Brethren Volunteer Service is a full time volunteer program that places volunteers in a one or two year long assignment in the United States and some locations around the world. This ministry of the Church of the Brethren has been a major program in this Christian denomination since 1948.
Due to the number of interested applicants and the continued health concerns over the pandemic, BVS has made the decision to offer a virtual Winter Orientation from January 31st- February 12th, 2021.
Following the same format as the summer and fall units, the winter orientation will be two weeks long and will be done while volunteers are already at their project sites – building in a two-week quarantine time so that volunteers are ready to begin serving as soon as orientation is completed. BVS staff is working hard to include as many aspects of the traditional orientation as possible. The volunteers will gather virtually to grow in faith, learn about Brethren history, service, and social justice issues, build community, work together to accomplish common tasks, and have fun. Because of this new format, BVS staff will be working ahead of orientation with volunteers to discern their project placements, which is typically done during the three-week orientation.
The winter orientation will now take place January 31st – February 12th, 2021. The application deadline for this unit is Monday, December 14th, 2020 and the application can be found online. If anyone is interested in joining this unit and would like more information, please reach out to the BVS staff at BVS@brethren.org.
Winter 2021 #328
January 31 – February 12, 2021 (Virtual) – Applications are due December 14, 2020.
Summer 2021 #329
July 18 – August 6, 2021 (Inspiration Hills Camp) – Applications are due June 4, 2021.
Fall 2021 #330
September 19 – October 8, 2021 (Camp Brethren Heights) – Applications are due August 6, 2021.
Two interim employees--Shawn Flory Replogle and Pauline Liu--have been promoted to staff positions with the Church of the Brethren. Replogle has accepted the position of executive director of Organizational Resources for Finance. Liu has accepted a position coordinating volunteers for Brethren Volunteer Service.
Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) will be holding a virtual Winter Orientation for Unit 328. Due to the number of interested applicants and the continued health concerns over the pandemic, BVS has made the decision to offer a virtual orientation for new volunteers from Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 2021.
Workcamp Ministry announces that the program will now be operating under a new name: Faith Outreach Expeditions, or FaithX for short.
The Workcamp Ministry is announcing formal plans for the 2021 workcamps. We are grateful for those who participated in the informational survey last month and have taken the feedback into account while developing options for next summer. The four workcamp options, and their costs, can be found below.
The volunteers participating in Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) summer and fall orientation units have been placed at their project sites and have begun work. The volunteers received orientation online, in a virtual process that for some occurred as they were in quarantine at their project sites in a COVID-19 protocol that BVS has put in place this year.