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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      March 3, 2000
Contact:  Walt Wiltschek
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) The Dominican Republic experiences a special service of
ordination and licensing.
 2) Brethren and others react to US military presence in Vieques,
Puerto Rico. 
 3) A General Board delegation visits former Brethren in India for
dialog.
 4) The members of the 2000 Youth Peace Travel Team have been
chosen.
 5) Diversity and energetic worship highlight Urban Peace Tour
2000.
 6) An ER/SM Disaster Child Care center provides aid in
tornado-stricken Georgia.
 7) Family Farm Drought Response will get more aid from the
Emergency Disaster Fund.
 8) Brethren Volunteer Service unit 237 prepares nine new
volunteers.
 9) The Good Shepherd congregation in Ohio sees blessings emerge
from a fire.
10) Brethren bits: World Day of Prayer; world-traveling balloonist;
NISBCO; and more.

PERSONNEL
11) Tom Hurst resigns as executive director of On Earth Peace
Assembly.
12) Ron and Harriet Finney resign as Brethren Academy
co-coordinators.
13) A search for a new coordinator of the Brethren Academy is under
way.

COMING EVENTS
14) OEPA offers a retreat on servant leadership and church renewal
April 1.

FEATURES
15) Two youth groups provide some "Souper" help for Washington
City's soup kitchen.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a heavy volume of news and next weekend's
General Board meetings, a "bonus" edition of Newsline will be sent
on March 10.

******************************************************************

 1) February proved to a month especially filled with God's
blessings for the Dominican Brethren and for their counterparts in
the United States. Feb. 12 marked graduation day for 17 students
who became the first to complete a five-year Church of the Brethren
theological training program in the nation. A week later, on Feb.
19, the first Brethren ordinations in the Dominican Republic took
place at the ninth annual assembly of congregations there.

"This is a very sacred and historic moment in the international
Church of the Brethren, and a special joy in the Dominican
Republic," said General Board director of Ministry Allen Hansell,
who conducted the services among the simple wooden benches of an
outdoor pavilion.

In addition to the 10 pastors who were ordained, seven more people
were licensed during the Saturday evening service. The group of 17
included old and young, men and women -- all of them exhibiting a
passion for Jesus Christ and the church. Each minister came to the
front surrounded by members of his or her congregation to show
support and community.

About 30 American Brethren were present for the historic
ceremonies, joining more than 150 Dominicans. In addition to
Hansell, the US representatives included executive director Judy
Mills Reimer and Global Mission Partnerships director Merv Keeney
of the General Board, Jim Myer of Brethren Revival Fellowship, and
a large workcamp group from Pennsylvania. Jerry and Becky Crouse
are serving on-site as the mission coordinators in the country.

 2) Up to 150,000 Puerto Ricans and others marched Feb. 21 to call
for the US Navy to leave the small island of Vieques, where
military maneuvers and bombing tests have been held for 59 years.
The silent, white-flagged march up six lanes of the Las Americas
Expressway in San Juan asked President Bill Clinton and the
governor of Puerto Rico to remake their accord for use of much of
the island in line with the will of the people, who seek immediate
action.

The Evangelical Council of Puerto Rico, representing 10 Protestant
churches including the Church of the Brethren, joined with the
Catholic Church to call for this united religious response. Church
of the Brethren General Board executive director Judy Mills Reimer
has also issued a letter to the Clinton administration expressing
concern over the US Navy's activities on Vieques, and the General
Board is considering other responses.

The accidental death of a civilian during bombing practice in April
1999 and the firing of 267 pounds of depleted uranium in February
1999 have galvanized Puerto Rican religious, political, union, and
environmental groups. Maneuvers, including bombing practice, have
been halted for 10 months because of protests across Puerto Rico.

Christian Peacemaker Teams, which includes several Brethren
members, and The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America are
sponsoring a delegation to Puerto Rico March 11-17. The visit comes
in response to an invitation by Church of the Brethren pastor Juan
Figueroa of Rio Pedras and other Brethren in Puerto Rico.

That delegation will provide an opportunity to work with the
churches in Puerto Rico and visit with political and religious
leaders and with people on Vieques. CPT worker Cliff Kindy of the
Manchester Church of the Brethren (North Manchester, Ind.) will
lead discussion on a longer-term CPT presence in Vieques and other
ways to provide support.

 3) A delegation of six Church of the Brethren General Board
representatives is traveling in India this week to meet with groups
that grew out of early Brethren mission in the country, joined with
the Church of North India in 1970, and later separated from CNI.

Merv Keeney, director of Global Mission Partnerships for the
General Board; Christy Waltersdorff, pastor of the York Center
Church of the Brethren (Lombard, Ill.); Wendell Flory, former India
missionary; Ernest Thakor, a representative of the Indian Brethren
community in the US; and Bob Gross of Ministry of Reconciliation,
who is serving as mediator and consultant, left on Feb. 29 to join
General Board staff member Shantilal Bhagat in India.

The visit comes in response to a General Board decision at its
October 1999 meeting to begin exploring the possibilities of
establishing a new kind of relationship with these “separated
Brethren” in India, who have sought formal recognition by the
Church of the Brethren. 

 4) Marshall Camden of Virginia Beach, Va.; Daniel Royer of
Trotwood, Ohio; Myra Martin-Adkins of Washington, D.C.; Meghan
Sheller of Eldora, Iowa; and Pete Dobberstein of Brookville, Ohio,
will form the 2000 Youth Peace Travel Team.

The team, sponsored by the General Board's Youth/Young Adult and
Brethren Witness offices, Outdoor Ministries Association, and On
Earth Peace Assembly, visits and provides leadership for junior and
senior high church camps in various regions of the country each
year. It will start with an orientation in mid-June this year
before heading out to the camps.

 5) For a week in mid-February, participants in Urban Peace Tour
2000 traveled to Church of the Brethren congregations throughout
the Los Angeles area for worship and fellowship, celebrating their
unique cultures and backgrounds, yet united under a common identity
as Christians and members of the Church of the Brethren.  

The tour gathered participants from Brethren congregations across
the country including: Harrisburg (Pa.) First -- Iglesia del
Discipulado, Altoona (Pa.) 28th Street, Germantown (Philadelphia,
Pa.), and Phoenix (Ariz.) First. Local area participants from
Imperial Heights, Valley View Whittier, and Bella Vista
congregations further strengthened the tour.

"I was continually amazed by the worshipful and energetic spirit in
which people gave themselves to the tour, heart and soul," said
tour coordinator Greg Laszakovits, who just completed a year
working on anti-racism education with the Church of the Brethren
General Board’s Brethren Witness office, which funds the tour along
with free-will offerings from the host churches.

Each night's worship celebration included music, testimonies,
powerful preaching, and prayers for personal, interracial, and
world peace.

One of the highlights of the tour was the final worship service at
Central Evangelical Korean CoB.  The message was delivered by
Pastor Guillermo Olivencia of Iglesia del Discipulado in Spanish,
then translated to English, then to Korean. "This is what the
Kingdom of God will look like -- look at the diversity!" rejoiced
one church member.

Congregations visited were: Principe de Paz, Imperial Heights,
Pomona Fellowship, Central Evangelical, and Bella Vista/Bittersweet
Ministries.

 6) At the request of the American Red Cross, Emergency
Response/Service Ministry opened a temporary Disaster Child Care
center in Camilla, Ga., which was the scene of devastating
tornadoes on Feb. 13. The center, located in the American Red Cross
Service Center, is providing a safe environment for infants,
toddlers, and pre-school age youngsters while their mothers clean
up the remains of their mobile homes, destroyed by the worst
tornadoes south Georgia has seen in decades.

Disaster Child Care, an ecumenical ministry of the Church of the
Brethren General Board's Emergency Response/Service Ministries,
trains volunteers from several denominations for a specialized
ministry to children affected by disasters.

June and Larry Slick, United Methodists from Milledgeville, Ill.,
were appointed project managers for this operation. A team of six
additional volunteers is staffing the child care center and
providing support to families while they go about the tasks of
moving to alternative housing, filing for assistance, and talking
with outreach workers. Among the volunteers are Millie Smith and
Alene Gallup, Mount Morris (Ill.) Church of the Brethren; Bill
Chappell, Pleasant Hill (Tenn.) Church of the Brethren; Barbara
Lungelow, Seventh Day Adventist from Cincinnati, Ohio; and Jesse
and Virginia Frampton, Presbyterians from Huntsville, Ala. The
child care center was expected to be open for about one week. 

 7) The year's fourth grant from the General Board's Emergency
Disaster Fund will provide an additional $10,000 to support the
drought relief efforts of Family Farm Drought Response. The
ecumenical project began this past summer to meet needs caused by
severe drought in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Although more than 300 truckloads of hay have been delivered to
drought-stricken family farms thus far, much more is needed to help
see the farmers through the coming months.  Funds allocated will
support transport for a trainload of hay from Michigan's Upper
Peninsula to West Virginia in March. Trucks from the distribution
center of Emergency Response/ Service Ministries in New Windsor,
Md., will then be utilized to pick up and deliver this hay to
farmers in the surrounding area.

 8) Nine new volunteers have headed to service projects, four of
them overseas, as Brethren Volunteer Service unit 237 concluded
orientation in Florida on Feb. 11.

The group, composed of volunteers from Germany, South Africa, and
various corners of the US, was based at Camp Ithiel in Gotha, Fla.
(near Orlando) but also traveled to Leesburg to work on a Habitat
for Humanity project, to Miami for a weekend working and learning
at the Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Haitian Church of the Brethren),
and to Sebring for a work project at The Palms retirement
community.

Other learning experiences included a session with death penalty
abolition activist SueZann Bosler and sessions on nonviolence,
conflict resolution, radical Christian discipleship, Brethren
beliefs and practices, and farm worker issues.

Following orientation, the BVSers traveled to projects in Northern
Ireland, Switzerland, Guatemala, Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas,
Virginia, California, and Florida.

 9) The Good Shepherd (formerly Middle District) Church of the
Brethren in Tipp City, Ohio, has a banner bearing the words "All
things work for good for those who love the Lord." It's become a
theme for the congregation these days, and with good reason. Pastor
Rosie Combs used that as her sermon title on Feb. 6, a week after
a fire had struck the church.

The early-morning Jan. 30 fire began in an electric heater being
used in the basement after the regular heating system had gone out.
Fire consumed most of the basement, and much of the rest of the
building sustained heavy smoke and water damage. There is no
estimate as to when the congregation will be able to meet in the
building again, but progress is occurring.

"It's a pretty big mess, but we're coping," said Combs, now working
out of her home. "We've had wonderful support. We had 37 people
from six Church of the Brethrens here to help at a work day last
Saturday (Feb. 26)."

Help like that has enabled work to move along more quickly than
expected. Encouraging words from the Manchester (North Manchester,
Ind.) and Batavia (Ill.) Faith congregations, who also experienced
fires in recent years, have also helped, as have the efforts of the
church's insurer, Mutual Aid Association of the Church of the
Brethren. A local Roman Catholic congregation has provided free
meeting space until a new sanctuary is ready.

 10) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere:
 *Today, March 3, is World Day of Prayer. This annual observance,
coordinated by Church Women United, is an international movement
uniting Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian
women and men in "informed prayer and prayerful action." Each year,
a different country in the world creates the service; this year's
resources were developed by Christian women of Indonesia.
 *Youth/Young adult office summer workcamp update, with spaces
available in each camp: Young Adult Dominican Republic (9);
Intergenerational, Harrisburg (17); Puerto Rico (3); St. Croix I
(7); St. Croix II (8); Denver (5); Pine Ridge (1); Orlando (13);
Americus (10); Jamaica I (12); Jamaica II (5); Wichita (16);
Tijuana (19); Washington, D.C. (17); Gould Farm (6). All workcamps
not listed have filled. Call 1-800-323-8039 for more information.
 *The National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious
Objectors, better known by its acronym, NISBCO, has changed its
name to the Center on Conscience and War.
 *Kevin Uliassi, who was attempting to become the first solo
balloonist to circle the world before being forced to land in
Myanmar, is a former son-in-law of the late Joel Thompson, who
worked for the Church of the Brethren General Board and Brethren
Benefit Trust. The web site for Uliassi's journey is at
www.j.renee.iit.edu.
 *Nineteen Bridgewater (Va.) College students and college chaplain
Robbie Miller are spending their March 4-11 spring break working
with the Germantown chapter of Habitat for Humanity in
Philadelphia. Members of the group include Brethren students Susan
Chapman of the Roanoke (Va.) Central congregation, Katie Mullins of
Charlottesville (Va.), Dot Ramser of Brook Park Community
(Brunswick, Ohio), and Lori Riley of Luray (Va.). This is the
eighth year that Bridgewater students have participated in an
"alternative spring break."
 *Recent groups using the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center at
the Brethren Service Center included a weekend training for new
Church of the Brethren pastors and a conference for eastern US
Church of the Brethren district executives.
 *The top five US denominations by membership, according to the
Year 2000 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches: 1. Roman
Catholic Church, 62,018,436; 2. Southern Baptist Convention,
15,729,356; 3. United Methodist Church, 8,400,000; 4. National
Baptist Convention USA, Inc., 8,200,000; 5. Church of God in
Christ, 5,499,875. The Southern Baptist Convention reported a loss
in membership for the first time.
 *In a 1999 Gallup poll of "Which professions are the most
honest?", clergy ranked sixth behind nurses, pharmacists,
veterinarians, medical doctors, and K-12 teachers, and just ahead
of judges.

 11) Tom Hurst, executive director of On Earth Peace Assembly, has
resigned his position effective March 17.

In the decade that Hurst has been OEPA's executive director,
numerous new and expanded program initiatives have taken place,
including the Ministry of Reconciliation program, the Grandparents
for Peace and Families for Peace programs, the Conflict Resolution
for Outdoor Ministries training program, the JOYA (Journey of Young
Adults) Teams, and a fourfold expansion of The Peace Place --
OEPA's retail bookstore and resource center at its office at the
Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

"Working as Director of On Earth Peace Assembly has permitted me to
live out my dream of working for peace on behalf of our God within
the church," Hurst said. "If given the opportunity, I would not
change these 10 years of my life. My hope is that the Church of the
Brethren will continue to use On Earth Peace Assembly to help hold
it true to its historic peace position."  

The On Earth Peace Assembly board will be appointing an interim
executive director while engaging in a formal search for a new,
permanent executive.

 12) Harriet and Ron Finney have announced their resignation as
co-coordinators of the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership
for personal and family reasons, effective Sept. 30. They will be
continuing in their joint position as district ministers of the
South/Central Indiana District of the Church of the Brethren.

The Finneys began their service with the Brethren Academy in
September 1997 in conjunction with an expansion of the academy into
a full-time program, jointly sponsored by Bethany Theological
Seminary and the Church of the Brethren General Board. Under their
direction, the academy assumed oversight of the Education For
Shared Ministry (EFSM) and Training in Ministry (TRIM) ministry
education programs and has also undertaken several new initiatives,
including the training of leaders through the Creative Church
Leadership program.

 13) Bethany Theological Seminary and the Church of the Brethren
General Board announce an opening for the joint full-time position
of Coordinator, Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership,
beginning Sept. 1. Areas of responsibility include certificate
programs of ministry training, continuing education for ministerial
leaders, and new initiatives for leadership development in the
Church of the Brethren.

The deadline for receiving applications is May 1. For a fuller
description of responsibilities, qualifications, and the search
process, see "News" at www.brethren.org/Bethany, or call to request
a copy at 1-800-287-8822, Ext. 1821. Qualified candidates are
invited to send a resume and letter of application, and to request
three references to send letters of recommendation to: Academic
Dean, Bethany Theological Seminary, 615 National Road West,
Richmond, IN 47374-4019.

 14) On Earth Peace Assembly is sponsoring an event for spiritual
formation, servant leadership, and church renewal called "Shepherds
by the Living Springs" on April 1. Billed as "a Lenten day apart,"
it will be held at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

Brethren author and minister David Young, who led a workshop on
"Servant Leadership for Church Renewal" at the 1999 Annual
Conference, will provide leadership for the program. Presentations,
guided discussion, and team-building exercises will work at means
to create renewal personally and in the church.

Cost is $22, or $18 for Ministry of Reconciliation members. For
more information contact On Earth Peace Assembly, PO Box 188, New
Windsor, MD 21776-0188; or call (410) 635-8705 or e-mail
oepa@oepa.org. Registration deadline is March 20.

 15) Two Church of the Brethren youth groups were a "Souper" help
to the Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren soup kitchen
this year. The Altoona (Pa.) 28th Street and Moorefield (W.Va.)
congregations each took part in the national "Souper Bowl Sunday"
promotion to raise money for charities on a day better known for
football, and both decided to send their collection to Washington
City.

"Our youth leader, Pam Elmore, has a real burden on her heart for
soup kitchens and the homeless," said Dennis Brown, interim pastor
at Moorefield. Brown said the youth have been involved at
Washington in the past and took a few trips there in the past year.

At Altoona 28th Street, youth advisor Pam Helsel said the active
group of 12-15 members has routinely collected for local food banks
in the past and decided to help Washington City this year. The two
groups combined to send nearly $250 and 50 cans of food.

"We were surprised and really appreciate this help for our
program," said Alice Martin-Adkins, pastor at Washington City. "We
would encourage other youth groups to consider that as
another way to partner with urban congregations and to help meet
some of the needs of the poor and homeless."

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, manager of news services
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the first, third
and fifth Friday of each month. Newsline stories may be reprinted
provided that Newsline is cited as the source and the publication
date is included. Greg Laszakovits and Cliff Kindy contributed to
this report.

To receive Newsline by e-mail or fax, call 1-800-323-8039, 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.