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Newsline for August 2, 2006


“Pursue love….” — 1 Corinthians 14:1a


NEWS

1) Disaster Child Care cares for children evacuated from Lebanon.
2) Brethren join religious coalition to reconstruct churches on Gulf coast.
3) ‘Disaster Wall’ graced with the names of hundreds of volunteers.
4) Southern Plains District meets about ‘Love and Little Things.’
5) Historical marker to commemorate Brethren Annual Meetings.
6) Brethren bits: Remembrance, job opening, and much more.

UPCOMING EVENTS

7) Bethany Seminary offers workshop about online teaching.
8) New conscientious objector packets are available.


A Newsline Special reviewing National Youth Conference 2006 and Christian leaders’ responses to the violence in the Middle East will appear shortly. For more Church of the Brethren news, go to www.brethren.org, click on “News” to find a news feature, more “Brethren bits,” links to Brethren in the news, and links to the General Board’s photo albums and the Newsline archive. The page is updated as close to daily as possible. 


1) Disaster Child Care cares for children evacuated from Lebanon.

Disaster Child Care helped care for children of American families evacuating from the war in the Middle East. From July 20-28, a Disaster Child Care center was set up at the Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) to care for children of US citizens being evacuated from Lebanon, at the request of the Central Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross.

“During the nine-day response, 23 child care volunteers provided a safe secure space for 231 scared, confused, and weary children to play and, in some cases sleep, while parents were guided through US Customs, and given the opportunity to apply for assistance, arrange connecting flights, or contact family members in the US,” reported coordinator Helen Stonesifer. Disaster Child Care is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

BWI was chosen as the location for the child care center because the airport was designated as a Repatriation Center by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., for Americans fleeing Lebanon, said Stonesifer. Nineteen flights from the Middle East were received on the International Pier, bringing a total of 4,492 passengers to Maryland.

“The children were relieved to be far away from the window-shattering bombs and fiery explosions” of the war, Stonesifer said.

A 10-year-old girl who had been visiting her grandparents in Lebanon shared her story with a child care volunteer: “The war was scary,” she said. “We ran to our neighbor’s house thinking it would be safer, and then back to my grandparent’s house.” Stonesifer said the girl’s report indicated the family made this trip several times in search of safety. “One time we all huddled under the stair steps because we could feel the house shake from the bombs being dropped,” the girl said.

The girl shared her story over and over with her care giver, Stonesifer added. “This was her way of working through the fear she had experienced.”

“Hopefully, child care volunteers onsite made a bright spot in a huge cloud of sorrow and pain for these children, whose lives have been turned upside down,” Stonesifer said. “Please keep the children and families in your prayers as they embark upon a new life in the US.”

Governor Ehrlich, along with several of his staff, visited the Disaster Child Care center and shared words of appreciation with the volunteers for their service.

(A Newsline Special that is planned to appear shortly will include an overview of Christian leaders’ responses to the violence in the Middle East, along with a review of National Youth Conference 2006.)

 

2) Brethren join religious coalition to reconstruct churches on Gulf coast.

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office has joined a religious coalition focused on reconstructing churches in New Orleans and other areas of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, called “Churches Supporting Churches.” The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

Brethren Witness/Washington Office director Phil Jones has been a part of a planning and strategy group for the project since its inception in Oct. 2005, and has visited New Orleans several times for meetings about the project.

“It is time for the Church of the Brethren to once again step forward and lead in offering to the Gulf region churches a voice of deep understanding and hope,” Jones said. “The injustices of poverty, race, and social discrimination must be addressed as part of the whole picture of restoration for the people of this region.”

The decision to join the coalition was prompted by mounting concern about the ability of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to move back to New Orleans in the near future, said a release from the office. The coalition behind “Churches Supporting Churches” represents historic African-American churches, mainline Protestant denominations, and historic peace churches including the Progressive National Baptist Convention, American Friends Service Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Presbyterian Church USA, and the Mennonite Church. The coalition also has a connection with the National Council of Churches.

The project hopes to help re-establish community life in New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf by helping rebuild Black churches, focusing on helping raise the necessary funds to repair, rebuild, and re-open as many churches as possible.

The coalition is convened by C.T. Vivian, a civil rights activist. “Only the united church, people in local congregations in partnership with white and African-American churches in other areas of the US, as well as all people of faith, can make a difference and help a just response emerge from the tragic nature of Katrina’s devastation,” Vivian said. “This region of the United States has survived the very worst of our nation’s history of racism, ignorance, poverty, and neglect. We must help rebuild Black churches in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast region so that they can be agents for the constructive redevelopment and rebuilding of their communities, as well as for the lives of the people in their congregations.”

The Brethren “have done well in service,” Jones said, complimenting the church on its work following the hurricanes. He added a challenge, however, to move beyond traditional emergency response. “Childcare, clean up, and home rebuilding projects have been established and will continue with the same strength that has always been that of Brethren in emergency disaster response,” he said. “Let us take the next necessary step and partner with congregations pledging our support through pastoral care, church repair and rebuilding, and program support.”

Brethren responded to similar issues following the burning of African-American churches in the area of Orangeburg, S.C., in the early 1990s, Jones said. “It is our hope that in the next few months Brethren congregations will step forward to partner with one or more of the congregations of New Orleans. The tired and embattled pastors and congregations of the Gulf region would embrace such an outpouring of love, support, and concern.”

For more information about how to become a partner congregation in “Churches Supporting Churches,” contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office at 800-785-3246.

3) ‘Disaster Wall’ graced with the names of hundreds of volunteers.

A wall in an apartment in Pensacola, Fla., for the past year became a landmark for Brethren disaster volunteers. At the Brethren Disaster Response project in Pensacola, a “Disaster Wall” graced the living room of an apartment that until just a few weeks ago housed volunteers who traveled from across the country to rebuild and repair homes following Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis.

At the center of the wall was a large drawing of a Brethren Disaster Response pickup truck, created by McPherson (Kan.) College student Nick Anderson. All of the disaster volunteers who worked in Pensacola over the past year were invited to sign their names on the wall.

With plans for the apartment in Pensacola to be demolished or completely rehabbed shortly, the owners did not mind the scribbling on the walls, according to volunteer project directors Phil and Joan Taylor.

Now the Brethren Disaster Response project in Florida has moved to new quarters in Gulf Breeze, so the Disaster Wall has been left behind.

It will not be forgotten, however. A poster of the wall has been created by Glenn Riegel, a Brethren Disaster Response volunteer from Little Swatara Church of the Brethren. The 16-by-20 inch posters were displayed at Annual Conference in early July, and may be ordered from ersm_gb@brethren.org for $12 plus shipping and handling.

The wall also has been featured on Disaster News Network, in an article written by Susan Kim. Go to http://www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=3210.

 

4) Southern Plains District meets about ‘Love and Little Things.’

The Southern Plains District Conference met July 27-29 on the theme, “Love and Little Things Mean a Lot.” Moderator Jack Graves presided over the meeting that included 19 registered delegates from 13 congregations spread over Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. The report of the conference was received from district executive minister Joan Lowry.

Theme speaker was Belita Mitchell, Annual Conference moderator and pastor of First Church of the Brethren in Harrisburg, Pa. “This is going to be a great year in the life of this denomination,” Lowry commented after hearing Mitchell speak.

Highlights of happenings around the district included the move of the district office, along with the Lowrys, to 1616 Rolling Stone Dr., Norman, OK, 73071. Thomas (Okla.) Church of the Brethren has been officially closed, and has been turned over to a small group called Family Faith Covenant. The church building in Waka, Texas, is up for sale. Lake Charles (La.) Community Church of the Brethren is beginning a pastoral search, and has paid off the church mortgage. The district’s Nurture/Witness group set dates for a Winter Rally and Board meeting for March 2-3, 2007 at Nocona. The Ministry Commission announced ordination candidates.

In addition, Spring Lake Camp and Retreat Center has a new look, Lowry reported. Since a fire in the spring, a new double cabin has been erected and a new cook’s cabin and handicapped accessible restroom. Lowry extended thanks to Ken and Kay Boyd and many volunteers who had helped the camp renovations near completion by the beginning of camping season.

In other events at the conference, a pastors’ training session was led by John Holderread on the book, “God’s Original Intent for the Church.” Other attendees enjoyed a session led by Kathy Reid of the Association of Brethren Caregivers on the subject, “How to Relate to People Who Are Hurting.” The yearly auction topped off the event, along with “a little taste of Together conversations to wet our appetite for the session coming up Aug. 19-20,” Lowry reported.

The next district conference is planned for July 26-27, 2007, at Clovis, N.M.

 

5) Historical marker to commemorate Brethren Annual Meetings.

The Indiana Historical Bureau will present a new historical marker to the town of North Manchester, Ind., commemorating Brethren Annual Meetings held there in 1878, 1888, and 1900. This is the first State Historical Marker to be awarded to the North Manchester area, and the first time any annual meeting of the Church of the Brethren has been so recognized, according to a report from William Eberly, retired faculty at Manchester College and a Brethren historian.

The project was initiated by the North Manchester Historical Society. The Brethren meetings were hosted by Manchester Church of the Brethren with much help from nearby Brethren churches and many community residents. The meetings attracted thousands of visitors to each week-long gathering, Eberly said.

The 1900 meeting attracted perhaps the largest crowds ever assembled at a Brethren conference, variously estimated as high as 60,000 on Sunday, June 3. “It might also have been the largest religious assembly ever held in Indiana up to that time,” Eberly said. “You can imagine the impact of this crowd on this little rural town of barely 4,000 inhabitants. The demands for services (food, lodging, local transportation, etc.) were a tremendous challenge to local residents, both in town and in the surrounding rural area.”

Two other Brethren annual meetings were held in North Manchester, one in 1929 and one in 1945, Eberly said. “The distinction is that the first three conferences were hosted in the name of the Manchester congregation, while the later conferences were more institutionalized and not the direct responsibility of a single congregation.”

The historical marker will read, in part:

“CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN FOUNDED 1708 IN EUROPE. BY 1778, BRETHREN MET ANNUALLY TO DETERMINE CHURCH POLICY. FIRST ANNUAL MEETING IN INDIANA WAS IN ELKHART COUNTY 1852. NORTH MANCHESTER CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN HOSTED ANNUAL MEETINGS 1878, 1888, 1900…. BUSINESS MEETINGS AND PREACHING BY PROMINENT BRETHREN LEADERS DREW THOUSANDS FROM U.S. IN A FAIR-LIKE ATMOSPHERE, VISITORS HAD ACCESS TO MODERN CONVENIENCES OF THE TIME, INCLUDING IN 1888, ELECTRIC LAMPS.”

The marker will be located on the south side of the Harter’s Grove area where the last two Annual Meetings were held, now the City Park. The marker will be unveiled and dedicated on Aug. 11 at 9:30 a.m. Representatives of the Indiana Historical Bureau and the North Manchester Historical Society will be present along with church and community leaders. A choir will sing old-time, favorite hymns. At 11 a.m., an illustrated lecture on “The Social and Economic Impact of the Brethren’s Annual Meetings in North Manchester” will be open to the public at the North Manchester Center for History.

 

6) Brethren bits: Remembrance, job opening, and much more.
  • Thurl Metzger, a former executive director of Heifer International, passed away July 26 at the age of 90, at his home in Little Rock, Ark. Earlier this spring, Heifer had announced plans to dedicate a new Thurl Metzger Education Center on Aug. 4 at Heifer Ranch near Perryville, Ark. (see “Brethren leader Thurl Metzger to be honored by Heifer International” in the Newsline of June 21). Metzger served Heifer International for some 30 years as executive director, director of International Programs, and senior consultant, beginning in 1953; the Church of the Brethren started Heifer Project in 1944. As a Church of the Brethren leader previous to his service to Heifer, Metzger directed the Polish farm-youth exchange program of the Church of the Brethren Service Commission. Earlier he also worked as a farmer and a high school history teacher in Indiana. Metzger was the author of “The Road to Development,” a book about the complexity of carrying out Heifer’s vision. The two-story building at the Heifer Ranch that will be named in his honor will serve as an education facility, and also will house memorabilia from Heifer archives and the Metzgers’ personal collections.
  • Bridgewater (Va.) College seeks a manager of technical services and network administrator to oversee technical aspects of information technology at the college. Primary responsibilities include managing the college network; managing campus systems/applications; serving as IT security officer; developing and maintaining custom scripting in support of system administration and dynamic web content; coordinating technical projects and staff; supervising network engineering and desktop computing support staff. Qualifications include skills in customer service, oral and written communication, and organization; bachelor’s degree in a related field with an advanced degree preferred; ten years of experience in network administration, IT security, desktop computing, and management in technical environments; mastery of Windows, Solaris, Linux administration; teamwork skills and experience in a collaborative environment; extensive troubleshooting experience. Experience working in higher education is highly desired. Review of resumes will continue until the position is filled. For the complete announcement go to www.bridgewater.edu/campus_info/jobs/itc_network2006.html. For more information contact Terry Houff, Chief Information Officer and Director of IT Center, at thouff@bridgewater.edu. A completed application will include cover letter, resume, and contact information for at least three letters of references, to be sent to Vikki Price, Director of Human Resources, 402 E. College St., Bridgewater, VA 22812; or sent by e-mail (preferred) to vprice@bridgewater.edu. Bridgewater is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.
  • Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General Board, has completed his move to Elgin, Ill., following a decision by the General Board for all executive-level staff to work from the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin. He previously divided his work between the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., and the offices in Elgin. Contact him at Church of the Brethren General Board, General Secretary’s Office, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; 800-323-8039 or 847-742-5100 ext. 201.
  • The Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) inadvertently included incorrect information regarding airport shuttle service in its confirmation letters to participants at National Older Adult Conference (NOAC) this fall. Correct information follows: Airport shuttle service is available from the Asheville airport to Lake Junaluska through First Class Transportation. To receive the conference discount call 828-452-2907 and tell Leslie that you are attending NOAC. Cost is $60 round-trip or $55 one way. Cash or check is preferred, credit card transactions will be surcharged $5. Those who have already made reservations through the number previously given will not receive a negotiated discount–individuals have been quoted rates ranging from $70 to $90. It is possible to cancel and schedule with First Class Transportation instead. Correct information for the airport shuttle service is posted at http://www.brethren-caregivers.org/ and postcards with the information will be sent to those already registered for NOAC. For further information call ABC at 800-323-8039.
  • The Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., hosted a junior high workcamp in mid-July. Workcampers volunteered in Service Ministries, SERRV International, and the Service Center’s buildings and grounds department. They also provided service to employees based in New Windsor by doing a free car wash. Monica Rice, Kim Stuckey Hissong, and the other adult leaders planned a diverse and fun learning opportunity. All of the agencies housed at the center appreciated the work of the young volunteers, reported Kathleen Campanella, director of public relations and hospitality. The New Windsor Conference Center provided ice cream for the workcampers after dinner on the last evening as a way to say thank you.
  • Chiques Church of the Brethren in Manheim, Pa., celebrates its 150th anniversary in August. The history of the congregation began as Brethren in the Mastersonville area of Pennsylvania originally worshiped in homes as part of the White Oak congregation. In 1856, the first meetinghouse was erected on the site of the current church building. Twelve years later, Chiques became an independent congregation. In 1902 it spawned three daughter churches: East Fairview, Elizabethtown, and West Green Tree. The celebration will include two special services, a historical display, and a series of Sunday school lessons on church history. On Sunday, Aug. 13, worship at 10:15 a.m. will be in a style familiar to the congregation more than 100 years ago: Don Fitzkee and Becker Ginder will preach the “long” and “short” sermons, respectively; singing will be a cappella; and men and women are asked to sit on opposite sides of the sanctuary. A “150th Anniversary Celebration of Music” will be held at 7 p.m. that evening. For more information contact Fitzkee at 664-2252 or don@cobys.net.
  • Iowa River Church of the Brethren in Marshalltown, Iowa, celebrated 150 years on July 9 with a special worship service and meal. The church is celebrating the anniversary “because we are a group of people who love each other even in spite of everyone not being the same,” church member Jerry Waterman told the “Times-Republican” newspaper of central Iowa. “We all have a universal understanding that Christ needs to be first in our lives and we are celebrating that opportunity.”
  • Root River Church of the Brethren near Greenleafton, Minn., held its 150th anniversary on July 8-9 to honor a century and a half of spreading peace and serving those in need, reported the “Chatfield News-Record” newspaper. The church expected about 150 people for the event, which included a youth concert by a local Christian rock band “RE:BORN” and a historical display, sale of anniversary plates, neighborhood tours, open mic sharing, and worship.
  • Dranesville Church of the Brethren in Herndon, Va., along with Herndon Friends Meeting and Northern Virginia Mennonite Church, are instituting a Peacemaker Award for outstanding peacemaking and community building efforts by a Herndon High School student, according to an article in the “Fairfax County Times.” This June the award went to Harrison Miller, a senior at the high school.
  • A $500 Skippack Peace Award from Skippack Church of the Brethren in Collegeville, Pa., was given to Allison Gold, a recent Perkiomen Valley High School graduate, according to the “Valley Item” newspaper. “The award is for somebody who had waged peace through random acts of kindness throughout the high school years, and Allison filled those criteria,” Skippack pastor Larry O’Neill told the paper. “The money for the award is raised when parishioners drop change and bills into a plastic bear named ‘Skippy’ located at the rear of the church,” the article said.
  • Michigan District holds its district conference on Aug. 10-13 in Hastings, Mich. Moderator Mary Gault will preside.
  • Brethren Village Retirement Community in Lancaster, Pa., holds its 48th Annual Pork Barbecue and Auction on Aug. 5. The day begins at 9 a.m. with a sale of baked goods along with an antique engine exhibit, and continues with a vintage and antique car display, morning devotional service and men’s choir at 10:30 a.m., and an 11 a.m. book signing by Rachel Brown, author of “Adoration Quilts.” A pork barbecue meal will be served from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The main auction begins at 12:30 p.m., with registration at 11:30 a.m. Main auction items include hand-made quilts and baby quilts, afghans, and wall hangings; antique items including quilts; wooden crafts, carvings, and furniture; children’s toys; gift baskets and fruit baskets; vacation property timeshares; and various gift certificates for dining and entertainment. A children’s auction at 2 p.m. features games and toys, Boyd’s bears, and radio controlled cars. Proceeds benefit the Brethren Village Good Samaritan Fund providing assistance to residents who find themselves unable to pay the full cost of their care, and to the resident-run Brethren Village Auxiliary.
  • Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind., is sending two Brethren faculty to Europe next year to do research as Fulbright Scholars. Gregory W. Clark, associate professor of Physics, will work at Cardiff University in Wales on nano-science research involving conducting polymer (plastic) molecules. Steven S. Naragon, associate professor of Philosophy, will translate student notes from 18th century philosopher Kant’s metaphysics lectures, in Marburg, Germany. Both attend Manchester Church of the Brethren. Recent Manchester graduate Wendy Matheny, raised in First Church of the Brethren in Peoria, Ill., also received a Fulbright scholarship to research politics at the European Union and NATO in Belgium. Matheny has been studying Capitol Hill politics as an intern for US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton since her graduation from Manchester last year. Hers is Manchester College’s 19th Fulbright in 11 years, the college said in a release. For more go to http://www.manchester.edu/.
  • Peggy Redman, director of Teacher Education at the University of La Verne (Calif.), has been honored with the university’s first endowed chair in Education, the Anthony La Fetra Endowed Chair for Excellence in Teaching and Service. The university is related to the Church of the Brethren. “Redman’s office in ULV’s College of Education is the birthplace of teachers,” said an article in the university’s “Voice” magazine. Her program received commendation in a recent report by the Institute for Education Reform, the article added, in which the results of a survey of first-year teachers who graduated from private universities in California and their supervisors “revealed that ULV-trained teachers were far better prepared to enter live teaching than their counterparts.” In the survey, La Verne graduates and supervisors responded an average of 12 percent more favorably than graduates of nine other private universities, the article said.
  • The Midwest Peacemakers 2006 conference will be at the Brethren Retirement Community in Greenville, Ohio, on Aug. 19 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The theme will be “Nonviolence Is Christ-Like, Difficult, Powerful, Profound, and Surprising.” Presenters include Cliff Kindy of Christian Peacemaker Teams speaking on “Iraq Through the Eyes of a Christian Peacemaker”; Pete Dull on ministry with prisoners and ex-prisoners in the Dayton area; and John Ellison on “What Conscientious Objectors Have Been Doing with Their Lives.” Ellison has been touring the country interviewing people “who early on refused to bear arms and since have helped the poor, bound up wounds, preached salvation, encouraged kindness, visited prisoners, and told the story of nonviolence through painting, words, and music,” according to a release. The event includes a carry-in dinner, a panel discussion, and worship. A free-will offering will be taken. For more information contact 614-794-2745 or cfcooley@wmconnect.com.
  • On June 18 the CrossRoads Welcome Center in Harrisonburg, Va., was officially opened to the public with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The center is dedicated to Brethren and Mennonite history and heritage. James Miller represented Shenandoah District of the Church of the Brethren, and Steve Carpenter represented the Virginia Conference of Mennonite Church USA. Following a welcome by board president Robert Alley, Program Committee chair Norwood Shank gave thanks to the Myers family–and to God–for bringing the organization to this point in its journey. The Daniel Myers family donated the Burkholder-Myers House and paid to have it moved to its new location. Shank expressed a “heartfelt thank you” to all who contributed to the effort. CrossRoads also is publicizing a reunion for all conscientious objectors who served in Civilian Public Service during World War II, on Aug. 17, 1-7 p.m., with speakers Harold Lehman and Ted Grimsrud. The event will be at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va. For more go to http://www.vbmhc.org/.
  • The National Council of Churches (NCC) is calling for ecumenical films through its Faith and Order Commission, which will hold its first-ever Oikumene Film Festival next year on July 19-23, 2007, in Oberlin, Ohio. The festival celebrates the commission’s 50th anniversary. Filmmakers are invited to submit original short films that serve the unity of Christ’s church. Six winning entries will be chosen for screening during the conference. Entries, including the film and completed entry form, are due by Feb. 16, 2007. For more visit www.ncccusa.org/faithandorder/oberlin2007/oikumene.html.

 

7) Bethany Seminary offers a workshop about online teaching.

Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., is offering an online workshop to help participants become more effective teachers and learners in a technological society. The workshop is for those who may serve as online adjunct faculty in Bethany’s graduate program, as well as others who wish to immerse themselves in questions regarding online learning whether as instructors or students.

“Introduction to Online Teaching: A Six-Week Workshop for Bethany Seminary Instructors and Others” will be offered Oct. 23-Dec. 8. The six-week workshop is designed to equip participants with the awareness and skills needed to successfully facilitate online learning as a course instructor. Successful completion of the workshop will satisfy the online experience component required to teach Bethany and Brethren Academy online coursework. Instructors are Enten Eller, director of Distributed Education and Electronic Communication at Bethany, and Susan Jeffers, online faculty at Bethany.

Participants will learn to identify the unique challenges presented by online learning; incorporate teaching methods that can address the challenges and facilitate deep learning in an online environment; design an online lesson that incorporates some of those methods; and use Bethany’s “Moodle” course management software to present that lesson.

Assignments may be completed throughout each week according to participants’ own schedules. There will be one required text, “Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom” (Jossey-Bass, 1999), by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, and additional readings. Participants are to prepare a syllabus of a course that they wish to present online, with which they will work throughout the workshop. Participation in course work, including online discussions and some writing, is required.

A full syllabus will be available four weeks prior to the workshop. Cost is $495, with scholarship funds available to qualified people. Continuing education units are available on request. For more information contact Eller at Connections@BethanySeminary.edu or 800-287-8822.

 

8) New conscientious objector packets are available.

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office has introduced new conscientious objection material for youth and congregations. Resources included in previous conscientious objection packets have been updated and converted to electronic files and are available on a CD in the new packet.

Resources include materials on political advocacy and peace, biblical guidance for peacemaking, information on the potential for a draft, and steps on how youth can register as a conscientious objector to war. Other materials on the CD include “The Peace Book” produced by the Brethren Witness/Washington Office, counter-recruitment efforts against military recruitment, and volunteer opportunities.

Also included is an eight-section DVD with a study guide on issues of civil disobedience, the history of conscientious objectors and the military draft. A mock draft board is presented by the Brethren Witness/Washington Office.

The resources are provided to assist districts, congregations and youth leaders to young people think through issues of conscience. The CD and DVD are designed to help facilitate conversation, reflection, and action among youth, parents, congregations, and communities.

The new conscientious objector packets are available by contacting 800-785-3246 or Washington_office_gb@brethren.org. A suggested donation of $10 per packet will help cover costs. The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

 


To receive Newsline by e-mail or to unsubscribe, go to http://listserver.emountain.net/mailman/listinfo/newsline. Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. Contact the editor at cobnews@brethren.org or 800-323-8039 ext. 260. J. Allen Brubaker, Kathleen Campanella, William Eberly, Don Fitzkee, Todd Flory, Phil Jones, Jeri Kornegay, Joan Lowry, and Helen Stonesifer contributed to this report. Newsline appears every other Wednesday, with the next regularly scheduled Newsline set for Aug. 2; other special issues may be sent as needed. Newsline stories may be reprinted if Newsline is cited as the source. Newsline is available and archived at www.brethren.org, click on “News.” For an online news page go to www.brethren.org and click on “News.” For more Church of the Brethren news and views, subscribe to Messenger magazine, call 800-323-8039 ext. 247.


 

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