wfn.org | Newsline: Volunteer organization seeks churches for community living opportunities

[cobnews <cobnews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- Feb. 26, 2009
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director
800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org

BRETHREN VOLUNTEER SERVICE SEEKS PARTNER CHURCHES TO PROVIDE COMMUNITY LIVI NG OPPORTUNITIES

(Feb. 26, 2009) Elgin, IL -- In a new endeavor for Brethren Volunteer Servi ce (BVS), the organization will be working to develop community living oppo rtunities for its volunteers, in partnership with interested congregations.

BVS will be seeking Church of the Brethren congregations that can host a co mmunity house to accommodate groups of four to six volunteers who will work  at project sites in the area. Volunteers will commit to being active in th e life of the congregation. Housing could be in an unused parsonage or othe r suitable housing arrangement.

The new emphasis is part of an ongoing partnership that BVS has established  with the Volunteers Exploring Vocation program through the Fund for Theolo gical Education (FTE) and a grant from the Lilly Foundation. Through the ne w emphasis on community living within the context of a local church communi ty, BVS is seeking to broaden the vocations program it is already doing thr ough FTE. The vocations program invites volunteers to explore their call to  ministry.

BVS has named a volunteer staff member to lead the emphasis. Dana Cassell b egan Feb. 1 as volunteer staff for Vocation and Community Living. She will  work with Jim Lehman of Elgin, Ill., who is the facilitator of the vocation s program for BVS. She is a member of First Church of the Brethren in Roano ke, Va., and a graduate of the College of William and Mary. She holds a mas ter of divinity degree from Candler School of Theology and recently complet ed 15 months as a BVS volunteer in the Church of the Brethren's Ministry Of fice.

Congregations interested in hosting a Brethren Volunteer Service community  site may contact Dana Cassell at dcassell_gb@brethren.org or 800-323-8039, ext 317.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing 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 t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts more than 125,000 members across the  United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nig eria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org