Newsline: Brethren couple begin teaching in N. Korea

From CoBNews <[email protected]>
Date Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:36:58 -0600

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, [email protected]

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN COUPLE BEGIN TEACHING IN NORTH KOREA

(Nov. 19, 2010) Elgin, IL -- Classes started Nov. 1 for Robert and 
Linda Shank, Church of the Brethren workers who have begun teaching 
at a new university in the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. The 
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, located at the edge 
of North Korea's capital city, has opened and is in operation.

A call to prayer for the Shanks was issued by the Church of the 
Brethren's Global Mission Partnerships. "Pray that they get sorted 
out in the first months, that they have good rapport with their 
students and colleagues from around the world," said executive 
director Jay Wittmeyer.

For several months the couple have been at a sister university in 
China, preparing curriculum as they and other faculty got ready to 
teach at the brand new institution.

 From Kansas, the Shanks' road to North Korea has taken them through 
a succession of agricultural assignments in developing countries: 
Ethiopia, Liberia, Nepal, and Belize. Robert Shank holds a doctorate 
in wheat breeding and has conducted rice research. Linda Shank holds 
a master's degree in counseling and learning disabilities. 

They are working in North Korea under the auspices of the Church of 
the Brethren's Global Mission Partnerships and the Global Food Crisis 
Fund. Since 1996, the fund has provided grants in North Korea for 
hunger relief, agricultural development, and farm rehabilitation, and 
currently supports a cluster of farm cooperatives in order to help 
North Koreans boost agricultural production and equip their country 
to avert periodic famine.

For more about the new Pyongyang University of Science and 
Technology, read a report on a visit to the school made by Global 
Mission Partnerships executive Jay Wittmeyer last September, go to 
www.brethren.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9381 . 

Also available is a photo album from the university's dedication 
ceremony, go to 
www.brethren.org/site/PhotoAlbumUser?AlbumID=9373&view=UserAlbum .

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 celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 
123,000 members across the United 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
>[email protected]