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Date: Aug. 17, 2001
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

"And let us not grow weary while doing good . . ." Gal. 6:9a

NEWS
 1) Caring Ministries Assembly takes place in California.
 2) Seventeen students attend first Exploring Your Call event.
 3) Washington Office will host Sudanese reconciliation conference.
 4) World Council of Churches delegation plans visit to Elgin.
 5) Global Food Crisis Fund sends aid to Central America.
 6) Emergency Disaster Fund provides assistance for Angola.
 7) Church mourns death of Disaster Child Care pioneer.
 8) Cancelled Brethren Press tracts continue to generate
discussion.
 9) N.C. disaster project prepares to close; another continues.

PERSONNEL
10) Mary Jo Flory-Steury will become director of Ministry.
11) Duane Steiner will retire as Annual Conference executive
director in 2002.

FEATURES
12) Northern Ohio District looks at cooperation, Brethren to
Brethren.
 
****************************************************************
 
 1) La Verne, Calif., may have been the most caring place in the
country last week, as Brethren engaged in or interested in
caregiving issues gathered for the biennial Caring Ministries
Assembly, sponsored by the Association of Brethren Caregivers.

More than 140 people attended the event, which included a variety
of speakers, worship, musical entertainment, and fellowship. Held
at the University of La Verne, it marked the first time for the
conference to be held on the West Coast. The previous two
assemblies had occurred in Indiana and Pennsylvania.

The 2001 assembly kicked off Aug. 7 with a pre-conference session
led by Dr. Harold Koenig, founder and director of the Center for
the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke University.
Koenig spoke Tuesday evening and the following morning, examining
the connection between religion and health care, spiritual needs,
and the effects of the mind on the body.

"A relationship with a personal God is what drives everything,"
Koenig said.

The main portion of the assembly began Wednesday evening, with a
worship service that featured music from "Hi Hopes," a group of
singers affiliated with an educational facility for people with
developmental disabilities, and a message by Joe Leonard of the
National Council of Churches.

Other keynote addresses during the week came from former Bethany
Theological Seminary dean Fumitaka Matsuoka, Gary Gunderson of
Emory University, social worker Marty Richards, and Brethren pastor
Susan Boyer. Well-known musician Ken Medema provided a concert and
stories Friday night.

New Brunswick (N.J.) Theological Seminary professor Virginia Wiles
presented a series of New Testament Bible studies over a course of
three mornings, looking at the caregiving implications of three
passages. Workshops filled the afternoons, with more than a dozen
choices each day. Topics ranged from deacons to medical ethics to
healing through the arts to parish nursing.

Evening activities offered additional options, including yoga,
spiritual reflection, an ice cream social provided by La Verne
youth as a National Youth Conference fund-raiser, music by folk and
praise bands, and networking groups. Additional coverage of the
assembly is available at www.brethren.org.

 2) Bethany Theological Seminary welcomed 17 Church of the Brethren
junior and senior high school students to its Richmond, Ind.,
campus in mid-July for its first Exploring Your Call (EYC) event.

The 10-day program, made possible by grants from the Lilly
Foundation and the Barnabas and Alina Foundations, was developed to
encourage young people to consider ministry as a career, or to
consider their faith commitments in whatever career they choose.

"Through EYC we hoped to open up the definition of ministry," said
Todd Reish, who served as EYC director. "It means a lot of
different things of what you could do with your life." 

Students--12 of them female--came from California, Idaho, Indiana,
Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. While at Bethany, they
attended classes taught by seminary professors; job-shadowed area
pastors and participated in worship services in congregations;
visited residents in a local retirement facility and learned about
chaplaincy; created and led their own worship services; and shared
in group-building recreational activities, including the high ropes
course of adjacent Earlham College.

"It made me realize there's more to being a pastor than just
getting up in the pulpit and giving a sermon," said EYC participant
Michelle Kimball of Midland, Va. "These past 10 days have opened
all of our eyes to new opportunities and new possibilities." 

EYC shared Bethany's facilities with an orientation for the
Brethren Academy, which was taking place at the same time. Academy
coordinator Jonathan Shively took the opportunity to schedule an
intergenerational learning experience--diversity training led by Al
Herring of Louisville, Ky.

Assisting Reish were four Bethany students and other staff members.
Both the leaders and the youth gave positive feedback to the pilot
program, with most participants expressing a desire to continue
examining ministry options. A similar event is being planned for
next summer; financial grants are available to continue the program
at least three more years.

 3) The Church of the Brethren Washington Office on Sept. 8-9 will
host a reconciliation conference for Sudanese living in the US.

Thirty-four members of the Dinka and Nuer tribes from across the
country are scheduled to attend the event, which will be held at
the Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren. The tribes have
historically been in conflict in southern Sudan, where recent
conferences have worked at bringing groups of them together.
Several agreements were reached, some with the assistance of Church
of the Brethren Global Mission Partnerships staff in Africa.

The September event could draw as many as 150 people in all, with
numerous organizational representatives and observers expected from
agencies including the US Institute for Peace, the US Committee for
Refugees, Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, the US
Agency for International Development, and others.

The weekend's schedule includes reports from the New Sudan Council
of Churches and other groups, presentations by the Dinka and Nuer
representatives, committee meetings, worship at the Washington City
church, and then recommendations and resolutions arising from the
time together.

Organizers hope that reconciliation work in the US can then be
continued in Canada and Europe, eventually carrying back to Sudan
itself. "Without Nuer-Dinka reconciliation," a proposal for the
conference reads, "no peace will be achieved in Sudan."

In the US Congress, meanwhile, work continues on the Sudan Peace
Act. Different versions of the bill--splitting mainly over
sanctions against oil companies operating in Sudan--have been
passed by the House and Senate. A conference committee is expected
to meet next month to resolve differences.

 4) A delegation from the World Council of Churches will be
visiting the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill.,
Sept. 18.

The group is making the stop between visits to the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America offices in Chicago and to the
Presbyterian Church (USA) offices in Louisville. They plan to share
about the ministry of the WCC and hear priorities for ministry in
the Church of the Brethren, along with touring the offices. Other
activities are being planned.

About six people are expected to form the delegation, which will
include deputy general secretary Yorgo Lemopoulos and commu-
nications officer Sara Speicher--a Church of the Brethren member.

 5) Two new grants from the General Board's Global Food Crisis Fund
will deliver assistance to Central America.

An allocation of $10,000 will go to Rio los Bueyes, El Salvador, in
support of agricultural training for poor, rural women. The funds
will be used in developing farming skills, food production,
micro-enterprise, and basic accounting and marketing.

A larger grant, for $33,000, was approved to aid an economic
development project in Nicaragua. The project is being coordinated
by Mision Cristiana, a denomination with which several US Church of
the Brethren congregations have sister-church relationships. The
funds will help convert existing farming to piahaya fruit
production and beekeeping, in order to create income for the
community.

 6) The General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund is again sending
aid to Africa, this time a $6,000 grant to the Dombe Grande region
of Angola.

The nation, located in southwestern Africa, suffered severe damage
due to heavy flooding. Relief work is occurring as part of a Church
World Service effort that includes feeding centers, medical
assistance, rebuilding homes, and agricultural rehabilitation. It
is the 14th allocation made from the fund this year.

 7) The church is mourning the death of Dr. Karen Doudt, a
Manchester College (North Manchester, Ind.) professor who worked
extensively with children in disaster situations.

Doudt, who died Aug. 14 after a lengthy illness, played a key role
in developing the original training program for Disaster Child
Care, a Church of the Brethren Emergency Response/Service
Ministries effort. Doudt served as a trainer for several years and
volunteered at many disaster sites herself, helping children cope
with the aftermath of natural disasters. She later also completed
training as a volunteer for Childcare in Aviation Incident
Response, helping children in the wake of plane crashes.

Her career included elementary school teaching in Indiana and
Nigeria, and work with the Manchester Community Child Care
Association and the Indiana Department of Public Welfare. She began
teaching full-time at Manchester in 1984.

A memorial service is being held at 2 p.m. Aug. 25 at the
Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester.

 8) Brethren Press' decision to discontinue the "Another Way of
Living" tract series on Brethren beliefs has met with both
gratitude and disappointment.

Five of the 12 tracts planned in the series debuted at Annual
Conference, covering the topics of baptism, simplicity, creeds,
Jesus, and salvation. The latter two sparked controversy among some
Brethren who felt that they did not reflect Biblical teachings or
accurately represent their beliefs.

Those submitting letters felt that the "Jesus" tract did not
acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ, especially Christ's
unique role as Savior. The "Salvation" tract generated even more
criticism, with letters stating the tract's text was vague and
downplayed the importance of salvation for Christians. Several
quoted Paul's admonition to "not be ashamed" of the gospel.

"I would be embarrassed for other evangelical Christians to read
these pamphlets and associate us with a church which stands for so
little, or at least gives that impression," one writer noted.

A number of others, however, expressed dismay that the series was
being pulled. One writer called them "thoughtful and
thought-provoking" and several said they were hopeful the tracts
could promote dialog and discussion. 

"We need to continue to live within the tension of differing
beliefs and understandings," another writer states. "Diversity is
a reality in the Church of the Brethren."

A Brethren Press letter sent in response to the concerns said the
tracts were intended to be descriptive rather than doctrinal, using
fresh language that could be easily understood by those with little
or no church background. Brethren Press staff realized, however,
that those goals were unclear in the way the tracts were presented.

 9) Church of the Brethren Emergency Response/Service Ministries'
long-running disaster relief project in Rocky Mount, N.C., is
closing at the end of August, following 13 months of work.

The project was one of several opened in response to extensive
damage caused by Hurricane Floyd, which tore through the region in
the fall of 1999. A more recently opened project in Wilson, N.C.,
is continuing, with Jiggs Miller serving as project coordinator
this month, and Paul and Patricia Haffner slated to begin in
September.

Emergency Response staff and volunteers have been active elsewhere
this month, as well, surveying damage and attending meetings in
disaster-stricken areas of West Virginia and Wisconsin. A flood
relief project in Arizona is also expected to open soon.

 10) Mary Jo Flory-Steury has been called as director of Ministry
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, beginning Nov. 15.
Current director Allen Hansell, who is retiring, will be concluding
his service Dec. 31.

Flory-Steury currently serves as senior pastor of the Prince of
Peace Church of the Brethren, Kettering, Ohio, where she has served
since 1992. Prior to that, she was co-pastor with her husband,
Mark, at the Troy (Ohio) Church of the Brethren and taught at
Hillcrest School in Nigeria from 1979-80.

She was a member of the General Board from 1996-2001, serving as
board chair for three years until completing her term of service in
July. She has also been moderator of the Southern Ohio District and
served as field supervisor for five ministry students from Bethany
Theological Seminary--from which she graduated in 1984. 

Flory-Steury will work from her home near Dayton, Ohio.

 11) The Annual Conference officers, on behalf of the Program &
Arrangements Committee, have announced the retirement of Duane
Steiner as Annual Conference executive director effective Dec. 1,
2002. Steiner has served in this position since November 1992.

In the 10 years prior to this, Steiner served Bethany Theological
Seminary as treasurer/ business manager. He also worked in the
seminary's development office, initially in church relations and
later as director of development.

Steiner and his wife, Jeannine, are members of the York Center
Church of the Brethren and reside in Lombard, Ill.

 12)  In the past year, the Church of the Brethren General Board
has passed a resolution on improving relations with the Brethren
Church, and Annual Conference delegates have adopted that
resolution as a study paper to consider possible actions. It all
stemmed from a plea for forgiveness made by Brethren Church
executive director Buzz Sandberg at the 2000 Annual Conference,
seeking to heal the wounds between the two denominations since they
split in the late 1800s.

The Church of the Brethren's Northern Ohio District--whose region
includes the city of Ashland, where the Brethren Church national
offices are located--is especially close to the issue. It thus
provided a perfect forum for some face-to-face discussion between
the two groups--or, as they called it, "Brethren to Brethren"
discussion.

Sandberg and two other Brethren Church leaders came to the district
conference, held in Ashland, and joined Northern Ohio District
moderator Glen Whisler and two other district leaders on a panel
for an insight session conversation. Moderator-elect Paul
Bartholomew convened the session.

A large map of the district showed where Church of the Brethren
congregations were closely connected with those of the Brethren
Church, in hopes of promoting contacts between the two. A handout
was also provided to describe both the historical and current
context of the bodies' relationship.

Questions posed to the panel included "What can we do together to
strengthen our witness for Jesus Christ?" and "What can our
congregations do together to demonstrate cooperation 
and a kindred spirit?," followed by time for questions and
discussion.

"With the national offices of the Brethren Church here in Ashland,
we have had an excellent relationship with them for over 10 years,"
says Northern Ohio District executive Tom Zuercher. "We often have
contact, and work at programs and issues that impact us both. . .
. Having their headquarters and their seminary in our community has
been a real asset to us."

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. Marcia Shetler and
Michael Schug contributed to this report.

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