The Church Alliance–a coalition of the chief executive officers of 38 denominational benefit programs including Church of the Brethren Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT)–has filed an amicus curiae brief in the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals (Chicago) in the case challenging the constitutionality of the clergy housing exclusion under Section 107(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code).
Children’s Disaster Services Responds to Washington Mudslide
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed seven volunteers in response to the catastrophic mudslide in Snohomish County, Wash. CDS is a program of Brethren Disaster Ministries. The CDS team served in Darrington, a community near the slide location. The response ended Sunday, April 6, having made a total of 83 child contacts, according to CDS associate director Kathy Fry-Miller.
Brethren Press Offers Summer Curriculum
Brethren Press is offering a variety of curriculum for this summer, including the final quarter of Gather ’Round, the predecessor to the new Shine curriculum; A Guide for Biblical Studies on the topic “The People of God Set Priorities” written by Al Hansell; and a Vacation Bible School curriculum from MennoMedia focused on biblical hospitality, titled “Give and Receive God’s Great Love.”
‘Shine’ Fall Quarter and Starter Kits Are Now Available for Children’s Sunday School
“Shine,” the new Christian education curriculum from Brethren Press and MennoMedia, is now available to congregations for the fall quarter. Also available now are two starter kits: The Shine Starter Kit with a quarter’s worth of Shine materials; and the Shine Multiage Starter Kit for congregations with a range of age groups.
Brethren Bits for April 15, 2014
In this issue: A correction, remembering Josh Copp, Material Resources seeks truck driver/warehouser, Bridgewater College celebrates the installation of president David Bushman, a new Springs folder for the Easter Season, Earth Day Sunday resources from Creation Justice Ministries.
Going to the Garden Grants Are Still Available
As this time of year rolls around, we begin witnessing the appearance of new life, both the new life Jesus Christ gives us all through the miracle of Easter resurrection, and the new life we see in our environment as we move into Spring.
Volunteers to Set out on ‘BVS Coast to Coast’ Bicycle Tour
Two Brethren Volunteer Service workers are setting out on a bicycle tour called “BVS Coast to Coast.” Chelsea Goss, of Mechanicsville, Va., and Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger, of Pettisville, Ohio, plan to cross the country on their bicycles in support of the Church of the Brethren program.
General Secretary, Mission and Service Executive Visit with Brethren in Nigeria
Church of the Brethren general secretary Stanley J. Noffsinger has visited Nigeria for the Majalisa or annual meeting of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN–the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), with Global Mission and Service executive Jay Wittmeyer. Noffsinger wrote this e-mail report April 14 from the capital city of Abuja on the last day of the trip.
Newsline for April 15, 2014
1) General secretary, mission and service executive visit with Brethren in Nigeria. 2) Volunteers to set out on ‘BVS Coast to Coast’ bicycle tour. 3) Going to the Garden grants are available. 4) ‘Shine’ fall quarter and starter kits are now available for children’s Sunday school. 5) Courtney Hess to direct Lilly Grant project at Bethany. 6) Brethren bits
Ecumenical Advocacy Days Resist Violence, Build Peace
The vision of “peace in the community, peace among the peoples, peace in the marketplace, and peace with the earth” was explored at the 12th annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) in Washington, D.C. This conference took place March 21-24, and brought together nearly 1,000 Christians from Sri-Lanka to Alaska to learn about the call to peace in our world.