Chris Elliott, a farmer and pastor from Pennsylvania, and his daughter Grace served in Rwanda from January to May 2022. Chris helped with farming and also visiting other churches and projects in Rwanda and nearby countries. Grace taught in the church’s nursery school and has now returned as a BVS volunteer. Find their reflections from Rwanda here.
Officially recognized Church of the Brethren groups exist in the African Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of Congo), Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Nigeria (general Nigeria page & history) (Nigeria Crisis Response), Spain, and Venezuela.
Mission prayer updates
The ministries of Global Mission seek to integrate faith and service as they challenge and equip Brethren to respond to human need and grow the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
Global Mission ministries include:
- Global Food Initiative
- International ministries (this page)
- Global Church of the Brethren Communion
The programming of Global Mission falls into six broad categories:
- church development
- health and well-being
- education
- peacebuilding
- economic empowerment and
- agriculture development
Global Mission envisions the development of a global Church of the Brethren consisting of autonomous groups that witness to their broader communities while mutually encouraging one another as branches from the denomination vine. It seeks to deepen faith and relationships with established mission points, promoting outreach ministries and developing leadership. With emerging mission points, it seeks to promote core Brethren beliefs and practices while building organizational capacity and deepening faith.
Marcos Inhauser, GM staff in Brazil, has created an eight-minute YouTube video explaining the beliefs and practices of the Church of the Brethren. It is in both Spanish and English. We invite you to view it here:
Related news
- EYN holds annual Majalisa, requests prayers for families of those killed in recent violence
Pray for the outcomes of the recent General Church Council of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Pray also for the families of those killed in north central Nigeria, where no fewer than 38 residents of the Takalafia and Gwanja communities in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State have been killed.
- GFI grants are given to relieve hunger and support agriculture in Pennsylvania, Venezuela, Spain, Burundi
Grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) are supporting food distribution to the Hispanic community in Lancaster, Pa., agriculture micro-projects by the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela, a community garden project of the Church of the Brethren in Spain, and sustainable agriculture education in Burundi.
- Emerging Church of the Brethren in Mexico seeks official government registration
An emerging Church of the Brethren denomination is in process of formation in Mexico, reports Global Food Initiative manager and Global Mission staff Jeff Boshart following a trip to Tijuana in mid-April. Documents to make the group an official church in the country are being submitted to Mexican authorities, beginning a process that is expected to take several months.
- Rwandan church receives emergency grant following torrential rain and floods
The Church of the Brethren in Rwanda is receiving an emergency grant to aid those affected by extreme flooding this week. Etienne Nsanzimana, founding pastor in Rwanda, shared that the churches are “overwhelmed by this terrible flood.”
- EYN mourns death of pastor killed in attack on his home, among other losses of church leaders
Pastor Yakubu Shuaibu Kwala, who served a congregation of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) in the Biu area of Borno State in northeast Nigeria, was killed on April 4 in a night-time attack on his home by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The attackers shot and wounded his pregnant wife, who was taken to hospital for treatment. The pastor also is survived by another child.
- Success at a camp for displaced people in Nigeria
What a privilege to visit the IDP (internally displaced people) camp at Masaka, Luvu-Brethren Village, while we were in Nigeria for the centenary celebration of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria).
- Seven killed, one freed, as EYN church leaders work to help teen trace parents
We give God the glory for the return of Mrs. Hannatu Iliya who was abducted three years ago from Takulashe village in Chibok Local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria. According to church officials, she returned on April 1 and has reunited with her displaced husband, who found refuge in one of the Chibok communities. Iliya, who was pregnant, lost the baby in captivity.
- Visit to Vietnam fosters new educational opportunities in overcoming infant blindness
Recently, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 13, 2022, I visited Vietnam with the purpose of engaging directly with the Retinopathy of Prematurity Vietnam (ROPVN) team and assessing the situation in the aftermath of the Covid-19 epidemic.