wfn.org | Newsline: Brethren delegation from US to arrive in Haiti today, Haitian Brethren church leader is mi

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service,

>News Director Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

>800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Brethren delegation from US to arrive in Haiti today;

Haitian Brethren church leader is reported missing.

(Jan. 19, 2010) Elgin, IL -- A Church of the Brethren delegation of mission  and disaster relief leaders from

the US is to arrive in Haiti today to do assessment and begin the church's  response to the massive earthquake

>that hit Port-au-Prince area last Tuesday.

The delegation includes Ludovic St. Fleur, coordinator of the Church of the  Brethren mission in Haiti and pastor

of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Haitian Church of the Brethren) in Miami, Fl a.; Roy Winter, executive director of Brethren Disaster Ministries; Jeff Bo shart, coordinator of the church's current hurricane rebuilding project in  Haiti; and Klebert Exceus, Haiti consultant for the hurricane rebuilding pr oject.

Also today, a key Haitian Brethren church leader has been reported missing:  Pastor Ives who leads one of the three Brethren congregations in Port-au-P rince and is moderator of Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Church of the Brethre n in Haiti). News also has been received that some members of Pastor Ives'  congregation have lost their lives, and that the church building of at leas t one Brethren congregation in Port-au-Prince has collapsed.

>News from Haitian Brethren:

The news from the Haitian Brethren in Port-au-Prince was received from Past or Sauyeux, pastor of a Brethren congregation in Descubierta, the Dominican  Republic. He passed the news along to Irvin Heishman, DR mission coordinat or for the Church of the Brethren, and Tom Crago, a Church of the Brethren  member currently in the DR.

Pastor Sauyeux "went into Haiti to check on the Church of the Brethren chur ches there," wrote Heishman and Crago in an e-mail. "His report is that Pas tor Ives is missing. The church in Del Matre collapsed and some church memb ers have died. The other two pastors (in the Port-au-Prince area) are known  to be okay. Members are living in the street and it rained today. There is  disorder, with looting."

Pastor Ives was described today as the "spiritual leader" of the Haitian Br ethren by Jay Wittmeyer, executive of Global Mission Partnerships for the C hurch of the Brethren. He expressed deep concern for Ives' wellbeing and th at of his congregation.

Many of the Church of the Brethren members from the Port-au-Prince area hav e been able to relocate in northern Haiti with family, added a report from  Roy Winter at Brethren Disaster Ministries.

Other news has been received from Haitian Brethren through family members i n the United States who are living in the Miami and Orlando areas of Florid a, and in New York. From some informal reports, it appears that numerous me mbers of Haitian Brethren congregations in the US may have lost family in t he earthquake, and that many have not yet heard from family living in Haiti .

US Brethren delegation to arrive in Haiti today:

An e-mail received yesterday from Roy Winter, executive director of Brethre n Disaster Ministries, reports that the Brethren delegation successfully ob tained a flight to Port-au-Prince with Missionary Flights International (MF I). The flight was to leave for Haiti today.

"The fact we got through to MFI is rather amazing," Winter wrote. "Normally  they only fly missionaries or workgroups directly connected to MFI's missi on partners. Maybe because of some special intervention, they responded to  a call and e-mail from Jeff, while ignoring hundreds of others."

When the group arrived at the Orlando (Fla.) airport to have their supplies  weighed for the flight, Winter wrote, "It was still chaos. The passenger l ist is hand written on a legal pad, but we saw 'Boshart - 4' confirming our  seats. We also saw some of the old DC-3, a vintage 1940s plane, that will  be our ride to Port-au-Prince tomorrow.

"The chaos came from the multiple efforts going on at MFI," Winter explaine d. "They are collecting donations for Haiti, have gone from two flights a w eek to two flights a day. All while supporting their other mission points a nd other parts of Haiti."

Dick Snook, president of MFI, personally put the Brethren group's bags on a  pallet to be ready for the flight the next day, "so we left feeling like w e are as ready as possible," Winter commented.

One of the group's first plans on arrival in Port-au-Prince is to try to or ganize a meeting with Haitian Brethren church leaders.

Brethren Service Center begins shipping relief supplies to Haiti:

The Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., is beginning shipments of  relief materials to Haiti. The Church of the Brethren's Material Resources  staff at the center, led by director Loretta Wolf, are working to coordinat e shipments being made ready for Haiti on behalf of IMA World Health, Churc h World Service (CWS), and Lutheran World Relief.

"Church World Service has arranged for one air shipment and one ocean shipm ent," Wolf reported in an e-mail today. "The air shipment contains 14,743 p ounds of blankets, baby kits, hygiene kits, flashlights, and toothpaste. It  will be picked up today. The ocean shipment is one 40-foot container with  blankets, baby kits, and hygiene kits. The container will leave New Windsor  tomorrow. Initial plans are for the container to enter through the Dominic an Republic. We are currently receiving medicines and packing medicine boxe s for IMA."

Emergency Disaster Fund gives grant for Haiti refugee effort in New York:

Brethren Disaster Ministries has requested a grant from the Emergency Disas ter Fund of $5,000 for the Haitian First Church of New York, which is a Chu rch of the Brethren congregation, and the New York Disaster Interfaith Serv ices.

The grant will fund the establishment of a family assistance center to assi st Haitians relocating to the US following the earthquake.

The center will offer refugees a variety of services including help from th e American Red Cross, chaplains, mental health services, resettlement suppo rt in the form of housing vouchers, casework services, and an Internet caf é to assist with communication.

Dominican Brethren respond to the earthquake in Haiti:

The Mendoza church in the Dominican Republic gathered together on this firs t Sunday following the earthquake in Haiti to grieve and comfort one anothe r in the face of the terrible losses. Thge church is part of the Church of  the Brethren in the DR.

Many wept as the congregation sang in Haitian Creole, "When peace like a ri ver attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll." One woman fell t o the floor in a convulsion of wailing and sorrow. The gathering felt like  a mass funeral service given that most of the 400-plus members were grievin g personal losses and also the collective story of so many deaths of loved  ones in Port-au-Prince.

Many have still not heard news of their loved ones and are terribly worried .  Others know of injuries and destruction of family property.

"We will not fear, though the earth give way...and the mountains quake" (Ps alm 46:2-3). This was Pastor Ernst Merisier's text as he comforted his grie ving congregation. "God is our stability (refuge and strength) in an unstab le world," he said. In this world, everything is unstable and unworthy of t rust. "Nevertheless," he said, "we can put our faith in the salvation offer ed through Jesus Christ because He is 'rock-solid.'" A special offering to  help victims of the earthquake was collected by the members of the congrega tion.

Other Brethren churches in the Dominican Republic are responding as well wi th offerings and collections of food. National Dominican leaders have begun  setting goals for a coordinated relief effort using funds granted by Breth ren Disaster Services.

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 some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  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