these families that have
children suffering from various levels of malnutrition.

3) The Virlina District of the Church of the Brethren is in the
midst of presenting six workshops that focus on "Ethics for
Congregations," the 1996 statement approved by Church of the
Brethren Annual Conference delegates. This paper is a companion
piece to the "Ethics in Ministry Relations" statement, which
Virlina pastors studied several years ago.

"By exploring this (Ethics for Congregations) paper, we will have
the opportunity to review values that we as a denomination have
affirmed, recognize areas for growth in our faith journey and
discipleship, discuss ways that we as congregations can be held
accountable, and see how we can use this paper to examine our own
congregational procedures and life together," wrote the
five-person organizing committee as it announced the workshops to
district leadership. Although three of the workshops were held
Sept. 11-13, three more are scheduled -- Sept. 25 at Eden (North
Carolina) Church of the Brethren; Sept. 26 at Cloverdale (Va.)
Church of the Brethren; and Sept. 27 at West Richmond Church of
the Brethren, Richmond, Va.

For more information, contact Virlina District at virlina@aol.com
or at 540 362-1816.

4) "Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy
poor, and to thy needy in thy land" (Deut. 15:11), the scripture
printed on the cover of the 22nd Annual Brethren Disaster Auction
booklet, succinctly explains the motivation behind what has made
this the largest of a handful of yearly Church of the Brethren
disaster auctions. This year's edition of the event that has
raised over $5 million for disaster relief since beginning in
1977, will be held Sept. 25-26 at the Lebanon (Pa.) Area
Fairgrounds.

A huge selection of quilts and wall hangings, livestock, tools,
furniture, toys, art, sports cards and other such items are among
the goods that will be auctioned during the two-day event. Many
additional items will be sold, such as produce, baked goods,
trinkets and clothing. Providing entertainment Friday night will
be the Middle Creek Church of the Brethren (Lititz, Pa.) choir. 

This event, which utilizes all of the space at the fairgrounds,
raised $585,893 in 1997. Additional information on this auction
is available at the unofficial Church of the Brethren web site,
www.cob-net.org.

5) Don Murray, the one-time Brethren Volunteer Service worker who
is perhaps best known to most as part of the casts of "Dallas"
and "Knots Landing," former television shows, has agreed to fill
in for Chuck Boyer as keynote speaker of the Saturday evening
program during the Brethren Volunteer Service 50th anniversary
weekend celebration, to be held Oct. 2-4 at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md.

Murray, who was trained in BVS Unit 17 in 1952, served in Germany
and Italy. During his presentation, he is expected to use
excerpts of a play he has written to share about his connection
to BVS, and how this Brethren ministry was influential in the
development of the Peace Corps.

Boyer, a former BVS director and past Church of the Brethren
Annual Conference moderator, who currently serves as pastor of La
Verne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren, in late July was diagnosed
with leukemia and is unable to attend. In August Boyer started
receiving chemotherapy treatment, which appears to have been
effective, as the leukemia reportedly is now in remission. 

However, Boyer and other Brethren interested in the weekend's
events can follow along on www.brethren.org, which will provide
daily updates.

6) A pilgrimage from "empire economics to jubilee justice" will
be the focus of the fourth Christian Peacemaker Teams congress,
to be held Sept. 24-27 near North Manchester, Ind.

Chad Myers will lead the 200-300 participants in a Christian
social justice "journey" from Egypt (America's empire economics)
through the wilderness of imaging a new way, and into a
celebration of jubilee. Sara Reschly will speak on her work in
Hebron.

Congress participants will be encouraged to spend nights outside
or in tents, and help in the preparation of simple meals.
Worship, workshops and a public witness are also scheduled.

This event, which follows several recent demolitions of
Palestinian homes near Hebron, will hopefully be "a launch pad
for even more vigorous witness on the part of our supporting
denominations and churches with respect for peace based on
justice for Palestinians and Jews in the Middle East," said Gene
Stoltzfus, CPT director. "We welcome vigorous prayers and words
of encouragement from all of the folks who are interested in our
peace witness."

For more information contact CPT at cpt3@igc.org or 312 455-1199.

7) Four Japanese peace ambassadors from the World Friendship
Center (WFC) in Hiroshima, Japan, will be visiting the Brethren
Service Center in New Windsor, Md., on Monday. Every two years
WFC sends ambassadors to the U.S. to promote peace. Carl and
Carrie Beckwith, resident volunteers at the Brethren Service
Center, are hosting this visit. The Beckwith's spent eight months
at the World Friendship Center in 1992.

The peace ambassadors are Takeshi Yamakawa, Yukiko Nakashima,
Shoko Murakami and Keiko Murakami. Though all have a strong
commitment to peace, Keiko has first hand experience with war --
she was a third grader in a bomb shelter that was slightly more
than one mile from where the atomic bomb was dropped. She was not
injured but experienced the trauma of being a survivor.

The World Friendship Center, which officially opened on Aug. 7,
1965, was founded upon the conviction that meaningful peace in
the world will be built from within and through one person at a
time. 

8) The annual Youth Ministry Workshop is scheduled for Oct. 24 at
Hagerstown (Md.) Church of the Brethren. This year's event will
feature 10 workshops, of which participants will be able to
select four. Workshop topics and leaders are -- 
     * Helping youth deal with their hormones; Janice Bowman
     * Anyone WITH youth?; Jan Kensinger
     * And all God's people said...?; Jim Chinworth
     * From programming to praying; David Steele
     * Learning to serve and serving to learn; Wendi Hutchinson
          and Lorele Yager
     * Basic counseling techniques for youth leaders; Dave
          Witkovsky
     * Mentoring; Chris Douglas
     * Beyond chalkboards: Reaching your youth through teaching;
          Walt Witschek
     * Encouraging and developing leadership in youth; Judy Mills
          Reimer
     * Beyond youth group-based ministry; Rhonda Pittman Gingrich

Cost to attend the workshop is $10, which includes cost of lunch.
For more information, contact Chris Douglas at
cdouglas_gb@brethren.org or 800 323-8039.

9) Mid-Atlantic District has announced it is seeking a part-time
associate executive, beginning Jan. 1. This estimated
25-hour-per-week position will include travel throughout the
district, and some evening and weekend assignments.

For more information, contact Nancy Knepper at
nknepper_gb@brethren.org or by calling the District Ministry
office at 800 323-8039.

10) The October Source resource packet has been mailed to all
Church of the Brethren congregations. Materials in this latest
edition include --
     * an application for young adults interested in serving in
          next summer's 10-week-long Ministry Summer Service.
     * a brochure on the upcoming Youth Ministry Workshop.
     * a brochure for the upcoming annual young adult conference,
          to be held Nov. 26-28 at Camp Swatara, Bethel, Pa.
     * a flier for next spring's Christian Citizenship Seminar
          for senior high-aged youth, to be held April 10-15 in
          New York City and Washington, D.C.
     * a copy of "The Peace Book," a guide for Brethren youth on
          living as Christian peacemakers in today's world. This
          book, produced by the Church of the Brethren General
          Board's Brethren Witness office, is free of charge.
     * a copy of the 1997 Annual Conference statement of child
          exploitation, in booklet form. Additional copies are
          available for $1.
     * a flier for youth interested in one of the four 1999 Youth
          Peace Travel Team positions. Each summer the Youth
          Peace Travel Team travels throughout the country 
          working with peace-related issues, usually at Church of
          the Brethren camps.
     * a form to fill out for people interested in performing
          musically at next summer's Church of the Brethren
          Annual Conference in Milwaukee.
     * a flier announcing next year's Caring Ministries 2000
          conference, to be held June 1-4 at Elizabethtown (Pa.)
          College.
     * a flier describing the need for volunteers at the New
          Windsor (Md.) Conference Center.
     * and the booklet, "Living the Story: 50 years of Brethren
          Volunteer Service."

Individuals may subscribe to Source for $3/year. For more
information, contact Howard Royer at hroyer_gb@brethren.org or
800 323-8039.

11) The special Brethren Volunteer Service orientation unit for
older adults (see July 18 Newsline) will be directed by Joanne
Nesler. The location and dates for this seven- to 10-day training
experience have yet to be determined. 

Nesler, who most recently served as volunteer coordinator of
National Older Adult Conference, held earlier this month at Lake
Junaluska, N.C., is retired but works part-time for Association
of Brethren Caregivers. She participated in BVS orientation unit
24 and served in Germany. She subsequently served as BVS director
from 1977 to 1980.

12) Fall enrollment at Manchester College, North Manchester,
Ind., is up this year when compared to last year, although total
enrollment is down.

This year's freshman class is 309, up from last year's 288. Total
enrollment is 1,048, down from 1,083 of a year ago. This year's
student body represent 23 states and 23 countries.

For the fourth consecutive year, Manchester was ranked by U.S.
News & World Report in the upper quarter of liberal arts colleges
in the midwest.

13) Many districts have discovered in recent years that the
Rubbermaid Corporation of Winchester, Va., is willing to give
away truckloads of their surplus and unsellable commercial
products to disaster relief. According to Roy Johnson of the
Church of the Brethren General Board's Emergency Response/Service
Ministries, goods are generally sold at approximately 25% of the
list price, which is well below the wholesale price. Each
truckload sold can yield as much as $10,000. 

A sale of two truckloads of Rubbermaid products was scheduled for
Sept. 18-19 by Mid-Atlantic District at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md. 

For more information on this Rubbermaid connection, contact ER/SM
at jyount_gb@brethren.org or 410 635-8730.

14) The Mennonite Board of Missions is seeking a part-time video
and Internet producer. Application deadline is Sept. 30. For more
information, contact Erma Brunk at erma@mennomedia.org or at 540
574-4872.

15) "The Other Side," a Christian nonprofit magazine of peace,
justice and spirituality is seeking an art director and a
business manager. Applications should be submitted by Oct. 1. For
more information, contact Dee Dee Risher, co-editor, at
deedee@theotherside.org or at 215 849-2178. The Other Side is
based in Philadelphia.

16) Two special "reunions" were hosted in late August by two
Northern Indiana Church of the Brethren congregations,
get-togethers that 18 months ago would have seemed impossible.
Regina Bryan, Newsline correspondent and member of Pleasant Dale
Church of the Brethren, Decatur, Ind., reports -- 

“Tearing down walls and building up bridges!” was the idea behind
a unique reunion that was held in late August between members of
Butler Chapel A.M.E. Church of Orangeburg, S.C. and two Northern
Indiana Church of the Brethren congregations.

Patrick Mellerson and 69 choir members from Butler Chapel and the
other church he pastors journeyed to Indiana over the last
weekend of the month to give a Saturday evening concert at the
Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, and to
lead two Sunday services at Bremen Church of the Brethren. 

This reunion was in honor of the friendships that were forged
between Butler Chapel and Church of the Brethren members last
year as Brethren assisted in the rebuilding of the Butler Chapel
church, which had been destroyed in March 1996 due to
race-related arson.

Susan Boyer, pastor of the Manchester congregation, became
acquainted with Butler Chapel last year when she led 30 members
to South Carolina for nine days of rebuilding. One of her church
members, Torin Eikenberry, was assigned as on-site coordinator of
the project as his Brethren Volunteer Service assignment with
Emergency Response/Service Ministries. And another church member,
Cliff Kindy, served as Disaster Response project director for one
month.  

"It was a powerful and meaningful experience dealing with a
different culture and different denomination," Boyer said. "It
was incredible to watch a congregation not just rebuild a
building but to rebuild a church and show us how to triumph over
tragedy."

When the Manchester church burned in January, Mellerson and other
Butler Chapel members called Boyer and prayed with her. The first
Sunday that Manchester was without a building due to its fire was
the same Sunday that the new Butler Chapel building was
dedicated. Eikenberry and two other members of the Manchester
church attended the dedication and returned home with a $3,000
donation that was raised during the dedication service. 

Eight months later it was the members of the Butler Chapel and
Prodigal A.M.E churches who came to the aid of the Manchester
church by "tearing down walls" in the form of a community concert
to help raise money for the Manchester’s rebuilding project. 

Nine members of the Bremen Church of the Brethren also worked on
the Butler Chapel project last year.

"We really had nothing in common except our Christian heritage,"
said Bremen pastor Tom Hostetler. Scott Graybill, Keith Kline and
Daniel Kline joined Hostetler on the project and were all
impressed with the way Butler Chapel members worked through their
losses. The three were excited that they could work side by side
with other Christians and accomplish something for God. 

"We were glad to be part of something on a denominational level,"
said Hostetler, who was impressed by the way people of diverse
backgrounds worked and worshiped together. So impressed, in fact,
that he invited Mellerson and Butler Chapel members to visit
Bremen for a joint worship service.  

During the Aug. 30 morning worship at the Bremen church,
Mellerson "built bridges" by saying that those in attendance
would be "good Brethren A.M.E.'s today!"

He opened his sermon by saying, "We are grateful that God allowed
our paths to cross that we might fellowship. We are so close
knitted that they can’t get rid of us and we can’t get rid of
them. They keep giving to us and we keep giving to them and
that's what God intended -- for us to work together that way."  

Mellerson continued by joking that God made each of us from dirt,
"our dirt was just a little darker than most of yours." He added,
"We must not be one denomination under God, not one race under
God but one nation under God. We've got to tear down walls and
build up bridges of peace, joy, faith and love!" 

Butler Chapel members said they were a bit confused when the
Brethren who came to help them rebuild said that they received
more than they gave. "We were a tad bit jealous and wanted to see
what it felt like to get more from giving," Mellerson said. So
now Butler Chapel members are helping other churches in their
area that were burned. When asked what they have learned from
their relationship with the Church of the Brethren, members said
that they now know they have sisters and brothers from different
areas. They mention that the Church of the Brethren's emphasis on
helping others has taught them that they need to encourage their
young people to be in service to others.   

"Church of the Brethren, you have showed us God's love through
your prayers, through your support, through inviting us to
worship with you," Mellerson said. "People can talk love but it
doesn’t mean a thing until you show love."  

Just as God raised the bones and ashes again for Ezekiel, God has
raised what was a small church back in the woods to a big church
out on the highway. Now that's tearing down walls and building up
bridges! 

17) What's the connection between the Clinton/Lewinsky saga, the
home run race by Sosa and McGuire and women and children in
general? Kathleen Hurty, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America and general director of Church Women United, a
grassroots ecumenical movement of Protestant, Roman Catholic,
Orthodox and other Christian women in the U.S. and Puerto Rico,
offers her opinion --

Let mutual love continue... Let marriage be held in honor by all,
and let he marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge
fornicators and adulterers... Do not neglect to do good and to
share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
(Hebrews 13:1-5, 16) 

Ball fields are not usually known as sanctuaries of grace. Yet we
have recently witnessed a remarkable display of grace between two
friendly rivals, giving high-fives and cheering each other on as
they vied to break a 37-year long home run record. 

But recent images of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa embracing just
moments after McGwire hit number 62 was soon overshadowed by
images of a different sort. News coverage was dominated by the
release of Ken Starr's report, representing five years and over
$40 million of investigative efforts. Soon, those who had not
already downloaded the Starr report off the Internet could read
the full, explicit text in their local newspapers and at the same
time hear a shaken Bill Clinton quoting the Psalmist and
expressing remorse before an audience of the nation's religious
leaders. By the time Sosa tied McGwire's feat, the nation was far
less concerned with the national pastime than with the details of
Lewinsky's navy blue dress and precise legal definitions of
subjects our mothers taught us not to discuss in public -- not to
mention when the president's testimony would be available for our
home video libraries.

It's really no surprise that our collective interests and
imaginations have been so thoroughly captured. For the last eight
months, the world has tuned in to a continuing saga with a plot
more complex than that of most daytime soap operas. Spokespeople
representing all sides of the socio-political spectrum have
weighed in with opinions and recommendations, while polls
indicate that nearly two-thirds of Americans are willing to
support a leader many regard as morally flawed. The theological
debate continues as well, as prominent religious leaders and
ordinary lay folk argue over what constitutes the right measure
of repentance and contrition. 

Certainly, the Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr story has dominated the
world agenda this year, and the possibility of impeachment
hearings virtually assures that it will hold center stage for
some time.

But can it be that something is still missing from our civic
conversations? That in our eagerness to know all the sordid
details, in the rush to assign blame to one party or another, we
have failed as a society -- and in particular, as people of faith
-- to hold ourselves accountable for allowing this sad and
unnecessary tragedy to divert our attention from the substantive
issues of our times?

The reality is that key national priorities affecting the lives
of women and children have been all but forgotten as our
attentions have turned toward the Beltway. The U.S. continues to
have the highest poverty rate among older women among the world's
industrialized nations. The disparity of median income between
men and women is still exacerbated by race and ethnicity. The
risk of poverty increases dramatically for the families of women
who are abused, divorced or widowed. Anti-immigrant bias and
xenophobia are at their strongest, as raucous words of hate fill
the airwaves. The list goes on.

Who is at fault? Whose sin is greater? When is contrition
genuine? What kind of punishment fits the crime, whether legal or
ethical? 

These are questions without pat answers. Both President Clinton
and Monica Lewinsky must now go about the task of rebuilding the
relationships they have wounded, of re-establishing the trust
they have breached. From here on, their names will never be
mentioned without subtle references to their relationship. Their
lives have been irrevocably changed. 

The Christian scriptures call us to humility, reminding us that
"there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God." All. Whether our sins are infidelity or greed
or blindness to the needs of others or any of the other grievous
ways in which we hurt, harm or demean others, or do not
compassionately contribute to the well-being of all, we all stand
accountable.  

These are contentious and ungraceful times. We must, as citizens
of a nation with massive potential yet growing poverty --
especially among women, children and the elderly -- find ways to
have respectful civic dialog about the values of economic
justice, fairness and equity - in relation to social security,
health care, minimum wages and other value-related topics. We
must, as citizens of a nation rich in cultural diversity yet
blatantly racist in so many ways, find community in mutual
hospitality, in accessible quality education, in the upholding of
indigenous treaties and in human rights. We must, as global
citizens, find ways to resolve global conflict in peaceful and
nonviolent ways. 

These are issues the media could well focus our attention on.
These are sketches of an unfinished agenda pleading for national
and international attention. Shame on all of us -- government
representatives and civilians -- that we have fallen so far short
of living up to our ideals as a nation, in prideful ignorance of
civic moral integrity and in personal irresponsibility.

As people of faith, we are called to continuously bring voices of
candor, grace and compassion into the tumultuous, raucous and
mean-spirited clamor that so pervades our civic conversation and
our lives as citizens. It is, then, our moral duty to call our
elected officials, and ourselves as citizens, to a renewed
commitment to what is truly important and to the benefit of all. 

With all people of good will we can, we will, seek a civic moral
integrity that sets its eye on shared values. Civic moral
integrity focuses on mutual trust, honesty and fidelity, mutual
forgiveness and mutual responsibility. These are the touchstones
for building just, faithful and hospitable families and
communities.

Above all, we are called to reflect the generosity of God's
compassionate grace -- the grace of unmerited, forgiving,
healing, reconciling love that alone has the power to make all
things new. That kind of grace can be reflected on a ball field
or in a boardroom, in homes or halls of governance, in congress
or in congregations. It is worth cheering on!

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the Church of
the Brethren General Board's News Services. Newsline stories may
be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the source and
the publication date is included.

To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 800 323-8039, ext.
263, or write CoBNews@AOL.Com. Newsline is available at
www.brethren.org and is archived with an index at
http://www.wfn.org.