Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- Nov. 27, 2007 Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
BRETHREN WORKCAMP MINISTRY EXPERIENCES SUCCESSFUL EXPANSION
(Nov. 27, 2007) Elgin, IL -- An expansion of the workcamp ministry of the Church of the Brethren has been very successful, according to coordinator Steve Van Houten. This past summer, the ministry involved about 875 participants in a total of 37 workcamps that took place across the US and internationally.
"We really jumped into it this year," Van Houten said. The most workcamps held by the Church of the Brethren in previous years was in 2005, when 26 events involved about 650 people. Another aspect of the expansion was the different age groups served, from junior high through youth to young adults, to intergenerational events that also involved older adults.
The workcamp ministry also offered "custom" workcamps for congregations that could send a large enough group to hold a workcamp by themselves. At regular workcamps only a third of participants can come from the same congregation.
Also new this year was the widest variety of locations ever offered. New locations offered the opportunity to partner with Church of the Brethren camps, and with Brethren Disaster Ministries at Hurricane Katrina rebuilding sites in the Gulf coast. Other new locations included a home building site in an Appalachian area in southeastern Kentucky with Homes, Inc., which saw the largest single group this summer with 52 participants. Five workcamps were held in the Caribbean including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. Other international workcamps were held in Mexico and Guatemala.
The responses from those receiving the service of workcampers signaled success to Van Houten. "People are amazed that the youth workcampers will pay to come to work," he said. Van Houten described a conversation on St. Croix with a Muslim man who managed the lumberyard that supplied materials for the workcamp. "He scratched his head," Van Houten recalled. "He said, are these bad kids doing community service? I explained these are good kids who want to be here. He struggled to understand.... He said, your kids come here and do things for people who aren't even neighbors, this is amazing."
At the end of the conversation, the manager insisted on giving Van Houten a hug, instead of a simple handshake, saying, "We are brothers."
Another sign of success came during a "custom" intergenerational workcamp held for Plymouth (Ind.) Church of the Brethren in Keyser, W.Va. Ages ranged from the teens to the mid-70s. "Those 26 people will always have a bond that they wouldn't have otherwise," Van Houten said. He asked the adults to take the role of mentors, to share their knowledge and skills with the youth, and he encouraged the youth to be the ones to actually do most of the work. The youth responded with affirmation, he said, even expressing the wish that their grandparents and parents would spend that kind of time with them. "Work-wise we might not have gotten quite as much done," Van Houten said, "but I think in the end they all saw the benefit."
The Church of the Brethren will offer 26 workcamps in the summer of 2008 on the theme, "Strengthen My Hands" from Nehemiah 6:9. Locations will include the Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding projects on the Gulf coast; the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.; the Dominican Republic (co-sponsored by the Brethren Revival Fellowship); Roanoke, Va.; Richmond, Va.; Ashland, Ohio; Baltimore, Md.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Idaho; Broadway, Va.; Castaner, P.R.; Neon, Ky.; Kyle, S.D.; the eastern shore of Maryland; Keyser, W.Va.; Chicago, Ill.; St. Croix; Reynosa, Mexico; and North Fort Myers, Fla. For a 2008 brochure contact cobworkcamps_gb@brethren.org or 800-323-8039, or go to www.brethrenworkcamps.org for more information.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts almost 130,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.
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For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
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