With National Youth Conference (NYC) only months away, the NYC Office announces that the deadline to register before paying the $50 late fee will now be April 15 rather than April 1.
Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) is an annual gathering of conscientious Christians uniting to speak for global peace and justice. As people of faith, EAD attendees understand every person to be created in God’s image, deserving of life, safety, dignity, and a voice loud enough to be heard and heeded.
NEWS
1) Mission and Ministry Board receives year-end financial reporting
2) Brethren Disaster Ministries directs grants to CWS work on Ukraine, Haiti earthquake rebuilding, new project site in Tennessee
3) ACT Alliance, WCC delegation visits Hungary, Ukraine, and Romania with a focus on humanitarian needs, church response
4) WCC to presidents of Russia and Ukraine: ‘A peaceful solution is in your hands alone’
5) Material Resources program sends relief shipments to South Sudan, Haiti, Guatemala
PERSONNEL
6) David Shumate to retire from leadership of Virlina District
7) Joe Vecchio to retire from the Pacific Southwest District staff
UPCOMING EVENTS
8) Children’s Disaster Services offers two volunteer trainings this spring
9) Presentation to explore Manchester’s deep connections to UN
10) Song and Story Fest scheduled for Camp Pine Lake in early July
FEATURE
11) Nothing quite compares to this: A reflection on the war in Ukraine
12) Changing course, ‘shifting up’ to work on race
13) Brethren bits: Update from pastor Alexander Zazhytko of the Chernigov Brethren, applicants sought for Archival Internship, second Global Check-in & Prayer, Margi South translation of the New Testament, ‘The Historic Peace Churches: Integrating Theology and Practice for Peacebuilding’ panel at the Carter School at GMU, and more
In this issue: An update from pastor Alexander Zazhytko of the Chernigov Brethren, applicants are sought for Archival Internship program, second of the Global Check-in & Prayer series from Intercultural Ministries, Margi South translation of the New Testament has been printed, Brethren are participating in “The Historic Peace Churches: Integrating Theology and Practice for Peacebuilding” panel at the Carter School at GMU, and more
The 2021 year-end financial reporting to this Spring’s Mission and Ministry Board meeting covered the Church of the Brethren denomination’s Core Ministries and its self-funding ministries including Brethren Press, Material Resources, and the Conference Office. Special purpose funds, including the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF), which supports Brethren Disaster Ministries; the Global Food Initiative Fund, which supports the Global Food Initiative (GFI); and the Emerging Global Mission Fund were also reported on.
The Church of the Brethren’s Material Resources program–which processes, warehouses, and ships relief materials on behalf of a number of partner organizations–recently made shipments to South Sudan, Haiti, and Guatemala. Warehouses are located at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
The Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to support the work of Church World Service (CWS) responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis; to support long-term programing and a new house construction phase of the 2021 Haiti earthquake response; and to finance the opening and initial phase of a new Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding project site doing flood recovery in Waverly, Tenn.; among other recent grants.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is holding two volunteer trainings this spring, in Pennsylvania in mid-May and in Washington State in early June.
Song and Story Fest 2022 on the theme “Into the HEARTland: Healing What Divides Us” is scheduled for July 3-9 at Camp Pine Lake in Eldora, Iowa. Song and Story Fest is a unique family camp featuring Church of the Brethren musicians and storytellers, with co-sponsorship from On Earth Peace, organized by Ken Kline Smeltzer.
Over the last year or more, Greg Davidson Laszakovits has made a lot of changes, all by choice. Although it was a difficult year for many reasons, on a professional level 2021 was good—but “it’s not been tidy.” Tidy is not a word commonly used by those doing the work of healing racism, and Laszakovits is no exception.
