Newsline for March 12, 2021

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New from the Annual Conference office: Two short videos bringing greetings to the Church of the Brethren from the main resource people for this summer’s virtual Annual Conference, Tod Bolsinger and Michael Gorman. Find the videos at www.brethren.org/ac2021.

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The Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board meets this weekend via Zoom, and church members are welcome to observe. Open session meetings will be broadcast in the style of a Zoom webinar. Registration is required and will be accepted at any time up to the start of the meeting at www.brethren.org/mmb/meeting-info. Also at that link are an agenda, background documents for the business items, and video reports from denominational staff. The agenda includes a Healing Racism Training led by LaDonna Nkosi and Drew Hart on Saturday at 1 p.m. (Eastern time).

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Landing page of Church of the Brethren COVID 19 related resources and information: www.brethren.org/covid19

Church of the Brethren congregations offering online worship in English and other languages: www.brethren.org/news/2020/church-of-the-brethren-congregations-worship-online.html
*Spanish/bilingual; **Haitian Kreyol/bilingual; ***Arabic/bilingual
*español/bilingüe, ** kreyol haitiano/bilingüe, ***عربي / ثنائي اللغة

Lifting up Brethren who are active in health care: www.brethren.org/news/2020/brethren-active-in-health-care.html

Send information about churches to be added to the listing of online worship offerings to cobnews@brethren.org.

Add a person to the list of Brethren active in health care by sending first name, county, and state to cobnews@brethren.org.

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1) Overflowing with hope: An interview with NOAC coordinator Christy Waltersdorff

Why take NOAC online?

We made the decision last October, and at that time there was no vaccine yet. We felt like for the common good for everyone, we shouldn’t meet in person. We were concerned about things like if the bus lines would be running. There were so many uncertainties. We decided it would be better to have it online rather than not at all. The NOAC demographic is in the highest risk category, and even now who is to say who all will be vaccinated by September?

This is all brand new. We’re making it up as we go along! We’re asking people who know what they’re doing to help us figure it out.

What will be the highlight of this online conference?

People who have not been able to attend can attend–people who can’t travel, or who are unable to get off work, for example. I’m hoping that this will especially help people with health issues.

I am hoping that congregations and Brethren retirement communities will safely invite people in to watch it together at viewing parties. And I am hoping that people will register to help pay for the costs such as speakers and technology. People think that because it’s not onsite, it’s not going to cost us anything, but it is. Even if people are watching it as a group, we’re encouraging each of them to register.

Will you be offering help for people to participate if they have trouble using the Internet or have difficulties accessing the online sessions?

Yes, I am going to be asking district offices to get information out to congregations to help people. That’s why we thought viewing parties would be a good thing, to help people who don’t know how or who don’t have the tech. I really am counting on local congregations and the Brethren retirement communities to help people figure it out. The churches that have the capacity for going online have really stepped up their game, and hopefully that will work to our advantage.

What are you looking forward to at NOAC this year?

We are really putting together a good conference. It’s the same speakers we were going to have in person, and the preachers, everything from our onsite plans are going to carry over. It’s going to be a good, powerful, strong experience.

Our keynote presenters are Karen Gonzalez, Lisa Sharon Harper, and Ken Medema and Ted Swartz. Our preachers are Andrew Wright, Paula Bowser, Don Fitzkee, Christy Dowdy, and Eric Landram. Our Bible study leader is Joel Kline.

I know that people will miss being together, however it’s a year of a pandemic. To keep everyone safe is our priority. Loving our neighbor, and all that stuff!

What will the schedule be like?

We are maintaining the same week as usual and are picking up the major pieces of NOAC, just figuring out how to make them work online.

We’re starting with Monday evening worship. Worship will be held each evening, Monday through Thursday. The mornings, starting Tuesday, will be Bible study with Joel Kline and then the keynote speakers. There will be afternoon workshops. We have ideas for virtual ice cream socials with the colleges. There will be a virtual fundraiser “Walk Around the Lake” and an opportunity to buy books for the Lake Junaluska elementary school. Libby Kinsey is working with the school librarian on a list of books about diversity that the library doesn’t yet have, and Brethren Press will be featuring the list on their website.

Exact times are still to be determined. In planning the daily schedule, we have to be aware of the different time zones from west coast to east coast. I’m always aware of how unfair the time schedule is for the western folks. But because everything will be recorded, that will help people catch up if they missed something.

What does the future look like for NOAC?

The plan is to be back at Lake Junaluska in 2023. We’re hoping that offering this year’s online will encourage new people to come to the next NOAC. We’ve looked at other locations but it’s hard to find any other place that’s comparable. Lake Junaluska offers the setting and the facilities.

How can people follow along with the planning?

Follow along on our Facebook page and our web page. And give input! The Facebook page recently asked what kinds of workshops people want, for example. Registration opens May 1 and that link will be available on the webpage. We will have paper forms available too.

— Find NOAC on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cobnoac. The NOAC webpage is at www.brethren.org/noac.

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2) Nigerian Sunday school teachers learn the Healing Hearts curriculum for trauma healing

Highlights of activities conducted during the training workshop included:
— Understanding the general concept of trauma.
— Learning how trauma affects the human brain.
— Studying the effects of trauma on human behavior with special emphasis on how trauma affects children based on their age.
— Reviewing general principles and methods of working with children and adapting them for work with traumatized children.
— Introduction of the “DO NO HARM” principle in which participants learned how to handle complex situations in a friendly way to avoid creating more trauma.
— Presentation of the Healing Hearts curriculum including the use of selected Bible passages and storytelling that speak of peace, comfort, and love.
— A practice session conducted on the last day when participants engaged in teaching a small class under the guidance of the facilitators.

Success stories from participants

Bulus Ayuba from DCC Gwoza, an EYN church district, confirmed that this was one of the best Sunday school trainings he has ever attended. The knowledge he gained will be handed on to other Sunday school teachers in his church district to help traumatized children in his community. He stated that this training has changed his perspective on how to handle children as he did not even know that children could be traumatized. The knowledge, skills, and methods gained at the workshop will have a great impact on his life as a Sunday Sschool teacher.

Adamu Ijai from DCC Mildlu said that the lessons learned on the relationship between the human brain and human behavior helped him to understand how to help traumatized children. He will help children build up their capacities and guide them towards acquiring positive behavior for the betterment of the community.

Emmanuel Yohanna from Kautikari, who had never attended any training workshops, said the workshop has changed his attitude towards traumatized children and encouraged him to show them the love of Christ.

Rifkatu from DCC Yawa said the workshop helped her to identify children and adults who are traumatized in her community. She has promised to serve as an advocate of change on trauma healing and resilience in her community.

— Roxane Hill is interim office manager for Global Mission. Zakariya Musa is head of media for EYN. This information was adapted from the EYN Disaster Ministries monthly report.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

3) FaithX schedule is announced, registration opens March 15

Visit www.brethren.org/faithx for more information regarding 2021 FaithX tier options and costs. Contact the FaithX office at faithx@brethren.org or 847-429-4386 for questions or for more information.

— Alton Hipps is an assistant coordinator for FaithX, serving through Brethren Volunteer Service.

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4) Intercultural Ministries offers new events on healing racism, extends grant deadline

The Church of the Brethren Intercultural Ministries has announced the next two events in its ongoing series on healing racism, both online. The ministry also is extending the deadline for applying for a Healing Racism Mini-grant.

Healing Racism Mini-grant applications will now be received for a new grant period beginning April 1 through June 30. Congregations and communities officially affiliated with the Church of the Brethren in the United States are encouraged to review the grant details and to apply at www.brethren.org/intercultural.

Two new online events

“Healing Racism Congregations and Communities #ConversationsTogether Meetup” will take place on March 25 at 7 p.m. (Eastern time). The event welcomes all who are interested in participating in Healing Racism Congregations and Communities. “Save the date and plan to join us,” said an invitation from Intercultural Ministries director LaDonna Nkosi. “If your community or congregation is involved or would like to be involved in the path to healing racism, join with us.” Register in advance at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdOChpjgsHdVhoWy1JxphwarGFCEewz0Y.

A “Healing Racial Trauma Virtual Retreat” will be held March 27 from 3-6 p.m. (Eastern time). Sheila Wise Rowe, author of the book Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience will lead the retreat. This particular retreat has been designed to provide safe and healing space for those directly affected by racial trauma who are of African, Latinx/Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Indigenous, or other cultural, racial/ethnic backgrounds, multicultural families, etc. “Author Sheila Wise Rowe will be with us for other opportunities of sharing and training for allies and on other topics in the future,” said Nkosi. To register, contact racialjustice@brethren.org.

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5) Brethren bits

— Prayers of thanksgiving are requested for three Haiti Medical Project staff who walked away from a bad car accident last week. Romy Telfort, who has been a leader in Eglise des Freres Haitiens (Church of the Brethren in Haiti), reported that the three staff members had been traveling to a water project installation near Savanette when the brakes failed on their car. “All are fine and were able to miraculously walk away without a scratch,” said the email report.

— Bethany Theological Seminary has announced its 2021 Peace Essay Contest, made possible by the Jennie Calhoun Baker Endowment and sponsored by Bethany’s Peace Studies program. This year’s topic is “Civil Resistance and Nonviolent Social Change in an Increasingly Virtual World.” Said an announcement: “More than five decades after civil resistance movements worldwide, communities local and global continue to be threatened by state-sanctioned violence. From movements in opposition to police brutality in Nigeria led by #ENDSARS and in the United States organized by #BlackLivesMatter, to the farmer protests in India and the pro-Navalny movement in Russia, people are joining in solidarity to rise up and demand a better world. How can we create and participate in nonviolent social change in an increasingly violent–and virtual–world?” Prizes of $2,000, $1,000, and $500 will be awarded for the top three essays. The contest is open to full- and part-time students in high school, college, seminary, and graduate school who are en-route to a degree. International, ecumenical, and interfaith students are encouraged to participate. Essay submissions must be received by May 15. Find the contest rules and submission guidelines at https://bethanyseminary.edu/events-resources/2017-peace-essay-contest. For more information, contact Susu Lassa at lassasu@bethanyseminary.edu.

— A Nigerian news article has reported on impending legislation to establish a National Dermatology Hospital to treat leprosy, among other skin diseases, at the site of the former Church of the Brethren Mission leprosarium in Garkida, in northeast Nigeria. The article quoted extensively from a history of the original mission hospital by the bill’s co-sponsor the senator representing Adamawa Central, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed. The senator “recalled that as far back as 1929, an International Hospital was established for Garkida Agricultural Leper Colony by the Church of the Brethren Mission (USA). According to her, ‘it was an ambitious effort located on 2,500 acres of land designed for the treatment of leprosy and other illnesses, isolation centre and training of lepers in craft and improved agricultural methods. It was a reputable hospital with 12,507 leprosy patients admitted between 1929 and 2002…. Dr Roy Pfaltzgraff, the Medical Superintendent (1954-1982), transformed the hospital into an internationally well-known centre for developmental work in surgical rehabilitation, physiotherapy, protective footwear, prostheses and training.” The hospital was eventually handed over to the Ministry of Health of the former Gongola State. The lawmaker is contending that the Dermatology Hospital, Garkida, now in Adamawa State, naturally fits all the requirements for a National Dermatology Hospital, the article said. Find the article at https://tribuneonlineng.com/bill-for-establishment-of-hospital-to-treat-leprosy-skin-cancer-diseases-passes-second-reading-in-senate.

— Ambler (Pa.) Church of the Brethren has joined others in the Wissahickon Faith Community Association in pushing for equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report from Jewish Exponent. The association is an interfaith group of churches, mosques, and synagogues that has met together for more than 30 years. Ambler pastor Enten Eller was quoted as saying a Feb. 24 Zoom meeting of the association “just sort of exploded” as they shared stories about the difficulties congregants faced in finding the COVID-19 vaccine. “It wasn’t just that the elderly, infirm or otherwise eligible congregants weren’t able to navigate the warren of web-based schedulers; there was the concurrent feeling that so many of their seemingly ineligible congregants had secured appointments instead,” the report said. “We’re seeing a lot of line-jumping,” said rabbi Gregory Marx of Congregation Beth Or, who compared the vaccine inequities to food deserts. “People of privilege, using their position, their power, their influence, to get the shots above people that are not of privilege.” Read the article at www.jewishexponent.com/2021/03/12/interfaith-group-pushes-for-vaccine-access.

— Parkview Church of the Brethren in Lewistown, Pa., is donating its parsonage to benefit the homeless, according to an article in the Lewistown Sentinel. “For Parkview Church of the Brethren, the phrase ‘second chance’ has more than one meaning. It recently breathed new life into its parsonage by donating it rent free to Shelter Services Inc.,” said the report. The building is now a thrift store named “Second Chances,” that raises funds to help the homeless get back on their feet. Parkview pastor Teresa Fink also serves on the board of directors for the shelter. Read the article at www.lewistownsentinel.com/news/religion/2021/03/church-donates-parsonage-to-benefit-the-homeless.

— The Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment, and Human Rights has developed a statement for the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, declaring that 2021 is the year to act on climate change and human rights. A release from the World Council of Churches (WCC), which is part of the forum, shared sections of the statement. “The climate crisis constitutes one of humanity’s greatest challenges, contributing both directly and indirectly to human rights violations around the world,” the statement reads, in part. “A key role of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council in the 21st century must be to stand with the vulnerable segments of society.” The statement calls for the Human Rights Council to establish a new Special Procedures mandate on Human Rights and Climate Change. “In particular, a new Special Procedures mandate would ensure a long-term focus on climate change issues at the Human Rights Council and bring a human rights dimension into climate change policies,” the statement reads. “It would contribute to enhancing complementarity between the climate change legal framework and the international human rights regime…. A healthy environment is essential for human health, and for human societies to flourish.” The Geneva Interfaith Forum has been calling for the establishment of a mandate for a new Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change since 2010. Find the release at www.oikoumene.org/news/geneva-interfaith-forum-a-healthy-environment-is-essential-for-human-health.

— Rick Polhamus of Pleasant Hill (Ohio) Church of the Brethren will give a presentation titled “Loving Choices–How to Provoke” about his 18 years of work with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). He will be featured March 18 from 6-7:15 p.m. (Eastern time) as the first presenter in Wilmington College’s Office of Campus Ministry Quaker Lecture Series for the spring semester. His story “is a testament to how one can effect change in war-torn regions of the world through nonviolent means,” said an article in the Wilmington News Journal. “So many situations and events in today’s world provoke us and others in ways that divide us and that challenges our faith. Hebrews 10:24 tells us we should ‘consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,’” said Polhamus. His work with CPT included extended stays in Israel/Palestine, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Iraq; service on CPT’s steering committee; a term as its representative to the World Council of Churches; and coordination of CPT’s “Adopt-a-Detainee” program in Iraq, which dealt with abuses of Iraqi detainees, especially at Abu Ghraib prison. Find the full new article at www.wnewsj.com/news/161313/quaker-lecture-to-feature-christian-peacemaker-teams-rick-polhamus. View Polhamus’ presentation on the college’s Campus Ministry Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WilmingtonCampusMinistry.

— Russell Haitch, professor of theology and human science at Bethany Theological Seminary, has published a new book titled Eyes of the Heart: Seeing God in an Age of Science (Fortress, 2021). “The book offers a model for unifying Christian convictions and mainstream science,” said a Bethany release. Haitch wrote the book to appeal to a broad audience, he said in the release, “particularly those who are trying to address the intellectual doubts of young people. We hear slogans these days, like ‘Trust the Science’ and ‘Believe the Bible.’ People, especially young people, feel pulled in two directions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Science actually started in the church, and the church today needs good scientists. Science and faith complement each other.” Find the release at https://bethanyseminary.edu/11709-2.

— Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, Brightbill Professor of Preaching and Worship at Bethany Theological Seminary, is editor of the newly published Preaching the Fear of God in a Fear-Filled World: Proceedings from the Conference of Societas Homiletic, Durham 2018. The collection of conference presentations highlights rhetorical, biblical, political, and spiritual dimensions of fear. Learn more about the book at https://books.google.com/books/about/Preaching_the_Fear_of_God_in_a_Fear_Fill.html.

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Newsline is the email news service of the Church of the Brethren. Inclusion in Newsline does not necessarily convey endorsement by the Church of the Brethren. All submissions are subject to editing. Newsline stories may be reprinted if Newsline is cited as the source. Contributors to this issue include Jeff Boshart, Jacob Crouse, Chris Douglas, Pamela B. Eiten, Jan Fischer Bachman, Roxane Hill, Alton Hipps, Eric Miller, Zakariya Musa, LaDonna Sanders Nkosi, Romy Telfort, Norm and Carol Spicher Waggy, Christy Waltersdorff, and editor Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren. Please send news tips and submissions to cobnews@brethren.org . Find the Newsline archive at www.brethren.org/news . Sign up for Newsline and other Church of the Brethren email newsletters, make subscription changes, or unsubscribe at www.brethren.org/intouch .

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Find more Church of the Brethren news:

• Annual Conference 2024 invites Church of the Brethren to gather in Grand Rapids
• Annual Conference officers return query regarding congregational latitude on matters of human sexuality
• Silent Auction to benefit translation expenses and the general Annual Conference budget
• Mission and Ministry Board completes Kingian Nonviolence training, works at envisioning
• Leadership Team issues clarification on On Earth Peace membership with Supportive Communities Network