The Church of the Brethren is planning a series of workcamps in Nigeria, as part of the new effort to rebuild churches of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Nearly 70 percent of EYN’s churches in northeast Nigeria have been destroyed in the Boko Haram insurgency. A Nigeria Church Rebuilding Fund has been developed to help provide support to EYN congregations who are working to rebuild.
One of the EYN church buildings that have been destroyed by Boko Haram.
Global Mission and Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer reports that of EYN’s 458 churches, which are called LCCs, 258 have been destroyed. (These numbers do not include the hundreds of additional preaching points in EYN.) Wittmeyer hopes to be able to start out by providing $5,000 to selected EYN congregations to re-roof their church buildings.
Church of the Brethren congregations and districts in the United States are invited to consider sponsoring a new roof for an EYN church. Gifts to the Nigeria Church Rebuilding Fund are received online at www.brethren.org/nigeriacrisis/church-rebuilding.html or by mail at Nigeria Church Rebuilding, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Workcamps
The series of workcamps in Nigeria will take place over the next six or seven months. The first is set for Nov. 4-23. Subsequent workcamps are scheduled for Jan. 11-30, 2017, and Feb. 17-March 6, 2017.
Participants will need to raise about $2,500 to cover the cost of transportation, food, and supplies. Those who apply for a workcamp are warned that they will face extreme heat in northeast Nigeria, as well as intense sun, and the rigors of life in a developing nation. “As members of the Church of the Brethren, we say that our motto is to live ‘peacefully, simply and together.’ This opportunity presents a real chance to live this out!” said an announcement of the new workcamps.
Express interest in a workcamp by contacting the Nigeria Crisis Response at crhill@brethren.org or 847-429-4329.