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

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Date: Sept. 11, 2001
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

NEWS
 1) Brethren react to tragic day of US terrorism.
 2) Rioting, deaths occur in Jos, Nigeria.

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

 1) Reaction rippled throughout the denomination Tuesday as news
spread about terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.,
and a plane crash in western Pennsylvania.

"What an awful day," said Phill Carlos Archbold, associate pastor
at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Church of the Brethren--located only a few
miles from the World Trade Center. "The church is open and people
are coming in and out and praying. We are praying for our friends
everywhere as well as the terrorists who would do this."

Archbold said the church had been busy providing aid as well as
prayers. He said they had distributed more than 2,000 face masks to
help people cope with heavy dust in the area and had delivered
about 2,000 blankets to two hospitals in Manhattan.

Another hub of activity occurred at the Brethren Service Center in
New Windsor, Md., which houses the General Board's Emergency
Response/Service Ministries (ER/SM) office and several other
service agencies.

Stan Noffsinger, director of the center and manager of ER/SM, said
Child Care in Aviation Incident Response (CAIR) teams east of the
Mississippi had been placed on full standby alert to provide care
for victims' families. Noffsinger said teams would be deployed to
provide support as soon as American Red Cross officials told
them when and where.

Four commerical airliners--two from United Airlines and two from
American Airlines--were reported to have crashed on Tuesday. Two
originated in Boston, one at Washington D.C.'s Dulles International
Airport, and one in Newark, N.J. All four were headed to cities in
California, either Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Church World Service, which has headquarters in the upper Manhattan
portion of New York, said that it would open a satellite emergency
response office at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor to
serve as the center for communication and response coordination
related to Tuesday's attacks.

The Church World Service Emergency Response Executive Committee was
meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., this week but went into immediate
emergency session when it received news of the morning's events on
the East Coast.

The Brethren Service Center's distribution center was secured as a
precautionary measure. Noffsinger said the ER/SM office would
likely be staffed 24 hours a day for the next few days. "This has
a profound impact on all our staff," he said. "We're prepared to
respond."

Noffsinger urged people who wanted to send help to contact their
local chapters of the American Red Cross. ER/SM will also likely
need financial or other resources as the response mounts, but
Noffsinger said people should "stand by" until those needs are
known. The Carroll County (Md.) chapter of the Red Cross is located
at the service center. Blood donations were also being urged.

"Probably the most helpful resource right now is for members to be
in solemn prayer," Noffsinger said. "This is where our faith get
tested to the core." 

National Council of Churches (NCC) general secretary Bob Edgar also
urged prayer, issuing a statement condemning the "vicious attacks."
The NCC headquarters are also located in uptown Manhattan.

"At such a time as this, we must hold together. We call on people
of faith to reach out to one another," Edgar wrote. "We especially
urge churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship to
join in prayer and practical help. We must stand united against the
temptation to retaliate against innocent persons." 

As several government leaders termed Tuesday's attacks an "act of
war" against the US, Brethren leaders spoke from the denomination's
historic peace position.

"Violence against innocents, as violence against anyone, is an
affront to our humanity and to the God who created us," said
Brethren Witness director David Radcliff. "We surely grieve for the
families of all affected by these acts of terror. And we must
recommit ourselves to the work Christ has given us--to strive for
reconciliation and peace; to call for an end to acts of terror
wherever they occur; and to seek justice in a world where injustice
all-too-often leads to despair or destruction."

World Council of Churches general secretary Konrad Raiser also
issued a statement from Geneva, Switzerland, expressing concern and
calling for prayer. He ended by saying "Lord, have mercy; Christ,
have mercy; Lord, have mercy. Amen."

Prayer services were held at the Church of the Brethren General
Offices in Elgin, Ill., just before noon Central time. Similar
services were scheduled at congregations across the country--most
for Tuesday evening, and some for Wednesday.

Brethren Volunteer Service worker Janice Gibbel was en route from
Dublin, Ireland, to Baltimore Tuesday aboard an Aer Lingus flight,
which an airline statement said was rerouted to return to Ireland.
No other Church of the Brethren staff or volunteers were known to
be traveling by air Tuesday.

Frances Beam, a member of the Living Faith Fellowship Church of the
Brethren in Concord, N.C., was scheduled to have a meeting in the
World Trade Center Tuesday, but her plane never left Charlotte,
N.C., according to a statement from the Virlina District. All
flights in the US and Canada were grounded by the Federal Aviation
Administration by late Tuesday morning Eastern time.

The Church of the Brethren Washington Office, located on the
opposite side of downtown Washington, D.C., from the Pentagon,
closed for the day as a state of emergency was declared in the
district. Washington Office coordinator Greg Laszakovits reported
that all staff were safe, and he anticipated the office would
re-open on Wednesday.

 
 2) The Church of the Brethren General Board received news over the
weekend that rioting had occurred in Jos, Nigeria.

Jos, located in the central part of the country northeast of the
capital of Abuja, is home to several schools of the Ekklesiyar
Yan'uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). It is also
the center of much activity for US Church of the Brethren Global
Mission Partnerships workers.

Dozens of people were killed and hundreds more injured in violence
sparked by tensions between Muslims and Christians, according to
initial reports. Ethnic and economic tensions in the nation have
also contributed to outbreaks. At least two churches and one mosque
in the city were burned.

Merv Keeney, director of the Global Mission Partnerships, said that
his office received notification that Church of the Brethren
missionaries John and Janet Tubbs and Tom and Janet Crago were
safe. They were staying in their mission compounds and keeping in
touch with other mission communities in Jos for support and to make
tentative evacuation plans should that become necessary. They
reported hearing yelling and gunshots.

The violence continued into this week as soldiers and extra police
were brought into the city to quell the fighting. Violence has
occurred throughout Nigeria in the past two years as Muslim groups,
particularly in the north of the country, have implented Islamic
"sharia" law. 

Violence erupted in Kaduna state in February 2000, resulting in the
destruction of an EYN church in Badarwa and the death of three EYN
members. More violence occurred in Kaduna a few months later. The
EYN congregation continues to meet there, using the remains of its
church building.

The Global Mission Partnerships office requested prayers for the
families of the victims, for the EYN community in Jos, and for the
safety of the mission workers there.

 

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.

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