— Remembrance: Samuel H. Flora Jr., 95, a former district executive in the Church of the Brethren and a former member of the denominational board, died Nov. 18 in Bridgewater, Va. He was born on Dec. 11, 1923, in Snow Creek, Va., son of the late Samuel H. Sr. and Annie Leah (Eller) Flora. He was a
By Hannah Shultz For the first time, Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) is offering spring break service trips for college students. Join BVS in Boston either the first or second week of March 2020 for the opportunity to serve with organizations that are working to end hunger and provide essential resources to the Boston community. Dates
Kristin Flory will retire at the end of 2019 as Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) staff at the Brethren Service Europe office in Geneva, Switzerland. The office is being closed. In the new year, the Europe program of BVS will shift to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Flory has served in the position for
The Brethren Service Europe office of the Church of the Brethren will be closed at the end of 2019. It is hosted at the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland, the city where it has been located since 1947. Currently the work of the office centers on placement and supervision of Brethren
The fall 2019 unit of Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) has completed orientation and its 13 volunteers have begun their work at project sites across the United States, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Members of BVS Unit 324, their home congregations or hometowns, and their projects sites follow: Emily Bowdle of Denton (Md.) Church of
The Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Units 322 and 323 have completed orientation and their members have begun work at their placement sites. The new volunteers’ names, congregations or hometowns, and placements follow. BVS Unit 322: Judy Carl of Pomona (Calif.) Church of the Brethren is serving with the Asian Rural Institute in Tochigi-ken, Japan. Janine Dietle of
Hannah Shultz has been hired by the Church of the Brethren as coordinator of short-term service, working as staff of Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS). She will begin her new position at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., on Aug. 5.
About 150 people from peace churches, peace organizations, communities, friends, and guests–from 10 denominations and Christian traditions and 14 countries–met to mark the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the European ecumenical network Church and Peace. They gathered on May 18 for a ceremony in the Reformation Church of Moabit in Berlin to celebrate the network’s past, present, and future with the theme, “‘I will give you future and hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11): 70 years of living nonviolence and resisting militarization.”
The Church of the Brethren has renewed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Selective Service System, the federal department responsible for the nation’s preparation for a military draft and draft registration. Selective Service also has worked with the historic peace churches to plan for alternative service for conscientious objectors in the event of a draft.
“The earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened…” (Matthew 27:51). NEWS 1) Planting potatoes, harvesting choirs in Rwanda2) Office of Peacebuilding and Policy signs on to letter about Syria3) EAD 2019 stirs up ‘good trouble’ for healing of national and global problems PERSONNEL 4) Gimbiya Kettering resigns from Intercultural Ministries
