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

[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      March 10, 2000
Contact:  Walt Wiltschek
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) Violence in Nigeria claims the lives of several EYN members,
according to reports.
 2) A cooperative effort helps to create the Brethren Mission
House.
 3) The General Board meets in Elgin, Ill., this weekend.
 4) This year's Anabaptist Evangelism Council focuses on
multicultural issues.
 5) The Global Food Crisis Fund continues initiatives in Honduras.
 6) Sue Wagner Fields will work on globalization issues for
Brethren Witness.
 7) Juniata College will celebrate Brethren heritage next week.
 8) The 105th Spiritual Life Institute will convene at Bridgewater
College on Sunday.
 9) Emergency Disaster Fund grants go to Kansas and Africa; care
team helps in Georgia.
10) Brethren bits: Peace dinner, congregational celebrations, NCC
news, Russ Bixler, and more.

PERSONNEL
11) Donald R. Booz is called to be district executive of
Mid-Atlantic.
12) Lester Boleyn will join Area 3's Congregational Life Team.

FEATURES
13) Camp Eder scripts its own curriculum to explore peace and
Brethren history.

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

 1) At least three members of the Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria, the
Church of the Brethren's large sister congregation in Nigeria, have
been killed in recent outbreaks of ethnic-religious violence
according to information received from the West African nation.

Monroe Good, long-time Brethren missionary in Nigeria, said he has
heard that the pastor of a congregation in the northern city of
Kaduna and at least two other EYN members were among the victims of
fighting between Christians and Muslims that claimed the lives of
more than 300 people there in late February. Retaliatory violence
in the southern city of Aba killed at least 200 more, according to
news reports.

"The people I've been talking to say it seems to be contained, but
it erupts here and there a little bit," Good said of the violence.
"The feeling I get from EYN leaders is that this tension is there,
and you never know when it’s going to hit again. But many people
are trying to work it out so these things don't happen."

Good's sources also reported that one or two EYN churches and
pastors' houses were among the many destroyed in Kaduna.

Recent media reports have identified additional pockets of violence
in the large city of Lagos and in the northwestern part of the
country.

 2) The house that cooperation built is ready to take off in the
Dominican Republic. The Brethren Mission House project, initially
proposed by Brethren Revival Fellowship, is becoming reality via a
partnership between BRF, the Church of the Brethren General Board,
and the Dominican church.

The project now has a home, with property in the bustling city of
Azua being rented in late February. It also has its first
personnel, with Earl and Barb Eby, who have been serving in special
ministries in the Germantown (Pa.) congregation, slated to move
there with their two children for a three-year term. Jim Myer of
BRF said the projected start date is June 1.

Goals for the Brethren Mission House include providing a base for
volunteers who would help in a variety of ways, and especially in
teaching English as a second language. The Ebys would serve as
"house parents" for the volunteers and report to the General
Board's mission coordinators in the Dominican Republic, Jerry and
Becky Crouse. A teacher trainer/coordinator and English teachers
will also be sought.

"Out of the youth workcamps (in the Dominican), the need for more
of a continuing relationship came out," Myer said. "I carried the
idea to the BRF committee and Merv Keeney (Global Mission
Partnerships director for the General Board) and some others, and
there was general agreement that it would be a worthwhile thing to
be doing."

BRF approved the concept at its September 1998 meeting, making it
a major focus of BRF's new Brethren Mission Fund. The partnership
concept evolved in the following months, and Myer said it seems to
be working well so far.

 3) The Church of the Brethren General Board meets this weekend in
Elgin, Ill., under the theme of "Gifts of Living Water," based on
John 7:38b.

Items on the agenda include exploration of renewed mission activity
in Brazil, a new vision statement for the work of the General
Board, presentation of three-year "benchmark" goals for each
leadership team area of the General Board, and a host of ministry
updates, financial reports, and sharing from other agencies.

Significant time for worship and devotions is also included as the
board continues to use the Worshipful Work model of doing business.
Another celebration banquet uplifting General Board ministries will
be held Saturday night.

A report on the meetings will be available on the www.brethren.org
web site by March 14.

 4) Anabaptists wanting to plant churches in the 21st century will
be successful only if they increase awareness of the multicultural,
diversifying and "browning" population in North America. That's the
message about 40 practitioners and scholars heard at the third
annual Anabaptist Evangelism Council, held at a snowbound
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., Feb.
19-20.

"We are a browning nation," said researcher Rocky Kidd, director of
Chicago Opportunity for Peace in Action, whose study of 17
multicultural churches showed a rapid shift in urban centers toward
a polyglot of brown, yellow, black, white and mestizo (mixed). "And
those who do not live in the urban centers are greatly influenced
by an omnipresent urban popular culture, piped into the American
consciousness via the entertainment/media world."

Kidd, along with co-researcher Allan Howe of Evanston, Ill.,
observed that much of the numerical growth within Mennonite
congregations since 1985, for instance, has been in minority and
multicultural churches, with Hispanics the fastest growing.  Much
the same holds true of the Church of the Brethren, The Brethren
Church and the Mennonite churches of Canada, also participants in
the two-day study around the theme: "A New Humanity:  Anabaptist
Ministry Amidst Many Peoples."

The Council was sponsored by New Life Ministries, a partnership in
outreach of both branches of the merging Mennonite groups, the
Church of the Brethren, The Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio) and two
parachurch organizations: Shalom Foundation of Harrisonburg, Va.,
and Christian Community of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Next year's Council will be held at the Church of the Brethren
offices in Elgin, Ill., expanding to a three-day event, Feb. 16-18.
The 2001 theme will center on church planting.

 5) Having helped launch a successful pilot project in one
community in southern Honduras, the Global Food Crisis Fund has
been asked to support similar projects in dozens of other poor
Honduran villages. The projects, carried out in conjunction with
the Honduran Christian Commission for Development, involve
providing small livestock for members of Womens' Circles of
Friends. The women were encouraged to organize into circles by CCD,
who then offered training to the women, including livestock
management.

The first project, a $5,000 grant to the community of El Estribo
(see December Messenger), gave women chickens and pigs to replace
animals killed in 1998's Hurricane Mitch. The animals will be used
for food, profit, and to build a sense of self-worth among the
women. First offspring are to be passed on to women in neighboring
communities.

The current GFCF grant, for $42,676, was approved in late February.
It will provide small livestock to more than 800 women in dozens of
communities in southern Honduras.

Upcoming Faith Expeditions will visit these communities. A work
team (June 17-27) will join with villagers in one community to
build houses destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. A women's delegation
scheduled for this fall will take Brethren women into some of these
communities for an extended visit. Contact the Brethren Witness
office for information on these trips.

CCD director Noemi de Espinoza will speak at the Sunday evening
Outreach Dinner sponsored by the General Board's Global Mission
Partnerships and Brethren Witness offices.

 6) Sue Wagner Fields of Bernville, Pa., is spending the next 18
months working in a part-time capacity with the General Board's
Brethren Witness office. Her role will be to help Brethren deal
with issues surrounding globalization and its impact on our lives
and on the people of the world.

Part of Fields' focus will be on the impact of global trends on
small farmers, both in the U.S. and in Central America. In this
regard, she will attend and convene a Brethren working group at a
conference sponsored by Agricultural Missions in Minneapolis April
24-27, titled "Agriculture, Food Security, and Globalization: The
Impact on Rural Sustainability." She will also lead an Oct. 31-Nov.
13 delegation to Nicaragua.

Fields can be contacted at 610 488-6604; swfields@att.net or via
the Brethren Witness office at 800 323-8039.

 7) Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.) will be exploring its Church
of the Brethren roots next week as it celebrates Brethren heritage.

First-year campus chaplain David Witkovsky, who developed the idea,
said that several events are planned. First, Brethren students will
provide leadership for the "2000 Prayers for Peace" services in the
chapel during the week. Then, on Wednesday the 15th, an all-campus
worship service will feature Bob Neff, former General Board general
secretary and Juniata College president, as speaker, plus Brethren
musicians Andy and Terry Murray and songs from the Brethren hymnal.
On Saturday, an evening coffeehouse will present Allen Atwood's
one-man drama of the gospels and music by Brethren folk singer
Joseph Helfrich. And finally, on Sunday, Brethren students will
lead worship at the Stone Church of the Brethren with Helfrich
providing special music and Witkovsky preaching.

Witkovsky said he plans to make this an annual event and hopes to
expand it next year.

 8) Bridgewater (Va.) College is playing host to the 105th
Spiritual Life Institute March 12-14 with the theme "The Church as
a Learning Community." Dr. Donald E. Miller, visiting professor of
Christian education at Bethany Theological Seminary, is leading the
institute and doing several workshops.

Other speakers include Paul Mundey, senior pastor of the Frederick
(Md.) Church of the Brethren, who will speak at worship services
each night of the conference, and Dr. Carol A. Sheppard, who will
lead four Bible study sessions.

This year's Merlin E. and Dorothy Faw Garber Awards for Christian
Service will be presented at an evening banquet, going to senior
philosophy and religion major Christopher Zepp, a member of the
Hagerstown (Md.) Church of the Brethren, and to James M. Bryant,
former Bridgewater College director of alumni relations and church
relations.

About 125 people attend the institute each year, and about 250 are
expected for the worship service each evening.

 9) Newly approved grants from the General Board's Emergency
Disaster Fund will send aid to Kansas and southern Africa.

An allocation of $6,000 will support a tornado recovery project in
Haysville, Kan. The project had closed before Christmas, but
Emergency Response/Service Ministries received an invitation to
return to the area and complete some unmet needs that surfaced. The
project reopened on March 1 and is expected to continue for about
two months.

Another $25,000 from the fund will assist disaster recovery efforts
following flooding in southern Africa from Cyclone Eline and
ongoing torrential rains. The floods have affected Mozambique,
South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Mozambique has been
the most severely affected, with at least 300,000 people displaced
from their homes and thousands left stranded on rooftops without
food and water. Health officials fear potential outbreaks of
cholera, meningitis and malaria.

The request comes in response to a Church World Service appeal in
which funds will be used to provide blankets for 2,000 people,
technical assistance, and support to the relief programs of the
Christian Council of Mozambique.

In other disaster relief news, the Disaster Child Care operation 
in Camilla, Ga., officially closed  on Feb. 26. During the nine-day
project, the team of eight volunteers helped care for 97 children.
Tornadoes and related storms killed 19 people, injured many others,
and caused severe crop and property damage earlier in the month.

 10) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
 *Dr. Dennis Lipton, who was court-martialed and jailed by the US
Air Force after filing for conscientious objector status, will be
the speaker at the 34th annual Brethren Peace Fellowship dinner at
the Brethren Village in Neffsville, Pa., April 13.

 *This year's Brethren Homes Forum will be held June 16-18 at The
Brethren Home Community in New Oxford, Pa.

 *The National Council of Churches in India elected Bishop Vinod
Peter as its president for the next four years at its quadrennial
assembly this past week. Peter is the moderator of the Church of
North India.

 *The Brethren Witness office is seeking 2,000 new people to join
the "Take the Pledge" for non-violence campaign by the end of the
year 2000. A recent mailing to congregations contains more details
and resources.

 *Frank Ramirez, pastor of the Elkhart Valley congregation
(Elkhart, Ind.), was selected to write the scripts for two
12-minute movies on Amish history and culture for Amish Acres in
Nappanee, Ind.

 *The Spring Mount Church of the Brethren (Warriors Mark, Pa.) is
celebrating its 200th anniversary this year and will kick off
observances with a hymn sing the evening of March 19, building up
to a weekend celebration Oct. 7-8.

 *The Manchester Church of the Brethren (North Manchester, Ind.)
will move to its new home this Sunday. Worship will begin in
Manchester College's Cordier Auditorium, where the congregation has
been meeting since a fire destroyed its building more than two
years ago; then worshipers will get up and walk, hymnals in hand,
to the new building at 1306 N. Beckley during the service.

 *The La Verne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren held a millennium
concert on Feb. 27 with the theme: "To a New Eden: a Celebration of
God's Re-creation." Susan Winckler, director of music at the
congregation, led a large vocal and instrumental ensemble, with
works including an original piece by Winckler. Steve Kinzie and
Shawn Kirchner, members of the folk music quartet Kindling,
composed original songs for the event.  

 *A National Council of Churches mailing on "Becoming Faithful
Energy Stewards" has been sent to 105,000 member congregations
nationwide in preparation for Earth Day on April 22. It includes a
bulletin insert, sermon notes, and other resources.

 *At the National Council of Churches' Executive Board meeting Feb.
28-29, the group reinforced the need for good financial stewardship
as the NCC emerges from major restructuring and budget-cutting. The
board also approved priorities for 2000-2001 to work in four
program areas: education, justice, public witness (especially
legislative advocacy priorities) and unity. "We are trying to focus
on some achievable goals as we work to rebuild the NCC's finances,"
said Dr. Bob Edgar, general secretary.

 *Russ Bixler, a former Church of the Brethren pastor and
broadcasting executive in Pittsburgh, Pa., posthumously received
the National Religious Broadcasters' William Ward Ayer
Distinguished Service Award for this year for outstanding
contributions to the field of broadcasting. Bixler, who founded
Cornerstone TeleVision and Christian Television Services Inc., died
Jan. 30.

 11) Donald R. Booz has been called to serve as district executive
in the Mid-Atlantic District effective June 15. Booz is currently
serving as pastor of the McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren.
He is a member of the Church of the Brethren General Board and
ecumenical observer for the General Board with the American Baptist
Church. 

Booz previously served as district executive in the Atlantic
Southeast District from 1983-1989. He is a graduate of Bethany
Theological Seminary and holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in
preaching from Chicago Theological Seminary.

Booz and his wife, Cindy, will be moving to Maryland in early June.
They have two daughters, Amanda and Colleen, who are both in
college.

 12) Lester Boleyn has accepted the call as a Congregational Life
Team member for Area 3, beginning April 1. An ordained minister,
Boleyn recently concluded serving the Cedar Creek (Ala.) Church of
the Brethren. He has also pastored the Morgantown (W.Va.) Church of
the Brethren and worked five years for the University of Maryland
Cooperative Extension Service as a 4-H Extension Agent. 

Boleyn served as a missionary in Uba, Nigeria, for the General
Board from 1967-71, working with four local congregations in
development, training, and supervision of church leadership. 
Boleyn and his wife, Esther, were called by the General Board again
in 1988 to work in Kenya as coordinator/exegete for the Sudanese
Translation Teams in translating the Bible into Nuer, completing
this task in January 1998. Boleyn has a bachelor of science degree
from the University of Maryland and a master of divinity from
Bethany Theological Seminary.

The Boleyns have three sons and five grandchildren. They will
reside in the Cumberland, Md., area (West Marva District).

 13) Rooting its 2000 summer curriculum in the historic peace
witness of the Church of the Brethren, Camp Eder (Fairfield, Pa.)
is taking some creative steps to make its learning experience
"whole" for kids. The camp is developing its own 2000 summer
curriculum, called "Who is My Neighbor? God's Call to Peacemaking"
from the Good Samaritan story.

It is also recruiting district "elders" as storytellers in its
Brethren Heritage pioneer skills program, bringing the church's
living history of witness to life for young people.

Camp Eder's most significant move toward integrating its curriculum
is a partnership with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an ecumenical
organization that includes numerous Brethren. During each summer
camp week, campers will hear how CPT members respond to God's call
to peacemaking: learning about the organization, meeting CPT
volunteers, and having opportunities to support their work through
prayer, letter-writing and fun fund-raisers. To highlight its
partnership, Camp Eder is sending a workcamp to serve at the CPT
offices in Chicago July 10-17.

"It's our goal to make this program come alive for everyone,"
program director Chris Fitz said, "to involve elders, volunteers,
staff, and campers in one, giant learning process. We need to know
our past in order to set a future course and hear God's call to
peacemaking today."

Anyone interested in more details on the program can send e-mail to
chris@campeder.org or call 717 642-8256.

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. Dick Benner contributed to this report.

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