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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      Nov. 17, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                     Nov. 17, 1998

News
1) Response to Hurricane Mitch continues at a frenetic pace.
2) The Church of the Brethren General Board reaches an agreement
     with the American Red Cross to provide child care services in
     response to aviation disasters.
3) An unprecedented meeting in the life of Brethren higher
     education institutions is set for later this week at
     Bridgewater (Va.) College.
4) Brethren emergency response volunteers working on an Alabama
     project are joined this week by members of Butler Chapel
     A.M.E. church.
5) Two grants exceeding $50,000 are allocated from the Global Food
     Crisis Fund for projects in Russia and California.
6) Brethren head to Georgia to protest the U.S. School of the
     Americas.
7) Evangelism is the focus of a Pacific Southwest District
     conference.
8) Brethren are encouraged to call or write to President Clinton on
     Dec. 3 in protest against land mines.
9) Brethren Press takes the first steps at publishing a Hymnal
     Pocket series.
10) Contributions to the Church of the Brethren General Board have
     remained strong through October.
11) Camp Bethel has received over $40,000 through its fundraising
     efforts since June.
12) Samantha Morris begins serving in a new environment-focused BVS
     project in Belize.
13) Kathryn Radcliff resigns as president of Brethren Employees
     Credit Union.
14) Correction to Newsline's Nov. 7 edition about end-of-the-year
     donations.

1) Response to Hurricane Mitch by the Church of the Brethren and
other agencies and individuals continues to unfold at a frenetic
pace. Since Friday's special report, Newsline has received two
updates pertaining to the Church of the Brethren medical team that
is now in Honduras. Miller Davis, manager of Emergency
Response/Service Ministries, today requested $20,000 in support of
a $115,000 Interchurch Medical Assistance appeal in addition to a
$25,000 Church World Service grant that was approved today. ER/SM
also is in the process of establishing a toll free phone line for
Brethren to use for emergency response news and information.

Following Friday's special Newsline report on Church of the
Brethren response to Hurricane Mitch, Newsline received two
updates. The first, from Yvonne Dilling, the Church of the Brethren
General Board's Hurricane Mitch response coordinator in Central
America. The second came from Kathy Hess, a Brethren physician from
Ashland, Ohio, and former chair of the General Board, who was
instrumental in obtaining medicines at cost for the medical team. 

Yvonne Dilling -- The Church of the Brethren Medical Team arrived
     (by late Saturday afternoon) in Tegucigalpa and received a
     warm welcome by the staff of Christian Commission for       
     Development (CCD). We have agreed to go to the Nacaome, a
     coastal area in southern Honduras where the need is very great
     now. We will go by road except for one boat crossing of a
     river with a washed-out bridge. In Nacaome we plan to work
     with the public health workers who are caring for the sick and
     injured. We will also be trying to reach another community,
     San Francisco de Coray, if machinery can reopen the road. I
     will return to Tegucigalpa on Thursday and the rest of the
     group will follow on Sunday. We will not have e-mail or
     telephone access as we thought. CCD may include news of our
     work in their next update.

Kathy Hess -- There was not sufficient time to get medications
     together through the usual channels. Therefore, Don Parker
     (also a physician from Ohio and a current General           
     Board member) asked me to help him get medicines together for
     him to take. It has been absolutely overwhelming for me this
     week as I have had a front row seat to God's supplying all the
     needs for this trip!  Once again, this has proven to me just
     how fantastic the Church of the Brethren is in responding to
     emergency needs.

     At this time (Saturday afternoon), I have received donations
     of $19,740.00 from 13 congregations within Northern Ohio
     District. The churches include Ashland Dickey, East         
     Chippewa, County Line, Medina, Silver Creek, Pleasant View,
     Swan Creek, Popular Ridge, Lick Creek, Defiance, Lima Elm
     Street, Eagle Creek, and Sugar Creek West. One family gave the
     money intended for their Christmas gifts to this project. 

     These donations have been processed through Ashland Dickey
     Church of the Brethren to expedite purchasing medicines for
     this trip. Since each participant was only able to          
     have two 70-pound bags in addition to a carry on, Robert and
     Rosemary Hess took 62.5 pounds of medicine to Fort Wayne for
     Yvonne Dilling and Lee Smith to take to Honduras. David Smith
     transported another box of medicine to Oralea Pittman; Parker
     carried the remainder of the meds.

     One other note: The Pfizer pharmaceutical representatives in
     the Ashland area have been very generous this week in donating
     $2,338 worth of Trovan tablets plus three other expensive
     antibiotics and antifungals. God is so good!

A grant of $25,000 from the Emergency Disaster Fund was approved
today, to be sent to Church World Service in support of its appeal
for all countries affected by Hurricane Mitch -- Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Miller Davis today also requested a $20,000 EDF grant in response
to an appeal from Interchurch Medical Assistance, the New Windsor,
Md.-based medical relief agency of which the Church of the Brethren
is a member. IMA has secured about $3 million in medicines from
American pharmaceutical companies, but needs funds to ship the
medicines to Central America.

Davis added that the recent flurry of disaster response activity
has left the Emergency Disaster Fund nearly depleted. Contributions
are needed to enable ER/SM to respond to future disasters. Send
donations to EDF, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin IL 60120.

In response to Brethren wanting to know up-to-date information
relating to emergency response initiatives, a toll-free phone line
with a recorded update on disaster response will be operational
beginning Nov. 24. To reach that message, call ER/SM's office at
800 451-4407.

2) An agreement between the Church of the Brethren General Board's
Emergency Response/Service Ministries (ER/SM) and the American Red
Cross that provides a broad framework for cooperation in rendering
assistance and service to survivors of disasters, including
aviation disasters, was signed Nov. 9. 

The Statement of Understanding was signed at the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md., by Miller Davis, manager of ER/SM, and
John Clizbe, Vice President of Disaster Services for the Red Cross.

ER/SM has worked closely with the Red Cross at natural disaster
sites for many years, with the first formal agreement signed in the
early 1970's. Over the past 10 years alone, Brethren volunteers
have repaired and rebuilt hundreds of homes for disaster survivors.
Under the new agreement, ER/SM will continue to provide volunteers
to establish child care centers at various disaster sites and will
provide volunteers for debris removal and long-term rebuilding. In
the future, ER/SM will also provide trained teams of certified
child care volunteers as part of the Aviation Incident Response
program. This program will help the families of those killed or
injured in aviation disasters in the United States. 

"We are pleased to continue our working relationship with the Red
Cross, " said Davis.

"Families who suffer the sudden loss of loved ones in aviation
disasters not only have to deal with their own grief but also their
children's grief," said Lydia Walker, coordinator of training and
outreach for ER/SM. "The young child who has lost a parent or
sibling has not had the opportunity to say good-bye and cannot
comprehend the finality of the event," she added.

"Children who accompany their parents to the site of a crash are
taken from the familiarity of school and friends," Walker
explained. "They do not have their parents' undivided attention. As
an integral part of the Red Cross response, ER/SM disaster child
care volunteers will offer safe, comfortable space and skilled
personal attention to children in the Family Assistance Center." 

In addition to disaster response, ER/SM also provides refugee
resettlement and material resource handling services for the Church
of the Brethren. 

3) An unprecedented meeting in the life of Church of the Brethren
higher education institutions will be held this weekend at
Bridgewater (Va.) College. Who's attending and what they'll be
doing is what will make this meeting unique.

Earlier this year these institutions -- the Brethren colleges,
university, overseas college exchange program, seminary, and the
Church of the Brethren General Board -- established a unified
attempt at recruiting Church of the Brethren students and at
working more closely on Brethren-related issues and concerns. This
initiative is called the Church of the Brethren Collaboration on
Admissions (CoBCoA). 

A key CoBCoA component has been the creation of a national database
of Brethren youth. This database includes the 3,300 names of youth
who attended this summer's National Youth Conference and the 500
names generated from an August mailing to Brethren pastors and
youth advisers. A mailing to these 3,800 youth was sent Nov. 6.
Information from this mailing, along with the complete database,
will be forwarded to the colleges for recruiting purposes.

"Brethren students are important to us," stated David McFadden of
Manchester College and Brian Harley of Brethren Colleges Abroad
(BCA) this summer in the letter to pastors and youth advisers.
"They reinforce strong Brethren values found on our campuses and
add immeasurably to student and academic life. At the same time, we
continue contributing to the future of the Church of the Brethren.
The seminary and Brethren colleges have long been training grounds
for Brethren pastoral and lay leadership, and BCA has fostered
cultural understanding and a broad worldview among those who
participate."

Other collaborative initiatives are expected to be discussed at
this first-ever collaborative meeting of the presidents, academic
deans, development officers, and admissions directors of the
Brethren higher education institutions -- Bethany Theological
Seminary, Richmond, Ind.; Bridgewater College; Elizabethtown (Pa.)
College; Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa.; Manchester College,
North Manchester, Ind.; McPherson (Kan.) College; and the
University of La Verne (Calif.). Others attending include
representatives from Brethren Colleges Abroad, North Manchester,
Ind., and the General Board, headquartered in Elgin, Ill.

The event will begin Thursday evening and conclude by noon
Saturday. The agenda includes a handful of meetings -- the
presidents, deans, admissions staff, and development staff twice
meeting together, twice meeting alone, and the presidents meeting
individually with each of the other groups. 

For a CoBCoA brochure, contact Jenny Stover at
jstover_gb@brethren.org or call 800 323-8039. CoBCoA information is
also available at www.brethren.org/bethany/cobcoa/index.htm

4) "Relationships established by ER/SM volunteers while
constructing the Butler Chapel church keep growing in remarkable
proportions," reports Glenn Kinsel, retired Brethren pastor and
volunteer for the General Board's Emergency Response/Service
Ministries. Throughout 1997, ER/SM volunteers supervised the
construction of the Butler Chapel A.M.E. church near Orangeburg,
S.C., as its former structure had been burned in 1996 by
race-motivated arson.

"Since the building project was completed, many visits to local
Brethren congregations by Butler Chapel members have established
ties that are deep and lasting," said Kinsel from ER/SM's offices
in New Windsor, Md.

And now another significant event is happening. This week eight
members of the Butler Chapel church are working with the Church of
the Brethren in its disaster rebuilding project in the
tornado-ravaged Pratt City area of Birmingham, Ala. 

"The work and fellowship events of this week are a continuous
worship experience," said Harold Hubbell, ER/SM on-site project
director, this afternoon in an interview from the construction
site. "Together with five volunteers from the (denomination's)
Southeastern District, the eight Butler Chapel volunteers create a
harmony of love and understanding that warms the soul."

The Butler Chapel group includes Patrick Mellerson, pastor; Marion
Mack; Frances Mack; Oscar Mack; Sheck Mack; Lucia Mack; Aleen
Maple; and Deron Hunter. In addition to Hubbell, this week's crew
of Brethren volunteers includes Ron Spire, co-executive of
Southeastern District; Ken Edwards; and three additional workers
from Fruitdale (Ala.) Church of the Brethren who are  scheduled to
arrive Wednesday.

This week's crew is constructing a new house and finishing the
interior of two other houses. 

All of (the Butler Chapel volunteers) are hearing stories of the
affected families for whom they are working, discovering for the
first time the essence of the blessings that come to those who
serve in this capacity, Kinsel said. Mellerson agreed.

"One of the reasons we wanted to do this was because every time
Church of the Brethren members came to work with us, they kept
telling us that they gave so little but received so much,"
Mellerson said, adding, "We wanted to feel the same thing they
felt."

Mellerson, who took a leave of absence from his job to work on the
Alabama relief effort, said he and his group have been blessed the
way they had hoped.

"We feel just like (Brethren) felt when they came to us. Our folks
are excited about being here this week and working on a house that
was devastated by a tornado." He added, "l really feel without a
shadow of the doubt that the folks will want to do it again."

"Without doubt, there is 'history in the making' in Birmingham this
week as A.M.E. brothers and sisters join hands and hearts with
Church of the Brethren sisters and brothers and find Christ to be
in their midst," Kinsel said.

5) Two grants totaling $52,500 have been allocated from the Church
of the Brethren General Board's Global Food Crisis Fund for
projects in Russia and California. 

A $30,000 allocation was approved Nov. 10 in response to a Church
World Service appeal for Russia. In anticipation of impending food
shortages in Russia this winter, the Christian Interchurch Diaconal
Council of St. Petersburg, Russia, has requested assistance in
providing food for the coming five months for 3,000 single, elderly
people; 3,000 poor families; and daily meals in two soup kitchens.
When possible, the food will be purchased locally.

A $22,500 grant was allocated today for hunger programs of the
Pomona-Inland Valley Council of Churches in California. These funds
will be used to meet emergency food needs, employment counseling,
nutrition education, budgeting, and life-skills programs.

6) At least a dozen Church of the Brethren representatives will
join a national prayer vigil and protest this weekend against the
United States' S Army School of the Americas (SOA), located at Ft.
Benning, Ga. The event is organized by SOA Watch, a nationwide
grassroots movement dedicated to closing the school.

Ten Bethany Theological Seminary students from Richmond, Ind., a
Church of the Brethren member from southern Ohio, and a
representative of the Church of the Brethren Washington Office,
join an expected 4,000-5,000 others at the demonstration. The Nov.
21-22 event marks the ninth anniversary of a brutal massacre in El
Salvador, of which 17 of the 23 officers convicted for the crime
were SOA alumni. SOA Watch has documented more than 600 human
rights abusers in Latin America who graduated from the school.   

Last year more than 2,000 gathered outside the gates of Fort
Benning; 601 people crossed onto the base in a solemn funeral
procession. All were arrested and banned from the base; twenty-five
second-time "line-crossers" were sentenced to six months in federal
prisons. This year more than 1,000 protesters are expected to
commit civil disobedience -- including about seven from Bethany.
According to a statement from the students, their intended act of
civil disobedience is a result of their faith and as followers of
Jesus Christ. 

The 10 Bethany students are Greg Laszakovits, Steve Brady, Kendra
Sousley, Matt Guynn, Mia Miller, Barbara Sayler, Carla Kilgore,
Dean Johnson, Brian Flory, and David Kerkove. Traveling with the
group will be Sarah Stafford, member of Oakland Church of the
Brethren, Gettysburg, Ohio. Also attending the demonstration will
be Pam Genise of the Washington Office.

(For additional background on last year's event, see
January/February Messenger magazine, pages 10-11.)

7) When polled earlier this year, pastors of the Church of the
Brethren's Pacific Southwest District indicated that their top
concerns pertain to evangelism-related issues. 

These concerns led to "Continuing the work of Jesus ... into the
21st Century," three days of special events held Oct. 30 - Nov. 1
at Pomona (Calif.) Fellowship Church of the Brethren. Sponsored by
the district and the General Board's Area 5 Congregational Life
Team, the event featured an address by Eddie Gibbs, professor of
evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World
Mission.

Some thoughts from Gibbs --

     * Evangelism, on the brink of a new century, is a tremendous
          challenge. It's a very different challenge than
          evangelism was 10 years ago.

     * The church is not in the center of society anymore. The
          world today is filled with competing interest groups. ...
          The era of yellow-pages evangelism is gone. You        
          can't just invite people to church through door knockers.
          It's person to person sharing. Repeating past forms of
          evangelism is much less effective today because people
          don't have a past knowledge or memory of faith to return
          to."

     * The day of the local church is over. The day of the mission
          outpost has come. Our focus is needs to be out there in
          the community and not upon ourselves.

     * Evangelism is a process of developing and learning about the
          community surrounding the church.  As the congregation
          goes into the world, it will experience Christ in ways it
          will never experience if it stays stay in the          
          sanctuary. Because of the non-church culture, 80% of
          evangelism needs to be done outside the church grounds."

Gibbs connected with the participants' understanding of evangelism,
leaving some asking when they could hear him again, according to
Jeff Glass, coordinator of the Area 5 Congregational Life Team.

Also featured during the weekend were two sermons delivered by Judy
Mills Reimer, and a Deacon Ministry workshop. Reimer, executive
director of the Church of the Brethren General Board, based her
Friday evening address on John 15, challenging participants to
think about what needs to be pruned in their personal lives. Her
Sunday morning message came from the story of Nehemiah being
inspired by God to rebuild the temple.

The deacon ministry workshop was led by Jay and June Gibble,
part-time field staff for Association of Brethren Caregivers, who
are trekking around the country this fall leading these events as
a way of introducing ABC's new deacon manual.

8) While more than 135 countries have signed (and 47 ratified) last
year's treaty to eliminate land mines, which was signed in December
in Ottawa, Canada, the United States has yet to make that
commitment.

According to the United States Campaign to Ban Land Mines, which
has long had Church of the Brethren Washington Office support,
President Clinton has stated he will sign the Mine Ban Treaty to
eliminate land mines by 2006 if efforts to identify and deploy
suitable alternatives to the U.S. antipersonnel land mines and
mixed-mines system are successful.

"The campaign opposes this delay and continues to press for
immediate signature and ratification," according to a campaign
release.

An estimated 60-70 million land mines are scattered worldwide
throughout 68 countries, many countries that no longer are
experiencing the conflict for which the land mines were sowed in
the first place. A report obtained by Newsline last week from Gary
Payton, coordinator of Presbyterian Peacemaking Program,
underscores the seriousness of this fact --

     "It was very disturbing for us to read in the Reuters news
     service that about half of the 150,000 land mines planted in
     Nicaragua during the war have now been swept away by swollen
     rivers (due to Hurricane Mitch). The news reports that a team
     of French de-mining experts are on their way to Managua to
     assess the dangers that may be posed by these mines.

     "The reports that as many as 75,000 anti-personnel land mines
     have been scattered across Nicaragua by the flooding compounds
     the suffering of a people coping with the aftermath of the
     hurricane. This event underscores the need for even more
     focused energy on demining across the developing world. Urging
     U.S. political leaders to sign and ratify the Ottawa Treaty
     banning the production, sale, and use of antipersonnel land
     mines remains a top priority for people of faith."

How can people concerned about land mines assist the campaign? By
picking up their phones in early December, said Pam Genise of the
Church of the Brethren Washington Office.

The objective, said Genise, is to let Clinton know that the
American public supports a ban on land mines. To take part, contact
Clinton at 202 456-1111 or at president@whitehouse.gov and leave a
message stating he should sign the Mine Ban Treaty immediately. 

For informational fliers or for more information, contact Genise at
washofc@aol.com or at 202 546-3202.

9) The first steps have been taken by Brethren Press to produce a
Hymnal Pocket Series by the summer of 2000.

The project resurrects an idea conceived by the hymnal publishers
-- that of a series of booklets that fit into the pocket in the
back of Hymnal: A Worship Book. A first in the series, Favorite
Gospel Songs and Hymns, was published in 1992, but the series was
not continued.

Brethren Press, a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General
Board, plans to produce five titles. The planning committee of
Nancy Faus, Lani Wright, Jonathon Shively, and Wendy McFadden,
Brethren Press publisher, first met in August. An advisory group of
some 40 people will provide broad-based input into the selection of
hymns.

The committee hopes that all Brethren will submit suggestions for
hymns and songs, as well as topics for the booklets. Suggestions
should be sent by Dec. 15 to committee chair Nancy Faus, 345 S.
48th St., Richmond IN 47374. Suggestions should include a copy of
the hymn and complete supporting information -- composer, text
writer, source, and copyright information. Also needed is the name,
address, and phone number of the person making the suggestion.

"The committee seeks hymns and songs that are of high quality, are
singable by congregations, embody Brethren values, are inclusive,
and enhance the worshiping community," McFadden said.

Hymnal: A Worship Book, published by Brethren Press, Faith & Life
Press, and Mennonite Publishing House, is in its sixth printing.
For more information, contact Brethren Press at
brethren_press_gb@brethren.org or at 800 441-3712.

10) Through October, giving to Church of the Brethren General Board
has remained strong when compared to the same period in 1997.
According to Ken Neher, director of Funding, giving to the General
Ministries fund was up 2.9 percent over last year's figures;
Special Gifts donations were up 237 percent. Giving to two outreach
ministry funds were also way up -- the Global Food Crisis Fund by
105 percent and Emergency Disaster Fund was up nearly 34 percent.
Through October, the actual numbers for these respective funds were
-- $3,086,807 for General Ministries; $123,888 for Special Gifts,
$381,054 for Global Food Crisis Fund; and $504,370 for Emergency
Disaster Fund.

"This is shaping up to be an outstanding year for Brethren giving,"
said Ken Neher in this 10-month progress report. "What's even more
amazing is that these figures only show outreach we can measure by
our receipts. I know that Church of the Brethren members are
supporting their district programs and many other important and
worthwhile development and relief efforts like Heifer Project,
CROP, and Habitat for Humanity, as well as projects like soup
kitchens and day care centers. We are indeed a very caring and
generous people." 

Neher added, "I'm very happy to see this renewed vigor in support
of the General Board's mission and ministries and other outreach
and pray for it to continue with abandon and joy!"

11) It's been a great few months on the fundraising front for Camp
Bethel, Fincastle, Va. A first-ever benefit auction, held Oct. 31,
raised about $1,000. According to Glenn Stevens, camp director,
items auctioned off were surplus items that the camp had
accumulated over the years, including some antiques. The remaining
items not purchased will be donated to the local rescue mission.

A record crowd packed into the camp on Oct. 3 for its heritage
festival. "We were parking cars everywhere," said Stevens, of the
vehicles used to transport the 2,500 attendees. About 55
congregations and organizations set up booths. Items sold included
fresh fruit, baked goods, crafts, and antiques. More than $20,000
was raised. "It was a great experience," Stevens added.

On Sept. 30 about 120 golfers took to the links, raising $7,150 for
the camp in this annual outing.

In June, the camp received to gifts totaling $20,000. A $15,000
grant from the George J. and Effie L. Seay Foundation is being used
to renovate and equip a conference room for use as a retreat
facility. A $5,000 grant from the Beirne Carter Foundation was
received and is being used to winterize a cabin.

"We're extremely pleased," Stevens said of the support the camp has
received this year.

12) Samantha Morris of Charlottesville, Va., began her assignment
with a new environmental BVS project on Nov. 5. Stationed in the
Central American country of Belize, Morris will work at Belize
Center/Jaguar Creek, a ministry of the Christian Environmental
Association. This project is a joint initiative of the General
Board's Global Mission Partnerships and Brethren Witness offices.

"Samantha is blazing a trail in taking this assignment," said
Brethren Witness director David Radcliff. "Not only is this a
first-time BVS placement in Belize, but it also provides a
significant addition to the denomination's witness in the area of
stewardship of creation." Radcliff added that Morris' presence may
lead to other Brethren involvements in Belize, including a possible
fall 1999 learning tour.

13) Kathryn Radcliff of Elgin, Ill., has resigned as president of
Brethren Employees Credit Union, effective Oct. 31. While Radcliff
will remain with the credit union as collections manager, Josie
Buan-Hickman will serve indefinitely as interim office manager.

14) Correction to Newsline's Nov. 7 story that stated that 1998
donations to the General Board, Bethany Theological Seminary,
Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC), and On Earth Peace
Assembly (OEPA) for 1998 must be postmarked by Dec. 31 and received
by the Church of the Brethren General Board's Finance office by
Jan. 8. Donations must be sent and received by the times listed,
but to the respective agencies for which they are intended.

For more information, contact --
     * the General Board at dkingery_gb@brethren.org or 800
          323-8039.
     * Bethany Seminary at reishbr@earlham.edu or at 800 287-8822.
     * ABC at smason_abc@brethren.org or at 800 323-8039.
     * OEPA at tom@oepa.org or at 410 635-8704.

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.