Brethren bits

— Remembrance: Marianne Rhoades Pittman, 94, of Dublin, Ohio, who had been an interim director of Brethren Disaster Ministries with her late husband, Robert “Bob” Pittman, passed away on March 15 in her home. She was born July 12, 1930, to Paul and Orpha (Benton) Rhoades, the youngest of four children. She graduated from Manchester College, now Manchester University, in North Manchester, Ind., and while at Manchester had the opportunity to work on research around the development of rayon. As a young woman, she taught home economics in Illinois and Kansas. Later in life, she served as a pastor in Illinois and Virginia. While living in Champaign, Ill., she served students at the University of Illinois as campus minister, coordinated the International Hospitality Committee for the university, and volunteered with the Champaign/Urbana crisis hotline. In addition to ministry at the local level, her leadership in the Church of the Brethren included positions at the district level, including as moderator of Virlina District, and at the denominational level, including service on the Committee on Interchurch Relations. For many years, she worked alongside her husband as a volunteer with Brethren Disaster Ministries, serving in many states directing the recovery work of volunteers and as trainers for other project directors. From January to June 1999 the couple served as co-interim directors of Brethren Disaster Ministries. She married Bob Pittman in 1955 in Astoria, Ill. She is survived by their three children by birth, Oralea Anne Pittman of Hilliard, Ohio, Paul Arthur Pittman (Julie Levenson) of Woodside, Calif., and Rhonda Pittman Gingrich (Mark) of Minneapolis, Minn., and grandchildren. Their family was enlarged and enriched by An and the late Hoa Tran, Vietnamese refugees who adopted them as their mother and father and gave them grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by sister Nelda (Rhoades) Eikenberry and brothers Benton and Robert “Bob” Rhoades and their spouses. At the time of her death, she was a member of Oak Grove Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., although while living in Astoria late in life she attended Woodland Church of the Brethren. A memorial service was held the morning of Friday, March 21, at Shawgo Memorial Home in Astoria with ministers Tim Harvey and Carol Elmore officiating. The service was livestreamed on Oak Grove Church of the Brethren’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/events/501622276349466. Memorial gifts are received to Brethren Disaster Ministries and Camp Emmanuel, a camp and outdoor ministry center of the Church of the Brethren’s Illinois and Wisconsin District. For a full obituary go to http://shawgomemorialhome.com/obituaries/775

— Recently an anonymous gift enabled the emerging Church of the Brethren in Uganda to purchase a used Toyota truck, reports Gordon Hoffer, Global Mission country advisory team member for Uganda. The church has converted the truck for use as a 14-passenger, long-distance taxi. “The taxi operates between Kampala and the Democratic Republic of Congo border, a 10-hour trip,” he reports. “On Sundays, the taxi becomes a shuttle bringing people to the Shalom Church of the Brethren in Kampala. Profits from the taxi support denominational and local ministries.”

— “Toward COP30” is a series of global webinars intended “to craft an interfaith call to action,” said a release from the World Council of Churches. “As the global community prepares for critical climate negotiations at COP30, faith groups worldwide are mobilising their moral voice through a series of strategic webinars organised by the Interfaith Liaison Committee to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The World Council of Churches (WCC), serving as co-chair of the Interfaith Liaison Committee, will lead this interfaith initiative to develop a unified Talanoa Call to Action that bridges spiritual values with climate justice imperatives.” On March 27, two sessions on climate finance and climate justice will be held with speakers including Mariana Paoli from Christian Aid, Maina Vakafua Talia from Tuvalu Environment Ministry, Jocabed Solano from Memoria Indígena, and Harjeet Singh from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. The series will culminate on May 7 with the launch of the “Talanoa Interfaith Call to Action,” a document representing a unified moral stance from diverse faith traditions ahead of COP30. All webinars will include Spanish translation. Learn more and register at https://oikoumene.org/news/toward-cop30-global-webinar-series-to-craft-interfaith-call-to-action

A prayer request for South Sudan, from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Mission office: South Sudan is on the brink of civil war again, after less than seven years of a tentative peace agreement. The president and vice president of the country have had many conflicts over the years, with different communal loyalties and ties. The president has asked the Uganda military to aid them in putting down insurgent militias loyal to the vice president, which has led to civilian casualties and destruction of homes and land. Please pray for the international community to help mediate peace and for the South Sudanese to find enough unity so that war may be avoided in this vulnerable land. (Find out more about the Church of the Brethren mission in South Sudan at www.brethren.org/global/south-sudan.)

A prayer request for those affected by severe weather across the US, from Brethren Disaster Ministries: Staff have reached out to the Church of the Brethren districts in the areas impacted by the weekend storms and their aftermath. District leaders have shared that there are no reported impacts to Church of the Brethren congregations or their networks. There has been some damage in the area of the former Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding site in Eureka, Mo., and Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is in standby to hear from the Missouri/Arkansas District and partners there. The district’s Disaster Coordinator, Gary Gahm, and staff have been participating on coordinating calls with the state Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) to identify needs for CDS volunteers to support shelters or Multi-Agency Resource Centers. At the former rebuilding site, a partner shared that gift cards are being distributed to people who were without power for days, and that nearby areas were hit badly by storms. “The biggest problem we’re facing is housing,” they reported. “Just like everyone else in the US, but low-income housing is nearly impossible to find and now there’s less because most areas hit were impoverished. It’s so hard but we’re praying for them and doing what we can.” (Find out more about Brethren Disaster Ministries at www.brethren.org/bdm.)

Brethren Disaster Ministries also shared a continuing prayer concern for pastor Juan Pablo Plaza and the members of Conexion Pasadena Church of the Brethren and the other congregations meeting at the building impacted by the wildfires in January. Pacific Southwest District is receiving gifts of financial support for all the Church of the Brethren families impacted by the Eaton Fire in southern California, including members and leaders of Conexion Church, reported district executive minister Russ Matteson. “The best way to do that is by sending contributions marked Fire Relief to the PSWD,” he said. “We expect that we will be providing some forms of support for up to a year or more as the rebuilding will take at least that long.” Already, more than $10,000 has been shared with impacted families through the generosity of Brethren in the district and across the denomination, Matteson reported.

In related news, pastor Juan Pablo Plaza was one of the Pasadena church leaders featured in reporting by Mennonite Disaster Service. The pastor “prays for wisdom every day,” wrote Susan Kim, an MDS writer. “As a husband, a father of two young girls, and a pastor for the Conexion Church of the Brethren in Pasadena, California, he’s trying to care for a lot of people. Plaza lost his home—a parsonage owned by the church—to the Eaton Fire in January. Since then, he and his family have been living an hour’s drive away from the church, and an hour’s drive from the girls’ elementary school. But Plaza is glad to make the drive. ‘Our daughters have already lost their home,” he said. “We didn’t want them to lose their school and their friends as well.’” The Conexion Church meets in the same building as Pasadena Mennonite Church and The Church We Hope For, a nondenominational church, said the article. “The churches have always worked together, Plaza said, but now they’re collaborating even more. ‘The fire has also bought me closer to God,” said Plaza. “I am making a lot of decisions, and they affect a lot of people, so I pray for wisdom every day.’” Read more at https://mds.org/story/fire-has-no-social-class