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

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 From nobody@wfn.org  Fri Sep 29 00:00:00 2000
V: 847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
Date: September 29, 2000
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

"...a word in season, how good it is!" Prov. 15:23b

NEWS
 1) A new partner plans to move to the Brethren Service Center.
 2) Training seminar in Ohio focuses on church planting.
 3) EYN's president prepares for a visit to the United States.
 4) The Vatican prepares to confer sainthood on a woman with
Brethren roots.
 5) Emergency Disaster Fund grant continues cleanup in North
Carolina.
 6) Global Food Crisis Fund aids Haitian refugees in the Dominican
Republic.
 7) An evangelism focus group is scheduled to meet in Elgin next
week.
 8) A call goes out for prayer and action related to Vieques.
 9) The "If a Tree Falls" project sends $4,000 to Belize.
10) Reports from some recent district conferences.
11) Brethren bits: CNI visit, Church World Service, peace churches,
and more.

COMING EVENTS
12) The Brethren Nutrition Program in Washington, D.C., gears up
for a walkathon.

FEATURES
13) Camp director's sabbatical looks at camping ministries across
the US.
14) Western Maryland church makes a "clean" start in its community.
15) BVSer in Northern Ireland shares a bit of her story.

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

 1) The General Board's Brethren Service Center in New Windsor,
Md., is preparing to welcome a new partner to the campus.

The Carroll County (Md.) District of the American Red Cross
announced this week that it would open a full-service office at the
center in November, pending final agreement on the terms of a
lease. The space will be used for health and safety classes, for
board and disaster team meetings, for volunteers to meet and work,
and for general administration.

It is relocating from an office in nearby Westminster, where a
blood donation program will continue to operate.

"Emergency Response/Service Ministries has had a working
relationship with the national office of the American Red Cross for
many years in disaster response and disaster child care," said Stan
Noffsinger, director of the Brethren Service Center. "The Carroll
County Red Cross office is a wonderful and welcome addition to our
community."

The Red Cross office will be located in the lower level of Windsor
Hall, in the space that has been occupied by On Earth Peace
Assembly and its The Peace Place bookstore, which is closing
Saturday as previously announced. The OEPA offices will relocate to
the center's Blue Ridge Building on Nov. 1.

 2) Nearly five dozen Church of the Brethren pastors, district
executives, and others interested in new church development
gathered Sept. 17-21 at Ashland (Ohio) Theological Seminary for an
intense training program in church planting.

The event was sponsored by the General Board's Congregational Life
Ministries Office and New Church Development Advisory Committee.
They offered full scholarships to two members of each district
(most of which were represented), and several districts sent
additional people at district expense.

Members of the Ashland faculty who specialize in church planting
and leadership issues led the event, which packed a large amount of
material into four full days. A look at the various dimensions of
one's spiritual journey, postmodernism, and ministry philosophy was
followed by 13 principles of church planting.

"I think we've had some excellent presentations here," said
Marianne Pittman of Blacksburg, Va., a member of the advisory
committee. "They've done an excellent job, I think, of covering a
variety of very important issues in a short time."

Several people said they thought the event was a good use of the
General Board's resources and wished there would be more such
opportunities and emphasis. Pittman said the committee will be
exploring the possibility of making such training an ongoing
option.

 3) Rev. Toma Raganjiya, president of the Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a
Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and his wife, Kwanye,
are schedule to make visits in the United States for much of
October.

Rev. Toma is scheduled to begin his visit by preaching at worship
of the Midway Church of the Brethren in Atlantic Northeast District
on Oct. 8, with other stops in the district over the next nine
days. The itinerary includes the Atlantic Northeast District
Conference at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College Oct. 13-14. 

Following the visits in Pennsylvania, Rev. Toma is scheduled to
make visits in the Ashland, Ohio area and then continue to Elgin,
Ill., for the Church of the Brethren General Board meetings Oct.
22-25.

 4) The roll of Catholic saints is scheduled to add a member with
some close Church of the Brethren ties this Sunday in Rome.

Sister Katharine Drexel's mother, Hannah Jane Langstroth Drexel,
was baptized by the then-German Baptist Brethren in 1850. When she
died just 34 days after Katharine's birth, she was buried in the
Germantown (Pa.) Brethren cemetery; her body was moved to a family
chapel nearly a century later.

Katharine's grandmother and other relatives on the Langstroth side
were also Brethren, and Katharine visited with them often. The
Drexel family that raised Katharine was Roman Catholic, however.

Katharine Drexel took a vow of poverty when she was 30 and became
a nun, founding numerous schools for black and American Indian
children across the country. Much of the work was carried out
through a religious order she founded, the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament. The order remains active today in Bensalem, Pa., where
Katharine is buried.

The Vatican credited two miracles to Katharine following her death
in 1955, one in 1988 and another this past January. Both of them
were cures of deafness with "no natural cause" following prayers to
Katharine. Under the Catholic system, that allowed her sainthood
status, which Pope John Paul II granted this year. Katharine Drexel
becomes the first Catholic saint to have a Brethren parent.

A full story on Drexel's life and road to becoming a saint appears
in the November issue of Messenger. Additional details are
available at www.katharinedrexel.org.

 5) A new grant from the General Board's Emergency Disaster
Fund--the 20th allocation of this year--is sending an additional
$15,000 in relief aid for ongoing Hurricane Floyd cleanup projects
in North Carolina. The focus of the work is repair and
reconstruction in the cities of Vanceboro and Rocky Mount.

Larry and Alice Petry of Ohio are serving as Emergency
Response/Service Ministries' project directors in Rocky Mount in
October; Mort Curie of Ohio and Bruce Barwick of Indiana are
serving that role in Vanceboro. 

ER/SM is also on alert for needed aid following damaging tornadoes
in Xenia, Ohio, last week, and wildfires in Oklahoma that had
destroyed nearly 50 homes through Thursday--many of them without
insurance. The Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren near Xenia and
members' homes did not sustain any damage, according to pastor Lisa
Hazen. The fires in Oklahoma came close to the Big Creek Church of
the Brethren near Guthrie and some members' homes, but they were
also spared.

 6) A new allocation of $13,785 was approved in mid-September from
the Church of the Brethren General Board's Global Food Crisis Fund.

The funds will help COTEDO, a Church of the Brethren partner agency
in the Dominican Republic, to launch a pilot project of obtaining
birth certificates for children born of Haitian parentage in the
Dominican. These children are regularly being denied health,
education, and other services, according to the organization.

Birth certificates are required to define the children's legal
status in the country, which is necessary to gain access to public
education and health care. COTEDO estimates that more than 95
percent of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican do not have
documents of residency even after living there a decade or longer.

The funds are expected to obtain birth certificates and other
needed documents for about 750 children, working through the
municipal authorities over the next six months. 

 7) General Board Congregational Life Team coordinators will host
a focus group on evangelism at the offices in Elgin, Ill., Oct.
2-3. Stated purposes of the group are: identifying Brethren beliefs
and values that embrace evangelism, clarifying issues and
opportunities related to evangelism, and naming and assessing
several evangelism models.

The Congregational Life Ministries office said that those invited
to serve on the focus group were chosen to represent the
geographical, theological, and ethnic diversity within the
denomination. Members are Fred Wilhelm, John Hostetter, J.P.
Freeman, Jean Keith, Joan Hershey, Ed Woodward, Grant Simmons,
Marvin Hostetler, Max Gumm, David McKellip, Jim Vandermark, James
Washington, and Guillermo Encarnacion.

The group hopes to arrive at several guiding principles for
developing the General Board's evangelism work and to review
several options of models that congregations can consider for their
particular ministry context.

 8) On Sept. 28 in Washington, D.C., religious and community
leaders issued a "Call to Prayer, Fasting, and Action for Peace in
Vieques, Puerto Rico" to take place on Oct. 2. It is the latest in
a series of events responding to US Navy presence and bombing tests
on the small Puerto Rican island. A day of demonstrations and other
events took place in Washington Sept. 22.

This new call, issued by heads of denominations, Catholic bishops,
and dozens of others, urges President Bill Clinton to stop all
bombing now and to hold a meeting with leaders in Vieques and
Puerto Rico.

Leading the cause is Andres Thomas Conteris, a United Methodist lay
minister and member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who is
entering his 10th week of fasting. Conteris had lost 59 pounds as
of Thursday.

Greg Laszakovits, coordinator of the Church of the Brethren General
Board's Washington Office, represented the denomination at
Thursday's event and noted the power and strength of the movement
through nonviolent protest.

"Mr. Conteris and his will reflect that of the people of Puerto
Rico, and the manner and polity of the Church of the Brethren,"
Laszakovits said. "His spirit is getle, but he is unwavering in his
commitment to peace and justice. It is with pride that we as a
church are part of this movement."

Additional details are available at www.viequesfast.org, or call
the Church of the Brethren Washington Office at 202 546-3202.

 9) The General Board's Brethren Witness office sent a $4,000 grant
this month to the Eden Conservancy, an initiative to purchase and
preserve threatened rain forest in the Central American nation of
Belize. The funds were raised through the "If a Tree Falls"
campaign, organized by Brethren Witness.

At the going rate of $125 an acre, the grant will purchase more
than 30 acres of a projected 4,000 acres being preserved by a
coalition of Christian groups and Belizian environmental groups.
The protected area will serve as a "biological corridor" connecting
two existing national parks.

Brethren Volunteer Service worker Samantha Morris recently
completed a term of service through the General Board's Global
Mission Partnerships office at the Jaguar Creek Center, adjacent to
the Eden Conservancy. "Unlike many of its Central American
neighbors, Belize is still a country of lush vegetation and
abundant, diverse wildlife," Morris says. "But as a developing
nation, now is the time to take active measures to insure that it
stays that way."

The "If a Tree Falls" project will also be funding reforestation
projects in neighboring Guatemala. Contributions to the project can
be sent to the Brethren Witness office at 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin,
IL 60120. Interpretative materials, including a rain forest poster,
are available by calling 800 323-8039.

 10) Reports from some recent Church of the Brethren district
conferences:
 *Southern Pennsylvania: Held at the Buffalo Valley church in
Mifflinburg with the theme "Be Still and..." Phyllis Carter and
Craig Smith served as guest speakers and Donna Lerew as moderator.
Yorkana, formerly a meeting house of the New Fairview congregation,
received status as an independent congregation. Other highlights
included a prayer room for all participants, worship led by the
host congregation's Praise Team, and a consecration for Annual
Conference moderator-elect Paul Grout (a member of the district).
Joel Nogle, pastor of the Gettysburg, Pa., congregation, was called
as moderator-elect.

 *Northern Indiana: Held at Camp Mack in Milford with the theme
"New Hope, New Day, New Millenium." David Radcliff and Phill Carlos
Archbold were guest speakers, with worship leadership by Mike
Dilling and students from Manchester College. Dorothy Gall served
as moderator. Delegates approved a new district board structure,
going from 20 members to eight, plus the district pastor, and a new
master plan by the Indiana Camp Board. A new program of challenge
grants for congregational initiatives was also announced. Phyllis
Davis of North Winona was called as moderator-elect.

 *West Marva: Held at the Moorefield, W.Va., church with the theme
"Pressing Toward the Goal." Earle Fike Jr. was guest speaker, and
a special district choir and "The Strings" from Beaver Run church
provided special music. Hugh Friend served as moderator. Delegates
gave continued support to the Circle of Love Fellowship new church
development project in Buckhannon; allocations for funding will go
to each church in the district to support the pastoral program
there. David Moon was called as moderator-elect.

 11) Brethren bits: Other brief news notes from around the
denomination and elsewhere.
 *The Church of North India delegation's visit to the General
Board's offices in Elgin, Ill. has been rescheduled for Oct. 9-11.
This visit had originally been scheduled for August but was
postponed after a member of the delegation suffered a back injury.
Members of the delegation are the Most Rev. Vinod Peter, moderator
of CNI; the Rt. Rev. V.M. Malaviya, CNI bishop of Gujarat state;
and Dr. V.S. Lall, general secretary of the CNI Synod.

 *The Rev. John L. McCullough of Montclair, N.J., has been named
the new executive director for Church World Service Inc., following
a unanimous vote by the CWS Board of Directors Sept. 13. McCullough
had served since June 1 as interim director and previously was
associate general secretary of the United Methodist Church General
Board of Global Ministries. He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Rodney I.
Page, who retired May 31.

 *Church World Service is reporting major damage of crops and homes
in Cambodia and Vietnam after severe floods. Nearly 200 people have
been reported killed, with at least $33 million in damage estimated
in the Southeast Asian countries. Food shortages and health
problems have also resulted. Agence France Presse, meanwhile,
reports that the food crisis in North Korea is expected to worsen
after a harsh winter delayed crop planting this year, and strong
storms have struck before harvest season.

 *The Lancaster (Pa.) Sunday News reported a preliminary figure of
at least $485,000 raised at the 24th annual Brethren Disaster
Relief Auction, held Sept. 22-23 in Lebanon, Pa., with more than
7,500 people attending. A full report will appear in next week's
Newsline.

 *Two more people have begun serving with the General Board's
Global Mission Partnerships Office: Nadine Monn, an intern working
as the Latin America/Caribbean specialist along with Tom Benevento;
and Matt Messick, a Brethren Volunteer Service worker at the
Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria)
Comprehensive Secondary School.

 *COBYS Family Services, an agency of the Atlantic Northeast
District, is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Oct. 28 with a
"birthday party" at the Lebanon (Pa.) Fairgrounds. Entertainment,
food, and information on the agency's ministry will be included.

 *Indiana resident Jay Scott Ballinger recently pleaded guilty in
federal court to setting 26 church fires from 1995-99 in eight
states, from Indiana to South Carolina to California, according to
Christianity Today. 

 *Actor Mac McConnell led Bridgewater (Va.) College's Fall
Spiritual Focus, presenting one-man dramas on "Zacchaeus" and "Nic
at Night," on Nicodemus. McConnell also does numerous other
portrayals.

 *The Easton (Md.) Church of the Brethren celebrated its 50th
anniversary Sept. 23-24.

 *New Call to Peacemaking, with Brethren, Friends, and Mennonite
members, is beginning a program called "Every Church a Peace
Church," designed to encourage an active peace stance in churches
of all denominations.

 *Two Cincinnati-based organizations recently held events focused
on peace: Xavier University held an interfaith Millenium Peace
Celebration Sept. 24, featuring Mairead Maguire, a co-winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize for her reconciliation work in Northern Ireland;
St. Anthony Messenger Press, meanwhile, kicked off the "1,000 Years
of Peace" project, seeking to literally create 1,000 years' worth
of peace (equaling 8,766,000 hours) "through such acts ranging from
praying for peace to social activism to letting go of a grudge." To
date, almost one-half million hours have been pledged.

 12) Supporters of the Brethren Nutrition Program at the Washington
(D.C.) City Church of the Brethren (also known as the Church of the
Brethren Soup Kitchen) will be among hundreds of people
participating in the Help the Homeless Walkathon sponsored by
Fannie Mae Nov. 18.

The Walkathon will help raise money for the Brethren Nutrition
Program and other organizations in the area working to overcome
homelessness and hunger. Brethren are being encouraged to join the
effort and help support the program. A registration fee is
required, and all walkers collect sponsors.

For more information, contact Ntfombi Penner at ntfumbela@aol.com
or the Washington City church at 202 546-8706. Registration forms
and information on the Fannie Mae Walkathon are also available at
http://www.helpthehomelessdc.org.

 13) So, what does a camp director who spends his year working at
ministry in the great outdoors do for a summer sabbatical? Spend it
in the great outdoors exploring ministry, of course!

At least, that was the case for Camp Swatara (Bethel, Pa.) director
Marlin Houff, in his 20th year at the camp. Houff felt it was time
for a break, but he didn't want to leave camping ministry far
behind for his few months away.

Instead, he and his family embarked on a trek that covered much of
the country and included stops at 13 Church of the Brethren
camps--eight of which Houff had never been to before. In addition
to exploring the facilities and seeing programs where they were
occurring, he also held interviews with camp administrators and
directors at several of the larger camps on topics like budgeting
and marketing.

"There's something you can learn from every camp: the traditions,
the buildings, what works for them," Houff said. "It's important in
the mutuality of the whole camping program to realize there are
others in the field working with the same challenges and struggles
you have, and they're not always real close by so you can dialogue
with them."

Houff also made stops at worship services at several US national
parks like Grand Canyon and Grand Tetons, a special interest of his
as he represents the Church of the Brethren on the A Christian
Ministry in the National Parks board--a role previously carried by
his father, Robert. He found both of his summer experiences to be
refreshing and worthwhile.

"It's just wonderful the connections we made," he said. "It's a
once-in-a-lifetime thing that I'd like to do again sometime."

 14) Members of the Living Stone Church of the Brethren in
Cumberland, Md., chose a unique way to reach out to the community
this month: a free car wash for three hours one morning.

Lester Boleyn, a General Board Congregational Life Team member in
Area 3 (Southeast), related conversations heard at the event: "
'Who's taking donations?' 'No one. We're not accepting donations.'
'What? You've got to accept donations.' 'We just want to show that
God loves you, and that God's love is free.' "

Seventeen adults and children washed more than 45 cars--about one
car every four minutes for those who like statistics. Each driver
was given a small card with the church's name, address, and phone
number.

"In a time when you can't get anything worthwhile for nothing, many
drivers had a hard time believing that the group actually didn't
want anything for their services, not even a donation," Boleyn
wrote. "It was the best deal in Cumberland that Saturday."

"Everyone was sent off with 'Have a good day' and a big smile," he
added, "and they left with a smile of their own."

 15) Kate Elms of Joliet, Ill., is one of 16 Brethren Volunteer
Service workers currently serving through the General Board program
in Europe (Numerous other positions remain open). She is at Belfast
Women's Aid in Northern Ireland, a refuge providing shelter for
women and children who are experiecing domestic violence. Here is
an excerpt of her story from the "Sharing BVS" newsletter:

"This is a large refuge with 12 bedrooms, several shared bathrooms,
two kitchens, a sitting room, a quiet room, a playroom, and an
upstairs pool room for older kids. We have as many as 30 children
in residence and a dozen or so women. ... Women are referred to the
refuge through "the Help Line" (a crisis line run by Women's Aid),
through police, and through social workers. Many women have been in
and out several times.

"When I first came, one of my fears was that angry spouses would be
at the door, threatening people, or trying to force their way in.
That doesn't seem to be the case--certainly not in the 18 months
I've been here.

"...Make no mistake about it. This is a tough job. As I write this,
I am working on a Saturday, my sixth day. All of the regular staff
are on holiday. ... Child care here is undervalued, and desperately
understaffed, so the best creative attempts, plans for outings,
etc., often come to nothing and go nowhere.

"Having said that, if you are really interested in contributing
something to a society where children have borne the brunt of the
'troubles,' unemployment, violent parents, poverty, alcohol
addiction, etc., then come here and work with them. No one else
wants to--it's demanding, draining, frustrating. That's why it's so
valuable. If even one child's life has been made a little better,
for a little while, then you've done some good in this world."

 

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. Kathleen Campanella
and Jane Yount contributed to this report.

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.