A GFI allocation of $20,000 is divided between four church-related international partners of the Global Food Initiative. Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed an EDF grant of $11,000 to the COVID-19 response of Haitian congregations of Iglesia de los Hermanos in the DR. An EDF grant of $10,000 supports hurricane relief by the Christian Solidarity Program (CSP) in Honduras. Two GFI grants support community gardens related to Church of the Brethren congregations.
Two interim employees–Shawn Flory Replogle and Pauline Liu–have been promoted to staff positions with the Church of the Brethren. Replogle has accepted the position of executive director of Organizational Resources for Finance. Liu has accepted a position coordinating volunteers for Brethren Volunteer Service.
Sonja Sherfy Griffith has resigned as district executive minister of the Church of the Brethren’s Western Plains District, effective March 31. She has been district executive for 11 years, starting in the half-time position on Jan. 1, 2010. She has served as a bi-vocational minister, carrying out duties as pastor of First Central Church of the Brethren in Kansas City, Kan., a position she has held for the past 23 years.
“In skeletal information reaching us from Garkida, three churches were set ablaze, five people killed, and five people are missing in a Boko Haram attack,” reported Zakariya Musa, head of media for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Garkida, a town in the Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State in northeast Nigeria, is the site of the founding of EYN and the place where the former Church of the Brethren mission in Nigeria began.
NEWS
1) Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding program sites are ‘paused,’ to restart in 2021
2) Intercultural Ministries announces new Racial Justice mini-grant program
3) Global Brethren Communion holds second Zoom meeting
4) EYN reports on fighting in Askira area, assistance to Chibok orphans and student refugees in Cameroon
5) Western Plains District Leadership Team adopts non-discrimination policy
6) National Council of Churches issues ‘Statement on the Racist Threats to US Churches’
PERSONNEL
7) Meghan Horne Mauldin is appointed to Mission and Ministry Board following Carol Yeazell resignation
8) Coordinator is named for National Youth Conference 2022
9) Church of the Brethren youth cabinet is named for 2021-2022
UPCOMING EVENTS
10) Christian Citizenship Seminar 2021 will study economic justice
11) Moderator’s Town Hall on ‘Faith, Science, and COVID-19–Part Three’ is slated for Jan. 21
12) Webinar will explore God’s work of healing self and relationships
RESOURCES
13) Themes and writers are announced for upcoming compelling vision Bible studies
14) Online worship in various languages / Adoración en línea en varios idiomas / Adorasyon sou entènèt nan divès lang / العبادة عبر الإنترنت بلغات مختلفة
15) Brethren bits: Remembering John Gingrich and Georgianna Schmidtke, prayers for the Quinter church and Gove County, Kan., personnel, letter to President-elect Biden on Israel and Palestine, Brethren Press matching gift challenge, Bethany recruits international students from the Brethren-related colleges, Virlina District’s Race Education Team, and more
The Compelling Vision Team is developing a 13-session Bible study series around the compelling vision being proposed for the Church of the Brethren. Designed for use by youth and adults, the series will be available at no cost on the compelling vision webpage in February 2021. Sample sessions will be posted in mid-January.
In this issue: Remembering John Gingrich and Georgianna Schmidtke, prayers for Quinter Church of the Brethren and the residents of Gove County, Kan., personnel notes, letter to President-elect Biden on Israel and Palestine, Brethren Press matching gift challenge, Bethany Seminary recruits international students from the Brethren-related colleges, Virlina District’s Race Education Team, and more new by, for, and about Brethren.
Both of the current Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding project sites will be closed after this week for a holiday break. In 2021, the Brethren Disaster Ministry program will be down to one rebuilding site at a time throughout the year. The North Carolina site is scheduled to reopen Jan. 10 and close at the end of March. The Ohio site will reopen after Easter to continue for the rest of 2021.
The Church of the Brethren’s Youth and Young Adult Ministries has named the denomination’s National Youth Cabinet for the years 2021-2022.
Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) 2021, focused on economic justice, will take place online April 24-28, 2021. The event is sponsored by the Church of the Brethren’s Youth and Young Adult Ministries and the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy.
