Church of the Brethren Newsline
July 25, 2018
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body” (Colossians 3:14-15).
Quotes of the day:
“Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.”
— A phrase from the anthem sung by the NYC Choir for Wednesday morning worship.
“Can we all agree that everyone deserves the grace of God? Can we all agree that everyone has a place with God? Can we all agree that everyone should receive the love of God?”
— A covenant that Taylor Dudley of Smith Mountain Lake Church of the Brethren in Franklin County, Va., one of two NYCers who spoke for Wednesday morning worship, asked the conference to agree to.
“We are joined together trying to reach the same goal…. We are joined in this journey together, clothed in the love of Christ.”
— Elise Gage of Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren gave one of the youth messages on Wednesday morning.
“At Calvary we see that God is the hated Samaritan…who offers us gratuitous grace.”
— Jarrod McKenna, a prominent Christian leader and peace activist from Australia, who preached on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” Wednesday evening. This was his third time at NYC, having spoken in 2010 and 2014, where he coined the term “Dunker Punks.”
He called for a revisiting of the parable to recognize it is not about a “Good Samaritan” but a “hated Samaritan” who symbolizes God who is “camouflaged” as those who are hated and despised.
McKenna closed with an altar call for both youth and adults in the Church of the Brethren to recommit themselves to “the revolution of the towel,” the Brethren tradition of feetwashing which he lifted up as a means for the church and the world to seek healing. Calling for repentance and turning away from the divisions in surrounding society, he urged the adults present to become true role models for the youth by not letting the culture wars find a place in the church.
He called the youth to become leaders in the church in order to return it to true discipleship to Christ that identifies with the suffering of others.
“Lord, would you send us out with tenderness to turn this world upside down with love.”
— Jarrod McKenna’s prayer at the close of the Wednesday evening service
NYC by the numbers
In the end, National Youth Conference is defined by the numbers–how many individuals were involved, and how many others will be helped by this conference.
But of course, much of the NYC impact can’t be measured by numbers. The impact of messages from the speakers, new thoughts expressed during small groups, countless hours spent in community during service projects, miles of hiking trails, fellowship in the cafeterias. These have no numbers attached, but become the essence of church for the youth and adults who were a part of it all.
1,809 attendees including 471 advisors and 92 staff and volunteers and youth workers
1,536 people hiked in the Rockies
230 diapers made, and 1,800 t-shirts received and processed to make diapers for use by Midwives for Haiti
$394 received in monetary donations for the work of Midwives for Haiti
400 Clean Up Buckets assembled for Church World Service disaster relief
$2,038 received in monetary donations for Clean Up Buckets
$7,040 received in an offering for the NYC Scholarship Fund
700 pounds received in donations of canned food and other nonperishable food items for the Larimer County Food Bank
#cobnyc #cobnyc18
The NYC 2018 Press Team includes Laura Brown, Allie Dulabaum, Mary Dulabaum, Nevin Dulabaum, Eddie Edmonds, Russ Otto, Frank Ramirez, Alane Riegel, Glenn Riegel, and Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren.
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