Several churches and sewing groups have made dolls and stuffed toys for use by Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) in an upcoming training in Nigeria. CDS associate director Kathleen Fry-Miller and volunteer trainer John Kinsel will travel to Nigeria to train Nigerian Brethren women leaders to provide trauma healing for children.
Brethren Disaster Ministries
Disaster Grants Support WV Bridge Project, Displaced People in Africa, DRSI Project, Sudan Mission, Deportees
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund to a variety of projects in recent weeks. Among them are a bridge rebuilding project in West Virginia, assistance for refugees from Burundi living in Rwanda, assistance for people displaced by violence in the DR Congo, a Disaster Recovery Support Initiative aiding a longterm recovery group in South Carolina, food assistance in South Sudan, and aid for Haitian migrants returning to Haiti from the Dominican Republic. These grants total $85,950.
Project Sends Bibles to Nigeria
When Galen Hackman retired from pastoring Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the Brethren last October, the congregation collected money in his name in order to provide Bibles to Nigeria. The congregation knew that he had a heart for Nigeria because back in the 1990s he and his wife spent time there teaching at Kulp Bible College. The church raised more than $3,000 to purchase Bibles. This money along with a self-inking stamp to mark each Bible was sent with us to Nigeria this past January.
MMB Allocates $1 million to Continue Nigeria Crisis Response, Begins New Effort for Financial Support of Ongoing Ministries
A major action at the Spring meeting of the Mission and Ministry Board of the Church of the Brethren allocated another $1 million of donated funds to continue the Nigeria Crisis Response. The board also engaged in significant conversation about financial shortfalls for ongoing denominational ministries, and how to develop more support and foster relationship-building across the wider church.
CCEPI Graduates First Set of Orphans and Widows in Skill Acquisition
Director of the Center for Caring and Peace Initiative (CCEPI) in Nigeria, Rebecca S. Dali, charged the first graduates of the Livelihood Skill Acquisition Center established by CCEPI to work hard by utilizing the materials such as knitting machines, sewing machines, and computers given to them to make them economically independent.
Nigeria Crisis Response Co-Directors Visit Unstable Areas of Northeast Nigeria
On our recent trip to Nigeria to meet with and encourage the Disaster Team of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), we took the opportunity to travel into unstable and potentially dangerous areas of the northeast.
Lamps Represent Gifts Shared Between Brethren on Two Continents
Dale Ziegler was one of the “Take 10/Tell 10″ group from Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren who made a trip to Nigeria in January, accompanied by Nigeria Crisis Response co-directors Carl and Roxane Hill. Here he tells the story of the “Lamps for Nigeria” project:
Simple Hand-Sewn Dolls and Stuffed Toys Needed for Nigeria
Later this spring representatives of Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) will be traveling to Nigeria to work on trauma healing with children, working with women theologians of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria).
Reflections on a Distribution of Relief Good by CCEPI in Nigeria
Karen Hodges was one of the “Take 10/Tell 10″ group from Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren who made a trip to Nigeria in January, accompanied by Nigeria Crisis Response co-directors Carl and Roxane Hill. Here is her reflection after participating in a food distribution:
‘We Can Recreate a New and Better Tomorrow’: An Address by the EYN President
The following is the text of an address by Samuel Dante Dali, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), to the EYN Ministers’ Council. The council met at the EYN Headquarters in Kwarhi on Feb. 17-20. Newsline was sent this address by the EYN communications staff, in order to share it with the wider Church of the Brethren: