“We are the church, we’ll continue to be the church, and we will welcome refugees in need from all religious backgrounds. This is in keeping with our Christian faith,” said Jay Wittmeyer, executive director of Global Mission and Service, when contacted by the Huffington Post about the Church of the Brethren position on refugees.
Although we have seen Facebook posts and news releases stating that the Nigerian army has defeated the Boko Haram, violence still continues in northeast Nigeria. Most of the ongoing attacks in the Madagali and Gwoza area are not reported anywhere. One big attack, killing or injuring over 100 people in a Madagali market in December, did make the news.
A summary of the Nigeria Crisis Response work carried out in 2016 has been provided to Newsline by coordinator Roxane Hill. The Nigeria Crisis Response is a joint effort of the Church of the Brethren and Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). The Church of the Brethren’s Global Mission and Service and Brethren Disaster Ministries are both involved in the effort. The following summary covers the year through November and includes tallies of accomplishments in the seven areas of focus. For more about the Nigeria Crisis Response go to www.brethren.org/nigeriacrisis.
Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele is one of the American faith leaders who have sign a letter to president-elect Donald Trump calling on the incoming administration to robustly defend the dignity of all people. The letter also was copied to the members of the 115th Congress.
We are so grateful that John Kinsel was able to return to Nigeria earlier this month and provide additional Healing Hearts training, trauma healing for children, and follow-up on behalf of Children’s Disaster Services (CDS). He was again hosted by Suzan Mark, director of EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) Women’s Ministry.
Jennifer Hosler and I recently traveled to Nigeria to consult, connect with, and support the development and peacebuilding work of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Jennifer traveled to Nigeria in her role as a member of the advisory committee of the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative. In this role, she met with EYN leaders and members who had traveled to Ghana in September 2016, together with Jeff Boshart (Global Food Initiative director) to learn about soybean projects.
An interfaith vigil held at the University of La Verne (ULV), a Church of the Brethren-related school in southern California, in collaboration with the Inland Valley Interfaith Network. The vigil was held after an anonymous threatening letter was received at the Islamic Center of Claremont, Calif., one of several such hate letters that have been sent to mosques and Islamic centers.
With blue and yellow t-shirts marking the occasion, a group of Brethren from the United States joined Nigerian counterparts in a workcamp with the motto, “Come Let Us Rebuild.” The workcamp was sponsored by the Brethren Evangelical Support Trust (BEST) and Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Nine American Brethren led by Global Mission and Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer traveled to Nigeria for a two-week church construction project from Nov. 7-18.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to aid Syrian and other refugees sheltering in Lebanon, and refugees from Burundi who have fled to Tanzania.
“The Disturbances” is a new feature-length documentary film telling the story of how Christian missionaries and Nigerian pastors helped intervene in violence in northern Nigeria in 1966, during a time of tribal genocide that preceded the Biafra War. Among missionaries from several denominations, Church of the Brethren mission workers are featured including Roger Ingold, who was Nigeria field secretary at the time. Children of Brethren mission children also were among those interviewed for the film.