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

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Date: Oct. 12, 2001
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

SPECIAL UPDATE
"Trust in the Lord and do good..." Psalms 37:3a

 1) Updates on Brethren response to world events.
 2) Patriotism, pacifism cause struggles in some congregations. 
 3) The church mourns the death of EYN leader John Kudzar.

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 1) Updates on the ongoing response by the Church of the Brethren
and others to the current world crisis:

 *The General Board executive committee this week approved a
$50,000 Global Food Crisis Fund grant to help provide emergency
food aid for the people of Afghanistan. The food will be
distributed in consultation with Church World Service or other
appropriate partners. The allocation joins $75,000 already given
from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund--$25,000 for
relief efforts in the US and $50,000 toward Church World Service
humanitarian assistance along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

 *Brethren Colleges Abroad is closely watching its site in Cochin,
India, as events unfold in the adjacent country of Pakistan and its
neighbor, Afghanistan. Cochin is in far southern India, but an
upcoming trip planned to the northern part of the country was
cancelled this week. "BCA believes the safety, security, and
well-being of the students, participants, and staff should be our
central consideration," BCA president Karen Jenkins said in a
release. Other programs at all 11 of BCA's sites around the world
have continued as scheduled. A set of emergency management
procedures is in place if needed.

 *Resources on www.brethren.org continue to grow. The main page
providing links to various response efforts and information, at
www.brethren.org/usresponse, has been redesigned to provide
additional links and easier access. On Earth Peace has introduced
a newly designed area for its "Seeking Peace" site with a variety
of resources, at www.brethren.org/oepa/seekingpeace. The Brethren
Press "The Way of Peace" congregational resources collection is
also growing almost daily. It can be found at
www.brethren.org/genbd/BP/resources.htm. In addition to electronic
resources, a ready-to-use print bulletin insert highlighting
General Board response efforts was mailed to all congregations in
the past week.

 *The website www.FaithandValues.com will hold an event related to
the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath on Oct. 22 in Washington,
D.C. The program will be broadcast live on the website. Titled
"Faith in the Face of Terror," it is scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Eastern time. Additional details will be announced in the coming
week. Following that, the latest in a series of Church World
Service-sponsored pastoral care programs will also be broadcast on
the site, from 2-4 p.m. This one is slated to focus on "Patriotism
and Peace"; the previous forum, held Sept. 30, examined "Tragedy
and Spiritual Care." Brethren Service Center director Stan
Noffsinger was among the participants in an earlier forum, held
shortly after the Sept. 11 events. Archives of the forums are kept
at FaithandValues.com.

 *The Association of Brethren Caregivers board voted unanimously
during its Sept. 28-29 meetings to affirm a statement developed by
ABC's Denominational Deacon Cabinet in response to the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. The statement, which ABC has offered "for
consideration and use by Church of the Brethren members and
congregations," speaks particularly from the perspective of deacons
or other church caregivers. Its points include calls to "renew a
commitment to the servant ministry as a lifestyle," "deepen their
love for one another both within the church and for all God's
children," and increase "faithfulness to Christ's ideals of peace
and reconciliation." The full statement can be viewed at
www.brethren.org/abc/deacons/sept11statement.html.

 *Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has adopted a "Statement of
Conviction" regarding recent events and is "commending it to
churches for study, reflection and action." It says that
retaliatory bombings on Afghanistan "will not set things right" and
states, "As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that we must
choose the nonviolent way of the cross in these dangerous times."
It gives five suggestions for action for local churches, including
reaching out to Muslim neighbors, organizing a weekly "truth
forum," and asking relief agencies to deliver direct humanitarian
aid to Afghan refugees.

 *Bridgewater (Va.) College will hold a "One Sky, One World"
International Kite Fly for Peace this Sunday. Is is the 11th year
Bridgewater has been part of the international observance, but its
goal of promoting global harmony has taken on special meaning this
year in light of world events. Both kite-flying participants and
spectators are being welcomed.

 *Atlantic Northeast District this past Wednesday held a pastors
and leaders gathering at the Lititz (Pa.) Church of the Brethren
focusing on current events. Questions addressed included "How are
leaders and pastors responding?," "How can we deal with
retaliation, justice, terrorism, in light of our peace stance?,"
and "How do we overcome prejudice against Muslims, Arabs, and those
accused of the acts of September 11? What does Jesus' compassion
mean in this time?" On Earth Peace co-director Barb Sayler
facilitated the meeting.

 *Brethren Volunteer Service Europe coordinator Kristin Flory was
among those attending an International Conference on Christians and
Muslims in Europe, held Sept. 12-16 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-
Herzegovina. Sponsored by the Conference on European Churches, the
theme of the event had been planned long before the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. The conference developed a declaration titled
"Christians and Muslims in a Pluralized Europe," calling for
efforts at reconciliation and building justice and peace. The full
statement can be viewed at www.brethren.org/usresponse/
Solidarity.htm.

 *Several newspaper articles in recent weeks have highlighted the
historic peace churches and pacifist beliefs. A Chicago Tribune
article quoted Chicago First Church of the Brethren pastor Orlando
Redekopp, and a Roanoke (Va.) Times piece quotes General Board
general secretary Judy Mills Reimer, highlighting the Annual
Conference statement that "all war is sin." An Associated Press
article distributed nationwide also mentioned the Brethren.  

 *Brethren helped to organize a public peace witness on the steps
of the state capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on October 7. About 300
people attended "Sowing Seeds of Peace: Prayers and Petitions for
Nonviolent Action." Those attending grieved for the victims of the
Sept. 11 violence, called on leaders to consider nonviolent
alternatives to military action, and committed themselves to
confronting violence through prayer and action. The service was
organized by members of local Brethren, Mennonite, and Brethren in
Christ churches, and attended by people from various
denominations."It is a lonely and difficult journey to maintain
faithfulness to the way of Jesus in this time," said Irv Heishman,
co-pastor at Harrisburg First Church of the Brethren and a member
of the planning committee. "However, it was healing and comforting
to be able to give witness to another way of living." Also on the
planning committee were Nancy Heishman, co-pastor at Harrisburg
First; Harrisburg First member Valerie Weaver-Zercher; and Dale
Brown, a member at the Elizabethtown (Pa.) congregation. Ralph
Detrick, co-pastor at Elizabethtown, also participated in the
service. The event raised $1,600 for Afghan refugee assistance and
grief counseling in New York. More than 220 people signed a letter
calling on the government to consider nonviolent alternatives to
military action.

 *An Oct. 8 statement from the World Council of Churches calls on
the United States and the United Kingdom to "bring a prompt end to
the present action" against Afghanistan and urged other countries
not to join them. The bombing missions ironically began on World
Communion Sunday, Oct. 7. The WCC statement says "We abhor war" and
cites a 1948 WCC assembly decision calling war "a sin against God
and humanity." It says war can never "be regarded as an effective
response to the equally abhorrent sin of terrorism."

 *The US National Council of Churches also continues to work at
responses, building on the "Deny Them Their Victory: A Religious
Response to Terrorism" statement created by the NCC and several
other groups and signed by more than 3,500 religious leaders. NCC
general secretary Bob Edgar called Church of the Brethren General
Board general secretary Judy Mills Reimer this week to get
additional historic peace church input. The Church World Service
Immigration and Refugee Program has also drafted a statement,
emphasizing the treatment of Muslims and the plight of refugees.
Brethren Service Center director Stan Noffsinger was among the
signers.

 2) The response to world conflict in the wake of the Sept. 11
attacks has created some conflict much closer to home. Church of
the Brethren congregations at various points across the country are
dealing with tension and dissension, particularly in regards to
issues of pacifism and patriotism.

The display of American flags in the church, in particular, seems
to have generated controversy in some churches. It has come up both
in local congregations and in larger events like the recent
Brethren Disaster Auction, where large flags hung at the front of
the hall.

This is not a new issue for Brethren. A query to the 1990 Annual
Conference from Shenandoah District said that "the use of flags on
church properties has become a highly charged emotional issue for
some of our congregations" and asked for guidelines on flag usage.

A pamphlet prepared by Tom Wagner before the Conference called the
display of flags in Brethren churches a symptom of acculturation,
saying "a flag is no more appropriate in a meetinghouse than it
would be to place a cross in the local post office." Wagner also
cited a quote from the 1946 Minister's Manual that said "Flags,
pennants . . . and all such paraphernalia belong somewhere else
than at or near the center of worship."

Conference delegates did not tackle the touchy matter, however.
They instead adopted a Standing Committee recommendation that the
query "be respectfully returned and that the issue of flags be left
to the discretion of congregations."

Recent debate has gone beyond flags to include such issues as
singing "God Bless America" in church and questioning the Brethren
peace position in light of current events, sometimes putting
pastors in difficult positions. One member characterized it as the
reopening and festering of "old wounds."

Church of the Brethren Annual Conference statements say that "all
war is sin," but some have found that hard to accept in present
circumstances. A few have even followed the lead of prominent
Quaker Scott Simon in rethinking or renouncing their peace
position. Reports indicate a few churches postponed love feast
services this past weekend amid congregational quarreling.

"District executives and pastors alike are finding it difficult to
know how to 'respond,' and it is tiring and depleting," says Area
1 (Northeast) Congregational Life Team coordinator Jan Kensinger.
She emphasized the need for clergy self-care and dialog within the
body of Christ.

Anderson (Ind.) pastor Duane Grady says the lack of such dialog in
the past may be hurting the church now. He says he has heard
"numerous stories of conflict."

"The blending together of God and country, which has not been
questioned in the past, is especially strong at a time of crisis,
and people simply do not understand why anyone would object," says
Grady, a member of the Area 2 (Midwest) Congregational Life Team.
"We are experiencing our failure to address these issues in the
calm, and during the storm it is too difficult to have a rational
conversaiton."

On Earth Peace's Ministry of Reconciliation has offered consultants
to congregations experiencing conflict. Resource people are being
named in each of the five Congregational Life Team areas. Resource
sheets called "Reframing a Conflict" are also available and can be
downloaded at www.brethren.org/oepa/seekingpeace/congSupport.html.

In a page for sharing stories on the On Earth Peace site, Skyridge
Church of the Brethren (Kalamazoo, Mich.) pastor Debbie Eisenbise
says, "In these times, we counsel folks to be in prayer and to talk
with one another and to honor responses that come from God's
leading and from a place of conscience."

Standing Committee member Jim Hardenbrook, pastor of the Nampa
(Idaho) congregation, cited the famous words of Winston Churchill,
that "The first casualty of war is truth." He urges Brethren to
listen carefully and respectfully.

"Those of us who would like to see terrorism dealt with in a
different way must be careful of our words, too," Hardenbrook says.
"I have found that we often dialogue with those who agree with us
rather than engaging in constructive conversations with those who
develop the policies we oppose."

 3) The General Board's Global Mission Partnerships office this
week reported the death of the Rev. John Kudzar, former chairman of
the Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in
Nigeria). The chairman post, later renamed "president," is the top
position in the EYN. 

Kudzar was retired and had been serving in an honorary capacity as
spiritual advisor to current EYN president Toma Ragnjiya and other
church leadership. Kudzar had visited Annual Conference and
participated in the Nigeria-US pastoral exchange program in 1991,
serving in the Black Rock congregation (Glenville, Pa.) in Southern
Pennsylvania district.

His son-in-law, Mbode Ndirmbita, just began study in August at
Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind.

A note from Global Mission Partnerships director Merv Keeney said,
"We regret the loss of this faithful follower of Christ, who gave
generously of his gifts in leadership to the church and offered
encouragement to those around him."

 

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, manager of news services
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the first, third
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