#LoveOurNeighbors #NewTestamentGiving
Recipients of this year’s Church of the Brethren’s Health Care Education Scholarships have been announced. Ten scholarships of between $3,000 and $9,000 were awarded, totaling $75,000.
Our immigrant neighbors and siblings in Christ continue to face excruciatingly difficult times. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was terminated for Haitians at the end of July, and the Haitian community is being targeted. Haitian Church of the Brethren members in Florida have lost the ability to work, are facing significant hardships and uncertainty, and are living in fear.
Recent grants from the Brethren Faith in Action Fund (BFIA) have been given to seven Church of the Brethren congregations and one camp.
CWS launched Rise Up for Refuge earlier this year. As part of this national campaign, the Harrisburg and Lancaster offices sponsored a daylong Rise Up conference at Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren.
The 13 members of Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Unit 339 have begun service at their project sites. The volunteers completed orientation on July 27 to Aug. 4 at Inspiration Hills Camp in Burbank, Ohio.
The latest set of grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) support ministries of congregations in Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Also, global church leaders in East Africa received support to attend an agricultural training symposium.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed the latest round of grants, made this spring through early summer, from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF). The grants support disaster relief efforts and aid in North Carolina, Western Maryland, Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Samuel Hupp has begun work at the Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding and Policy, serving through Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS). He is a member of Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind.
Dear Beloved Community of the Church of the Brethren, I write today with particular concern for our Haitian church members and their families. Following the expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on July 27, many now face the possibility of detention, deportation, and family separation. Among those affected are approximately 300 Haitians who are part of Church of the Brethren congregations across the United States.
In this time in which many of our Haitian sisters and brothers no longer have valid work permits due to the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, it is more important than ever that the church give generously to the Legal and Mutual Aid Fund. This fund directly supports our Haitian Church of the Brethren members in the US, among others.