JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: STORIES FROM CONGREGATIONS: Ephrata Church encourages families to host block parties

In July, we encouraged our congregation at Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the Brethren to go out and be “Jesus in the neighborhood.” It can be challenging to meet and get to know your neighbors when many families stay to themselves and are so busy. Being Jesus to a neighbor can be as simple as helping them carry in their groceries, or mowing someone’s yard when they’re going through a hard time, or just asking how they really are doing.

Newsline for Sept. 20, 2021

NATIONAL OLDER ADULT CONFERENCE 2021
1) NOAC keynoter Karen González speaks on immigration and the church
2) Lisa Sharon Harper takes NOAC along on a journey wrestling with identity
3) McPherson hosts a NOAC ‘watch party’
4) NOAC by the numbers

NEWS
5) Church of the Brethren delegation visits site of earthquake in Haiti
6) Kulp Theological Seminary in Nigeria welcomes 36 students into degree and diploma programs
7) COBYS Family Services 25th annual Bike & Hike sets new record

PERSONNEL
8) Nick Beam to serve in leadership for Southern Ohio and Kentucky District

UPCOMING EVENTS
9) On Earth Peace invites participation in this year’s International Day of Peace
10) ‘What’s in a Name?’ presented by Brethren Historical Library and Archives
11) Grace, play, and delight: The 2021 Ministry of Writing Colloquium of ESR and Bethany Seminary
12) Ventures course offers introduction to talking about race

JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: STORIES FROM CONGREGATIONS
13) Prue Yelinek featured speaker at annual Dunker Church Service
14) Bridgewater church hosts Brethren & Mennonite Heritage Center lectures
15) Community Church of the Brethren participates in virtual CROP Walk
16) Painesville Church school and daycare completes 40-plus years of service to community

FEATURE
17) Reflecting on a FaithX summer

18) Brethren bits: BVS cancels fall orientation and invites new volunteers to join in the winter, Selective Service and the draft may come up this week in the House, job opening, personnel notes, districts cancel or shift events online due to COVID, more

Church of the Brethren delegation visits site of earthquake in Haiti

Ilexene Alphonse, pastor of Eglise des Freres Haitiens, a Haitian Brethren congregation in Miami, Fla.; Jenn Dorsch-Messler, director of Brethren Disaster Ministries; and Eric Miller, co-executive director for Global Mission traveled to Saut Mathurine in southwest Haiti in the second week of September.

McPherson hosts a NOAC ‘watch party’

For years, Dave Fruth from McPherson, Kan., has organized bus trips to National Older Adult Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C., from Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa in past years. He and a small committee from the Cedars Retirement Village in McPherson were not deterred from attending virtually this year.

Reflecting on a FaithX summer

the workcamp ministry of the Church of the Brethren as an assistant coordinator. I could not have imagined all the things that would change in the next year and a half. When July rolled around, I headed to Elgin, Ill., to start my service, thankful that–despite the COVID-19 pandemic–at least one thing I planned would still be happening.

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