Youth Peace Travel Team Is Named for 2012

The 2012 Youth Peace Travel Team has been named. As they spend time with junior and senior high youth this summer at camps across the Church of the Brethren, the team will teach about peace, justice, and reconciliation.

What Makes for Peace? A Nomination for Okinawa Peace Prize

Since 1895 the world recognizes individuals through the Nobel Prize for achievements in various fields such as economics, physics, literature, or medicine. The Nobel Peace Prize is the best known and perhaps the most revered prize as it recognizes a peacemaker in a world that is often in conflict. There is another peace prize award. It is not as well known and has a history only since 2001. It is the Okinawa Peace Prize.

Brethren Colleges Hold Events Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

A number of colleges related to the Church of the Brethren are holding special events to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, including Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., and Manchester College in N. Manchester, Ind. (information is from college press releases).

Church’s Elgin Warehouse to Be Collection Point for MLK Food Drive

The warehouse at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., is to be the collection point for the city’s food drive commemorating Martin Luther King Day. Food collected over the weekend by churches and schools will be brought to the warehouse at 1451 Dundee Ave. for sorting and distribution to area food pantries and the Community Crisis Center.

World Interfaith Harmony Week is Feb. 1-7

On Oct. 20, 2010, the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution designating the first week in February to be an annual World Interfaith Harmony Week. The General Assembly called for dialogue among the different religions internationally, nationally, and locally to enhance interfaith harmony and cooperation.

Newsline for December 29, 2011

The Dec. 29, 2011, issue of the Church of the Brethren Newsline offers the following stories: 1) GFCF gives grants to Rural Service Center, Brethren group in Congo; 2) EDF sends money to Thailand, Cambodia for flood response; 3) Brethren staff leave North Korea for Christmas break; 4) Hoslers conclude their service in Nigeria, report on peace work; 5) NCC condemns attack on worshipers in Nigeria; 6) BVS Europe welcomes largest number of volunteers since 2004; 7) Juniata takes action during Sandusky investigation; 8) Royer retires as manager of Global Food Crisis Fund; 9) Blevins resigns as advocacy officer, ecumenical peace coordinator; 10) World Interfaith Harmony Week is Feb. 1-7; 11) Peace meditation: Reflections from a BVS volunteer in Europe; 12) Brethren bits.

Peace Meditation: Reflections from a BVS Volunteer in Europe

Brethren Volunteer (BVS) worker Susan Pracht has completed a term of service with Church and Peace in Laufdorf, Germany–the first BVSer to serve there since the late 1980s. Church and Peace is an ecumenical organization of more than 110 corporate and individual members from all over Europe. Before departing Europe, Pracht posted this meditation on Facebook.

New Brethren Staff Are Placed in South Sudan

Athanasus Ungang and Jillian Foerster have begun work in South Sudan on behalf of the Church of the Brethren. Both have been placed with ecumenical partners, with sponsorship from the denomination’s Global Mission and Service program.

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