A vision for a global Church of the Brethren was a point of discussion and focus for Mission Alive 2018, a conference for mission-minded church members from across the United States and around the world. The conference was organized by the Global Mission and Service office working with the Mission Advisory Committee, and hosted by Frederick (Md.) Church of the Brethren on April 6-8.
Church of the Brethren Newsline March 12, 2018 Brethren Disaster Ministries is completing a rebuilding project site in Eureka, Mo., by the end of March. A rebuilding project site in Marion County, S.C., continues as the program seeks to extend its work into additional communities in North Carolina. Marion County, S.C. Brethren Disaster Ministries volunteers have been
Brethren Disaster Ministries is working with Puerto Rico District to plan its response following last year’s hurricanes. An allocation of $200,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) has been approved by the denomination’s Mission and Ministry Board to provide funding for the effort.
Church of the Brethren Newsline March 9, 2018 A thanksgiving service to celebrate the release of 10 women–including two members of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria)–who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram in June 2017 is planned this Sunday in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The service is planned by the EYN Maiduguri
A team of eight volunteers with Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) are serving in Oroville, Calif., at the request of the American Red Cross. The team is offering child care for families affected by the evacuation of the area under threat from the emergency at the Oroville Dam.
One of the older Nigerian workcampers came up to me in our second week in Michika and said, “You are an inspiration. If you can leave your comfortable lives to come here and work with us, then I too can come out of my home to work on my church.”
In continued work together to rebuild the devastated church denomination in Nigeria, members of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and the Church of the Brethren in the US converged at the tumble-down church building of EYN’s LCC No. 1, Michika congregation in Adamawa State. This is the place where EYN president Joel Billi pastored until Sept. 7, 2014, when the church was attacked, and some members were killed. Assistant pastor Yahaya Ahmadu was shot to death and the entire church structure including the pastorium, offices, schools, library, stores, church building, and property, was set ablaze by the Islamist Jihadists known as Boko Haram.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to the Disaster Recovery Support Initiative and the task of developing new project sites following the 2017 hurricane and fire season. In addition, a grant has been given to assist families displaced by violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) is offering several training workshops for volunteers this spring, in a variety of locations across the country. CDS volunteers work at the invitation of the American Red Cross and FEMA to care for children and families affected by disaster. Find out more about the ministry of CDS and how to become involved at www.brethren.org/cds.
I am amazed at the end of each year when I add up and record all the work that has been done in Nigeria by the Nigeria Crisis Response, a joint effort of the Church of the Brethren with Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Last year, 2017, was no different.
