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From time to time, readers send me little curiosities from
Messenger's past. Sometimes it is an issue of The Gospel
Messenger from the 1880s. Sometimes it is an obituary or other
item from an early issue, which someone clipped and tucked
away in a family Bible. Sometimes it is a handwritten note from
the pen of one of my long-gone predecessors.
For several years now. I have had this receipt that
was sent to me by
John Bollinger of
Grabill. Ind. The
subscriber named on
the receipt was
Charles Shiffler.
According to brother
Bollinger, Charles
Shiffler was a member
of a pioneer family of
Naperville, 111. He also
was the grandfather of
John Bollinger's wife. The Shifflers, Erbs, Frys, and others were
among the founders of Naperville congregation (see May 1993,
page 5).
But what really attracted my attention was the amount of
money listed on the receipt. For $1.50, Charles Shiffler received
The Gospel Messenger for one year.
Think for a moment. Nowadays, everything you buy makes a
big jump in price from one year to the next. What you buy for
$10 today likely will cost $15 by this time next year. So it's
rather remarkable that a year of Messenger has risen in cost only
from $1.50 to $12.50 . . . in a century!
Readers back in Grover Cleveland's time. Brethren in Bill
Clinton's time, receiving their denominational publication and
finding out what the Brethren are doing . . . and for such a
bargain. We are pleased that we can continue to offer that
bargain. Our New Year's wish, however, is that more Brethren
would take advantage of that bargain.
Do you know someone who is not taking Messenger? Give a
little encouragement to subscribe. Or subscribe for that person.
The magazine that sold for $1.50 a year in 1893 is still "must
reading" for every Brethren, at $12.50 a year, in 1994.
COMING NEXT MONTH: A look ahead to the 1994
Annual Conference, with a preview highlighted by a profile
of moderator Earl K. Ziegler.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
EhcB. Bishop
Editorial Assistants
Paula Sokody. Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L, Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Luiz; Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer; IllinoisAVisci
Gail Clark; Northern Indiana. Leona
Holderread; South/Central Indiana, Mai
Miller; Michigan. Marie Willoughby;
Mid-Atlantic. Ann Fouts; Missouri/ Ark
Mary McGowan; Northern Plains, Faitt
Strom; Northern Ohio. Sherry Sampson
Southern Ohio, Shirley Petry; Oregon/
Washington. Marguerite Shamberger;
Pacific Southwest, Randy Miller; Middle
Pennsylvania. Ruth Fisher; Southern
Pennsylvania, ElmerQ. Gleim; Wester
Pennsylvania, Jay Christner; Shenando;
Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains. Esther St^|
Virlina. David & Hettie Webster; Wesi i
Plains, Dean Hummer; West Marva.
Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the oJTicial publication o( (
Church of the Brethren. Entered as sect I
class matter Aug. 20. 191 8. under Act c
Congress of Oct. 17. 1917. Filing date.
1 , 1 984. Messenger is a m 1
of the Associated Church 1
and a subscriber to Religic
News Service and Ecumer \
Press Service. Biblical
quotations, unless otherwi
indicated, are from the New Revised
Standard Version.
Subscription rates: $12.50 individu
rate, $ 1 0.50church group plan. $ 10.50 t
subscriptions. Student rate 75C an issu f
you move, clip address label and send I
new address to Messenger Subscriptio
1451 DundeeAve. , Elgin, IL 60120.A \
at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published
limes a year by the Genera! Services C i-
mission. Church of the Brethren Genei
Board. Second-class postage paid at El .
III., and at additional mailing office, Ja «
1 994. Copyright 1 994, Church ofthe
Brethren General Board. ISSN0026-0:
POSTMASTER: Sendaddresschai !
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin.
60120.
1^
Chicago First and Goshen City:
A day camp deals with diversity 1 1
A conversation in 1988 has led to the development of a joint day
camp between a city church and a rural church. Karen B. Kurtz
describes the ongoing benefits that accrue when Brethren of
different cultural backgrounds explore and celebrate their diversity.
Chicago Brethren captured the dream 14
Margaret Woolgrove tells how Chicago First Church of the
Brethren is capturing Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream and how it
propels their witness against apartheid in South Africa.
n Touch 2
Zlose to Home 4
jiJews 6
Vorldwide 10
'oetry 1 5
tepping Stones 20
'lixed Reviews 23
I rom the
General Secretary
'ontius' Puddle 27
i -etters 30
urning Points 3 1
ditorial 32
25
Dry Run: A river runs through it 16
The creek in Dry Run, Pa., has its ups and downs with full banks in
the spring and a slow trickle in the summer. Don Fitzkee tells how
Dry Run Church of the Brethren, like the creek, has gone from near
death to revitalization.
A summer on the mountain top 1 8
Jeff Carter describes what happened to him when he set out on a
tour of Brethren camps to spread the light of peace.
Meat loaf evangelism: What's your recipe? 21
Frank Ramirez says that sometimes we approach evangelism the
way we approach meat loaf: We want it only the way we grew up
with it.
Healing faith 24
The distinction between sick-making faith (faith healing) and
healthy-minded faith (healing faith) is described by Richard J.
Landrum.
jl redits:
9 )ver: Grant Heilman
■i 11-12: Mark A. Kurtz
" Janet Tubbs
. op: art by John Gelsavage
^ ight: Wendy McFadden
4 eft: Irene ShuU-Reynolds
;« eft, 24: Religious News Service
<S leddSchrock
: Church World Service
jj left, 15 left: Joan Gerig
j( right, 1 5 right: Margaret Woolgrove
H. Armstrong Roberts
David Radcliff
Marqitita Jones of
Chicago (III. I First
Church of the Brethren
playfully shows the
photographer her "dean
hands " as she pauses
during a crafts project at
an innovative day camp.
Turn to page 1 1 for the
stor/.
January 1994 Messenger 1
Taking the plunge
River wading probably
wasn't on John Tubbs'
resume before last summer,
but after three months on a
pastoral exchange in Nigeria,
study, and doing house-to-
house and hospital visits.
Janet participated in the
Garkida women's fellowship
and helped John in his
duties.
John found the Nigerians
A highlight for John
Tubbs during his
Nigeria stay was
assisting Garkida
pastor Abraham Wuta
Tizhe in baptizing
new converts in the
Hawal river. John is
pastor of Rocky Ford
(Colo.) Church of the
Brethren.
"In Touch " profiles Brethren we
would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black
and white, if possible) to ' In
7"o«f/i. " Messenger. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
it most certainly could be. No
baptistries necessary; just
come on down to the water's
edge and step right in.
John, accompanied by his
wife. Janet, was the first US
Church of the Brethren
pastor to visit the Church of
the Brethren in Nigeria (Ek-
klesiyar i'anuwa a Nigeria —
EYN) in the pastoral
exchange program, which
already has brought two
Nigerian pastors to the States.
The exchange was more of
a pastoral intervisitation than
a pastoring stint in one
congregation. In the course
of the Tubbs' three-month
stay in Nigeria, they visited
25 EYN churches.
John took on many
pastoral duties while in
Garkida, including leading
prayer meetings and Bible
very gracious hosts, and
described his assisting a
pastor with a baptismal
service at Ghung as "a
privilege."
Another high point of his
experience was preaching at
the dedication of a church
building for a congregation
that had been started as a
"preaching point" by Stover
Kulpin 1961.
John's participation in this
service gave him the sense of
having a tie with one of the
pioneer Brethren missionar-
ies of EYN's history.
The real purpose of the
pastoral exchange program,
as John sees it, is "building
relationships between the US
church and the Nigerian
church (and of) going and
being among the people."
— Margaret Woolgrove
Seat of learning
You can't beat "hands-on"
learning, so when Janice
Shaw-Morgan was teaching
her fifth-graders about self-
sufficiency in colonial
America, she set each of
them to making a chair.
The children quickly
gained an appreciation of the
colonists making do with
what they had. "Back then,"
said one pupil, "they had no
table saws. And it's not easy
to cut wood without one."
The children designed
their own chairs, first
building a cardboard scale
model. Janice supplied most
of the wood, and parents
helped out in class.
The finished products,
ranging from three-legged
stools to arm chairs, showed
a high degree of creativity.
Explained Janice, "We took
the viewpoint of furniture as
art, so the kids could try
anything they wanted to."
Janice, a member of San
Diego (Calif.) Church of the
Brethren, felt her goal was
met, and some of her pupils
were so pleased with their
work that they decided to use
their new chairs. Rachel
Aquino, who decorated her
high-back chair with
strawberry-patterned seat
cushions, said, "I'm going to
sit on mine the rest of the
year."
Janice's pupils planned to
try soap-making next.
Clearly the pioneer spirit is
alive and well in California.
2 Messenger Januan' 1994
Margaret and Stanley Nowak
You had to be there
Two Who Were There
(Wayne State University
Press, 1989) is the biography
of a man not only deeply
convicted of his beliefs, but
also convicted for them. "He
. . . may not have much in
his feet, but he certainly has
a lot in his head" is how
Margaret Collingwood
(Nowak) described the man
who was soon to become her
husband, after their first
dance together in 1931.
That "horrible dancer" was
Stanley Nowak, a Polish
immigrant who worked
unflinchingly in the 1930s
and '40s as a labor organizer
and later as a 10-year
member of the Michigan
state senate. Stanley's
association with the Ameri-
can Committee for the
Protection of the Foreign
Bom, and other supposedly
"subversive" organizations
led to denaturalization and
deportation proceedings
being filed against him in the
heyday of McCarthyism and
the Walters-McCarren Act.
These proceedings were not
revoked until 1958, when a
US Supreme Court decision
finally cleared the charges.
Margaret, the author of the
book that documents this
struggle, and a member of
the Church of the Brethren
all her life, tells how in the
1930s she became sure that
God was directing her "into a
new pathway of service in
keeping with . . . Brethren
traditions."
She went through a period
of disenchantment with the
church in the 1930s, believ-
ing that ". . . instead of
seeking God in the ceremo-
nies and rituals of the
church, one would find what
we call God in a dynamic
way in the struggle for
human needs and human
dignity, which . . . was the
truest form of worship."
Margaret came back to the
church in the 1940s when
she saw the acts of service
that the Church of the
Brethren was doing all over
the world during and after
the war, and she has been an
active member ever since.
She and Stanley still
attend Trinity Church of
the Brethren in Detroit,
Mich., when their health
permits.
Margaret is now 85 years
old and Stanley is 90. And
although Stanley's dancing
may not have improved, one
suspects that it matters less
these days. — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
Names in the news
Mildred ("Millie")
Eisemann, a member of
Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren, has received the
Harry C. Robinson Sr.
Humanitarian Award from
the Lancaster County Human
Relations Council. Among
her many community
services, she has worked in
Brethren Disaster Relief and
Cooperative Disaster Child
Care.
• Wilfred E. Nolen, a
member of Highland Avenue
Church of the Brethren, in
Elgin, 111., has received an
Wilfred E. Nolen
Outstanding Service Award
from Bridgewater College. In
recognizing him, the college
noted his work as executive
secretary of Brethren Benefit
Trust, which oversees the
denomination's pension
plan, and the Brethren
Medical Plan, a self-insur-
ance program.
• Aldene Ecker, a member
of Highland Avenue Church
of the Brethren, in Elgin, 111.,
was presented with the 1993
Maurine Withers Award for
a lifetime of achievement in
the mental Health Field. The
award came from the Elgin-
based Ecker Center for
Mental Health, which the
award recipient founded. He
is retired now, and lives in
Fairfield, Tenn., where he
continues to promote mental
wellness.
• Ron Cox, of Kiawah
Island, S.C, retired from a
career in computer systems,
had an exhibit of his wood
art and crafts creations at
Bridgewater College, the
first half of December. The
late-blooming artist has won
several awards for his work
at South Carolina art shows.
• Galen Young, a member
of Drexel Hill Church of the
Brethren, in Philadelphia,
Pa., has received a Distin-
guished Service certificate
from the American Osteo-
pathic Association, in
recognition of his outstand-
ing service to the profession.
• Cecil Fike, a member of
Faithful Servant Fellowship,
in Atlanta, Ga., and director
of pastoral care at Kenniston
Hospital, in Atlanta, has
been honored as Chaplain of
the Year by the Georgia
Society of Hospital Chap-
lains.
• Kathy Harkins, admin-
istrator of The Palms of
Sebring (Fla.) retirement
home, has been named
Administrator of the Year by
the Florida Dietary Managers
Association.
Remembered
Von Hall, 64, died October
25, in Ames, Iowa. He
served as an agricultural
missionary in Nigeria (1957-
1975) and in Niger (1975-
1976).
January 1994 Messenger 3
Behind the red door
"Come to the white church
with the red door" is the
invitation issued by Stafford
Frederick, pastor of the 49-
member Olathe (Kan.)
Church of the Brethren (see
February 1990, page 3).
Olathe Church of the
It's easy to give
directions for finding
the Church of the
Brethren in Olathe,
Kan. Just tell the
seeker to look for the
church with the
bright red door.
"Close to Home" highlights
nevvs of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local and
regional life. Send story ideas and
photos fbluck cmd while, if possible)
to ' 'Close to Home. ' ' Messenger,
145 J Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Brethren, at the corner of
Elm and Pine, is the only
church in town with a red
red door. It even may be the
only Church of the Brethren
meetinghouse in the denomi-
nation that has a red door.
The frame church was
constructed as a rectangular
building in 1893. For 40
years, entry was made
through two doors on the
Pine Street side. Women
entered through one door and
men through the other. The
sexes were separated inside
as well.
This Brethren tradition,
along with prayer coverings,
lined hymns, and a meal
with old-time recipes, was
observed October 2-3 during
the congregation's centennial
celebration. A woman who
arrived late for the Sunday
service on October 3 un-
knowingly came in through
the men's door and would
have sat in the wrong
section, but the brothers
pointed out the error to her.
In 1954, a vestibule with
two large windows and an
exterior cross was added to
the building, on the Elm
Street side. The old double
doors that had
segregated the sexes
were eliminated, and
a single entrance was
created on the Pine
Street side of the
vestibule.
That door and the
outside cross were
painted brown until
25 years ago, when
then pastor Truman
Reinoehl repainted
them. "After the first
stroke of the brush, I
realized that the color
was more red than I
had expected," recalls
Truman. "But I already had
the paint, so I finished the
door and then painted the
cross."
People liked the effect, so
the door and cross have
remained bright red ever
since. "I can be feeling like
Grumpy the dwarf (from the
movie "Snow White"), but
the sight of that door gives
me a spiritual uplift," says
Lois Williford, a long-time
Olathe member.
In preparation for the
centennial, the church was
repainted white, and a fresh
coat of bright red enamel was
put on the door and cross.
One former member re-
sponded to his invitation to
the celebration by asking, "Is
the door still red?"
Entering its second
century, Olathe is consider-
ing building an addition to
its 100-person-capacity
sanctuary or relocating to
another church building. But
whatever decision it makes,
one thing is understood: The
trademark red door stays
red. — Irene Shull-Reynolds
Irene Shull-Reynolds is a free-
lance writer from Lawrence, Kan.
Companeros en Cristo
Shenandoah Distict has
begun a new global mission
project, "Compafieros en
Cristo" ("Partners in
Christ").
The project has three parts,
the first of which is "Partners
with Puerto Rico." The
district already has begun
giving financial support for
the associate district execu-
tive for the Puerto Rico area
of Atlantic Southeast
District. Visits between
Shenandoah District and
Puerto Rico have begun. In
Shenandoah gives financial
support for Puerto Rico
executive Pedro Brull.
the second part of the new
outreach ("Project Global
Village"), David and Adela
See (members of the fall
1993 Brethren Volunteer
4 Messenger January 1 994
Service unit) are working for
two years in Honduras. The
district provides $12,000 to
support the Sees.
The third part of the
project places emphasis on a
Hispanic ministry in
Shenandoah District, with
there likely being a ministry
begun in the Harrisonburg,
Va., area.
Compafieros en Cristo is
part of Shenandoah District's
Vision for the "90s cam-
paign.
Campus comments
The University of La
Verne's 1993-1994 under-
graduate enrollment
of 1 ,066 on the main campus
is the highest in the school's
102-year history. ULV's total
enrollment is 5,300.
• The world-renowned
AIDS Quilt, an enormous
creation of 1 ,920 panels
sewn together in groups of
eight to create 12-foot
squares, is tentatively
scheduled for display at
Elizabethtown College in
March. The quilt, first
displayed in Washington,
D.C., will feature in an AIDS
Awareness Week at the
college.
• Bridgewater College, at
its October 23 homecoming.
Pleasant Dale Church
of the Brethren, near
Fincastle, Va.,
dedicated a "Peace
Pole" on Peace
Sunday, October 24.
The pole was a gift
from Kermon Carter,
a son of pastor Karen
S. Carter. A guest
speaker was Jeremy
Rhoades (at center, in
white coat), president
of Virlina District
Youth Cabinet.
showcased the publication of
the college's centennial
history, Bridgewater Col-
lege: The First Hundred
Years. 1880-1980. The
history was written by
Francis F. Wayland, a 1930
graduate of the college.
• The University of La
Verne has one of the most
ethnically diverse student
bodies in the nation. The
percentage of minority
students in ULV's under-
graduate program is twice
the average in other colleges
and universities in Califor-
nia, and three times the
national average in higher
education.
• McPherson College
students participated in a
"hunger banquet" November
16, sponsored by the school's
Peace Awareness group. By
random drawing, the
participants were served
meals that represented
different levels of income
around the world, from rich
to poor. Proceeds from the
"banquet" and from students
fasting November 16-17
went to Oxfam America, an
agency that funds self-help
development and disaster
relief in Africa, Asia, the
Americas, and the Carib-
bean. These fundraisers were
part of a larger observance of
events designed to raise
social consciousness about
hunger and the homeless (see
next item).
• Several McPherson
College students took an
"urban plunge" November
20-2 1 , immersing themselves
for 48 hours in the life of
homeless people in Wichita,
Kan. The students dressed in
old clothes, panhandled, ate
out of dumpsters, slept
outside, and talked with
homeless people in order to
experience what it is like to
be without a home.
Let's celebrate
Commission executive Joan
Deeter as guest speaker.
Everett (Pa.) Church of the
• Eden (N.C.) Church of
Brethren celebrated its 100th
the Brethren dedicated its
anniversary November 7,
new education wing October
with former pastor Earl
17. Its present building was
Hostetter as guest speaker.
dedicated in 1949.
• Roanoke (Va.) First
• Oak Grove Church of
Church of the Brethren
the Brethren, Roanoke, Va.,
completed its series of
marked its 85th anniversary
centennial celebrations
October 10 with an "old-
October 16, with former
fashioned Sunday" celebra-
pastor Earl Mitchell as guest
tion. Former pastor
speaker.
Lawrence Rice was the guest
• Poages Mill Church of
speaker.
the Brethren, Roanoke, Va.,
• Olathe (Kan.) Church of
dedicated its renovated
the Brethren celebrated its
sanctuary October 3.
"100-year-plus" anniverary
• Williamson Road
October 2-3.
Church of the Brethren,
• Drexel Hill Church of
Roanoke, Va., celebrated its
the Brethren, Philadelphia,
45th anniversary October 10-
Pa., recently celebrated its
13, with World Ministries
40th anniversary.
January 1994 Messenger 5
i
Because the news pages include news from various
Church of the Brethren organizations and move-
ments, the activities reported on may represent a
variety of viewpoints. These pages also report on
other natioani and international news relevant to
Brethren. Information in news articles does not
necessarily represent the opinions of Messenger or
the Church of the Brethren.
'Jubilee: God's Good News'
introduction, training planned
Jubilee: God's Good News, a new
children's curriculum, will be available
to congregations in September 1994
from Brethren Press. In preparation,
introduction and teacher training events
have been scheduled.
A training event for 50 people
from across the denomina-
tion will be held at the
General Offices in Elgin,
111., next month. These leaders
will train Sunday school teachers
throughout the denomination in
over 80 training sessions held from
February through August. During
the workshops, the leaders will
explain the material and how to
teach it effectively to the children.
The Jubilee curriculum is designed
for children age 2 through grade 8.
Although it is Sunday school mate-
rial, it is also designed to help
parents, teachers, and congregations.
Along with the Church of the Breth-
ren, other denominations participating
in Jubilee include Brethren in Christ,
Mennonite Brethren Church, General
Conference Mennonite Church, Menno-
nite Church, and Friends United
Meeting.
Jubilee promotion includes advertise-
ments in Messenger, and in the publica-
tions of the other sponsoring denomina-
tions.
Jubilee will be available to congrega-
tions in September. September 25 is
declared Jubilee Celebration Sunday.
The training workshops are scheduled
in all of the districts: Atlantic Northeast,
April 30, May 19, June 5; Atlantic
Southeast, March 19, April 30, May 14;
Idaho (including western Montana),
April 23, 24; Illinois and Wisconsin,
April 30, May 14; Northern Indiana,
April 19, May 12, 24; South/Central
Indiana, April 16, 24, May 7; Michigan,
February 26, March 12; Mid- Atlantic,
March 5, 12, April 16, 23; Missouri/
Arkansas, May 21, 22; Northern Plains,
February 19, 26, March 12, April 30;
Northern Ohio, March 5, 26, April 16,
May 14; Southern Ohio, February 26,
27; Oregon and Washington, April 30,
May 1, 21, 22; Pacific Southwest, Feb.
25, 26, March 12, May 13, 14; Middle
Pennsylvania, May 12, 19; Southern
Pennsylvania, March 19, 26, April 30,
June 4; Western Pennsylvania, May 14;
Shenandoah, March 5, 12, 19; South-
eastern, February 27, March 13, April
23, 30, May 21; Southern Plains, April
30, May 1 ; Virlina, March 6, 20, April
24, 30, May 1,15, 22; Western Plains,
March 12, 26, April 16, 24, 30, June 11
18, August 12; West Marva, May 15.
Calendar
Cooperative Disaster Child Care Workshops:
January 2 1 -22, First Presbyterian Church,
Miami, Okla. [For information call Alice
McDowell, (918) 542-3388]; February 25-26,
Rochester, N.Y.[FurtherdetailsfromCDCC,
(410) 635-8734]; March 1 1-12, Lanark, III.
[For information call Marian Patterson; (815)
225-7279].
Church of the Brethren Association of
Christian Educators conference. Camp Bethel,
Fincastle, Va., April 15-17. [Contact Doris
Quarles, P.O. Box 56, Daleville. VA 24083;
(703) 992-2465].
Health Tour of Russia, April 25-May 1 1 [con-
tact Association of Brethren Caregivers, 1 45 1
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-
8039]. I
I
National Work Camps. Rio Piedras, P.R.,
June 4-12 (young adult); Cherokee, N.C., June
20-26 (senior high/youth); Indianapolis, Ind..
July 6-10 (junior high); Harrisburg, Pa., Aug. :
3-7 (junior high); Dominican Republic, Aug. 4- 1
1 7 (BRF: senior high/youth); New Windsor,
Md., Aug.8- 1 2 (junior high); Tidewater, Va.,
Aug. 17-21 (junior high). [For more informa-
tion and registration forms, contact Wendi
Hutchinson, 1 994 Workcamp Coordinator, I
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120]. ;
Church Visit to Brazil: South and North Meet i
a "Tunker" Way, July 10-28, sponsored by
Latin America/Carribean Office. [Further
details from Latin America/Carribean Office,
Church of the Brethren General Office, 145 1
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-
8039].
6 Messenger January 1994
1992 attendance for worship,
church school show increase
An analysis of statistics by congrega-
tions for 1992 showed major gains in
average worship attendance and
average church school attendance in
the Church of the Brethren.
Total membership had a minor
decline for the year.
The compilation of reports of
congregations by Olden Mitchell, a
consultant for the Evangelism office,
shows a net decrease of 1 20 mem-
bers— the smallest decline in about 25
years. Eleven of the 23 districts had net
increases in membership for 1992.
Virlina had the largest gain, with 384
members. Shenadoah had a net gain of
205 members, and Middle Pennsylvania
had 140.
Southern Pennsylvania had the highest
net loss, with 241 members and Mid-
Atlantic had the next highest with 134.
According to the study, the average
worship attendance increased in 16
districts and as a whole grew by nearly
2,400. Only six of the districts saw a
decline in the average church school
attendance, and the average was up
nearly 1,400.
In his remarks, Mitchell said "Many
Brethren are not aware of how many
small churches, and small districts, we
have. It's something to think about when
we're planning curriculums."
The report shows that 26. 2 percent of
Brethren congregations have 25 or less
in Sunday school classes on an average
Sunday, and 14.4 percent of the
congregations average 25 or less in
Sunday worship services.
The report also observed that "10
congregations had net gains in 1992 of
at least 15 in both worship and church
school; 20 more churches had a gain of
at least 15 in worship attendance, and
six others had a gain of at least 15 in
church school attendance."
It also noted that 45 congregations
had a decrease in worship and/or
Sunday school.
Mount Lebanon Fellowship, in
Barboursville, Va., had the largest gain
in membership, with 170, and
Meyersdale (Pa.) showed the greatest
net loss with 213.
ICC General Board approves
fiedia violence paper
'he National Council of Churches
^CC) General Board during its meet-
igs in November in Baltimore, Md.,
pproved a media violence paper by a
ote of 145-0-0. The statement, "Vio-
;nce in Electronic Media and Film," is
n update from the original statement
dopted in 1986.
The paper states that no single
ause is responsible for media violence,
ut that "all of us share the blame."
'he policy also states that all parties
must recognize their responsibility"
nd be committed to control media
iolence.
In adopting the media violence paper,
le originating body of the Education,
'ommunication, and Discipleship Unit
lans to increase its communications
/ith such bodies as the Motion Picture
association of America, the National
association of Theatre Owners, and the
Vhite House, as well as other govem-
lent agencies.
While the statement hopes to control
ledia violence, it respects the First
amendment. "We commit ourselves to
i'ork through government and with
industry to find ways to respect free
expression while abhorring and selec-
tively limiting media violence, the moral
equivalent of a harmful substance."
The Church of the Brethren Communi-
cations Team is offering a resource
packet on media violence. The resources
include Annual Conference statements
and queries regarding violence and the
media, the revised NCC paper, updates
on Brethren activity concerning the
issue, and an issue of Media & Values on
media violence. The packet costs $5 and
is available through the communications
department.
District, General Board, EYN
announce staff changes
Richard M. Hanley begins serving
April 1 as district executive for Western
Plains District. Hanley is currently
serving as executive of West Marva
District. Hanley has previously served
as pastor for the Myersdale and Mon-
roeville congregations in Western
Pennsylvania District. He will take over
this position from Kent Naylor, who is
serving as the interim executive.
Orlando Redekopp begins a two-year
assignment on January 2 as the half-time
director of the Urban Ministry program
with Parish Ministries Commission.
Redekopp, who will continue his
pastorate at Chicago (111.) First Church
of the Brethren on a half-time basis,
comes to this position with experience
both overseas and in underprivileged
parts of the United States. Redekopp
makes his home in Chicago, with his
wife, Joan Gerig, and their daughter,
Tasara.
Joe Schmid began work as an agricul-
tural consultant for the Nigerian church,
Ekklesiyar Yanuwa Nigeria (EYN), in
late October last year. Schmid is from
New Plymouth, Idaho, where he and his
wife, Ilo, operate a multi-family farm.
The Schmids have previously worked
overseas in Tanzania, Guatemala, and
Yemen.
Richard M. Hanley Orlando Redekopp
January 1994 Messenger?
Program of accompaniment
initiated in southern Sudan
Later this month the first group of
persons in the Sudan Accompaniment
Program will begin the initial phase of
training in preparation for a period of
service in Sudan.
The Church of the Brethren is
recruiting persons to work in war-torn
southern Sudan in a new peace minis-
try. This initiative is part of a larger
program in Sudan that includes
strengthening the churches and pro-
viding relief and development assis-
tance to individuals and communities
in southern Sudan. "In relation to our
peace heritage, this program is a logi-
cal next step, which builds on our his-
toric rejection of war and efforts at hu-
manitarian relief," said David Radcliff,
director of denominational peace wit-
ness. The initiative, which is being
jointly coordinated by Radcliff and
Mervin Keeney, representative for Africa
and the Middle East, comes in response
to a call from the New Sudan Council of
Churches (NSCC), and purports to:
1. Be in accompaniment with the
people of southern Sudan in the midst
of a devastating civil war.
2. Provide a visible international
presence in communities.
3. Monitor and report on infractions
of agreements between contending
parties of the conflict.
4. Provide on-site coordination of
relief shipments, English language
lessons, or other services as needed in
the community in which volunteers are
placed.
A commitment of between three
months and one year is being sought
from applicants. The following qualifi-
cations are essential: The ability to live
and work in a different culture; the
ability to deal with conflict construc-
tively; a commitment to Christian non-
violence; good physical health; and
flexibility and adaptability to difficult
circumstances.
Training prior to arrival in Sudan
will include nonviolent responses to
violence and basic mediation; initial
introduction to Sudanese history, cul-
ture and present reality; media skills,
including photography; and working
with groups, including forming support
groups in the face of conflict.
Persons interested in participating,
should contact the office of denomina-
tional peace witness (800) 323-8039.
A Brethren program of accompaniment in southern Sudan will place members
side by side with fellow Sudanese Christians in a proactive peace witness.
Disaster Fund grants issued
to Burundi refugees, Cuba
A grant of $10,000 has been issued by
the Emergency Disaster Fund to assist
Church World Service and the Protestant
Council of Rwanda in the distribution of
medicine, blankets, clothing, food, and
other essentials. More than 200,000
refugees, mainly women, children, and
elderly people have fled from Burundi tc
Rwanda after a military coup overthrew
the country's five-month-old democratic
government on October 20, leaving the
country subject to ethnic fighting. The
refugees, mostly traveling on foot and
without food or possessions, face
starvation or death with the onset of the
rainy season.
A grant of $ 1 2.000 has been allocated
for the provision of medical supplies to
Cuba. The grant was directed toward
requests for medical supplies from the
Cuban Ecumenical Council (via Church
World Service) through the end of 1993,
Flood disaster work in Ottumwa,
Iowa, is scheduled to continue through
April. Over the winter months, volun-
teers are involved mainly in indoor
work. Housing is in Ottumwa Church C|
the Brethren.
I
First Young Adult Travei Team
to visit Brethren congregtions
The Young Adult Travel Team will
begin its first year in the fall of 1994.
The team plans to travel to congrega-
tions from September to mid-December
During its five-day visits with congregc
tions, the team will talk about peace an
Brethren history and culture.
The team was founded by a few
Brethren Volunteer Service workers, ,
three of which are on this year's team.
The team is sponsored by On Earth
Peace, Youth and Young Adult Ministi
Denomination Peace Witness, and the
Brethren Historical Committee.
8 Messenger January 1994
Group announces frustration
with denomination name
At the close of a conference in Minne-
apolis, Minn., in early November, titled
"RE-imagining," 20 women and one
man from the Church of the Brethren
stood before about 2,000 delegates to
tell something of their struggle and
direction regarding the name of the
denomination, and presented what
they called a new name for the
denomination — the "Church of
Reconciliation."
A statement presented at the confer-
ence said in part "This name was
conceived by the Holy Spirit in an
incredible meeting last evening. It
reflects our heritage as one of the
historic peace churches. It speaks of
an ongoing process that is necessary
for justice as well as peace. It
proclaims the vision toward which men
and women have worked in our
denomination since our beginnings in
Germany."
The Re-imagining conference was
designed to celebrate the midpoint of the
World Council of Churches" Decade of
Solidarity with Women. The 1988
Annual Conference voted to support the
WCC movement.
"The group struggled in its desire not
to cause offense and/or alienation," said
Debbie Roberts, coordinator of the
Church of the Brethren program for
women. She made it clear that the
participants were not disassociating
themselves from, or denying their
commitment to, the denomination.
Annual Conference moderator Earl
Ziegler, upon being informed of the
action, observed that the steps taken did
not represent the denomination in any
official capacity, and that it (the action)
departed from the normal procedure of
the query process for initiating business
items. "We encourage members to use
the procedures that are available for
effecting change within the church," he
said.
The group's statement also indicated
that, for 20 years, efforts had been
made to achieve a name change for the
Church of the Brethren that includes
women.
The most recent effort was a request
that had been placed before Standing
Committee in 1992. At the 1993
Annual Conference in Indianapolis, a
subcommittee reported to Standing
Committee a process and timetable for
addressing the matter of a name change
leading up to 2008, the 300th anniver-
sary of the denomination and the 100th
year since the name "Church of the
Brethren" became official.
Standing Committee received the
report, thanked the committee for its
work, and, according to the minutes,
dismissed the committee "with the
knowledge that discussion will con-
tinue."
In its discussion. Standing Commit-
tee struggled with and acknowledged
that the original question had not been
presented through the designated
process.
NCC general board addresses
violence, installs president
^t it's fall meeting, the National Council
of Churches (NCC) general board re-
sponded to media violence, and installed
a new president and president-elect.
! The board passed statements on media
jKiolence (see page 7), and global
communication. The "Global Communi-
';ation for Justice" policy statement is
iesigned to increase the understanding
)f church and secular constituencies
ibout the critical issues of international
':ommunication in today's world, and to
ormulate positions and policies on
ntemational communication from a
rhristian perspective.
Gordon Sommers and Melvin Talbert
vere installed as president and presi-
lent-elect of the NCC, respectively.
Sommers, head of communion of the
Moravian Church in America, will serve
a two-year term as president through
1995. He is the first Moravian to serve in
this NCC post.
Talbert, a United Methodist bishop,
will serve as president-elect through
1995 and as president in 1996-97.
The NCC board also approved a 1994
consolidated planning budget of more
than $49 million; observed the midpoint
of the Ecumenical Decade of the
Churches in Solidarity with Women; and
gave first (preliminary) readings to pol-
icy statements titled "Human Rights: The
Fulfillment of Life in the Social Order,"
and "An Invitation to Evangelism: Jesus
Christ and God's Reign." Member
churches will study the papers and give
feedback prior to next year's meeting.
Church of the Brethren general secre-
tary Donald Miller is a member of the
Executive Coordinating Committee.
Models of hope, inspiration for
rural ministry addressed
A conference on rural ministry led by
Shantilal Bhagat, Church of the Brethren
staff for Eco-Justice and Rural Concerns,
drew 93 participants to discuss models of
rural ministry.
The conference provided models of
hope and inspiration for rural life as well
as community building. Senator Bob
Kerrey (D-Neb.) offered his vision for
rural America in an address.
"This conference provided me with a
better understanding of the demograph-
ics and the social and economic issues
confronting the heartland region," said
Bhagat. "With declining national staffs
as well as increasing needs in rural
areas, collaborative efforts become even
more vital to strengthening rural
ministries."
January 1994 Messenger 9
More than 3,000 Korean Americans have left the Christian
Reformed Church to form a new denomination. The six congregations
have decided to leave the church principally because the denomina-
tion is on the verge of opening the ordained ministry to women, said a
Religious News Service report.
Leonard Hofman, general secretary for the Christian Reformed
Church, acknowledged the congregation's decision to leave, but noted
that 20 congregations composed of mostly Korean Americans have
expressed interest in joining the denomination. These congregations
are located in California, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, New
York, and the Midwest.
At its synod meeting in June, the Christian Reformed Church
took the first step toward a policy change that would open the
ministry to women. The decision will be finalized by a vote at the
1994 Synod.
An estimated 350,000 Columbians have sought refuge in
Ecuador and Venezuela as a result of violence against civilians as
either a direct action by the government or action sanctioned by it. In
the capital city of Bogota, the Ecumenical Network has provided
transitional shelter, and medical and legal assistance. It has also
helped people leave the country, when necessary.
Within Peru, more than a million people are believed to have been
uprooted, and approximately 10,000 Peruvians have moved to Chile
to escape violence. The war against Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path)
has wiped out many rural towns, forcing the people of the area to flee
to Lima and other cites.
The Network of Fellowship and Solidarity Columbia-Ecuador, a
Church World Service supported initiative, has coordinated efforts
among churches. The network connects people and resources from
Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and beyond.
In a letter to President Clinton, leaders of the National
Council of Churches (NCC) expressed "concern about levels of foreign
aid resources for humanitarian and development assistance for the
world's poor. . . ."
The letter, signed by the heads of 12 denominations, including
Church of the Brethren general secretary Donald Miller, said that the
NCC was "encouraged by signs of commitment within (the Clinton)
administration to reform the Agency for International Development so
that its mission and operations more clearly focus on sustainable
development involving and benefitting the poor." At the same time,
the church leaders warned that major cuts in last year's foreign
humanitarian aid "will undermine seriously any reforms intended to
support self-development of the world's poor" if left unresolved. "We
urge you to take steps to assure adequate funding for development
and humanitarian programs" in the coming fiscal year, the letter
concluded.
According to a recent World Council of Churches
(WCC) report, poverty is a major cause of HIV transmission; women
are especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS; and "blame, shame, and fear"
are the most common reactions to the disease. The report was the
1 0 Messenger January 1994
Child refugees from Iran and Afghanistan receive free
primary education from the host government ofAhangaran.
result of a WCC-sponsored research program on AIDS carried out in
communities in Uganda, Tanzania, and Zaire. The report was
discussed in September at an international conference in Uganda that
was attended by 95 health workers and delegates of Christian health
associations, church health care programs, supporting agencies,
regional and national ecumenical bodies, and international organiza-
tions involved in AIDS control. Participants in the conference were
divided on whether condom use or abstinence before marriage and
faithfulness to one partner were the answer to containing the epi-
demic. Data collected by the study indicated that sexual activity
begins early in all three countries, and that women's economic
dependence on and sexual subordination to men makes them
vulnerable to HIV infection.
In a November testimony before the Ways and Means
Committee of the US House of Representatives, a staff executive of
the United Methodist Church's social-action agency called for a $2-a-
pack tax increase on cigarettes.
Calling tobacco "the No. 1 killer" in the United States, Jane Hull
Han/ey declared, 'Tobacco alone kills 419,000 persons in the United
States every year, more than 10 times the number who die from
gunshot wounds."
An assistant secretary of the denomination's Board of Church and
Society, Harvey spoke as co-chaira/oman of the Interreligious
Coalition on Smoking OR Health, a group still in its formative stages.
The coalition is a cooperative effort of 15 religious organizations.
Han/ey accused tobacco interests of targeting the young. She said
90 percent of all new smokers are younger than 20; 50 percent are
younger than 15; and 25 percent are younger than 12.
Using figures compiled under the previous administration, she
said that, of the 3,000 US young people who become regular smokers
each day, "we can expect that 30 will be murdered, 60 will die in traffic
accidents, and 750 will be killed by smoking-related diseases."
The coalition supports the $2-a-pack tax 1o counteract tobacco
advertising aimed at getting children hooked on one of the world's
most addictive drugs," Harvey said.
Chicago First and Goshen City:
A day camp deals with diversity
De.
'enominational, district, and
some congregational leaders
dream and talk about the benefits
that could come from congrega-
tions exchanging visits and
engaging in joint projects.
Often a congregation that is
isolated from contacts with other
parts of the denomination imag-
ines that it is "Brethren " to its
very core, and everything it
practices and all its programs are
what every other congregation is
doing (or is supposed to be doing).
Then, by chance, this smug, self
satisfied congregation hears about
something going .on in another
part of the Brethren world —
something that doesn't fit the
pattern it imagines, in its narrow-
ness, is the true Brethren way —
and it is shocked and outraged.
Those people over there, it
concludes, are way off the mark. If
they don 't or won 't hew to the line,
they are fit only to be drummed out
of the denomination. Everybody
must be like us, or they aren 7
being true Brethren.
So, in their dreaming, the
leaders see congregations getting
to know each other intentionally,
rather than by chance, and
mutually learning that there is
diversity in the ranks, great and
healthy diversity, and no one
congregation represents the essence
of what it is to be Brethren.
With that in mind, read what two
very different Church of the
Brethren congregations are doing
to live out that dream.
by Karen B. Kurtz
It began with a conversation at the 1988
Annual Conference in St. Louis. Lois
Myers, a member of Goshen (Ind.) City
Church of the Brethren, was talking with
Lois Snyder, a member of Chicago (111.)
First Church of the Brethren. Experi-
ences and dreams were tossed back and
forth, and an idea was born. The idea
developed into a joint day camp venture
between the two congregations —
separated physically by only 125 miles,
but separated by seeming light years in
terms of culture and race. Goshen City is
rural and white. Chicago First is an
inner-city church made up mostly of
African Americans. Children ages 8 to
12 would come together in a day camp
experience that celebrated diversity and
enhanced multicultural appreciation and
understanding.
Goshen City's ministers envisioned a
program similar to the "Fresh Air Fund,"
Marcus Fox and Jean Williams, members of Chicago First Church of the Brethren,
provide supervision for children of both congregations in a day camp craft project.
January 1994 Messenger 11
For Lois Myers, chairwoman of Goshen City 's day camp committee, "solving
problems and enjoying successes" are a way of reaching the exchange program 's
goal of developing understanding between people of different cultures.
but with an expanded multicultural and
intergenerational day camp emphasis.
"We were reluctant at first," said
Gloria Williams, minister of outreach
and youth director of Chicago First.
"We wondered how the children would
react — prejudice is still there in the
hearts and minds of many people —
going from an all-black neighborhood to
a white community that no blacks live in.
We worried how the neighbors would
feel."
But Chicago First's witness commis-
sion overcame its hesitancy and unani-
mously endorsed the day camp idea.
During August 1989, 15 children, four
youths, and three adults from Chicago
First attended Goshen City's day camp.
By 1993 the program had swelled to 23
Chicago First children and 23 Goshen
City children, plus numerous junior
leaders who are 13 to 17 years old, and
adults. Most day campers repeat the
program each year.
Goshen City and Chicago First share
the cost of the program.
"As the kids left to return to Chicago
that first year, we knew we wanted to
continue the program," recalls Michelle
Blough, one of the day camp's initial
organizers. "It was our first venture
relating with a sister church, but
Chicago First members felt it was a leap
of faith to bring a busload of energetic
kids down to Goshen. And after learning
to know each person individually that
12 Messenger January 1994
first year, we feel we must continue it."
The day camp committee at Chicago
First operates under the congregation's
witness commission, which has two
members. Goshen City's day camp
committee has eight members and
operates under the nurture commission.
The committee also invites a youth
member to join it.
G
•hicago First children work all year in
the congregation's New Horizons
program to earn the opportunity to go to
Goshen City's day camp, although some
children who are new to New Horizons
get to go just for the cross-cultural
experience. While Chicago First parents
must attend one Sunday worship service
a month, children must attend more
regularly. They work in two community
service projects a month, remain
accountable for their behavior, check in-
with positive report cards from school,
and attend three Sunday school classes a
month.
"The children must be accountable
with their attendance, said Gloria
Williams. "They are eager to participate
in New Horizons, because the church is
our entertainment for both children and
teens after five o'clock."
The dynamic New Horizons clips right
along. Winter and spring evenings bustle
with activity. On Tuesdays parents tutor
children one-to-one in educational
fundamentals. The 40-member New
Horizons children's choir fills Chicago
First church with song on Wednesdays.
The children publish a monthly newslel
ter that is put together on Wednesday
nights and later is distributed in the
community. Thursdays are for youth cli
activities. Both community and church
members teach arts and trades to 60
youths.
"All of our committee members are
strongly interested in developing deepei
understanding between people of other
cultures," says Lois Myers. "They see tl
work of solving problems and enjoying
successes as a way to reach that goal."
"The most rewarding thing for me,"
says Gloria Williams, "is seeing childre
work at their cross-cultural experiences
in a positive way. The children need
experiences being around two cultures.
They need to see that we love people fo:
what they are in the name of the Lord."
There were kinks in the day camp
program to be worked out. "At first, the
parents at Goshen City needed the
confidence to accept the day camp," say
Gloria. "We had to decide which
children would go with us to Goshen. Il
was hard to choose. Some children had
to wait until the second year."
By the end of the first year, Goshen
City's committee was confident and
better organized. For example, Katherii
Longcor, a grandmother with time-teste
family recipes, now organizes the
kitchen staff and provides menus with
appropriate food amounts.
The day camp curriculum contains
subjects such as "Caring for God's
Creation," "Conflict Resolution," and
"Lifestyles of Faithfulness." Activities
vary from year to year.
Two strong components provide
stability in the program. Generally, the
morning schedule follows this order:
After the campers have worship, a Bibli
study follows. Then there is a presenta-
tion or crafts to make and do. Children
also write down thoughts and feelings i
a daily journal.
Goshen City's pastor attends day camp
fevery day. This year pastor John
Tomlonson decorated a cardboard story
^ox, then each evening invited a child to
take it home overnight. At home, the
child put a small surprise inside the box.
Next morning, John told a spur of the
moment Bible story to the group when
^e surprise was revealed.
"Our deacons presented Brethren
traditions of feetwashing and anointing,"
said Michelle Blough. "Afterward, we
held our own anointing and feetwashing
services. Then our pastor anointed each
adult, and we, in turn anointed each
bhild. It was such a powerful experience
that just recalling it gives me goose
bumps."
Lc
ois Myers echoed Michelle's senti-
ments. "As we worked with the elements
of communion, we truly had heaven in
Goshen City classrooms."
Resource people from outside often
nrich the presentations. With the theme
of "Hands and Feet," a chiropractor
showed chicken bones to the campers.
After they observed the intricacies of the
bones, a discussion focused on God's
creation and how people affect it. An
African American postal administrator
led day campers in a discussion about
making wise choices and setting goals,
describing his experiences growing up
black in a white town. A Nigerian
student from Bethany Seminary pre-
sented an overview of the Church of the
Brethren in Nigeria from his cultural
perspective. Other meaningful presenta-
tions have included sessions on Black
history and conflict resolution.
The afternoon component contains
field trips around Elkhart County —
visiting museums, parks, and zoos,
touring Menno-Hof (a Mennonite and
Amish information center), visiting a
dairy farm, and taking wagon rides on an
Amish farm. Other activities include
roller skating, swimming, and bowling.
Day campers have also visited a Brethren
camp — Camp Mack — and hiked its
nature trails.
When day camp week is over, each
church evaluates the program. The
witness commission from Chicago First
and the day camp committee from
Goshen City process an evaluation
during a weekend joint meeting. Al-
though organizers concur that improve-
ments are necessary, both churches
believe that these joint ventures have
enriched the lives of all participants and
leaders and enhanced cross-cultural
friendships.
"The day camp program is beautiful,"
says Gloria Williams. "We're learning
from each other. More children are now
involved. The experiences have brought
families from the west side of Chicago
and Goshen together, just like godpar-
ents. Our children go to each other's
home, they spend weekends together,
and they come together for programs.
It's just wonderful."
"Day camp has matured to the extent
that we don't see so many tears when the
children depart for Chicago," observes
Lois Myers. "The first few years they all
cried a lot. That has lessened now. We
think the children recognize our continu-
ing friendship."
As
LS enthusiasm for day camp built,
spin-offs developed. There is an annual
"May Tea" at Chicago First, similar to a
harvest homecoming event. The congre-
gation hosts a guest speaker, provides
singing groups, and holds a reception for
members and friends around the inner-
city community. Goshen City members
are invited. The funds that are raised go
toward summer programs at Chicago
First.
About 1 5 women from both congrega-
tions have participated in several
women's exchanges. When the group
meets at Goshen City, it arranges
flowers, picnics at Camp Mack, or tours
the Old Bag Factory (a local tourist
attraction). The women have knotted 25
comforters for Chicago First members
and needy families in the community.
While in Chicago, the group has
created Christmas crafts and done other
things. Each event includes devotions
and lunch.
Five pastoral pulpit exchanges have
occurred between the two congregations.
Both pastors usually travel with adult
singers and musicians, who contribute to
an uplifting worship service.
There also are weekend exchanges
between both youth groups. In April,
Goshen City youth travel to Chicago
First, where they stay overnight. They
enjoy a cross-cultural experience in
Chicago visiting Garfield Park Conser-
vatory, riding the El (the subway), seeing
where the homeless sleep, enjoying
musical vendors on city sidewalks, and
eating dinner in Chinatown.
A reciprocal visit comes in July, when
Chicago First youth travel to Goshen and
stay overnight in the church. They have
visited a Fort Wayne zoo, gone swim-
ming, and played miniature golf. Twenty
youth are involved in both programs.
"As children grow up, there is a
definite need to expand our emphasis
into more youth programs," says
Michelle Blough. "The children them-
selves want to continue their friendships
with us. We are developing a joint
camping retreat for families to meet this
need.
"In addition," says Michelle, "Goshen
City's scholarship committee hopes to
establish matching scholarships for
Chicago First students who want to
attend a Brethren college."
A long way from a chance conversa-
tion in St. Louis in 1988, this venture
between Chicago First and Goshen City
demonstrates the ongoing benefits that
accrue when Brethren congregations of
different cultural backgrounds get
together to explore and celebrate
their diversity.
Al.
Karen B. Kurt:., of Goshen. Ind.. is a partner in
Kurtz Lens and Pen. which provides writing,
editing, and photography .senices.
January 1994 Messenger 13
by Margaret Woolgrove
Mention the name Martin Luther King
Jr. in most any circle today, and voices
will hush and heads bow in reverent
homage to a man who is remembered for
his dream of a free, unfettered nation of
Americans.
What is less often remembered today,
is the fact that in the 1960s, at the height
of the movement for civil rights in the
United States, King was viewed by many
as a communistic radical who was
attempting to subvert the "justice" of the
nation; an individual whose voice and
message needed to be silenced at any
cost — even the cost of death.
It has been 25 years since the assassi-
nation of King; 25 years in which we
have become all too complacent about
racism in the world.
On January 17, we celebrate Martin
Luther King Day. This is a day not only
of remembrance and thanksgiving for
what has passed, but also a time of re-
envisioning for the future. Thirty years
ago King had a dream; that dream is as
relevant today as it was then. The
celebration of King's life and legacy is a
way of celebrating the continuing
movement of God in human affairs.
At Chicago (111.) First Church of the
Brethren, the capturing of King's dream
has taken the form of witnessing against
the system of racial apartheid that still
prevails in South Africa. To the mem-
bers of Chicago First, Martin Luther
King Day is a time to take to the streets
with banners and sing out for their lives-
14 Messenger January 1994
Chicago Brethren
captured the dream
and for the lives of their brothers and
sisters in South Africa.
The "Sing Out Against Apartheid"
rally has been taking place for five years.
But what began as a six-hour silent vigil
in 1988 turned into a one-hour
"singathon" by default rather than by
design, according to Joan Gerig, the
organizer of the event and a member of
Chicago First. "We were 'standing for
the truth' in a six-hour silent vigil
outside the South African embassy in
downtown Chicago. An hour or so into
our vigil the youth arrived with banners
and started to sing. As soon as I heard
the singing I began working out a way to
incorporate this witness into future
vigils. So really it was their 'spoiling'
the vigil that began the annual 'Sing
Out'"
This year the day has special signifi-
cance, marking as it does the start of
"Keeping the Watch," a vigil of prayer
that will continue from King's birthday
(observed), January 17, through April
27, the date set for the first ever non-
racial elections in South Africa.
There will be 18 million new South
African voters heading to the polls on
April 27, of whom 65 percent are not
literate. In addition to the estimated
200,000 educators that will be needed,
there is a need for election monitors at
the 8,000 polling stations throughout the
country. There are fears among the black
population that the ballot will not be
secret, that intimidation will be used on
election day, that violence will over-
shadow the election, and that there will
not be neutral monitoring at the polls.
This is obviously a very fragile time,
and "Keeping the Watch" is calling on
churches to choose a week or month in
which individuals sign up for a specific
date to pray for South Africa, so that the
country will be bathed in prayer. Prayer
requests include free and fair elections;
tolerance and understanding for other
points of view; an end to violence;
informed international support; and
abidance by the outcome of the electioii
Praying for South Africa is an initia-
tive that was started by the Brethren la
year at Annual Conference, with
churches signing up on a prayer roster
that continued through April. The neec
for prayerful support and action has
never been greater than now.
In 1965, King called for a 'swift and
unstinting' response to suffering in
South Africa. In calling for freedom ai
justice in the democratic process in
South Africa, the vision of King is
remembered, and the dream gets
one step closer to becoming reality.
0
Above, left: Chicago First member
Bryan Staffer remembers Martin
Luther King Jr. Below: A plaque behi
Dejuan Riley commemorates King's
1967 sermon at Chicago First church
Opposite: Joseph Esther and Dejuan
Riley witness against apartheid.
Impression
by Luke Azinger
Born slave in 1817,
Forced to work with Trade of Caulking.
In the year of 1838.
With free man's contract, to Massachusetts he
escaped.
Employed by "The Liberator,"
Found that he was an incredible orator.
Away from slave life
Spoke often about unfair strife.
Forced onto blacks unjustifiably
Whites felt they had supremacy.
Nonviolent resistance
Aided cause to his persistence.
Published of life past.
Bondage is unfair, it should not last.
Also fought for
Black enlistment in Civil War.
Douglass" life shows
Great impression on Dr. Martin Luther King goals.
Luke Azinger is a member of Highland Avenue Church
of the Brethren. Elgin. III., and a first-year student at the
University of Iowa. This piece on Frederick Douglass won
first place in a Martin Luther King Jr. writing contest.
m
Church of f/ie
brethren
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Lartia remembers
In 1967 Martin Luther King spoke at
Chicago (111.) First Church of the
Brethren. Lartia Burton, now a great-
great-grandmother, was there, and
recalls the elation of that day. "It was so
exciting to be there," she recalls. "The
street was so busy that cars couldn't get
through. He held two mass meetings at
Chicago First, taping his sermons and
sending them abroad.
"We were a mainly black community
even then. In 1960, when I moved in,
there were only four black families in the
neighborhood. Then when the seminary
(Bethany) moved out in 1963, many of
the students and professors left too. We
didn't really want them to go. We didn't
want the neighborhood to go down, just
like the white folks today, worrying
about the wrong kind of people moving
in next door. But what could we do?
"Things are different now. People are
still working for "civil rights,' but
they're doing it as individuals, not as a
mass movement. The problems have
changed too, and the gang activities are
real bad. There are too many freedoms
and not enough choices. So young people
get into drugs and destroy themselves,
and when you holler, they just tune you
out." — Margaret Woolgrove
January 1 994 Messenger 1 5
Dry Run:
By Don Fitzkee
Dry Run has its ups and downs. During
the spring and winter this little wet-
weather stream in Franklin County's
Path Valley runs bank-full. But during
the long, hot days of summer Dry Run
slows to a trickle, leaving large sections
of exposed creek bed.
Dry Run Church of the Brethren,
founded in 1953 in the sleepy village of
the same name, has gone through some
dry spells of its own over the years. But
these days, thanks to the support of
Southern Pennsylvania District's Church
Development and Revitalization Com-
mission and co-pastors Harold Yeager
and Roy Fahnestock, a river runs
through this revitalized congregation.
Located about six miles north of the
Willow Grove exit of the Pennsylvania
Turnpike, Dry Run sits in the midst of a
sparsely populated valley of about 6,000
people, where good jobs are scarce, and
average income is relatively low.
Just five years ago it looked like the
Dry Run church would have to close its
doors. Attendance at the biweekly
services in a run-down former school-
house had dwindled to around 10, and
few could see any potential for growth in
a village of 350 people, many of whom
were residents on fixed incomes at the
town's three small, privately-owned
personal care homes for the elderly.
The church building itself — the only
one in town — was in danger of collaps-
ing. One long-time member facetiously
comments, "The people who went to
church in the old building must have had
a lot of faith." When representatives
from the district examined the building
in 1988, says Harold, "their advice was
get out of there as fast as possible before
it falls on you."
The Dry Run members heeded that
advice, but instead of closing the church
or relocating outside of town, the church
in consultation with the district, decided
its ministry was in Dry Run. "The 'right'
thing to do would have been to get out of
town," says member Bill Swailes, but the
50 or more residents of the town's homes
would have been left behind. So the
church stayed.
The Revitalization Commission
persuaded Harold, a free minister in a
Brethren congregation about 25 miles
from Dry Run, to join Roy Fahnestock,
who had been caretaker pastor of the
church for more than 20 years. Harold,
who had held various church leadership
'This church has a
purpose. We aren 't
just meeting to meet
and to collect
enough money to give
to the preachers. '
positions in the district and denomina-
tion, agreed to serve for 18 months to
determine what potential existed for
meaningful ministry in Dry Run.
In the spring of 1989, the old building
was demolished, and work began on a
new brick meetinghouse on the same
site, funded by a $52,000 capital grant
from the district. Meanwhile the church
began to grow as it met rent-free for
nearly two years across the street in
Gloria Doyle's Gold 'n' Gray Home.
The congregation moved into its new
building in October 1991 with an
average attendance of 30. By January
1992, that figure had increased to 50.
Three hundred attended the April 1992
building dedication, and the church
continued to grow modestly under the
leadership of pastors Yeager and
Fahnestock. By the fall of 1993, atten-
dance averaged in the 70s, with a high ol
90. "The question now," says Roy, "is
which Sunday are we going to hit a
hundred?"
Roy credits Harold for much of the
1 6 Messenger January 1 994
river runs through it
jrowth. "Harold's been excellent," he
says, "i would say some of the growth —
Tiuch of it — I give Brother Harold credit
For." Music leader Fred Keener, who
attended another church before coming
fo Dry Run, and who directs community
:horal groups, agrees: "Harold is an
ncourager. Put three exclamation points
behind that. He has a knack for finding
what people are good at and making
:hem do it." The first Sunday that Fred
attended, Harold spotted him in the
:ongregation and called him forward to
fead singing. He has been music director
ver since.
Bonnie Goshorn also appreciates
Harold's gift for encouragement. "Harold
|tnakes you feel confident," she says. "He
always has something good to say about
you that makes you feel good about
yourself."
Roy had baptized Bonnie and her
husband, "Hop," years ago, but they had
fallen away from the church during the
growing-up of their five children. After
several visits from Harold, they came
back, and now attend regularly. Since
returning, their daughters, ages 18, 16,
10, have made decisions for Christ and
been baptized, along with the fiances of
the two older daughters. Says Bonnie,
'Going here, you just get a good feeling.
The people are so friendly."
Bill Swailes, a dairy farmer, who
joined the church a year and a half ago,
and who how serves as trustee, agrees.
"It's a difference between getting up and
jhaving to go to church," says Bill, "and
not wanting to leave (to go home)." He
notes that many people hang around
after the service to visit, which he
believes is a sign of a healthy congrega-
tion.
Bill and his wife, Anna, left a church
that suffered a split to come to Dry Run.
"To me, joining this church was like a
homecoming," says Anna, who teaches
Sunday school and serves as church
treasurer. "There's really a sense of
family here."
That sense of family is clearly visible
from the minute the church opens its
doors. Pastor Roy, plain-coated and
bearded, greets Harold with a holy kiss.
Harold gives enthusiastic bear hugs as he
greets his brothers and sisters. During a
short Sunday school opening, superin-
tendent Paul Shearer calls on the
members of the congregation to raise
their Bibles high, and nearly everyone
present has a Bible to wave in the air as
the congregation sings a chorus.
Worship includes time for singing
"Happy Birthday" to people who are
celebrating their special day during the
month. Pastor Harold gives small
birthday cakes to each celebrant as the
congregation sings. When the volunteer
Ladies Choir gathers around the piano,
care is taken to wheel Annie, a resident
of one of the town's homes, up front on
the church's office chair so she can sing
along. The congregation sings "I'm so
glad I'm a part of the family of God,"
and really means it. The last Sunday of
each month, 40 or more people stay after
church for a carry-in dinner and fellow-
ship.
Re
k.oy and Harold have been sharing the
pastoral responsibilities at Dry Run, with
Roy preaching and visiting the first two
weeks of each month, and Harold the last
two. Both work fulltime: Harold is an
elementary school principal, and Roy is a
farmer and general manager for a fuel
distributor. In addition, they receive
modest support from the district, with
the congregation paying their ministry
expenses.
While Harold may be the more
charismatic of the two pastors, he and
Roy balance each other well. Harold says
that while he is brash and tends to act
quickly, Roy is more deliberate and
encourages him to think things through.
"Roy has been a real blessing to me,"
says Harold.
Leadership has been one key to the
church's growth, says district executive
Warren Eshbach. Harold and Roy have
been able to form an effective team. "If
Harold hadn't come, it wouldn't have
happened," says Bill Swailes. "He's
poured every spare moment into the
church." Harold admits, "If I were a
candle, I'd be burning toward the short
end by now." He already has stayed three
years beyond his initial 18-month
commitment.
The church's future depends largely on
new leaders being called and trained.
The congregation recently called a
deacon, and a church board was formed
in April 1992. Groundwork is being laid
to call a minister from within the
congregation to provide additional
leadership.
Harold believes the congregation is
moving toward being self-supporting.
Giving has been good, he says. The
congregation recently gave $500 to the
Church of the Brethren Emergency
Disaster Fund, and this June will send its
first delegate ever to Annual Conference.
While the residents of the personal
care homes in Dry Run have been the
focus of the church's ministry, the
congregation is considering starting a
day care center. The church's choice to
remain in Dry Run, says Bill Swailes,
"makes a statement" that the church is
there to serve the community. "This
church has a purpose," says Bill. "We
have something to do. We aren't just
meeting to meet and to collect enough
money to give to the preachers."
Dry Run — the creek — will probably
run dry again this summer. But the Dry
Run church intends to be there year-
round, offering living water to the
community it serves.
M.
Don Filzkee. ofRheems. Pa., is a licensed
minister in Chiques Church of the Brethren,
Manheim, Pa., where he will be ordained on
February 6. He served as an editorial assistant on
the Messenger staff, 1986-1988. Presently he is a
member of the denomination 's General Board.
January 1994 Messenger 17
A summer on the mountain top
M
Jeff Carter (right) and his friend Andy Brunk atop California's Mount Grayback.
Actually the whole summer was, in a way, spent on a mountain top.
by Jeff Carter
I see myself as a struggler — one who
grapples with life's questions and works
through situations to a finish. I gain new
awareness of who I am through question-
ing and struggling.
I struggled in sixth grade with Mrs.
Marks' science class. I always managed
to add one too many volts of power to
those litde light bulbs, causing them to
bum out. My mind was not into studying
that year, because, at the same time I was
struggling with science class, my closest
friend, my grandfather, was struggling
with cancer . . . and losing. I watched a
big, strong man determined to win the
fight slowly and painfully lose. After he
died, I learned that although my grandfa-
ther was not physically with me, he had
left me a precious gift that would last a
lifetime. He left me the gifts of love,
kindness, and generosity, which he
taught me by example.
I want "to be there" for people, as my
grandfather was for me, empowering
people to believe in themselves and see
their special God-given gifts. My
grandfather provided one of the lights of
hope that guides me on life's journey.
The Church of the Brethren National
Peace Team spent the 1993 summer
spreading the light of peace to six camps
and four states. On Amtrak, we traveled
18 Messenger January 1994
countless miles across the West, and we
made many wonderful new friends. My
goal was to spread peace. In the process I
learned what peace is.
At Camp Mack, in Indiana, during a
junior-high camp, we held a love feast at
a campfire. At first we wondered if the
kids would pick up on the significance of
the service and be interested in the
church heritage, and whether they could
sit still that long. We started the service
by having the kids take off their shoes,
telling them they were walking on holy
ground (Exod. 3:5). Jessica, gifted at
leading guided imagery — a form of
relaxation — lead the group off to have
some quiet meditation. While the kids
were gone. Drew and I took all their
shoes and formed a cross, standing
lighted candles between some of the
shoes. The kids returned to the campfire
quiet and curious. They sat facing the
cross as the sun sank behind the horizon.
The kids then washed each other's hands
while they sang camp songs.
T.
-he intensity of the hand- washing
surprised me. For many participants it
was their first time, so the hand-washing
service was done with an intense
reverence that brought the kids closer
together. They formed a circle around
the cross of shoes. It was great to see the
group turn into family, with kids holding
hands and supporting each other.
I had thought that the time of the
bread and cup could be a time of recom-
mitment of faith. That was my mistake.
Many of the kids had not been baptized,
so this was the beginning for them in
their commitment to their faith. One by
one, campers dipped small pieces of
bread in grape juice and ate it.
I marveled at the maturity and
seriousness they exhibited in their
commitment. By the end of the service,
there were many tears.
As we were praying, a breeze began,
blowing out four candles. Earlier it had
been illustrated that the cross was made
of two beams — the vertical beam
representing God's love coming down to
us, and the horizontal beam representing
our love going to the world. After a
couple of rounds of the song "Sanctuary"
and a lot of hugs, one camper observed
that the wind had blown out the candles
on the horizontal beam of our cross of
shoes, while the vertical beam still
burned brightly. Wow! We closed almost
every camp with this service, and no two
were the same.
While we sat around the campfire one
chilly July night in the mountains of
Idaho, a discussion broke out among the
kids about God and what God thinks of
our actions. What does true discipleship
mean? How can we call ourselves
Christians when we still sin? Although I
was several years older than these kids, I
could relate to the questions of faith. We
talked the night away.
There was a boy with many of the
same struggles I had in high school who
didn't believe in himself. He didn't
believe that he could make a difference.
"I have done so many wrong things, how
could God accept me?" he asked.
We spent the better part of what was
left of the night discussing God's grace,
and how we must work toward disciple-
ship. While I was trying to give insight
from my own life struggles, I suddenly
started to feel as if I were talking to a
mirror. It was I who also needed the
confidence and who needed to believe in
myself. I can be an instrument of Christ
only if I can accept the challenge 100
percent. 1 saw Christ working in that boy
for me. He was my mirror. Now I could
remember that I must be a doer and live
out my faith. Together we can make the
difference.
While we were at camp La Verne, in
California, we took the youth camp on
an overnight hike. We hiked five miles
to Dry Lake in the San Greggomio
Mountains, set up camp and went to bed.
At 3 o'clock the next morning, six of us
started a five-mile hike to the top of
Grayback Mountain. As we approached
the steep slope of the mountain we found
the trail blocked by about six fget of ice.
The area to the left was straight down
hundreds of feet, and the area to the
right was straight up hundreds of feet, so
we went over the ice, venturing up the
mountain without a trail.
A,
Lt one point, we were going straight
up the side of the mountain, holding on
to some mountain laurel so we wouldn't
fall down the face. I felt as if I had been
transplanted into a National Geographic
special. As we crested the mountain, the
sun blazed across the horizon. To the left
was the morning, while on the right
Palm Springs still lay in the night.
The courage and physical strength to
accomplish the climb brought an
overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. We
made it to the top and saw the creation of
a new day. The hike home was exhaust-
ing, but having been 1 1 ,499 feet up that
morning and having hiked 15 miles
before noon, I discovered a determina-
tion and inner strength in both myself
and the other team members that I
hadn't realized we possessed. We
became even more committed to telling
Peace team members Andy Brunk, Jessica Eller, Jennifer Ungemach, and Jeff
Carter spent last summer visiting Brethren camps to "spread the light of peace. "
people that peace begins with our faith in
God and ourselves. If we believe, we can
accomplish anything.
Spiritually, the summer experience
taught me that although I may some-
times stumble in my discipleship, I also
have my moments of success. Each week
since my peace team trip, I have
recommited myself to follow in Christ's
steps. When working with young adults,
I could tell them what I wanted them to
see and believe. But if I wasn't living it,
my words meant nothing. Saying I am a
Christian does not mean that life is a bed
of roses, but I learned that if we live our
life in discipleship, our mistakes and
struggles make us stronger and don't
tear us down. It is important to be honest
about our struggles as Christians. I saw
young and old alike making their faith
real and living, and I am blessed to have
had them a part of my life even for a
short time.
At times, this summer's experience
reminded me of my first bike ride — long
ago and like a dream. And at other
times, when I read of the hatred and
violence in our world, 1 am full of energy
(inspired by the youth) and aware that I
am to make a difference.
The summer was spent working with
three other young people: Andy Brunk of
Weyers Cave, Va.; Jennifer Ungemach of
Palmyra. Pa.; and Jessica Eller of Merritt
Island, Fla. As I look back to the
summer, I appreciate them more and
more. We were very different in our
experiences and theology, yet the ideas
of God's love and peace transcended the
differences and united us.
I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:4-
13, a favorite passage of mine: Love is
patient, love is kind. We learned that
God is the love in our lives and we are
called to share that love. We must have
God in every action. In so doing, we
spread the strong message of peace —
God's love. My goal now is to relight
those candles on the cross of
shoes, one by one.
Jeff Carter of Westminster. Md.. who recently
completed a year of Brethren Volunteer Ser\'ice in
the Church of the Brethren Washington Office, has
become associate pastor of Florin Church of the
Brethren. Mount Joy, Pa.
January 1994 Messenger 19
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offering
suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment. "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
STONES
If you want to find out who
your true friends are. send
your Christmas cards out
late.
I am one of those moder-
ately compulsive people who
have their shopping done by
Hallowe'en and their
Christmas cards in the mail
the day after Thanksgiving.
This past year was differ-
ent, however. Because of a
year full of major life
upheavals, Christmas was
only a week away when I
began frantically licking
envelopes. With a little luck,
my cards reached their
respective destinations by
New Year's.
I noticed that I didn't
receive as many cards as in
Christmases past. "Aha!"
said I, "All these years I
thought my old friends
stayed in touch out of loyalty,
when all along it was
apparently just reciprocity."
Social scientists have
advanced what is called the
"social exchange theory,"
which assumes that individu-
als engage in a system of
mental bookkeeping,
continually appraising a
relationship in terms of the
flow of rewards and relative
costs. So in view of my
illustration, the "social
exchange theory" might
translate into behavior as
follows:
"Let's see, we better get a
card out to the Millers; they
sent us one. Don't forget the
Bowmans; they always have
something for us. And Mrs.
Gibble gave us those cookies,
so we need to take her
something."
Sound familiar? My
college friends and distant
cousins aren't the only ones
who allow reciprocity to
regulate their Christmas lists
and relationships. You and I
do too, to some degree, at
least.
So the most constructive
way I know to incorporate
this principle of reciprocity
into our interactions with
others is to be on the
initiating end of it — to be
proactive, rather than
reactive.
When we do this, first of
all we claim our choices free
from the pressure of others'
expectations. On a personal
level, this promotes indepen-
dence, builds self-confidence,
and enhances decision-
making skills — all important
qualities for effective
leadership.
Secondly, we position
ourselves to impact others in
a positive, motivating, way.
For example, in the dynam-
ics of group therapy, we see a
lot of valuable interaction
bom out of reciprocity. As
one person opens up, others
are encouraged to do
likewise. Trust develops,
understanding expands,
intimacy evolves, and growth
results.
You can see how placing
yourself on the initiating end
of reciprocity in relationships
has both individual and
corporate advantages. And
this is nothing new, by the
way. A long time ago, Jesus,
while speaking to a large
crowd on a hillside, advised
his listeners that whatever
we wanted others to do for
us, we should do so for them
(Matt. 7:12).
Traditionally, the church
has distilled this teaching
down to a rule, and has
tended to teach it in a rather
flat, linear, dogmatic
fashion. And while this
principle certainly "works"
as a moral standard for
behavior, that application
limits its impact and dilutes
its power.
Jesus understood reciproc-
ity. He knew that "doing
unto others" would have the
very rich potential of setting
off a chain reaction of love,
joy, peace, patience, kind-
ness, goodness, faithfulness,
and self-control — all the
building blocks for peace on
earth and good will toward
men.
Which brings me back to
Christmas cards.
If reciprocity indeed holds
true, I suspect my long-
distance friends, after
receiving my delinquent
greetings, will reinstate my
name on their Christmas
card lists.
I'll let you know.
M.
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg. Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren. Middlebury. Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counseling
out of Waterford (Ind.)
Community' church.
20 Messenger January 1994
Meat loaf evangelism:
What's your recipe?
by Frank Ramirez
I grew up loving meat loaf. Some folks
are surprised and assume that, as a
Ramirez, I ate an endless round of tacos,
enchiladas, and burritos. We ate those
all the time, to be sure, and I still look
forward to home and my mother's mole,
menudo. and eggs with chorizo. But we
also ate spaghetti, casseroles, fried
chicken, and (of course) meat loaf.
We weren't poor, mind you. but there
were 10 of us to feed, and every day my
sister Mary Ann would take a look at the
pound of defrosting hamburger, turn to
my mother and say, "Well, what miracle
are we going to work today?"
Meat loaf is like spaghetti. Everyone
makes it differently, and everyone makes
it good. Nevertheless, our meat loaf was
probably like yours. It was more a bread
loaf. I'm not complaining. I like it with
lots of bread. I prefer it with lots of
bread. And eggs. And onions. And
whatever.
But it doesn't have to have lots of
bread to be meat loaf. Read the chapter
on meat loaf in Robert Fulghum's book
Uh-Oh. Anything goes when it comes to
meat loaf. I have never met a meat loaf
at a Brethren potluck that I didn't like.
Just because I grew up eating a dish a
particular way doesn't mean it has to be
made that way forever. But you wouldn't
know that, talking to some people. The
way a dish was cooked in their childhood
is the only way to prepare it.
Now I started talking about food
because I am Brethren and I know we
Brethren think with our stomachs first.
And I want to tell you that the way we
sometimes approach evangelism is the
way we approach meat loaf. We only
want it the way we grew up with it.
One of the primary ways we Brethren
used to accomplish church growth was to
have lots of kids. The advantage to this
method was it meant we didn't have to
knock on any doors, and it guaranteed
we were all related to each other.
Like meat loaf,
evangelism doesn Y
always have
to be done
the same ol ' way.
Moreover, we didn't move around
much. Since families stayed put. their
children ended up going to the same
church they grew up in.
In addition, we were located where all
the people were — in the countryside.
But we don't have lots of kids any-
more. Folks move around a lot more than
they used to, and families get spread
across several states. And all the people
have moved to the cities.
Nevertheless, we expect our churches
to maintain themselves with little effort
over the course of time.
In the movie "Field of Dreams," the
hero, an Iowa com farmer, is told by a
voice, "If you build it, they will come."
Even though there seems no use for it at
the time, he clears a portion of his fields
and builds a baseball diamond, complete
with stands. His faithfulness is rewarded
by the arrival of players, fans, and more.
A church that hopes to grow could do
worse than use this "Field of Dreams"
approach. Nurseries need to be made,
maintained, and staffed even if there are
no children in the church at the moment.
Sunday school teachers and youth
leaders need to be recruited and trained,
ready to go. Teams of greeters must be
prepared so that no visitor goes unno-
ticed.
One congregation not too far from my
own built an elevator for handicapped
people. The next Sunday. God sent
wheelchaired souls to that church. That's
how it works. As Ross Perot says, "It's as
simple as that."
Many churches, however, follow a tail-
swallowing train of logic. We never had
to worry about handicap accessibility (or
nursery, or a youth group) because "No
one has ever attended that needed it."
The flip side of that has to be "No one
has ever attended because there isn't any
handicap accessibility."
You see, God is faithful to us. He
sends visitors to churches. The problem
is, most churches send them right back.
A growing church makes no assump-
tions. The church I currently serve
changes its time of worship in the
summer. One day I lamented aloud that I
had forgotten to include the time change
in the bulletin. "No problem," said one
long-time member. "Everyone knows
the time always changes this time of
year."
The problem is, eveiyone didn't
already know. Some folks lose touch,
newer members never hear of the time
change, and even long-time worshipers
forget. Assumptions are dangerous. Ask
yourself: "What assumptions does my
church make?"
The bulletin must be worded as if this
were the first Sunday it had ever been
produced. Take nothing for granted.
Prayers, responses, choruses that
"everyone" knows make newcomers feel
like outsiders.
How user-friendly is your church? Do
January 1994 Messenger 21
you have the new Hymnal yet? Church
growth expert Bill Eamons, at a recent
Evangelism Leaders Academy, pointed
out that music is the most important
factor in the lives of those groups we
want to reach with the gospel. Music is
everywhere, on the radio, on television in
the form of music videos and commer-
cials, in elevators, at the workplace, and
in restaurants. But when we go to church
we take a time machine back to the 18th
and 19th centuries.
When it comes to church music,
whether you prefer the classical hymns,
the 19th-century gospel hymns, the
liturgical hymns, or the maudlin hymns,
you are likely to hallow your preference
with the phrase "the old hymns of the
church." We need to sing our personal
favorites a little less often, and explore
new sounds and new rhythms. For the
salvation of others, mind you.
Is your congregation still using the
King James Version (KJV) of the
Scriptures? If so, half the sermon time is
spent by the preacher explaining
Shakespearean English.
The King James, or Authorized
Version, was assembled because a
modern English translation was needed
for the people of the early 17th century.
It was one translation among many, a
veritable flurry of scriptures published in
that era. It was not the most popular
version of its era.
Nor is it the best translation. The
translation did not have the benefit of
nearly 400 years of archaeological
discoveries and advances in linguistics
that have allowed modem translators to
present God's Word as it was delivered.
Remember, in order to be authentic,
scripture must be in modem English.
(King James' English was modern in his
time.)
The message of the New Testament
was so important, and the need to spread
it so urgent, that it was revealed in the
Koine Greek, which is the equivalent of
business English, the sort spoken in the
marketplace by those for whom it is often
a second language. It was the world
language of its day, an unadorned tongue
designed above all to communicate.
Use a modem translation in your
22 Messenger January 1994
church, preferably the New Intemational
Version (NIV) or the New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV). After all,
would you rather hear "The noise thereof
sheweth conceming it, the cattle also
conceming the vapour" (Job 36:33 KJV),
or "His thunder announces the coming
storm; even the cattle make known its
approach" (same verse, NIV)?
The hardest thing for a growing
church to build is an open heart. God
sends broken people. He sends divorced
people, emotionally or developmentally
disabled people, single parents, dysfunc-
tional families, wild kids, noisy babies,
disrupters, and dreamers. A growing
church recognizes that God is the judge,
not us, that some of us wear our sins on
the outside, and others hide them behind
whitewashed walls. A growing church
confesses that not one of us is worthy of
the free gift of salvation on our own
merits anyway.
Y,
Let some people dare to ask, "Can you
imagine the nerve of So-and-So coming
to church in her condition?"
The most profound church growth
saying I have read came not from a
Christian book but from a "Dear Abby"
column. Abby once wrote, "A church is a
hospital for sinners, not a museum for
saints." We are all sinners, no matter
how you look at it. We don't look down
our noses at someone else.
Can we reach people where they are?
Growing churches can. When Paul, in
the book of Acts, preaches in Athens, he
proclaims the resurrection to a body of
sophisticated Greeks who knew nothing
of the Old Testament scriptures. He
couldn't count on them to know Moses
from Adam. What did Paul do? He
quoted from a local poet, praised the
Athenians' worship of the unknown god,
and made converts without mentioning
the name of Jesus! But rest assured, as
time went by, those converts came to
know Jesus personally.
Explain things. To my mind,
feetwashing is the essential Brethren rite.
It is also frightening to our young people
and to newcomers. As spring approaches
I preach on feetwashing at least four
times. I explain and describe it. I make
personal phone contacts to encourage
attendance.
Do that, then stand back and watch the
change. Don't be surprised if your love
feast and feetwashing becomes the
Spirit-filled, talky, singy praise-fest it
ought to be.
We are living in an age in which
people do not know Jesus, do not know
the church, and have nothing in common
with those raised in the church. But they
are hurting, and they need God, and us,
badly, whether they know it or not,
whether we want them or not.
In the end we should admit we are,
after all, not gathered to please ourselves
but to praise God, and confess Jesus
Christ as the Risen Lord. We are not
coming to a smorgasbord of our favorite
dainties. This is not a cafeteria. We're
here to serve others, not ourselves.
Newcomers always come first.
How do we leam to act like a growing
church? There are several programs
sponsored by the Church of the Brethren
to help us make meat loaf differently,
taking the tastes of others into account.
One of these is Passing on the Promise,
and an integral part of the program is the
Evangelism Leaders Academy. There are
now six academies each summer,
scattered across the United States, and
people attend from all over, including
some from other denominations.
There is no need to be a user-friendly
church. Use obscure translations. Speak
in code. Avoid greeting newcomers. Do
things the same way. Don't cater to
others.
And you can still grow, provided you
follow this bit of advice: Have lots of
kids.
And don't forget to keep them on a
leash, because they'll start attending
their friends' church as soon as they get
their driver's license.
So what's it going to be? Meat loaf the
way you've always eaten it, or made a
different way at the next big carry-in?
Church the way you've always
known it, or God's church?
Frank Ramirez is pastor of Elkhart Valley
Church of the Brethren. Elkhart, Ind.
Religious
addiction
can be
overcome
by Jay B. Warner
Mixed Reviews critiques books, films,
and other products of the entertain-
ment media that speak to Brethren
living out their faith. The reviews are
not to be taken as Messenger 's
endorsement, necessarily. Rather, we
present them as helpful infontuition
for readers who encounter the
subjects they treat.
REVIEWS
There are a couple of things
that it seems Hke the world
just doesn't need any more
of. One is the identification
of another form of addiction
and abuse. The second is a
12-step recovery program for
that addiction based on the
Alcoholics Anonymous
system. Yet, this is what you
get when you read Leo
Booth's book. When God
becomes a Drug: Breaking
the Chains of Religious
Addiction and Abuse (St.
Martin's Press, 1991; 288
pages; $18.95).
It is tempting to put some
label on this Episcopalian
priest who is a recovering
alcoholic, and dismiss the
entire work as irrelevant. It
is tempting to say that
religion cannot be abused. It
is tempting to claim that this
doesn't happen with Breth-
ren. But we must not.
The disease of addiction is
not a virus or a germ, it is "a
physical, mental, and
emotional reaction that
occurs in response to alcohol,
drugs, co-dependency, or
other compulsive behavior."
Food is essential for life; it is
good. Yet many people suffer
from anorexia, purging, or
some other eating disorder.
Regardless of whether their
problem is one of eating too
much or too little, they suffer
from a food addiction.
Likewise, spirituality
(God) is essential for a
healthy life; it is good. Yet
many people use the acces-
sory items of religion —
rituals, dogma, and scriptural
texts — to reinforce a dys-
functional message. They
suffer from a religious
addiction. And, just as an
anorexic suffers from a food
addiction, so too an atheist
may suffer from a religious
addiction.
I do not know if Leo Booth
ever heard of the Church of
the Brethren. I doubt that he
is familiar with Schwarze-
nau, Germany, in 1708. And
yet his themes sound
amazingly similar to those
expressed by the Brethren
founders. In his book
European Origins of the
Brethren, Donald Durnbaugh
notes that the organized
religions of that day main-
tained the dogmatic crust of
the faith, but had lost all the
"dynamic Christianity"
(spirituality).
When God Becomes a
Drug identifies what abusive
religious addiction looks like
as opposed to healthy
spirituality. A few symptoms
of religious addiction might
include, but are not limited
to: "inability to think, doubt,
or question information and
authority," "magical think-
ing that God will fix you,"
"scrupulosity — rigid obses-
sive adherence to rules, codes
of ethics, or guidelines," and
"uncompromising, judgmen-
tal attitudes."
Religious abuse often may
be accompanied by other
addictions that are more
commonly identified. It may
include the physical abuse of
family members while
quoting scripture; sexual
abuse; emotional abuse; or
transferring rage about one's
self onto another person. It
may include many eating
disorders. Often, the other
problems are treated with
little or no regard given to
the religious addiction. If the
other abuse is really a
symptom of the religious
addiction, people may tend to
relapse into their old
behaviors or simply transfer
their abusive behaviors into a
new addiction.
There is a lot of biblical
support for the ideas of
spirituality and religiosity as
defined in this book. Most
biblical scholars could easily
cite scriptures in defense of
the author. However, since
religious addicts often quote
or proof-text scriptural
passages for justification or
denial of their problems,
there are no references to
specific Bible verses given.
I agree with the vast
majority of the concepts and
ideas presented in this book.
I do have a few theological
differences with Leo Booth.
I am not a religious addict,
yet this book often hit close
to my heart. It is well
written, insightful, and
challenging. When God
Becomes a Drug: Breaking
the Chains of Religious
Addiction and Abuse may be
useful to everyone who is
concerned about spirituality,
whether they are pastors,
therapists, or laity.
Ai.
Jay B. Warner is a member of
Monitor Church of the Brethren,
near McPherson. Kan.
January 1994 Messenger 23
Healing faith
'Healing faith still moves in our hearts and
lives in this alienated and fractured world for
our own wholeness and the healing of all creation.
by Richard J. Landrum
The woman who was healed only
touched the fringe of Jesus" cloak (Matt.
9:20-26). She had been suffering from
hemorrhages for 12 years. How many
times she'd consulted with physicians
and priests, we can only guess. You
think she'd have given up by now, but
she said to herself, "If only I touch his
cloak, I will be made well." And she was
healed. It was nothing Jesus did. He was
on his way somewhere else. Jesus hadn't
even noticed her until she reached out
and touched his cloak. Turning and
seeing her, Jesus said, "Take heart,
daughter; your faith has made you well."
So it was not what Jesus did, but what
she did that made the difference.
Julie did the same thing. She believed
she could be healed. She refused to give
Then suddenly a ^
woman who had
been suffering from
hemorrhages for 12
years came up
behind him and
touched the fringe
of his cloak, for she
said to herself, "If I
only touch his
cloak, I will be
made well, " Jesus
turned, and seeing
her he said, "Take
heart, daughter;
your faith has made
you well." And
instantly the woman
was made well
(Matt. 9:20-22).
up. She was referred to me by a clinical
psychologist. Her therapist believed she
needed pastoral care and that she could
benefit by working with both a man and
woman. Her therapist was female.
In the first session, Julie said, "I am a
spiritually bruised person who needs a
spiritual guide." I soon discovered just
how bruised she was. She was abused as
a child. She married, divorced, and
remarried an abusive man. She was
struggling with depression. She was a
survivor of cancer. And now she was in
an experimental program for an incur-
able disea.se — advanced progressive
scleroderma. The skin gets hard. The
joints and muscles stiffen. Eventually the
loss of body movement and function
makes the person bedfast, waiting for a
slow death.
She had been under treatment for one
year in a three-year program when she
started seeing me. She was very sick and
depressed. We sorted through many
issues having to do with her story of
abuse, illness and recovery, and depres-
sion. What gave her strength to keep
fighting was her faith. She believed that
God had something for her to do other
than suffering and dying. So we talked a
lot about the possible meanings of her
struggle. This was a real live theological
conversation coming out of the pain and
joy of a life reaching out for hope and
healing. It was no sterile creed in a booki
After two years, Julie's chronic disease
went into remission. The symptoms
abated. She thanked me for two years of
support, but it was her faith in God that
kept her fighting, reaching, enduring,
believing in her own healing. It wasn't
even her chemotherapy. A few weeks
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24 Messenger January 1994
p
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IS,
ter closing our sessions, Julie was back
my study confused and amazed by the
iblished results of her chemotherapy.
le had been in the control group taking
placebo. That is, she had no medicine,
St glucose, and yet she went into
mission.
What is even more astounding is that
le had signed a paper with each
jection, saying that she understood the
sks and side affects of treatment. And
ich time she was injected she developed
t symptoms — low energy, nausea, low
ite-cell count, resulting in infections
id frequent use of antibiotics. Julie
veloped the symptoms of a chemical
at she was not taking but believed she
as taking, which is called the "placebo"
feet.
"Placebo" comes from Latin, meaning
please. The patient is pleased by being
ovided what she believes is medica-
3n. Even Julie's physician did not
low who of his patients were on the
acebo and who were on the medication
;ing tested. As it turned out, neither the
acebo nor the medication proved to be
fective in the treatment of scleroderma.
But Julie's taking sugar made herself
1 ck with the side effects because she
j dieved she would get sick. And she got
ell because she believed she would,
th Julie and I believed God was the
aler through her faith to reach out to
lany people and sources for healing.
lie is a miracle story. I get goose
mps when I think of the power of her
ith in God.
Surgeon Bemie Siegel creates quite a
[ir these days with his innovative
atment plan after surgery. "Patients
ho get well when they're not supposed
are not having accidents or miracles
spontaneous remissions," he says.
hey're having self-induced healing."
Well, such belief seems miraculous to
le, depending on one's definition of
liracle. What one believes is what faith
A Brethren business network
Are business people welcome in the Church of the Brethren? As I travel around
the denomination, I find that business people at times do not feel welcome. Our
teaching about simplicity and against the idolatry of money can make business
people feel out of place. Yet when money is needed for a favorite cause, the
church turns to the very people who have been made to feel uncomfortable.
Furthermore, the worship and the fellowship seldom give counsel or support for
the difficult ethical decisions a business person faces day by day. How can we be
true to the gospel without systematically driving a wedge between what happens
on Sunday and what happens on other days of the week?
A significant meeting was held at Bethany Seminary in 1992 to address this
very question. Attended by Brethren business people, college business teachers,
and seminary staff, the consultation asked about the relationship between the
Brethren understanding of the gospel and the practice of business.
Without question, faith radically affects the practice of business. Many
historians credit the birth of modern business to the rise of Protestantism in
16th-century Europe. Historically, Brethren have been known as innovative and
trustworthy business people. A Dunker's word was as good as his bond. A
Dunker never cheated in business. How are Brethren convictions put into
practice today?
The Bethany meeting concluded that business people ought to be encouraged
to meet together to form a Brethren business network. Such a network might
have four functions — local fellowship and discussion, churchwide support,
special projects, and leadership training.
A local fellowship not only allows Brethren business people to know one
another, but also offers an opportunity for discussion of ethical issues faced in
the practice of business today. Such a group is beginning to meet in the
Harrisonburg/Bridgewater, Va., area. At least three other groups are in the
formative stage in other regions.
Churchwide support can come through national meetings. Brethren business
people plan to meet at an Annual Conference insight session this summer. They
also hope to gather at the annual meeting of the Mennonite Economic Develop-
ment Association (MEDA).
Brethren business people might become interested in special projects. In the
1940s, Brethren farmers helped to create Heifer Project, Christian Rural Over-
seas Program (CROP), and Church World Service (CWS). Today rural, urban,
and third-world problems cry out for Brethren business imagination.
Bethany Seminary's interest is primarily in leadership training. Some Breth-
ren are active in the Institute for Servant Leadership headquartered in India-
napolis. They promote a concept of leadership as servant, coupled with shared
authority rather than hierarchy and domination. Servant leadership sounds
familiar to Brethren ears.
A Brethren business network can have a powerful influence in the church. We
have many worthy examples to follow in our history. Not only might business
people feel more welcome, but they may lead us in bringing the gospel to our
age. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
is all about. Comparable to the woman
whose faith made her well in the story
from Matthew's gospel, Julie's faith
made her sick and made her well. All
healing is from God. We only alter the
conditions to make healing more or less
probable.
So what are you and I doing to make
January 1994 Messenger 25
ourselves — sick, or well? William James
raised this question in his book Varieties
of Religious Experience. He observed
that some people's faith is healthy
minded as contrasted to the sick soul or
divided self.
Some faith is a belief in despair,
marked by hopelessness, preoccupation
with evil, anguish, and failure. Some
faith is harsh toward the self, which may
A =^
be projected on others, too. Such faith
often believes in a fierce and vengeful
God. It is a sick-making faith in which
one believes the self and all that sur-
rounds the self into alienation and
sickness, so that what one believes tends
to come true. One refuses to take
responsibility for one's own life, casting
everything on God, either in a kind of
fatalism that God made me this way, or
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in a kind of fantasy that God will fix it.
So the person does not do anything for
one's own healing, or may even resist 1
treatment, or do things that make one
sicker.
Sick-making faith is often seen in the
person who prays and may even go to th(
doctor for medication, but refuses to
exercise or change habits that make one
unhealthy. So it's not a matter of being
religious or not religious. Some very
religious people hold poisonous attitudes
Theirs is toxic faith.
Healthy-minded faith is not toxic. It
invests in love, mercy, and a good God
whose creation is good in spite of the
pain and evil in life. The prayers and
behaviors of people with this faith link
with hope. And hope propels them to
cooperate with whatever and whoever
makes for wholeness in life. What we
believe is a force for being sick or well.
Bemie Siegel's work with cancer
patients confirms that the best medical
treatment is only as effective as the
patient's unconscious mind allows. So hi
uses methods to reinforce positive
feelings such as hope and love to believe
in one's own healing. We know that '
many physical illnesses have emotional
and spiritual dimensions. We also know
that during periods of great stress we are
more susceptible to illness.
Jrayer is a way to bring into conscious-
ness the power of faith, a way of releas-
ing the forces of healing within and
between us, and cooperating fully with
medical and holistic ways that foster the
conditions for God's healing. Like
Julie's determined faith that God has
something better for her than
scleroderma, abuse, and depression, and
like the woman who reached out to touc
the fringe of Jesus' cloak, our faith may'
move us to reach toward wholeness.
Without such faith, we slowly destroy
ourselves.
So James, the brother of our Lord
Jesus, knowing the stories of those who
reached out to Jesus, wrote to the early
church (Jas. 5:13-16): "Are any among
you suffering? They should pray." That
means pray for yourself, but then James
adds, "Are any of you sick? They shouh!
26 Messenger January 1994
;all for the elders . . . and pray over them
. . The prayer of faith will save the
iick." Prayer is not limited to a person in
solation, but recommended as a way to
;ome together with others. James
relieves that such corporate prayer "is
powerful and effective" (see also Matt.
18:20).
When they come together to pray they
io it in a hands-on way. They anoint the
iick person with oil. People were also
inointed for special ministries and
special needs. To be anointed reminded
he early church of the very presence of
he Anointed-One, the Christ, Jesus
limself, present with them and through
hem as they touched one another with
»entle hands of love and faith.
In the service of anointing today, a few
irops of oil are applied on the forehead,
-lands of faithful friends are placed on
he suffering friend. The person to be
inointed has been offered a chance to
mburden anything that might be
:luttering life or blocking healing.
"Confess your sins to one another,"
fames wrote (Jas. 5:16). Let go and let
jod! And then we pray for forgiveness
ind strengthening of faith for healing,
)ecause, James wrote, "The prayer of
"aith will save the sick, and the Lord will
aise them up" (Jas. 5:15). Of course,
;alvation is promised by the cross of
'esus, and the raising up ultimately must
)ecome the resurrection after death.
\nointing does not guarantee complete
ecovery or even any recovery. But
lealing does come in the opening up of
he channels of power through prayer
hat clears up guilt and strengthens faith
br healing.
It is helpful to distinguish between
lealing faith and faith healing. Healing
'aith is a healthy-minded, holistic
eaching out and opening up of one's self
o the power of faith for healing. Faith-
lealing is the practice and/or methods to
ise faith for healing. Sometimes those
who practice are not healthy-minded and
heir methods are questionable. Some-
imes they are sick-minded, operating
Jut of a divided soul and even sick-
Tiaking faith. Sometimes faith-healers
ire no more than con artists.
In the film "Leap of Faith," Steve
Martin plays the role of the con artist
QV-v
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Church and dislrkl newslellers Ihat reprint "Ponlius ' Puddle " from
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Take Hold of Your Future...
...One Step at a Time.
McPherson College
McPherson, Kansas 67460 • (316) 241-0731
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"Th^ size of the McPherson College community is such that people don 't get lost in the
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for the whole person and the value of each person as an individual. "
Chuck and Shirley Boyer
La Verne Church of the Brethren, La Verne, California
Scholarships/Grants*
Church of the Brethren Awards - Up to $1 ,000 per year
Brethren Volunteer Service Grants - Up to $500 per year
Children of Alumni Grants - Up to $500 per year
Church-Matching Grants - Up to $500 per year
Dependents of Persons in Church Professions - Up to $1,000 per year
* Awards are available for up to four years provided studenis remain eligible.
Some awards are based on financial need and availability- of .funds.
McPherson College welcomes all applicants
regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or physical or emotional disability.
January 1994 Messenger 27
"CHALLENGING AND
PROVOCATIVE."*
'A compelling biblical call for
the unconditional abolition of
pnsons.
MARK OLSON
"A fundamental and compre-
hensive critique of not oruy
prisons but also the ideology
and history undergirding
them.' —HOWARD ZEHR
"There is more than scholar-
ship here. Moving anecdotes
drawn from Griffith's minis-
terial involvement with Chris-
tian communities and his ex-
perience as both a prisoner
and a robbery victim enhance
his arguments.'
— LIBRARY JOURNAL*
Jesus said he had come to
roclaim release to prisoners,
n The Fall of the Prison Lee
Griffith makes what Jesus
meant altogether clear. Now
it is for us who have ears."
— WILL D.CAMPBELL
OF THE
PRISON
Biblical Perspectives
on Prison Abolition
Lee
Griffith
ISBN 0-8028-0670-8
Paper, %\ 9.99
At your bookstore, or
call 800-253-7521
FAX 616-459-6540
,WM. B. EERDMANS
V PUBUSHING Ca
255 JEFFERSON AVE. S,E. / GRAND RAPrDS, MiCH. 49503
c:
who himself comes from an abusive
childhood story, and now is a faith-
healer playing out in his own negative,
hurtful story by exploiting others. Yet
there is in his story a trace of hope, a
search for the wholeness he promises
others. Deep in the faith-healer's heart is
a hope for healing faith for himself and
for the suckers he cons as he rakes in
their money in the revival tent in a little
Kansas town caught in a drought.
Poor farmers and their families cannot
afford to be conned in hard times. The
sheriff exposes the faith healer's abusive
and criminal background. All the lies he
preaches do not turn the crowds away.
The preacher admits to everything, and
wins the crowd again to him as a
repentant sinner. So great is the farmers'
need for healing faith that they believe
the word of the phony preacher, even
though he has conned every dollar he
can out of them in the big show tent.
'What no one counted on was a teenage
boy's faith in God and a place in the con
Word from the moderator
Simultaneous with the "Prayer on the
Plains" Gathering the last weekend of
February at McPherson College (see
December, pages 8, 26), a Brethren "Day
of Prayer" will be observed on Sunday.
February 27, when each church will be
challenged to undergird our denomina-
tional leaders and global ministries in
prayer.
Water has always been primary in our
immersion baptisms and our feetwashing.
The Conference theme, "Come! Drink the
Living Water!" focuses on the continuing
invitation to the source of life in Jesus
Christ. To capture the theme, a waterfall/
stream will be created at Annual Confer-
ence. Conferencegoers are invited to bring
a quart of water from home, preferably
from the baptistry or stream where
baptisms occur. Water also will be brought
from the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee,
the Eder River, and Wissahickon Creek.
Earl K. Ziegler
1994 Annual Conference moderator
artist's heart. Steve Martin's shady
character feels compassion for this boy.
The phony evangelist tries to keep the
boy from coming forward in the tent and
being disillusioned. (Or is part of his
motive to keep from being exposed as a
phony?) But the boy will not be dis-
suaded. His faith is strong. He risks
loosing his grip on the crutches, first one
crutch, but he seizes the railing to keep
from falling as he lets go of the other
crutch. Slowly, he discovers that he can
walk. He trades his crutch for a new
freedom discovered only by faith. The
faith-healer is astonished and is himself
healed of soul with the healing of the boy.
Faith-healing is only a method. It may
be a magic act, a good show, built on
cynical and disappointing faith that
exploits people and offers false hope, but
not necessarily. Faith-healing also may
be people genuinely, but with question
and struggle, reaching out on the
mysterious edge between despair and
hope, brokenness and wholeness, illness
and wellness, death and life, reaching
out for the fringe of Jesus' cloak, trying
to touch one another with love, even
touching the healing hand of God, who
is the power and source of all healing
and wholeness.
So even the faith-healer, who both
cons and hopes for the sick, who doubts
while believing, may discover the
wondrous power of God. Healing faith
still moves in our hearts and lives in this
alienated and fractured world for our
own wholeness and the healing of all
creation.
Do not our hearts long, and our bodies
ache? Does not the whole creation groani
for healing faith? Believe it. Reach for it.
And test faith to see if there is any health
in it. Test it by a careful inventory of our
whole life purpose and practice, by our
souls' sincere desire, by our basic
attitude, and our lifestyle to examine if
there is any health in us. Toxic faith
splinters, breaks, fractures, divides, and
makes us sick. Healing faith asks, "Whai |
are we doing to encourage and FTT.
enhance our own wellness?" llT^
Richard J. Landnim is pastor of Wenatchee
(Wash.) Brethren-Baptist Church United.
28 Messenger January 1994
Serry.
May Be Her Only Hope
This Guatemalan woman weaves beautiful, brightly
colored cotton fabric, a Mayan cultural tradition
passed down from mother to daughter
for centuries. Her only hope of /
retaining this culture and
her livelihood is You.
SeRRV offers more than
2000 Handmade crafts
from 40 developing
countries, all made by
artisans who receive
fair payment for
their labors.
Write or call now for your free
1993/1994 Catalog from Serrv
Handcrafts 1-800-423-0071.
O
Serrv
Self-Help Handcrafts
500 Main Sffeet
P.O. Box 365
New Windsor, MD
21776-0365
SERRV is a non-profit
program of the Church
of the Brethren and a mem-
ber of the International
Federation of
Alternative Trade.
BRF
POWERFUL WITNESSING
One of the things about Pentecost
was the power associated with that
occasion. Jesus told His followers they
would receive power after the Spirit
came upon them (Acts 1:8). There
would be power to witness effectively-
Sometimes well-meaning Christians
drive people away instead of drawing
them to the Christ. They become
preachy, self-elevating, condemnatory,
proof-texting individuals who "turn off"
more prospects than they "turn on."
Being empowered by the Holy Spirit to
witness effectively may require only a
few well-directed sentences to arouse
the interest of a non-believer. Those
few words, coupled with a kindly
approach will go a long way in
conveying the message of Christ's love
arMJ redemption.
-by Paul W. Brubakor (excerpted trom the Bread
Basket page of the BRF Witness, Vol 19 No 5|.
To be included on our mailing list "for free
materials, write to; Brethren Revival Fellowship,
Route 10, Box 201 -N, York, PA 17404.
Stop by the BRF Display at Annual
Conference for tickets to the Friday
evening dinner meeting and/or the
Saturday noon luncheon. There will be
a BRF Insight Session Wednesday of
Conference week at 9 P.M.
A call for poets
I was inspired by Eugene Roop's call for
poets "who free us to cry — to cry about
pernicious sin and persistent pain" and
"who help us not only to cry but to hope
by reaching through the scheming and
violence of the present, to imagine
From the
Office of Human Resources
Volunteer Positions Available:
HEALTH CARE, Castaiier, P.R.
Doctors: Surgeon.s, Internists
6 month minimum.
Nurses: Must speak Spanish.
6 month minimum.
ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT:
Elgin, 111.; Inventory, etc.
Needed January 24-February
18, 1994
PC SUPPORT/PROGRAMMER:
Support person for personal
computers and mid-range computer
users at Brethren Service Center,
New Windsor, Md.
1-year assignment, but will accept
someone to work during summer.
For prompt consideration call
Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
God's future" (see "Bible Helps for
Pastoral Search Committees," Novem-
ber, page 22).
I see the present church in great need
of confession and repentance, turning
back to God to receive his love and
forgiveness, and passing his love and
forgiveness on to others, especially those
who have offended us.
God, through Jesus Christ, is the only
one who can mend our brokenness and
bring us together in unity with all our
brothers and sisters.
Belh Nonemaker
Harrisburg, Pa.
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily
those of the magazine. Readers should receive them
in the same spirit with which differing opinions are
expressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should be brief concise, and respectfifl of
the opinions of others. Preference is given to letters
that respond directly to items read in the magazine.
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We will not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
letter, the writer 's name is kept in strictest
confidence.
Address letters to Messenger Editor. 1451
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
CLASSIFIED ADS
ANNOUNCING-1994 Sebring (Fla.) Bible Conference.
Jan. 23, Sunday evening to Jan. 30 Sunday morning.
Speaker Fred Swartz to feature New Testament ttirougti
studies and sermons. Bible study to be held 10 a.m.,
I^/Ionday-Friday. Youth and family night on Wednesday.
Bethany Seminary luncheon at noon, Thursday. If you're
planning to come to Florida, come at this time for an
experience of enrichment and reunion.
H/IEDICAL— Busy family practice available in beautiful
Shenandoah Valley, Va. Strong Brethren/IVlennonite com-
munity. Tel. John T. Click IVID (703) 896-1361 . or William J.
Hotchkiss MD (703) 896-1351 evenings and weekends.
Write Glick-Hotchkiss Clinic, P.O. Box 397, Broadway, VA
22815.
TRAVEL— Tourto Annual Conference includes Shenandoah
Valley; Gatlinburg, Smoky Ivlountains, Nashville, Grand Ole
Opry Park, Heifer Project Farm, and Blue Grass country of
Kentucky. For info, write to: J. Kenneth Kreider, 1300
Sheaffer Rd., Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL-lsrael/Egypt Holiday. Wendell & Joan Bohrer,
Fred & Nancy Swartz host a tour to Israel and Egypt. Aug.
8-1 8, 1 994. 1 1 day tour includes travel to Jerusalem, the old
city, Dead Sea, Megiddo, Galilee, Cana, Mt. Carmel, Ml
Nebo, Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tut.
30 Messenger January 1994
For information write: Wendell & Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal
l^eadow Dr., Indianapolis, IN 4621 7. Tel. (317) 882-5067, or
Fred & Nancy Swartz, 1 0047 Nokesville Rd.. IVIanassas, VA
221 10. Tel. (703)369-3947.
TRAVEL— Photo safari to world-renowned big game parks
of Kenya and Tanzania, July 22-Aug. 7, 1 994. Tour Nairobi,
IVlombasa, Tree Lodge, IVIari Ivlara, Serengetl, and Africa's
"Garden of Eden." For info, write to J. Kenneth Kreider, 1300
Sheaffer Road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL— Russia Health Care Tour rescheduled April 25-
May 1 1 . Some openings available. Clyde & Kathy Weaver;
Jay & June Gibble will host this Association of Brethren
Caregivers tour of 6 Russian cities. Visit hospitals, clinics,
alternative medicine centers, and individual homes; tour
museums, cultural centers, art galleries, Kremlin; celebrate
Russian Orthodox Easter. For info, call Jay Gibble (800)
323-8039.
TRAVEL— Greece and Turkey. April 26-l\/lay 7, 1 994. Fly to
Athens; follow steps of Paul; see Acropolis, Parthenon,
IVlars Hill, Corinth. Optional tour to Delphi. 7-day cruise to
spectacularGreek Islands and exoticTurkey. Visit Santorini,
Crete, Rhodes (island of roses), Patmos where John was
inspired, Ephesus renowned for architectural beauty, and
where Paul lived and preached, and Istanbul, where East
meets West. Contact: Dale & Gladys Hylton, 1 1 5Greenawall
Road, Lenhartsville, PA 19534, tel. (215) 756-6109.
WANTED— Suburban Denver, Prince of Peace Church oi
the Brethren seeks experienced pastor with proven recorc
of church growth, renewal, w/ strengths in worship, spiritua
leadership. Capableof providing pastoral care forcongrega
tion. Supportive and financially strong congregation in ecO'
nomically growing community. Great challenge, in a beau '
tiful setting. Beginning two-year contract, excellent $45,00C|
a year, plus package. Send inquiries and profile to IVIr. Lynr
Clannin, 2222 S. Holland St., Lakewood, CO 80227. Tel(
(303) 985-5737. I
WANTED— Camp manager or couple to manage Camp;
Colorado in Pike National Forest. 40 minutes from Denve(
or Colorado Springs. From H/lemorial Day to Labor Da;
1994. Camp located on 85 forested acres. Features swim'
ming pool, hiking trails, 6 dorms, dining hall, recreation bidg
Camp has 4 wks. of Brethren-sponsored camps and ii
rented remainder of season to Brethren churches and famil;
reunion groups. Duties incl. purchasing supplies, cleaning
and repairing camp. Altitude of camp is 7,500 ft. Applicant:
should be in good physical shape. Salary $1,000 a month
Incl. 2-bdrm. cabin, utilities. Interested parties contact Roi
Achilles, Rt. 1 , Box 143, Quintet, KS 67752. Tel, (913) 754
2322.
Ill
ew
embers
Ton, S/C Ind.: Angela Dee
Stapleton
cadia, S/C Ind.: Pat Sherwood
aver Creek, Shen.: Bob, Kim &
Michael Healy. Joviah Morris,
Gail Miller, Adam Pequignol,
Angle Rhodes, Dana Suter,
Emi ly Simmons. Adam & Zach
Wampler
rkey, W. Pa. : Jonathon
Crissman, Berkey & Elva
Knavel, Tom & Twyla Jarvis,
Paco & Paiti Sanchez, Rodger
& Shirley Thomas
thany, Mid-All.: Cordelia &
Norman Legates, Al vin Outten,
Lawrence Reynolds, Michelle
Tucker
thiehem, Virlina: Timothy
Anderson. Katy Flora
le Ridge, Virlina: Sherman &
Velvet Cable
stine, S. Ohio: John Baker,
Brandon Harrison, Sarah Jones,
Beverly & Linda Seidel
dorus, S. Pa.: Jessica Brant,
CarlaOrwick
nnels Creek, S . Ohio: Amy
Bamhart, Jim & Kay Flora,
Dan & Libbie Hastings, Ben.
Betti & Sara Penry. Rick,
Richard & Peggy Stiver, Leona
& Richard Vest
y Run, S. Pa.: Robert & Gloria
Bowles, Juanita Controus.
Henry Donaldson. William
Fertney.Lydia Flora, Timothy
Garland, Heather. Lori & Robin
Goshom, Teresa Huerta.
Chrislina& Doug Johnson.
Virginia Schuchman, Joseph
Swackhammer, Shiela Swailes,
Donna Zeigler
slwood, N. Ohio: Wendell &
Georgia Tobias
"St Chicago, lll.AVis.: Monique
Bates. Mary Britton, Kim
Burkholder, Louie Herrera.
Bemice Howze, Dawn
Kaufman-Frey. China Perry.
DeJuan Riley, Frances Rucker,
Vercena Stewart, LaToya
StotTer, Temetrice Williams,
Sally Willoughby
)wer Hill, Mid-All.: Greg &
Linda Cook, John Duvall
irber's, Shen.: Richard & Teresa
Brown, Erich Gautcher, Jerry &
Mary Lee Heatwole, Brenda &
Randy Moyer^
•eenville.S. Ohio: Mary Hart.
Lois & Toss Henderson.
LucilleO'Neill
illidaysburg, Mid. Pa.: Bonnie
&Jeff!mler, Joseph Robeson
)koino, S/C Ind.: Martha &
Norman Cory
1 Verne, Pac.S.W.: Cliff &
Marian Bmbaker
aple Grove, N. Ind.: Dale &
Phyllis Newcomer
cPherson, W. Plains: Sandra
Eisele. Laura Harding. Ray &
JayneJames. Amber Jauken,
Charla Kingery, Cameron
Mahler, Mia Miller, Jenny
Stover, Miles & Doris Tyler,
John & Deb Wagoner, Shelly
Ware, Trisha Young
Mechanic Grove, Atl. N.E.: Lisa
Holzhauer
Moler Avenue, Mid-Atl.: Margaret
Fink. Jim & Sandy Long.
Janice & Keith Martin, Joyce
Sencindiver. Evelyn Thompson
Mount Joy, W. Pa. : Jonnee, Randy
& Susan Averly, Robert &
Sandy Brown, Flora Bungard,
Ryan Craig, Kelly Harbarger,
David & Melissa Logan, Clara
& Tom McCabe, Christopher
& Jennifer Miller, Kathy
Miner, Jason & John Myers,
Lee Nicholson, Amy Prinkey,
Erin & Heather Pritts, Alisa &
Andrew Scott, Robert Seder,
Stephanie Sheele, Molly &
Nicole Swartz, Laurie
Underwood
Mount Bethel, Shen.: Juanita &
Riley Smith
Nappanee, N. Ind.: Darlene
Childers. Cassie Hart, Jana,
Sam & Marsha Johnson, Hazel
Shepherd
Wedding
Anniversaries
Ankerbrandt, Donald and Janet,
Waynesboro, Pa., 50
Atkins, Charles and Lena,
Johnstown, Pa.. 50
Barkdoll, Edwin and Helen.
Waynesboro, Pa.. 60
Base, Lester and Alene, Akron,
Ohio, 50
Bouder, David and Edna,
Lancaster,Pa.,60
Brandt, Fred and Jeanne. Palmyra,
Pa., 50
Dunkle, Edward and Erma,
Johnstown, Pa., 71
Ekroth, Richard and Helen,
Palmyra, Pa., 50
Evans, Tom and Rose,
Wyomissing, Pa.. 50
Hagaman, Pauline and Perry. Troy.
Ohio, 60
Hanawalt,DwightandImogene,
La Verne, Calif., 50
Hartman,Galen and Dorothy,
Annville, Pa., 60
Kelly,Jamesand Mary. Johnstown,
Pa., 60
Mclntyre, Everett and Mable, East
Freedom, Pa., 50
Ober, Jay and Margaret, Manheim,
Pa.. 50
Over,Ralph and Mary, Lancaster,
Pa., 60
Pedigo, Herman and Mary, Akron,
Ohio, 65
Rieley, John and Lois. Tharton.
Va.,60
Rousselow, Virgil and Mary Helen.
Waterloo, Iowa, 50
Saylor,Eli and Rhoda,
Elizabethtown, Pa., 60
Shank, George and Lillian,
Johnstown, Pa., 73
Snider, Dan and Treva, Nappanee,
Ind., 65
Walter, Clair and Catherine,
Claysburg,Pa.,65
Weaver, Lee and Hazel,
Johnstown, Pa., 50
Deaths
Anderson,Merle, 9 1 , Fullerton,
Calif,Oct, 14, 1993
Babcock, Madaline, 90, Long
Beach, Calif, Sept. 25, 1993
Ballard, Maude, 92, Mount Morris,
111. March 11, 1993
Ballard, Myrtle, 9 1 , Dixon, HI..
Nov. 24, 1993
Barnhart, Janet. 73, Waynesboro,
Pa., Sept. 15,1993
Baugher, Milton, 97, New Oxford,
Pa..Oct. 13, 1993
Beckman,Gerald,78. Morgan-
town. W.Va.. Feb. 5, 1993
Bennett, Webster, 73, Clearville,
Pa., Aug. 15,1993
Bittinger, Ida, 82, Cross Keys, Pa.,
Sept. 2. 1993
Bittinger, Cecil. 80. Cuyahoga
Falls, Ohio.Sept. 21, 1993
Blough, Telford, 88. Hollsopple,
Pa.,Julyl7, 1993
Bollen, Rolland, 86, Byron, 111,,
March 27. 1993
Boots, Marion, La Verne, Calif,
Oct. 16. 1993
Borneman, Augusta, 94. Leaf
River.in..Jan.4. 1993
Bosserman,Quinter, 75, Peace
Valley. Mo., Oct. 12. 1993
Boyd, Henry. 91 . Sebnng. Fla..
Sept. 19. 1993
Boyer, Melvin, 79, New Freedom,
Pa., Oct. 26. 1993
Caracofe,Zola, 85, Bridgewater,
Va.. April 26, 1993
Chapman, Floyd, 79, Flora, Ind.,
Sept. 23, 1993
CIaycomb,Kathryn.72.Claysburg.
Pa., May, 15, 1993
Cline.Paul. 83. Dayton, Va., April
7,1993
Cline, Wilda, 96, Daylon, Va.. Aug.
6.1993
Conner, Charles, 66. Martinsburg.
W.Va., July 20. 1993
Curtis, Minnie. 80, Sinking Spring.
Pa.. Sept. 2 1.1993
Davis, Rozella, 8 1 , Troy, Ohio. Jan.
26,1993
Deaver, Mildred. 80. Cicero, Ind..
Sept. 9, 1993
Dierdorff,Richard, 75. Huntington.
W.Va., Dec. 18. 1993
Domer, Harold. 77. Sugarcreek,
OhicJunel 1.1993
Dunham, Benny. 58. Inwood.
W.Va., Oct' 3 1,1993
Eggleston, Tate, 101. Buena Vista,
Va., Oct. 2 1.1993
Eiler, Ernest, 84, Noblesville. Ind..
Nov. 2, 1993
Elwell, Ancel, 86, Bristol, Ind..
Aug. 16. 1993
Feathers, Orpha, 76, Claysburg,
Pa..Aug. 16, 1993
Forney, Ruth, 90, La Verne, Calif..
Sept. 2 1.1993
Foster.Harry, 77, Rocky Mount.
Va.,June I. 1993
Foulke.Grace, 69, Quakertown,
Pa..July29, 1993
Gainer, Norma, 79, Lebanon, Pa.,
Oct. 14, 1993
Garber, Jacob, 9 1 , Bridgewater,
Va.,Feb. 10. 1993
Garber, Daniel, 85, Polo. 111.. Sept.
2.1993
Geiman, Robert. 76. Chambers-
burg, Pa., April 17, 1993
Getty, John. 77. Covina, Calif..
Oct. 8, 1993
Gibble, Harry, 79, Denver, Pa.,
Oct. 26. 1993
Harman, Leona, 78, Harman,
W.Va..Oct. 10. 1993
Hensley, Sylvia, 75, Dayton, Va..
March 3, 1993
Hess, Pauline, 92, Waynesboro,
Pa.. Sept. 14. 1993
HofTman, May. 90. Windber, Pa..
Oct. 5. 1993
Hoover, Lowell . 64. Wakarusa.
Ind.. Sept, 7. 1993
Huffman, Emery, 83, Mc Veytown,
Pa., Oct. 6. 1993
KaufTman, Hilda, 83, Clarksville,
Mich..Oci. 12. 1993
Keith, John. 59. Curryville. Pa,.
Sept. 17.1993
Kenney, Speed. 8 1 , Spring Grove,
Pa.. Oct. 19, 199.3
King, Violet. 88. Goshen, Ind.,
Oct. 30. 1993
Kipp, Ruth, 78, Neffsville, Pa.,
Dec. 22. 1993
Kline, Lester, 7 1 , Chambersburg,
Pa.. May 22, 1993
Kramer, Alda, 83. Chambersburg.
Pa.. Jan. 3 1.1993
Leasel, Lucille, 84, Sturgis, Mich..
Oct. 5. 199.3
Lehman, Milton, 92, York County,
Pa..Oct. 15, 1993
Lehman, Pauline, 92, Defiance,
Ohio.Sept. 27. 1993
Long, Genevieve. 85. Mount
Morris, 111.. Nov, 24, 1993
Longnecker,Samuel, 77, Bridge-
water, Va„ June 18, 1993
Maggart, Elizabeth, 78, Syracuse,
Ind,, June 3. 1993
Mattix, Maxine. 76. Pasadena,
Calif. Sept. 4, 1993
McCIintock,Clarence, 92, Arcadia,
Ind., Aug. 5, 1993
McCullen, William, 66. Bosweil.
Pa., Feb. 3. 1993
McGill, Eva Marie, 84,
Noblesville. Ind.. Aug. 6. 1993
McKinney, Theodore, 68, Union
Bridge, Md.. Oct. 2 1.1993
McNett, Alice. 85. Mount Morris,
111., April 7, 1993
Mendorff, Mary. 67. Upper
Mariboro.Md„Ocl.28. 1993
Millhouse, Don. 60. Troy, Ohio,
May, 11,1993
Moler, Jane, 79, Martinsburg.
W,Va„Sept. 18. 1993
Moomaw, Edison, 8 1 , Sugarcreek,
Ohio.Aug. 19. 1993
Morgan, Brent, Silver Spring, Md.,
Aug. 1 1 . 1993
Mullins, Tex, 84, Phoenix, Ariz..
Aug. 3. 1993
Myers, Geraldine, 86, Troy, Ohio,
Oct. 1 6. 1 993
Nagle, Mary. 73, Dover, Pa., Oct.
11.1993
Neff, Iva, 87. Milford, Ind.. Au2.
30,1993
Neideigh, Glenn, 74, Prairie City.
Iowa, Aug. 2. 1993
Newcomer, Bemedette, 73, Udell,
Iowa, July 22, 1993
Ogden, Agnes, 80, UnionviUe,
Iowa, Nov. 1,1993
Ogden, Richard, 69, UnionviUe,
Iowa, July 6, 1993
Peterson, Alfred, 65. Hollsopple,
Pa., Aug, 1,1993
Plum, Helen, 87, Mount Morris,
111., March 10, 1993
Powell, Ralph, 8 1 , Troy, Ohio, Jan.
14.1993
Pryor, Devoda, 8 1 , Mont Alto, Pa.,
Sept, 12, 1993
Reber, Christine, 76, Palmyra, Pa.,
Aug. 29, 1993
Reynolds, Guy, 88, Des Moines,
lowa,Oct,25. 1993
Rife, Alice. 84. Greenville. Ohio.
July 18, 1993
Rimmer, Marge. 74. Mount
Morris. III.. April 4, 1993
Ritchey, Delmer. 86, New
Enterprise. Pa., July 6, 1993
Royer,Lester.63. Virden. IlL.Oct,
8,1993
Royer, Elsie May, 86, Virden, 111.,
Sept. 10, 1993
Rush, Cloyd. 78, Ashland, Ohio,
Sept. 24, 1993
Samsel, Ethel, 90. Oregon. 111.,
Sept, 18. 1993
Schildl, Madeline, 85, York, Pa.,
Sept, 26. 1993
Shenk, Sylva, 89, New Oxford, Pa.,
Aug. 2 1. 1993
Simmons, Dora. 101, Bridgewater,
Va. April 25. 1993
Smeltzer, Clyde, 79. Middlebury,
Ind .April 25. 1993
Smith, Iva, 93, Holland, Ohio.
Sept. 9. 1993
Smith, Richard. 66. Milford. Ind..
Oct, 10. 1993
Snowberger, Rosalie, 79, Waynes-
boro, Pa., Aug. 2 1 . 1 993
Stahl, Anna. 83. Hollsopple, Pa.,
July6, 1993
Stambaugh, Sterling, 86, Spring
Grove, Pa, Oct. 13.1993
Stone.Opal. 8 1 , Altoona. Pa,, Oct,
8,1993
Straka, Frank, 93, McPherson,
Kan,. Nov. 3. 1993
Stutzman, Eliza. 86. Hollsopple,
Pa. Feb, 2. 1993
Swank, Letha, Greenville. Ohio,
Sept. 26. 1993
Thompson,Charles.64, Martins-
burg, W.Va.. Aug. 14. 1993
Trent, Llovd, 76, Flora, Ind., Sept.
21.1993
Tune, Ruth, 96, Harrisburg. Pa.,
Aug. 23. 1993
WampIer,Cecil. 56. Mount
Crawford. Va,. Sept. 17.1993
Wampler, Alvin, 68, Dania, Fla..
July 29. 1993
Warden, Earl. 88. Bloomery.
Tenn..Oct, 12. 1993
Weaver, Emmert. 76. Windber,
Pa.. Sept. 10, 1993
Whitmer, Rose. 93, Churchville,
Va..Ocl.23. 1993
Wilfong, Clinton, 52. Weyers
Cave. Va.. Oct. 23, 1993
Ziegler, Rhoda. 87. Manheim, Pa.,
Oct. 1, 1993
Zimmerman, Carl. 83, Blue Ridge,
Va,.July21. 1993
January 1994 Messenger 31
Running away from history
In late November a candidate for president of
Germany discovered how costly it is to forget
history. Steffen Heitmann was forced to withdraw
from the presidential race after he made speeches
implying that Germany had paid enough penance for
World War II. He urged Germans to stop brooding
about the Nazi era and instead to view the Holocaust
and the murder of six million Jews as just one of
numerous horrible events in history.
Here in this country we also have our problems
with forgetting history (assuming that we ever knew
it). In the matter of the struggle of African Ameri-
cans for their rights and for acceptance, for example,
"European Americans" often raise objections to the
actions and attitudes of African Americans as if a
history of wrongs perpetrated upon that community
had never occurred.
Nothing gets my dander up faster than to hear
whites speak of "reverse racism" when they are
grumbling about acts of hostility by blacks against
whites, or are disparaging blacks for claiming
special privileges for themselves. "Isn't what they
are doing now as bad as what we used to do to
them?" the grumblers ask?
Such excuse-makers remind me of the boy who
had been in a fight with another boy and was asked
how the fight began. "It all started," he explained,
"when that bad boy hit me back."
The answer to the grumblers' question is "No."
The "bad" that whites have done to blacks, going
back hundreds of years, was done to the blacks not
for any wrong they had done, but from a desire of
whites to enslave them (with all the wrong that
entails) and more recently to protect the ability of
whites to deprive black citizens of their voting
rights, their access to educational institutions, and
their entry into the economy except at the lowest and
most menial levels. The "bad" that blacks do to
whites is the result of those centuries of oppression
and more recent decades of discrimination. The fight
didn't start "when that boy hit me back."
One has to make a distinction between the
ideological hostility of the oppressors and the
experience-based hostility of the oppressed. Not to
make that distinction is to twist history and to
conveniently forget the wrongs done to African
Americans on this continent for almost 400 years.
To equate the crusade to right the wrongs of those
four centuries with the actions that produced the
wrongs is to twist history even further.
There may be those reading my words who will
counter with "But two wrongs don't make a right; if
it was wrong to treat blacks unfairly, it is wrong to
32 Messenger January 1994
give blacks preference and thereby treat whites
unfairly." That's another way of forgetting and
rewriting history. The catch word here is the word
"unfairly." It wrongly suggests two more or less
equal parties to the quarrel. When the deck has been
stacked against the one party for centuries, it doesn't
equalize things for that party to be told that now he
is free to enter the game and take his chances.
Suppose one does enter the game, take one's
chances, and succeed to the extent that one is
prosperous and isn't adding to the welfare burden of
one's fellow tax-payers? Has equality been achieved?
Can race be a serious disadvantage to those who are
otherwise well positioned in the society? A 1991
broadcast of the ABC-TV program "PrimeTime
Live" demonstrated that it can be and is. A camera
crew followed two young men of equal education,
cultural sophistication, and level of apparent
affluence around a city in which neither man was
known. One man was white, the other black; that
was all the difference between them.
But that small difference meant everything. In
every encounter in the city, the black man was
treated with suspicion, irritation, disrespect, and
contempt ... by salesmen, store employees, rental
agents, landlords, employment agencies, cabbies and
ordinary citizens. In every way possible, he was
made to feel inferior and unwanted.
The young black man concluded from his ordeal
that it didn't matter if he walked down the street
well dressed in suit and tie, "someone will make
determinations about you, determinations that affect
the quality of your life."
Racism is a cultural fact, and although its effects
may to some extent be diminished by socio-economic
variables, those effects still will be great enough to
warrant this nation's attention and thus the continu-
ation of policies that tilt the field in favor of African
Americans, unfairly as that may sound to those who
run away from history.
JT^or Christians, and specifically for those in the
Church of the Brethren who are white, there is a
further responsibility beyond that carried by the
secular world. The 1991 report of the Committee on
Brethren and Black Americans described Brethren
shortcomings by painting what it called "a picture
that is bleak indeed." It is a picture that we as
individuals, as congregations, and as districts can
brighten ... if we have the concern, the conscience,
the will . . . and a good memory of our history
lessons. — K.T.
Youth can
come to the
edge this
summer
with your
help!
Youth groups are selling Messenger subscriptioris to raise
money for the 1994 National Youth Conference. For details
contact your youth advisor or Messenger representative, or
call the Messenger subscription office.
The Simple Life. It's Not Simdiy Black And White.
A blessing to others. A natural leader. A woman of compassion and
wisdom. Anna Mow's contagious laughter, zest for life and unselfish
nature exemplified her life of serving, sharing, giving and receiving
love. She directed others to Christ, she nurtured their souls. Anna
Mow had strong convictions and the courage to live them out. She
served in India from 1923-40, taught at Bethany Biblical Seminary from
1940-58, authored ten books, and provided leadership for several
National Youth Conferences. A 1918 Manchester graduate, Anna
Mow was among the rare and remarkable.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Jennifer Terry is another rare and remarkable Manchester student.
She, too, is a natural leader, a woman of compassion with a desire
to serve others. Jennifer, who is a senior biology/chemistry major,
also has strong convictions and the courage to live them out. In
1992, Jennifer worked six weeks at a medical clinic compound on
the coast of Haiti where she reached out to people in nutrition
centers, worked with youth in the church, and helped the medical
team in surgery. Sometime, Jennifer hopes to head back to Haiti,
knowing that when she's serving others, she is the one who is blessed.
VALUES * GLOBAL AWARENESS * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship opportunities, to refer
prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special campus visit.
Manchester College does not discnminate on Ihe basis of marital status, sex. religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, or
handicap in the administration of its educational policies, recruitment and admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, employment
practices, and athletic or other college sponsored programs.
MANCHESTER , ^ ^
COLLEGE MANCHESTER COLLEGE • North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982- 5000
]
Moderator Earl Ziegler:
Watching things grow
Since we began having Brethren Volunteer Service journahsts
on the Messenger staff in 1974, we have had men and women,
youth and senior citizens, married persons and singles. We have
had not only Brethren journalists, but also Methodists and
Presbyterians. With our most recent recruit, we have still more
variety. Margaret Woolgrove, who began work with us in
October, is a Quaker from Scotland.
She comes from a rural home in an area of
southern Scotland known as the Borders. After
graduating from St. Andrews University, she was
awarded a fellowship to spend a "theological
reflection year" at Earlham School of Religion,
in Richmond. Ind.
Three years ago, while attending a Church
and Peace conference in Paris, Margaret met a
conference participant from Germany who
suggested she check out Brethren Volunteer
Service. That came to mind again in 1993, after
she went to Earlham, met several Church of the
Brethren students, and came across a BVS
promotion packet. Interested in journalism, she noted the
Messenger position in the project booklet, and . . . well . . . you
can guess the rest of the story.
Margaret says, "Don't hold me to it," but after her year with
us, she may go back to school, in England, for her Ph.D.,
leading to a teaching career in the area of history and theology.
Speaking of theology, Margaret, as a Quaker, finds listening
to sermons a novel experience as she gets acquainted with the
Brethren. Facing the Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren
congregation from her position in the choir, she is learning to
effect an appearance of rapt attention to the pastor's theological
discourses.
What she really likes about the Brethren is the feetwashing
tradition. "That has a lot of power," she says.
Read Margaret's articles this month on pages 4, 10, 16, and
18 to see for yourself how rapidly she has become immersed in
the Brethren world.
'^^UA/^^^iS^'^/^^
COMING NEXT MONTH: A cluster of articles describes
development ministries of the Church of the Brethren around the
world.
February 1994
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistant
Paula Sokody, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Norttieast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer; IllinoisAVisC(
Gail Clark: Northern Indiana. Leon
Holdenread; South/Central Indiana. Mai
Miller: Michigan, Marie Willoughby;
Mid-Atlantic, Ann Fonts: Missouri/Ark
Mary McGowan: Northern Plains, Faith
Strom: Nonhem Ohio. Sherry Sampson
Southern Ohio, Shirley Retry: Oregon/ |
Washington, Marguerite Shamberger:
Pacific Southwest, Randy Miller: Midd'
Pennsylvania. Ruth Fisher: Southern
Pennsylvania, ElmerQ. Gleim: Wester
Pennsylvania. Jay Christner: Shenando.
Jerry Brunk: Southern Plains. Mary Ami
Dell: Virlina, David & Hettie Webster:,
Western Plains, Dean Hummer; West N
Winoma Spurgeon,
Messenger is the official publication ofi
Church of the Brethren. Entered as secc
class matter Aug. 20, 1 9 1 8. under Act c'
Congress of Oct. 17. 1917, Filingdate, I
1 , i 984. Messenger is a mi
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Messenger is owned and published I*
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mission. Church of the Brethren Gener.
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February 1 994. Copyright 1994,Churcl
theBrethren General Board. ISSN0026
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I
)uch 2
; to Home 4
i 6
Idwide 9
ithe
eneral Secretary
ping Stones 26
TS 27
ius' Puddle 27
lions 28
ling Points 3 1
jrial 32
24
ts:
, 1, 12-14: Tim Frye
Eric Bishop
Brethren Historical Library
id Archives
:r right: Scott McAlpine
Carol Stark
t: Art by Kermon Thomasson
Kay Jones
by Rosanna McFadden
: Bishop
: Margaret Woolgrove
lil Grout
m DeForest
hn Tubbs
Spending Thanksgiving building bridges 1 0
Margaret Woolgrove, in a Special Report on the 1993 Young
Adult Conference, tells how the participants built bridges
between people and cultures.
Earl Ziegler likes to watch things grow 1 2
Whether it's the vegetables in his garden or the congregations
he serves, the farmboy in Earl Ziegler likes to see growth. Don
Fitzkee profiles the 1994 Annual Conference moderator.
Join us for a Journey 1 6
The Accompaniment Program asks Brethren to be in Christian
solidarity with the people of southern Sudan. Margaret
Woolgrove explains how this is the "next logical step for us as
a peace church."
Treasure in an earthen vessel 1 8
Digging a well was the answer in over 3,000 other cases, but
for the Nigerian village of Ganji, something different was
needed. Story by Margaret Woolgrove.
Ode to a working well 20
The well in Zimbabwe is a world away from the one Howard E.
Royer pumped water from as an Ohio farmboy, but he sees both
as contributors to personal wellness.
When the door is closed 22
We use doors to keep people out, or to keep ourselves in.
Kenneth L. Gibble tells how Jesus used the image of doors to
make a point — a point also illustrated by an old Sunday school
song.
Cover story: A man who
plants a third of an acre of
his garden in cauliflower is
serious about growth. Don
Fitzkee ably shows that
Earl Ziegler is as serious
about growth in the Church
of the Brethren as he is
about his garden produce.
Turn to page 12 for the
story.
February 1994 Messenger 1
Inkli
Reviving a tradition
Linda Timmons had no idea
a year ago that she would be
running a gift shop before
the year was out. But last fall
there she was, pairing with
Linda Timmons and
Don Miller cut the
ribbon to reopen the
Elgin gift shop.
"In Touch " profiles Brethren we
would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black
and white, if possible) to "In
ToHc/i. ■' Messenger, 1 45 1
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
general secretary Don Miller
to cut the ribbon and open a
gift shop off the lobby of the
Church of the Brethren
General Offices in Elgin, 111.
When the building opened
in 1959, there was a book
and gift shop in this spot, but
it fell on hard times several
years ago. It ambitiously
moved up Dundee Avenue to
a building all to itself, but
didn't make a go of it. After
that, it sporadically operated
in a far corner of the ware-
house section of the General
Offices.
A feeling persisted that a
gift shop still belonged where
it had started out —
in the glass-walled
room off the lobby.
Loyal customers
from better times
» asked for it. Return-
ing visitors to the
headquarters missed
it. Along came
Linda.
Her husband,
Glenn, had taken a
staff position in
,' Elgin, and Linda,
having left her work
' in Dayton, Ohio, as
a reading specialist,
— had found herself,
on short notice, in a
new location with no
job outside the
home. Directors of
program volunteers
Carol and Jon Hoke
recruited her for the
gift shop, and there
she was on October
27, cutting the
■a^ ribbon.
^ "It's a dream in
process," says Linda.
"I want to make it a
warm and inviting
place for visitors to
the building. The
Brethren Press books and
materials and the SERRV
craft items from around the
world give visitors a quick
impression of what Church
of the Brethren ministry is
about."
As she turned from her
interview to engage shoppers
in conversation, it seemed
clear that the dream is on its
way to reality.
"Mr. Excitement"
His Uncle Jim calls him "Mr.
Excitement." As soon as he
gets out of the car on Sunday
morning at English Prairie
Church of the Brethren (near
Brighton, Ind.), Tim Yoder
runs inside to greet whoever
is there.
"I really like church," says
this 31 -year-old church
enthusiast. "And the people
here make me feel good
when I come in. I enjoy the
Bible lessons and Sunday
school, too."
Tim lives at a halfway
house in LaGrange, Ind., and
works nearby at the School
of Opportunity. There he
puts wires in sleeves for
industries outside the school.
Just as he does at church,
Tim makes many friends at
work. Three evenings a
week, he studies goals-
setting at the halfway house.
Then there are the many
sports activities — basketball, '
horseshoes, golf, bowling,
and snowmobiling. And,
back at church, Tim sings
and plays the guitar.
Tim is a very busy person,
which is understandable,
being "Mr. Excitement."
I
This story is adapted from
information supplied by Tim Voder's
uncle. James E. Tomlonson.
Southern Ohio District Executive.
2 Messenger February 1994
A tardy "ordination"
It was worth coming back for
. . . maybe. Sarah Major
(1808-1884) showed up at
last fall's Atlantic Northeast
District meeting, and in the
elation that her appearance
stirred, the district conferred
on her the ordination that
was denied her, as a woman,
in her lifetime.
For the district board
report, Jean Moyer, of
Elizabethtown, Pa., played
the role of the famous 1 9th-
century preacher, coming
back to ask questions about
the state of the church today.
In a burst of inspiration
afterward, Stanley Earhart,
chairman of the district
ministry commis
sion, "asked for
the privi-
lege," called
"Sarah"
back, and
conferred
"posthu-
mous
ordina-
tion" on
her. The
real
Sarah, born
near Phila-
delphia, began
her preaching
ministry in the area
of what is now Atlantic
Northeast District.
In her day, Sarah, while
becoming a preacher so
famous that she addressed a
"standing room only" crowd
at the 1878 Annual Meeting,
was denied ordination by that
body. The rationale? The
1834 Annual Meeting
decreed, "Concerning a
sister's preaching: Not
approved of, (considering)
such sister being in danger,
not only (of) exposing her
own state of grace to tempta-
tion, but also causing
temptations, discord, and
disputes among other
members."
James Quinter, editor of
The Gospel Messenger in the
1880s, remembered of Sarah
that "though she had
considerable prejudice to
contend with . . . such was
her modesty, her humility,
her discretion, and her
exemplary life, that as she
was known, she was loved.
Generally . . . wherever she
went once to preach, she was
invited to repeat her visit."
The question remains
whether Sarah Major would
have been impressed by
her posthumous
honoring. In
1835, she
defended her
right to
preach,
ordained
or not, by
stating,
"God
always
gave his
gifts freely
where they
were willing
to use them,
and I believe in
Christ Jesus male
and female are one. . . .
Everyone should do as much
as they can to glorify God
with the different gifts of the
Spirit of God."
Opined Stanley Earhart,
"Our 'ordination' at the
district meeting probably
would have been more
effective if it had had the
benefit of some forethought."
Some forethought might
have been of benefit back at
the 1834 meeting, as well.
Harry Brubaker created this miniature of the Mock
meetinghouse, the oldest log church in the denomination.
History in miniature
Although the Mock meeting-
house stands near New Paris,
Pa., it also sits in Harry
Brubaker' s basement.
Harry built a miniature
version of the meetinghouse
to commemorate the oldest
known log Church of the
Brethren meetinghouse still
standing. He displayed the
replica at the Middle
Pennsylvania District
Brethren Heritage Fair last
September.
Harry, a member and
retired minister of Roaring
Spring (Pa.) First Church of
the Brethren, recreated the
Mock meetinghouse for a
couple of reasons. He enjoys
building log cabin minia-
tures.
Also, Harry's wife, Velma,
is a descendent of Christian
and Mary Mock, the donors
of the land on which the
Mock meetinghouse is built.
Many of Harry's creations
can be seen in his home —
furniture, toys, and other log
buildings. He has found a
good way to bring talent and
heritage together. — Paula
SOKODY
Names in tlie news
LeRoy Weddle, member of
McPherson (Kan.) Church of
the Brethren, and CEO for
The Cedars, in McPherson,
has been elected to the House
of Delegates of the American
Association of Homes for the
Aging.
• Kay Sponseller, a
member of North Winona
Church of the Brethren, near
Warsaw, Ind., and a teacher
at Manchester High School,
in North Manchester, Ind.,
was named the 1993 Warren
K. and Helen Yeager Garner
Teacher of the Year at
Manchester College.
February 1 994 Messenger 3
Sweet harmony
Give the Ku Klux Klan
credit for one thing: It
motivated a move toward
Christian unity in one
Pennsylvania town.
Ephrata, Pa., in 1988
instituted a Unity Week in
caring and sharing, not ,
condemning and criticism."
So, for six years, Ephrata
Church of the Brethren and
Bright Side Baptist church
have participated in annual
pulpit and choir exchanges.
Bright Side is predomi-
nantly African American and
Dawn Harmon, choir
director for Bright
Side Baptist church
directs the combined
Ephrata and Bright
Side choir on Unity
Sunday.
"Close to Home" highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local and
regional life. Send story ideas and
photos (black and white, if possible)
to "Close to Home, "Messenger,
J451 Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60120.
response to a need to
demonstrate that the town
stood for more than the Ku
Klux Klan, for which it had
gained some notoriety. "We
were very disappointed that
our community would have
to be represented in such a
way," says Darvin Boyd,
moderator of Ephrata
Church of the Brethren. "We
wanted to show in a positive
way that this wasn't how we
felt. We wanted to show
What a deal!
Now here's a car dealer you
can trust! Jacob B. Hershey,
a member of York (Pa.)
First Church of the Breth-
ren, and president of Penn-
sylvania Auto Dealer's
Exchange (PADE), found a
good way to help flood
victims in the Midwest.
Jacob established his
auctions in 1957, and now
has a business that attracts
urban, whilst Ephrata is still
mainly white and rural. But
despite the differences, the
two groups have enjoyed
their exchange experiences.
Says Darvin, "It has served
a very important role in
helping us appreciate that we
are all brothers and sisters in
Christ, and that the color of
one's skin has nothing to do
with the mind and the
heart." — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
dealers and fleet owners from
45 states and 10 countries.
PADE donated $5 for
every vehicle registered and
another $5 for very vehicle
sold on one of the regular
"dealer only" auctions it
holds. From the fund drive,
$12,305 was raised, which
was donated, through
Southern Pennsylvania
District, to the denom-
ination's Emergency Disaster
Fund.
History at Happy Corner
Grades 3-6 of the Sunday
school at Happy Corner
Church of the Brethren,
Clayton, Ohio, took to heart
the question, "Whatza
Wissahickon?" (That's the
title of the new Brethren
Press curriculum materials.)
The children visited the
Brethren Historical Center in
the old Happy Corner
Meetinghouse as part of their
history series. They learned
about old traditions by filing
in silently and boys sitting on
one side of the room and
girls on the other.
After a lesson on Brethren
service ideals, the children
put their offering in a
traditional "poor box,"
money that would go toward
a service project of their
choosing.
Other reminders of
Brethren heritage were the
The "poor box" was a
fixture in early Church of
the Brethren meetinghouses.
old pews, tum-of-the-century
photos of Annual Meeting,
black bonnets, feetwashing
basins, love feast bowls and
pitchers, and old Bibles.
And whatza Wissahickon?
Whether you know the
answer or not, you're up a
creek.
4 Messenger February 1994
"Caring Friends" are: seated: Emily Kaltenstein, May
McAfee, Ruth Aldrich, Hiram Bower. Standing: Robert
Duncan (chairman), Betty Malenke (associate pastor), Carl
Elliott, Nettie Elliott, Rhea Griffinger, Jane Dotterer,
Virginia Moye, Thelma Strickler, Eleanor Bower.
A satellite out there
It's not a new NASA
spacecraft orbiting the earth,
even though the news was of
a satelhte launching.
Bethany Seminary inaugu-
rated a new model of
theological education
October 3, with the "launch-
ing" of its Susquehanna
Valley satellite on the
campus of Elizabethtown
College, in Pennsylvania.
Pastor Jimmy Ross of
Lititz (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren gave an address
titled "A Treasure and an
Earthen Vessel." Bethany's
president. Gene Roop, and its
dean, Rick Gardner, also
participated. Director of
studies John David Bowman
was installed.
The initial session, with 22
students, was held October 4,
with Dale Brown teaching a
course called "Brethren in
Historical and Theological
Perspectives." Other courses
are offered in the winter and
spring quarters.
What friends are for
The Faith Community of
the Brethren Home, a new
congregation established in
The Brethren Home and
Cross Keys Village, New
Oxford, Pa., sponsors a
ministry called "Caring
Friends." These volunteers
sit with nursing residents
who are dying.
The volunteers are trained
to provide care that is
meaningful and comforting.
Associate pastor Betty
Malenke, coordinator of
"Caring Friends," says that
the ministry has been well
received by the home.
Front: Kyle Helfrich, Mark Hyndman, Ryan Kreider,
Natalie Bowie, Lindsay Burkett, Middle: Christopher
Burkett, Luke Sherman, Kelly Campbell. Back: Zack
VanEmon, Andrew Helfrich, Shiloh Sherman, Melissa
Hyndman, Jane Zumbrun (teacher).
Gifts of the heart
Jane Zumbrun, youth teacher
at Columbia City (Ind.)
Church of the Brethren, got
an idea from reading
stewardship material from
denominational headquarters
and introduced her students
to the gift of giving.
During last summer's
Midwest floods disaster, the
youth practiced that gift.
Each chose a card that
displayed a need on it for
flood victims. The youth
group sent health kits,
bedding kits, food staples,
kitchen utensils, and clean-
up kits to Church World
Service for its "Gifts of the
Heart" program.
This and that
Reversing a tradition, the
Kid's Club of Stone Church
of the Brethren, Buena Vista,
Va., treated instead of
tricked last Hallowe'en. They
raked leaves for homebound
members of the congrega-
tion. On a later visit, they
brought gifts of fruit and
sang hymns. Kid's Club
focuses on Bible study,
service projects, choral
music, and drama.
• The youth of Osage
Church of the Brethren, near
McCune, Kan., held a benefit
auction last November to
help a family that had
numerous medical bills not
covered by insurance.
• Meetinghouse, a
Mennonite life center,
museum, library, and
archives, in Harleysville, Pa.,
is carrying an exhibit on the
Church of the Brethren,
titled "Those of Like Pre-
cious Faith." The exhibit
runs through April 30.
Meetinghouse is located at
565 Yoder Road, in
Harleysville. Hours are 10-5,
Tuesday-Saturday; and 2-5,
Sunday. For information, call
(215) 256-3020.
Let's celebrate
Osage Church of the
Brethren, near McCune,
Kan., celebrated its 1 15th
anniversary November 21.
• Three Springs Church
of the Brethren, near Blain,
Pa., began celebrating its
150th anniversary January
16 with a slide presentation
and ice cream party. On
February 27 the celebration
continues with a "talent
night."
February 1994 Messenger 5
The logo for the 1994 Annual
Conference in Witchita, Kan., was
developed by Rosanna McFadden of
Indianapolis, Ind.
Native American paper heads
Annual Conference business
Among key items on the agenda for the
1994 Annual Conference in Wichita,
Kan., is the unfinished business of the
paper on Native Americans, "Commu-
nity: A Tribe of Many Feathers."
When presented as a study paper in
1993, this item sparked
considerable debate over
what critics saw in the
paper as affirmation of
Native
/ .\/iAr\\£, /j^.^,/^ American
.<-\^\^\l\t\^^ i 1^^ "'^gious
elements that
ncompatible with
the teachings of Christ.
New business includes
two queries from Illinois
and Wisconsin District, on
"Acceptance and Implementation of the
Americans with Disabilities Act" and the
"Simple Life."
Earl Ziegler
David M. Bibbee
1 V ». Lt_- Nai
"^^^- y^ / were incompati
In pre-Conference meetings. Standing
Committee will hear reports from its
subcommittee on Sexuality and Leader-
ship in the Church, and its committee
that is reviewing the 1992 Ethics in
Ministry Relations paper.
The theme of this year's Conference ii
"Come! Drink the Living Water," taken
from John 7:37-38. The logo was desigr
ed by Rosanna McFadden of Indianapo-
lis, Ind. She also has done logos for
Annual Conference in 1987, 1991, and
1992.
Earl Ziegler, Annual Conference
moderator, will preside over the busines
sessions and preach at Tuesday
evening's service.
Other Conference speakers are David
M. Bibbee, pastor of Elkhart (Ind.) City
Church of the Brethren, on Wednesday;
Rebecca Baile Crouse, co-pastor of
Antioch Church of the Brethren near
El decreto sobre los Indigenas Norte Americanos
encabeza los topicos de la Conferencia
Because the news pages include news from various
Church of the Brethren organizations and move-
ments, the activities reported on may represent a
variety' of viewpoints. These pages also report on
other national and international news relevant to
Brethren. Information in news articles does not
necessarily represent the opinions o/ MESSENGER or
the Church of the Brethren.
Entre los puntos importantes en la
agenda de la Conferencia Anual de
1994 que se lie vara a cabo en Wichita,
Kan., esta el decreto sobre los Indig-
enas Norte Americanos: "Comunidad:
Una Tribu de Muchas Plumas" que aun
no ha sido terminado. Cuando este se
presento como un simple papel de
estudio en 1993, se inicio un gran
debate sobre lo que los criticos
consideraban una afirmacion de los
elementos religiosos de los Indigenas
Norte Americanos que no estaban de
acuerdo con las enseiianzas de Cristo.
Los asuntos nuevos incluyen dos
querellas del Distrito IllinoisAViscon-
sin sobre "La Aceptacion e Implemen-
tacion del Acto de Americanos Inca-
pacitados" y "La Vida Simple."
En reuniones preparatorias a la
Conferencia el comite oira reportes del
subcomite sobre la Sexualidad y
Liderazgo en la Iglesia, y del comite qui
esta revisando el documento de 1992
sobre Etica en Relaciones Ministeriales.
El tema de la Conferencia de este aiio
es "Ven y Bebe del Agua Viva" que
viene de Juan 7:37-38. El logo fue
diseiiado por Rosanna McFadden de
Indianapolis, Ind. quien tambien diseiio
el logo para las Conferencias Anuales d
1987, 1991 y 1992.
El Moderador de la Conferencia
Anual, Earl Ziegler, presidira las
sesiones y predicara en el culto del
martes por la noche. '
Otros invitados para hablar son Davie!
M. Bibee, pastor de la Iglesia de los i
Hermanos Elkhart City, Ind., el
miercoles; Rebecca Baile Crouse, co-
pastora de la Iglesia de los Hermanos
Antioch cerca de Rocky Mount, Va., el
6 Messenger February 1 994
tecca Baile Crouse
Tyrone Pitts
;ky Mount, Va., on Thursday; Tyrone
s, general secretary of the Progres-
: National Baptist Convention in
shington, D.C., on Saturday; and S.
n Hershey, a former General Board
irwoman from Florin Church of the
thren in Mount Joy, Pa., on Sunday.
The Gathering," a drama, will be pre-
ted on Friday. The Saturday evening
gram will feature "Acappella," a na-
lally known male quartet. Youth/
Ling Adult Ministries and Annual
iference are sponsoring the concert,
'aul Roth, pastor of Highland Avenue
arch of the Brethren, Elgin, 111., is
sic coordinator for Conference. Wor-
D leaders are Judy Mills Reimer, 1994
derator-elect, on Tuesday; Laura Sew-
a retired India missionary, from
ice Church of the Brethren, Portland,
!., on Wednesday; Milton Garcia,
tor of Castaiier (P.R.) Church of the
ves; Tyrone Pitts, secretario general
la Convencion Nacional Bautista
igresiva en Washington D.C., el
ado; y S. Joan Hershey, pasada
sidenta de la Junta General de la
;sia de los Hermanos Florin en Mount
, Pa., el domingo.
il viemes se presentara el drama "The
thering." El programa del sabado por
loche presentara "Acapella" un
irteto de varones conocidos nacional-
nte. Este concierto es patrocinado por
oficinas de Ministerios Juveniles y la
tiferencia Anual.
'aul Roth, pastor de la Iglesia de los
rmanos Highland Avenue en Elgin,
, sera el coordinador de musica. Otros
:res de culto son Judy Mills Reimer,
deradora electa para 1994 el martes.
ara Sewell, misionera retirada de la
lia, de la Iglesia de los Hermanos
tland. Ore., el miercoles. Milton Gar-
, pastor de la Iglesia de los Hermanos
Castaiier, P.R., el jueves. Gail
Brethren^ on
5. Joan Hershey Thursday; Gail
Erisman Valeta,
pastor of Buckeye Church of the Breth-
ren near Abilene, Kan., on Friday; and
Phyllis Kingery Ruff, Peace Church of
the Brethren, Council Bluffs, Iowa, on
Saturday. Worship leader for Sunday is
Stafford Frederick, pastor of Olathe
(Kan.) Church of the Brethren.
Business sessions, worship services,
exhibits, and age-group activities will be
held at the Century II Convention Cen-
ter. Some meetings will be held across
the street from the convention center at
the Ramada Inn.
Packets of information about regis-
tration, accommodations, transporta-
tion, and special events will be mailed
to all churches and registered delegates
in March. Conference booklets will
be available in May. For these items
and other information, contact the
Annual Conference Office, 1451 Dundee
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Erisman Valeta pastora de la Iglesia de
los Hermanos Buckeye cerca de Abi-
lene, Kan., el viemes. Phyllis Kingery
Ruff de la Iglesia de los Hermanos
Peace en Council Bluffs, Iowa, el
sabado. Stafford Frederick, pastor de la
Iglesia de los Hermanos Olathe en
Kansas, presidira el culto del domingo.
Sesiones, cultos, exhibiciones y acti-
vidades para grupos de diferentes eda-
des se llevaran a cabo en el Centro de
Convencion Century II. Algunas reu-
niones tendran lugar al frente del cen-
tro de convencion, en el Ramada Inn.
Paquetes de Informacion sobre la
registracion, alojamiento, transporta-
cion y eventos especiales seran envia-
dos en Marzo a todas las iglesias y del-
egados registrados. Folletos sobre la
Conferencia estaran disponibles en
Mayo. Para mas informacion comuni-
quese con la Oficina de la Conferencia
Anual, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL
60120.
Emergency aid granted to
Midwest states, Armenia
A grant of $25,000 has been allocated
from the Emergency Disaster Fund to
assist with the ongoing recovery efforts
in Midwest states from earlier flooding.
The funds will be used for volunteer
maintenance, expenses related to
rebuilding projects, small grants to some
of the Interfaith recovery groups, and a
shipment of hay for farmers.
A grant of $20,000 has been given in
response to an appeal from Church
World Service to assist war refugees
and other displaced persons in Ar-
menia. As winter sets in, it will become
increasingly difficult to reach the
refugees, many of whom already are
suffering from disease and frostbite.
The grant will be used to help over-
come shortages of food, clothing,
medicines, and heating fuel.
Calendar
Environment, Development, and Peace:
Exploring Connections in Undergraduate
Education, Bethel College, Kan. .February 1 8-
20. [Contact Karen Klassen Harder, Bethel
College, 300 Ea,st 27th, N. Newton, KS 67 1 1 7,
(316) 283-2500]
Cooperative Disaster Child Care Worksliops:
February 25-26, Rochester, N.Y. [Further
details from CDCC, (410) 635-8734]; March
1 1-12, Lanark, III. [For more information call
Marian Patterson, (815) 225-7279].
"Prayer on tlie Plains" gathering for lay people,
McPherson College campus, February 25-27.
[Contact Gary Flory, McPherson College,
McPherson, KS 67460, (316) 241-0731].
Church of the Brethren Association of
Christian Educators' conference. Camp
Bethel, Fincastle, Va.. April 15-17. [Contact
Doris Quarles, P.O.Box 56, Daleville. VA
24083, (703) 992-2465].
Church Visit to Brazil: South and North Meet in
a Tunker' Way, July 10-28. sponsored by Lat-
in America/Carri bean Office. [Further details
from Latin America/Carri bean Office, Chruch
of the Brethren General Offices, 1451 Dundee
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120: (800) 323-8039].
February 1 994 Messenger 7
Historic Peace Churches
gather, discuss role of UN
Some 32 representatives from the three
Historic Peace Churches, the Church of
the Brethren, Mennonite Churches, and
the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the
Fellowship of Reconciliation met in a
two-day consulta-
tion in December to
reflect on the paci-
fist response to con-
flicts in which mili-
taries are function-
ing as humanitarian
agencies and UN
peacekeeping forces
are becoming more
militarized.
Several questions
served as foci for the
group. Do they
support United
Nations peacekeep-
ing forces, and if so
by what criteria and
methods do they
carry out their
goals? Are embar-
goes and sanctions to be endorsed? How
can diplomacy be more effective? What
has active nonviolence in Europe, South
Africa, and elsewhere taught us about
dealing with conflict and violence?
While no clear statement emerged
from the consultation, the meeting repre-
sented an important beginning as paci-
Benefit Trust board discusses
medical plans, investments
Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) held its
fall board meetings in November at
Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, and made
several investment-related actions.
The BBT board made two decisions
concerning the Brethren Medical Plan.
Premium medical rates were set for the
agencies on the January to December
premium year. On average, this is a 6
percent increase for the 1 1 Brethren
8 Messenger February 1994
fists face new and challenging situations
in the world. There was discussion on the
role of the UN as peacekeepers vs.
peacemakers. It also included working at
conflict resolution as prevention instead
of as a reaction to crisis.
"The heritage of the peace churches is
ready to launch into the mainstream of
Celia Cook Huffman and Robert Johansen were two of the
representatives of the Church of the Brethren at the Historic
Peace Churches conference in December.
Christianity — and the nation depends on
it," said Walter Wink, a professor at
Auburn Theological Seminary.
Representatives from the Church of the
Brethren were Lamar Gibble, Robert
Johansen, Julie Garber, Cliff Kindy, Joan
Deeter, Lauree Hersch Meyer, Tim
McElwee, and Celia Cook Huffman.
Medical Plan groups on this plan. The
groups on the July to June plan will
receive adjusted premiums in July 1994.
The board received an update on the
debate over an alternative medical plan.
Constituents have urged the BBT to pro-
vide a plan in spite of the 1993 Annual
Conference action to the contrary.
The board agreed to rescind its policy
prohibiting investments in companies
doing business in South Africa, and it af-
firmed taking a more proactive role pur-
suing investment options in community
Brethren volunteer joins peac€
team in Balkan region
Vic Ullom, a Brethren Volunteer Service
worker, began training this month to
participate on the Balkan Peace Team.
The team is an international project
that aims to establish a permanent
presence of international volunteers in
crisis areas of the former Yugoslavia,
to work for nonviolent conflict resolutio:
and the protection of human rights.
Ullom, a member of the Wiley (Colo.
Church of the Brethren, is one of four tC|
begin the training. Following the initial
training, the team will go to Zagreb for
language training.
He has been working at Casa del Puel
lo, an Hispanic adult education center ii
Washington, D.C. since completion of
his BVS orientation in October.
The goals of the team, as stated in the
Agreement for Service, are to "seek to |
identify possibilities for dialogue be-
tween the different groups; serve as a
channel of independent and nonpartisai
information from the regions, reflecting
all points of view; contribute team-men
bers" skills for the benefits of all citizer
for instance by offering workshops in
mediation and nonviolent conflict resol
ution, or by giving language classes; arl
act as third-party observers at the scene
of incidents or potential flashpoints."
Teams will be placed in "little pock
ets" where people are being pushed
around because they are a minority.
redevelopment, social justice, preserva-
tion, and reclamation of environment.
In other business, the board approve^
rebidding the Medical Plan Stop Loss
and Life Insurance components of the
current contract with Provident, and
exploring legal possibility and financiii
feasibility of becoming self-insured fon
the life component; and hired a secon
investment manager. Amhold and S.
Bleichroeder Capital was selected as a
additional investment manager for BBi
equities, effective January 1, 1994.
PA announces peace
gram for grandparents
idparents for Peace is the newest
Tarn from On Earth Peace Assembly
PA). It was founded for grandparents
icourage their grandchildren to seek
st's message about peace.
EPA asks that grandparents make a
mitment of $30 a month for three
s to OEPA's Peace Academy. Along
the financial contribution, they are
asked to supply OEPA with the
dchildren's names, addresses, phone
bers, and ages.
return, OEPA and The Peace
lemy will provide a Peace Academy
tend for each grandchild free of
ge. They will also notify the grand-
Iren with an invitation to a Peace
Academy experience, give the sponsors a
Grandparents for Peace sweatshirt, and
place their names on a sponsors' Grand-
parents for Peace plaque in The Peace
Place at the Brethren Service Center.
According to Tom Hurst, OEPA
director, "OEPA is now providing
grandparents in the Church of the
Brethren an opportunity to pass along
the gift of faith — the opportunity for
grandchildren to explore, out of a faith
context, the teaching of Jesus, who
provides to all of us an example of how
to live a peaceful life."
OEPA hopes to invite over 1 ,000
grandchildren through the grandparents'
contributions within the three-year
committment.
For more information, contact On
Earth Peace Assembly, Brethren Service
Center, P.O. Box 188, 500 Main Street,
New Windsor, MD 21776-0188; tel.
(410) 635-8704.
Atlantic Northeast executive
announces resignation
Robert Kettering has announced his
resignation as associate executive of
Atlantic Northeast District, effective
March 1. Ketter-
Rnheri Kettering
ing has served on
the district staff
since 1987. His
future plans are
not certain, but he
and his family will
continue to live in
Manheim, Pa.
ira Nazombe, a public policy advocate, began work
ary 1 as director of world community for tfie National Council of
ches. In her position, she will provide leadership for programs
joiicies related to critical global concerns, such as human rights,
lationa! affairs, and other emerging international issues that the
cil would seek to address. The Office of World Community
)ines the functions of the former International Affairs, Human
ts, and Intermedia offices.
.eaders from six historic African American denomina-
representing 13 million people gathered in December at the
;k Church Environmental Justice Summit." The leaders pressed
loint that long before the ecological movement became a pop-
high-profile issue, environmental injustice was a reality for the US
an American community."
rhe church leaders challenged Vice President Al Gore, who
ided along with Shantilal Bhagat, Church of the Brethren staff for
Justice and Rural concerns, to stand with them "against the
!s that are ripping the heavens and raping the earth ... in the
3 of progress, prosperity, and pride."
Do-convening the summit were six historic black denominations:
Urican Methodist Episcopal Church, African fvlethodist Episcopal
Church, Christian l\^ethodist Episcopal Church, National Baptist
/ention, USA, Inc., National Baptist Convention of America, and
iressive National Baptist Convention.
Some of the summit goals were to explore the bridge issues that
link the black church to environmental issues, e.g., health, poverty,
racism, unemployment; to explore the links between economic and
environmental justice; to establish and provide seed grants to support
a Black Church Network on Environmental Justice that can work
closely with the National Religious Partnership for the Environment;
to sensitize the scientific and environmental communities to environ-
mental justice issues; and to demonstrate the links between global
warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, and justice issues.
Representatives of Guatemala's civil sector, guerrilla
leaders, and diplomatic observers from five countries met late
last year in a historic first encounter arranged by Lutheran World
Federation (LWF).
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta f^enchu attended as a
special guest. She stated her conviction that Guatemala's internal
conflict merits the same international attention as was given to the
Israeli-Palestinian accords.
LWF, the National Council of Churches (NCC), Latin American
Council of Churches, and World Council of Churches co-sponsored
the meeting, with participation by the Evangelical Council of Churches
in Guatemala and the Roman Catholic Church in Guatemala.
Civil sector representatives included churches, unions, the
University of San Carlos (the rector), the Widows Association, the
Journalism Association, Maya Indians, and human rights groups.
Diplomatic observers present were from Nonway, Spain, Mexico,
the US, and Venezuela.
Febraary 1994 Messenger 9
spending Thanksgiving building bridges
by Margaret Woolgrove
"In Brazil," said Onaldo Periera, "we
think all Americans are a Madonna or a
Michael Jackson. We see them with their
great wealth, and assume that everybody
has the same. It is only after meeting
ordinary Americans that we realize this
is not true."
The theme of the 1993 Young Aduh
Conference was "Building Bridges . . .
Between People and Cultures," and the
112 young adults who met at Camp
Mack (Milford, Ind.) over Thanksgiving
were given ample opportunities to put
this theme into practice. The group came
from places as far apart as California and
Pennsylvania, Illinois and Texas, El
Salvador and Brazil, with an additional
international flavor added by the
presence of Brethren Volunteer Service
workers from England and Scotland and
a Japanese exchange student from
Manchester College.
In introducing the first session,
Deanna Brown (chaplain at Manchester
College) spoke from the context of her
own failures at bridge-building, person-
ally and within the church, and chal-
lenged the group to look at their modes
of expression and communication with
one another. This was particularly
relevant for a group that included 10
A ceremonial "water
blessing" was part of
the closing worship of
the conference, an
international
gathering of 112
young adult Brethren
who worked at
"building bridges . . .
between people and
cultures. "
participants from El Salvador, Nicara-
gua, and Brazil, who spoke Spanish or
Portuguese as their first language, and
(for some) very little English. Reliance
on a translator, or on an improvised form
of sign language was often the only way
of bridging the language gap between
participants, and the laughter that was
shared — despite the barriers of language
and culture — was rich and life-giving.
On
'naldo Periera spoke movingly of his
sometimes painful transition into North
American culture on his first extended
visit here. He told of the different value
that is given to personal relationships in
the United States. In his first weeks in
the US, when he needed to speak to a
friend, the friend was too busy. Cultural
barriers and their potential bridges were
subjects with which many of the group
identified, having traveled or lived
overseas themselves.
Onaldo told a story about a member of
the Church of the Brethren from the US
who had gone to Brazil to learn more
about the culture and the people there.
"She brought with her lots of dollars, so
we rented a car and set out for our
destination. I had not traveled much
within my country before, and soon we
were lost. At first, she was in control; if
we encountered trouble or hardship,
there were always enough dollars to
rescue us. One day we realized that aU
the dollars were gone, and my friend
broke down and wept. 'What shall we do
now that we have no more dollars? How
can we survive?'
"But something happened that day tha;
changed her. She lost her control, and
we became equals, struggling together
alongside the people of Brazil. Ameri-
cans like to take their comforts, their
small bits of America with them when
they travel, but if you go some place with
medicine and traveler's checks and the
telephone number of the American
Embassy, you are not traveling with the
people; you are watching them from a
position of power and superiority. The
challenge we face is to go to another
country and let go of all of our controls."
Deanna Brown spoke of the need for
inner "grounding." She told of two
friends of hers, Linny and Ron. "Linny ii
always giving things to people. For her
40th birthday she was given a brand-
new, shiny red convertible. It was just
what she'd always wanted. For two days
she drove around town showing it off to
all of her friends. Then one day she
turned up at racquetball practice without
her new car. When we asked what had
happened to it, Linny told us that she
1 0 Messenger February 1994
d loaned the car to her 18-yeaf-old
ighbor to drive to the beach. We
sped in disbelief, but for Linny, it didn't
itter. She was the kind of person who,
you told her you liked her sweater,
)uld take it off and give it to you.
"Ron, on the other hand, always
smed to be trying to show how worthy
was. When he won a game of racquet-
11, he wouldn't just shake the hands of
5 opponents and wish them better luck
xt time, but instead, he would start
itiquing their game, telling them where
jy had gone wrong, and how to
iprove for next time.
"Now, if I were to show you a picture
two people, one with arms tightly
Ided across the chest, and the other
th arms outspread, you would probably
sume that the one with the folded arms
Ron, and the one with the outstretched
nns, Linny, but in reality it is the other
ly around. Linny' s strength comes
)m within, and is dependent on who
e is and not on what she owns. She
In't mind loaning her shiny red car
cause she knew that her self-worth
isn't dependent on the car staying
iny or new. Ron is the one with the
len arms. He has no faith in himself or
God's love for him, and so he seeks
proval from outside himself."
Onaldo used the analogy of coming
rough a storm to speak of the need for
ounding. "In Brazil one time we had a
g storm. The wind blew and the rain
me down for days and days. It washed
y house and everything we owned
iwn the hillside. It washed the plants
d trees away. All except one. This one
as the smallest, most spindly tree of
em all, and yet it survived. I was so
fiazed by this that I dug the tree up,
id discovered that underneath the roots
as a huge rock. The tree had not been
/ept away because it had grounded
;elf around the rock. We too should be
ce the tree, and be grounded not in
liat we have, but in who we are."
Workshops on areas such as the
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1
Worship was enhanced when participants from Central America provided songs and
music: Jorge Gonzales, from El Salvador, and Nicaraguans Eddy Moncada,
Mendelson Davila (with guitar), Karla Bonilla, and Guilermo Eugarrios.
Church of the Brethren in Brazil,
liberation theology, the political and
economic situation of El Salvador/
Nicaragua, and life transitions enabled
participants to take an in-depth look at
these subjects, in smaller groups. For the
workshops on Brazil, Nicaragua, and El
Salvador, it was the English speakers
who wore the translation equipment, and
not the international visitors. For many
participants, this was a learning experi-
ence in itself, for they became dependent
on the translation of others.
D>
'uring the traditional last-night
"talent show," the participants learned
that jokes can be cross-cultural, that
poetry is virtually impossible to translate,
and that the most universal language of
all is laughter. They laughed together
almost as much as they sang together,
singing in Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili,
and English with enthusiasm and rich
harmony.
The whole weekend was punctuated
with worship — planned and unplanned.
During one morning's worship, Juanita
Guardado and Jorge Gonzalez expressed
their grief over the death of their brother
Alvaro Rivas in a drowning accident last
June, during a workcamp in El Salvador
(August/September, page 25). A candle
was lit for Alvaro and passed from one to
another in remembrance of his life, with
the realization that his death had built a
bridge between the two cultures, binding
the group together in death, but also in
life. Alvaro' s candle will stay in North
America, and a candle from the Young
Adult Conference was sent back with
Jorge and Juanita to demonstrate the ties
of friendship they have with young
adults here.
The candle symbolized the healing
power of the light of God, and water was
used to demonstrate the cleansing and
renewing of the Holy Spirit, especially
during the feetwashing on our last
morning together.
Ai.
February 1 994 Messenger 1 1
Earl Ziegler likes U
By Don Fitzkee
Some years ago Earl Ziegler tended a
third-of-an-acre patch of cauliflower in
addition to tending his flock at the
Mechanic Grove congregations from
Sunday to Sunday. Both grew very well.
He has since scaled down his cauli-
flower patch, but still plants a big garden
each year. His wife, Vivian, who does all
the freezing and canning, says, "It's still
too big. Every year I plead with him to
plant less, but I don't get anywhere."
"That's the farmboy in me," Earl
responds. "I just like to watch things
grow."
Whether it's gardens or churches, the
1994 Annual Conference moderator and
pastor of Lampeter Church of the
Brethren in southern Lancaster County,
Pa., seems to have a knack for growing
things.
"I've seen Earl as one of the most
successful pastors in the denomination in
terms of growing the church and calling
forth leadership," says Bob Kettering,
who served for three years with Earl as
associate executive of Atlantic Northeast
District. It must be the farmboy in him.
Earl Ziegler grew up on a farm in
Lebanon County, Pa., with his six
brothers and sisters. His parents were
deacons in the Richland congregation,
before moving to the nearby Heidelberg
church when Earl was 17.
"I call the Heidelberg church my home
church because I was both licensed and
ordained there," says Earl, "but my
formative, nurturing time was at
Richland."
At age 12, Earl went forward at a
revival meeting to accept Christ as his
Savior. "I still remember my baptism as
a very meaningful moment," says Earl.
"The thing that I remember is that I
really felt a sense of that forgiveness of
sin." Earl also remembers the snow-
covered ground, the January cold, and
his mother carefully stuffing his clothes
1 2 Messenger February 1994
with newspapers to insulate him
against the frigid stream water.
Before long, members of the
church began to notice Earl's gifts.
When Earl was about 16, Richland
elder Michael Kurtz asked him to
teach Sunday school, and a head
chorister invited him to lead congre-
gational singing one evening. "I
dove right in, foolishly," says Earl.
"But somebody saw those gifts."
The congregation also saw gifts for
ministry, and encouraged Earl in
that direction. He recalls, "I was
oscillating between being a medical
doctor and a minister. It was the
influence of my home congregation
that I think tipped the scale."
The lesson on calling wasn't lost
on Earl. He took it with him and has
challenged others ever since. Don
Hollinger, who served as Earl's
associate pastor at Mechanic Grove,
recalls. "He was constantly seeking
out, calling, and challenging people.
And he did that with me in ministry.
He challenged me to enter areas I
never had before."
Sherry Eshelman, a member at the
Lampeter church, also sees in Earl
an ability to call forth gifts. "He has
a real knack for getting people to do
things," she says, "even when they're not
sure they want to do them." Earl chal-
lenged Sherry to tell a children's story
when she didn't think she could, and she
blossomed into a creative storyteller.
Xhere are many pastors in this
district," adds Bob Kettering, "who name
Earl as a key person in their pursuing a
call to ministry." Don Hollinger, who
now pastors the Indian Creek church,
near Harleysville, Pa., remembers Earl as
one who nurtured his call. "Earl has
taught me more of the practicality of
pastoral ministry," says Don, "than any
seminary ever could have taught me."
Although it was more acceptable to
wait for the congregation to call, Earl
volunteered for the ministry at age 18,
was licensed, and began studies in
secondary education at Elizabethtown
College. He met his wife-to-be, Vivian,
there. In 1951, they graduated in the
spring, married in August, and went
directly to Bethany Seminary.
After Earl's graduation in 1954, he
and Vivian spent the next six years
pastoring the Woodbury congregation, i
Middle Pennsylvania. The congregation
grew during Earl's tenure, and in 1960
divided into three churches — Woodbury
Curryville, and Holsinger. In the
transition period. Earl preached three
times a Sunday and looked after a
P
i
B
i
atch things grow
Whether it's cauliflower or congregations,
Earl Ziegler has a knack for making them grow.
imbined membership of about 700.
By then the Black Rock church, in
)uthem Pennsylvania, was ready to hire
i first salaried pastor, and chose Earl,
irtly because he grew up with the free
inistry and understood the dynamics of
congregation moving from a free to a
laried ministry. After a 10-and-a-half
!ar stint at Black Rock, Earl in 1970
cepted the call to Mechanic Grove,
here he pastored until 1983.
All the churches Earl led had two
ings in common: "Every parish I've
id has been terrific people," says Earl,
nd every one grew numerically.
Worship attendance at Mechanic
rove swelled from around 230 to 400
iring Earl's tenure. The story had been
similar at Black Rock.
"I think the key to growth," says
Earl, "was that people knew that I
cared about them." He attributes
much of the growth to building
personal relationships with people.
"I talk with people about
salvation and about their relation-
ship with Christ," says Earl, "but
not in the typical way that you
would think. I've got to learn to
know people first. I don't go into a
house and ask 'Are you saved?' I
want to know people first. Then if
you know people, it seems to me
you earn the right to do that. It's
not saying the right words, or
button-holing or approaching. No,
it's that personal relationship that
brings integrity."
Earl was reluctant to leave
pastoral ministry, but he eventually
accepted the call to become Atlantic
Northeast District executive, a
position he held from 1983 to 1989.
Since then he has pastored
Lampeter, an active congregation
that was planted by the Mechanic
Grove church during his time there.
Lampeter has been very supportive of its
pastor/moderator. Not only has the
congregation freed him for half of the
Sundays this year, but each week a
family lifts the moderator up in prayer.
Whi
'hile the congregation is Earl's first
love, he also has been active in district,
denominational, and ecumenical
ministries. He was district moderator in
each of the three districts where he
pastored, including twice in Middle
Pennsylvania, and was a trustee at
Elizabethtown College for 1 8 years.
Earl served two terms on Annual
Conference Standing Committee, was a
member of the 1964 study committee on
Divorce and Remarriage and the L991
Denominational Structure Committee.
From 1976 to 1980, he was on the
General Board, chairing the Parish
Ministries Commission his final year. He
was pastor-in-residence at Bethany
Seminary in 1982. Most recently Earl
helped denominational staff Paul
Mundey envision the Passing on the
Promise program and was a teacher in
the "Friend to Friend" video series.
"I think you'd have to say he's very
Brethren, but not lacking in ecumenical
interests," says Stanley Earhart, who has
worked with Earl in a number of
capacities over the years and is presently
moderator at Lampeter. Earl has chaired
several local ministeriums, served on the
governing board of the Pennsylvania
Council of Churches, and fulfilled a
three-year appointment to the National
Council of Churches Commission on
Marriage and Family. Currently he is on
the Lancaster Board of the Samaritan
Center, a nationwide Christian counsel-
ing organization.
Several of Earl's ecumenical involve-
ments have grown out of his interest in
family ministry. "Family has always
been important in my background," he
says. "I came from a large family, a
strong family, with loads of cousins."
Over the years. Earl picked up snatches
of training in family ministry, and
eventually earned his Doctor of Ministry
degree from Lancaster Theological
Seminary with a concentration in
marriage enrichment. He and Vivian led
many marriage enrichment weekends
through the years. During his Woodbury
pastorate. Earl wrote the first sex
education curriculum for Northern
Bedford High School and was later
recognized by Elizabethtown College for
this achievement in Christian education.
February 1 994 Messenger 1 3
But family matters have never been
merely an academic or professional
pursuit for Earl and Vivian. In addition
to congregations and cauliflower. Earl
and Vivian have grown a lot of kids.
They are parents of six grown children
and have 10 grandchildren.
"We have four that we say are home-
made," says Earl, and two adopted Asian
daughters. In addition, the Zieglers have
invited several other children into their
homes over the years for periods as long
as three years. All told, a dozen or so
children of various ethnic backgrounds
call Earl and Vivian "Mom" and "Dad."
"We've had a very colorful family and
a family that changed through the
years," says Earl. "And that, I think, has
had a real impact on me."
One way his family shaped Earl was
by sensitizing him to other ethnic
groups. Jan Kensinger, who served six
years as associate district executive with
Earl, recalls, "He had a lot of excitement
and enthusiasm for bringing persons of
different ethnicities into the life of the
district and denomination. He was really
aggressive in pursuing those interests
during his tenure."
On his office wall. Earl displays a
plaque from the Dominican Brethren,
expressing appreciation for his support.
Earl became aware of the church-
planting efforts of the Dominican
Brethren during a 1989 trip to Puerto
Rico. Excited about what he heard. Earl
promised to raise $15,000 to build a
church in Los Toros. He eventually
facilitated the 1990 Annual Conference
query from Atlantic Northeast District
that led the church to support church-
planting in the Dominican Republic.
"That's why I got the plaque," he says. "I
came at a time when they were discour-
aged, and I gave them a boost."
Accompanying his interest in ethnic
ministry and overseas outreach is Earl's
passion for travel. The Zieglers' family
room shelves are stuffed with boxes of
slides from the more than 40 countries
Earl and Vivian have visited, many of
them by organizing and hosting group
trips. Jan Kensinger recalls that Earl
loved to entertain his colleagues in his
home. "Usually it was a set-up," she says
14 Messenger February 1994
Earl's wife, Vivian, gives him a hundred or so sermon illustrations as a Christmai
gift each year. The compilation is handily indexed for his convenience.
with a smile, "so he could show us slides
of his last trip!"
Earl's aggressiveness in supporting
ministry in the Dominican Republic is
indicative of his working style. "One of
the things about Earl," says Don
Hollinger, "and this could be looked on
as a negative, but I look on it as a
positive — when he got a vision in his
mind he was riveted to that vision. He
put his all into it. Some thought that
looked pushy, but I always saw it as a
strength."
Be
►ob Kettering echoes those senti-
ments: "He's a tireless worker and an
assertive leader. His assertive style is not
always appreciated by everybody, but
people with vision know where they're
going and how to get there."
Earl says his life philosophy is
borrowed from Africa explorer and
missionary David Livingstone, who said
"I will go anywhere, provided it be
forward." Earl's pace corroborates his
fidelity to that philosophy, says long-
time friend Joan Hershey. "He has one
gear, and that's forward and fast."
Jan Kensinger recalls that one of the
hazards of working with Earl in a small
district office was "having to hang onto
your papers when he walked by your
desk because he created a big gust of
wind in his enthusiasm to get where he
was going."
Earl says he comes by his frenetic p;
honestly. "If you knew my dad and m>
mother, my dad never walked anywhe
He always ran. And my mother was th
same way; she never quit."
Sherry Eshelman, who once tried
unsuccessfully to follow Earl to a
meeting, testifies that he doesn't slow
down when he gets behind the wheel c
car either. "I used to say to him that I
know God is his co-pilot," says Sherry
"because he flies when he drives!"
Noting that six-time Conference mode
tor Otho Winger also had a reputation
for speed (See "Otho Winger: He Live
'With the Throttle Wide Open,'" Octo
1989), Stanley Earhart deadpans, "Eai
drives pretty fast. I don't know if that'
what it takes to be moderator or not."
Jan recalls that the first trick Earl
taught new district executive Allen
Hansen was how to save time by cuttii
across the Wendy's parking lot to get i
the district office.
Along with Earl's desire to save tim
is a keen interest in saving money. Bol
Kettering describes him as frugal. "Or
thing that stands out in my mind," say
Jan Kensinger, "is his living out of a
simple life. For him it really was a
lifestyle by choice and by practice."
Jan recalls that Earl didn't feel it
necessary to go out for lunch on his
birthday, according to the custom in tl
district office. "He was very serious,"
says Jan. "He said he we didn't need t<
e of Earl's special interests has been the growing church in the Dominican
mblic. He is shown here with Pedro Brull, Santos Mota, and Jorge Toledo.
out to lunch. We could carry lunch
' Earl persuaded his colleagues to
h bring his own lunch, and he
ught a baloney sandwich. "It was just
ypical of Earl," says Jan. "He was
y happy with a baloney sandwich for
birthday."
iarl says one reason he moves so fast
[lat there are so many things he enjoys
ng. "I've always enjoyed everything
: done," says Earl. "I never had a day
; I had to go to work that I felt I
n't want to go. That maybe sounds
; it's not true, but it really is true."
1 addition to gardening and travel, he
Vivian enjoy music together. In
rs past, they often sang together at
Idings. More recently they have
Formed lighthearted musical pro-
ms for senior adults. While at Black
;k. Earl directed an area Brethren
I's chorus, and during his Mechanic
ive pastorate he led an interdenomi-
onal men's group from churches in
them Lancaster County.
1 music, family, gardening, and
listry, Vivian has been Earl's quiet
xiex. "She's not a noisy person," says
1, "but very supportive and creative in
own way. I often ask her, 'What do
think about this idea?' She's the
ing ground to help me not go too far
way or another."
>ne way Vivian has quietly supported
1 over the years is by compiling an
sual card catalog. Vivian, who served
as a school librarian for over 20 years
before retiring last year, has given Earl
an annual Christmas present of four-by-
six cards, covered with topically ar-
ranged quips and clippings that she
gleans from her readings.
"He used to always come on a Sunday
morning when he was ready to go out the
door and say, 'Now what's a good
illustration for this?'" Vivian recalls.
"Well, I didn't have it off the top of my
head." So she began collecting illustra-
tions and gives Earl a hundred or so
cards each year. He calls them "the best
Christmas gift I've gotten for the last 25
years."
X-/arl has emphasized two related
themes in his moderator's travels. The
church needs to deal with its conflicts
and center its life in Jesus Christ. "When
our centering is in Jesus Christ and we
really know what that means," says Earl,
"I think you and I can discuss anything
and not be angry with each other. We
may not agree, but we can be brothers.
That's basically been my theme."
Those themes grew out of Earl's
experience at last year's Annual Confer-
ence. "We all went to Annual Confer-
ence a bit apprehensive, scared, con-
fused, irritated, but we came away again
experiencing the power of prayer and the
Holy Spirit."
Earl hopes to continue an emphasis on
prayer through the "Prayer on the
Plains" gathering that he has called for
the last Sunday in February. The day will
be designated "Brethren Day of Prayer"
so that those who can't be at McPherson
College can still lift up the church.
Earl says he senses hope in the church
as he travels around the Brotherhood. "I
think many people feel that we're
turning a comer as a denomination,
moving more toward outreach, and more
toward being concemed about other
persons out there rather than simply
keeping our own store in operation." The
church, he says, is excited about new
ministries in the Dominican Republic
and South Korea.
But Earl believes the church has a
long way to go in including ethnic
Brethren. "There's a real fmstration in
the Hispanic and Korean communities in
the Church of the Brethren that they're
second-class citizens," he says, "that we
like them as long as they do what we
want them to do. I think that's true. We
haven't empowered them, and I don't
know why. 1 really want this year to lift
up the opportunities for ministry to the
multicultural groups, to invite them to
impact us, because they have a lot to
give us."
Earl believes mission work among
Koreans and Hispanics in the US and
abroad will not only help the church to
grow but will "extend our ministries far
beyond ourselves into other cultures."
Whenever you become ingrown, when
you tum yourself inward. Earl believes,
you are heading for disaster. "A living
organism is out there reproducing itself.
When you stop growing you begin to die,
and I think that's what was happening in
the denomination.
"The whole evangelism bit, the whole
mission thing, is just part of me. We
need to go into all the world."
Whether it be congregations, denomi-
nations, or cauliflower. Earl just
likes to watch things grow.
Ai.
Don Fitzkee. ofRheems. Pa., is a licensed
minister in Chiques Church of the Brethren.
Manheim. Pa., where he is being ordained on
February 6. He ser\ed as an editorial assistant on
the Messenger staff. 1986-1988. Presently he is a
member of the denomination's General Board.
February 1 994 Messenger 1 5
Join us for a journey
by Margaret Woolgrove
For many people in Sudan, the daily diet
consists of one small cup of red beans
cooked in a little oil. The beans are eaten
slowly, picked out one by one and
methodically chewed. It would take too
much energy to eat them faster. Dis-
tended stomachs and emaciated bodies
are the sure indications of the ravages of
famine and starvation among these
people.
In the civil war that has ravaged Sudan
for 28 of the 38 years since independence
was granted, the people of southern
Sudan have lost virtually everything. In
the past 10 years alone, at least 1.3
million Sudanese have died from war-
induced violence or famine. That's the
equivalent of over 350 people dying each
day of the year for those 10 years. That is
15 people an hour, on the hour, every
hour for those 10 years.
The figures are startling, but death is
not the only toll that has been taken on
the people of southern Sudan. As well as
losing family and loved ones, the
Sudanese have lost their homes, their
cattle, and their livelihood. And the
infrastructure of southern Sudan has only
worsened in the years since indepen-
dence. There are no real schools, very few
hospitals, and roads so potholed that in
the rainy seasons they turn into virtually
impassable swamps of mud.
The civil war situation has worsened in
the past two years with the outbreak of
factional fighting among the rebel troops
of the south (the Sudan People's Libera-
tion Army, SPLA). Some of the differ-
ences between the main factions run very
deep, and often have as much to do with
ancient tribal animosity as with current
issues of democracy and leadership.
However, the factional fighting is being
used to the full advantage of the (north-
em) government, which is sitting back
and biding its time, aware that a house
divided against itself cannot stand.
A tentative ceasefire was negotiated
between the SPLA factions in October
1993, a ceasefire which, at the time of
16 Messenger February 1994
writing, was holding. If peace is to be
achieved within Sudan, it is crucial that
the southern Sudanese factions come to a
stable solution for themselves, for until
this happens, they remain vulnerable and
weak.
Terrible atrocities and human rights
violations have occurred on both sides of
the conflict, with the result that the
majority of the population live in daily
fear for their lives and the lives of those
around them.
At least 80 percent of the southern
population has been displaced at least
once over the past 10 years, with current
estimates of at least five million Sudanese
internally displaced, while 300,000 are
refugees in neighboring countries.
vJudan is a bloodbath every bit as bad
as that in Somalia or Bosnia-
Herzegovina, and yet, according to Jim
Kunder, head of the US Agency for
Intemadonal Development's office of
foreign disaster assistance, Sudan is "the
most silent of the major humanitarian
crises around the world today."
"Psycho-sclerosis" is the term that was
coined to describe the condition of a
hardening of the mind and heart that
afflicts each of us at some point after
hearing about a disaster in our
neighbor's backyard. Only in this
instance the "neighbor" is Sudan, and
the backyard happens to be a few
thousand miles away.
"We are suffering here because we are
Christians," Rebekah Lueth told a
Brethren delegation in Sudan last
January. "You have left us here to be
killed during 37 years of fighting. Is it
because we are black people?" (See
"Sudan: We Will Remember," May
1993.)
John Jones, a member of the Church of
the Brethren from Myrtle Point, Ore.,
still speaks of the empowerment he felt
on returning from the January 1993
Brethren visit to Sudan. "Many people
want to do something, but they just feel
so helpless," he says. "My faith has
been strengthened so much by being
there, and just seeing how much faith
and hope these people have in the mid
of their suffering. They have a commi
ment to Christ that involves truly livir
out the gospel, truly living out the
Christ. I have a great faith now, and a
determination to continue to struggle 1
these people. I refuse to let the over-
whelming size of the country's problei
make me powerless any longer. These
people have a story that needs to be
heard."
It is in part the faith of the people
which has led John to his decision to
take part in the Church of the Brethre
"Accompaniment Program," jointly
coodinated by David Radcliff, office o:
denominational peace witness, and M(
Keeney, Africa/Middle East office.
"Two images remain in my mind,"
said John. "Both images are of a moth
and child. The first is of a mother sitti
with her child on the steps of a Cathol
cathedral. Three months previously, b
had been on the verge of death, but no
although the child's hair is still red fn
malnutrition, they are alive and well.
They smile at me.
"The second image is from Aswa, ai
a hospital with 60 beds that serves a
catchment area for 700,000 people. Tl
day we visited, the one doctor and teai
of support staff were caring for 380
patients. In addition, there were hun-
dreds of outpatients who made the dai:
trek to the 'outpatient ward' in an
adjacent dirt field to receive a moment
care and treatment. In that hospital ar(
another mother and child, sitting on tl
floor. The conditions are terrible. In th
next door room we hear the cries of a
man who is being operated on without
anaesthetic. The woman's child is ver
emaciated, with a hugely distended bei
Neither mother nor child has the enerj
to do more than look up at us as we
arrive.
"But this mother is the Madonna, ar
her child is the Christ child. The
difference that has been made for the
first mother by just a little bit of huma
in aid, is the difference between life
death. For me, it was proof that what
io, no matter how small, does count,
world has so much pain that it is
I to see the changes when they
3en. But they do happen, and relief
; get there. Without it, the first
her and child would not be alive
■y-"
It is urgent that we stand by the southern
Sudanese in a time when not only individual
lives but the very existense of a people is at risk.
isplaced Sudanese mother and
dren, needing someone to
nmpany them in their plight.
Iruly I tell you, just as you did it to
least of these . . . you did it to me"
lit. 25:40).
or John Jones, the decision to take
; in the accompaniment program was
dling. "Their struggle is my struggle,
r family is my family. I cannot turn
back on my family when they are in
d."
John is one of a group of Brethren who
have taken up the challenge that has
been laid out by the Accompaniment
Program to go and walk alongside the
Sudanese people in their journey toward
peace.
This journey will be no picnic, a point
that is stressed by David Radcliff and
Merv Keeney. "We have been in accom-
paniment with the people of Sudan since
1980," says David. "But this is a
different phase to that accompaniment. It
is a very direct type of accompaniment,
which places people in communities to
stand by the people of Sudan who are at
risk. There is a heaviness about asking
people to take on this kind of a risk, and
a sense that we are calling people to the
edge.
"This takes more courage than going
into battle fully armed. The only 'arms'
we will take will be those of our Chris-
tian convictions."
Louise and Phil Rieman, Brethren
workers in Sudan, survived a bombing
raid last year. After the initial attack,
Phil found one woman blown apart as
another lay dying. He could do nothing
for her but hold her hand and pray.
The program asks its participants to go
to Sudan in Christian solidarity, and
share the burden of these suffering
people. In the case of the continuance of
a ceasefire between the SPLA factions,
participants in the program will have an
important role to play as an international
presence encouraging the maintenance of
such agreements. The leaders of Sudan
care a great deal about how they are
perceived by the international commu-
nity, so this presence could be crucial.
"We are very clear that an agreement
will have to be made with the rebel
forces before we send anyone into the
South, to ensure that the role and the
person will be respected," stated Merv
Keeney. "We have no guarantees that
these people will be safe, but we cannot
send them unless we know that their
position is respected by the various
factions involved.
"What we do know," continues Merv,
"is that the leaders of the factions have
used international forums before and so
we know that they are open to the idea of
an international presence monitoring the
peace process."
The first accompaniment team was
made up entirely of Brethren applicants,
who will be sent out, when the time is
right, in pairs to monitor the current
ceasefire.
"The work we will be doing is known
as 'interpositioning,'" according to John
Jones. "This means that internationals
are put in positions between the two
factions, to promote the peace. As well
as monitoring the peace, and sending out
reports on the keeping or violating of the
peace agreements, we will be doing
needed things like educating the chil-
dren, and administering simple medical
needs. It is a ministry that looks to all
the needs of the people, and not just at a
clinical monitoring of the peace."
Mary Mason, a nurse from Sebring
(Fla.) Church of the Brethren, left in
February for a two-year period in Sudan
as part of a three-person health care
team. This team is going to the back
country of Sudan to look for the esti-
mated thousands of Sudanese who have
been wandering with nothing but leaves
to eat for months or years, without being
discovered by relief agencies.
"There is an inherent risk for partici-
pants in taking on this ministry of
accompaniment," says David Radcliff,
"and yet it seems like the logical next
step for us as a peace church, to respond
to the needs of our Christian brothers
and sisters. There is a certain readiness
in the denomination, and also in Sudan,
for this type of work to begin. The people
of southern Sudan have placed tremen-
dous hope in the church, and they
trust that together we can make a
difference."
Ai.
February 1994 Messenger 17
Treasure in an earthen vessel
by Margaret Woolgrove
"I find myself in the middle of January
with one village that I hoped would be
motivated to build a dam, not at all really
serious," wrote Nigeria field-worker
Dave Whitten. "We had scheduled an
introductory meeting with them, (but)
only the chief, the pastor of the church,
and a handful of men showed up. A very
small percentage of the total population
of the community. I'm worried that it
might be difficult to find that 'model'
village and have something to show for it
before it rains. I do have a couple more
leads I'm following up on, so we shall
see. As with all community development,
the community needs to come to terms
with its own needs and to address it in a
cooperative way. Somehow the knowl-
edge of our advisory skills needs to
precede our actual coming. . . . I'm
discouraged, but not defeated."
The Church of the Brethren self-help
well-digging project began some 20
years ago to help villages in Nigeria find
better water supplies, (see "Water From a
Thousand Wells," October 1984.) Since
1978 more than 3,000 wells have been
built, but there are still many communi-
ties in the area that suffer because of
inadequate water supplies. The self-help
well-digging project is designed to help
the villages help themselves, according
to Dave, who has been working in
Nigeria at the invitation of Ekklesiyar
Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN — the Church of
the Brethren in Nigeria) since January
1992. By providing ideas, organization,
and sometimes tools, the program acts
as a catalyst to get the people of the
village working together to find better
drinking water.
The depth of water tables can be a
problem, as can the fact that water tables
around the world are being depleted
faster than they are being renewed.
These two facts have added an interest-
ing conundrum to the problem of
providing renewable water resources to
the people of northern Nigeria. So far the
program has concentrated mainly on
well-digging, but with the input provided
by Dave Whitten, a new emphasis has
been added — the dam.
G
lanji is a village in this region that
already had two hand-dug wells and a
government bore hole, but which could
not get enough water during the dry
season to fill the needs of the village. In
March 1993, the well-digging program
received a request from the village to
assist it in deepening one of its wells.
After analyzing the situation of the
village, Dave suggested that a better
solution to the problem might be an
earthen dam. "At first there was much
skepticism, but after a series of discus-
sions and small models made in the sand
(the villagers) soon understood and
became generally interested."
March 29 was the date set to begin
construction. "We arrived with all our
equipment only to discover (that) no one
(had) shown up for work except the
chief. The chief said for us to be patient,
but after two hours, only a handful was
present. At this it was obvious that
people were not ready, and that we could
not start work until the village was really
supportive of the project. I tried to make
them aware that this was their project,
and only through their efforts could it be
successful."
Later that week, Dave received a lette
from the chief stating that the people
were ready to begin work. "The follow-
ing week we showed up and found 20
men ready for work. We began."
Three weeks later, the dam was near
completion. "Since a dam is in place, I
would say the project has been a suc-
cess," wrote Dave. "In terms of commu-
nity development it has been less
successful. Average daily work atten-
dance has been less than 30 percent of
the male population (and) no women
have showed up for work even when we
have suggested it."
Throughout the work, the presence of
Dave and his team was needed to keep
the work going, even though the people
in the village knew what to do, and had
the tools to do it.
The dam at Ganji is now at full
capacity, with excess water passing
through the spillway. The water is being
used by individual villagers. One of the
advantages of a dam is that the filled
reservoir serves to "charge up" the
surrounding water table, thus enabling
the building of a strategically placed
shallow well nearby to collect clean
water for drinking. This also helps to
minimize the incidence of waterbome
diseases that often are prevalent in
surface collection water, especially when
the source is shared with animals.
The dam-building project was a
success also as a model to encourage
other villages besides Ganji to try the
dam idea. "We have had a lot of people
coming to see the site and have had
requests from villages also seeking
similar projects." Dave and his team
have plans to build further dams at I i*
the start of this year's dry season. I *
1 8 Messenger February 1994
r
Left: David Whitten and Stephen Zoaka survey the
dam site. The presense of the team was an
important impetus for villagers' participation.
Lower left: At the initial meeting, Ganji villagers
voiced much skepticism about the dam proposal.
Below: The project took three weeks. Now Ganji
has a year-round reservoir of fresh water.
'anji's dam was a success not only in ensuring
year-round water supply (including a shallow well
mrbyfor drinking water), but it also was a success
I providing a model to encourage other villages.
February 1 994 Messenger 1 9
Ode to a working well
by Howard E. Royer
One of my earliest love/hate relation-
ships was with an iron pump.
1 loved what it could do — draw water
from a 90-foot depth to refresh the living
creatures and plants on our west-central
Ohio farm. And to endow us with the
best tasting thirst-quencher to be found
anywhere. It was always cool, always
free, always there.
Yet I loathed the old pump. Mainly, I
guess, because the stock tank beside it
always seemed empty, no matter how
often it was filled. I have yet to figure out
where in the Bible or clan tradition it is
ordained that the youngest family
member keep the trough full. What a
waste of one's formative years, going
hand to handle with a pump. Of course
never in my wildest fancy did I foresee
the day when grown-ups would pay big
money to work machines eliciting
essentially the same motion, and the
same boredom, all in the interest of
physical and mental well-being.
Upon reaching my teen years, I was
given a reprieve. With the conniving of a
doting grandmother and a supportive
uncle who felt my time might better be
applied elsewhere, a motor and jack were
wired to the pump, and the handle
disengaged.
Generally my father was not enamored
with time-saving devices, but on this one
he relented. I loved it. A flick of the
switch, and I could be on to other things.
The horses and cows loved it; never
before had the water level in the tank
been maintained so high. But what really
turned the barnyard crowd on was the
times I neglected to turn the switch off —
overflowing the tank and drenching the
terrain around it. Having soft, cool mud
to stand in on a summer day, in the
shade of two enormous maples, was
about as close to cow heaven as four-
legged critters could come on a farm
landlocked without creek or pond.
Xhese were the images my mind
replayed as I traveled in southern Africa
to cover drought conditions. In the
highlands of eastern Zimbabwe, not far
from the Mozambique border, I saw
scores of pumps not unlike that one at
my boyhood home. Sometimes the
pumps were surrounded by long queues
of containers, signaling situations in
which the water table was perilously low
and users would have to check back
hours later. Other places, the water
flowed freely and there were no queues
at all.
Under the aegis of Christian Care, the
service arm of the Zimbabwe churches
and a partner agency of Church World
Service, some 175 wells are being dug or
bored across Zimbabwe's northeastern
highlands, above Nyanga. Available with
the wells, if the villagers are interested,
are "laundromats" — a concrete bulwark
with compartments for soaking and
rubbing clothes at the well site — and
community toilets that utilize the latest
technology in public sanitation.
Most impressive was the "handing
over" ceremony in the village of
Nyamahumba, at which the Christian
Care staff turned over the ownership an(
maintenance of the newly completed
"Manda 2" well to the village water
committee that it had mobilized and
trained. Present for the event, besides th
committee members, were the pump
installation crew, the cementing and
fencing crew, neighborhood children,
and those most impacted by the well —
the mothers of Nyamahumba.
The women were exuberant: No longe
would they need dig into a dry river bed
in search of a pool of muddy water. No
longer would they need transport water
up to three hours a day. No longer woult
they need boil every drop of water their
household consumed. Ecstasy over a
well — their own well.
The singing and dancing at
Nyamahumba prodded me to reassess th
place of a pump in my own experience.
At last it dawned on me how much our
well had contributed to my personal
wellness, and to that of our entire famib
and farm. Would that every home or
village on earth was so blessed.
A working well — an ode to health, FTj
to life, to joy! I —
Howard E. Royer is director of interpretation o
the General Services Commission staff.
20 Messenger February 1994
: / watched the children of Nyamahumba celebrate
eir new well, it dawned on me how much the well at
^ boyhood home in Ohio had contributed to my
rsonal wellness, and to that of our entire family.
Febmaiy 1994 Messenger 21
When
the door
is closed
by Kenneth L. Gibble
We noticed the doors. In the Italian
neighborhood of South Philadelphia,
people live in row houses, many of them
virtual look-alikes in size and exterior
appearance. All except for the doors.
My wife and I were fascinated by these
doors when we took a walk during a visit
to Philadelphia. Some doors were
painted in bright colors. Some boasted
impressive-looking brass knockers.
Other doors were made mostly of glass.
Still others featured elaborate grillwork.
Obviously an expensive door was a status
symbol in this neighborhood.
Doors. Why do they exist? What is
their purpose? To let people enter and
leave a building. Or, to say it another
way, doors exist to let people in and to
keep people out.
Mosdy, I think, to keep them out.
Nowadays. Some of us can remember a
time when doors were kept closed for
other reasons. Living as we did in a rural
area, my family usually didn't bother
locking the doors to our house. There
didn't seem to be a need for it. Only
when we went away on an extended trip
did we lock up.
Doors were meant to be kept closed for
reasons of sanitation and heat conserva-
tion. Doors kept out summer flies and
winter drafts. In fact, my mother had an
expression she used when one of us
children came into the house and left the
back door open. "Were you born in a
sawmill?" she would ask. I often
wondered where that expression came
from. Was it because sawmills have no
doors? Anyway, we got the message: Go
back and close the door.
I haven't heard anyone ask "Were you
bom in a sawmill?" for a long time.
22 Messenger February 1994
Probably because we don't let doors
stand open anymore. Doors are closed
and securely locked these days, not
mostly to keep out the flies or the cold,
but to keep out intruders, strangers who
might come in and do us harm. Or at
least to keep out our fear of such things
happening.
Jesus talked about doors. Luke's
gospel tells us that as Jesus was going to
Jerusalem he stopped at the towns and
villages along the way to teach the
people. On one of those occasions,
someone asked him, "Lord, will only a
few be saved" (Luke 13:22)?
What an interesting question.. What
prompted it, 1 wonder. No doubt it was
an inference the questioner made from
what he had heard Jesus teaching. And,
in fact, a review of what comes just
before this passage in Luke reveals that
Jesus had been making some rather
harsh statements about greed and
hypocrisy and injustice. He had espe-
cially lambasted the Pharisees, who were
held in high regard for their knowledge
and scupulous observance of the law.
Maybe the one who asked Jesus the
question about only a few being saved
was getting worried. If the Pharisees are
in trouble, this person may have thought,
what hope is there for someone like me?
"Lord, will only a few be saved?"
Typically, Jesus gives an indirect
answer to this question. "Strive to enter
through the narrow door," he says, "for
many, I tell you, will try to enter and will
not be able." Why won't they be able to
enter? Jesus doesn't say. Perhaps because
their egos are so inflated they can't
squeeze through or because they have
overindulged their appetites for food, for
wealth, for power.
Jesus asked his listeners how they
would feel if they found themselves
locked outside the house, pounding on
the door, crying, "Lord, open to us," and
the answer came through the closed
door: "I don't know where you come
from." But Lord, they say, "We ate an;
drank with you, and you taught in oui]
streets." And the answer comes back,
"Go away from me, all you evildoers.']
What will you feel like, asked Jesusl
when you see the door opened not onl oj
the revered saints of old, but to people
your own day, people from all over th«
world, people who speak strange
languages and dress in odd-looking
clothes, who don't live in nice neighb
hoods, who don't keep themselves
There are some door
that I cannot open
for myself or for
others. And I have
learned that many
times, when the door
closed, it is firmly
barred from my side
'
washed and combed according to
middle-class standards? How will youn
feel, Jesus asked, when you see peoplei
like that welcomed in and you are
thrown out?
Well, Jesus, we won't feel very gooc
about that, is what his listeners probab;
thought. We won't feel good at all. Bu
why are you saying this to us, Jesus?
They probably wondered. And you anc
also may wonder why Jesus talks abou,
the door being closed.
What closed doors have you known'
Can you remember a teacher locking t
door because you were late to class? A'
door shut against you because of age,
gender, appearance, sexual orientatior
disability? A relationship that ended
because someone locked the door of hi
:
eart against you?
Closed doors often cause great pain.
\nd so naturally we may wonder why
esus talked about the door being closed.
;houldn't the door to God, to the
ingdom, to the church, always be open?
Ideally, yes. But there are times when
'he only thing that can bring us to our
jenses is a door closed against us.
In the movie "The Field," a murder
as been committed in a small, ingrown
(Hsh community. In his desire to own a
ield, a farmer has killed a man, an
utsider, who threatened to take the field
way from him. Sunday comes, and the
eople all gather in the church for mass.
he priest stands up and says to the
-eople:
"Three days ago in this parish a man
k'as murdered. The police have been
sking questions, and everywhere they
o, they are met with silence, silence of a
lightening and evil kind, silence that
Totects a murderer.
"Among you is a murderer, and
lirough your silence you share in his
,;uilt. You're all murderers. Do not defile
Ills church with your shame. Today I
n\\ lock the gates of this church. The
lell will be silent. Confessions will not
'6 heard. And so it will be till justice is
one."
The priest pauses, then steps out from
■ehind the pulpit and raises his arms.
You're all trespassing in the house of
jod. Get out," he shouts. "Get out!"
alently the people leave the church till
11 are outside, and the priest locks the
ate.
As I watched this dramatic scene I
sked myself if the priest had done the
ight thing. And I wondered if I would
iiave had the courage to do what he did
n his place. One thing was clear to me.
lis action accomplished what just
nother sermon about right and wrong
ould never have done. There are times
vhen the only thing that can bring us to
our senses is a door closed against us.
But not closed forever. The priest said
that the church would be closed until
justice was done. When Jesus talked
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February 1994 Messenger 23
Always expecting a disaster
Last September I asked Donna Derr, our director of disaster response, if she
could arrange for my wife and me to take part in the disaster response to the
Midwest floods. She agreed and assigned us to a project in Ottumwa, Iowa.
Our weekend with the Ottumwa project made me keenly aware of the remark-
able service that Brethren give in the disaster response program. The Ottumwa
church had converted Sunday school rooms to provide bedrooms and bath
facilities for volunteer workers. Dozens of volunteers came to this and other
locations in the Midwest. Volunteers are invited by district disaster coordinators,
who are assisted by regional and congregational coordinators.
As of this writing, we have given $80,000 to Midwest flood relief in addition
to the work of the volunteers. When we have our own volunteers, the money
supports their work. In Ottumwa, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) provided grants, often sufficient to buy building materials. The volun-
teer labor thereby was able to give renewed housing at no cost to the owners.
The Cooperative Disaster Child Care program trains volunteers to be ready to
care for children during the traumatic time of a disaster. Child care can be the
greatest need of a family at such a time.
We Brethren are able to provide immediate service at the time of a disaster
because we maintain a disaster fund with a floating balance of about $600,000.
When the disaster strikes, we can appropriate the funds immediately, even as we
appeal to the churches for contributions, thus avoiding a paralyzing lag time.
The fund is kept up by the response of individuals and churches to appeals at
the time of disaster. Brethren are enormously generous. The major contribution
to the disaster fund comes from a growing number of district disaster relief
auctions, including those in Atlantic Northeast and Southern Pennsylvania, Mid-
Atlantic, and Shenandoah. These auctions contributed a half-million dollars to
the Emergency Disaster Fund in 1993. Almost everything is donated to the
auction and then sold for the benefit of disaster victims. Sometimes the same
item is sold a number of times, with each buyer returning it for resale. One
heifer is reported to have been sold 20 times. A quilt can bring as much as
$10,000. The organizers of these auctions are as important to our disaster
response as are the volunteers, project directors, and district coordinators. The
8,000 or so people who attend the Atlantic Northeast/Southern Pennsylvania
auction make it one of the largest events in the life of the church.
When we cannot send volunteers, we work through Church World Service to
bring relief assistance to victims of disaster around the world. This work of
Church World Service accounts for about 80 percent of the budget of the
National Council of Churches. Brethren were prominent among the founders of
CWS, and we currently furnish about 10 percent of denominational contribution,
an amount well beyond our proportionate size. The worldwide work of Brethren
disaster response could not be carried out without the assistance of Church
World Service and the National Council of Churches.
The disaster response is a remarkable witness to the message of the Church of
the Brethren. By always expecting a disaster, we are ready to assist the victims
when it comes. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
about a closed door, there is no indica-
tion that the door would remain closed.
On another occasion, he told his listen-
ers: "Ask, and it will be given you;
24 Messenger February 1994
search, and you will find; knock, and the
door will be opened for you" (Matt. 7:7).
The door will be opened if it's up to
the Holy One.
But the painful truth is that nearly
every time a closed door separates us
from God, it is you and I who have
closed it. Why do we keep it closed? Lots
of reasons — our pride; our fear of having
to change; our inability to believe that
God can ever accept us, love us. There
are as many reasons for keeping the dooi
closed as there are people who choose to
do it.
One of my Sunday school teachers
showed us children a picture of Jesus
knocking at a big wooden door and told
us that the door was really the door to
our hearts. "Your heart," she said to eacl
of us in the class, "and yours and yours.'
And then she taught us a song, most of
which I don't remember, except for the
chorus:
"You must open the door; you must
open the door.
If Jesus comes in, he will save you
from sin,
But you must open the door."
There was a time, when I got a bit
older, that I was amused as I recalled
that unsophisticated lesson of Sunday
school. Both the song and my teacher's
words seemed much too simplistic.
I've gotten still older since then and, I
hope, a bit wiser. There are some doors
that I cannot open for myself or for
others. I can pray for them to be opened,
and that itself is worth having faith for.
But I've learned that many times, when
the door is closed, it is firmly barred
from my side.
Then my prayer is for the courage, the
grace, to open the door. And from time
to time that song I learned in Sunday
school teases its way into my brain. I
even find myself humming it occasion-
ally.
"If Jesus comes in, he will save you
from sin,
but you must open the door."
It's a good song to sing every now anc
then, a song worth adding to your [Ti,
repertoire. !_-.
Kenneth L. Gibble is co-pastor of Arlington (Va.
Church of the Brethren, a freelance writer, and
promotion consultant for Messenger.
I
FirrURE USHER
Jubilee,
God's Good News.
A children's Sunday school curriculum.
Contact: Brethren Press 1 800 441-3712
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offering
suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment. "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
STONES
It started on Saturday night
... the tightness in my
throat and the congestion in
my head. By Sunday morn-
ing it was agony to swallow.
The chilling in my bones and
the throbbing behind my eyes
told me I had a fever before
the thermometer did.
I wanted to crawl back in
bed. "Ordinary people," I
told myself, '"could crawl
back in bed on Sunday
morning." But not pastors. I
mean, how can church
happen without the
preacher? The show must go
on, right?
So I took some aspirin,
stuffed my purse with throat
lozenges and tissues, picked
up my cross, and set my face
toward the east.
I got through it, of course.
Perhaps with less energy
than usual, but passable. Few
even suspected.
By the time I finished
leading Bible study that
evening, I knew it was strep.
Two days later, the throat
culture confirmed it. "By the
way," my doctor said before I
hung up the phone, "strep is
highly contagious. Stay away
from people until you've
been on the medication for
24 hours."
"Highly contagious. Stay
away from people." The
words rang in my ears like
an indictment as my mind
flooded with images of all
the hands I had shaken
following worship after
coughing into my own hand.
I looked up "strep infec-
tion." There, down at the
bottom of the page, were the
words: "Possible complica-
tions: rheumatic fever . . .
serious effects if left un-
treated . . . permanent heart
damage . . . most susceptible
are children and elderly."
I thought of the dozens of
people I had put at risk
because of my determination
to "minister."
The point here is not to
give a refresher course on
strep throat. The point is
to state a principle that I
have taught to hundreds of
others, but have never had
hit me so squarely between
the eyes:
If I do not take care of
myself, I risk hurting others.
It's true. Run the whole
gamut of behavior choices
and you won't find an
exception.
Take the mother who
deprives herself of sleep,
baking elaborately decorated
cookies in order to impress
her son's fellow pre-
schoolers (who could be just
as happy with Oreos). The
next day, she is inefficient at
work, insensitive to her kids,
and irritable with her
husband. By not taking care
of herself, she winds up
hurting others.
Consider the man who
notices blood in his stool but
fails to get to the doctor to
have it checked out. "I can't
afford to lose the time at
work. The doctor makes you
wait for hours. And besides, I
don't get sick leave, and my
family can't get by without
my paycheck." So by the
time the colon cancer is
diagnosed, it has spread too
far to fight. Looks like his
wife and kids will have to
learn to get by without his
paycheck after all.
He didn't take care of
himself, and others got hurt.
And what about the untold
numbers who ignore emo-
tional and relational need?
"Counseling is expensive!"
they rationalize. "So are
caskets," says my dear friend
who lost her sister to suicide.
"Not as expensive as di-
vorces," say the multitudes
who go on to learn the hard
way.
No matter how strong the
commitment, no matter how
pure the motive, no matter
how noble the call, for
Christians, the bottom line is
that our bodies, our selves,
are not our own. We have
been bought with a price. We
honor God when we take
care of ourselves ( 1 Cor.
7:20).
That's not selfishness;
that's stewardship. Because
if we do not take care of
ourselves, somebody I xf
else is going to get hurt, i '
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlebury, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counseling
out ofWaterford (Ind.) Community
Church.
26 Messenger February 1994
■or more of Murray
lurray L. Wagner's letter cautioning us
) do more than "preserve ourselves as a
lemorial to our European past" (Letters,
)ecember) is the most relevant statement
have seen in a letter to the editor. I
/ould like to read him more often.
Marianne Michael
Iowa City. Iowa
)on't just stand there
1 the July 1994 editorial ("Power, That
bonder-working Power"), the editor is
oncemed that while serving as a
lissionary in Nigeria, he was a "have"
mong the "have nets."
There is a saying, "Just because we
an't do everything is no reason to do
othing." We cannot take the position
lat we only will take up mission work
mong the disenfranchised if they are
irst empowered equally with us.
As a former political revolutionary, I
nd this difficult to admit. The apostles
f Christ worked in an age when many
eople, including Christians, were
:gally slaves. If we can imagine being a
dtness under those conditions, then
/orking with the impoverished and
isenfranchised should not be so
aunting.
John F. Mortimer
San Diego. Calif.
(I find Onaldo Pereira 's story [page
0, this issue] about his wealthy Ameri-
an friend running out of dollars in
'razil very helpful as I continue to
rapple with the point I apparently
vied to convey to reader John
iortimer. — Ed.)
he opinions expressed here are not necessarily
lose of the magazine. Readers should receive them
I the same spirit with which differing opinions are
xpressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should be brief, concise, and respectful of
le opinions of others. Preference is given to letters
lat respond directly to items read in the magazine.
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
nly when, in our editorial judgment, it is
•arranted. We will not consider any letter that
omes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
^tter. the writer's name is kept in strictest
onfidence.
Address letters to Messenger Editor. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Church and district newsletters that reprint "Pontius' Puddle" from
Messenger must pay $10 for each use to Joel Kauffmann. til Carter Road,
Goshen. IN 46526.
THOSE WrtO WRKC
THIH&-S K*?Pe»l
THOlt WHO CR>TltrXE
WHAT MA?PEM5
THOSE WHO WOMPER
WHAT HAP^EkJEP
THETrtRLE Types OF CMORCH NVEWBERS
I ^ S
Take Hold of Your Future...
...One Step at a Time.
McPherson College
McPherson, Kansas 67460 • (316) 241-0731
Delbert and Ann Ebersole
(with Val. left, and Kimberly. right)
"Hearing about
McPherson College from
older kids at church camp
influenced Kim to come to
McPherson College. She
never really wanted to look
anywhere else. It's a
friendly, safe place wliere
she can learn, and the
Christian orientation gives
us peace of mind, knowing
she 'II be well looked after.
We felt like we were
leaving Kim with family. "
Delbert and Ann Ebersole
First Church of the Brethren,
Wichita, KS
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Church of the Brethren Awards - Up to $1,000 per year
Brethren Volunteer Service Grants - Up to $500 per year
Children of Alumni Grants - Up to $500 per year
Church-Matching Grants - Up to $500 per year
Dependents of Persons in Church Professions - Up to $1,000 per year
"'^Awards are avaitdbte^for up to four years'provi^ed students remain etigWi
Some awards are based on financial need and availability of funds.
McPherson College welcomes all applicants
regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or physical or emotional disability.
February 1 994 Messenger 27
MORIES
[SIGNS
A BETHANY REUNION
All Bethany Bible School, Training School,
Seminary, and Academy alumni(ae) and
former faculty and staff are invited to this
historic event! The Memories and Visions
all-class reunion will be a time of remem-
bering, re-connecting, envisioning, and say-
ing farewell to the Chicago area.
Reserve these dates—
you won't want to miss it!
April 10-12, 1994
on the Oak Brook, Illinois campus.
Registration brochures are available.
J\ For more information contact:
^> Debbie Eisenbise, (708)620-2217.
Bethany Theological Seminary
Butterfield & Meyers Rds.
Oak Broolc, Illinois 60521
On the need to keep searchiE!
Tom Deal
Preach to the
intellectuals
The word "intellectual" conjures up an
image of someone who uses words that
only dictionary-writers understand and
who has a job that doesn't make one's
hands dirty.
For me. however, intellectuals are not
To hold in respect and fellowship those in the
church with whom we agree or disagree is a
characteristic of the Church of the Brethren. It is to
the continuation of this value, and to an open and
probing forum, that "Opinions" are invited from
readers.
We do not acknowledge our receipt of obvious
"Opinions" pieces, and can print only a sampling
of what we receive. All "Opinions' are edited for
publication.
Bridgewater Village, a christian
retirement community serving persons o£
all faiths, offers you: 'OverUO spacious, single-story -cottage"
"^ homes and 28 apartments in Hearthstone
Manor all designed for independent living
• A choice of affordable, refundable
//-'
We think it's
wonderful here...
you zuill too!''
life-lease or monthly rental options
•On-site assisted living and nursing care
• Resident Service Coordinator on staff
• Experienced maintenance staff to
quickly handle the headaches associated
vi\ih homeownership
• Easy access to local services, transportation
scheduled
• Real estate taxes paid by Bridgev^^ater Village
• Planned activities and the opportunity to
take advantage of academic, volunteer, and
cultural activities available in the area ^x^
• And much, much more! 1 ~ [
For detailed information, write to
Bridgewater Village
315 North Second Street, Bridgewater, VA 22812
or call collect 703-828-2550.
Name
VILLAGE RESIDENTS
Address_
City
State
Zip_
I
those people with college and universit
degrees, with diplomas displayed |
prominently on office walls entitling
them to respect. Nor are intellectuals '
those who know by heart the names of
all the great works of literature, art, an(
music of Euro- American culture.
Diplomas and titles of cultural
masterpieces represent education we ca
"throw around" when we want to
impress dinner guests and potential in-
laws. Being an intellectual is quite
different from being an expert at "Trivi
Pursuit" or having a skill that comman
a high social status.
For me, intellectuals are those peopk
of whatever station in life, who have th'
daring to test the boundaries of ideas —
their own and those of society. Church I
intellectuals are people who are always
pushing against the frontier of their
inherited faith in the hope that God wil
widen their horizon of belief. Church '
intellectuals do not believe they can
storm "the gates of heaven" and forcibl
take new spiritual knowledge. But they
live in hope that God is infinite and
always open to new disclosures. The
living Creator is always free to make a
revelation.
A church intellectual is a person whc
sees the Bible and other great spiritual
writings not as final destinations of a
questing trail, to be accepted forever, bi
Child Psychiatry
"Live your life over again"... uix a chance, take
a trip, call us about working in our child and ado-
lescent program. We are a full service psycliiatric
facility with almost 50 years experience. We are
ready to grow and reach into new areas but need
your help.
We are looking for a psychiatrist who has
good clinical credentials, but who doesn't have to
go everywhere with a hot water bottle, a rain
coat and a parachute. We are 70 miles from the
Washington/Baltimore area. We are surrounded
by wide, rich valley farms and cool blue
mountains.
Take a chance and give us a call. The com-
pensation is more than you could possibly
imagine. Minorities and people of differing
physical abilities are encouraged to apply.
Contact David Rutherford, Chief Executive
Officer, Brook Lane Psychiatric Center, P.O.
Box 1945, Hagerstown, Maryland 21742-1945
(1-800-342-2992).
28 Messenger February 1994
; forks in the road, to be mulled over,
"pminders that a faith choice needs to be
1 iiade to move ahead until one reaches
\ inother fork.
oi ; Sometimes, through our historical
)i pagination, we enter into the lives of
iible characters and are stirred by their
Ixperience. We clearly see God at work
jji their day. Do we now think that all of
le reflection and wrestling is done, and
faith can cheaply be handed to us from
ur spiritual ancestors?
No. We are always spiritual immi-
rants. We never get the luxury of being
econd-generation believers.
Church intellectuals are those who see
leing spiritually fed" as only a step
^ord From The Moderator
A hymn stanza challenges our life
igether as the Church of the Brethren:
"Not alone we conquer,
not alone we fall;
In each loss or triumph,
lose or triumph all.
Bound by God's far purpose
in one living whole.
Move we on together
to the shining goal!"
In the midst of conflict and differences,
/e must keep our eyes on the goal,
linistering in the name of Jesus Christ,
,ur Lord and Savior. The current discus-
ions involving human sexuality, name-
hange of the denomination, the
hristology of the Brethren, and other
isues solicit passionate responses.
A respectful and redemptive relation-
hip among the sisters and brothers is
racial to our ability to hear one another
nd the Holy Spirit. Our primary mission
i to be the body of Christ together to a
esperate world. Let's not get out of focus!
As we submit to Christ as Lord and
avior, we can together strain forward "to
le shining goal." Then, as Paul the
postle observes in Acts 15:28, it will have
seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us."
Earl K. Ziegler
1994 Annual Conference Moderator
toward being hungry again. For these
people, paradoxically, having a spiritual
hunger created, in dialog with another, is
a way of being fed.
So, the vital question for our denomi-
nation at this point in history is: Who
will address this constituency in the
patchwork of Brethren? Who has the
ability to stir the longing of these
questing hearts to even deeper longings?
Granted, this is not the only group in our
church; but it is one group that also
needs leadership and nurture.
Preaching to intellectuals involves
THE
• ^ AND i
A determined man. Practical, vigorous, and service
oriented. A 1917 Manchester graduate, Dan West was
highly respected for his leadership roles, youth work,
peace education, and service projects. His trip to Spain
in 1937-38 led to the organization of Heifer Project
International, through which millions of animals have
been sent to help alleviate hunger. Indeed, Dan West
personifies the rare and remarkable.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Matt Guynn has the leadership qualities, the spark,
and the commitment of the rare and remarkable.
When Matt sees a need, he works for change. A peace
studies major at Manchester, he worked last summer
for On Earth Peace Assembly in New Windsor, and has
been named to the Youth Peace Travel Team that visits
Brethren camps and churches each summer. Matt plans
to study in Ecuador next fall in preparation for work with
Spanish speaking people.
VALUES * GLOBAL AWARENESS * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship opportunities, to
refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on ttie basis of marital status, sex. religion, race,
color, national or ettinic origin, or tiandicap in ttie administration of its educational policies,
recmitment and admissions policies, sctiolarsfiip and loan programs, employment practices.
and attiletic or ottier college sponsored programs.
MANCHESTER
COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982- 5000
Febraary 1994 Messenger 29
Educators and Concerned
Parents, plan to attend:
"Education
of the Public"
a forum at Annual
Conference in Wichita, Kan.
Tuesday, June 28, 1994
9:00 am — 4:00 pm
Registration: $25 (Lunch included)
Keynote Speal<er, discussion,
luncheon workshops.
See your pastor for registration forms.
Sponsored by "Education of the Public"
Committee, Parish Ministries
From the
Office of Human Resources
DIRECTOR, Pastoral Ministry
Full-time position in Elgin.
We are looking for someone:
• ordained in the Church of the Brethren
• with at least a Master of Divinity
• with at least 5 years ministry
• skilled communicator who is able to work
with district executives and nurture a supportive
relationship with districts, congregational leaders,
& ministers.
Position available by July 15, 1994.
COORDINATOR, Consulting/Resourcing
Half-time, fle.xible location, one year.
We are looking for someone:
• with knowledge of evangelism and
congregational growth
• experience in consulting techniques &
organizational planning
• organizational & administrative skills
• business degree or commensurate experience
Position available by Marcli 1. 1994.
For prompt consideration call Barbara
Greenwald (800) 323-8039
Study guide
Did you know that every month
Messenger publishes a study
guide to the magazine? It
contains helpful questions to
guide thinking and discussion,
and suggestions on the guide's
use.
• Use it in Sunday school.
• Use it in discussion groups.
• Use it for your personal
study of issues facing the
church.
• Use it as a bulletin board
item to recruit new subscrib-
ers to Messenger.
Order your free monthly single copy of
Messenger Study Guide by sending
your name, address, and name of
congregation to MESSENGER STUDY
Guide, 1451 Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL
60120. Your guide will he mailed to
you each month ahead of
Messenger's arrival.
risks and will sometimes bring criticism
upon the preacher's head (we need only
to think of the biblical prophets and our
Master to see what can happen to those
who introduce new ideas), not because
anyone is mean-tempered, but because
all of us are apprehensive about moving
beyond what we thought was settled.
It is tempting for pastors to preach
only comforting sermons that confirm
what we already believe, rather than to
disclose the creative edges they have in
their own thinking, encouraging parish-
ioners to chew on that for a whole week
or more so they can integrate it into thai
own lives.
Who will preach to the intellectuals,
those who are excited more by learning
how to think, and the adventure of
exploring, than by having "FYI" (for
your information) sermons doled out to
them each week?
As the Church of the Brethren
continues to frame its higher educationa
programs and institutions, it must be far
less concerned about pastoral training
and pastoral placement and more
interested in issuing the call for [7/
spiritual courage. ' —
Tom Deal is pastor of York Center Church ofth
Brethren. Lombard, III.
CLASSIFIED ADS
TRAVEL— Israel/Egypt Holiday. Wendell & Joan Bohrer,
Fred & Nancy Swartz host a tour to Israel and Egypt. Aug.
8-1 8, 1 994. 1 1 day tour includes travel to Jerusalem, the old
city, Dead Sea, Megiddo, Galilee, Cana, Mt. Carmel, Mt.
Nebo, Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tut.
For information wnte; Wendell & Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal
Meadow Dr., Indianapolis, IN 4621 7. Tel. (317) 882-5067, or
Fred & Nancy Swartz, 1 0047 Nokesville Rd., Manassas, VA
22110. Tel. (703)369-3947.
TRAVEL— Photo safari to world renowned big game parks
of Kenya and Tanzania, July 22-Aug. 7, '94. Tour Nairobi,
Mombasa, Tree Lodge, Masai Mara, Serengeti, and Africa's
"Garden of Eden." For info, write to J. Kenneth Kreider, 1 300
Sheaffer Road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL— Tour to Conference includes Shenandoah
Valley.Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains, Nashville, Grand Ole
Opry Park, Heifer Project Farm, and Blue Grass country of
Kentucky. For info, write to: J. Kenneth Kreider, 1300
Sheaffer Rd., Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
30 Messenger February 1994
TRAVEL— Greece and Turkey. April 26-May 7, 1994. Fly
to Athens; follow steps of Paul: see Acropolis, Parthenon,
Mars Hill, Corinth. Optional tour to Delphi. 7-day cruise to
spectacularGreek Islands and exotic Turkey. Visit Santorini,
Crete. Rhodes (island of roses), Patmos where John was
inspired, Ephesus renowned for architectural beauty, and
where Paul lived and preached, and Istanbul, where East
meets West. Contact: Dale & Gladys Hylton, 115
Greenawalt Road, Lenhartsville, PA 19534. Tel. (215)
756-6109.
WANTED— Suburban Denver, Prince of Peace Church of
the Brethren seeks experienced pastor with proven record
of church growth, renewal, w/ strengths in worship, spiritual
leadership. Capable of providing pastoral careforcongrega-
tion. Supportive and financially strong congregation in eco-
nomically growing community. Great challenge, in a beau-
tiful setting. Beginning two-year contract, excellent $45,000
a year, plus package. Send inquiries and profile to Mr. Lynn
Clannin, 2222 S. Holland St., Lakewood, CO 80227. Tel.
(303) 985-5737.
WANTED— Camp manager or couple to manage Can
Colorado in Pike National Forest. 40 minutes from Denv
or Colorado Springs. From Memorial Day to Labor D
1 994, Camp located on 85 forested acres. Features swii
ming pool, hiking trails, 6 dorms, dining hall, recreatii
bidg. Camp has 4 wks. of Brethren-sponsored camps ai
is rented remainder of season to Brethren churches a
family reunion groups. Duties incl. purchasing supplie
cleaning, and repairing camp. Altitude of camp is 7,500 1
Applicants should be in good physical shape. Sale
$1,000 a month. Incl. 2-bdrm. cabin, utilities. Interest
parties contact Ron Achilles, Rt. 1, Box 143, Quinter, I
67752. Tel. (913)754-2322. i
WANTED— 'Handyman' couple to buy a 4-apartment co
plex: attractive, furnished. Near lake, library, post offit
banks, stores, hospital. Church of the Brethren across t
street. Reasonably priced. Will finance. Contact: Stor
Apts., 344 Oak Ave, Sebring, FL 33870. Tel. (813) 3('
6863.
ew
lembers
achdalcW. Pa.: Betty Marker.
Edna Otto
ithel, N. Ind.: ArleneCory
andts, S. Pa.: Candace
Gochenauer
'oadwater,Mo./Ark.: Peggy
Hampton
Lsh Creek, Mid-Atl.: Jenny &
Matt Brunk, Alma & Robert
Green, Thelma Halliburton,
Diana Himes
•est Manor, N. Ind.: John Case.
Ken & Vicki Fritz. Mark &
Elaine Shafer. John & Kristi
Summers, Bonnie Swiatkowski
khart Valley, N. Ind.: Megan
Hershberger
(hrata, Atl N.E.: Karen & Rick
Eschenwald, Lisa Pole.
Shannon Steffy
■een Tree, Atl. N.E.: John &
Denise Kittredge. David &
Robin Midgley, Gail Schlachta
'eencastle, S. Pa.: Edward &
Naomi Hundburger. Harold
McKibben. Rodger&
SheenaPoe
ttle Swatara, Atl. N.E. : Nathan
Dombach. Katie Gardner,
Lauren Groff, Dale & Denyse
Haupt. Brenda Sue Hershey.
Michele & Scot Snyder, Emma
Ziegler
iwer Claar, M. Pa.: Daniel
Ebersole
Bck Memorial, S. Ohio: J,
Brooks Walters, Mark & Heidi
Shover
Iddle Creek, Atl. N.E.: Brian
and Laurie Black, Jessica Lapp,
Melissa Nolt, Anna Pelger.
Roger & Sylvia Sweigart
Idland, Mid-Atl. : John &
Maxine Ebersherger
Idway, Atl. N.E.; Timothy
Adams, Jessica Horst. Shawn
Krumbine. Anthony Leffler,
Darol & Tammy Saylor, Amy
& Chad Showers, Grant &
Helen Weber
twFairview,S.Pa.: Eugene
Stremmel
irthview, S/C Ind.: Lori & Scott
Douglas. Nancy Fitzsimons.
Kendra Sousley
lie Creek, S/C Ind.: Toby
Gardner, Ron Gaze, Judy
Gensinger, Fred Halt. Othel &
Ivis Holderread. Rob La wton.
Joyce & William Mason, Carol
Pontius. Ronald & Sheila
Renz. Helen & Richard
Sumpter
neGlen, M. Pa,: Bessie Bonk
easant Hill, S. Ohio: Lee Adams,
Jerry Buckingham. Nancy &
DaieDenman, J.P.
Shellenberger. Nick Swartz
Jin Creek, W. Pa.: Margaret
Berry
itsdam, S. Ohio: Connie
Carpenter, Kay Humphrey, Jim
Kinsey. Jennifer Wright
)anoke, S. Plains: Pam Chaisson,
Rene Daniel, Debbie. Stanley
&Daquari Patrick
>cky Ford, W. Plains: Laura
Brubaker. Kellen & Quinn
Cutsforth, Mike & Teri Jumey,
Don, Michelle. Nick & Shane
Lewis, Marion Portner. Nick &
Russel VanDyk
San Diego, Pac.S.W: Ruth
Jacobsen. Liz & Dan Laughlin.
Meiinda & Roberta Mcintosh,
Stephanie Washburn
Spring Mount, M. Pa.: Anita &
John Heichel. Marjorie Pressler
Syracuse, N. Ind.: RussCramerer.
Amy Dull, Larry & Deb
Peterson
Tire Hill, W. Pa.: Clinton & Sonya
Sabo, Samantha BiMetdeaux
Trinity, S.E.: Janice & Chad Davis,
Tina Halterman. Donald &
Mary Jean Hicks. David
Shelton. Mae Spangler
Tyrone, M. Pa.: Linda Felzer,
Robert & Carol Spicer
Union Center, N. Ind.: Casey,
Billy & Cory Giles. Lucas
Walters
Waynesboro, Shen. : Harold & June
Colvin, Rick & Tammy
McKibben
Weltz, Mid-Atl. : Janice Eckstine.
Dean & Sheila Mouk
Williamson Road, Virlina: Sarah
Rubush, Fred Steffey
Wedding
Anniversaries
Andrews, Edwin and Glenna.
Nappanee,Ind..50
Brown, Samuel and Ethel,
Lewistown,Pa..55
Clapper, Marion and Kathryn,
Hollidaysburg,Pa..50
Croy, Meri and Phyllis, Wakarusa,
Ind.. 50
Flora, Clifford and Louise,
Elkhart. Ind.. 55
Fraley , Harold and Goldie. Kansas
City. Mo.. 55
Kimmel, Edwin and Julia,
Shelocta, Pa., 50
Mellinger, Paul and Ruth. Elkhart,
Ind.. 50
Metzger, LaRue and Ethel,
Mechanicsburg, Pa., 50
Mishler,Everett and Kathryn,
Goshen, Ind., 55
Pippenger, Harold and Irene.
Nappanee. Ind.,60
Smith, Bill and Ava, Bassett.
Va.,60
Uhrig, John and Mary, Greenville,
Ohio. 70
Licensing/
Ordination
Clapper, Darreil Lynn, licensed
Sept.2I, 1993,CloverCreek,
M.Pa.
Cox,Norma. licensed Nov. 6. 1993,
Wiley. W. Plains
Eichelberger, Todd Evans,
licensed Sept.21. 1993,
Bedford. M. Pa.
Hubble, James, licensed Nov. 6,
1993. Bethel Nebraska. W.
Plains
Knepper, Nancy Fike. licensed
Oct. 9, i 993, New Covenant,
Atl. S.E.
Koehn, Elsie, licensed July 16,
1 993, Pleasant Plains. S. Plains
Pagan, Nelson Perez, licensed July.
1992. Rio Prieto, Atl. S.E.
Pagan,Zulma Rivera Cruz,
licensedJuly. 1992, Rio Prieto,
Atl. S.E.
Jones, Phillip Lynn, ordained July,
1992. Antioch, Virlina
Mumma, Emily Jean, ordained
Oct. 9. 1993. St. Petersburg, '
Atl. S.E.
Queener, Richard L., ordination
reaffirmed Oct., 1993, Salem,
N. Plains
Vaught, Terry Lynn, ordained Oct.
23.1993,Logansport/
Pittsburgh. S/C Ind.
Whetzel, Bobby, ordained Oct. 26,
1 993. Community Mission,
Shen.
Hooks, Eric Lee. licensed Nov. 7.
1993, Plum Creek, W. Pa.
Pastoral
Placements
Archer, Alice, from secularto
Mount Pleasant, N. Ind.
Bailey, Daniel, from secularto
Sipesville.W. Pa.
Barragan,Jose Martin, from
student to Dodge City. W.
Plains
Black, David, from Mill Creek.
Shen., to Shrewsbury. S. Pa.
Black, Larry, from Maple Grove.
W. Pa., to Beachdale, W. Pa.
Blow, Albert, from other
denomination to Imperial
Heights. Pac.S.W.
Branson, Merrill C, from Paint
Creek. W. Plains, to Lena/
Yellow Creek, 111,/Wis.
Brumbaugh, Lillian, from secular
to West Branch, lil./Wis.
Bunch, Christopher J , . from student
to Bachelor Run/Flora, S/C Ind.
Cavaness, Ryan, Nocona, S. Plains,
from interim to part-time
Dean, Vernon, Oak Grove. 111./
Wis., to Panther Creek, III./
Wis.
Finney,Ronald, from associate
district executive, N. Ind.,
10 district executive,
S/C Ind.
Finney, Harriet, from Plymouth. N.
Ind, to district executive.
S/C Ind.
Galay,Ken. from secularto
Beaverton.Mich.
Harness, Leah O.. from Nettle
Creek. S/C Ind.. to Sandy
Creek, W.Marva
Hubble, James, from secular to
Bethel Nebraska, W. Plains
Hughes, Robert, Cedar Grove/
Brandywine. Shen., from
interim to part-time
Dyes, Charles, from New Fairview,
S. Pa., to Springfield. Atl. N.E.
Kipp, Judith, from General Board
staff to Ridgeway Community.
Atl. N.E.
Mason, Kenneth R., from Maple
Grove, Ill./Wis., to Maple
Grove/Stanley, Ill./Wis.
McClendon, James, Pasadena. Pac.
S.W., from interim to part-time
McKinney, David, from secularto
Cherry Grove. W. Marva
Rogers, Clifford, from secularto
BeaverCreek/Ewing. S.E.
Schmidt, John. Pampa, S. Plains.
from interim to part-time
Schneiders, Tony, from Salem
Community. W. Plains, to
Walnut. N. Ind.
Shelton, Steven, from secularto
Sunfield. Mich.
Thomas, Rodger J.. Berkey, W.
Pa., from secular to associate
Deaths
Altland, Larry, 29. Spring Grove.
Pa..Nov. 17, 1993
Anderson, Vergie, 93, New
Oxford, Pa.. Sept. 8, 1993
Anderson, Ted, 72, Twin Falls,
Ida.,Aug. 19, 1993
Arnold. Levi. 92, Elldiart, Ind.,
Nov. 16, 1993
Ayers, Samuel, 65, Woodbury. Pa..
Nov. 13, 1993
Baughman, Nora. 95. Bremen,
Ind., Oct. 16.1993
Bell,Elsie, 85. Syracuse. Ind., Feb.
25.1993
Bestwick, Ruth, 79, Sabetha, Kan.,
Sept. 13. 1993
Bicknese, Jennie, 84. Worthington,
Minn., Nov. 26, 1993
Blough,J.Willard.78.
Waynesboro, Pa., Aug. 9, 1993
Bowman, Merlyn, 80. Canton. 111.,
Sept. 20. 1993
Boyd, Eaton. 47. Harrisonburg. Va..
Aug. 17. 1993
Brunk, Homer. 87. McPherson.
Kan., Sept. 4. 1993
Caldwell, Mary Jane. 63, York, Pa.,
Nov. 19, 1993
Carlson, Andrew, 78, Glendora.
Calif., Nov. 8, 1993
Christenson, Richard, 80,
Kingsley. Iowa. Sept. 17. 1993
Cole, Viola. 75, Uniontown, Pa.,
Aug. 30, 1993
Dice, Charles, 67, Saint Thomas.
Pa.. Nov. 7, 1993
Dooms,John, 84, Waynesboro, Pa..
Aug. 29, 1993
Dotterer, Stanley. 78, New Oxford.
Pa., Aug. 20. 1993
Eaton, Helen, 89, Rora. Ind., Sept.
11.1993
Eichelberger, Paul. 77, York. Pa.,
Dec. 5, 1993
Elicker, John, 80, Hanover, Pa.,
Aug. 4. 1993
Freece, Rita. 67. Phoenixville, Pa.,
Oct. 25. 1993
Funderburg, Virginia. 84, New
Cariisle, Ohio. Nov. 20, 1993
Gibbel, Harry, 100. Denver. Pa..
Oct. 25, 1993
Gindlesperger, Clarabelle, 79,
Windber.Pa..Sept.6. 1993
Ginger, Kenneth, 86, Greenville.
Ohio.Oct. 19, 1993
Goon, Rowland, 97. South Bend,
Ind.. Aug. 7, 1993
Gordon, Bonnie. 60. Elkhart, Ind.,
Aug. 17. 1993
Hall, Elmer, 77, Shippensburg, Pa,.
Sept. 10. 1993
Hall, Theodora. 87, Greenville,
Ohio. Oct. 20, 1993
Hamilton, Lucille, 62. Elkhart.
lnd..July3. 1993
Harnley,Mary, 82, Lancaster, Pa.,
Nov. 4. 1993
Harris, Luella, 75, Camp Hill, Pa..
Oct.31,1993
Hawbaker, David. 85. Saint
Thamas,Pa.,Oct.31.1993
Heisey, Andrew. 2 months.
Lancaster. Pa.. Nov. 1 . 1 993
Jewell, Edward, 46, East Freedom.
Pa., Sept. 22. 1993
Kaltenbaugh, Mary. 85,
Davidsville,Pa.,July!7, 1993
Kline, Elva, 85. Manassas, Va.,
Nov. 15, 1993
Lehman, Mable. 82, South Bend,
Ind..Oct.30, 1993
Liskey, Perry, 88, Palmyra, Pa..
Aug. 28. 1993
Marker, Edgar, 84, Waynesboro,
Pa., March 19. 1993
Meyer, Harry. 59, Annville. Pa..
Sept. 12. 1993
Miller, Dale, 56. Spry. Pa.. Nov.
15. 1993
Mishler, Uretha, 93. Wakarusa.
Ind., July 29. 1993
Nickey, Fannie, 85, East Berlin.
Pa..Nov. 18. 1993
Ober,Jane. 78.Lititz. Pa.,Nov. 16,
1993
Peterson,Mabei. 86, Cando, N.D..
Aug. 27. 1993
Ridinger, Ida, 94. Bassetl. Va..
Aug. 8. 1 993
Rigler,Thelma, 92, Wakarusa,
Ind.,July 15.1993
Sallade, Eari. 82, York. Pa., Sept.
7. 1993
Shafer, Wilbur. 79. Otlowa. Ohio.
Sept. 24, 1993
Shellenberger, David, 89,
Harrisburg.Pa-.Oct. 17, 1993
Shockey, Virgie. Smithsburg, Pa..
May 12, 1993
Shronk, Donald, 66. Mont Clare.
Pa., Nov. 7. 1993
Shroyer, Emma, 69. Tire Hill, Pa.,
July9, 1993
Simpson, Fleta. 97, Famham. Va..
Dec. 5, 1993
Smalley, Eva. 84, Beaver. Iowa,
Nov. 10, 1993
Smyser, Willard, 62. York. Pa.,
Nov. 16, 1993
Stambaugh, Mary. 80. Union
Bridge, Md.. Nov. 14.1993
Suttle, Bernard, 79. Renlon, Wash.,
Oct. 15, 1993
Swinger, Myrtle. 75. Dexter, Mo..
Nov. 5, 1993
Swinger, Hubert, 82, Essex, Mo.,
Oct. 2 1,1993
Todd, Walter. 32. Washington.
D.CSepl. 10, 1993
Vaughn, Helen. 89. Vermont, 111.,
Nov. 19, 1993
Voth,Martha, 84, North Newton,
Pa.,Apr. 13, 1993
Wagner, Ivan, 8 1 . Continental,
Ohio.July 1.1993
Weber, Kenneth, 80. McPherson.
Kan.. Sept. 6. 1993
West, Caroline, 88, Uniontown.
Pa.. Aug. 22. 1993
Wetzel, Earl, 77, Westminster,
Md.. Nov. 23, 1993
Whitacre, Howard. 87. Mechanics-
burg. Pa.. Nov. 9. 1 993
Wiles, Leata. 85, Uniontown. Pa..
Aug. 8. 1993
Wise, Martha. 95. Dallas Center.
Iowa, Aug. 25. 1993
Zuver, Martha, 63, Palmyra, Pa..
Sept. 3. 1993
FebiTjary 1994 Messenger 31
iW
Curling up with a catalog
A thoughtful used-book dealer down in Virginia,
knowing that his customer who giddy-headedly
orders all those expensive old books about southern
mountain life and lore is, in real life, a sober-sided
Brethren editor, sent me at Christmastime, "with his
compliments," a 1926 catalog from the Brethren
Publishing House.
If you have ever pored with fascination over one of
those reprints of a tum-of-the-century Sears,
Roebuck catalog, you know the spirit in which I
received this gem from the Brethren past.
And, as I fondled my treasure, I became aware of
what a commentary the catalog provided on the
Church of the Brethren of its day. Much of what it
said about the Brethren of 1926 fits comfortably with
our perception of the Brethren of 1994. And,
uncomfortably, I detected what I believe are signs of
the Brethren being led astray in 1926, signs that
strengthen the case of the breakaway Dunkard
Brethren of about that time.
One sign that the forerunners of today's Brethren
Press were avant-garde is the note on the inside front
cover of the catalog. "That hard day spent shopping
in the city," Publishing House marketing chirped,
"can often be eliminated by ordering from a catalog
in the quiet of your own home." Sounds like 1994,
but wouldn't the folks at 22 South State Street be
astonished to see the plethora of slick catalogs that
spill out of our mailboxes today!
The Brethren Revival Fellowship will be grieved
to learn that in 1926, "Elgin" already had betrayed
its trust in the tried and true King James Version of
the Bible and was touting the virtues of something
called the American Standard Bible. The King
James Version, the catalog points out with the charm
of Eden's serpent, "was made in 1611, and in the
300 years since then words have changed in mean-
ing, and grammatical usage has changed. And in
that period, many of the oldest manuscripts known
have been discovered. Much progress in the study of
oriental languages has been made." See what I
mean about being led astray?
One item in the 1926 catalog has a counterpart in
1994: There was a new hymnal hot off the press!
Created for the ages to come, it contained 742 hymns
and the innovation of 80 pages of responsive
readings. Witnessing to changing times, the Publish-
ing House provided two versions of the new hym-
nal— one with shaped notes and one with round.
Another catalog item would be familiar to today's
Brethren Press customers: That continuing best-
seller of 1994 — the Inglenook Cook Book, with
32 Messenger February 1994
model Anna Evans daintily taste-testing her Dunker
cuisine on the cover — was already a quarter-century
old in 1926.
Former Gospel Messenger editor D.L. Miller
warranted a photograph on page 1 2 of the catalog.
His numerous book titles were still good sellers,
apparently. I have never understood how this
predecessor of mine managed to be editor of the
denominational magazine and still find time for
lengthy world travel, followed up by lengthy books
about that travel — books such as Girdling the Globe,
which stirred so many Brethren to speed away, speed
away on missions of light. It's a sad commentary on
our present time (or the quality of editors today) that
the best I have managed is a wimpish 32-page
booklet about a trip to Nigeria. Ah, to emulate
brother Miller and his girdling of the globe, produc-
ing my own titles such as Corseting the Continents.
But I digress.
Here's a 1926 Brethren Publishing House title that
poses a question just as relevant for 1994 as for
1926: The Simple Life: Will We Maintain It? by
Otho Winger. That Brethren in 1926 already were
looking for a loophole is suggested by the title of a
companion volume: Is Simplicity Consistent With the
Christian Life? by Mary Polk Ellenberger.
What were Brethren notions about peace, nonvio-
lence, and racial equality in 1926? Today's peace
activists and the folks who wrote the 1992 Annual
Conference study paper on Native Americans will be
intrigued by this title from the catalog's selections of
"worthwhile stories" for children: The Patrol of the
Sun Dance Trail. It's about the Northwest Mounted
Police dealing with the threat of an Indian uprising.
Corporal Cameron, the book's hero, helps the
Mounties "in breaking up the plans of the redskins."
If it's any consolation, a little farther on the catalog
lists Prudence of the Parsonage, "a bright, jolly little
story of wholesome family life."
There is a lot of practical stuff in the catalog, mind
you. How about a post card that Sunday school
teachers could send to truants, which carries this
subtle message: "All felt bad when we noticed your
absence from our Sunday school class last Sunday.
Please don't let that happen again."
Or, how about rubber baptismal pants "made high
enough to come up well under the arms." Certainly
they are a sign that Brethren were getting into deep
water in 1926. And if the catalog reflected its
customers and their values, how come Brethren
sociologists aren't studying this telltale data? I
would, myself, but I'd rather girdle the globe. — K.T.
COME TO THE
Claim the call, claim the
blessing as hundreds of
teens gather from around
the nation to celebrate our
joy in Christ! We are out to make
a difference. The exciting speakers
and planned activities will empower us
to achieve our goals. This coming July is
going to be a blast, as we worship and
meet new people, so tell^
your friends and
sign-up. Come join the
action as we dare to
"Come to the Edge."
See you there!
The NYC office is sponsoring a new attendance campaign. We're ciiallenging every
congregation to send more youth to NYC in 1994, 40% more than they sent in 1990.
It is a big challenge, but one we feel involves your church in the NYC theme, "Come
to the Edge, Claim the Call. " Join us in the challenge.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
Please send your registration to: Sliawn Replogle, NYC
Coordinator, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, (708) 742-5100
Church of the Brethren
^th'ANNUAL CONFERENCE
ME
John 7:37-58
SPEAKERS"
i
Earl K. Zieglei
David M. Bibbee
Rebecca Baile Crouse
Tyron S. Pitt!
S. Joan Hershe\
Drama "Tlie Catliering*
"Acappella'
Saturday night concert
JUNE 28 - JULY 3, 1994
WICHITA, KANSAS
Logo design artist, Rosanna McFadden, Indianapolis, Indiana
^LUNTEER HELPERS
I am volunteering my help with conference tasks, I have marked
telow. I have numbered them In order of preference.
I plan to arrive at Conference on June
-Brethren Press Book Exhibit
-Registration (computer experience required)
-Usher (business and general sessions)
-Child care services
-Children's activities (age 6-11)
-Youth activities
-Messengers (Conference business sessions)
-Tellers(Conference business sessions)
-Information/mail desk
-Ticket sales
-SERRV Exhibit
Please circle
approximate age
Name
16-22
40-50
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30-40
60-1-
St./RFD .
City
. State -
-Zip.
Telephone No.
Additional volunteers may indicate on a separate sheet their
interest In serving.
PROGRAM BOOKLET
(Available in May)
Please send the following:
-copies at S7.00 each of the 1994 Annual Conference
Booklet (regular binding)
-Copies at S10.50 each of the 1994 Annual Conference
Booklet (spiral binding)
-1994 Annual conference Information packet
(Add $1 .00 for postage and handling)
Name-
St./RFD-
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. State-
.2lp-
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(Delegates sending the delegate authorization form and registra-
tion fee will automatically receive one program booklet without
further cost.)
Information about Conference programs and reservation forms
may be obtained by contacting your pastor or write:
Annual Conference Manager
1451 Dundee Avenue
Elgin, Illinois 60120
read for today
and tomorrow
Nothing keeps us on our toes like receiving new members to our
Communication Team. And when they are young and energetic,
well, we old-timers alternate between feeling the weight of our
years and the shot in the arm of "new blood."
Paula Sokody has been with us now since last summer, and
two other young people have joined us since she came. So it's
time to introduce this editorial assistant whose
name you have been seeing in our staff box here
to the right.
Paula, who falls in that category of "young and
energetic," didn't have to uproot herself to join
our staff; she is a native Elginite. Reflecting her
youth, she is a 1993 college graduate and is
getting married in May. She got a rather unor-
thodox orientation to her job: Managing editor
Eric Bishop, to whom she reports, was on a
reassignment to the Washington Office last
summer and fall, so it was not until Paula had
attended General Board meeting at New
Windsor, Md., in mid-October and returned that
she had a "boss" in
residence. She made a
good beginning in
spite of that.
Attesting to the
confidence we have in
her abilities, Paula
soon had added to her
news responsibilities
that of producing
"Newsline." Tele-
phone (410) 635-8738
any time of the day or night and you can hear Paula giving an
update of Brethren news.
By now you see that I am using this introduction of Paula
Sokody to once again remind readers of this source of Brethren
news that's as close as your telephone. No need to wait and read
news as "history" in the monthly Messenger when you can
receive today's news as "news" on your phone. Of course you get
a fuller version of news in the magazine, to say nothing of all
the other features. So keep reading . . . and keep phoning in to
hear t>auia.
Newsline
(410) 635-8738
24-hour headline news from the Church of the Brethien.
Messages updated by Thursday morning each week.
For more infonnadon, contact the Communication Team,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-8039.
COMING NEXT MONTH: Word about the upcoming National
Youth Conference (NYC) and National Older Adult Conference
(NOAC).
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Sokody, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer; IllinoisAViscoi
Gail Clark; Northern Indiana. Leona
Holderread; South/Central Indiana. Marj
Miller: Michigan, Marie Willoughby;
Mid-Atlantic. Ann Fouls; Missouri/Arka :
Mary McGowan; Northern Plains, Faith |
Strom; Northern Ohio, Sherry Sampson;^
Southern Ohio, Shirley Retry; Oregon/ I
Washington, Marguerite Shamberger; i
Pacific Southwest, Randy Miller; Middii
Pennsylvania. Ruth Fisher; Southern f
Pennsylvania. Elmer Q. Gleim; Western [
Pennsylvania. Jay Christner; Shenandoal )
Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains. Mary Annf
Dell; Virlina, David &Hetiie Webster;
Western Plains, Dean Hummer; West M I
Winoma Spurgeon.
I"
Messenger is the official publication of J
Church of the Brethren. Entered as seco |
class matter Aug. 20, 1918, under Act qI;
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filing date,lj
I, 1984. Messenger is a met
y^ of the Associated Church P R
1^ and a subscriber to Religioi !
— News Service and Ecumen
Press Service. Biblical
quotations, unless otherwis I
indicated, are from the New Revised
Standard Version.
Subscription rates; $I2.50individu2}l
rate, $ I0.50church group plan, $ 10.50 1|
subscriptions. Student rate 75c an issue
you move, clip address label and send v|P
new address to Messenger Subscription \
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at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published I
limes a year by the General Services Ct ■
mission. Church of the Brethren Genen
Board. Second-class postage paid at El^ ,
III., and at additional mailing office, M; i
1994. Copyright 1994, Church of the
Brethren General Board. ISSN0026-03.'i
POSTMASTER: Send address chai
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin,
60120.
p
I
16
n Touch 2
;^lose to Home
slews 6
iVorldwide 9
Stepping Stones
''rom the
General Secretary
^lixed Reviews 24
.etters 26
'ontius' Puddle
Fuming Points
Editorial 32
22
29
31
>edits:
-over: Phil Grout, John Tubbs
K Wallowitch
i: Kermon Thomasson
I left: George Keeler
'; Pat Wright
I left: Barbara Greenwald
1 right, 15: Alan Boleyn
0: Michael Fryer, Chicago Tribune
1: Merv Keeney
2 top: Phil Grout
2 bottom: John Tubbs
3: H. Lamar Gibble
.7: Wilbur Brumbaugh
19: National Gallery of Art
'A daring and hopeful vision' 10
Approximately 300 Brethren, Mennonites, and Quakers
brought in the new year at a peacemaker congress. A Special
Report by Margaret Woolgrove tells what>they discussed.
Bread for today and tomorrow: Brethren
development ministries around the world 1 1
Through One Great Hour of Sharing, Brethren reach out with
the immediate life-saving bread for the day and the develop-
ment assistance that looks toward tomorrow. A cluster of
articles by Yvonne Dilling, Mervin Keeney, and Lamar Gibble
tell of Brethren development assistance in different areas of the
world. Introduction by Joan Deeter.
Can we have hope for Haiti? 15
Connie Walsh's BVS assignment in Haiti was "tough, at once
both challenging and exciting, and also gruelingly difficult."
Interview by Margaret Woolgrove.
John D. Metzler Sr.: He went into all
the world 17
John D. Metzler Sr. had all the credentials of a full-blown
Brethren hero. Kermon Thomasson pays tribute to the founder
of CROP.
Buy why was he resurrected? 18
The mere fact that Jesus returned is dramatic, and confirming
the fact that it is indeed Jesus is a time-consuming interest of
the disciples. James Benedict wonders that no one asked why
he returned.
What the old Brethren said about
anointing 20
Anointing for healing has a central place in Brethren faith and
practice. Galen R. Hackman researches the Old Brethren's
statements to find relevance for today.
Cover story: Clean water
supplies in Nigeria are just
one facet of the worldwide
program of development
ministries that Brethren
support. Turn to page 1 1
for the story.
March 1994 Messenger 1
Hooked on SOS kits
The wise men from the East
opened their treasure chests
and presented the infant
Jesus with their most
valuable gifts — gold.
Andrew Young's
enthusiasm led Drexel
Hill church to
increase its
production of SOS
kits for Sudan.
"In Touch" profiles Brethren we
would like you lo meet. Send
story ideas and photos (Mack
and white, if possible) to "In
Touch." Messenger, 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
frankincense, and myrrh.
This past Christmas,
Brethren were asked to give
three very different, but
equally valuable gifts — salt,
soap, and a towel. These
Keen to learn
People trying to avoid the
winter cold of Pennsylvania
usually head south to
Florida, or some such clime,
but not so Travis Frye, of
Martinsburg, Pa., who is now
two months into a six-month
sojourn in Poland.
were bundled into "SOS
kits," to be sent to the needy
in Sudan.
For Andrew Young, a
special needs youth from
Drexel Hill (Pa.) Church of
the Brethren, the pictures
showing how to assemble the
SOS kits (December, page
18) were all it took to get
him motivated in the
congregation.
"Our son has limited
verbal abilities," says
Andrew's dad, David Young,
"but as soon a he saw those
kits, he was hooked. Helping
people in Sudan was his way
of responding to God's love."
Drexel Hill is a small
congregation. "We set
ourselves a target of 20 kits,"
says David. "But the congre-
gation was so moved by
Andrew's involvement and
motivation, that by Christ-
mas Eve, we had closer to
50."
David was as touched by
his son's action as was the
congregation. "I was really
proud of Andrew when I saw
him with his beaming face,
sitting up there with the SOS
kits on Christmas Eve. For
me, going out and buying the
salt, soap, and towels really
made my Christmas. It
brought back what the day is
really about." — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
Seventeen-year-old Travis
is a member of Roaring
Spring Church of the
Brethren and one of six
students from his high school
Future Farmers of America
(FFA) chapter who are
taking part in an exchange
program funded by the
United States Information
Agency (USIA).
Although Travis does not
live on a farm, he has spent
time working on a neighbor-
ing dairy farm near
Martinsburg. He is raising a
steer for the 1994 Blair
County Livestock Show and
Sale.
In school Travis partici-
pates in FFA and the
Fellowship of Christian
Athletes, and is a member of
the school's swim team.
At Roaring Spring church,
he is active in the youth
group, has done hurricane
relief work in Florida, and
has participated in a Breth-
ren youth work camp in West
Virginia.
In Poland, Travis will live
and work with the Stanislaw
Kaczor family on its 43-acre
dairy farm 60 miles south of
Warsaw.
"I am excited about the
exchange, and also am very
Travis Frye
keen to learn about the
religion, government,
customs, and politics of
Poland." said Travis before
embarking on his trip. "I'm
sure the memories will last
me a lifetime." — Margaret
WoOLGROVE
2 Messenger March 1994
Lisa Pierce, of McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren, plays Sunshine the Clown, as
Shombia and Edith Conda make paper crafts at an Alternative Christmas Fair.
lust clowning around
^isa Pierce is a soft-spoken
voman from Minneapolis,
vlinn., but meet her when
;he"s not got her nose in her
)ooks at United Theological
seminary in the Twin Cities,
md she'll probably be
:lowning around.
That's what Lisa was
loing at the Alternative Toy
^air that was organized by
brethren and Mennonite
;hurches with Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in
^linneapolis last fall.
The fair emphasized the
;ale of toys and games that
incourage nonviolence,
:ooperation, tolerance and
:reativity among children.
'For many people, safety is a
;onsideration in choosing
oys for children," said Jane
Vliller, a staff person with
HPT, "but few shoppers
hink about the risk of
)uying toys that glamorize
/iolence."
Activities throughout the
'air included crafts, puppet
naking, cooperative games
tnd meeting Sunshine the
Z!lown.
"I was introduced to
clowning by the campus
minister at McPherson
College when I was a student
there," says Lisa. "While at
McPherson I clowned at
Church of the Brethren
regional youth conferences,
as well as at worship
services, both at college and
at McPherson Church of the
Brethren.
"Clowning is about
playfulness and being
joyful," says Lisa. "It's a very
different way to experience
being with people and to
relay a message. Children of
all ages relate well to it.
"Being a clown is about
being vulnerable with people.
This allows them to see their
own child within, and so
makes them more open to
hearing a message. To be
childlike is to be joyful; the
irony is that so many toys are
violent and promote killing,
not joyfulness.
"Clowning is the most fun
thing I've ever done. It
seems to give people a spirit
of hopefulness, of looking
toward the future in a very
positive way. It is a joy to be
able to do that." — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
Names in the news
Olga and Mario Serrano,
co-pastors of Principe de Paz
Church of the Brethren, in
Santa Ana, Calif., have
accepted the call to return to
their native Ecuador, to serve
in Quito with World Radio
Missionary Fellowship in a
Bible teaching ministry.
• Jessica Shuman, a
member of Conewago
Church of the Brethren, in
Hershey, Pa., began a term of
service in January with
Youth Evangelism Service, a
program of the Eastern
Mennonite Board of Mis-
sions and Charities. She
serves in France in street and
youth ministries and other
community outreach.
• Alvin Fishburn, a
member of Lone Star (Kan.)
Church of the Brethren,
whose work in soil conserva-
tion was noted in Messenger
(January 1993, page 3), has
been awarded a conservation
medal from the Daughters of
the American Revolution.
• Hiram J. Frysinger,
Palmyra, Pa., a long-time
minister in Big Swatara
Church of the Brethren, has
received an Educate for
Service award from the
Elizabethtown College
Alumni Association.
Remembered
A. Stauffer Curry, 80, died
January 14, in New Oxford,
Pa. He was executive
secretary of the National
Service Board for Religious
Objectors, 1949-1955.
Afterward, he served in
different positions on the
A. Shniffer Ciiriy
national staff of the Church
of the Brethren, including
that of editor of church
school publications.
He was the only person
who served in four different
Annual Conference offices,
and was the last surviving
moderator who served more
than one term (1955, 1965).
Besides the moderatorship,
he served in the Annual
Conference offices of reading
clerk, secretary, and alterate
moderator.
• Rosa Page Welch, 92,
died January 26 in Port
Gibson, Miss. A nationally
known mezzo-soprano, she
was a former member of the
General Board and served as
a missionary in Nigeria,
1961-63.
March 1994 Messenger 3
«
Tales of smokejumping
There was a day when just
about every Brethren knew
what CPS stood for —
Civilian Public Service.
During World War II many
Church of the Brethren
conscientious objectors
Mont., that Asa Mundell
decided to put them into
book form.
Last September, Asa, who
lives in Beaverton, Ore.,
published Static Lines and
Canopies, a collection of 146
stories from CPS Unit 103 as
told by its members.
*71S^* r-<?v»*v.
Artist Tom Summers,
one of the members of
CPS Unit 103,
provided the
illustrations for Asa
MundelVs book.
served in CPS in lieu of
military service.
Now the dwindling
number of former CPSers
keeps alive the memory of
those days through reunions
and the retelling of CPS
adventures. One of the units
that holds reunions is CPS
Unit 103, Missoula, Mon-
tana, whose work was
"smokejumping" — parachut-
ing into remote areas to fight
forest fires.
So many stories have been
told and retold during the
gatherings at Seeley Lake,
Readers of the book
expecting to find accounts of
fighting fire will be disap-
pointed at the few references
to that subject. Obviously
when old smokejumpers get
together, it's more fun to tell
about the misadventures of
parachute training, of
rattlesnakes in sleeping bags,
and grizzly bears met on the
trail.
For copies of Asa's book,
contact him at 5420 S.W.
Erickson Ave., Beaverton,
OR 97005; tel. (503) 646-
2733. The book sells for $13.
"Close to Home" highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local and
regional life. Send story ideas and
photos (black and white, if possible)
to ' 'Close to Home.' ' Messenger,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Educating about abuse
"For the sake of the Chil-
dren: A Child Abuse
Workshop," a one-day event
sponsored by Tyrone (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren,
attracted 83 participants.
The workshop was
designed to be primarily
informational, educating
people about the availability
of resources in the commu-
nity such as counseling
services and professionals in
legal help and mental health.
The workshop designers also
hoped to tighten networks
among the social welfare
agencies, schools, law
enforcement bodies, and the
church, so that they can work
together to help children and
their parents in situations of
child abuse.
"Organizing the workshop
was frustrating at the
beginning," says Tyrone's
pastor, John Nalley. "Infor-
mation was hard to get hold
of. Sexual abuse is a big
issue, but one that often is
ignored within the church.
Some pastors told me to
forget about it and the
trouble would go away."
Part of the workshop's
emphasis focused on teach-
ing children about "safe
touch," strangers, and whom
to report "bad things" to.
This focus was provided by a
clowning presentation from
Blair County Children and
Youth Services.
"This subject was taboo in
Tyrone church has people
dealing with child abuse.
schools before," says John,
"but since our workshop, all
four elementary schools in
the area have decided to
incorporate the clowning
presentation into their
curriculum.
With the support of
Middle Pennsylvania
District's nurture commis-
sion chairwoman, Roberta
Coldren, at least three more
workshops are planned.
— M argaretWoolgrove
4 Messenger March 1 994
This and that
Meadow Branch Church of
the Brethren, near
Westminster, Md., has
adopted a local elementary
Nchool as part of its witness
program. Each week a
teacher and a staff person are
recognized by the congrega-
tion. Apples, doughnuts, and
other goodies are presented
to the school teachers and
staff during the year.
Members of the congregation
are asked to pray for these
workers. Last November
Meadow Branch hosted a
potpie "Appreciation
Dinner" for the teachers and
staff on one of their in-
service work days.
Pastor Melvin Fike invites
inquiries from congregations
(that are interested in the
Jj Meadow Branch witness
project as a model. He can be
contacted at 8 1 8 Old
Taneytown Rd., Westmin-
ster. MD 21158; tel. (410)
848-7478 or 848-7263.
• Conestoga Church of the
Brethren, in Leola, Pa.,
began construction in
December on a $ 1 .5 million
expansion and renovation
project, scheduled for
completion in September.
The project includes renova-
tion of the church's educa-
tion wing and the addition of
a sanctuary, fellowship area
and kitchen, administrative
offices, library, and numer-
ous rooms to support the
Conestoga programs.
Organized in 1724,
Conestoga is the third oldest
congregation in the denomi-
nation.
• Twenty people attended
the opening service at Lake
Charles (La.) Community
Church of the Brethren on
December 26. Lake Charles
is mentored by nearby
Roanoke (La.) Church of the
Brethren (see "Crawfish
Brethren," November 1991)
as well as Chiques Church
of the Brethren, in Manheim,
Pa.
Lake Charles pastor
Manny Diaz was encouraged
by the opening turnout,
remaining upbeat about the
fledgling church's prospects
while admitting that "the
work has been slower and
harder than expected."
Campus comments
Juniata College has
launched its biggest funding
campaign in history. The
$30-million effort is called
"Transformations: The
Campaign for Juniata." Said
Juniata's president. Bob
Neff, "We face a challenge to
ensure for future generations
of students access to Juniata
and the kinds of experiences
that prepare them for a world
far different from the world
we faced even five years ago."
• Robert M. McKinney,
upon his death in 1992, left
Bridgewater College
virtually his entire estate.
First estimated at $8 million,
the McKinney bequest has
turned out to total
$10,543,249.15. The money
has been placed in the
Dave Whitten and his crew never lack for requests to help
villages create safe and lasting supplies of drinking water.
More earthen vessels
In last month's Messenger,
we told about a project in
Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a
Nigeria to build a dam and
create a reservoir for the
village of Ganji ("Treasure in
an Earthen Vessel"). From
Nigeria, Brethren worker
Dave Whitten writes, "We
have started work on a
college's endowment fund.
• Elizabethtown College
has received a $50,000 grant
to support a study of the
pressures on Brethren,
Mennonite, and Amish
groups in Pennsylvania's
Lancaster County to modern-
ize between 1880 and 1990.
Don Kraybill, director of the
college's Young Center for
the Study of Anabaptist and
Pietist Groups, will direct the
study, which began in
January and will conclude by
July 1995. Carl Bowman,
chairman of the sociology
department at Bridgewater
College, will collaborate
with Don Kraybill. Their
research will result in a
book-length manuscript.
second dam, and received
requests for dams from six
more villages. Along with
those are requests for
ferrous-cement water storage
tanks to be built. We have
two trained workers to
handle these tanks now.
With countless requests for
cementing village-dug wells,
we expect to continue being
busy."
Let's celebrate
Lone Star Church of the
Brethren, near Lawrence,
Kan., will celebrate its 75th
anniversary June 26. Former
pastor Leland Wilson will be
the guest speaker. Brethren
on their way that weekend to
Annual Conference in
Wichita are invited to attend.
• Salem Church of the
Brethren, in Lenox, Iowa,
celebrated its 90th anniver-
sary this past September 12.
Former pastor Leland Grove
was the guest speaker. John
Colyn, author of Corn Cob
and Skunk Skins, taught the
Sunday school class. A
potluck dinner followed the
worship service.
March 1 994 Messenger 5
1
Bridgewater and Manchester
announce new presidents
Within one month, both Bridgewater and
Manchesler Colleges appointed new
presidents. Phillip Stone will become
president at Bridgewater on August 1.
Parker Marden will enter office at
Manchester on June 1.
Phillip Stone is a Harrisonburg, Va.
attorney and graduate of Bridgewater.
He served as moderator at the 1991
Annual Conference in Portland, Ore.
Currently, Stone is on the Bridgewater
board as vice chairman for educational
The two newest presidents of Brethren
colleges: Phillip Stone (left) will head
Bridgewater (Va.) College, and Parker
Marden (right) will head Manchester
College, North Manchester, Ind.
Because the neM'S pages include news from various
Church of the Brethren organizations and move-
ments, the activities reported on may represent a
variety of viewpoints. These pages also report on
other national and international news relevant to
Brethren. Information in news articles does not
necessarily represent the opinions o/ Messenger or
the Church of the Brethren.
policy and campus life.
Stone is the seventh president since
Bridgewater was founded in 1880. He
succeeds Wayne F. Geisert, who retires
in July after 30 years as president.
"I have accepted the board's offer, fully
recognizing the challenge a new presi-
dent will face in attempting to meet the
standard set by Dr. Geisert," said Stone.
"I appreciate what Bridgewater
College has become through his tireless
efforts and careful management. At the
same time, I am excited to be given the
opportunity to help Bridgewater College
continue to seek its full potential."
Stone graduated from Bridgewater
cum laude in 1965 with a degree in
economics. He attended the University of
Chicago School of Economics and
received his law degree from Virginia
School of Law in 1970. That year, he
also joined the law firm of Wharton,
Aldhizer & Weaver and is remaining a
senior partner until April 30.
Stone is a member of First Church of
the Brethren in Harrisonburg. He was a
general board member, serving as chair
in 1986-87, as well as the first attorney
to serve as Conference moderator.
Stone has been honored with a num-
ber of awards. He was named the Natior
al Churchman of the Year in 1987 by
Religious Heritage of America. In 1982,
Stone was recognized as Bridgewater's
Distinguished Young Alumnus. He also
received an honorary doctorate in
Humane Letters from Bridgewater in
1991 when he gave the commencement
address.
On January 14, Manchester College
announced Parker Marden as its
Calendar
Cooperative Disaster Child Care Workshops:
March 1 1-12, Lanark, III. [For more informa-
tion call Marian Patterson, (815) 225-7279].
Bethanv Alumni Event: "Memories and
Visions," April 1 0- 1 2, Oak Brook, 111. [Contact
Debbie Eisenbise. (708) 620-2217].
Church of the Brethren Association of
Christian Educators' conference. Camp
Bethel. Fincastle. Va., April 15-17. [Contact I
Doris Quarles, P.O.Box 56, Daleville, VA I
24083, (703) 992-2465], ,
1994 Regional Youth Conferences at
Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pa..
April 16-17; BridgewaterCollege, Bridgewater.
Va., April 16-17; Manchester College, North
Manchester, Ind., April 22-24; McPherson
College, McPherson, Kan.. April 28-May 1 .
[Contact district youth advisors or the Youth
Ministries Office, (800) 323-8039],
1994 National Youth Conference at Colorado
State University, Fort Collins, Colo., July 26-
3 1 . Final deadline for pre-registrations is May
1 5. [Contact Shawn Replogle, NYC Coordina-
tor, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60 120]
Church Visit to Brazil: "South and North Meet I
in a 'Tunker' Way," July 10-28. sponsored by i
Latin America/Caribbean Office. [Contact Latin
America/Carribean Office, (800) 323-8039].
6 Messenger March 1994
h president. Currently, Marden is the
n of Beloit College. He is also the
2 president for academic affairs at
Wisconsin college, a position he has
i since 1988.
harden is a sociologist with an
lergraduate degree from Bates College
^ewiston, Maine, and a master's and
torate from Brown University in
vidence, R.I.
le has held positions at several uni-
sities before accepting the position at
nchester. Before he worked at Beloit,
rden held a number of positions at St.
vrence University in New York from
'5-1988. He has also taught at
vrence University in Wisconsin and
Tiell University, in New York.
It is Manchester College's long
lition of concern for peace and justice
: is so appealing to me," said Marden.
"Manchester's mission statement clearly
points out its focus on international
consciousness, ethnic and cultural plur-
alism, and a worth of each individual.
"Those are consistent with my own
values and with what I think colleges
need to do these days. That's the reason
I'm so interested in Manchester."
Marden and his wife, Ann, have two
children, ages 28 and 25.
Southern Sudanese church
bombed during mass
The New Sudan Council of Churches
(NSCC) announced that on December
28, 12 bombs were dropped on a church
in southem Sudan by a government of
Sudan bomber.
There were no .serious injuries, but
many of the homes in the village of
Chukudum were destroyed. Bishop
Paride Taban was celebrating mass in
the church when it was attacked. A
second bomber dropped bombs on a
village near Narus where the bishop was
also expected.
Bishop Paride Taban is the bishop of
the Catholic Diocese of Torit and
Chairman of the New Sudan Council of
Churches.
The NSCC stated "Such attacks bear
no relationship to the conduct of the war
and can only have the purpose of
terrorizing and killing innocent civil-
ians." In its protest against the unpro-
voked bombings, the NSCC also stated,
"In particular we are disturbed at what
appears to be a consistent attempt to
murder Bishop Paride Taban."
alifornia earthquake initiates
uick Brethren response
ssponse for aid and assistance came
imediately following the January
irthquake in southem California.
Two congregations near the epicenter
' the 6.6 magnitude earthquake served
shelter for families and people whose
)mes were damaged. The Panorama
ity congregation housed more than 30
milies. Also in Panorama City, the
ang Nam congregation of mostly Kor-
m membership, also provided shelter
T displaced people, and cooked meals
at were served to people in the area.
Within one week of the quake, 31
ooperative Disaster Child Care
orkers were placed in seven disaster
)plication centers. The Disaster Relief
"fice responded with an initial grant of
JO.OOO for material aid.
A 24-hour emergency hotline, (800)
53-3000, was set up to receive
^nations. Items requested include
apers, bottled water in nonglass
mtainers, tents, and flashlights and
itteries.
I
Neighbors of the Panorama City Church of the Brethren and victims of the
earthquake that struck southern California in January camp out in the church's
yard. Following the quake, more than 30 families found shelter at the church.
March 1994 Messenger 7
Initial Standing Committee
ballot ready for Wichita
The Standing Committee ballot for
Annual Conference in Wichita, Kan.,
June 28-July 3, has been selected by the
Nominating Committee.
Candidates for moderator-elect are H.
Fred Bemhard, Arcanum, Ohio: Joel D.
Kline, Fort Wayne, Ind.: J. Benton
Rhoades, Claremont, Calif.; and Albert
Sauls, Harrisburg, Pa.
Nominees for Annual Conference
Program and Arrangements Committee
are Michael L. Hostetter, Richmond,
Va.: J. Wayne Judd, Elizabethtown,
Pa.; Frank Ramirez, Elkhart, Ind.; and
David A. Yingling, Roanoke, Va.
Candidates for an at-large General
Board position, five-year term, are
Phyllis W. Davis, North Liberty, Ind.;
David Fitz, York, Pa.; Sharon
Hutchison, McVeytown, Pa.; Kathryn
Ludwick, Burlington, W.Va.; MaryAnn
Ludwick, Doylestown, Ohio; Terry
Shumaker, Buena Vista, Va.; John
Thomas, Guthrie, Okla.; and Joyce A.
Stoltzfus, Derwood, Md.
Candidates for Atlantic Northeast
District representative to the Board are
Jefferson C. Crosby, Lancaster, Pa.;
Thomas Keller, Newmanstown, Pa.;
Jean Moyer, Elizabethtown, Pa.; and
Tracy Wenger Sadd, Manheim, Pa. For
Northern Plains: Paula Picard Bowser,
District, General Board
announce staff changes
Terry Hatfield has resigned from his
position as executive of Northern Indi-
ana District, effective April 19. after
seven years of service. On May 1 he will
be begin a pastorate with Prince of Peace
church in Denver, Colo.
Guinevere Grier, from Arlington,
Texas, began February 1 as the coordina-
tor, Lafiya Task Group Ministry position
with the General Board in cooperation
8 Messenger March 1994
Ankeny, Iowa; LaDonna Kruschwitz
Brunk, Eldora, Iowa; Ruth Davidson
Clark, Froid, Mont.; and Glennis
Simmons Walker, Reading, Minn.
For OregonAVashington: Patrick
Anderson, Maple Valley, Wash.;
Ernest J. Bolz, Tonasket, Wash.; Shel
Eller, Portland, Ore.; and Robert
McKellip, Pomona, Calif.
Candidates for the Pastoral Compen-
sation and Benefits Advisory Commit-
tee are Ronald D. Beachley,
Davidsville, Pa.; Harriet Finney, North
Manchester. Ind.; Allen T. Hansell,
Harrisburg, Pa.; and Ronald D. Petry,
Ellicott City, Md.
For the Committee on Inter-church
Relations, the candidates are J. Michael
Fike, Morgantown, W.Va.; Don Flora,
La Verne, Calif.; Marianne Rhoades
Pittman, Blacksburg, Va.; and Jane
Marchant Wood, Boones Mill, Va.
Brethren Benefit Trust candidates
are Cheryl Ottemoeller Ingold,
Fresno, Calif.; Carol Bowers, Seattle,
Wash.; Ann Murray Reid, Roanoke,
Va.; and Maria UIIom-Minnich,
Wichita, Kan.
For Bethany Seminary elector
representing the colleges, nominees
are Doris E. Coppock, McPherson,
Kan.; Eldon Eugene Fahs, North
Manchester, Ind.; Judy Georges,
Claremont, Calif.; and Dorothy Keller,
North Manchester, Ind.
with the Association of Brethren Care-
givers (ABC). She comes to this position
with 10 years of pastoral care and coun-
seling experience in a variety of settings.
Terry Hatfield
Guinevere Grier
Emergency grants issued to
California, Florida, Haiti
In the aftermath of the Los Angeles
earthquake in January, a grant of
$20,000 has been approved by the
Emergency Disaster Fund. The monies
will be used to support Cooperative
Disaster Child Care (CDCC) efforts, am
material aid for churches.
A grant of $13,000 has been given by
the Emergency Disaster Fund to cover
final expenses related to Hurricane
Andrew in Louisiana and Florida. This
project, which started over a year ago. ii
in its closing stages.
The Emergency Disaster Fund has
allocated $10,000 for Haiti, in response
to the economic uncertainty created by
increasing political unrest and violence
there. The monies will be divided
between the Haiti Twinning Parish
Program, for its work in providing
humanitarian relief and grassroots
development, and the National Coalitio
for Haitian Refugees to assist with the ,
provision of medical and security needs,
of victims of human rights abuses. i
A grant of $7,000 has been allocated
to cover continuing exigencies in the
former USSR. The money will go towai
food and clothing shipments.
Three Brethren named as
CWS disaster consultants
Among 44 newly trained Disaster
Resource Consultants for Church Worl
Service are three Brethren.
Shirley Norman of Markleysburg is
Pennsylvania representative, and Glen
and Helen Kinsel of Roanoke are the
Virginia representatives.
Disaster Resource Consultants are
appointed for two-year terms and work
year-round to educate communities to
prevent human-caused disasters like ci
disorder and environmental disasters.
They also advocate for measures to les
sen the effect of disasters where possit-'
iller signs on to NCC letter to
esident concerning violence
neral secretary Donald Miller joined
tional Council of Churches general
Tetary Joan Brown Campbell and
;sident-elect Gordon L. Sommers in a
:er to President Clinton concerning the
ilence in America,
rhe letter, which commended the
isident on his speech in Memphis,
nn., concerning violence, was signed
over 40 ecumenical leaders. The letter
o stated several initiatives churches
/e taken to combat violence in the
nmunity including the Congress of
National Black Churches" working at
formulating responses to violence in the
communities, and the NCC's recent
statement condemning graphic media
violence.
"Religious community anti-violence
initiatives revolve around several con-
sistent themes," the letter stated. One of
the themes is "Continuing to proclaim,
teach, and call our people to practice the
ethical value and virtues which provide
the basis for real community and a
morally fulfilling life. The battle against
violence begins in each of our hearts and
lives. Religious faith offers vital moral
resources for replacing fear and violence
with hope and reconciliation in our
homes, communities, and nation."
The letter also stated the goal of
"protecting America's children from the
epidemic of violence by effective, respon-
sive, equitable law enforcement, and
by providing our young people with
options for healthy development through
private action and public policies that
promote ample education, strong social
programs, and real job opportunities."
Other objectives in the letter included
stopping the increasing numbers of
guns, monitoring media violence, and
installing anti-violence coalitions in
communities.
or
innonlte groups in Mexico and North America will
list the Mennonite church in Cuba following the recommendation of
even-member delegation that visited the island nation in November
i December. The delegation was made up of representatives from
Mennonite Church in Mexico, Franconia Mennonite Conference,
nnonite Central Committee (MCC), and Mennonite Board of
;sions.
The groups will provide transportation for a Cuban pastoral couple
they can visit the nine Mennonite groups scattered throughout he
> Villas province. They will also assist with exchanges among
ban and other Latin American Mennonites.
Church Women United (CWU), a national ecumenical
vement of Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other
ristian women, has been sued for the amount of $2 million by a
rwegian fish processing company based in New Bedford, Mass.
3 suit was brought in reaction to Church Women United's letter-
ting campaign questioning Frionor's unjust treatment of female
ployees. CWU joined with a number of other organizations in
louncing a proposed contract "that would potentially discriminate
jinst Frionor's largely female workforce by allowing older women to
replaced by younger, less expensive workers," said a news
Base.
A campaign to highlight human rights violations in
i United States was initiated in December by the World Council of
urches (WCC) and National Council of Churches (NCC).
The two organizations aim to raise the level of awareness about
:ism and other abuses by looking at the issue in the context of
jrnational human rights law. The campaign's emphasis will initially
be on education— helping the churches and communities to see and
understand the problems. This fall, the WCC will organize interna-
tional ecumenical teams of church leaders and human rights experts
to visit seven US sites (New York, N.Y., Chicago, III., Pine Ridge,
S.D., El Paso, Texas, Birmingham, Ala., and Miami, Fla.) where local
groups will present the human rights violations they have documented
in their communities. From this documentation, a brief will be
prepared for presentation to the UN Human Rights Commission.
Under a new tederal law that took effect January 1 ,
people making lump-sum contributions of $250 or more to a church or
other charity may no longer use a canceled check as a receipt when
filing their federal taxes, according to a Religious News Service news
release.
People must now obtain a detailed receipt from the church or
charity stating the amount and nature of the donation. The Internal
Revenue Service says the law will close a loophole and put a stop to
donor fraud that costs the federal government almost $100 million a
year in lost revenue.
Church World Service (CWS), reported that from
October 1992 through September 1993, nearly 8,000 refugees were
resettled in the United States from five different regions of the world.
East Asia had the highest number of resettled refugees with 2,775
while eastern Europe followed with 2,370. Africa had 1,108, the Near
East 1,102, and Latin America 505. CWS also reported that 1,481
Cubans and 340 Haitians were resettled in the US under the Cuban/
Haitian Primary Secondary Resettlement Program.
CWS is a ministry unit of the Church World Service and Witness
unit of the National Council of Churches.
March 1 994 Messenger 9
'A Daring and Hopeful Vision'
by Margaret Woolgrove
'"Listen to me,' Jesus says, which simply
means to be obedient to the gift that is
within you."" For many of those who
heard Michael Banks" message at the
Peacemaker Congress in Chicago over
the New Year weekend, the gift of which
he spoke was the gift of being a peace-
maker in a troubled and violent world.
And for many people, that troubled and
violent world is not nearly so much "out
there"" as it is right here, in our own
backyards, on our own streets, and even
in our own homes.
In a series of plenaries and 40 work-
shop options, the 300 participants at the
conference were invited to explore
"Christian Alternatives to a Culture of
Violence.""
In the opening session. Banks, a
Mennonite pastor from the Bronx, N.Y.,
called on conference participants to
"dream their dreams and vision their
visions'": to "lift the ceiling and push out
the walls."" Although the conference had
been organized by the three Historic
Peace Churches (Brethren, Quaker, and
Mennonite), in the guises of Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and New Call
to Peacemaking. Banks told the
conferencegoers not to be bound by the
labels of denominationalism or anything
else. "Peacemaking mustn"t become a
clique. We need to include the meat-
eaters too!" Banks continued, "Denomi-
nations are just a method in the way: the
way is Jesus Christ," with the goal being
justice and freedom from oppression.
In the period of open worship that
followed this talk, Marti Matthews, a
Quaker, spoke of the gentleness that
must be employed when attempting to
determine what justice is for other
peoples. "In peacemaking we need to
listen very hard to what others really
want. If we do not, then our attempts at
being peacemakers can end up doing
violence to others."
Julie Garber, editor for Brethren Press,
picked up on this theme when she
cautioned the group not to see its vision
Church of the Brethren members Tom Wagner (far left) of Muskegon, Mich., and
Dale Brown (far right) of Lombard, III., stand with other participants of the
Peacemaker Congress in a protest of war toys at a Chicago toy store in January.
of human rights necessarily as a univer-
sal vision. She spoke of the need to be
"fully human" in whatever one does for
God. In addressing the "Daring and
Hopeful Vision" of Christian Peace-
maker Teams, Garber said it was by
living into one's own humanity and
thereby enabling others to live into theirs
that the vision of CPT was rooted.
"We have no credibility in the world
out there if we're not working on the
humanization of our own society," she
said, stressing that the humanization of
the First World is only going to happen
with a divestment of power. This starts at,
an individual level by divesting of the
symbols and rhetoric that have been usedj
by one group to gain subjugation over
another, for example, through language
or religious symbols.
"Sometimes the very thing you're
afraid of is the very thing you are being
called to do,"" said Bill Wylie Kellerman
in Sunday"s plenary. "Getting your fears
out into the open frees them to be used in,
the service of the Holy Spirit."'
On New Year's Day, 150 conference
participants put the theory of nonviolent
action into practice in a demonstration
against war toys at a local Toys-R-Us
store in Chicago. This was the first CPT-
initiated public prayer witness to receive
full national and local media coverage.
The witness began with a time of prayer
and continued with singing and
leatleting, both inside and outside the
store. A 20-minute teach-in on the effect
of violent toys on children took place
inside the store while stickers warning olj
the damaging "health" risks of violent
toys were stuck onto the packages
containing them.
The congress ended as it began, with
worship combining the traditions of
Mennonite, Quaker and Brethren. Per-
haps less in keeping with many people's
images of these three "Puritan"
churches, was the spontaneous move-
ment and clapping which broke out with
the singing of the last song, "We shall gc
out with joy, and be led forth
in peace. . . ."
f
I
li
i
a
*
Ail
10 Messenger March 1994
read for today
and tomorrow
Brethren development ministries around the world
ly Joan Deeter
'e Brethren are proud of our history of
itending a cup of cold water to brothers
id sisters in the name of Jesus Christ.
'e believe that our faith is
vealed in the manner of
ir giving. In 1994, we
•lebrate 50 years of
sponse to human need
rough the Brethren
;rvice Center at New
'indsor, Md. And as we
ark this anniversary, we
ijoy recalling the variety
aid that has been
ocessed through that
cility. We remember the
rly years at New Windsor
hen tons of material aid
"re shipped to European
luntries devastated by
orld War II. We rejoice
at the ministry continues
ith recent gifts of love to
|issia and Sudan, and to
btims of floods in the US.
'Brethren quickly
spond to urgent need.
at Brethren have extended
ring beyond the public
!:ention of today's
adline. As Dan West
■ gan Heifer Project to multiply the
ildren fed, so Brethren with others
ve sought to equip persons to carry
>ponsibility for meeting their own
eds. Refugees are resettled and assisted
becoming .self-sufficient in a new
:ation. Wells are dug in Nigeria to
ovide not just a cup of cold water, but
ars of available supply. Months after a
disaster, volunteers will be on the site,
helping to make repairs or replace
destroyed housing.
Around the world there are urgent
needs. There are also men and women
Most of us recognize that were we the
hungry and homeless we would long for
a new start beyond the necessary
immediate aid.
Through One Great Hour of Sharing
Brethren work to turn recipients of our giving into
strengthened partners who can join us in bringing life
to all the world's peoples.
^^^
m
m
•I
1993 Annual Conference moderator Chuck Boyer, Joan Deeter, and then World Ministries
chairwoman Ingrid Rogers discussed development ministries with David Malafa, chairman of
Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN) in a February 1993 meeting in Nigeria.
eager to be partners in finding long-term
solutions to the problems that plague
them. Hebrews 13:3 encourages us to
think of those who suffer desperate
need as though we shared their fate.
"Remember those who are in prison, as
though you were in prison with them;
those who are being tortured, as though
you yourselves were being tortured."
we reach out with the immediate life-
saving bread for the day and the develop
ment assistance that looks toward
tomorrow. We turn recipients into
strengthened partners who can join
us in bringing life to all the
world's peoples.
Joan Deeter is associare general secretary for
the World Ministries Commission.
March 1 994 Messenger 1 1
Ai.
Dread for toda
and tomorrow
latin Aiiierira/iari[
An alternative to 'distorted developmer
by Yvonne K. Dilling
As I walk through a village, an acquain-
tance hails me and invites me in for
coffee. I accept, and enjoy the good
company and strong, sweet coffee. Our
conversation is only marred by the TV/
VCR blaring in the cement living room. A
half-hour into our visit, I ask to use the
bathroom. My host casually replies, "Just
go out back . . . anywhere."
To visit a village in Latin America or
the Caribbean today is to be overwhelmed
by this sort of contradiction — a VCR. but
no toilet, not even a latrine. "'Underdevel-
opment" is not an adequate term to
describe such areas. I prefer the term
"distorted development." The technologi-
cal era has surpassed the industrialized
era, bringing the latest products into sight
of the people least able to afford them. At
the same time these people are not
provided the services North Americans
take for granted, such as indoor plumbing.
Several new Brethren congregations in
the Dominican Republic are located in a
province that is a good example of
(continued on page 14)
Refugees dream of a restaurant
by Mervin Keeney
Jesus" ministry included both preaching
and healing. He multiplied the loaves and
fishes for those who were hungry. And he
directed us to respond to the needs of the
hungry and thirsty, the sick and impris-
oned, as though we were ministering to
Christ himself. The gospel message
weaves together a concern for physical and
spiritual wholeness.
Following Christ's example. Brethren
have built schools, dug wells, and devel-
oped health programs while establishing
churches. We believe our spiritual
wholeness is linked with sharing our
resources, or taking action, to enable
another's physical wholeness. We recog-
nize that the church is not an international
aid organization, and may not have
sufficient resources to meet every need, but
we know that we cannot ignore hunger
and suffering surrounding us and still call
ourselves the body of Christ.
Soon after the first service under the
tamarind tree in Garkida in 1923, a school
was established as a part of the Nigeria
mission program. Over the years, Brethren
12 Messenger March 1994
mission efforts in Nigeria, Sudan, and
elsewhere have emphasized education,
health care, wells and water programs,
and other development activities alongside
evangelism, church planting, and theo-
logical education. We understand this
ministry combination as reflecting the
example of Christ.
Ongoing development ministries in
parmership with the Nigerian church
include the widely recognized rural health
program; the rural development program,
which includes both agriculture and wells
programs (see February, page 1 8, high-
lighting the new dams component); and
the Technical School at Garkida. Middle
East development efforts have included
health services and education.
In the desperate war and drought
context of Sudan, development is espe-
cially difficult because the people have
been forced away from the basic means of
production and self-support — fields and
cattle herds.
Phil and Louise Rieman serve as
community development facilitators in
southern Sudan. One of the tasks of the
Riemans is to nurture and encourage local
initiatives to respond to the needs express
by the community. Despite the war and
destruction in southern Sudan, there are
many able leaders and committed indivic
als whose spirit flourishes amidst the
suffering. Phil tells of one women's grou
"Early in our stay in Kaya, we met
Anglina, an active and outgoing lay won
at the Roman Catholic church just down
hill from our house.
"Later, Louie and I met with Anglina a
the Catholic women's group and Nancy
Hinga, our Kenyan NSCC (New Sudan
Council of Churches) co-worker. I saw thf
enthusiasm they all had meeting together ]
sisters in Christ, brainstorrning, envisionii
and planning what they could do to help
themselves and those around them. What;
heard was a group of women with many
good ideas about how they could, with a li
of support, become more self-reliant.
"Louie and Nancy are dynamic co- J
workers with lots of charisma that draw; i6
best out of jjeople and empowers them tc
creatively and imaginatively act on their
dreams. And it happened that day. The
women discussed their dreams of startin i
guest house/restaurant, of cooperative
've: Youth in the Dominican Republic.
]ht: Father Spiridon (right), the director of
the project at Anosino, stands in front of
the entrance to the monastery.
'ow: Nigerian Stephen Zoaka surveys a
dam project near Ganji .
"dening, of raising funds for education of
ciiildren, and having their own grinding
II to serve the community.
'Within a month and a half the war
ced the evacuation of Kaya, wounding the
;ams but not killing them. Nancy, Louie,
1 1 have met with Anglina now in the
ugee camp. Being refugees has only
wed the women down, not stopped them,
lybe the next time we visit we can
at their little restaurant."
M.
Another 'heifer project'
... in the wilderness
by H. Lamar Gibble
Although it was only November, the
Russian winter had begun. The day was
crisp and clear. Birchwood, field, and
stream were covered with snow and ice.
Ornately trimmed wooden houses formed a
village along the crumbling wall of a
V:!^
Vervin Keeney is Africa and Middle East
resenrarive on the World Ministries Commission
f.
monastery. By the decaying monastery gate
a chapel in the process of restoration was
our first stop for brief prayers. Inside the
walls, even greater deterioration, destruc-
tion, and clutter awaited us. And this was to
be the center for the dairy development
project that has received the blessing of
Patriarch Alexy?
Before the 1917 Russian
Revolution, the Russian Orthodox
Monastery of Saints Boris and
Gleb in the Wildemess of Anosino
was very important to the commu-
nity. It encompassed thousands of
hectares of agricultural land,
forest, and meadow. Its monastic
community was counted in the
hundreds. Central in its walled
compound stood a great church,
surrounded by buildings dedicated
not only to liturgical celebration
and shelter for the religious
community, but also to agriculture,
food storage, education, and
culture. After the Revolution,
especially during the Stalinist
period, the monastic community
was decimated. Bombing during
World War II almost destroyed the
main church and most of the
surrounding buildings. The
monastery compound largely lay in
ruins, and was cluttered with
materials left by its last user, a
state construction company.
But a few years ago, this
monastery, along with many
i I others, was returned to the church
m J by the state. Retumed were the
primary monastery grounds within
the walls and slightly over 100
hectares (250 acres) of the original
thousands. An order of Russian
Orthodox nuns retumed to the
property to begin rebuilding and
cultivating the land for their
sustenance. Their living space and
March 1994 Messenger 13
B
read for today
and tomorrow
the chapel by the gate were restored first.
At my visit there were 22 sisters in the
community.
They had cultivated about five hectares
of vegetables, mostly potatoes, to provide
for their food and to support some of the
needy in their village. Several cows, a
horse, and chickens occupied one of the
large cattle sheds that survived the history
of war and decay. Now the new vision and
hope of the sisters of this convent and of
the Russian Orthodox Church are that this
historic monastery may become a center
for dairy herd development, supplying
pure bred or improved dairy cattle to other
agricultural development projects being
initiated by the church on agricultural
lands returned for their use.
I was convinced that this is a worthy
project. But the needed dairy breeding
stock and agriculture machinery and
equipment will be costly. Development of
this project alone initially will require
$207,700. The Church of the Brethren,
along with the cooperating denominations
of the National Council of Churches, is
committed to this project. Development
funds are pooled by these denominations
along with the money raised for this
purpose through Church World Service
direct appeals and CROP walks.
The project in the Wilderness of
Anosino is one of four major agricultural
development projects supported by US
churches. Two others, one near Smolensk
and one in Siberia, are also projects of the
Russian Orthodox Church. The other one
is sponsored by the Russian Baptists and is
in the Ryazan region, about 400 kilome-
ters south of Moscow. The total estimated
current cost to bring these projects and
dreams to fruition is $657,700. 1 give 20
percent of my time on behalf of the ecu-
menical community relating to these agri-
cultural development projects in Russia.
TTie Church of the Brethren in most of
its history of overseas witness and work
has had food production and agricultural
development as part of its agenda. It was
true in all of its mission programs. It was
reflected in programs such as Heifer
Project. It continues in our agricultural
14 Messenger March 1994
exchange programs with Poland and
China. And it is reflected in a significant
way by our current participation in and
support of these agricultural development
programs in Russia. Food is basic to life.
As Jesus" feeding of the five thousand
illustrates, physical and spiritual needs
cannot be artificially separated. In the face
of food shortages and hunger, emergency
food must be provided. But as quickly as
possible such programs must be supple-
mented and replaced by sustainable food
production programs such as the one
underway in the Wilderness of
Anosino.
Ai
H. Lamar Gihhle is representative for Europe
and Asia/peace and international affairs on the
World Ministries staff.
DILLING. continued fi-om page 12.
distorted development. The development
hopes of the 1960s and '70s died, and as
the global economic system went through
convulsions in the '80s, economic life
became desperate in villages such as the
one I described. In this particular prov-
ince, well-meaning people and agencies
"helped" in erratic ways that lack a
consistent contact and involvement in
these villages. A welfare mentality
developed. People came to expect that if
they waited long enough, "someone else
would come along to help."
Those same persons are most suscep-
tible to the latest products that technology
has produced. So it is commonplace today
to find a VCR in a house with no plumb-
ing, among people who do not understand
why plumbing is necessary for community
health.
Thankfully, not all the villagers are
sitting around waiting. Miguelina Arias is
a member of the Church of the Brethren in
the Dominican Republic, living in
Magueyal, a village that epitomizes
distorted development. Miguelina is a
teacher in the public school there, and a
life-long resident. She only left for a few
years to get her teaching certificate. She is
bright, skilled, and energetic. Many people
ask her why she doesn't apply to teach in
the capital city, where she could earn
much more. Her firm answer is that she
loves the people of her village and wants
to help them better their lives.
Miguelina was the first to ask me last
summer if the church in the US could help
her village construct a community
building that would house a pre-school.
There might be funds, I said. We then
talked about community projects — what
makes them work or fail. In a general way
we came to the topic of philosophy and
criteria for good community projects. I
explained that the Brethren practice
community collaboration. "We do not do
alone what we can do better in collabora-
tion with others," I said.
That was in June. In August,
Miguelina's pastor, Daneri, reported to mi
that they had formed a community
coalition including the farmers associa-
tion, the housewives club of the Catholic
church, the school teachers, and the
Church of the Brethren.
I contacted a grassroots community
education group, GAAPs in Santo
Domingo, and asked it to visit the village
for me, to assess the viability of the group
and project, and explain our application
forms. A month later, a long, positive
report came, confirming there was a core
group representing three or four commu-
nity organizations, all of them weak, but
with good potential as a coalition.
Although the group was in its early
development stages, it had good capabili-
ties ... if provided with the right training
CAAPs offered to provide technical
assistance to the group, whose first step
would be a community workshop on how
to do community projects, including how
to motivate broad participation.
A recent visit to Magueyal gave me
hope for something better than "distorted
development" for the Dominican
Republic, and hope that the Church of thi
Brethren can continue to do its small par
to give lives a sense of dignity for the [Ti!
glory of God and our neighbor's good. I —
Yvonne K. Dilling is Latin AmericalCarihbean
representative on the World Ministries Commissio
Staff.
i
Can we have hope for Haiti?
)y Margaret Woolgrove
There seems to be so little in Haiti to be
opeful about anymore,'" said Connie
Valsh, a Brethren Volunteer Service
/orker who has been on assignment in
laiti for the past year, "but probably the
lost uplifting thing that has happened to
le in my time here was on a visit I took
ut to a small rural community center
ist year. These people had so little, but
efore I left, the leader of the community
ame and gave me two small eggs that
is hens had laid. I think that those two
ggs were the most important gift that
've received in my whole life."
Living and working in the poorest
ountry in the Western Hemisphere,
/here one out of five children die before
le age of five, and life expectancy is 54
ears, is a challenge not everyone is
repared to face. Connie arrived in Haiti
anuary last year, 16 months after the
lilitary coup that ousted Haiti's first
emocratically elected president from
ower. The ensuing 12 months have
een tough, at once both challenging and
xciting, and also gruelingly difficult.
"The hardest thing I have done during
ly year in Haiti," said Connie, "is stand
y and watch Izmery die." Antoine
zmery, the leading financial backer of
'resident Aristide, was shot by the
lilitary in broad daylight in September
ist year (November, page 6). "There
/ere a lot of internationals at the church
ervice that day," Connie continued,
and I can't help but think that if we had
een more organized, we could have
one something to prevent his death."
The memory of that day remains very
irm in Connie's mind.
"Just over a month later, Guy Malary,
le minister for justice from Aristide's
overnment, was shot outside that same
hurch. If the military can get away with
lis type of killing in broad daylight, is it
ny wonder that the people no longer
;el safe in the streets or in their
omes?"
j Connie's first assignment in Haiti was
/ith a hospice in Port-au-Prince, the
apital city. "In the United States, a
;0spice is a place that looks after the
Connie Walsh, Yvonne Dilling {World Ministries staff for Latin America/
Caribbean), and Cinny Poppen plan a February "Emergency Delegation to Haiti."
dying," said Connie, "but the hospice
where I worked in Haiti was more like
an international house of hospitality. It
hosted a lot of delegations as well as
housing a clinic, a water distribution
center for the city, and a school sponsor-
ship program."
Connie worked at the hospice for six
months while she developed her lan-
guage skills. The language spoken in
Haiti is Creole, which draws upon
French, Spanish, and African languages,
a living testimony to the cultural
heritage of these people. Once she had
gained a proficiency in Creole, Connie
began working part-time at the National
Coalition for Haitian Refugees (NCHR),
interviewing Haitians who come to the
center for help. It is to this work that
Connie returned at the end of January.
The Church of the Brethren Emer-
gency Disaster Fund has allocated
$10,000 to be sent to Haiti, half of which
will be put in a victims' fund for needy
political asylum seekers.
Haiti has ties with the Church of the
Brethren that go back more than 25
years. Numerous volunteers have been
placed in Haiti during this time, and in
the late 1970s a "covenant relationship"
was forged with the Eglise Baptiste des
Cities in Port-au-Prince. In 1987, the
Church of the Brethren General Board
passed a resolution calling for "prayerful
support for all the churches of Haiti that
are seeking to be a voice for justice,
morality, and democracy in their
country." The need for prayerful support
for Haiti is as great now as it was then.
"There are so many issues in the world
clamoring for attention that it is hard to
remain focused on just one or two," said
Cinny Poppen, who spent three months
working with the Washington Office on
Haiti before Christmas, and who headed
up a Brethren delegation to Haiti in
February. "But if there was ever a time
when the people of Haiti needed support
from church people, that time is now."
There are a number of things that the
Brethren can do for Haiti, according to
Cinny:
1 ) Pray for justice and peace for the
Haitian people;
2) Keep informed about the political,
economic, and social situation;
3) Write letters to Congress asking for
the imposition and enforcement of strong
sanctions against the military regime,
including the withholding of visas for
military personnel;
4) Visit Haiti, and accompany the
Haitian people in their struggle for
freedom and justice;
5) Send money to the National
Coalition for Haitian Refugees (NCHR)
to be'put toward its Victims' Fund
6) Pray some more.
/ii.
March 1994 Messenger 15
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offering
suggestions, peispectives. and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in hei- first installment. "Remember,
when it comes to managing life's
difficulties, we don't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are."
STONiS
At the risk of sounding like a
parent, I have to say that the
fashion philosophy today
leaves me a bit bewildered:
What's old is new; what's
wrong side out is in; what's
torn is together; what's faded
is sharp; and what's frayed is
fine.
The people who market
these things are no dummies.
They know that mom types
take one look at tom, faded
garments on the rack with
premium price tags and say:
"Fifty dollars for that? No
way! It looks like somebody
ruined it in the wash and
returned it!" So they include
a plausible disclaimer, like
this one off my son's new
jeans: "UNEVEN WASH is
a specialized process that is
exclusive to PIGMENT
SHADES. The irregularities
are part of the desired look
creating an individual and
personal garment."
So we fall for it, saying:
"Oh, I get it. It's supposed to
look that way." And, voila!
The imperfections are now a
status symbol.
I wish people came with
such disclaimers:
"The baldness trait on the
Monroe Men creates a
smooth sheen on a head
designed for thinking.
Extraneous hair would be an
unwelcome distraction."
"Hefty thighs are the
female trademark of the
Klonawski Klan. The
additional packaging on this
woman is part of a carefully
cultivated image and
broadens the impact of her
appeal."
"The large nose you see on
the attached person is a
family heirloom that has
been handed down from
generation to generation. It
adds dimension to a face
otherwise monotonous with
unbroken regularity."
"The fact that the men and
women in this age group
wear some of their years
around their middles is a
trademark of 'LATTER
DAYS DESIGNS.' The
deviation of shape is
intentional and designed to
give a look that is uniquely
yours."
I think Michael Jackson is
one of the most pathetic
human beings alive. For all
his undeniable talent, for all
his money, for all his fame,
he obviously cannot come to
grips with what he considers
to be his physical imperfec-
tions. I've lost track of how
many cosmetic surgeries he
has undergone to alter his
appearance. But 12 years ago
he was a handsome young
man. Today he has the
plastic, surrealistic look of a
mannequin.
On the other, healthier,
hand, my hat is off to the
marketing genius of the
Wal-Mart corporation for
using its employees and
families in its advertisements
to display merchandise. I
don't know about you, but I
like opening the newspaper
to see models who look like
people instead of some
adolescent's fantasy-come-
to-life.
With a little clever
marketing that precipitates a
change of perspective,
imperfections in today's top
brand-name clothing are
elevated from flaws to
fashion statements.
So it would stand to reason
that if we would be willing
to change our perspective
regarding the physical
appearance of our fellow
human beings, "imperfec-
tions" would cease to be a
source of shame and rejec-
tion, and could be embraced
for the spice of life that
variety brings.
Maybe what I'm
proposing is a bit ambitious
and un-realistic. But if it's
working for Guess, Bugle
Boy, and Wal-Mart, why
not for real people
as well?
Ai.
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg. Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren. Middlebury. Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counseling
out ofWateiford (Ind.i Community
Church.
16 Messenger March 1994
J
John D. Metzler Sr.:
He went into all the world
by Kermon Thomas son
\fter the death of 95-year-old John D.
VIetzler Sr. this past December 20, I
jhoned a 70-year-old Brethren minister
ivho, I recollected, had worked with
lohn in the late 1940s. To my surprise,
vvhen 1 mentioned John's death, he
-eplied, "You know, I wasn't aware he
ivas still alive."
I think John Metzler would have been
jmused by that reply, and taken some
satisfaction in the significance of it, for
ivhile he had all the credentials of a full-
Mown Brethren "hero," he was a modest
nan. His name was never the household
tvord that that of his contemporary, Dan
West of Heifer Project, was. And he
ivorked shoulder to shoulder with M.R.
Zigler in establishing the Brethren
Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
But, unlike M.R., John was not, in his
)0s, still before the public, crusading for
lis latest cause. John's heyday was the
1940s, '50s, and early '60s. His most
"ecent years were spent in quiet retire-
ment in the Northwest. (He died in
Beaverton, Ore.)
And, like my minister friend, many,
Tiany people — Brethren and others —
ivho participate in annual CROP walks,
Jo not even know that this now totally
ecumenical organization was begun by a
Church of the Brethren relief worker —
lohn D. Metzler Sr.
Before CROP, John (and his wife,
Margaret) had been busy in service
projects. He opened a service center in
Nappanee, Ind., during World War II, as
an outgrowth of a collection system to
provide food for Civilian Public Service
(CPS) camps. (CPSers were conscien-
tious objectors to war, who performed
public service in lieu of military ser-
vice.) Soon afterward, John worked with
M.R. Zigler to buy for the Brethren
Service Committee the old Blue Ridge
College campus in New Windsor, Md.,
and to begin that center.
Meanwhile, as director of material aid
for the Church of the Brethren, John
worked closely with several organiza-
tions that combined in 1946 to form
Church World Service (CWS), today an
arm of the National Council of
Churches.
In 1947, however, began the organiza-
tion that, more than any other, is
associated with the name of John D.
Metzler Sr. That was CROP (Christian
Rural Overseas Program).
John told about those beginnings in
his own words in a 1977 Messenger
article:
"One of the early requests for food
came from the Netherlands, which had
sent a purchasing commission to the
United States to buy wheat. We asked
the Dutch representative if his company
would be willing to pay the shipping
costs if we were to gather together
carloads of wheat throughout the US. He
was glad to arrange that; so the Church
of the Brethren, along with the Evangeli-
cal and Reformed Church and, in some
cases, Mennonites, began developing
gifts of carloads of wheat for the
Netherlands. Soon their needs were
provided for otherwise, but this experi-
ence was the germ of the idea that later
developed into CROP."
CROP began with a $5,000 grant from
the Brethren Service Committee, and set
up shop in a few rooms at Bethany
Seminary, in Chicago, with a couple of
salaried employees and volunteer help.
In 1952, the offices moved to Elkhart,
Ind., where they have been ever since.
Under John's leadership, CROP col-
lected commodities from Brethren
farmers and others and loaded them onto
Friendship Trains and Friendship Food
Ships. This was in the days before
government subsidies were available to
voluntary agencies. CROP continues
today as the community hunger appeal
of Church World Service.
With CROP firmly established, John
moved on, becoming a staff member of
the World Council of Churches, head-
quartered in Geneva, Switzerland. There
John set up organizations to distribute
surplus commodities in western Europe
and in some eastern European countries.
In 1962, he became secretary for Europe
and the Middle East at the CWS office
in New York.
John's later years were spent in Idaho,
in Church of the Brethren district work
and in ecumenical service.
John saw his work in helping feed the
world's hungry as central to the gospel.
Nearly 20 years ago, he said, "When you
approach the problem of world hunger,
whether it is in local communities or
among food-deficient people in the
famine areas of the world, you also must
work at a whole complex of related
problems. So I see meeting hunger needs
not as an end in itself, but it is the best
handle I know of to work with some of
the basic problems of the world. Far
better for me than theology."
Messenger writer Ken Morse wrote of
John and Margaret Metzler in 1977:
"They are ... in every sense of the
word. Christian world citizens. Wher-
ever they have lived — Nappanee, New
Windsor, New York, Geneva, or
Athens — they have demonstrated the
immediate pragmatic response of
persons who know what it is to take up
great commissions and go into
all the world."
Ai.
March 1994 Messenger 17
But why was he resurrected?
by James Benedict
My wife tells me it's because I'm rapidly
approaching middle age, but I know
better. I've been doing it since . . . since
. . . well, as long as I can remember,
actually. I walk out of a room, then
return in a few moments, only to forget
why I've come back. My wife finds it
very amusing, especially on the morn-
ings when I hurry about to get to the
office, walk halfway over to the church,
stop and come back, only to stand in the
doorway with a puzzled look on my face.
She grins and asks, "You don't have a
clue, do you?"
Unable to confess the truth, I counter
her accusation. "No, no," I say. "It's
coming to me. Just give me a minute."
She knows I'm lying. But fortunately
she is gracious, and when she is aware of
what it is I've come back for (which is
most of the time) she helps me out. She
hands me my cup of coffee, or notes, or
books, or a scrap of paper with a mes-
sage and a telephone number on it, and
she asks, "Is this it?"
There is nothing for me to do but to
say, "Thanks," and hurry to the office,
not only to get to work, but also to get
beyond earshot of her giggling. Not that
I begrudge her the right to giggle; I
recognize the humor in the situation and,
after all, she does help me figure out why
I've returned. When she's not around,
there are times I never figure it out and
have to continue on to my original
destination still wondering why I
backtracked.
I got to thinking about this as I read
the gospel accounts of the resurrection.
Jesus returns from the grave, obviously
for some very important reason. But
within the narratives, nobody asks about
it. Nobody asks, "Why?" The mere fact
that he returns is dramatic, and confirm-
ing the fact that it is indeed Jesus is a
time-consuming interest of the disciples.
Once they are convinced that it (5 their
dearly departed teacher, there is a lot of
fear, joy, and worship, but still no one
asks, "Why?"
To me, that is the most important
18 Messenger March 1994
question to ask about the resurrection —
not if it really happened, or how it
happened, but why. For what purpose?
For what reason did Jesus return? I could
go on and on arguing that Jesus was in
fact raised from the dead, but there
would be no point in trying to convince
people if they were left not knowing the
reason he was raised from the dead. Why
did he come back?
The Bible seems to be more interested
in answering the "why" question than in
proving the historicity of the event or
explaining how it took place. Certainly
there is some concern with the other
issues. The mention of the empty tomb
and descriptions of the conspiracy to
suppress the witness of the guards at the
tomb are attempts to deal with those who
would deny the resurrection. But the
Through the
resurrection, death
is not permitted
to define the
significance of life.
deeper concern of each of the gospel
writers is for us to understand what the
resurrection means.
In Matthew's account, the two Marys
are on their way to the tomb when an
earthquake is prompted by the descent of
an angel. The guards at the tomb faint
from terror, but the women listen as the
angel instructs them. "Do not be afraid,"
he says. "I know you are looking for
Jesus who was crucified. He is not here;
for he has been raised, as he said. Come
see the place where he lay. Then go
quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has
been raised from the dead, and indeed is
going ahead of you to Galilee; there you
will see him"'(Matt. 28:5-7).
The angel invites them to take a quick
look at the fact of the resurrection:
"Come see the place where he lay," but
insists that they not dwell on Jesus'
absence from the tomb. Instead, the
women are given a task, a mission. They
are to carry a message to the disciples.
Jesus has come back to meet with his
disciples in Galilee.
No sooner do the women turn and
begin running to fulfill their mission
than they are met suddenly by the risen
Christ. He greets them, and they fall
before him in worship. But Jesus does
not invite them to continue to cling to
him as a way of verifying that he is
indeed risen. Rather, he reaffirms the
mission they've been given: "Go and tell
my brothers to go to Galilee; there they
will see me" (Matt. 28:10).
In Galilee we find out why Jesus came
back. Jesus came back to gather his
followers, to confirm his authority, to
send them forth to bring others into the
community of disciples, and finally to
promise his presence with them always.
In short, Jesus returns to reign as Lord.
That is what the resurrection means:
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is the one who calls
the shots. Jesus is in charge. Because he
triumphed over all the forces of evil,
even what Paul calls "the final enemy" —
death, he is the one who has the power to
shape our destiny. Our lives are not to be
ordered by the power of death, but by the
will of the One who has overcome death.
By the means of the resurrection,
death is put in its proper place. It ceases
to be a rival lord. The resurrection tells
us to stop exaggerating the significance <
of death, to stop making more of it '.
than it is.
Sometimes we are overly intimidated !
by death. We are like little children,
lying in bed before they go to sleep, who
see a shadow on the wall. And before
very long, with the help of their imagina .
tions, that shadow becomes a make-
believe monster. And then, because of
their childish fears, it becomes a real
monster, able to terrify them to the point
that they leave their beds. They become
so frightened by the shadow monster tha
they go downstairs, in spite of the fact
that they were told not to.
Death is more than a shadow, but it is
not a terror that should cause us to
disobey our God. Death is a reality, but
not the fact; it is true that we all must
'Resurrection." an enj^raving hy Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525'.'-1569)
lie, but that is not the ultimate truth
ibout us. The ultimate truth is that we
)elong to God and may know life in all
ts fullness by trusting in Jesus Christ.
That is why we sing hallelujahs on
laster, because death is circumscribed. It
s as if death marks a line to indicate the
;nd of life, but God, by means of the
resurrection, takes out his marker and
draws a circle around death, making it
only a part of life — only an interruption,
not the end. Death is not allowed to rule.
Death is not permitted to define the
significance of a life.
It is important to remember that truth
as you stand at the side of a grave or a
deathbed. Neither the fact of death or the
circumstances surrounding it are any
indication of the genuine value of the life
lived. When I stand near the body of
someone who has been prematurely
taken, I know because of the resurrection
that this does not mean that person's life
was less valuable or less important than
others. When I witness slow deteriora-
tion and the indignity of the loss of
personality as a prelude to death, the
resurrection assures me that it is not a
reflection of that person's worth in the
eyes of God.
Death must come, and it comes in
many forms, most of which we would not
choose if we were given the privilege of
choice. But over every death, Jesus
Christ reigns as Lord by means of his
resurrection, and by means of God's
promise that we shall someday share in
his resurrection. Jesus Christ reigns —
not death. Jesus Christ determines the
value of a life — not death. And because
Jesus Christ reigns, he is the one from
whom we should take our cues regarding
how life is to be lived.
In the sporting goods department of a
discount store, I saw a T-shirt with the
slogan "Fishing isn't a matter of life and
death — it's more important than that!"
It was supposed to be funny, but it .set
me to thinking. It may not be true of
fishing, but it is true of Jesus Christ as
Lord. The resurrection declares that his
lordship isn't simply a matter of earthly
life and death; it's more important than
that. Death especially pales in signifi-
cance next to the authority of Jesus
Christ. Death's power is negligible by
comparison.
At Easter we celebrate our relationship
with the one who is greater than death, a
relationship of trust and hope. We
celebrate his promise to be with us
always, even when we come face to face
with death, be it that of loved ones or our
own. And we commit ourselves to
ordering our lives by his will in acknowl-
M.
edgment that Jesus Christ is Lord
indeed.
James BeneJic! is paslor of Troy lOliio) Church
oftlie Bretlircn.
March 1994 Messenger 19
What the Old Brethren!
said about anointing
by Galen R. Hackman
Anointing for healing historically has
held a central place in Brethren faith and
practice. Because of its centrality in our
heritage, it also has held special attrac-
tion for me. Part of my interest in the
PROCEEDINGS
—OF THE-
0
I)
"^y:.-.
^4^4^(r-4^^\^
^
^^^:^
—OF THE—
Brethren
'Great wisdom may
be embodied in
the counsel
of previous
generations/
service is caused by my coming into the
ministry during a time when the neo-
pentecostal movement was spilling over
into the church. I have gained many
insights from my charismatic sisters and
brothers, but also have seen the impor-
tance of being biblical and balanced in
ministry, especially in dealing with the
more supernatural demonstrations of
God's presence, such as healing.
During the course of my 20 years in
ministry, I have worked alongside a
variety of church leaders from different
backgrounds, both in the United States
and Nigeria. At times, I have assisted
others in the anointing service. In such
settings, I usually feel more comfortable
with the others leading and me follow-
ing. And as I follow, I watch and learn.
This has led to some interesting
experiences and observations. I have
noticed differences of practice and belief
regarding anointing, some of which
made me uncomfortable. I often have
worked at the meaning and practice of
anointing from a biblical standpoint,
preaching and teaching from James 5
and other related passages. But recently.
I followed another approach and ex-
plored how the Brethren of the early
1900s and before responded to some of
the situations I experienced while
participating in the anointing service.
In order to get a better sense for when
the Brethren have been on the topic, I
read the Annual Conference minutes,
1778-1909, for every possible reference.
I did not consider the 1963 statement orl
anointing. I wanted to discover the "Olc
Brethren" position and find relevance fc
today. '
First, some Brethren approach the rit«f
of anointing almost as if it were a sort o'
"magic." One time while I was a guest ]
preacher, the minister asked me to assis
in an anointing. I wholeheartedly agreei'
The brother got out his oil, which he
quickly pointed out was mixed with
spices exactly as prescribed by the Old
Testament. I thought that was pretty
neat, and the oil smelled nice. But the
minister also produced a little card on
which was printed a blessing that, he
said, had to be prayed over the oil in
order to consecrate it. Otherwise, the
anointing would not work. Now I was
uncomfortable.
Another angle on the "magic" idea
comes out when we insist that the word
spoken during the anointing follow soir
prescribed formula. I was taught the
"FISH" acronym — Forgiveness of sins,
Increase of faith. Strengthening and
Healing of the body. The acronym is
20 Messenger March 1994
eful in helping one to remember what
pray about when anointing, but should
suggest a fixed formula?
How did the Old Brethren react? S.S.
ough warned against seeing any
ecial power in the oil (Studies in
jctrine and Devotion, page 170) and
hough the Annual Conference minutes
827, 1, and 1860, 6) did set down
ecific words to be used while the oil
IS being applied to the sick person, the
60 minute concludes with "or as the
)rd may give utterance." This suggests
it the Brethren were open regarding
; exact words spoken when the oil is
plied.
Second, the importance of "confessing
lur faults one to another" is a central
;me for the Old Brethren, giving
idence to their understanding of the
dy of Christ as community (Blough,
ge 170; Annual Conference, 1869, 9).
lave at times been uncomfortable,
wever, with the suggestion that if
aling did not occur (at least not as
visioned by the one anointing) then
; person anointed must not have made
'ull confession of sin. Although the
5a is present in Blough (page 170),
It James, by mentioning confession,
s in mind individual, personal sins in
i earlier minutes (1869, 9) the concern
more toward sins against a sister or
other in the church. The emphasis on
nfession then falls on confessing to
e another with a view toward the
:onciliation of relationships horizon-
ly, which ultimately affects one's
rtical relationship with God as well.
lis is very different from the emphasis
)ften have observed, or made myself, in
; anointing service.
Also related to this is Blough 's
mment (page 170) that both the one
ointed and the one anointing need to
ve faith in the service. This moves one
fay from the idea that the faith of one
rson (that is, the elder anointing) can
.4iiciiiiiiig tkr Sick in Ibc IVame of the liord.
Theological Writings on Various Subjects (by Peter Nead, 1850)
carries this somber depiction of Old Brethren anointing the sick.
somehow "force" God to comply. Rather,
the emphasis is on the faith of the
community as the members together
discern God's will. Again, I gave had
some uncomfortable moments when
elders prayed in a commanding tone,
implying that they somehow could move
the hand of God by their own faith.
Certainly, strong faith on the part of one
person can affect positively the outcome
March 1994 Messenger 21
No more of this
Recently, Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders declared that violence is a leading
cause of death in the United States. Then she challenged the churches to do more
than they have been, to be in the streets actively countering the violence of our
time. Similarly the attorney general has spoken against violence, and both have
been joined by President Clinton. Violence has become a primary political issue
in the United States.
The good news of the gospel is that the reign of God is at hand, and the
violence has been overcome, even though it has not disappeared. The angels
announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds with the blessing, "On Earth
peace, "(Luke 2:14). At the time of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane a disciple struck
off the ear of a servant of the high priest. But Jesus said, "No more of this!" and
healed the man (Luke 22:51).
The early church resisted and overturned many of the violent practices of the
Roman Empire. In the 20th century, hard-won traditions limiting violence have
been shockingly abandoned. Two world wars have destroyed millions of innocent
people. The practice of saturation bombing and the threat of atomic warfare have
overshadowed concern for the innocent. Holocaust and genocide kill everyone
indiscriminately. Far from being considered innocent, children are often the
primary objects of violence. Drive-by shootings share with the shelling of
Sarajevo the killing of anyone. Violence is celebrated in the mass media with
disgusting regularity. We live in a time in which the mythology that "violence is
king" is increasingly accepted.
The proclamation at the center of the church is that the Prince of Peace is
king. The disciples were slow to believe Jesus was not a conquering destroyer, a
terminator. The New Testament teaches that the cause of destroying one another
comes from the human heart. One must be at peace with God and with oneself in
order to be at peace with one's neighbor. Reconciliation to God through Christ is
the beginning of peace. However, in order to be reconciled to God, one must first
go and be reconciled to one's neighbor, (Matt. 5:24). We who are reconciled to
God in Christ carry the ministry of reconciliation, (2 Corin. 5:18).
The violence of our time has many causes and no quick and easy solutions.
Poverty, broken families, drugs, guns, declining morality, pent-up anger,
lawlessness, and media hype join together in a downward spiral. Jesus" words,
"No more of this!" are for us.
We need a discipline of prayer for forgiveness and peace, seeking God's will
for our communities. Even as we pray, we may actively be engaged in reconcilia-
tion, addressing the causes of violence. Our churches can be a resource for
strengthening family life. Churches can work with other churches, community
leaders, and indeed those involved in violence. Churches can act together with
other groups, including schools and police to forge community solidarity where
it is not. We can oppose the easy access to guns, and together we can insist that
the quality of mass media be improved. Prayer and peacemaking belong to one
another. The love of God begins in worship, but worship includes being recon-
ciled to one's neighbor by hearing Jesus" words at Gethsemane, "No more of
this!" — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
of a anointing service, but only when
that faith is an encouraging force that
energizes the faith of others, and
together the will of God (as opposed to
22 Messenger March 1994
the will of people) is actively sought.
Third, another disquieting feeling
develops whenever 1 hear persons
making bold promises during the
anointing. Usually this relates to the
specific way in which God is going to
heal the sick person. Most often, the one
making the promise has only one frame
of reference for healing — physical. In
other words, if the person's physical
infirmity does not vanish, then healing
has not occurred.
The Old Brethren were careful not to
make bold promises about God answer-
ing the prayer of faith in the anointing.
In the Brethren tract on this subject (in
the Brethren's Tract and Pamphlets
series) the unidentified writer says,
"While the sick may not know fully the
particular kind of raising up the Lord |
will grant him. yet he can be certain it
will be that kind which will be best for
him" (page 2 of tract no. 276). I really |
like that statement because it helps me
remember that there are many kinds of
healing, the ultimate of which is death
itself. No more sickness; no more
sorrow. What could be better than
that? Blough also is careful to stipulate
that God may answer the prayer in a
variety of ways that includes "delaying,
modifying, or even denying the healing'
(page 171).
Fourth, concerning the use of medicini
after being anointed, although at first thi
Brethren advised against this (Annual i
Conference minutes 1812, 1), presum- |
ably because it implied a lack of faith ini
the anointing, they later reversed that
position (Annual Conference 1860, 5).
By 1919, Blough fully allows for the ust
of medicine, so long as the Lord "does
not definitely direct otherwise," indicat-
ing that such need not "interfere with o
faith in the anointing" (page 172). The
early prohibitions against mixing
medicine with the anointing need also li
be viewed against the backdrop of wher
progress in medical science was during
the time of those pronouncements.
Fifth, the most frequently repeated
query to Annual Meeting related to soni
aspect of the question of who was
authorized to do the anointing. One
might think that today this issue is a
mute question. I know of a colleague,
however, who insists that only ordaine^
rs (in the official sense of the word)
illowed to anoint. Consequently,
being ordained to the ministry, he
refused to officiate in an anointing
ice because he was not yet an elder.
; the congregation called in "elders"
I neighboring congregations to
ially ordain him as an elder.
1 the other hand, in many of our
negations that are served by full-
pastors, the laity (not a good word
brethren to use) believe that only the
jr can lead in an anointing.
1 the point of who can anoint, the
hren were quite clear: It is good for
ilders to lead, but if none is present,
sters of the first or second degree
would be "licensed" or "ordained,"
ual Conference minutes through
') and finally that anyone "duly
Drized by the church" may officiate
1 anointing (1890, 21; 1893). This
IS to allow for deacons and other
3ns. selected by the congregation, to
inister an anointing,
xth, I have been in situations where
n-Christian has requested the
nting. In these situations my
;agues have responded differently —
: in favor and others opposed. The
Brethren seem to be in agreement
the anointing should not be adminis-
1 to nonmembers or to those excom-
icated (Annual Conference minutes
lis topic; J.H. Moore, New Testament
rines. page 153). What is not clear
nether nonmembers would equate
y to non-Christians, or (as I suspect)
Brethren meant non-Brethren. What
5ar, however, is the Brethren
em to use the ordinances carefully,
much holiness, and not to cheapen
1 by indiscriminate use. With our
basis on inclusiveness today, that's a
sage we could stand to hear.
:venth, when word gets out in the
munity of faith that Sally (or Joe) is
g to be anointed, I often have heard
low believer respond with, "Is she
he) that sick?" Too often we have
;loped the idea that the anointing
functions as the Brethren "last rites." On
the other hand, some anoint for things
not much more troubling than the
common cold. Again we turn to the Old
Brethren and discover that they too
worked at this concern. When asked by
query (Annual Conference minutes,
1852, 20) whether a brother or sister
who is "up and about" should be
anointed. Conference counseled that the
anointing should be reserved for "those
who are sick or in a decline of life."
Although we may argue here that there
are sicknesses other than physical that
result in a "decline of life," we still
cannot avoid the counsel to reserve the
anointing for the more serious situations
one faces in life. However, the counsel
still does not necessarily equate to a "last
rites" mentality.
By exploring what the Old Brethren
said about anointing I do not wish to
suggest that these forebears were
unconditionally correct. To even suggest
that flies in the face of the Brethren's
openness to new truth as it breaks forth
from the Word. I would suggest, how-
ever, that great wisdom may be embod-
ied in the counsel of previous genera-
tions, and we are richer when
we listen to that counsel and see
how it may relate and apply to the
present age.
M.
Galen R. Hiickman. a recent Nigeria missionary,
is pastor ofConewago Church of the Brethren.
Hershex. Pa.
Anyone interested in a reading list of Brethren
authors on anointing and a detailed index to
Annual Conference minutes on the subject may
obtain one by writing toMESSENGER. A stamped,
self-addressed envelope will be appreciated.
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March 1994 Messenger 23
REVIEWS
A story of
love, faith,
and doubt
by Kenneth L. Gibble
Mixed Re\ieH-s critiques books. fUms.
and other products of the entertain-
ment media that speak lo Brethren
Irving out their faith. The miens are
not to he taken as Messenger'j
eadonement . necessarily. Rather, ve
present them as helf^ ir^ormation
for readers who encounter the
subjects they treat.
What a rare and wonderful
exf)erience — to go to the
theater and see a movie in
which Chiistianitv is neither
caricatured nor ridiculed, but
treated w ith respect, a movie
that shows mature adults
WTestling w ith faith and
doubt and love. The movie is
"Shadowlands."
Newspaper ads for the film
call it a "tear-jerker."
apparent!} in hopes of luring
to the box office people who
enjoy sappy, sentimental
lo\e stories with haul-out-
the-hankies endings. Nor-
mally you can't drag me to a
tear-jerker. I went to see
"Shadowlands" because the
reviews in the newspaper
said it told the true-life storv
of the relationship between
Joy Gresham and C.S.
Lewis, the British writer
whose books on Christian
themes (the Namia
chronicles. Mere Christian-
ity. The Problem of Pain.
and others ) have left their
impact on countless people.
My acquaintance with
Lewis began back in the
early 1960s when I read an
article about him in Hori-
zons, a publication for
Brethren youth. Not long
afterward. I came across one
of Lewis' books in the
library . At that critical point
in my faith development.
Lewis' clear-headed thinking
on such matters as prayer.
salvation, and suffering
helped me wade through
some murky waters.
So 1 was intrigued to see
how "Shadow lands" showed
Lewis dealing with life
experiences that seriously
challenged his owti faith.
Yes. I was among many in
the crowded theater
(crowded on a weekday
afternoon! » who shed tears at
the conclusion of
"Shadowlands. " But the tears
were not the result of cheap
emotional manipulation by
the movie-makers. The\
came instead as we w atched
a man whose intellectual
understanding of the mean-
ing of suffering w as tested in
the crucible of real love and
real loss.
If all this sounds like a
very heavv' and drearv
movie-going experience. I
can assure you it is not.
There are moments of
delicious humor, especially
as the imf)etuous American.
Joy Gresham (played b>
Debra Winger), skewers the
smffed-shirt professors at
Oxford. There is romance, as
the relationship between
Lewis and Gresham blos-
soms from friendship into
deeply committed love.
There is beauty, as the
counny side and cathedrals of
England are given a promi-
nent place in the film.
What I found particularly
refreshing about
"Shadowlands" was the
respectful attention paid to
themes usualh reserved for
discussion at church. We
hear Lewis (superbly
portrayed by Anthony
Hopkins) say things such as:
"Pain is God's megaphone to
rouse a deaf world": "God
doesn't want us to be happy:
God w ants us to grow up";
and "Prayer doesn't change
God. it changes me." And
we w atch the famous
Christian ajxilogist roar his
disgust at the attempts of
well-meaning friends to
assuage his grief with the
pious cliche: "It's all for the
best." Clearly, this is a
movie that isn't afraid to ask
questions and to offer some
answers about the deepest
concerns of the human heart.
I have a suggestion. If the
movie is still playing in your
local theater, round up some
friends or your discussion
group at church and go see
it. Or. when "Shadowlands "
comes to your video store,
rent it and invite the group to
watch it in your home. I
predict that after you've
laughed together and cried
together, you will have
one of the best discussions
about love and doubt
and faith that you've
ever had.
}
<4^
Kenneth L. Gibble is co-pastor of
Arlington i\'a.l Church of the
Brethren, and promotion consultant
forMESSESOESL.
24 Messenger Maicfa 1994
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I tore out the editorial
I appreciated the January editorial
("Running Away From History") so
much that I tore it out and sent it to the
Southern Poverty Law Center in Mont-
gomery, Ala., which I have supported for
several years.
This center has a team of lawyers that
prosecutes Ku Klux Klan members.
"skinheads," etc., who harass, even
murder, African Americans and mem-
bers of other minorities. It asks people
all over the country to send it articles
from periodicals that have bearing on its
work.
I also sent the center an article from
our Hays (Kan.) Daily News regarding
the demonstration by the Ku Klux Klan
Ifs a combination of the more
reasonable cost and the element
of service that makes MAA
attractive ...
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Middlebury, IN.
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Mutual Aid Association Church of the Brettiren Route 1 Abilene, Kansas 67410
/U
in Topeka on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, as well as the editorial in the same
issue denouncing the Klan and urging
tolerance on the part of all, for all.
I led devotions for my church circle or
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and used
the Messenger editorial. I also used a
historical pamphlet from Germantown
Brick Church of the Brethren, near
Rocky Mount, Va. The pamphlet tells
about an African American mother and
daughter who were members at Brick
church but were treated very differently
at love feast — put at a table to them-
selves, off to one side. I hope that I
Brethren who feel that way read the i
January editorial.
Maiy Jo Jamiso,
Qidnler. Kar,
No sacl(clotli and ashes
I see no need for getting out the sack-
cloth and ashes with the editor over our I
collective past or future guilt or that of '
our ancestors or contemporaries. (See
January editorial. "Running Away From
History.") !
As long as we aren't presently biased
against our brothers and sisters, black oi
white, or in our dealings, there is no
need to carry guilt about the past or
future injustices. Let's get on, rather,
with peace of mind, behaving in our
daily lives as Christ would have it.
Dale MilU
Hanisburg. Pi'
No preferential treatment
I'm concerned about the statement abouil
African Americans in the January
editorial "When the deck has been
stacked against the one party for centu
ries, it doesn't equalize things for that
party to be told that now he is free to
enter the game and take his chances."
The editor seems to believe that
retribution must be made for all the evil
done against African Americans.
Nothing can "pay back" for the horrors
of slavery. It's like saying that Jews
deserve full restitution for the Holocaus'
26 Messenger March 1994
re, but how do you give back to 6
Uion people their lives?
Preferential treatment of any race is
t the answer. Only when all people
ve the same opportunities will there be
uality. Walking around with a chip on
ur shoulder and a "You-owe-me"
itude only strengthens the existing
rriers.
Teresa Zumhrun
Lawrenceville . III.
long, and would not relieve us from
being asked, "Church of the Whatl"
Let's keep the same initials, with
"Church of the Believers." Maybe that
would inspire the Latter Day Saints and
Presbyterians to get rid of their funny-
sounding names.
Dean Farringer
Denver. Colo.
Take Hold of Your Future...
Speaking for a new century
I speak as one drawn into the denomina-
tion of my ancestors by reading the
great witness of its past. Many of the
great ones recognized and adapted to
the future as it unfolded. But some of
the divisions of the 19th century might
have been avoided by more charity
and less stiff-necked insistence on
...One Step at a Time.
brthy of the name?
ouldn't it be wonderful to be worthy of
: name "Church of the Reconciliation"
inuary, page 9, "Group Announces
ustration With Denomination Name")?
At this time, however, when so many
our Church of the Brethren members
11 ridicule and hate the homosexuals in
jir midst instead of welcoming them as
)d"s sons and daughters, the name
'hurch of Reconciliation" would be
pocritical.
Shirley D. Hamilton
Conifer. Colo.
hurch of the Whatl
!garding a group of sisters "naming"
I denomination the "Church of
iconciliation" (January, page 9),
obably most of us have been asked why
; hold to a denominational name that
me people judge to be out of touch
th the times. I suspect that motivation
r change, rather than coming from
irest over an archaic name, comes from
ibarrassment at being a small, unfa-
iliar denomination, especially in the
est and South.
The present concern about our name
ay be the result of many years of failure
interpret adequately and with convic-
)n what "Brethren" means. (To me, it
an inclusive word meaning brothers
id sisters in Christ, the family of faith.)
the name has become out-of-date, it
ay be so because we failed to keep it
irrent and constantly in public use.
The name the Minneapolis group
lose, "Church of Reconciliation," is too
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March 1994 Messenger 27
procedures.
I grieve for those who feel put down or
left out by people who do not follow
procedures, or who may feel that nothing
good can come from ignoring proce-
dures. I also grieve for those who are so
frustrated or left out that they feel they
cannot follow procedures.
Nevertheless, it was gratifying to read
of the consideration of a name-change
leading up to the denomination's 300th
anniversary (January, page 9, "Group
Announces Frustration With Denomina-
tion Name").
Whatever the correctness of the
procedures, the name "Church of
Reconciliation" is a wonderful one,
speaking for a new century of something
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North Manchester, IN 46962-0365
(219) 982-5238 or 982-5025
S|>oiisofe(l l)y Ihe BCA Consotltutn Bridgewalet
College, VA, Elizahelhlowti College, PA;
Jutiiiil.i t -olleye. PA. Manchester College. IN,
NttPlietsoii College, KS, Uiuuetsily ol
La Verne. CA
that is absolutely central to the Christia
message in the 21st century. (See John
3:17; Gal. 3:28; Matt. 5:23-24; and
1 John 3:18-20.)
Sarah Quinter Malo
State College. F
(Some Brethren, after reading the
January Messenger news item "Group
Announces Frustration With Denomina
tion Name" and accounts of the
Minneapolis conference in other
publications, have inquired if
" something' s coming to Conference
about changing our name." The answei
is no. there is no business item before
Annual Conference regarding a denom
national name-change. — Ed.)
Word From The Moderate
I asked President Gene Roop of Bethan;
Seminary for some thoughts on the
leadership crisis in our denomination.
"Not long ago a junior-high student
phoned me. She wanted to know about
leadership-a class assignment, not just
curiosity.
"Brethren traditionally describe the
ideal leader as a servant. I am not alwaj
sure what we mean by that. At our won
it means the leader will do as I expect.
Sometimes, we recognize, a servant
leader is called to enhance the life of thi
whole community, even when that may
vary from my preferences. At our best,
we recognize that leader as a servant of
Christ, whose will transcends our issue;
and time.
"Bethany Seminary has been commis
sioned to help train leadership for the
next generation. We will do our best. \^
need the church to nurture its leaders a:
carefully as we expect them to nurture
us." I
Pray for our seminary, our leaders, on
pastors.
EarlK. Ziegler
1994 Annual Conference Moderator
28 Messenger March 1994
A^ Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Church and district newsletters that reprint "Pontius' Puddle" from
Messenger must pay $10 fnr each use to Joel Kauffhiann, 111 Carter Road,
Goshen. IN 465Jft
Misunderstanding Islam
don't doubt that our Brethren in Sudan
re making a strong witness for peace in
very difficult situation. But I was
roubled by the last sentence of Carolyn
Ichrock's December article, "Experienc-
ig God's Grace in Sudan."
She likely did not intend to imply that
11 Islamic regimes are repressive, but an
ninitiated person might infer that. And,
nfortunately, most people in the US are
ninitiated regarding Islam. For ex-
mple, most Islamic leaders have
ondemned the death threat against
alman Rushdie for his novel Satanic
'erses, but our news media have been
atisfied to leave the impression that the
eath threat is the "voice of Islam."
I hope that Messenger will educate
Irethren about the various faces of
slam. Better understanding of the
slamic world is crucial to world peace.
{Esther Ho
"""
tE-lmagining made me glad!
!\ "The Sound of Music," the mother
uperior sang of novice Maria, "I'd like
3 say a word in her behalf: Maria makes
le laugh!" Regarding the RE-Imagining
onference in Minneapolis last Novem-
er (January, page 9) and paraphrasing
le mother superior's line, I'd like to say
word in it's behalf: RE-Imagining
lade me glad\
RE-Imagining asked us participants to
reatively think anew about issues that
oncem us as Christians. What would
le world be like, for example, if every
t'oman could look in the mirror and love
erself as a person made in God's
mage? How might the Jesus whom some
vfrican Americans imagine become
lore meaningful to people of every
olor? What differences would we
nvision within a church that recognizes
tself as part of an interdependent world
ommunity? RE-Imagining asked people
f faith to renew their faith.
RE-Imagining not only challenged us
O new ways of thinking; it also brought
le back to my Church of the Brethren
THE
' ^ AND t
e^l^^f^^^Mi^^iic
Committed to the church? Definitely. Self-disciplined?
All the way. Compassionate, appreciative, and eager?
Of course. Chris Michael, a 1974 Manchester
graduate, is director ofYouth/Young Adult Ministries
at Elgin's General Offices. Her boundless energy
and insatiable desire to make a tangible difference
in the lives of our young people mark Chris as one
of the rare and remarkable.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Lori Pippenger is a go-getter. Respectful and
caring, Lori's optimism evolves from her faith in
God, her recent travels to third world countries,
and her cherished relationships vnth family and
friends. A fifth year senior at Manchester, Lori
models Christ's love as a student, camp counselor.
Peace Choir member, and Campus Ministry Board
leader. She is, indeed, amongthe rare and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL AWARENESS * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on ttie basis of marital status, sex,
religion, race, color, national or ettinic origin, or haridicap in the administration of its
educational policies, recruitment and admissions policies, scholarship and loan
programs, employment practices, and athletic or other college sponsored programs.
MANCHESTER
COLLEGE
North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982- 5000
March 1994 Messenger 29
heritage. At the inspiration of present
and former Brethren leaders, I have
picketed on behalf of racial integration. I
BRF
BIBLICAL AUTHORITY
"It was not the intention of our
foreparents, when they decided not to
adopt a formal creed, and spoke about
being open to new light, that the new
light would be receiving revelation
beyond what God gave in the Bible, or
that the new light meant to receive new
understandings that contradicted the
Scriptures. For our Anabaptist
ancestors it was new light that would
breal( forth out of God's holy WordI It
was new insight, new illumination, new
perspective-out of the Scriptures, not
apart from the Scriptures. We have no
creed but the New Testament, but we
do have a creed. The New Testament
is our creed, and as we receive it by
faith and meditate upon it, new light
continues to burst upon us."
--sxcBrpted ffom the BRF Whnass, Vol 14, No 4,
entitled "Misconceptions about the Bible's
inspiration," Readers may receive a free copy, or
may be added to our mailing list, by writing to:
BRETHREN REVIVAL FELLOWSHIP
Route 10, Box 201 -N
York, PA 17404
All readers are welcome to attend a BRF
sponsored Training Day at the Brandt's
Church of the Brethren (near
Mercersburg, PA) on March 26, 1 994.
have witnessed against the Vietnam War
and Desert Storm. I have stood in silent
vigil on the anniverary of Hiroshima. I
To subscribe to
call (800) 323-8039^ Ext. 247.
Ask for Norma
From the
Office of Human Resources
DIRECTOR,
NEW CHURCH DEVELOPMENT
Half-time position.
Eli;iii location preferred.
We are looking for someone who:
• has administrative and management
skills
• has an M. Div. degree or equivalent,
with at least 2 years experience,
preferably in work with new churches
• understands Church of the Brethren
history and polity
• communicates at a professional level
and relates well with people
Po.sition available July J. 1994.
For prompt consideration call
Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
have advocated on behalf of individuals
who are physically challenged. RE-
Imagining reminded me that injustice
still exists in this world, and that part ol
my role as a church leader is to support
the oppressed.
Finally, RE-Imagining was just plain
fun! Four women's choirs surrounded
the huge ballroom in which we met. Tw
artists painted a mural during the
speeches. Colorful quilts and other
fabrics decorated our tables. Simple,
tasteful "dance" movements enhanced
our worship. Old friends and new frienc
graced the crowded halls. In short, like
Maria's uplifting spirit, the spirit of RE
Imagining made me laughl
Jean L. Hendric,
Lawrence. Ka
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily
those of the magazine. Readers should receive thei
in the same spirit with which differing opinions an
expressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should he brief concise, and respectful o
the opinions of others. Preference is given to letter
that respond directly to items read in the magazini
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We will not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print tlie
letter, the writer's name is kept in strictest
confidence. i
Address letters to Messenger Editor. 1451 I
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120. 1
CLASSIFIED ADS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR— Tri-county ecumenical agency.
Administrative, managerial, supervisory experience required.
Masters degree preferred. Strong Christian commitment
required. Ability to work with churches, government and
community agencies. Send resume stating minimum salary
requirement by March 15: Search Committee, Christian
Churches United, 900 S. Arlington Ave.. Room 1 28, Harris-
burg, PA 17109.
MUSIC— Assistant professor of music to teach applied
voice, choral ensembles, sight singing, ear training, and
music education methods. Doctorate required. Apply by
March 1 5, 1 994; position begins August 1 994. McPherson
College is a liberal arts college of 500 related to the Church
of the Brethren. Send application, audition tape, and curricu-
lum vitae to Dr. Dale Goldsmith, Vice President for Aca-
demic Services, McPherson College, P.O. Box 1402,
McPherson, KS 67460. McPherson College is an equal
opportunity employer by choice.
TRAVEL— Israel/Egypt Holiday. Wendell & Joan Bohrer,
Fred & Nancy Swartz host a tour to Israel and Egypt. Aug.
8-18,1 994. 1 1 day tour includes travel to Jerusalem, the old
30 Messenger March 1994
city. Dead Sea, Megiddo, Galilee, Cana, Mt. Carmel, Mt.
Nebo, Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tut.
For information write; Wendell & Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal
Meadow Dr., Indianapolis, IN 4621 7. Tel. (317) 882-5067, or
Fred & Nancy Swartz, 1 0047 Nokesville Rd., Manassas, VA
221 10. Tel. (703)369-3947.
TRAVEL— Tour to Annual Conference includes Shenandoah
Valley.Gallinburg, Smoky Mountains, Nashville, Grand Ole
Opry Park, Heifer Project Farm, and Blue Grass country of
Kentucky. For info, write to; J. Kenneth Kreider, 1300
Sheaffer Rd., Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL— Brethren Service Center's 50th Anniversary
Committee is hosting a European Tour, July 31 -August 1 4,
1994. Glenn & Helen Kinsel, tour leaders. Visit former and
current Church of the Brethren and Heifer Project persons
and sites. Arrangements are being made to include time with
persons involved in Brethren Volunteer Service, the Polish
Agriculture Exchange, and Student Exchange Program.
Geneva, Stuttgart/Miedelsbach, Marburg, Schriesheim,
Schwarzenau, Kassel, Berlin, Skierniewice, Krakow, and
Vienna are all on the list of stopping places. For info, contact
Terri Meushaw, Brethren Service Center, 500 Main Strei
New Windsor, MD 21 776-01 88. Tel. (41 0) 635-871 6,
WANTED— Camp manager or couple to manage Can
Colorado in Pike National Forest. 40 minutes from Denv
or Colorado Springs. From Memorial Day to Labor D.
1994. Camp located on 85 forested acres. Features swii
ming pool, hiking trails, 6 dorms, dining hall, recreation bid
Camp has 4 wks, of Brethren-sponsored camps and
rented remainder of season to Brethren churches and fam
reunion groups. Duties incl. purchasing supplies, cleanin
and repairing camp. Altitude of camp is 7,500 ft. Applicar
should be in good physical shape. Salary $1 ,000 a mom
Incl. 2-bdrm. cabin, utilities. Interested parties contact Ri
Achilles, Rt. 1 , Box 1 43, Quinter, KS 67752, Tel, (913) 7E
2322.
WANTED— "Handyman" couple to buy a4-apartment co
plex; attractive, furnished. Near lake, library, post offic
banks, stores, hospital. Church of the Brethren across t
street. Reasonably priced. Will finance. Contact; Stor
Apts., 344 Oak Ave, Sebring, FL 33870. Tel. (813) 3f
6863.
w
imbers
lelor Run, S/CInd.: Hazel
Coy, Debbie Hood. Joe Slaie.
OliveZehring
lelt, Virlina: Robert Cramer.
Mallie Franklin, Del & Sharon
Mills
alo Valley, S. Pa.: Justin &
Brenda Bobb, Audrey Fiske,
Diane Heintzelman, Rebecca
Keister. Tonya Richard,
faniniy Sholley, Andrea Spaid.
lenniterSlyers
orus,S. Pa: Michael & Lisa
Brenneman. Becky Innerst,
Stuart & Terri Keefer, Suzanne
Keeney.LeoKeim
it Manor, N. Ind.: John Case,
Ken& Vicki Fritz, Mark &
Elaine Shafer. Bonnie
Swiatkowski,John&Kristi
Summers
ibethtown, Atl. N.E.; Manha
Beahm, Howard & Kathy
Ha Idem an. Barbara Moris,
Carol Welsh, David
Willoughby
iartCity,'s/C Ind.: Steve &
Anne Cauble. Mindy Elliot,
BelhLynley.PamWoif
tien, N. Ind.: Charles &
Corabelle Dickison
rnsey, S/C Ind.: Scott & Kim
Lear
over. S. Pa.: Alan. Lona, Alina
&Tara Bridenbaugh,
Krislopher Rusinko, Clair
Hewin
idaysburg, M. Pa.: Raymond
& Mary Boose
tsdale, S, Pa.: Scott Baldwm.
Celeste Sheaffer, Stacy Smith.
Becky & Joseph Thumma
'erne, Pac. S.W.: Greg Emrick,
Ian Gratz, Kathryn Kunz. Ellen
Sherberth, Dena Sjol. Trisha
Fyler
rty Mills, S/C Ind.: Steve
pripe. HeatherGrady, Esta
bullett. Bill & Stacy
-echliiner, Kriss, Darlene,
Donna & Joey Little, Anne
jvlyers, Philip Spann
Ite Vista, Virlina: Jenna
amison
janee, N. Ind.: Jen Mishler,
^gela Riggs
Carlisle, S. Ohio: Orville &
/ema Rose. Richard & Lisa
Ipoits
a, S. Ohio: Sheri Heniser, Jane
liser, Lori Jessee, Lisa & Lori
-avey, Angela & Anthony
■layer, Lee & Ruth Perkins,
irian Putnam, Kern Schneider.
■Iso Vada, LeAnn & William
Valker
:e of Peace, W. Plains: Ben &
ill Clannin. David &
^ilodyne Clapper. Viola
(einy. Ron Laue. Dana Pringle.
eterSamland. Rick Slater.
lary Thedford. Betty Thomas,
osier& Leonard Weiner
meUW. Pa.: Douglas &
snniferChizmar. Michael
Hinton, Elizabeth Homer.
Linda Hubbard, Krystal Jury,
Joshua Moore. Shannon Nihoff,
Sara Stahl, Amanda, Evelyn &
Michael Trachok
Santa Ana, Pac. S.W.: Travis &
Joan McMasters
Scalp Level, W. Pa.: Diane, Jill &
Tracey Deyamiin. Bemie
Kiser. Linda Null, Cristie
Weaver
South Bay, Pac. S.W.: lole Brown,
Patti Levenson, Bill Lusenhop.
Steve. Kelly & Hollie Schatz.
Jason & Judy Stanley. James.
Kelly & Nancy Sierra
University Park, Mid-Atl.: Dan
Garrett. Joe Zigas
Waynesboro, S. Pa, : Richard &
Pauline Carl, Donna Ford, Ada
& Roy Leckron
West Richmond, Virlina: Bonnie
& Kevin Keithly. Jim & Letha
McKinnell. Jane. Warren &
Susan Winterson
West Eel River, S/C Ind,: Michael
& Rhonda Hagg. Charlotte &
Ronald Feller. Linda & Roger
Hamilton, Amber Hariman
Westminster, Mid-All.: Kun
Bowman. Rebecca Davis, Carl
Fruendel, Heather Hope.
MicheleSchaeffer
White Oak,Atl.N.E.: Daniel
Bollinger. Christiana Cater.
Calvin & Timothy Martin,
Nathan Minnich
Wedding
Anniversaries
Baker, Harold and Betty, West
Milton, Ohio, 55
Bewser,Glaird and Violet,
Windber.Pa..50
Cassell, Irving and Elsie, Bassett.
Va.,55
Debsen, Rey and Eva. windber. Pa..
55
Fake, Sylvester and Esther, Bethel,
Pa., 60
Gillespie, William and Salena,
Siver Lake, Ind., 55
Gorrell, Ray and Marjory,
Beavercreek. Ohio. 50
Holderread, Bob and Helen, North
Liberty, Ind.. 50
Jackson, Frank and Charma,
Beavercreek. Ohio. 60
Kirkdorffer,JuniorandMarjorie,
Elkhart, Ind.. 50
Krug, Dodie and Lyie, La Verne,
Calif.. 50
Lulz. Russell and Lucille, West
Milton. Ohio. 60
Manges, George and Florence,
Windber, Pa., 55
Manges, Harold and Arlene,
Windber, Pa.. 55
Pepp, Louis and Olga, Windber.
Pa.. 55
Scritchfield, James and Evelyn.
Bedford. Pa., 50
Shawhan, William and Catherine,
Beavercreek, Ohio, 50
Webster, Walter and Louise.
Springfield, Va., 50
Licensing/ ,
Ordination
Button-Harrison, Mary Jane,
ordained April 24, 1993.
Ankeny.N. Plains
Davis, Grelchen. ordained Sept. 18,
1993. West Richmond, Virlina
Golden, Wilburt, ordination
recognized Sept. 1 1. 1993.
Baltimore First. Mid. All.
Kemerly, Thomas R.. licensed
Nov. 23, 1993, Fall Creek.
S/C Ind.
McClelland, Golda P.. ordination
recognized Nov. 14, 1993,
Myersville. Mid-Atl.
Powell, Douglas Alfred, ordination
recognized Nov. 2, 1993.
Liberty Tabernacle. All. N.E.
Quinn, Jack, licensed Sept. 22,
1993, Trinity.S. Ohio
Thompson, Margaret, ordained July
10. 1993. Messiah. Mo./Ark.
Whalen, Steven D.. licensed
June 12, 1993,Freeburg.
N.Ohio
Pastoral
Placements
Betz, Russell, from other
denomination to Phoenix First,
Pac.S.W.
Carter,JeffreyW., from Brethren
Volunteer Service to Florin,
Atl. N.E.
Christine, Michael, from secularto
Maple Grove, W. Pa.
Cosner, Randy, from Danville. W.
Marva. to Briery Branch. Shen.
Fischer, Wilbur L.. from Walnut.
N.Ind..toClaysburg,M.Pa.
Foster,John, from Forest Chapel.
Shen.. to Bethel. Shen.
Jones, Douglas, from Copper Hill,
Virlina. to Bassett, Virlina
Kemerly, Thomas R.. from other
denomination to Upper Fall
Creek. S/C Ind.
Mosorjak,Gary. from secularto
Montgomery. W. Pa.
Petry, Joyce, from Olivet, S. Ohio,
to Keyser. W. Marva
Pfeiffer,Roben,PainierCreek,S.
Ohio, from interim to pastor
White, Paul W.. from Staunton.
Shen., to Trinity, Virlina
Deaths
Andress, Stella. 72. Columbiana,
Ohio.Sepi, i:, 1993
Arnold, Levi. 92. Elkhan. Ind..
Nov. 16. 199.1
Athey, Howard. 92. Boonesboro,
Md.. April 18.1993
Baum, Golda. 95. La Veme, Calif..
Dec. 3, 1993
Beachley, Donovan. 95, Hagers-
town. Md.. Nov. 23. 1993
Beard, Edna. 88. Smilhsburg. Md..
Jan. 15. 1993
Bostetter, Martin. 92. Hagersiown,
Md..Oct. 11.1993
Bowman. Merlyn. 80, Canton,
Ohio. Sept. 20. 1993
Brandt, Ira, 93, Mc Allisterville,
Pa., Dec. 26, 1993
Brubaker.Chester,83.Virden,Ill..
Nov. 11.1993
Burkett. Jessie. 88. Wilmington.
Del.. Nov. 30, 1993
Burkholder,Harr>.87.
Columbiana, Ohio. Oct. 12,
1993
Callahan. Elroe, 60, Callaway , Va. .
July 12. 1993
Chambers, Julia. 91 . Hagerstown.
Md..Mar. 25, 1993
Davis.Roy. 82, La Veme, Calif.,
Nov. 2 1,1993
Deibert, I rene, 86, Boonesboro,
Md..Mar. 18. 1993
Dzurke. Michael. 8 1 , Windber, Pa..
Jan. 16.1993
Eichelberger, Paul, 66, York, Pa..
Dec, 5. 1993
Eisenhart, Verrion. 83, Dover, Pa..
Dec. 12. 1993
Fuller, Violet. 70. Windber. Pa..
Nov. 5. 1993
Funderburg, Gladys. 90. New
Carlisle.Ohio.Nov. 17. 1993
Graybill, Joseph. 89, Manheim,
Pa.. Oct. 23, 1993
Grove, Mary. 83. Dallas Center.
Iowa. Dec. 24. 1993
Hamilton, Lucille. 62, Elkhart.
Ind. July 3. 1993
Hancock, Mabel. 70. Bassett. Va..
Oct. 25. 1993
Hallowell, Orlena. 95 . San Diego.
Calif.Jan. 13. 1993
Hartman. Russell. 86. Dallastown.
Pa.. Dec. 16,1993
Helsel, Nelson, 8 1 , Windber, Pa..
Oct. 9, 1993
Henly, Vera. 84. Columbiana.
Ohio.Dec. 14. 1993
Hershey, Clayton. 93. Manheim.
Pa..'Sept.29. 1993
Hodges, Ella Mae. 1(W. Vinton.
Va.. April 10.1993
Holt, Elbest. 89, Callaway, Va..
April 14. 1993
Hunter, Audrey. 73. Windber. Pa..
July 24. 1993
Huston, Mariha. 80. Beavercreek.
Ohio. Sept. 14.1993
Joy, Dorothy. 87. South Whitley,
' Ind., Nov. 7. 1993
Kaufman, Mary, 84, Hooversville,
Pa..Dec. 16, 1993
Keith, Leonard. Mansfield, Mo..
Dec. 13. 1993
Kight, David. 38. Baltimore. Md..
Nov. 30. 1993
Kingery. Pauline. 78. Rocky
Mount. Va.. Dec. 25. 1993
Koogler. Jonas, 85, Beavercreek,
Ohio, Dec. 11.1993
Landis, Margaret. 89. Hagersiown.
Md., Mar. 24. 1993
Lindsay, Bertha. 86. Hagerstown.
Md.,Oct. 20. 1993
Marker, Edgar. 84. Waynesboro,
Pa.. March 19.1993
Martin, Edna. 90. Boonesboro.
Md.,May 13, 1993
Martin, Magdalene, 78, Greenville,
Ohio, Dec. 29. 1993
McCoy, Mary. 92. Hagerstown.
Md.. June 18. 1993
Metzler, John D.. 95, Portland.
Ore. Dec. 20. 1993
Miller.Cora. 1 04, Cerro Gordo,
III.. Oct. 29. 1993
MilIer,Richard, 84.Fairbom,Ohio,
Nov. 15. 1993
Morgan, Brent. Silver Spring. Md..
Aug. 11,1993
Morrison, Mildred, 82. Boones-
boro. Md.. Jan. 18.1993
Mundey, Eston. 79. Hagerstown.
Md'. July 23. 1993
Nunley, Lively. 95. Callaway, Va.,
Feb. 12. 1993
Osborne, David. 77. North
Wilkesboro.N.C..Nov.25.
1993
Patterson, Naomi. 84. Oitumwa.
Iowa. Oct. 15.1993
Pearson,Gladys.95. Flora. Ind.,
Dec. 16. 1993
Fenny,Orville.8I.GardenCity,
Mo.. Dec. 6. 1993
Peters, Mary. 89. Hagerstown. Ind.,
Aug. 3 1.1993
Petre, Beulah. 84. Maugansville,
Md.. Oct. 26. 1993
Petticoffer, Amon, 82. Manheim,
Pa.. Dec. 22. 1993
Pfluger, Marjorie. 69. Mariinsville.
Va..May5. 1993
Pommert, Stanley. 8 1 . Nonh
Liberty.Ind..Aug. 13. 1993
Pursell, Arthur. 83. New Oxford,
Pa., Dec. 29. 1993
Rife, Esther. 76. Silver Lake. Ind..
Nov. 19.1993
Royer, Laura. 96. Greenville. Ohio.
Nov.. 1993
Rummel, Edith. 56. Robinson. Pa.,
Nov. 19. 1993
Seese, Theda, 9 1 , Windber. Pa. .
Oct. 23. 1993
Sepesy, Andrew. 66. Virden. III..
Nov. 23. 1993
Shaffer, Harris. 83. Uniontown.
Pa.. Dec. 13.1993
Sheila barger,Jeanneite. 74.
Beavercreek. Ohio. Feb. 10.
1993
Shilling, Richard. 78. Hagerstown,
Md..Sepl. 14. 1993
Shockey, Virgie. Smithsburg, Md.,
May 12.1993
Sloan, Marjory. 79. Columbiana.
Ohio. Oct. 8. 1993
Smith, Rachel. 90. Virden. 111.. Oct.
31.1993
Snowberger, Rhoda. 92, Waynes-
boro, Pa.. Nov. 30. 1993
Spangler, Audrey. 7 1 . Windber.
Pa., June 28, 1993
Stanley, Beulah, 96, San Dimas,
Calif, Nov. 22. 1993
Statler. Herren. 83. Windber. Pa.,
March 3. 1993
Striebig,Raymond. 94. New
Oxford. Pa.. Dec. 2 1.1993
Towne, Phi lip. 92. Laguna Beach.
Calif., Dec. 10,1993
Vincent, Chas, 82, Columbiana.
Ohio.OcI. 14. 1993
Wentz, Levere. 75. York. Pa.. Dec.
21.1993
Whitaker.Paul. 7 1 .Ogleiown, Pa..
Feb. 18. 1993
Young. Velda. 75. La Veme.
Calif., Dec. 9. 1993
March 1994 Messenger 31
Who, me a millionaire?
I became a millionaire the other day. Or so it first
appeared when I opened a fat envelope of material
that broke the news to me. A Post-it note, looking
very personal, was the first thing that caught my
attention. At first glance, the note seemed to make it
a sure thing that I already had won a million dollars.
Usually I throw these letters into the trash without
reading further, but this one looked a little different
from the ones I get from Publishers Clearing House
and Reader' s Digest, so I examined it some more.
The material was an assortment of exciting, breath-
less news, designed to appear as if the sender kept
adding new things each time he started to close the
envelope. Little notes and enclosures were tucked
among larger pieces of paper and fell out like
makeshift bookmarks as I shuffled the packet.
I never could quite figure out what all I needed to
do, nor what the deal was about. But the fine print
that I encountered here and there made the "instant
millionaire" expectation grow dimmer and dimmer.
Actually, hundreds of other folks had gotten a little
Post-it note like mine, my would-be benefactor
finally happened to mention. And, oh, I would be
receiving some sort of "package of material" (the
contents of which were never explained, but I
suspected I was to end up buying something expen-
sive) and respond to it as my next step. And here
was a little thing to fill out, and there was a stamp to
attach in another place. About that time, I threw the
whole thing in the trash, weary with the burden of
being a millionaire even before the first check came
in.
Of course you know and I know that what I had
received was just another gimmick to hook me into
spending money while gambling that I would win
something for nothing.
Gambling. It's everywhere. I can't pay for my gas
at the service station without waiting in line behind
a bunch of people buying lottery tickets. Elgin, 111.,
where I reside and work, is building a riverboat
casino in its moribund downtown area. The town's
leaders and a majority of the voters are confident it
will bring nothing but good.
Americans legally gambled away $30 billion
dollars in 1992, according to a Wall Street Journal
article. Thirty-four states and the District of Colum-
bia have lotteries. State governments take the lead in
deluding citizens into gambling through the lotter-
ies. TV screens are full of their slick commercials
making gambling through lotteries sound like
innocent fun. But what's the difference between
32 Messenger March 1994
States promoting lotteries to bring in revenue and
promoting booze and tobacco for the revenue they
produce?
The really outrageous thing about lotteries is that
their advertising targets poorer areas. A Boston
Globe article called it "Robin Hood in reverse." The
same article stated that more lottery tickets were sold
in poorer communities, in part, because those areas
have more outlets selling tickets.
Poorer communities receive less of the lottery's
profits, the Globe reported. In 1992, some poorer
towns received 14 percent on their ticket sales.
Several well-to-do communities received 160 percent
of their lottery sales.
States are pulling in money from the very people
they are charged to help. And doing it in a way that
wastes the money they make. One public policy
advocate states that it costs one to 1.5 cents to collect
one dollar of revenue from taxes, but it costs 34 cents
to gain one dollar of lottery income.
Realistically, I don't expect any public outrage to
turn the tide of gambling that has flooded us. I do
take small (really small) comfort, as a history
student, in the knowledge that the lottery craze has
swept through the country twice before — during the
Revolution and in the early 1800s. One of my
Virginia heroes, Thomas Jefferson, tainted his
reputation by trying to launch a lottery to save
himself from bankruptcy right at the end of his life.
Aside from the usual fraud and scandals, satura-
tion of the market (no lottery could make a profit)
was the main cause that those two lottery waves
eventually flowed back.
Wi,
lile we are waiting for ebb tide, we can profit-
ably take a look at a position paper on gambling
adopted by the 1986 Annual Conference {1986
Annual Conference Minutes, page 308). The paper
cites numerous biblical passages inveighing against
gambling and gives suggestions for Brethren to
follow in resisting the evil.
We all would do well to endorse the conclusion the
Conference paper makes: "We believe that gambling
violates Christ's teachings regarding stewardship
and mutual responsibility. We believe that for a
government to promote gambling is immoral and
violates its obligation to protect the best interest of
its citizens. Therefore, we oppose the legalization of
and participation in any form of gambling."
Maybe memorize it too. — K.T.
"/ believe it is of
utmost importance
that the Church of
the Brethren have a
denominational
seminary in which
we can train pastors.
Bethany Seminary
offers biblical
instruction^ pastoral
care trainingy and
theological inquiryy
interwoven with
Brethren heritage
and valueSy that are
vital to the ongoing
life of our church"
Chris Michael is staff for
youth/young adult ministiy on
the General Board staff.
I
T«^« JM
If you hear the Cally
give us a call.
Bethany Theological Seminary
Butterfield and Meyers Roads
Oak Brook, IL 60521
708/620-2200
)itter civil war in Bosnia,
md you_bound up my wounds ;
displaced by floe
n the Midwest US
homeless and w-
you rescued me,
helter and foe
ugh Sudan
and Ken]
o care f
go , and
ovided a
ve me hope
- %-• N»X
Matthew 25 revisited. Jesus reminds us in
Matthew 25 that as we help people in need, we are
helping him. In today's world, Jesus may say to us:
/ was caught in the crossfire of a bitter civil war in
far-off Bosnia, and you bound up my wounds;
I was displaced by floods in the Midwest USA,
homeless and without food, and you rescued me;
I was wandering through Sudan and Ethiopia
and Kenya with no one to care for me and no place
to go, and you took me in, provided a home for me
and gave me hope.
These are stories in which Church of the Breth-
ren relief, disaster, development, and reconciliation
ministries are directly engaged. The
stories are told in the 1994 One Great
Hour of Sharing video provided each
congregation.
View and discuss these stories.
Praise God that the spirit of Matthew d/NE
25 is alive in the church today. CtREAT
Continue — in the name and "L-T/^T TT? rW
spirit of Christ— to give help, CtJA T?TlVTr
to give hope, to give life. pJrLri_L\liN v
I
. has been raised;
he is not here. Look, ^ere
is the place they laidnm
Mark 16:6
It is just a coincidence that tliis issue of Messenger highlighting
the upcoming National Youth Conference is coming out in
April, when the very first national youth director, Chauncey
Shamberger. celebrates his 100th birthday.
How did the Church of the Brethren youth movement begin?
Chauncey remembers that it was in 1919 that I.V. Funderberg,
chairman of the Christian Workers Board (this
was in pre-General Board days, when many
boards were headquartered in Elgin, 111.) said to
him, "See what you can do for the youth of the
church." And he did.
"i had no idea what to do," recalls Chauncey,
"other than to give youth recognition and the
feeling that they were part of the church." Given
the title of youth director, he had a rolltop desk
in one corner of a room at 22 South State Street,
in Elgin. His salary was $100 a month, often
paid weeks late.
Chauncey made a good beginning for youth
ministry. Youth fellowship groups were set up in
almost every congregation across the denomination. Chauncey
inspired many youth to develop into leaders. One of his earliest
proteges, Raymond Peters, went on to become the first general
secretary of the General Brotherhood Board, when it was
established in 1947. Chauncey also pioneered the Brethren
camping movement.
As his 100th birthday approaches, Chauncey still lives
independently and writes frequently to Messenger. The letters
always are worth reading, filled with pungent observations about
the present state of the church. We think it would be a fine idea
for each of our readers to send Chauncey a card for his April 27
birthday. His address is 1 130 Allumbaugh St., No. 213, Boise,
ID 83704. Tel. (208)327-1213.
auA/nt<^'^/^^
COMING NEXT MONTH: A final preview of Annual Confer-
ence, highlighting the Native American paper. Note: This will
be a combined May/June issue, mailed in mid-May.
April 1994
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Sokody, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlanlic Northeast, Ron Lutz: Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer: lllinoisAViscoL
Kresion Lipscomb; Northern Indiana. Li
Holderread: South/Central Indiana, Mar
Miller; Michigan. Marie Willoughby:
Mid- Atlantic. Ann Fouts; Missouri/Ark.
Mary McGowan; Northern Plains. Faith
Strom; Northern Ohio. Sherry Sampson
Southern Ohio, Jack Kline; Oregon/
Washington. Marguerite Shamberger;
Pacific Southwest. Randy Miller; Middl
Pennsylvania, Ruth Fisher; Southern
Pennsylvania. ElmerQ.Gleim; Westen
Pennsylvania. Jay Christner; Shenandu.i
Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains. Mary Am
Dell; Virlina. David & Heitie Webster;
Western Plains. Dean Hummer; West N
WinomaSpurgeon. I
Messenger is the official publication ol
Church of the Brethren. Entered asseci
class matter Aug. 20. 191 S. under Act o
Congress of Oct. 17. 1917. Filing date.
I 1 , 1 984. Messenger is a mt
l/^ ofthe Associated Church pl
y^ and a subscriber to Religio
jrj News Service and Ecumen
I ! PressService. Biblical
I quotations, unless olherwi
indicated, are from the New Revised
Standard Version.
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Messenger is owned and published I
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1 994. Copyright 1994,Churchofthe
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Touch 2
jse to Home 4
ws 6
jrldwide 10
;pping Stones 1 1
etry 20
9in the
General Secretary
linions 26
tiers 28
ntius' Puddle 29
rning Points 3 1
itorial 32
22
!dits:
/er. 1,9, 12. 13 right. 14-15,
8-19: Alan Boleyn
/er background: Phil Brodatz
ide front cover: Dorris Murdock
:fl: Art by Christopher Raschka
inter: George Keeler
)p: Barbara Slagenweit
ottom: Karen S. Carter
)ave Sollenberger
Caren Neff
iVorid Council of Churches
far left: Barbara Greenwald
Religious News Service
'The dependable one' 12
A self-confessed "B & BB," Shawn Replogle is hoping that
Brethren youth this year will discover the larger church for
themselves. Margaret Woolgrove profiles the 1994 National
Youth Conference coordinator.
National Youth Conference:
'The most powerful event' 14
Shawn Replogle reports that this summer when over 3,000
youth attend NYC, "it will be life changing. Barriers will fall,
and calls will be given . . . and heard" at what he calls the most
powerful event in the church.
Facing our last enemy 1 6
Jesus expresses the truth that many of us are too afraid to
admit. Ryan Ahlgrim presents a view of the many sides of
death — peaceful, good, and cruel.
A mug of remembrance 1 8
Pete Haynes asks, "Isn't it strange how material objects can
become vessels containing a larger meaning?" The story of his
coffee mugs explains how.
What's the difference? 2 1
Just how much leeway do we have for diversity within our
denomination? And beyond that, what about people whose
religious tradition is outside Christianity? Donald E. Fancher
and Gregg A. Wilhelm present their thinking on these two
questions.
Cover story: Akin
Boleyn 's symbolic photo
of the empty tomb is
stark^ust stones and a
piece of cloth. But on
the Sunday following
Jesus ' death and burial,
that 's all that was
there — that and an
angel. The angel said.
"He has been raised: he
is not here. " And on
that we base our faith.
{See page 16.)
April 1 994 Messenger 1
h
A career takes off
When Christopher Raschka
recently received two
prestigious book awards, it
was just another step up the
Chris Raschka wrote
and illustrated Yo!
Yes?, which carries
colorful pictures and a
sparse text of only
34 words.
"In Touch " profiles Brethren we
would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black
and white, if possible) to ' 'In
Touch. " Messenger, 1451
Dundee Ave., Elgin. IL 60120.
ladder for this fast-moving
author and illustrator. Chris
has received a Caldecott
Honor Award and the
UNICEF Ezra Jack Keats
National Award.
"From the time Chris was
a little boy, he was always
drawing and painting,"
recalls his mother, Hedda
Durnbaugh, of James Creek,
Pa. The writing part appar-
ently comes naturally, since
both mother Hedda and
father Don, are noted
Brethren authors.
But throughout Chris'
college years he pursued a
career in medicine. It took a
few years of working with
children in social services to
change Chris" mind on his
career direction. He discov-
ered his gift for writing and
illustrating books for
children.
After illustrating other
authors" works, he wrote and
illustrated his first book, R
and fl. published by Breth-
ren Press (1990). Since then
he has written and illustrated
another Brethren Press book,
Benjamin Brady's Backyard
Bag (1991).
Chris Raschka
Yo! Yes? (Orchard Books,
1993) is the story of a
budding friendship between
an African American boy
and a white boy who meet by
chance in the street.
Chris lives and works in
Manhattan, where he tries
out his book ideas on school
children, especially those in
the classes taught by his
wife, Lydie, at a local
Montessori school.
Bertha in Bible lands
Viola Whitehead published
a little book a couple of years
ago titled Stories of Days
Long Gone in the Acme
School. The stories in it were
written by Viola" s mother.
Brethren writer Bertha
Miller Neher (August/
September 1992, page 33).
Viola, who now is 93, has
come out with another book
of her mother's stories. My
Biblical Tour. It gives
Bertha" s account of her trip
to Egypt. Palestine, and Italy
in 1927. Readers who have
made recent tours will be
interested not only in this
1927 description of Middle
Eastern lands and people, but
also in the way one traveled
to that area nearly 70 years
ago.
The earlier book com-
prised reprints of stories
from various Brethren
publications. The contents of
this new book, however, have
never been published before.
Copies of My Biblical Tour
may be ordered for $5 from
Viola, Box 501, Timbercrest
Home, North Manchester, IN
46962-0501.
Active in Angel Fire
Nan Nielson, a member of
Onekama (Mich.) Church of
the Brethren, and an
Onekema summer resident.
Nan Nielson
spends the rest of the year in
Angel Fire, N.M., a ski
resort area.
There, four years ago, she
helped to found the United
2 Messenger April 1994
Church of Angel Fire, a
community church of 40
members, from several
denominations. Nan serves
on the church's outreach
committee and her daughter.
Motivated by the kids
New Year is a time when
many people make new
starts, and Greg
Buckwaiter, of Hempfield
Church of the Brethren, in
East Petersburg, Pa., is no
exception. On January 15,
Greg left for Somalia to take
up his new position as the
:ountry director for
International Medical
Corps' (IMC)
emergency medical
relief program.
Greg, who spent his
first years out of
:ollege as a Peace
Corps volunteer in
Liberia, says he enjoys
"the challenge of
international work,"
and that, for him,
'Somalia is the
intense version of that
:hallenge you get
when you work in
developing countries."
The IMC relief project in
Somalia is one of a number
of relief projects coordinated
by the agency in developing
countries to provide health
care and health training
programs. IMC operates
independent of politics. "Its
sole function is to rebuild the
health care system (of a
country) in a self-help kind
of way," says Greg.
In addition to his time in
the Peace Corps, Greg has
worked as a public health
computer specialist with the
Annie, is active in the
children's group.
Through Nan's efforts, the
Angel Fire church has
attracted the attention of
Western Plains District.
US Committee for Scientific
Cooperation with Vietnam at
the National Institute for
Hygiene and Epidemiology
in Hanoi. While working
there he wrote Knowledge.
Attitude, Beliefs, and
Practices on AIDS for the
urban population of Viet-
nam, which is now being
translated into Vietnamese.
Greg Buckwalter works in Somalia
to ensure its children 's future.
As country director for
Somali, Greg will oversee
the IMC's goals of providing
medical training and care.
"One day I might be negoti-
ating with the town elders to
open up a clinic; the next day
I might be sitting in a United
Nations security briefing."
Greg says, "The ones who
always have kept me going
in tough situations are the
little kids. My motivation is
to see that kids have another
day to become something . . .
someday."
Tied up in knots
Everett Detrow, of Welty
Church of the Brethren, in
Smithsburg, Md., doesn't let
his age (80) or ill health keep
him from his favorite
pastime.
Since he retired at age 62,
he has pieced comforters for
Welty's women's fellowship,
and he still turns up at their
Everett Detrow measures his
speed in knots as he works
on comforters at Welty.
monthly meetings to help
knot the group's comforters.
The completed comforters
are donated to the Brethren
Service Center, in New
Windsor, Md.; to the district
disaster auction; and to local
welfare organizations and
needy families.
Everett attributes to his
mother his enjoyment of
knotting comforters. He
often helped her with her
comforter-making, and just
kept on piecing and knotting
on his own.
Names in the news
Two Bridgewater College
officials were recognized
during Black History Month
(February) for their contribu-
tions to the local African
American community. The
awards were presented by
Shenandoah Valley Hit, a
weekly newspaper for the
Valley's African Americans.
Bridgewater' s president,
Wayne Geisert, received a
Community Service Award.
Carlyle Whitelow, assistant
professor of physical educa-
tion and men's tennis coach,
received a Collegiate
Educational Award.
• Ernie Doering, a
member of Parker Ford (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren, has
begun a three-year assign-
ment in Bangladesh, through
Mennonite Central Commit-
tee. He is working as an
appropriate technologist.
Remembered
Clyde E. Weaver, 69, died
March 2, in Elgin, 111. He
served on the General Board
Clyde E. Weaver
Staff, 1969-1986, most of
those years in the position of
Brethren Press marketing
director. In his retirement, he
gave much time to cultural
exchanges between Ameri-
cans and Russians and to
serving as a volunteer
arbitrator with the Better
Business Bureau.
April 1994 Messenger 3
fl
Mack: The musical
Did Maria von Trapp
resemble the portrayal of her
in the musical "The Sound of
Music"? Would Alexander
Mack recognize himself in
"Tunker Tales"?
Probably not. But then.
history, as in
"Oh, Peter Becker's
work is weaving.
Which Conrad Beissel
wants to learn;
If hermit's life he's
achieving.
Some greenbacks he
must earn."
as depicted in "Tunker
Tales," sounds astonishingly
like our Annual Conference
of today:
"Papers, queries, and
reports.
Numerous exhibits.
Insight sessions of all
sorts.
The cast for Beacon
Heights ' performance
of '^Tunker Tales"
wore broadbrims,
bonnets, and other
plain garb from an
uncertain period in
Dunker history.
"Close 10 Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local and
regional life. Send story ideas and
photos {black and white, if possible}
to ' Close to Home. ' ' Messenger,
1451 Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60120.
musicals, by definition, are
intended to entertain and
amuse. And usually this end
is achieved at the consider-
able expense of historical
accuracy.
Lorele Yager, of Beacon
Heights Church of the
Brethren, in Fort Wayne,
Ind., refers to her "Tunker
Tales" as a "lighthearted
retracing of some events in
the lives of the Brethren. . . ."
The musical was written to
be performed by the junior-
high youth of Beacon
Heights, with likely the
ulterior motive of piquing
their interest in more serious
study of the denomination's
history.
Opening last fall at Beacon
Heights, "Tunker Tales"
breezily deals with the
characters of early Brethren
"Tunker Tales" has 1 3
scenes, which cover Brethren
history from Schwarzenau,
Germany, in 1711 to the first
Annual Meeting, in Pennsyl-
vania, in 1742.
That first Annual Meeting,
Sunrise Center
Troy (Ohio) Church of the
Brethren got into adult day
care because its church's
newly installed elevator and
handicapped-accessible
entrance and restrooms made
it an ideal site for a commu-
nity group looking for a
location.
Sunrise Adult Care Center
opened in 1991 and now has
19 clients, providing exer-
cise, music therapy, social
And ice cream without
limits."
Could "Tunker Tales" be J
telling us that it's all right to
take a lighthearted approach
to current Brethren doings,
as well as Brethren history?
time, crafts, games, field
trips, and health checks
among its programs.
Two members of the Troy
congregation serve on the
board, and members serve
the center as volunteers. The
church youth help with
fundraising and socialize
with the clients. Congrega-
tions that are interested in
starting such a ministry are
invited to contact the Troy
church, 1431 West Main St.7
Troy, OH 45373.
4 Messenger April 1994
tave Frederick, Dennie Brumbaugh, and Gregg toor didn 't let a deep snowfall thwart
teir plan to barbecue chicken on outdoor grills for Curryville's Bethany fundraiser.
linistry in miniature
iuring their Children's
.ctivity Time (ChAT), the
lildren of Pleasant Dale
person, a feat made difficult
by snow and ice storm. The
valentine project was an
outgrowth of a challenge to
find creative ways to pass on
auren McClung and Brittney Funderburk hand-delivered
alentines to jail trusty Robert Tolley and deputy Ila Kerns.
'hurch of the Brethren, near God's love.
incastle, Va., made 45
alentines for inmates at
lotetourt (pronounced Botty-
ot) County Jail. They then
elivered their creations in
Considering Jesus'
emphasis on prisoners and
little children, .this project
was a "way" grounded
solidly in scripture.
Barbecue weather
While other people in
Pennsylvania were roasting
their toes before indoor
fireplaces, the members of
Curry ville (Pa.) Church of
the Brethren were braving
the January weather to roast
chicken on an outdoor
barbecue grill.
"It really wasn't all that
cold," said Tammy Hinish,
Let's celebrate
Sugar Run Church of the
Brethren, near Mount Union,
Pa., will celebrate its 120th
anniversary September 18.
The church is requesting
photos depicting Sugar Run
history.
• Maple Grove Church of
the Brethren, near Salix, Pa.,
celebrated its centennial
January 23, with former
pastor Chalmer Dilling as
guest speaker.
• Parker Ford (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren
completed on October 3 1 ,
1993, a month-long celebra-
one of the cooks of the day.
"The temperature had been
below zero all week, so we
were worried about how
things would turn out. But
that day was really nice; it
was like a miracle."
The idea of putting on a
fundraising barbecue grew
from a sermon that was
preached on the need to press
on toward goals, with the
upcoming move of Bethany
Seminary being cited as one
such goal.
"We found out that for
$100 we could buy a brick
for Bethany that would have
our name on it and also help
finance the seminary's move
to Richmond," says Tammy.
During the barbecue day,
340 chicken halves were
sold, as well as applesauce,
rolls, and baked potatoes,
netting over $700.
Curryville, heady with this
year's success, is toying with
the idea of another such
fundraiser in '95 . . . and
hoping for better weather.
— Margaret Woolgrove
tion of its 1 50th anniversary,
with Peter Marshall Jr. as
guest speaker that day. Other
celebration activities in-
cluded the publication of a
cook book and the creation of
an hour-long video on the
congregation's history.
• Washington (DC.) City
Church of the Brethren
burned the mortgage for its
education building December
5, 1993. The congregation
will celebrate its centennial
later this year.
• Paint Creek Church of
the Brethren, near Redfield,
Kan., will celebrate its 125th
anniversary May 1 .
April 1994 Messenger 5
i
Dominican Republic Brethren
hold third annual assembly
January 19-22 saw 148 delegates
gathered for the third annual assembly of
the Church of the Brethren in the
Mendelson Ddvila,
from Nicaragua,
introduced new
music to assembly
participants.
Miguelina Arias
serves the assembly
and board as
secretary, and
Guillermo
Encarnacion is
moderator.
Because the news pages include news from various
Church of the Brethren organizations and move-
ments, the activities reported on may represent a
variety of viewpoints. These pages also report on
other national and international news relevant to
Brethren. Information in news articles does not
necessarily represent the opinions ofMESSENGER or
the Church of the Brethren.
Dominican Republic. The delegates
came from all 10 of the Dominican
congregations, as well as from the
United States.
The assembly was "marked by a
hopeful and energetic spirit," according
to Yvonne Dilling, Latin America and
Caribbean representative on the General
Board staff, with one full day dedicated
to workshops, and a day and a half to
business.
The main business items of the
assembly were proposals to change the
bylaws. After much discussion on the
role of moderator in the church, a
unanimous decision was made to follow
the US pattern of having a moderator-
elect. Guillermo Encarnacion, a Domini-
can native, now pastor of Alfa y Omega
Church of the Brethren in Lancaster, Pa
was elected to serve a further two-year
term as moderator, with Luis M.
Ogando, as moderator-elect. Ogando wil
take on the duties of moderator in 1996.
The church board membership was
decreased in order to save administrativfj
funds, but has maintained lay and I
pastoral input from all 1 0 congregations
Joan Deeter, executive of the World
Ministries Commission of the General
Board, noted in this, her second year of
participation in the assembly, her "great'
joy in the leadership skills demonstrated*
among these new Brethren, and in their
intense involvement in the business
issues before the assembly."
The workshops were a highlight for
many participants, with Gilbert Romero,
pastor of Bella Vista Church of the
Brethren in Los Angeles, Calif., discuss*
ing pressures faced by a teenager; and
Mendelson Davila of Mision Cristiana,
Nicaragua, teaching worship renewal
and liturgy from the New Song Move-
ment in Latin America.
Evening worships were led by Jorge
Rivera, pastor of Crista Nuestra Paz
(Christ our Peace) Church of the
Brethren, in Yahuecas, P.R.; Luis M.
Ogando, 1993 chairman of the Domini-
can board; and Earl Ziegler, Annual
Conference moderator. Each worship
leader brought a different emphasis to
the assembly theme, "Building in the
Name of the Lord."
Reports showed that major achieve-
ments were made in the Dominican
church's goal of internal strengthening
this year, although membership only
increased by a small margin.
"In many ways," said Dilling, "the
assembly reminded me of our stateside
Annual Conference, with its spirit of
family and the deeply moving worship
services. It was a time of mutual edifica
tion for all involved."
6 Messenger April 1994
'ethren Volunteer Service Unit 210 completed orientation in Orlando, Fla.,
nuary 9-29. Members are (front row) Larry Davis Jr., Paula Bishop, Gretchen
ihner, Staci Toback, Shay Warren, Shawn Kirchner; (second row) Suzanne
hnson, Mary Mason, Chris Brown; (third row) Emily Zielinski (BVS orientation
sistant), Troy Reimer, Deana Gilmore, Krisanne Vaillancourt, Amy Loser, Crystal
sher, Peter Neilson (BVS recruitment assistant); (fourth row) Bob Patalano, May
talano, Lisa Vassady, Tammy Krause Riddle (BVS orientation coordinator), David
irroll, Brenda Retry, Abe Turany, Barbara Zander, Jeff Faus; (fifth row) Jeff
illagher, Brett Murner, Norman Geibler. (See page 31 for project assignments.)
eneral Board hires experts
I discover Brethren image
hat are the common threads that tie
lurch of the Brethren members
gether? What is the mix, the balance,
at makes Brethren beliefs and practices
viting to others?
These are the questions being re-
arched in a General Board media
itreach project. From now until mid-
ay, interviews and focus group
scussions are being conducted in
rious parts of the country by
)mmunicorp, an Atlanta-based
immunications consultants group, to
ovide insight into recommendations to
: shaped later this year.
"In many ways still 'a people apart,'
"ethren habitually advertise their belief
rough 'the manner of their living'
ther than through wholesale evange-
:m," observes Patti Crane, Communi-
>rp vice-president. Recounting the story
Jesus approaching the disciples who
had spent the night fishing without
success. Crane asks, "To people who have
fished all night and caught nothing, what
can the Church of the Brethren offer?"
"Meeting the evangelism challenge of
the '90s means learning how to present
not merely a compelling nationwide
image but an appealing local one,"
Crane advises.
Communicorp's experience in research
and communications activity has focused
primarily on institutions of higher
education, among them Bridgewater,
Hesston, Lebanon Valley, and Calvin
colleges, Shenandoah and Le Sierra
universities, and the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago.
The Church of the Brethren study is
part of the denomination's Goals for the
'90s objective on evangelism and commu-
nication. Once the findings are in,
several months will be given to creating
and testing pilot resources. Materials for
churchwide use are projected for the fall
of 1995. — -Howard Royer
Prayer for renewal focus of
gathering at McPherson
A "Prayer on the Plains" gathering for
lay persons, held at McPherson College
February 25-27, focused on the Goals for
the '90s call for renewal through
scriptures and reflections of the readings.
The weekend was devoted to prayer for
the denomination and the upcoming
Annual Conference in Wichita, Kan.,
June 28-July 3.
Annual Conference Moderator Earl
Ziegler led the gathering. He also invited
congregations unable to attend to use
February 27 as a day of prayer.
Along with Ziegler, Moderator-elect
Judy Mills Reimer, General Board
Chairman David Wine, General Secre-
tary Donald Miller, and approximately
50 Brethren from around the denomina-
tion attended the conference.
Calendar
Bethany Alumni Event: "Memories and
Visions," April 10-12, Oak Brook, 111 [Contact
Debbie Eisenbise, (708) 620-22 1 7],
Peace Seminar: "Rights and the Way of Christ"
with John Alexander, April 12, at Bethany
Seminary, Oak Brook, 111. [Contact Tom
Longenecker, (708) 620-2243).
Church of the Brethren Association of
Christian Educators conference. Camp
Bethel, Finca.stle, Va., April 15-17. [Contact
Doris Quarles, (703) 992-2465].
1994 Regional Youth Conferences at
Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pa.,
April 16-17; Bridgewater College, Bridgewater,
Va., April 16-17; Manchester College, North
Manchester, Ind, April 22-24; McPherson
College, McPherson, Kan., April 28-May I ,
[Contact district youth advi.sors or the Youth
Ministry Office, (800) 323-8039).
1994 National Youth Conference at Colorado
State University, Fort Collin.s, Colo.. July 26-
3 1 . Final deadline for preregistralions is May
15. [Contact Shawn Replogle, NYC Coordina-
tor, 1451 DundeeAve, Elgin, IL 60120).
Church Visit to Brazil: "South and North Meet
in a 'Tunker' Way," July 10-28, spon.sored by
Latin America/Carribean Office. [Contact Latin
America/Caribbean Office, (800) 323-8039).
April 1 994 Messenger 7
Violence a stepchild of
apartheid says WCC
"The apartheid monster is about to die,
but it has spawned some hideously
deformed stepchildren, the worst of
which is violence," said M. Stanley
Mogoba, presiding bishop of the Meth-
odist Church in South Africa, concern-
ing racism and violence.
At the World Council of Churches
(WCC) Central Committee's World
Assembly in Johannesburg, South
Africa, January 20-28, Church of the
Brethren General Secretary Donald
Miller and two other committee mem-
bers drafted a proposal for a program to
overcome violence, (see page 22.)
After an improved redraft was com-
pleted, the statement was first adopted by
the Peace, Justice, and Integrity of
Creation unit of the assembly then
unanimously adopted by the total body.
The statement was written to overcome
violence in general, but with a specific
focus on violence against women, said
Miller. This is in collaboration with the
Ecumenical Decade of Churches in
Solidarity with Women. The assembly
was shown a video that focused violence
against women, which Miller described
as "horrifying."
"In recent years, however, the con-
spiracy of silence surrounding (violence
against women) has been broken. The
victims, women, are beginning to
disclose the situations in which they
have struggled for a long time, often
unable to share pain and anger with
anyone," stated WCC General Secretary
Konrad Raiser.
The WCC's Central Committee
welcomed as full members three new
churches to the council — the Episcopal
Church of Burundi, the Episcopal
Church of Rwanda, and the Orthodox
Autocephalous Church of Albania.
Committee members voiced both
concern and acceptance over the possi-
bility of the Roman Catholic Church
joining the WCC. Although the Roman
Catholic Church is not a member of the
WCC, it has worked cooperatively on
many WCC projects in the past. The
Roman Catholic Church has no immedi-
8 Messenger April 1994
Donald E. Miller, ,
Church of the
Brethren general
secretary (second
from right), serves
on the WCC Central
Committee. He and
two other members ;
got a proposal i
accepted to create a
program to
overcome violence.
ate plans to join the WCC, but it did not
rule out the possibility.
The 50th General Assembly will be
held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, the site of the
first General Assembly in 1948, was also
considered.
After Harare was selected by a sizable
majority of the voting Central Commit-
tee, General Secretary Konrad Raiser
stated that he would look into concerns
voiced by the committee about reports of
substantial human rights violations in
Harare.
"Now Is the Time: Repent and
Rejoice" is the proposed theme for the
1998 conference, under the main theme
of "Jubilee: Now Is the Day of the Lord."
A leader in the Russian Orthodox
Church claimed that his people could not
rejoice in their present situation. After
several proposed themes were offered,
the Executive Committee agreed to bring
a final proposal to the next meeting of
the Central Committee, in Nashville,
Tenn., in September 1995.
This was the first WCC World
Assembly held in South Africa. The site
was chosen to underscore support for this
month's non-racial elections in South
Africa, the first of their kind.
"(The WCC) identified the world's
greatest evil as racism and waged a
relentless campaign against it," stated
Mogoba in the opening service. "As we
approach the first free general elections
in South Africa, we know we could not
have come this far without the program."
The World Council of Churches
consists of 322 member churches from
100 countries. The Central Committee
has 150 representatives. Donald Miller
was one of the 1 50 delegates to attend
the assembly, which is held every seven
years. — Paula Sokody
1994 holds many activities for
Church of the Brethren youth
Brethren youth can become more
involved in their church through the
many events that have been planned for
them for 1994.
Youth newsletter. Bantu is a new
newsletter for Brethren youth. The title
of the newsletter is said to come from ar
African word combining youth and
communication. The purpose of the
newsletter is to encourage communi-
cation among Brethren youth.
Several youth initiated the newsletter
after meeting at the Christian Citizen-
ship Seminar a year ago. Elizabeth
Abraham of the Lenexa (Kan.) Church
of the Brethren is the editor.
Bantu is sponsored by the Youth and
Young Adult Ministry office. Althoughl
the office pays printing and mailing
expenses, the youth design and write thdj
newsletter themselves.
A mailing list is being compiled, andi
inquiries can be made to: Elizabeth
Abraham, 8010 Widmer, Lenexa, KS
66215.
1994 Youth Peace Travel Team. Th
members of the fourth Youth Peace Trav
»
"earn have been announced. The team
ricludes Matt Guynn of Indianapolis,
nd.; Brian Krushwitz of Grundy Center,
owa; Becki Lovett of Troy, Ohio; and
^honda Mellinger of Manheim, Pa.
The training session will be held June
-11 in southern Illinois, where the
■avel team will begin its tour. It will
isit camps in the Midwest and West, as
/ell as stopping at Annual Conference
nd National Youth Conference.
The goals of the team are to teach
ampers about peace and the Brethren
ole in peacekeeping history. The team is
ponsored by the peace consultant,
)utdoor Ministry, On Earth Peace
assembly, and Youth Ministry.
National Youth Sunday. The 1994
Jationai Youth Sunday is set for May 1.
"he theme is "Come to the Edge, Claim
he Call." The theme, taken from
Lphesians 4: 1, is also the theme of this
ear's National Youth Conference,
/laterials from the Youth and Young
Vdult Ministry office were sent to
hurches to prepare for this day.
National Youth Conference. The
late of speakers for the July 26-3 1
National Youth Conference has been
onfirmed. Susan Boyer, pastor of
/lanchester Church of the Brethren in
Jorth Manchester, Ind., is the Tuesday
vening speaker. Shawn Replogle, NYC
oordinator and Brethren Volunteer
iervice worker, speaks on Wednesday
noming; Phill Carlos Archbold,
issociate pastor of Brooklyn (N.Y.)
Ihurch of the Brethren, on Wednesday
:vening; youth speech contest winners,
)n Thursday morning; Paul Mundey,
lenominational director of Evangelism,
m Thursday evening; and Chris
Michael, denominational director of
fouth and Young Adult Ministry, on
^riday morning. A drama with National
fouth Conference participants, will be
)resented on Friday evening. Millard
■'uller, director for Habitat for Humanity
nternational, will speak on Saturday
noming; Christy Waltersdorff, associate
)astor of Westminster (Md.) Church of
he Brethren, on Saturday evening; and
David Radcliff, denominational director
)f Peace Witness and Korean Ministry,
m Sunday morning.
During the week, conference partici-
pants will have the opportunity to help in
a service project with Habitat for
Humanity. This year's service project is
building a house for the Fort Collins.
Colo, community, where the conference
is being held. The house will be built on
jacks and moved to its permanent
location upon completion.
National Workcamps. The National
Youth Workcamps are scheduled from
June through August. The young adult
camp is in Rio Piedras, P.R., June 4-12.
The senior high/youth camps are in
Cherokee, N.C., June 20-26. and
Dominican Republic with Brethren
Revival Fellowship, August 4-17. The
junior-high camps are in Indianapolis,
Ind., July 6-10; Harrisburg, Pa., August
3-7; New Windsor, Md., Augu.st 8-12;
and Tidewater, Va., August 17-21.
For registration, contact the Youth and
Young Adult Ministry office.
Stewardship relationship
forged with Heifer Project
In recognition of the close historical ties
and present close relationship between
the two organizations, the Church of the
Brethren General Board and Heifer
Project International (HPI) are entering a
fundraising partnership for the initial
five-year period, 1994-1998. This
partnership is considered an ongoing
relationship, and is launched during
Heifer Project's 50th anniversary year.
Gifts received through the partnership
project will be shared equally between
the General Board and HPI. Unless
specifically designated, such gifts will
be considered undesignated for the work
of the respective organization.
The initial promotion theme will be
"Fill the Ark." HPI is developing
materials for this theme, which can be
used by participating families and
congregations in the home setting. These
materials will be available for congrega-
tions at Annual Conference this June.
The launch date set for congregational
promotion is October 9, at the start of
HPI's Anniversary Celebration Month.
Shantilal Bhagat compiles
NCC environmental packet
Shantilal Bhagat, Church of the Brethren
director of Eco-justice Concerns, has
compiled a packet of materials that
concentrates on the church's role in
saving the environment. The packet is
called "God's Earth Our Home."
Bhagat hopes that congregations will
take a "local focus." He sees many
communities that call themselves
healthy, but really aren't.
"A community is healthy not only
when the people are healthy, but also
when the environment is healthy," said
Bhagat. "Humans don't consider
themselves as part of nature. Biblically,
we were created from the earth, from
nature."
The packet includes information to
help congregations make a difference in
their community, as well as their church.
Bhagat coordinated the packet on
behalf of the Environmental and Eco-
nomic Justice/Hunger Working Group of
the National Council of Churches.
Besides compiling the packet, Bhagat
edited and authored some of the content.
Bhagat was interested in such a project
for the Church of Brethren for many
Slumtilal BIh
years but lacked funding for it. The NCC
eco-justice task force decided to do the
packet last May, and Bhagat began the
writing in October.
Bhagat' s next step is to select and
encourage 50-100 Church of the Breth-
ren congregations as model eco-justice
congregations. Packets are being sent to
churches this spring.
April 1994 Messenger 9
Robert Kettering
John Cassel
Pedro Bruit
S. Joan Hershey
General Board and Bethany
announce staff changes
Robert Kettering is serving as consult-
ant for the Parish Ministries Commission
of the General Board for the period from
March 1 through August 30, 1994.
Kettering will develop the training and
networking components of the Andrew
Center, which officially opened in
March. He also will be working with
new church development in the denomi-
nation. Kettering is working out of his
home in Manheim, Pa.
John Cassel has resigned as dean of
students and director of field education
for Bethany Theological Seminary.
Cassel, who had served on Bethany's
staff since 1975, ended his term of
service in March. He has accepted a
position with the Illinois Association of
School Boards as field director.
Pedro Brull resigned February 1 1 as
executive minister for Puerto Rico in
Atlantic Southeast District. Brull had
served in this position since June 1993
and served as a volunteer in this position
from 1987 to 1992.
S. Joan Hershey has accepted the
Andrew Center coordinator, consulting/
resourcing position. She previously has
served on the General Board ( 1 986-
1991; chairwoman 1990-1991). the
Korea Advisory Committee, and the
Atlantic Northeast District Reorganiza-
tion task group. She also has served as
administrative director of Passing on the
Promise. She entered this half-time
position on March 1 and is working out
of her home in Mount Joy, Pa.
Redekopp serves as monitor
for South Africa elections
Orlando Redekopp, pastor of Chicago
(111.) First Church of the Brethren and
General Board director of Urban Minis-
try, will serve as a monitor for South
Africa's first non-racial elections on
April 27.
He will be part of the Ecumenical
Monitoring Program for South Africa
(EMPSA), a joint effort by the South
African Council of Churches, the
Southern African Catholic Bishops'
Conference, and the World Council of
Churches. He will serve in South Africa
from April 5-May 6.
Redekopp spent three years working in
southern Africa. He worked with South
Africa refugees in Botswana for two-and-
a-half years, and spent the remaining
time in South Africa doing research and
writing on forced removals. He served as
an officer and board member of Syn-
apses, a grass-roots, interfaith, peace I
action network located in Chicago, for I
six years (1987-1993). \
The Church of the Brethren Southern
Africa Committee disbanded earlier this
year after funding was cut by the Gen-
eral Board as part of its 1994 budget
reduction.
Religious News Service (RNS) has been sold to Newhouse
News Service by the United Methodist Reporter. Newhouse, a
subsidary of Advance Publications, plans to move RNS from New
York to Washington by July 31. Messenger is a regular user of RNS
releases.
South Africa's first non-racial free elections will be held
on April 27. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches, urged the council's Central Committee (see page 8) to
remember South Africa at this time.
"Many will find it hard to accept that the enemy of yesterday
should have become the political partner of today without any clear
acknowledgment of the price to be paid for reconciliation," stated
Raiser.
The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) national staff
who attended the November 1993 RE-lmagining Conference in
10 Mes.senger April 1994
Minneapolis (January, page 9) drafted a letter stating their position
regarding the controversial event. The 26 staff members who signed
the letter are under attack from Tlie Presbyterian Layman, which
presented their names to the larger church and called for them to bej
released from their positions in the church.
An excerpt from the letter read: "We grieve over the damage
The Presbyterian Layman is doing to this church and to those of us
who are involved by their blatant misrepresentation in their reporting
of this event. We are concerned about the larger implications such an
attack has on all of us as we seek to be faithful in our respective
ministries."
The VISN/ACTS Channel became the Faith & Values Channel
on January 1 . The 5-year-old cable channel changed its name in hope
of being recognized easier by watchers. "We needed a name that is
viewer-friendly, a name that clearly says who we are, what we are
about, and can help viewers find the channel."
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offering
suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — thai we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment. "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 7 need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are, "
STONES
The first spring day (not to
be confused with the first day
of spring) always takes me by
surprise. Just about the time
the winter clouds begin to
feel like a shroud around my
soul, suddenly spring is here,
thumbing it's nose at the
date on the calendar.
Without warning, after
months of damp, gray,
shivery, bone-chilling cold,
crocuses peek through, birds
chirp, joggers molt their
winter skin, and the kids
crawl out of hibernation.
Sometimes I wonder if
kids migrate with the birds to
warmer climates during the
winter. It seems like an
eternity passes without my
seeing them out and about.
But let the mercury creep up
to 60 degrees, and they're
back in full force, complete
with bicycles, kites, jump
ropes, Frisbees, and skate-
boards. They're a bit pale
from being "underground,"
and their eyes haven't quite
lost that glazed look from
marathon sessions of
Nintendo, but by and large
they're healthy.
But different, somehow.
"What is it?" I wondered on
that first warm day, as I
encountered one old young
friend after another. "They're
the same kids, same houses,
same voices, same smiles.
H'mmm, a little bigger
perhaps. . . .
"That's it! They're bigger.
They've grown during the
past few months. They've
changed. And what's more,
they're wearing last year's
clothes."
In the fall, kids are seldom
caught unprepared for the
first cool day, because
autumn is officially ushered
in by the beginning of the
school year. And since most
kids have been outfitted for
it, when the temperature
drops below freezing, they're
ready . . . from color coordi-
nated stocking-capped head
to brand-new booted toe.
But with spring, it's
different. We never know for
sure when it will happen,
and most parents haven't
sufficiently recovered from
Christmas shopping to have
been scavenging stores for
spring clothes. Consequently
that first warm breath of
seasonal promise sends the
kids digging through their
closets for something from
last season to wear.
The only problem is that
last year's clamdiggers are
this year's bermudas, last
year's baggy shorts are this
year's second skin, last year's
T-shirt is this year's crop top,
and last year's swim suit is,
well, too revealing for any-
thing but a hand-me-down!
The kids have grown. And
their clothes don't fit
anymore.
Are you wearing some-
thing you've outgrown? Take
an "attitude inventory" and
see how things fit.
Is that old grudge getting a
bit tight around the collar?
Did you know the length of
that grievance is all wrong
for this season? Has anyone
told you that the color of
prejudice doesn't suit you at
all? Is the pettiness you're
sporting about to split at the
seams?
Those critical comments
are so small they're exposing
far more than modesty
permits. And surely you're
finding last year's snobbery
too constricting for comfort.
Is it time to put on
compassion and understand-
ing? Is the narrowness of
your mind beginning to
restrict your freedom? Are
you still wearing something
you've outgrown?
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul
says: "When I was a child, 1
spoke like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When 1 became an
adult, 1 put an end to
childish ways."
Fortunately, most of the
kids wearing last year's
summer wardrobe will have
the good sense to pester their
parents into getting clothes
for them that fit. When
something is too small, it
limits freedom.
What about you? Are there
Ai.
any childish things you
need to lay aside?
Robin Wentw(}rth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg. Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlehury, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counseling
out ofWalerford (hid.) Community
Church.
April 1994 Messenger 11
#•
X
vJhawn Replogle is a self-confessed "B
& B B," a term that he explains as
standing for being "born and bred
Brethren." Being a Replogle on one side
and an Eller on the other, he has a
confession that is well considered.
Six months after Shawn was bom, his
family moved from North Manchester.
Ind., to Berea, Ky. In the family's eight
years in Kentucky, Shawn "almost became
a Methodist," there being no Church of
the Brethren congregations nearby.
Before this happened, however, the
Replogle family moved on to Elgin, 111.
There, five years later, "on Palm Sunday,
1983," Shawn recalls, he "was
baptized at Highland Avenue Church of
the Brethren."
This memory and
attention for detail is
typical, attests Jeff
Carter, Shawn's best friend from their
days together at Bridgewater College.
(See "A Summer on a Mountain Top,"
by Jeff Carter, January, page 18.) In their
friendship, Jeff calls Shawn "the depend-
able one."
Together they started the Bridgewater
soccer team, which now is accredited by
the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic
Association). "We started playing
together the winter of our sophomore
year," says Jeff. "We kicked ball every
day that winter, through sleet and snow
and sunshine. Shawn has a great
listening ear, and we talked about a lot of
things while we played. We both had the
same dream, and in the spring we began
the work of forming a soccer team."
This was a point at which Shawn's
organizational skills came into play. Jeff
did the up-front work of fundraising
and public speaking, while Shawn
plugged away behind the scenes. "He
was the backbone of the whole enter-
prise," says Jeff.
Behind the scenes. That's where
Shawn Replogle enjoys being. And there
are many scenes to be behind as he
serves this year as coordinator of the
Church of the Brethren National Youth
Conference (see accompanying story).
12 Messenger April 1994
The dependable
Over 3,000 Brethren
youth are depending
on Shawn Replogle to
pull off what he calls
'the most powerful
event in the church. '
by Margaret Woolgrove
Being a "behind the scenes" operator
has its pitfalls. If Shawn became another
year older for every time he has had
"Happy Birthday" sung to him in the
past year, he would look a great many
years older than his actual 24. He
exhibited so much embarrassment at
being serenaded by the National Youth
Cabinet on his 1993 birthday that it
ensured his being sung to at any and all
youth events thereafter. Singing "Happy
Birthday" to Shawn has become a part of
every youth gathering he attends.
Helping bring organized soccer to
Bridgewater was not the only formative
experience Shawn had in college. There
also were his acting, which he did "just
for the fun of it," and his work with the
college newspaper. The Talon.
"I had my own Talon column in my
senior year," says Shawn, "called 'Rep's
Review.' The idea in the beginning was
that 1 would write about an issue from
one perspective, and another columnist
would tackle it from the opposite
viewpoint. But the other guy decided he
wanted to write poetry instead, so I was
left to do basically what I wanted."
As a political science major with peace
studies and economics minors, Shawn
prepared himself for the "real world"
_ after college. But he i
/'^f^ /^A wasn't clear about
1^1 J__£L y where his career
was heading after
graduation came and the "real world"
loomed. So he decided it was a good timei
to spend a year in Brethren Volunteer
Service (BVS).
"Not knowing where I was going after
college was half the reason for going intoi
BVS," Shawn admits, "but the other half
was wanting to serve."
Two years later, he still is not sure
about his career direction, so he hopes
that a year at Bethany Theological
Seminary will help to clarify things.
"I'm really looking forward to getting to
Richmond (Ind.), and being on a school
campus again," he says. Shawn has two
particularly good feelings about going to
Bethany this fall: "One is that I'm just
happy to be going to Bethany, after
thinking about it for quite a while. And
I'm glad I know where I'm going after
National Youth Conference so that I
don't have to think about it right now. I
have enough on my mind in the run-up
to NYC that one less thing to think about
makes a big difference."
Shawn attended National Youth
Conference in 1986 as a participant from
the Bridgewater congregation, his family :
having moved to Virginia in 1984. "That
was when I was a sophomore in high
school, and NYC was still being held at
:stes Park," he says.
Aside from remembering NYC '86 as
iking place "a very long time ago,"
hawn also has memories of the Andy
nd Terry Murray concert, meeting "a lot
f people — especially on the bus ride
ut," and "sitting on (his) pillow."
idividual, personalized pillows are an
lYC tradition. Shawn's pillow was
lade to look like a bunch of bananas,
[though he's not quite sure why, "since
ananas aren't symbolic of Virginia."
For Shawn, that 1986 NYC was his
first encounter with the larger church.
"That was a scene I hadn't been exposed
to before," he points out. "That made a
big impression on me, and 1 hope that
the youth who attend this year's NYC
will, like me, discover the larger church
for themselves."
Shawn is a bit leery of the recognition
that is coming his way in Brethren
circles as the coordinator of NYC. "At
Annual Conference in 1985, 1 shared a
room with Brian Harley, who was
coordinating NYC for 1986. I was really
awed to be staying in the same room
with him. It's funny to remember that
awe, now that I'm in the position Brian
had then."
Shawn is not new to coordinating. He
was the coordinator of Brethren Youth
Workcamps last summer, during his first
year of BVS, so moving on to the
position of NYC coordinator was a
logical step. "I had a lot of fun with the
workcamps," says Shawn, "and traveling
thousands of miles by Greyhound bus
(continued on page 15)
[s a Bridgewater student, Shawn helped organize the
ollege's first soccer team, now accredited by the
/CAA. Organizational skills stand him in good stead
s he coordinates myriad details to ensure a successful
National Youth Conference for the church.
April 1994 Messenger 13
National Youth Conference: The most powerl
by Shawn Replogle
Four years ago, 3,300 youth and advisors
gathered for a power-filled event — the
Church of the Brethren National Youth
Conference (NYC). Among them were
Matt Luker of Hartville (Ohio) Church of
the Brethren and Eddie Edmonds of
Williamson Road Church of the Breth-
ren, in Roanoke, Va.
Before Matt went to NYC, he wasn't
interested in what the conference had to
offer, especially since he thought the
money he was using for the trip would
make a nice down payment on a car.
"My parents didn't like the choices I was
making, and we got into several argu-
ments about it. They said 'You're going
to NYC, even if we have to chain you to
the seat,' and that was it. I was on my
way to Colorado."
Matt spent the early part of NYC in
his room, wishing he weren't there. "I
thought it was all stupid, so I didn't
participate much. Eventually, I went to a
worship or two, and by the end of the
week I realized I was liking it!"
By the time closing worship arrived,
Matt's turn-around at NYC was almost
complete. "On that last evening, with
Deanna Brown's message of healing,
and the anointing service, I realized
the change of heart I had experienced
during the week, and my recommitment
to Christ. I still have the piece of cloth
we were given that symbolized the
brokenness in our lives. It now symbol-
izes the moment that God planted the
seeds in my life for service to him. It's
survived three backpacks and is now on
my briefcase."
At age 18, Matt became the associate
pastor of the Hartville congregation. "I
didn't think I'd be going into ministry.
NYC planted the seeds that really
changed my life."
Eddie and his wife, Alice, were asked
to attend the 1990 NYC as advisors
for their youth group. At that time,
Eddie was working at a Ford dealership,
with no idea that his life would soon
take a turn.
14 Messenger April 1994
"NYC was a deeply, spiritually
moving event in our lives. Soon after-
ward, Alice and I began talking about
the ministry."
Back in his home church following
NYC, Eddie began discussions with his
congregation and district about
being licensed to the ministry.
He also enrolled in the
TRaining In Ministry (TRIM)
program. "I was called into
an interim pastorate because
of the decisions I'd made at
NYC. Soon afterward, I was
released from Ford and had
more time for the pastorate. I
thought it was God freeing
me from my other responsi-
bilities so that I could do what
I had been called to do." It
wasn't long before Eddie had
his own full-time pastorate, in
Moler Avenue Church of the
Brethren, Martinsburg, W. Va.
These are not uncommon
stories about National Youth
Conference. The National
Youth Cabinet designed the
NYC "94 theme "Come to
the Edge, Claim the Call,"
hoping to create the same
kind of atmosphere that
touched Matt and Eddie in
1990. The cabinet had two
particular challenges in mind.
It wanted to challenge youth
to have the faith in God to
push them to their perceived
limits and then be challenged
to go one step farther, to
take their faith so seriously
that they were willing to
risk for it. And it hoped that
they would listen to God's
call in their lives, to discern
what gift or talent they
each possessed, and how it fit into the
body of Christ.
For 1994, the National Youth Cabinet
and I have set a clear challenge before
ourselves to create a National Youth
Conference that is different from
other conferences, but one that also
challenges participants to take their life i
in Christ seriously and actively live their'
faith out in the world.
Participants will be challenged by i.
top-notch speakers. Youth will have
The hallways of the General Offices of the
denomination currently are festooned with a fast-
growing red plastic chain that Shawn uses as his
NYC registration gauge, one link for each NYCer.
the opportunity to speak at worship
services, to sing in the NYC choir, to
play in the NYC band, to perform drama
during worship, to perform clowning
skits, to lead worship throughout the
week, and to exhibit other gifts in the
nt'
iitional NYC talent show,
vdult participants will have the
)ortunity to improve their youth
listry skills. Workshops developed
cifically for advisors will be offered,
luding two workshops led by Thorn
I Joani Schultz, executives of Group
gazine. As workshop leaders,
y will bring a combined 40 years of
ith ministry experience to their
sentations.
'articipants will have Bible study
norning devotions, led by Richard
5rematen, pastor of Germantown
arch of the Brethren, in Philadelphia.
;re also will be biblically based
rkshops and two daily worships.
LS at past National Youth Confer-
es, there will be opportunities for
Ith to serve others. The NYC '94
vice Project will be the construction
1 home right on the campus of
orado State University. Following its
(ipletion at the end of the week, the
ise will be moved to its permanent
ition. Youth and adults will complete
1 project with their time, labor, and
incial support.
rnd all of these, plus many other
nts, take place in just five days,
those who are not convinced that
C is the most power-filled and
verful event in the Church of the
:thren, I have a challenge: Get
olved with your youth group, help its
mbers raise funds to come to Colo-
0, and then come with them. That's
It, join us at NYC and see for
irself. After the week, you will see a
'erence in your youth . . . and in
irself.
'his summer, over 3,000 youth and
eral hundred advisors will "come to
edge" in Colorado. Over 100 NYC
■f will help them on their journey. It
1 be life-changing. Barriers will fall,
I calls will be given . . . and heard. It
1 be the most powerful
nt in the church. Just ask Matt
Eddie.
hawn Replogle is coordinator of the 1994
•oiial Youth Conference.
M.
WOOLGROVE/ from page 13
was certainly a memorable experience."
One story that Shawn enjoys telling
from his workcamp coordinator summer
is about having the van he was driving
stopped and searched at the Mexican
border. "I think we would have been all
right if I hadn't just before then led all
three vans the wrong way up a one-way
street," he says, laughing at the memory.
"That, added to the fact that I hadn't
shaved for a couple of days and had
answered 'SC instead of 'Yes' when
asked if I was an American citizen was
probably what made the border guards
suspicious. My Spanish is virtually
nonexistent, but after
I said 'accidente' and
'iglesia' (church) a
Shawn 's supervisor,
Chris Michael,
praises him for his
"commitment to
doing things well. "
few times, they let us
go. The youth in the
van just laughed at
me."
A friend who was in BVS orientation
with Shawn in 1992 remembers him best
for the devotion he led on the last night
of the experience. Shawn tells what he
did: "I gave everyone in the group a
marble. The marbles were close to
perfect, but each one had an imperfection
in it. The imperfection in each of the
marbles was to remind us that none of us
is perfect, but we need to keep on
striving toward this goal."
"He really has a vision for where NYC
and youth ministry is going," says
another friend about Shawn. "He is
dedicated to exposing the youth to new
experiences, and really wants them to
grow through the event."
Many people who know or work with
Shawn use that word "dedicated" to
describe him. For Chris Michael, who
supervises him in her post as director of
Youth and Young Adult Ministry, the
thing that most impresses her about
Shawn is his "really strong organiza-
tional skills and his commitment to
doing things well.
"I know that NYC had a profound
effect on him in 1986, and he really
wants to make sure that this 1994
generation of Brethren youth has the
same opportunity to be so affected."
"For me," says Shawn, "my two years
in BVS have entailed a sacrifice of time
and money, but I have grown a great
deal through the experience. I just hope
that the youth at NYC can gain some-
thing of that same spirit during the week
in Fort Collins, and that it will change
their lives in some way."
This expressed hope, says Jeff Carter,
is typical of Shawn. "He has a very
pragmatic view of religion. It is some-
thing to be used and lived, not just set
around and talked about. Shawn has a
good sense of tradition and heritage in
Brethren symbols without getting caught
up in the rituals."
For those who believe that BVS is a
launching pad for leadership in the
Church of the Brethren, they might do
well to keep their eyes peeled for
Shawn Replogle' s lift-off.
Ai.
April 1994 Messenger 15
Facing our last enemy
Jesus expresses the truth that many of us are too
afraid to admit: Death is abandonment. And if death
is the end, we Christians should grieve most of all.
by Ryan Ahlgrim
One of the most terrifying verses in the
Bible is Jesus' screamed question from
the cross. "My God, My God, why have
you forsaken me?" According to Mark
15:34, these are the last words Jesus ever
says. His last word is an agony, an
abandonment at the point of death.
Anyone who ever doubted that Jesus was
a human being like the rest of us needs
only to read that one sentence. Or one
can look back to his final evening in the
Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus
cried out in a distressful prayer to God,
"Father, remove this cup from me"
(Mark 14:36). It is clear from Mark's
Gospel that Jesus did not want to die.
Quite frankly, death terrified him just as
it terrifies us.
These words of Jesus from the cross
and in the garden always have been for
me the most poignant words he ever
spoke. I am drawn to him when I hear
him cry to God in the face of death,
because he says what I am afraid to say.
The horror of death is not minimized or
denied. Jesus — both human and God-
filled — honestly grapples with a terror of
death.
But is there not also a peaceful side to
death, a gentle acceptance and embrace?
Yes, and this good side of death is not
too hard to see. For one thing, death
makes life important. Since we are here
for only a short time, it matters what we
do and how we use our days. We set
goals and priorities, and our decisions
have added importance. Also, death is a
part of life. One needs only to look at the
world of nature to see how everything is
in a continuous cycle of death and life.
That which dies becomes the soil for that
which will live. Death makes more life
possible.
16 Messenger April 1994
A member of our congregation died
and was cremated. One evening as the
sun was setting, his family and friends
scattered his ashes in a field at the family
farm. As I walked out to that field,
crickets were jumping and chirping in
the tall grass. I was struck by how alive
creation was, how alive the ground was.
And we were adding our brother's ashes
to that ground.
If it were not for death this would
become an old stale world. We would
stop having children, because if we did
not die, the world would soon be full.
And so we would have no choice but to
cease creating new human life with all
its fresh energy, vision, and hope.
So death does have a good side, and
occasionally people even welcome it. As
a volunteer hospital chaplain, I some-
times met elderly people who truly were
ready to die, not because of pain and
loneliness, but because life had been full
and long, and now they desired rest. To
see this is to see something beautiful.
J3 ut there is another side to death — the
cruel side. Death does not usually come
at the most desired and peaceful time; it
usually is an unwanted invader. One
night I was called to the hospital to be
with a young mother. Her 15-year-old
son was having a heart attack. We
prayed intensely and continuously. And
then the doctor came to us and said the
son was dead. The mother became
hysterical with grief, and well she should
have. Death had been very cruel.
It is true that death makes life impor-
tant, but paradoxically, it also makes life
meaningless. What do any of our actions
or accomplishments matter if death
claims us all? If we just eat, work, love,
and then die, what is the point? As
Ecclesiastes tells us, if death is the last
word, life is meaningless.
And finally, the crudest aspect of
death is that we as individuals cease to
exist. The human race may go on for a
while longer, but it goes on without us.
We may be partially remembered for a
generation or so, but we ourselves have
no memory and no life. Every unique
smile, thought, and act of sharing and
love eventually will die. We will all
cease to exist.
This is the most terrifying face of J
death. No wonder Paul calls it "the last i
enemy" (1 Cor. 15:26). There are many
things that work against God, tearing i
down life and love, but the worst is 1
death. |
So is death good or evil? I suppose it is
both, although its evil side usually and ,
eventually overwhelms the good. It is 1
necessary and it makes new life possible,
but it also is terribly frightening, cruel,
and unfair, robbing us of hope, love, and
meaning.
So Jesus expresses the truth that many
of us are too afraid to admit: Death is
abandonment. And if death is the end,
we Christians should grieve most of all.
The apostle Paul pulls no punches when
he says, "If for this life only we have
hoped in Christ, we are of all people
most to be pitied" (1 Cor. 15:19). Not
just because we are obliterated in
death — that's tragic enough — but
because our faith as Christians would
then be quite wrong. We believe love has
the last word, but if Jesus is rotting away
in a tomb then polifics and power and
execution have the last word. If Jesus is
dead, and if we all likewise simply die,
then our whole life is misguided.
Mark does not end his Gospel with
Jesus" final cry of abandonment. Rather,
he tells us that three women go to Jesus'
omb early on Sunday. With his death,
heir faith is shattered, and all they can
lo now is properly bury him by putting
ipices around his decaying corpse. But
A'hen they arrive at the tomb, the stone is
"died back. They look inside and a
young man says to them, "He has been
raised; he is not here. Look, there is the
place they laid him. But go, tell his
disciples and Peter that he is going ahead
of you to Galilee" (Mark 16:6-7). The
women run out of the tomb and say
nothing to anyone because they are afraid.
That is how Mark ends his Gospel:
Jesus is not seen and Jesus does not
speak, and the women simply run away
afraid. Everything is stark. Even the
message of hope, "He has been raised,"
is merely one word in Greek. Why does
Mark end his story so abruptly? Maybe
because the resurrection of Jesus is too
great and too far beyond our understand-
ing for elaboration. We cannot compre-
hend it or explain it. It just is.
I am drawn to Mark's stark portrait of
Easter morning because it does not brush
away death so easily. Human doubt and
fear remain. The terror of death and the
mystery of resurrection are left in a
trembling half-light, in hope and silence.
The resurrection is never seen or
explained, and maybe not even believed
in.
The Gospel of Mark does not end in
joy like Matthew, Luke, and John. It
ends with hope that is muted by fear and
confusion and the unanswered question:
Will the women break their silence and
find the faith to say, "He is risen"? We
are the women, and only we can answer
that question. As we face our last enemy,
death, we decide whether to break the
terrible silence and say in faith, it I
He IS risen. i 1
Ryan Ahlgrim is pastor of PeoriaNartli
Meimonite Church, in Peoria. III.
{Readers who turn to Mark's Gospel
as they follow Ryan Ahlgrim 's article
will note that there are verses 16:9-20,
describing an appearance of Jesus with
the disciples after his resurrection.
These verses were not part of the
original text of Mark, however. What is
left of the original ends, as writer
Ahlgrim states, with the three women
fleeing the empty tomb in fear. — Ed.)
April 1994 Messenger 17
A mug of remembrance
by Pete Haynes
Xt was just an ordinary coffee mug, a
Christmas gift from my sister, many
years ago. At times it served its intended
purpose. At times it also functioned as a
pencil holder, a paperweight, a paint-
brush dipper, a measuring cup, as well as
a container for whatever needed contain-
ing. Frequently it wasn't used at all —
lost amid the clutter of a desk or shelf.
As 1 grew older, the mug started to carry
meaning. When I drank from it. I
remembered the one who gave it to me. I
thought of my family and my roots. I
appreciated the comfott of unconditional
18 Messenger April 1994
i
ove and support that no one can take
iway.
There was another ordinary coffee
nug, discovered on the shore of a
;lacier-fed lake in the Yukon. Its
liscovery was a part of an adventurous
ummer in Alaska. The previous year
lad been a rough one — a time of
nourning the dead; of dealing with other
etbacks; and, in the process, discovering
I darker side of my personality. Those
wo months in Alaska were for healing,
n the context of a new challenge. Life
legan again. Afterward, whenever I
Irank from this mug. I remembered the
ummer of '84, and was reminded that
lew life can sprout from yesterday's
ishes.
So, two ordinary mugs came to sit on
ny desk — one of roots and comfort, the
ither of beginnings and challenge. They
lecame a barometer of my day. When I
elt insecure, I drank from the one.
Vhen 1 felt adventurous. I drank from
he other. Sometimes I imbibed of risk
vhen I craved comfort, remembering
hat healing comes not by withdrawal but
ly a leap of faith. On other occasions 1
ipped of my roots when in a gung ho
nood, knowing that to fly, one needs a
)lace from which to leap.
Isn't it strange how material objects
:an become vessels containing a larger
neaning? Stranger yet, after my chal-
enge mug fell and broke, I still kept it in
)lain view. It functioned beyond its
:apability as a container.
Then came Mary. She is a member of
he crew that regularly cleans my office,
rhese energetic workers do an excellent
ob. Mary once told me she likes every-
hing about the organization she works
or but its name. She doesn't appreciate
he term "retarded citizens."
One day, when I was away, Mary
iccidentally knocked the challenge mug
0 the floor. A week later, she handed me
1 new mug she had searched for and
)ought on her own. No amount of
lersuasion could convince her to keep
the mug. She was not responsible for the
other mug breaking, I told her. But one
doesn't return a gift. So Mary's generos-
ity provided me with a new
challenge mug.
In some ways, it signified a
greater risk to me than a trip
to Alaska. You see, Mary is an
adventurer, stepping forth by
faith into this world with
greater gusto than I.
This story does not end
here. When two friends of
mine decided to give three
years of their lives to volunteer
mission work in the Carib-
bean, I gave them my old
comfort mug and my new
challenge mug. "Drink from
them together," I said, "and
remember your roots here, as
well as our encouragement to fly." On a
recent furlough, they gave me a new
challenge mug. with "Ja-
maica" written across the
bottom. I now drink from it
often.
These are just ordinary
coffee mugs. Yet they are so
much more. I need to find one
for my friend Mary, to give as
a gift, not an obligation.
How could I tell her I gave
away what she had first given
me? Isn't that the nature of a
gift, though, to be passed on?
Like comfort, it cannot be held
too closely, otherwise the
healing of life's hurts cannot
happen. Like a challenge, it
risks breakage, but it never
forgets the giver.
And Jesus took a cup ... or was it a
mug? "This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many," he said
to his disciples that fateful evening.
"When you drink from it,
remember. . . ."
Pete Haynes is pastor of Long Green Valley
Church of the Brethren, in Glen Arm, Md.
sL - *-* R' s -' .1 -6
r
Ai.
April 1994 Messenger 19
Cups
by Carol Joy Bowman
Delicate crystal goblets sparkling with light,
polished silver chalices rich in tradition,
handmade earthen vessels,
carved calabashes,
clinking tin bowls,
patched buckets,
rusty dippers,
cupped hands . . .
The people of God drink . . . and remember:
They remember the one at the well — a Gentile — and a woman
whom He accepted without pause.
They remember that in Him there is no Jew, no Gentile;
no male, no female;
no black, no white;
no "us," no "them."
They remember that in Christ
we are all the People of God.
The People of God drink,
and remember,
and their cups are filled.
CarnI Jny Bowman is a member of
Simnyslope Church of the Brethren, in
Wenalchee. Wash., and a former vice-
chairwoman of the Church of the
Brethren General Board. She is
administrative assistant for a regional
office of the United Church of Christ.
20 Messenger April 1994
What's the difference?
Several scriptures
appear to make our
path to salvation
truly a 'narrow way. '
Just how much leeway
do we have for
diversity within our
denomination ? And
beyond that, what
about people whose
religious tradition is
outside Christianity?
Two Brethren writers
present their own
thinking on these
two questions.
by Donald E. Fancher
I come from a strange family. We are not
all alike. My dad was short and slight.
He rarely spoke much. When provoked,
he had a fiery temper.
Mom always had to fight her weight.
She spoke German until she went to
school. Even late in her life, when she
got excited, she used English words, but
German word order.
Mom and Dad did not agree on
politics. One was a die-hard Democrat,
and the other one . . . wasn't.
I have one sibling — a younger brother.
As we get older we look more and more
alike. But we are quite different. I live
comfortably. My brother is, as we used to
say, "well off." Politically, he is some-
where to the right of Barry Goldwater.
He insists I am somewhere to the left of
George McGovern.
I come from a strange family. But we
are a family. We recognize the differ-
ences. These differences sometimes
cause us pain. But. by and large, we take
pleasure in them. We are a family.
When I struggle with the differences I
see within the church, it helps me to use
the analogy of "family." I am sometimes
surprised and pained by the differences I
see. But those with whom I differ I
cannot toss out of the church any more
than I can toss my brother out of the
family.
Certainly the differences we experi-
ence within the church family are real.
Some of the differences are superficial;
but some of the differences are deep.
Sometimes, of course, the differences
result from our inability to hear the faith
expressed in ways that do not correspond
with the ways we articulate it. None of
our words completely encompass or
completely depict God. And words that
could do that would be words about an
idol. I find it helpful to remember that
whenever I talk about God, I have to use
metaphor and analogy.
When I talk about God, I am forced to
(continued on page 22)
by Gregg A. Wilhelm
Last December, On Earth Peace
Assembly organized a day-long
seminar on peacemaking from different
religious perspectives. Representatives
from the Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic,
and Baha'i faiths traveled to the Breth-
ren Service Center in New Windsor,
Md., to present their traditions" views on
peace. The seminar's purpose was for
members of a historic peace church to
learn more about other faiths in hope of
taking a very small step toward harmony
in a religiously pluralistic world. It was
not meant to be an opportunity to
proselytize.
One member of a local Church of the
Brethren congregation requested and was
granted time to speak on behalf of the
Christian faith. Fair enough, although
the point of the day was to introduce us
already familiar with Christianity to
other traditions of peacemaking, perhaps
dispelling some misconceptions along
the way. Unfortunately, the brother's
speech had little to do with Christian
pacifism and love of neighbors who may
not be just like us. His diatribe — gently
and passionately delivered — boiled down
to a proclamation of Jesus Christ as the
sole savior of humankind. Only in
Christianity, he said, did God reach out
to humanity, whereas these other inferior
religions strive to reach out to God. This
fundamental difference bestows upon
Christianity a "truth" apparently
unattainable by other faiths. The problem
with other traditions is that they have not
accepted these facts and real peace will
not be realized until they do so.
I appreciated the speaker's courage
and conviction, but the whole scene was
embarrassing. Four people are invited to
present their deeply rooted beliefs and
then are made to feel uncomfortable for
holding those beliefs. It's like saying
"Thanks for sharing — not!" or "Aren't
these poor misguided religions cute?"
Such entrenched positions are just the
(continued on page 23)
April 1994 Messenger 21
A program to overcome violence
One of my responsibilities as general secretary is to represent the Church of the
Brethren on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. The
Church of the Brethren was one of the founding churches of the World Council
at the First World Assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. World Assemblies are held
every seven years; the next, and eighth, will be in 1998. Between world assem-
blies the Council is governed by a Central Committee of 150 members. Many
churches cannot be represented since there are nearly 322 member churches with
a collective total of 400 million members. Previously M. R. Zigler, Norman
Baugher, and Robert W. Neff have represented the Brethren on the Central
Committee.
As I write (in January), I am seated in the Eskom Conference Center midway
between Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa, where the current Central
Committee meeting is being held. The atmosphere in South Africa is electric
with the anticipation of the elections of April 27. These elections will bring in a
totally new government whose primary task will be to dismantle apartheid. You
can imagine the anticipation with as many as 20 political parties taking part in
the campaign for election. However, there also is the everpresent threat of
violence disrupting the process.
A group of us visited the townships. These are areas around the central cities
such as Johannesburg and Capetown where "African" and "colored" people have
settled by the hundreds of thousands. Squatters come from rural areas seeking
employment and housing. Under apartheid they were restricted to the township
areas. Some of the townships are reasonably livable; others are absolutely
squalid. Moderate to extreme poverty prevails. We soon discovered that after
apartheid it will be very difficult for conditions to change: Economic, social, and
psychological realities will tend to hold old patterns in place.
In a presentation by the South Africa Council of Churches, the Central
Committee learned of the continuing violence in South Africa. The many kinds
of violence include indiscriminate slaughter, village raids, attacks on demonstra-
tors, assassinations, train and taxi murders, drive-by shootings, house-burnings,
kidnappings, and street wars. Following this ominous litany. Bishop Desmond
Tutu addressed us to say that the killing in South Africa would be much greater
without the witness of the churches. Consider the violence that has accompanied
radical change in other places and times, for example the Emancipation Procla-
mation and the accompanying Civil War in the United States.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Central Committee meetings is the
worship. Hymns and prayers in many languages make it a contemporary Pente-
cost. At the opening worship, the preacher thanked the World Council for its
Program to Combat Racism, which helped to mold world opinion in opposition
to apartheid in South Africa. He then called for a program to overcome violence
around the world.
A Program to Overcome Violence! A British Quaker, a Canadian Quaker, and
I were moved to ask the Central Committee for such a program. This is the
message of the Friends and the Brethren at our best. Our proposal was adopted
by unanimous vote. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
i^'.^^.^^>'i^ awiiiii^feiu-i- .%»;vr»
FANCHER/from page 21
use the language of this world — this
space-time continuum. I may say, "God
is a shelter in the storm." That conveys
22 Messenger April 1994
something profoundly true about the
experience of many of us. But, of course,
I do not mean that God is a tent, or a
tree, or a snug harbor. I may say, "Jesus
Christ is the good shepherd." I am not
talking about his ability to keep a bunch
of four-legged woollies from coming to
grief. I am talking about his care for folk
like me, who sometimes seem to have the
intellects and contrariness of merinos.
Even when I confess my faith in "God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," I am, in a
real sense, using the language of
metaphor and analogy.
There are some images — some
metaphors and analogies — that speak
very strongly to some of us. These same
images may sound meaningless to
others.
The fact that language used by another:
does not strike fire in my life and heart
does not make it meaningless language.
It does not mean that the one who uses
language that does not jibe with my
experience is dim-witted. It means that
our life journeys have molded us in ways
that enable us to find meaning, and to
express meaning, in different ways.
The Brethren tradition, which I
increasingly have come to cherish, has
said that no one way of expressing the
faith is held to be normative. No one way
of speaking of God, or of Christ, is the
one acceptable way. We have said that
the New Testament is our only creed.
And immediately I am forced to recog-
nize that this sacred book also speaks of i
God in images, in analogies, and in
metaphors. The words always point
beyond themselves to God, the reality at i
the heart of our existence.
W
re have said that we will not use the
historic creeds as tests of faith. We
may — or may not — find meaning in
those ancient texts. We may — or may
not — find that the imagery captured in
the creeds expresses the reality of God asl
we experience it in the body of Christ. Irii
any case, we will not require of our
brothers and sisters conformity to any
expression of faith — even one that is
precious to us.
We are a family. We are a faith familyil
with wide differences. We cannot read
others out of the family without reading !
ourselves out of it in the same action.
We Brethren who live in Pacific
Southwest District are acutely aware of
the diversity within our faith family.
Some of the diversity has been with us
[
Dr a long time. Some of us are urban
oik, some are from small towns, and
thers have their roots in the soil. Some
if us are very "well off financially,
thers are in very straitened circum-
tances; most of us are somewhere in
etween. Some of us trace our roots in
le Church of the Brethren through
everal generations. Others of us
leasure our roots in the Church of the
Irethren in months or even weeks. Some
f us are labeled "liberal;" others are
tamped "conservative." Many of us
5sist all such labels.
In recent years, our diversity has
ecome more pronounced. One of the
lore visible forms of our diversity is the
thnic variety. In addition to African
American, Korean American, Anglo,
nd Hispanic congregations, we have a
ongregation whose pastor's heritage is
1 the Philippines.
This diversity could lead to hostility
nd schism. It could lead to the religious
quivalent of hate crimes. But pluralism
eed not lead to this. If our diversity is
3cognized as the treasure that it is, it
an lead to the enriching of us all.
Pluralism in the church does not mean
lat we try to put it all into a pot, stir it
agether, and get religious stew. Plural-
im in the church means that we all
2tain the integrity of the faith as we
xperience it, articulate it, and live it out.
African Americans are not required to
•ehave as staid white folk. Folk whose
xperience of Jesus is expressed prima-
ily in terms of a model for human life
leed not feel alienated from folk whose
xperience of Jesus is expressed prima-
ily in terms of Savior and Redeemer,
■oik whose favorite hymns are predomi-
lantly revivalist need not feel they do not
hare the faith with those who delight in
he music of the new Hymnal. We can
sam from each other. We may find
lements in each other that challenge
nd enrich us.
We may even find that out of our
lifferences comes a vitality we all need.
)ut of our diversity we may come to a
espect for each other. Out of our
liversity we may discover that we are
me family — a strange family, to be
ure, but one family of God.
Ai,
WILHELM. from page 21
kind of barriers we Christians should be
trying to scale for a richer understanding
of the things that make for peace.
One audience member did rise to
announce that the views expressed were
not representative of the entire Church of
the Brethren or of Christianity generally.
But I am not concerned about the
impressions of the four panelists. They
all were confident, educated authorities
of their respective faiths with solid
credentials — a rabbi, a learned Zen
instructor and psychotherapist, an imam,
an international scholar. Two teach at an
ecumenical institute where they encoun-
ter the diversity of faith everyday. No, 1
am much more concerned about the
Church of the Brethren.
A
Donald E. Fancher is pastor of Long Beach
Calif.) First Church of the Brethren.
first Step in overcoming what I
believe is a narrowness in our perspec-
tive is accepting the relativity of reli-
gious expression. People have a bound-
less capacity for expressing the mystery
of the divine. The Christian story — and
the Anabaptist story within it — are
chapters and subplots in the universal
narrative of humanity's longing for
communion among ourselves and with
God. We must recognize that, as human
expressions, all religions are incomplete
stories incapable of embodying all that is
God and all that makes for relationship
between God and humanity. As commit-
ted as I am to Jesus Christ as Savior and
as a model for my pacifism, I am not
willing to limit God's own creativity
to Jesus Christ as God's only "point
of contact" with humanity. I am not
secure enough in my understanding of
the human-divine relationship or
egotistical enough to confine God's
agency in and through Jesus Christ alone
to judge non-Christians as somehow less
adequate.
The Church of the Brethren histori-
cally has demonstrated an abundance of
creativity in its pastoral application. If a
pluralistic approach toward peacemaking
is truly desired, perhaps more creativity
should be spent toward explaining it
theologically. In his book The Myth of
Christian Uniqueness, theologian Paul
Knitter writes that "a theological self-
understanding informed by modern
historical consciousness can provide an
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April 1 994 Messenger 23
interpretation of Christian faith that
will — without destroying or undercutting
the fundamental significance of the
central symbols of God and Christ for
the orientation of life — enable Christians
to give other religious traditions their
full integrity and meaning, neither
patronizing nor otherwise demeaning
them."
Christians are afraid that recognizing
other expressions of faith — admitting the
Take Hold of Your Future...
relevance of other religions — somehow
undermines their own convictions. This
is clearly not the case. Unfortunately,
Christians sometimes convert their zeal
into hatred, closed-mindedness, and
exclusivity. Such transformation is a
hypocritical exhibition of the Christian
message of love.
Living in this world and hoping for
any progress toward global peace is a
difficult ambition not without challenges
...One Step at a Time.
McPherson College
McPherson, Kansas 67460 • (316) 241-0731
The Martins
Carolyn '96 (seated),
Dick '68, Marge "67 and Steve
(standing, "left to right)
"We 've always been pleased
that as a 3rd grader Carolyn
announced she wanted to
attend McPherson College.
She never wavered from that
decision, and now, as a sopho-
more, we feel she is receiving
a topnotch education and
establishing lifelong fiiend-
ships while expanding her
Christian faith. "
Dick & Marge Martin
Ottawa Church of the Brethren,
Ottawa, KS
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McPherson College welcomes all applicants
regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or physical or emotional disability
to our own ways of thinking and believ-
ing. I am not suggesting that we dilute
our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior or
alter our confessional language or be
timid in sharing our message with non-
Christians; these are essential elements
of our faith and ministry. I also am not
denying the possibility of God radically
and uniquely breaking into history
through the person of Jesus Christ. But
when venturing out into a religiously
ornate world we need to carry an attitude
of love and compassion, not one of
conversion and condemnation. Even if
we refuse to embrace other religions, we
must nevertheless appreciate them for
their value to their adherents while
communicating graciously with different
believers as cohabitants of this same
God-created earth.
In another book. Knitter suggests the
development of a global systematic
theology that aims to present Christian
beliefs in a coherent way, intelligible
and, to some degree, true and meaning-
ful for persons of other faiths. Likewise,
other theologians — the Jew, the Baha'i,
the Buddhist, the Muslim — must present
their faith claims in a way meaningful
for us. This is the beginning of a
legitimate theological dialog of plural-
ism. Effective dialog must be based on
personal religious experience and firm
truth claims, but while recognizing the
possible truth in all religions. There alsoi
must be an openness to conversion, not
the proselytizing type, but a two-way
conversion among all participants in
dialog toward a better understanding of
God"s truth.
The attitude expressed by the brother
at the New Windsor seminar, however, is
symptomatic of the problems that keep
wounds across the religions from
healing. It is a hindrance to authentic
interfaith dialog. These are the kinds of
wounds that perpetuate war and vio-
lence. We as a community of Christian
believers should be more sensitive to
these tensions and more creative in
our responses to other faiths.
•
Mi
Gregg A. Wilhelm. a member of Woodberry
Church of the Brethren, in Baltimore, Md.. is an
assistant editor at Johns Hopkins University Press,
in Baltimore. He is receiving an M.A. degree from
the Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary's Seminary, in
Baltimore, this spring.
24 Messenger April 1994
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Keep focus on
personal/social
A few phrases in the December 1993
editorial ("What Is It About New
Windsor?") stood out as I read it — "the
identity and mission of the Church of the
Brethren," "the irresistible essence of
what it is to be Brethren," and "tell the
world what being Brethren is all about."
The editorial provided an accurate
picture of the Church of the Brethren for
the past 50 years. The center of the life,
the ministry, the mission of the Brethren
for that period has been New Windsor,
not Elgin. To see in clear perspective
these 50 years in Brethren life, we need
to focus on the previous 50 years.
In the picture of these years — 1890-
1940 — two broad strokes stand out in the
portrait of the life of the church. With a
great vision of reaching the world for
Christ, the Brethren began mission work
in India, China, and Nigeria.
The second broad stroke is reaching
America for Christ, with great evangelis-
tic fervor in almost every congregation.
During these 50 years. Brethren mem-
bership increased from about 61,000 to
177,000 — an increase of about 300
percent. The deep concern for the lost
moved the entire denomination to
prayerful evangelistic concern.
Running through Brethren life from
1890 to 1940 was the primary concern to
"reach the lost" at home and abroad. The
gospel was personal.
During the next 50 years, beginning
around 1940, the mission and life of the
Church of the Brethren was focused on
Brethren Service, with New Windsor as
the center. Brethren concern, time, and
money found many avenues of ministry
to a suffering, needy world. In those
years the gospel was social.
Also, during those 50 years, the world
mission of the Brethren in India, China,
and Nigeria largely came to an end.
Evangelism and church growth ceased to
be on the Brethren agenda. And along
r mission
vith a decline of about 50.000 in church
nembership there was an even greater
lecline in worship and church school
ittendance.
How do we articulate and identify the
nission of the Church of the Brethren?
\s we begin another 50-year period of
)ur history, who and what are the
brethren? What broad strokes will paint
he true portrait of the future of this body
)f Christ's followers?
In the past decade and more, some
;pecial efforts have been made to again
)ut the "personar" back into the Brethren
;xperience of the gospel. Passing on the
'romise has received strong support
icross the Brotherhood. But there does
lot seem to be much excitement in our
:ongregations about evangelism, and
;ven less personal concern to seek, find,
ind restore "the lost."
If we are to capture the "essence of
vhat it is to be Brethren" now and into
he next century, we need to go back to
Brethren beginnings. We need to study
he New Testament in small groups as
ve seek to know and follow the mind of
Christ. We need a new commitment to
'esus as "the way, the truth, and the
ife."
The Lord of the Church calls all
bllowers to "go make disciples." He also
isks, "Why do you call me "Lord. Lord.'
md do not do what I tell you?" (Luke
3:46.) His own ministry was clearly
jummarized in Matthew 9:35-38. For
lim, the gospel, as he taught it, and as
le lived it, was both personal and social,
it the same time, all the time.
This is "what being Brethren is all
ibout," following Jesus in understanding
ind in living the total gospel.
The key concern now, as in the two
previous 50-year periods in the life of the
rhurch of the Brethren, is leadership.
»Vho or where are the leaders of the
-hurch who can inspire the multitude of
Brethren with enthusiasm and excite-
nent, with fire and fervor — so essential
f the Brethren are to fulfill their
nission?
Ai.
Olden D. Mitchell, of Elkhart. Ind., is a retired
?hurch of the Brethren minister.
as we relocate our
main campus to
Richmond, Indiana to
be in affiliation with
Earlham School of
Religion
as we expand to offer courses at our new Susquehanna Valley Satel-
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▲ as we continue to prepare people for Christian ministry and to
educate those called as witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the
cities and communities of the world
j4 Bethany Theological Seminary, the graduate school of theology of the
% Church of the Brethren, invites men and women of all races, nations, and
W confessions to join us. For more information write or call: BTS, Butterfield
\ and Meyers Rds., Oak Brook, IL 60521 • [708>620-2204.
Whither the
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New Directions for a New Century
June 13-16, 1994
Plenary Speakers: Nadine Pence Frantz,
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More than three dozen other presenters including:
Dale Aukerman, Dale W. Brown, Donald F. Dumbaugh,
Donald Fitzkee, and Dale R. Stoffer
For complete program and registration write or call
The Young Center
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
717-361-1470
April 1 994 Messenger 27
BRF not hung up on KJV
Please read pages 8-9, 12-13 of Vol. 24,
No. 1, BRF Witness C'The New Bible
Translations: Are They Necessary?") and
refrain from accusing the Brethren
Revival Fellowship (BRF) of being a
"King James Version-only group, as
implied in the February editorial
("Curling up with a Catalog").
With this reference to the BRF,
Messenger continues to misrepresent the
group to the magazine's readers. Instead
of that, deal with the issues, please.
Craig Alan Myers
Columbia City. Ind.
{On page 8 of the BRF Witness
referred to above, writer Galen R.
Hackman writes: "[T]he need for a new
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^
translation of the Bible into English
becomes clear when the following two
truths are recognized: First, we must
ever remember that language changes.
Second, there have been significant
advances made in the area of biblical
scholarship. "
On pages 12-13, he writes: "The
Living Bible cannot be surpassed for
gaining an overall understanding of a
large section of the Bible. . . . For public
reading and exposition, the New
International Version is my choice,
because of its clarity, accuracy, and
excellent English. When doing critical,
e.xegetical work on a passage, it is hard
to beat the literal nature of the New
American Standard Bible. And if it is
beauty and poetry and cadence that you I
prefer, then the time-honored King
James Version is the best. " — Ed.)
• There is a paragraph in the February
editorial that 1 don't understand. Either I
am misreading the sentence that men-
tions the Brethren Revival Fellowship, oi
else the editor has made a colossal
mistake.
The BRF is not grieved that many
have "betrayed (their) trust in the tried
and true King James Version (KJV) of
the Bible." In fact, we nearly always use
translations other than the KJV in our
publications, and Messenger reprinted
major portions of BRF Witness, Vol. 24,
No. 1, in its August 1989 issue. That
issue of BRF Witness attempted to
explain why the new translations are
necessary.
Our next issue of BRF Witness uses
the New Revised Standard Version
(NRSV) throughout the editorial and the
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily
those of the magazine. Readers should receive then^
in the same spirit with which differing opinions are
expressed in face-to-face conversations.
letters should be brief, concise, and respectful ojl
the opinions of others. Preference is given to letter!
that respond directly to items read in the magazine
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We will not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
letter, the writer's name is kept in strictest
confidence.
Address letters to Messenger Editor. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
28 Messenger April 1994
k
Jew International Version (NIV) in tiie
najor article. Already in Vol. 14, No. 4
1979), we asserted that it is not the
Cing James Version of the Bible that is
inspired"; we hold strongly to the belief
hat "the Bible is free from error in the
iriginal autographs."
Our view of the Bible is derived from
tie attitude of scripture toward itself, the
sstimony of Jesus regarding the Scrip-
ures, the evidences uncovered by
rcheologists, etc., and not from a belief
hat the KJV has some kind of word-for-
vord magic that makes it the Word of
3od.
Harold S. Martin
York. Pa.
• I was surprised by the February
iditorial's reference to the Brethren
Revival Fellowship and the King James
/ersion of the Bible.
Some Brethren who identify with the
BRF may hold solely to the KJV, but it is
ny impression that many BRFers agree
vith the 1979 "Biblical Inspiration and
Authority" paper of Annual Conference,
vhere it states that the position of one
;roup of Brethren is that the "Bible is
vithout error in the original autographs,
ind any conflicts within the text are only
leeming discrepancies due to our own
ack of understanding. The King James
/ersion is not the only English transla-
ion considered reliable. Scripture
passages are studied in light of their
;ontext, the laws of grammar, and the
"orm of biblical writing they represent.
Fhe total Bible is uniquely inspired and
las the highest authority for life"
Annual Conference Minutes, 1975-
1979. page 560).
! In a June 1985 Messenger interview,
jhen Annual Conference moderator and
BRF vice-chairman Jim Myer said, "I
ike the King James Version. . . . But I
[im not hung up on it. ... I have many of
he new versions of the Bible and I use
hem in my studies."
With so many translations available, it
s important to select a reliable version,
'ersonally, the King James Version is
ny own favorite. But I also like the New
nternational Version, the New Ameri-
an Standard Bible, and the New King
ames Version.
All this notwithstanding, 1 enjoyed the
Qt
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Church and district newsletters titat reprint "Pontius' Puddle" from
Messenger must pay $10 for each use to Joel Kauffmann. Ill Carter Road.
Goshen. IN 46526.
DETECTOR
;
DETEtTOR
I'M josr PACwua-
\r POR PRpTECTloK.
THE
AN D J
Communicating good news. That's rare. So is
Dave Sollenberger's style. A 1975 graduate,
Dave creatively writes, records, and narrates
stories with a positive influence. The result?
Videos which encompass our common values.
Dave develops programs for nonprofit
organizations that give hope and spread joy.
In today's world, that's remarkable.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Jeanne Eichenaur motivates, communicates,
leads. A senior studying English and
communication, Jeanne embraces Manchester
College values of social justice and peace. What
are her dreams? To travel globally, teach, or
work for the church as an advocate for change. . .to
be a voice for the people. Aspiring? Certainly!
Rare and remarkable? Indeed!
VALUES * GLOBAL AWARENESS * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on the basis of marital status, sex.
religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, or handicap in the administration of Its
educational policies, recruitment and admissions policies, scfiolarship and loan
programs, employment practices, and athletic or other college sponsoreo programs.
MANCHESTER
COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982- 5000
April 1994 Messenger 29
L
Word From The Moderator
The family names of Rivera, Garcia, Jo,
Goretzici, Raftovich, Kwan, Espinoza,
Kyerematen on Brethren lists reflect an
expanding multi-cultural tapestry. What
a blessing and challenge!
In January and February, I participated
in church life in the Dominican Republic
and Puerto Rico. Beautiful people,
contagious faith, spirited singing,
growing churches are phrases that
describe Brethren there. The challenge
remains, however, for quality training,
orientation for pastors, understanding
the denominational processes, and
growing faithful disciples. Are we
listening?
We invite, but do we include them,
empower them, and allow them to enrich
our lives with their gifts? Are we able to
say with an open spirit and open arms,
"Come! Drink the Living Water"? Look
around your church. Any additional
color or language? Any new expressions
in your worship services? Any new
names on the roster?
Earl K. Ziegler
1994 Annual Conference Moderator
To subscribe to
call (800) 323-8039WExt.247
Ask for Norma
From the
Office of Human Resources
DISTRICT EXECUTIVE.
WEST IVIARVA DISTRICT
Full time position in Oakland. Md.
Seeking individual with;
• good administrative skills;
• ability to give general oversight of
planning and implementing district
work;
• ability to relate to people of differing
positions and cultures.
Posiliiin avaiicMe (ifler June I. 1994.
COORDINATOR,
BVS ORIENTATION
Full time position in Elgin.
Seeking individual:
• to organizing orientation schedule;
• to counsel volunteers;
• to secure facilities & leaders.
• BVS experience and pastoral
skills preferred.
Position m'tiilable in Auj^ust. 1994.
For prompt consideration call
Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
glimpse at the 1926 Brethren Publishing
House catalog provided by the February
editorial.
Dean Garrett
West Alexandria, Ohio
• As one born and raised in a moderate
to conservative Church of the Brethren
congregation, I heard the teachings of
ministers of both liberal and conservative
persuasions. Bible scholars such as Jim
Myer, Harold Martin, and Olen Landes
(all members of the Brethren Revival
Fellowship) introduced me to the
wonders of the many versions of the
Scriptures. It was exciting to hear these
men quote from several versions in order
to reveal the true meaning of the text.
It saddens me to once again be
reminded that many in our denomination
(some proclaiming themselves to hold
the most loving, caring, and open view
of theology) have yet to understand and
respect those who hold a more conserva-
tive view. One of the BRF's most
important purposes is to bridge the gulf
between liberal and conservative
Brethren. It always has encouraged those
disillusioned with "Elgin" to remain in
the denomination and help make it
strong.
Donita Keister
Mijflinburg, Pa.
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to Fiji. For info, brochure, write: Australia/New Zealand
Tour, c/o Wayne F. Geisert, Bridgewater College,
Bridgewater, VA 22812-1599. Tel. (703) 828-2501, ext.
1300.
TRAVEL— Tour Japan June 12-21 ;AlpineTourin Germany,
Austria & Switzerland June 16-July 1; Spain and Portugal
July 22-Aug. 5; Great Britain Aug. 9-26; China and Hong
Kong Oct. 5-1 8; MusicalTourto Vienna, Austria& Budapest,
Hungary: Christmastime in Switzerland & Germany Nov.
28-Dec. 6; Christmastime in Bavana Dec. 5-13. Hosted
through Juniata College. For further info, contact: Gateway
Travel Center Inc., 606 Mifflin Street, Huntingdon, PA
16652-0595, Tel. (800) 322-5080.
TRAVEL— Join baseball delegation to Nicaragua, June 1 1 -
23, 1994. Play or cheer as we meet with our third-world
brothers and sisters in beautiful Bocana de Paiwas. Tom
30 Messenger April 1994
and Marlene Zerger, former Witness for Peace coordina-
tors, extend this invitation to serve, share, and witness.
Donations of baseball gloves, children's shoes, and money
gratefully accepted. Total cost $1 200. $1 00 deposit. Dead-
line for registration Apnl 15. Call (313) 565-3015, ASAP.
TRAVEL— Israel/Egypt Holiday. Wendell & Joan Bohrer,
Fred & Nancy Swartz host a tour to Israel and Egypt. Aug.
8-1 8, 1 994. 1 1 -day tour includes travel to Jerusalem, the old
city. Dead Sea, Megiddo, Galilee, Cana, Mt. Carmel, Mt.
Nebo, Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tut.
For info, write: Wendell & Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal Meadow
Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46217. Tel. (317) 882-5067, or Fred &
Nancy Swartz, 1 0047 Nokesville Rd., Manassas, VA 221 1 0.
Tel. (703) 369-3947.
TRAVEL— Brethren Service Center's 50th Anniversary
Committee is hosting a European Tour, July 31 -August 1 4,
1994. Glenn & Helen Kinsel, tour leaders. Visit former and
current Church of the Brethren and Heifer Project persons
and sites. Visit persons involved in Brethren Volunteer
Service, the Polish Agriculture Exchange, and Student
Exchange Program. Geneva, Stuttgart/Miedelsbach,
Marburg, Schriesheim, Schwarzenau, Kassel, Berlin,
Skierniewice, Krakow, and Vienna are stopping places. For
info, contact Terri Meushaw, Brethren Service Center, 500
Main Street, New Windsor, MD 21776-01 88. Tel. (41 0) 635-
8716.
WANTED— Applications sought for a quarter-time paid po-
sition as Pacific Southwest District youth coordinator. Send
names or inquiries to: Phyllis Eller, Pac. S. W. District office.
Box 2 1 9, La Verne, CA 91 750, or call (909) 593-2554. Salary
will be negotiated depending on qualifications and experi-
ence. Interviews begin in April. Employment projected to
begin this summer.
WANTED— Camp manager or couple to manage Camp
Colorado in Pike National Forest. 40 min. from Denver oi
Colorado Springs. From Memorial Day to Labor Day 1994
Camp located on 85 forested acres. Features swimminc
pool, hiking trails, 6 dorms, dining hall, recreation bidg
Camp has 4 wks, of Brethren-sponsored camps and i;
rented remainder of season to Brethren churches and family
reunion groups. Duties incl. purchasing supplies, cleaning
and repairing camp. Altitude of camp is 7,500 ft. Applicant!
should be in good physical shape. Salary $1,000 <
month. Incl. 2-bdrm. cabin, utilities. Interested partie;
contact Ron Achilles, Rt. 1, Box 143, Quinter, KS 67752
Tel. (913)754-2322.
embers
nville. All. N.E,: Matthew
Bowers, Dick & Ruth Dielz,
Ashley Ebersolo, Jodi Good.
Ben Hackman, Annie Lefever,
Gary Rosborough.Col!een
Sholly
kersHeld Community, Pac.
S.W.:DianaHale
icon Heights, N. Ind.: Joshua
Snyder
le River, N. !nd.: Darbi
Eamhart, AdamGeiger.Jolene
Gipe. Rex Hartman, Elijuy
Kreider, Deanna Perry, Rick.
Rohin. Emily & Philip
Plasterer, Joel Targgart
)ok$ide, W. Marva: Carl. Sheila
&. Melissa Elliott, Jessica
Shatter, Joyce Simmons
ena Vista, Shen.; LoisColTinan.
Dorothy & Roy Humphries
nkertown, S. Pa.: Herman &
Doris Benner. Justin French.
JelT&, Trudy Hoke, Ben
Weaver
rlisle, S. Pa.: Shannon Stansbury
nter, N. Ohio: Kelly Jones.
Laura Vickers
rist Our Shepherd, S/C Ind.:
Michael Dodge
rryville, M. Pa.: Slacey Beach,
David Benter, Carl Crumrine,
Julie Mellott. Michelle
Sollenberger, HeatherWalter
yton,Shen.: Betty &Manin
Cline, Jessica Crawford. M icah
Reish. Jordan Shirkey
Bxel Hill, All. N.E.: Dawn
Carol an
hrata,Atl. N.E,: Laura &
Matthew Buckwalter. Heidi
Enck. Matthew Eshelman,
Vanessa Gill. Drew Haller.
Seth Schnupp. Matthew
Stradling. David Yohn
eenmount,Shen.: Debbie Dean,
John & Sherry Hagerman.
Michelle. Susan. Shane &
Weldon Layman. Steve &
Vickie Lohr. Ashley Ludholtz,
Brian. Cherie, Harold & Sharon
Smith
e€nsburg,W. Pa.rNadine
Browntleld. James & Grace
D'Amico. Terry Marshall.
Lynn Novitsky. Shanda Parsley,
Sara Shincovich. Kristen
Teacher, Ti tfany Weyandt
rshey/Spring Creek, Atl. N.E.:
Aubrey Greer, Roger Ingold.
JessicaJohnson, Nichole
Poling
lUins Road, Virlina: Mark &
Penny Booth, Levi & Beulah
Craft. Vivian Haymaker. Nick
Bono. Mitzi. Heather, Jessica
& Samantha Newbill. Beniia &
Beth Noffsinger. Ryan Poff.
Willis Wiley
ncaster, Atl. N.E.: Clyde &
Dorothy Cassel. Robert,
Emilie. Jay. Melia& Sean
Dell. Roy Garber. Esther
Gibble. Doris Kant, Violet
Sacra, Russel &: Dora
Shoizberger, Cheryl Smoicer,
DanaStatler
MapleGrove. N. Ohio: Kathy.
Kristy&KimberlyKeillor.
Denise Kettering. Glenn.
Molly, Sara & Erin Smith
Memorial, M. Pa.: ErinChirdon.
Matl Gray. Amanda Hileman.
Virginia& Glenn Holsinger,
Nicole Smith
Middle Creek, Atl. N.E.: Ashley
Bollinger
Monitor, W. Plains: Leah & Linda
Friesen. Travis Hawkinson.
Sarah Hoffman
New Covenant, S. Ohio: Susan
Field. Verne & Kathy
Leininger. Don Schantz.
Jennifer Tolle
Nokesville,Mid-Atl.:Rashad
Bland, Brently&Vicki
Dahmer, Alice Lund, Amanda,
Lynn & Valerie Messenger.
Michael Madill. PauiaTackett
Paradise, N. Ohio: Jessica Hartzler
Pasadena, Pac. S.W.: David &
Calene Williams. Scott Ford
PineGrove, Atl. N.E.: Richard
Hoffman, Shannon Lehman,
Kenneth Wolfe
Pomona, Pac. S,W,: Alice Abbot.
Glen & Florence Crago
Reading, All. N.E.: Felix, Lydia.
Raquel & Enimanual Acevedo.
Pat Gauit. Lynn Geisi. Anna
Hartman. Bertha Hironimus
Salkum Community, Ore. /Wash.:
Kem Eben, Boney & Dayle
Fletcher, Margaret Francy
Trinity, Virlina: J. W., Jeremy &
Suzanne Rhoades, Shirley
Trimbley, Robin Wade
Trinity, W. Plains: Wilda Berry.
JuanitaGermann
Upper Fall Creek, S/C Ind.: Tom
& Maria Kemerly
Wakemans Grove, Shen.: Jennifer
Barb. Catherine & Leroy Cline.
ToddCrowder, Sharon Foltz,
Terry Garrison, Jennifer
Looman,Tom Myrtle, Zachary
Payne, Brett & Justin
Wightman. Adam. Keith. Kevin
& Susan Zircle, Ethel Utiey
Waterford,Pac. S.W.:Tere.sa
Myers
West Alexandria, S. Ohio: Chris
Dull, Julie Fraley. Mandy &
Pat Shockey. Adina Simpson
210th BVS
Orientation Unit
(Orientation completed
January 29, 1994)
Bishop, Paula. Atlanta. Ga.; to
Interfaith Conference of
Metropolitan Washington. D.C.
Brown,Christopher. Roanoke. Va.;
to Lahman/Sollenberger Video.
Annville.Pa.
Carroll, David. Lewistown. Pa.; to
Near Eastside Multi Service
Center. Indianapolis, Ind.
Davis, Larry. Ebensburg, Pa.; toTri
City Homeless Coalition,
Fremont. Calif.
Faus,Jeffrey.Manheim, Pa.;to
Tree.s for Life. Wichita, Kan.
Fisher, Crystal . Cedar Rapids,
Iowa; to Holy Family Service
Binh Center, Weslaco. Tex.
Gallagher, Jeff. Modesto, Cal i i. .
toCanip Harmony.
Hooversville.Pa,
Geibler, Norman. Halberstadt,
Germany; to Washington City
Church of the Brethren,
Washington, D.C.
Gilmore. Deana, Ashland, Ohio;
to The Lehman Center.
York. Pa,
Johnson, Suzanne, Toronto.
Canada:toQueen Louis Home,
St. Croix, Virgin Islands
Kirchner, Shawn. Waterloo, Iowa;
toGould Farm. Monterey.
Mass.
Kuhner,Grelchen, Bremerton,
Wash,;toLARAP.ElPaso.
Tex.
Loser,Amy.Elizabethtown.Pa,;to
Comfort House, McAllen, Tex,
Mason, Mary. Sebring, Fla.; to
New SudanCouncil of
Churches, Nairobi, Kenya
Murner, Brett. Wellington, Ohio;
to Iowa Peace Network, Des
Moines, Iowa
Patalano, Robert. Ashland. Ohio;
to Flat Creek Church of the
Brethren. B ig Creek. Ky.
Patalano, May. Ashland. Ohio; to
Flat Creek Church of the
Brethren. BigCreek.Ky.
Petry, Brenda. Walkerton. Ind.; to
Casa de Esperanza de los
Nifios, Houston, Tex.
Reimer, Troy. Good view. Va.;to
Journey of Hope. Griffin, Ga.
Toback, Staci, Newington. Conn.;
to International Fellowshipof
Reconciliation, Alkmaar.
Netherlands
Turnay, Abraham. Akron. Ohio; to
Woodland Altars. Peebles.
Ohio
Vaillancourt, Krisanne.
Kensington. Conn,; to NW
Treep Ian ters/Farm workers,
Woodbum,Ore.
Vassady, Lisa. Lancaster. Pa.; to
Trees for Life, Wichita, Kan.
Warren, Shay, Encino, Calif.; to
Inspiration Cafe, Chicago, 111.
Zander, Barbara. Westminster,
Md.; to Prodigals House.
Winston-Salem. N.C.
Licensing/
Ordination
Carlson, Melinda. licensed Jan. 8.
l994.Trinity. Virlina
Dixon, Robert H.. ordained Jan. 8,
l994.Kokomo,S/Clnd.
Hostetler, Bruce Alan, ordained
Jan. 19. 1994. Manchester,
S/C Ind.
Ilyes,CharlesL.. ordained Jan. 15.
1994, NewFairview. S.Pa.
Johnson, Anthony Leo. licensed
Jan. 8. 1994,Brick, Virlina
Markey, Dale L., ordained Jan. 15,
1994, NewFairview. S. Pa.
Thacker, Robert W., licensed Sept.
7, 1993,Jennersville.At!.N.E.
Pastoral
Placements
Bartholomew, John, from Peru.
S/Clnd.. to Mohican. N.Ohio
Bowman, Dale, from Covington. S,
Ohi o. to Copper H i 1 1 . V i rl i na
Carl, Edward, from Uniontown,
W.Pa..toGoshenCity,
N. Ind.
Gresh, Ken, trom seminary to
Arcadia. S/C Ind.
Hardenbrook.James. trom other
denommation to Nampa, Idaho
Hatfield, Terry, from district
executive. N. Ind.. to Denver
Pnnceot Peace, W, Plains
Keiper,John, trom Stonerstown.
M. Pa., to LowerClaar, M. Pa.
Keller. Kevin, trom secularto
ColumbiaCity. N. Ind.
Longanecker, Arlan, from Ridge,
S. Pa., to Baltic, N, Ohio
Miller, David, from Manassas,
Mid-Atl.. to Roanoke First,
Virlina
Payne, Russell, from Blissville, N.
Ind-.toCoulson, Virlina
Quintrell, Gregory. Meadow Mills.
Shen., to Ligonier, W. Pa.
Wedding
Anniversaries
Benner, Lawrence and Elsie,
McAlisterville,Pa.,5()
Brubaker, Elberl and Helen,
Gratis, Ohio. 50
Buirley.Clifford and Sarah, Troy.
Ohio. 50
Campbell, Henry and Jeanne.
Kokomo. Ind..50
Clay, Vernon and Josephine.
"Hartville.Ohio.55
Deardorff, Everett and Helen.
Hartville.0hio.60
Espigh, Paul and Catherine.
McVeytown.Pa..65
Gorden, Israel and Edwina,
Goshen. Ind., 65
Hoffer, Victor and Mabel. Palmyra.
Pa., 65
Jordan, Fred and Clara. Salem,
Va.,65
Keenan, Harold and Helen.
Onalaska.Wash..60
Lehigh, Roy and Ruth, Lititz,
Pa., 60
Mackey, Wilbur and Florence,
Chambersburg. Pa.. 50
McCort, Francis and Elizabeth.
HartviIle.Ohio.50
Myers, Roy and Evelyn. Jacobus,
Pa.. 50
Page, Clarence and Betty.
McAlislerville.Pa..50
Slough, Mildred and Carl. Troy.
Ohio, 60
Snyder, Maurice and Lois, North
Canton, Ohio. 55
Sumey, Frances and Lewis.
Uniontown, Pa., 60
Uhrig, John and Mary, Greenville,
Ohio. 70
Wilson, Alexander and Helen,
Melbourne. Fla.. 55
Zumbnim.Milford and Margaret,
ColuTnbiaCiiv.Ind..55
Deaths
Altland. David. 72. York. Pa.. Jan.
1.1,1994
Angelo, Dominic. S9. Fricdens. Pa..
Jan. X. 1994
Bashor,Carolyn. 86.
McAlistervillc.Pa..Scpt.
14.199.^
Beach, Howard. X6. Murtinsburg.
Pa. Oct. 15. 1993
Blickenstaff, Harry, 86, La Verne,
Calit-.Jan. 17. 1994
Bowers, Margaret. 8.3. Lewisiown.
Pa.. Oct. 20. 199.3
Dressier, Edna. 76. Danville, Pa..
Nov. 16. 199.3
Eshelman.Almeda. I I l.Hartville.
Ohio. Dec. 10, 1993
Fiscus. Esther, 85, Birdshoro. Pa.,
Nov. 12. 1993
Flory, Ralph. 90. Oswego, III.,
Nov. 29, 1993
Flory, Lueila. 88. Oswego. 111..
Nov. 14. 1993
Gill, Herbert, S3, Martinsburg, Pa.,
Dec. 10,1993
Hagen. Helen. 64. Parkeshurg. Pa.,
Jan. 6. 1994
Barter, Harold. 74. Purdy. Mo..
Dec. .30. 1993
Hively,Gerald. 68. ColumbiaCity.
lnd..Julyl2. 1993
Hollinger, Allen. 79, Neffsville,
Pa.. Jan. 14. 1994
Hood, Leo. 63. West Lawn. Pa..
Nov. 15,1993
Kimmel, Evelyn, 82. Albion. Ind..
Jan. 12.1994
Kroh, Pearl, 90. New Oxford. Pa..
Jan. 20. 1994
Lee,Josephine. 62, Wilmington,
Del.. Jan. 8. 1994
Lichvar, Elda. 75. Boswell. Pa.,
Oct. 29, 1993
Lozier,Harry,92, Warsaw. Ind.,
Jan. 2, 1994
Martin, Louise. 8 1 , Warsaw, Ind.,
Sept. 24. 1 993
Martin, Furman. 75. Warsaw. Ind.,
Dec. 2. 1993
Merkey, Ernest, 84. York. Pu,.
Dec. 29. 1993
Metzler, L.C.. 72. Martinsburg,
Pa., Nov. .30. 1993
Miller, Ada. 70. York. Pa.. Jan. 1 0.
1994
Minnich, Iva. S3. Greenville, Ohio.
Oct. 23, 1993
More, George. 70. Churuhu.sco.
Ind-.Sept. 1.3. 1993
Myers, Frances. 83. York. Pa.. Jan.
14.1994
Phillips, Marie. 95, Mount Penn.
Pa.. Dec. 7, 1993
Pope, Joanne. 63, Roaring Spring.
Pa.,July 13. 1994
Royer, Freda. 88, Kimmell. Ind..
Dec. 19.1993
Ryan. Larue. 69. Danville. Pa..
June 9. 1993
Sampson, Charies. 80. Lima. Ohio.
Oct. 1.1993
Schlegel, Robert. 69. Thomasville,
Pa.. Dec 31, 1993
Shank, Neva. 74. East Berlin. Pa..
Jan. 8, 1994
Swartz, Hilda, 93, McAlislervilie,
Pa.. Oct. 9, 1993
April 1994 Messenger 31
Considering the scenic route
Probably no other painting has been such a rich
source of inspiration for poHtical cartoonists as
Grant Wood's "American Gothic," that depiction of
the stern farmer, pitchfork in hand, and his forbid-
ding daughter (often mistaken for his wife) standing
before their Gothic-style farmhouse.
I predict that among journalists, the "new infor-
mation superhighway" will provide just as rich a
source of inspiration for allusions to the highway
image. So many possibilities — Sunday drivers, fast
lanes, exit ramps, pot holes, road blocks, detours . . .
on and on.
In case you've lately been traveling only the "back
roads" (See what I mean?), the "new information
superhighway" means that before long, virtually all
the information in the world will be readily and
instantly available to us via personal computers
(PCs), modem-accessed phone lines, and other yet-
to-be perfected items of hardware and software.
Communicating cheaply and efficiently with anyone
in the world will be a snap. Barriers to information
will come tumbling down. Anything you want to
know, anyone you want to reach, will be available to
you.
Remember the time around 20 years ago. when
Citizen Band (CB) radio was all the rage? You were
made to believe that everyone was going to get a CB.
Going to get one because they were not a luxury, but
a necessity of life. Every vehicle needed one. They
were fun to have, too. Just go yak, yak, yak on your
CB to someone else with a CB who was as
enamoured with his new toy as you were with yours.
Think of the fun that old CB users can have out on
the new information superhighway!
Just because we can do something, does that mean
we should do something? One newspaper columnist
writes, "The new information superhighway is likely
to become clogged with Sunday drivers (See what I
mean?) — people with nothing better to do than
cruise around gaping out the window. They'll get on
the highway because they can, but if what . . . (the)
futurists have in mind is some idealized new world,
that vision is likely not to happen. The high-tech
Sunday drivers will access information 24 hours a
day, and yak back and forth as if on tlber-optic
desktop CB radios, and probably have a fine time
doing it. But it will be little more than idle recre-
ation."
I haven't seen the new information superhighway
32 Messenger April 1994
yet, but I have inklings of what it can be like. Every
morning when I come into my office at work, the
first thing I do is turn on my PC, the marvelous
piece of technology that enables me to crank out
editorials and other writings so much more effi-
ciently than I used to produce with pencils, yellow
legal pads, and typewriters.
Just as I was getting used to my PC, and appreciat-
ing it. our office technology advanced a step, and I
was added to the "network." Now I have to type in a
password to get into my PC, and before I am able to
start using it, I must deal with any messages on my
screen that other members of the General Board staff
have put there to engage my attention.
So far 1 have found that to be an annoyance, rather
than a help. It's like not being able to unlock my
front door at home and go in until I stand outside
and read all the junk mail in my mailbox.
A cold chill ran over me the other day when an old
friend asked me if I was on the E-mail ("electronic
mail") network yet; he'd like to begin communicat-
ing with me that way.
What nags at me is the unsettling suspicion that
electronic mail, the new information superhighway,
television, and all the other "newer, better, faster"
ways we have devised for communication are
affecting us in negative ways that we don't perceive.
It's like upsetting the ecology of the world without
being aware of it, while making what we think are
advances, all for the good, in producing more food
and other products.
/\s I
Christians we put much emphasis on the way
we communicate, the way we touch each other's life.
Our Lord taught and communicated through face-to-
face encounters. And even much of that teaching
was done through simple stories. We Brethren make
much of witnessing to our faith through acts of
service, "patient acts of kindness," offering our cup
of cold water . . . reaching out and touching.
What adjustments, what losses, will we encounter
in the coming age of disembodied communication
along the information superhighway?
These questions add to my stress as I see the traffic
signs alerting me to the new information superhigh-
way entrance ramp just ahead. Will it get me where
I'm going faster and more safely? Or would I have
done well to take the scenic route? — K.T.
r~2
V < y • • J. o - :,. .-
[^i: ^Sudian. Tools and eeeSsr
^ j^or those dieplaced. -
United States. Hous/n^
for homeless families.
It's astounding how far 20 goes,
K'orth
given in the name of Christ.
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS FUND
Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgui, IL 60120-1694
CoDw celebrate with brothers and sisters
in Christ from around the nation.
I 4
Learn of new and effective resources for
you and your congregation.
1994 EVANGELISM
LEADERS ACADEMY
Practical Mo M Con M
• Open to laity and pastors alike
• Six locations coast to coast
• Conveniently scheduled during the
summer months
• 94 speakers include Amanda Grimmc
John Ortberg, William Easum and
Tim Timmons
Experience wonderftd fellowship and
inspiration.
Coll Today for A free Bmhun
cjrt. m
'de Evangelism
Leaders Acaden
IS a multi-denomM
tional training evm
sponsored by The
Andrew Center a
ministry of the Church'
of the Brethren
.^^. — CR<
WHAT NATIVE AMEJ^ANrBELIEVE
.'v^^lv
^^,
Putting together for this issue the cluster of articles on Native
Americans has been an interesting experience for those of us
selecting the articles and designing the pages. We have con-
tacted numerous persons, pored over books from the public
library, gone through old photos and files in the Brethren
Historical Library and Archives, sent a writer/photographer to
Lybrook Navajo Mission in New Mexico,
and made too many technical decisions,
large and small, to even think about.
When the components finally fell into
place, we had something that only generally
resembled the original concept. We had
more text that we had first envisioned. One
of our writers was not the one we started
with. One article grew out of what had been
intended to be a mere sidebar. We regretted
we had less space for photos than we had
planned, and had to forego using some
great photos we had on hand.
On top of all that, we were using our
computer more than ever in our layout and
design work (work quite beyond the
capacities of the editor, I should add, and so
left to our skilled production assistant, Paul
Stocksdale).
We were pleased with our results, and hope that our readers
are receptive to this pre-Conference highlighting of the paper
"Community: A Tribe of Many Feathers."
But when our Messenger cluster was all ready for the
printer, 1 read through the Conference paper again and realized
that none of what we had done could substitute for Brethren
reading that paper itself It is our hope that everyone heading for
Wichita, especially the delegates, will thoroughly digest the
paper found in the Conference booklet. It's good reading, and we
should have a meaningfiil debate.
a^ll^i^^'n<shJ^^/^^
COMING NEXT MONTH: A look at Haiti, where Brethren
workers witness the oppression wracking that country.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Sokody, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer; Illinois/Wiscons
Kreston Lipscomb; Northern Indiana, Leoi
Holderread; South'Central Indiana. Maijoi
Miller: Michigan, Marie Willoughby;
Mid-Atlantic. Ann Fouts; Missouri/ Arkam
Mary McGowan; Northern Plains. Faith
Strom: Northern Ohio. Sherry Sampson;
Southern Ohio. Jack Kline: Oregon/
Washington. Marguerite Shamberger:
Pacific Southwest. Randy Miller; Middle '
Pennsylvania, Ruth Fisher; Southern
Pennsylvania, ElmerQ. Gleim; Western
Pennsylvania. Jay Christner; Shenandoah, '
Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains. Mary Ann
Dell; Virlina. David & Hetlie Webster;
Western Plains. Dean Hummer; West Maj
Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication of th
Church of the Brethren. Entered as secom
class matter Aug. 20. 191 8. under .Act of
Congress of Oct 17. 1917. Filing date. N(l
1 . 1 984. Messenger is a mem
A^ ' of the Associated Church Pre
't^ and a subscriber to Religious
News Ser\ice and Ecumenic
Press Ser\ ice. Biblical
quotations, unless otherwise
indicated, are from the New Revised
Standard Version.
Subscription rates: SI 2.50 individual '■
rate. S 1 0.50 church group plan. S 1 0.50 gi.
subscriptions- Student rate 75^ an issue. 1:
you move, clip address label and send wii,
new address to Messenger Subscriptions,
145 1 Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60 120. Allc
at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published 1 1
times a year by the General Services Con '
mission. Church of the Brethren General
Board. Second-class postage paid at Elgii
111., and at additional mailing office. May
June 1 994. Copyright 1994. Church of th
Brethren General Board. ISSN 0026-0355
POSTMASTER: Send address change
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, II
60120.
P
1
«
Touch 2
ose to Home 4
;ws 6
orldwide 1 0
lecial Report 1 1
om the
General Secretarj'
epping Stones 36
mtius' Puddle 41
!tters 42
irning Points 47
iitorial 48
34
edits:
ver. 1. 2 right. 14. 16-26: George
eeler
iide front cover: An by Frederic
emington
ight: Zink Photography
R. Douglas Jones
op right: Lois Baldwin
lottom: Wilbur Brumbaugh
33: Eric B. Bishop
right: Kenneth A. MacLord
: H. .Armstrong Roberts
: Phyllis H. Grain
: Canadian Government Travel
Bureau
Annual Conference Preview 12
We give highlights of the upcoming week ^n Wichita.
Sacred Ground: What
Native Americans believe 16
Ron Pazola compares and contrasts the beliefs of Native
Americans with what the missionaries told them. Sidebar by
David Radcliff: "Community: A tribe of many feathers."
Lybrook and its changing roles 20
George Keeler describes changes at Lybrook Navajo Mission
since its 1953 opening. Sidebar: A Lybrook chronology.
The health care cure: An ethical dilemma 26
Joel K. Thompson paints a shocking picture of health care in
the United States. Sidebar by Robert E. Faus: "Bringing
health care ethics home."
Tithing: A response to grace 29
Wayne J. Eberly puts tithing into a context that removes it from
the status of a religious tax.
Responding to a blue-light special 30
Phyllis H. Grain knew she was in for trouble when she saw the
state trooper's brake lights come on.
Growing old: Is the best yet to be? 32
Paul M. Robinson tells how to make the best of it, even if the
best has abeady passed. Sidebar by Hubert R. Newcomer:
"Applying 'Oil of 01" Age."'
The voice of the mountains 37
Harold S. Martin lifts up our eyes unto the hills.
Cover story: Since
Annual Conference has
on Us agenda the paper
on Native Americans
"Community: A Tribe of
Many Feathers. " we
thought it timely to
present a cluster of
articles on the subject
(page 16). The winsome
face of Navajo child
Wendiline Begay (in an
Easter 1994 photo at
Tok 'ahookaadij and
church elder Frank
Chavez (cover) are the
work of photographer/
writer George Keeler.
May June 1 994 Messenger 1
Ill
rr
The good doctor
"I may be a doctor, but I'm
not one who's good for
anything," says Jesse Ziegler
in mock despair. "My
mother-in-law always
wondered how she ended up
When Jesse Ziegler
was a faculty
member at Bethany
Seminary, he never
thought he 'd wind
up teaching at a
school of medicine.
"In Touch " profiles Brethren we
would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black
and white, if possible) to "In
Touch. " Messenger. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60120.
having three sons-in-law
with doctorates and none of
them in medicine. No doubt
she would have been pleased
that one of us eventually
ended up in medical school."
That one is Jesse, who has
been working at Wright State
University Medical School,
in Dayton, Ohio, since his
retirement in 1980.
The field of community
health may seem like a
radical shift for an ordained
minister to have taken at age
68, but Jesse is quick to
explain the logic behind it.
"My masters and doctorate
were in psychology and
psychotherapy, and it was
psychopathology and mental
hygiene that I taught, both at
Bethany Theological
Seminary and Yale Divinity
School."
Jesse worked for 21 years
as an administrator with the
Association of Theological
Schools (the accrediting
agency of theological schools
in the US and Canada), right
up to his official retirement
in 1980.
"It was at this point," says
Jesse, "that Wright State
University approached me
about coming on board with
its medical faculty in the
department of community
health, and a year later that
United Theological Seminary
asked me to join its faculty as
an interprofessional educa-
tor.
"I started at Wright State
on a half-time salary, and
since then I've worked my
way down to a dollar a year,
to where I am now, as an
unpaid volunteer about five
days a week."
Over the last 14 years,
Jesse has pioneered courses
that bring together caregivers
of all kinds into a common
forum where they address
issues of loss and death.
Recently, Jesse helped to
organize a day-long sympo-
sium on an interprofessional
approach to cancer. "We got
25 clergy, 25 physicians, and
25 nurses together to look at
interprofessional responses to
patients with cancer. The
feedback was very positive."
Jesse takes a broad view of
grief, seeing its relevance in
situations of loss, illness,
accidents, and death. This
makes his input particularly
valuable in the medical
setting, where people are
faced every day with losses
other than, but also includ-
ing, cancer.
"I hadn't thought that I
would end up teaching at a
school of medicine, but it has
been a very rewarding
experience," Jesse says. In
June last year, he received a
citation from Wright State in
honor of the work he has
done in his field.
"I think for a minister of
religion to be acknowledged
for his pastoral work as well
as his academic work by a
state university is remark-
able," says Jesse's daughter,
Harriet, a journalist in
Melbourne, Australia.
"I enjoy teaching," says
Jesse. "It's as simple as that.
Doing this work is what
keeps me alive." — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
Making history popular
History is one of those
subjects that traditionally
gets bad press. For many
people, it is taken for granted I
to be boring.
But Paul Jewell doesn't
think so, and neither do the
PaulJewell
people in Kansas City, Kan.,
who flock to the history class
he founded 20 years ago. His
weekly class on the "History
2 Messenger May/June 1994
and Culture of Wyandotte
County" has grown in
popularity through the years,
outliving Paul's tenure on
the faculty of Kansas City
Kansas Community College.
The retired professor, who
is a member of Kansas City
(Kan.) First Church of the
Brethren, still stays involved.
And for all his passion for
history, he has an eye, as
well, for the future. In the
last session of the 1994
course, May 14, Paul was to
lead the class in a discussion
on "Wyandotte County in the
Year 2000."
Paul, who currently is
writing a history of the
community college, says one
of the secrets of the success
of his course was the
involvement of people from
the county. "We used people
who have either lived the
history of the county or have
expertise in the field. I had
over 200 different speakers."
Names in the news
Hedda Durnbaugh, a
member of Huntingdon (Pa.)
Stone Church of the Breth-
ren, and the author of The
German Hymnody of the
Brethren. 1720-1903, was in
Lillehammer, Norway, for a
worship celebration of the
Lutheran Church of Norway,
just prior to the opening of
the Winter Olympics. Her
English translation of an
Olympic hymn by Norway's
leading hymn-writer, Svein
Ellingsen, was used at the
celebration.
• Donald F. Durnbaugh, a
member of Huntingdon (Pa.)
Stone Church of the Breth-
ren, and the denomination's
Speech! Speech!
A cow-kissing contest may
not have much in common
with speech-writing, but both
are activities in which youth
are involving themselves in
preparation for National
Youth Conference (NYC) in
July.
Mac Bair, of Westminster,
Md., and Kristi Rittle, of
Oswego, 111., are the two
winners of the NYC speech
contest, writing on the topic
"The Role of Youth in the
Life of the Church."
Mac, a high school
sophomore, has had experi-
ence with public speaking
through his 4-H Club
activity, so he is not nervous
about presenting his message
to 3,500 other youth at NYC.
JCristi, a high school
senior, is worried about
whether people will be open
to what she has to say. "It's a
very personal message," she
says, "but it has broader
themes that apply to all the
youth in the church."
At Hanover (Pa.) Church
foremost historian, partici-
pated in the second interna-
tional conference on the
Holocaust, held at Humboldt
University in Berlin, Ger-
many, in March. He pre-
sented a paper titled "The
Suppression of the Rhon-
bruderhof by National
Socialist Authorities on April
14, 1937."
• Todd Wenger, a
member of Mechanic Grove
Church of the Brethren,
Quarryville, Pa., has begun a
three-year assignment in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,
through Mennonite Central
Mac Bair
of the Brethren, Mac is
president of his youth group
and involved otherwise in the
congregation. "There are 1 1
youth going to NYC from
Hanover," he says, "and
we've done a lot of different
things to raise travel money."
The "cow-kissing" contest
is the most unusual thing.
Mac explains: "Several
names were put forward as
'candidates,' and then on the
polling day, the person with
the most money in his box
had to kiss a cow. We raised
a lot of money."
Kristi is co-president of
her youth group at Highland
Avenue Church of the
Committee. He is serving as a
young-offender reconciliation
worker. He recently com-
pleted a term of Brethren
Volunteer Service in the
Church of the Brethren
Washington Office.
• Russell Bixler, a
Pittsburgh-based Church of
the Brethren TV preacher,
was featured in a March
Giiideposts magazine story,
"A Place by the Fire."
• David J. Bachman, a
member of Woodberry
Church of the Brethren,
Baltimore, Md., has received
the 1993 Perioperative
Kristi Rittle
Brethren, in Elgin, 111. Also
she directs children's choirs
and occasionally sings solos
at church.
"I like to try new things,"
she says, explaining her
motivation for entering the
speech contest. "I wanted to
do something my parents
could be proud of, as well as
something I believed in."
Kristi graduates from high
school May 28 and will
begin music studies at
Millikan University this fall.
Mac continues to play
baseball and volleyball and
says that he hopes someday
to teach biology and chemis-
try . — Margaret Woolgrove
Clinical Nurse Educator
Award, recognizing his work
in that field. He is a clinical
educator at Union Memorial
Hospital, in Baltimore.
• Melanie May, of
Rochester, N.Y., a former
Church of the Brethren
executive, has received a
First Decade Award from
Harvard Divinity School,
recognizing her as one who
in pursuit of her vocation has
been "an inspiration and
encouragement to all
[Harvard Divinity School]
graduates to rededicate
themselves. . . ."
May /June 1 994 Messenger 3
1)
A cup in remembrance
The stained-glass window
was a bit dated. It depicted
the famous Brethren Service
symbol that appeared on
little wooden offering cups
on many a Brethren family's
eating table in the 1940s.
The church in which the
At Bassett church,
a 50-year-old
symbol has been
imbued with new
meaning for service
in today's world.
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local and
regional life. Send story ideas and
photos {black and white, if possible)
to ■ 'Close to Home, ' ' Messenger.
1451 Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60120.
window was installed
became dated too . . . and
inadequate. When the
Bassett (Va.) Church of the
Brethren moved to a new
facility 10 years ago, it left
behind the old church and
the window.
At the urging of Gamett
Phibbs, who was pastor at
the time of the window's
installation, the segment of
window depicting the
Brethren Service cup has
been retrieved, rededicated.
and imbued with new
symbolism. Long-time
Bassett members Bill and
Ava Smith, and Clyde
Carter, a VirUna pastor who
grew up in the Bassett
congregation, also were
instrumental in reacquiring
the treasured piece of
memorabilia.
The window segment has
been framed in wood by
Bassett member and crafts-
man Cecil France. On
February 6, it was rededi-
cated during a service
marking the congregation's
10th year in its new facility.
Gamett Phibbs was on
hand, and related how long-
time Brethren Service
executive W. Harold Row
had told him years ago that,
so far as he knew, the Bassett
window was the only one of
its kind in the denomination.
Virlina District executive
David Shumate, speaker for
the day. challenged the
congregation to "celebrate
[its] rich past, but build a
new vision for the future."
Bassett's witness commission
plans to begin a new out-
reach program by year's end,
employing rather than
retiring the church's living
symbol of Christian love and
service, renewing the
perennnial message of a cup
of cold water given in
Christ's name.
After its dedication, the
framed window segment was
sent for display at the
General Offices in Elgin. 111.,
in recognition of the past
ministry of many people
across the denomination and
to challenge current and
future generations to a life of
service. — R. Douglas Jones
R. Douglas Jones is pastor of
Bassett (Va.) Church of the Brethren.
Singular justice
The man found guilty of
vehicular homicide in the
death of Don Tennis, of
Lititz (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren, was ordered to
donate $5,000 to the Don
Tennis Memorial Fund the
congregation had set up.
During pre-sentence
investigation, Don's widow,
Edith, went to work to see
that the justice meted out was
appropriate. "We tried to
convey what our loss was
and what the impact had
been on the community," she
said.
But the prospect of
successfully persuading the
prosecutor of the case was
not bright. So it was with
much surprise and joy that
the Tennis family heard the
judge's sentence.
The Don Tennis Memorial
Fund, to which thousands of
dollars from other sources
already had been given, will
be used for capital improve-
ment at the church.
Campus comments
Ron Kraybill, who has taught
at the University of Cape
Town (South Africa) since
1989, was a recent visiting
scholar at Elizabethtown
College's Young Center. At
Cape Town, he trains South
Africans in conflict resolu-
tion and peace-keeping.
During his time at the Young
Center, he worked on a
training manual on conflict
resolution skills, based on
South African case studies he
had collected.
• At the University of La
Verne's Fasnacht Chair of
4 Messenger May /June 1 994
Religion 1994 Lectures in
April. Sylvester Laudermill,
director of music at Long
Beach Holy Trinity AME
Church, spoke on "Music
and the African American
Church Experience." A
related concert followed.
• Bridgewater College is
building a 75,000-square-
foot science center, at a cost
of $10 million.
Groundbreaking was April
8, on Founder's Day. Classes
are projected to first be held
in the new center in January
1996.
• McPherson College
used a coffeehouse evening
to kick off a drive to collect ^
Bridgewater College 's new science center
In Jamaica, Manchester College soccer players helped to
build a new dormitory at Maranatha School for the Deaf.
"Sundries for Sudan." For
two weeks salt, soap, and
towels were collected to send
for relief in Sudan, a country
devastated by civil war.
• The Manchester
College soccer team spent 12
Schwarzenau update
The Alexander Mack
Museum in Schwarzenau,
Germany, is attracting
a number of visitors, both
German and American,
according to Brethren
historian Donald F.
Dumbaugh, who recently
visited there.
The museum wants slides
and photos of Schwarzenau
from Brethren visitors to the
village. While many of the
photos likely will be from the
post-Worid War II era,
earlier photos are also of
interest to the museum
curators. They especially
want photos of the Brethren
workcamp that was held in
Schwarzenau around 1948-
1949.
Anyone with slides or
photos to donate should send
them, with detailed identifi-
cation, to Alexander Mack
Museum, Am Kohhuecken
Tlie Talmilhle (i'alley Mill) in Schriesheim, Germany
6, 59317BadBerleburg/
Schwarzenau, GERMANY.
Another Alexander Mack
site, an old mill in
Schriesheim, is also in the
news. The Talmilhle (Valley
Mill), once owned by Mack's
father, is reported to be
available for purchase in a
few years, with the current
owners interested in selling it
to descendants, according to
an item in the April 1994
Mennonite Family History.
The Schriesheim mill is
not to be confused with an
old mill in Schwarzenau that
erroneously has been linked
to Alexander Mack. That
mill, in recent years, has
been remodeled as a resi-
dence.
days in Jamaica this past
winter, helping build a
dormitory at the Maranatha
School for the Deaf. Another
group of Manchester students
spent spring break at a
Habitat for Humanity
workcamp in Morehead City,
N.C., building low-cost
housing for needy people.
Let's celebrate
Cando (N.D.) Church of the
Brethren will observe its
centennial June 11-12.
Gulled by agents of the Great
Northern Railroad, Brethren
began settling in the Cando
area in late 1893. Eventually
there were about 30 congre-
gations in the state. But
agricultural depression and
drought decimated the ranks.
Today Cando is one of only
three North Dakota Church
of the Brethren congrega-
tions.
• Tyrone (Pa.) Church of
the Brethren will mark its
centennial June 17-19.
Brethren historian Don
Dumbaugh will speak on
June 17, and Middle Penn-
sylvania District executive
Randy Yoder will speak on
June 19. A picnic will close
the celebration.
May /June 1994 Messenger 5
I«
Bethany signs agreement
for Oak Brook property
The trustees of Bethany Theological
Seminary authorized President Gene
Roop to sign an agreement leading to the
sale of its Oak Brook property.
The agreement was signed with James
Participants in the Memories and
Visions alumni event in April at
Bethany Theological Seminary view
historical photographs showing all four
Bethany locations and photographs of
former students, faculty, and
administrators.
Because the news pages include news from various
Church of the Brethren organizations and move-
ments, the activities reported on may represent a
variety of viewpoints. These pages also report on
other national and international news relevant to
Brethren. Information in news articles does not
necessarily represent the opinions o/Messenoer or
the Church of the Brethren.
6 Messenger May/June 1994
Aiello, a Pittsburgh, Pa., developer who
anticipates using the property for retail
sales.
"Although a formal agreement has
been signed, closing is still several
months away," said Roop. "Various
matters need to be settled before the
closing date and price can be finalized."
Though the board anticipates that the
negotiations will result in a reasonable
price, that price will be significantly
lower than speculation in the 1980s led
many to expect.
Roop said, "Bethany will always need
to be very careful with its resources and
rely on the church as its primary source
of support."
When the Oak Brook land sale be-
comes final, the money from the transac-
tion will be used to retire Bethany's debt.
The remainder will be placed in endow-
ment.
Among issues still pending that could
affect closing and the final price are
engineering survey results regarding
flood plain and water retention.
Also at its spring meeting the board
approved a budget for the 1 994-95 fiscal
year, approved a graduating class of 28
students, established an endowment fund
for faculty enrichment, and heard reports
on this summer's move of the seminary
to Richmond, Ind.
A total budget of $1,306,266 was
approved by the board for the next fiscal
year, beginning July 1994. A list of 28
students was approved for the June 5
graduation, including six candidates for :
the master of arts in theology degree, 2 1
master of divinity candidates, and one
certificate of achievement in theological ■
studies. This year's graduation marks thi
final ceremony on the Oak Brook, 111.,
campus.
In other business, the Perry Rohrer
Faculty Enrichment Fund was proposed i
by the board to provide annual grants to
faculty for special professional growth
experiences, writing or research projectsi
The board heard a report from Joe
Mason that the physical move to Rich-
mond will take place the first week of
August.
Calendar
Evangelism Leaders Academies: June 13-16,
Warner Southern College, Lake Wales, Fla.;
July 11-14, Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kan.;
July 1 8-2 1 , Manchester College. North Man-
chester, Ind.; July 25-28, Eastern Mennonite
College, Harrisonburg, Va.; August 1 -4, Uni-
versity of La Verne, La Verne, Calif; August
8-11, Warner Pacific College, Portland, Ore.
[For information call the Andrew Center, (800)
774-3360].
National Workcamps: Young adult, June 4-12,
Rio Piedras, P.R.; sr. high, June 20-26, Chero-
kee, N.C.; August 4-17, Dominican Republic;
jr. high. July 6-10, Indianapolis, Ind.; August
3-7, Harrisburg, Pa. ; August 8- 1 2, New Wind-
sor, Md. ; and August 17-21, Tidewater, Va.
General Board spring actions
include Hebron, South Africa
Actions taken by the Church of the
Brethren General Board at its spring
meeting, March 6-7, include a state-
ment on the February 25 massacre in
Hebron, suspension of economic sanc-
tions against South Africa, and amend-
ments for a paper on Native Ameri-
icans.
"We join the world in shock and
grief at the senseless killing of more
than 50 Palestinians and the wounding
of more than 200 others at worship in
the Shrine of Abraham Mosque ... by
one or more Israeli settlers," the
statement says. "As a community of
faith we find the time and place of the
assauh to be particularly appalling.
Such horrific acts prompt us to refocus
on the injustices, the roots of violence,
which exist in the region.
"As US citizens, we feel the weight
of responsibility to press our govem-
Iment to hold Israel accountable for
policies that tend to foment violence
and inadequately protect civilians —
both Palestinian and settler — under its
control. . . . We further call for the US
government to take an active role in the
peace process and to encourage
negotiations about settlements being
made a priority."
The board's action on South Africa
"reaffirms its stand against the injus-
tices of apartheid and earlier encour-
agements to seek peaceful means to
create a representative and humane
system of government in that context;
suspends the economic sanctions,
divestiture, and boycott components of
its previous actions regarding South
Africa; and encourages investment in
South Africa and implementation of the
'Code of Conduct for Business Operat-
ing in South Africa' adopted by the
South African Council of Churches."
The board also recommended that
Annual Conference suspend 1986 and
1 989 Annual Conference policy
statements that call for divestiture.
The board also approved an amended
paper on Native Americans, Communi-
ty: A Tribe of Many Feathers, to send
to Armual Conference., for final
adoption (See page 17).
Community: A Tribe of Many Feath-
ers explains differences in cultural and
spiritual traditions, reviews the history
of Brethren involvement with Native
Americans, and calls the church to
confession and repentance.
An amendment in the paper states as
an affirmation, "We confess Christ as
God's son and as the one who reveals
God and God's will to humankind.
While our confession should not de-
mean or in any way violate others, we
do invite all people to follow Christ in
the way of Christian discipleship." This
comes from a concern over the nature
of the spirituality referred to in the
original paper.
The board approved a study of "Post
Cold War Peacemaking" by allowing
the intercommission Peace Team to
give further discernment to issues that
have arisen since the end of the Cold
War. Issues and questions the team will
study include 1 ) What is the role of the
church in international peacemaking
initiatives? 2) Should the church sup-
port the use of military means in pur-
suit of humanitarian goals? 3) To what
extent should the church support en-
forcement of peacemaking and peace-
keeping norms by the UN, other inter-
national organizations, and national
governments? 4) How can the church
best support ethically responsible forms
of engaging in and resolving conflicts?
In other business, the board approved
a budget parameter of $6,450,000 for
1995; a program review and evaluation
of its Parish Ministries and General
Services Coimnissions; and recommen-
dations for implementation of the
Global Structure Paper passed at the
1993 Aimual Conference.
Professor files law suit against
Chicago Theological Seminary
Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS)
professor and Church of the Brethren
member Graydon Snyder has filed a law
suit against the seminary.
Snyder charges that the seminary and
its student-faculty sexual harassment
task force damaged his good name and
reputation in a memo announcing he had
been placed on probation for his alleged
verbal sexual harassment, according to
an article in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Snyder says that although he "still
finds it inappropriate to resolve conflicts
in the courts, in this case [I] found no
other way to bring CTS to the conference
table."
In March 1993, a letter was distributed
to all 250 students, faculty, and staff of
the seminary reporting that Snyder had
been put on probation for engaging in
verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
The incident in question occurred in
1992 when a female student of Snyder's
supposedly became offended by a story
from the Talmud he told to his class
explaining the differences between
biblical intent and action.
Editor receives awards from
RPRC for editorial writing
Kermon Thomasson, editor of Messen-
ger, received two awards from the
Religious Public Relations Council
(RPRC) at its April 7-10 convention in
Birmingham, Ala.
An "Award of Excellence" was given
for Thomasson 's February 1993 edito-
rial, "To the Shores of Mogadishu." In
the editorial, he supported sending US
Marines to help feed starving people in
Somalia.
"When Push Comes to Shove," the
April 1993 editorial, won an "Award of
Merit" from the ecumenical organiza-
tion. This editorial was used to defend
the February editorial.
May /June 1994 Messenger 7
16 participants trained for
accompaniment in Sudan
In response to a call from the New Sudan
Council of Churches (NSCC), the offices
of Africa/Middle East and Denomina-
tional Peace Witness trained 16 people
for the Sudan Accompaniment program,
March 17-22.
The goal of the program is to prepare
people to work with Sudanese Christians
at the grassroots level to bring peace in
their war-torn country.
The unit is made up of 1 6 people.
Twelve members of the team are Breth-
ren. Two of the members. Tammy
Krause Riddle and John Jones, traveled
to Sudan on study tours within the last
year. Brethren staff David Radcliff and
Merv Keeney also have previously
visited Sudan.
The training included sessions on the
history of Sudan, nonviolent response to
conflict, dealing with cultural differ-
ences, background on Islam, survival
skills, communication and media skills,
and dealing with trauma.
David Radcliff, director of Denomina-
tional Peace Witness, stated that the
team spent most of its time on nonvio-
lence training. "We aren't teaching them
to get involved with protests or marches.
We'll teach them how to respond in a
peacefiil way to the violence they may
encounter."
The accompaniment team, if and
when called, will be divided into groups
of three and paired with three NSCC
team members to live in villages to
show their solidarity with the people
of Sudan. The teams will coordinate
relief efforts, teach English, and
monitor cease-fire agreements. Partici-
pants have made a committment to
serve three months to one year. The
date for sending an initial group will
depend on the political and military
situation.
Participants in Sudan Accompaniment training program: (Front row) Tammy
Krause Riddle, Emily Zielinski. (Second row) Carol Hoke (staff), Olive Collier,
Shirley Bowers, Sara Swartz, Jeannette Grove. (Third row) David Radcliff, Harry
Rhoades, Jon Hoke (staff), Anne Penman, Don Collier, David Nancarrow, Buzz
Bowers, Kyle Hall, Cinny Poppen, John Jones, Leland Grove, Merv Keeney (staff).
Emergency grants issued foi
California, Russia, Soutlieas
A grant of $25,000 from the Emergen'
Disaster Fund was allocated to assist t
victims of the California earthquake.
These monies were used for shipping
Gift of the Heart Kits and assisting wi
Cooperative Disaster Child Care Oper
tions, as well as helping families in th
Kang Nam and New Hope congregatic
who experienced damage and loss.
A grant of S20,000 has been given t
the Russian Agricultural Develoment
Projects, earmarked for work in
Smolensk and Siberia and for the
"Patriarchal Farm" project.
An allocation of $10,000 has been
made in response to the tornadoes and
storms that swept through portions of
Southeast at the end of March. Funds
were used to cover the cost of a Coope
tive Disaster Child Care team that wai
sent to Piedmont, Ala., in early April,
well as the cost of a disaster response
assessment team and repair work in th
affected area.
A grant of $10,000 has been allocati
to the National Youth Cabinet fi-om th
Global Food Crisis Fund to facilitate t
building of a Habitat for Humanity hoi
on the campus of Colorado State Univ
sity during the 1994 National Youth
Conference (April, page 14).
An allocation of $2,000 was given fi
rebuilding two homes in the West Bar
and Gaza Strip, and $1,500 in respons
to the March 23 gasline explosion in
New Jersey, which displaced over 100
families. In addition, $500 was given i
response to flooding fi'om winter ice
storms and melting snow in West Vir-
ginia and Kentucky.
An additional $5,000 grant was give
to Haiti in February, in response to the
ongoing struggle there. The money is
used by groups working on human rigl
issues in the countryside and those hel
ing Haitians in the Dominican Republ:
The following was given to close pre
jects: Haiti, $3,378.21; Nicaragua, $7C
Typhoon Flo (Philippines), $544.24.
8 Messenger May /June 1 994
'ethren attend consultation
promote biblical literacy
ere was a touch of irony to the speech
'en by Renita J. Weems, professor of
d Testament at Vanderbilt University,
len she spoke to the Consultation on
blical Literacy, March 1 1, in Nash-
le, Tenn.
fwelve members of the Church of
'. Brethren were in attendance as
legates to the consultation, sponsored
the Bible Translation and Utiliza-
n unit of the National Council of
urches.
Dne hundred and thirty delegates from
denominations in the US and Canada
i come together to explore the ques-
n, "What Happens to the Church, to
urch Members, and to Mission When
) Bible is No Longer Read, Under-
od. Acted Upon?"
^Veems, an economist before she
:ame an ordained elder in the Afri-
1 Methodist Episcopal Church,
5gested that the best way to promote
jlical Literacy might not have any-
ng to do with promoting more Bible
iding.
'Reading and formal study were
vileges and luxuries for the mass of
jple eking out a living," she said,
eligious instruction was an oral event,
ne in community, not in print, and
ne within the context of worship."
Delegates experienced scripture,
ough Bible reading, hearing, acting,
ging, and movement during the three-
Y event. Several different schemes for
iding scripture, including more than
s year-long plan, were presented
ring a resource fair,
rhe Church of the Brethren delegates
irked out preliminary plans to increase
)lical literacy among Brethren
ough existing programs and the
coming Jubilee curriculum to be
iated this fall.
rhe conference was fiinded by profits
im the New Revised Standard Version
the Bible, and by the individual
nominations. — Frank Ramirez
Ear! Hostetter
John Tomlonson Donald R. Michaelsen /j^,. p jjmine:
J. Rogers Fike
David Longenecker
Tammv Krause Riddle
Guinevere Grier
Districts, General Board
announce staff changes
Earl Hostetter and John Tomlonson
have agreed to serve as executives for
Northern Indiana District, each on a
half-time basis. Hostetter is serving as
interim executive for pastoral care, with
duties including the pastoral placement
process and care for pastors and families.
Tomlonson is serving as executive for
administration, and is functioning as pri-
mary executive for the district board and
its program, and as coordinator of the
staff
J. Rogers Fike has been appointed to
serve as interim executive of West Marva
District on a part-time basis. Fike served
as executive in West Marva from 1969 to
1978. In order to take this position, Fike
is taking a leave of absence from his
responsibilities as a member of General
Board. He will resume these responsibili-
ties in October.
David Longeneclier began March 1 5
Basketball player killed at
tournament in California
Sulu Palega, a 2 1 -year-old member of
the San Francisco Brethren basketball
team, was killed March 19 during a
Church of the Brethren basketball
tournament in Modesto, Calif
Palega was walking with friends from
a restaurant to his motel when he was
killed in a drive-by shooting, a victim of
apparent mistaken identity. Three bay-
area men, unrelated to the tournament.
as interim associate executive in Atlantic
Northeast District. He will fill this posi-
tion on a three-fourths time basis until
the end of December. Longenecker has a
family counseling background. He and
his family live in Brownstown, Pa., and
are members of Lititz Church of the
Brethren.
Donald R. Michaelsen has resigned
as director of congregational support,
effective June 14. He begins June 16 with
the division of evangelism of the Board
of Homeland Ministries of the United
Church of Christ.
Roy P. Jiminez resigned April 1 5 as
director of Hispanic Ministry, a position
he has held since 1990.
Tammy Krause Riddle has resigned
as coordinator of Brethren Volunteer
Service Orientation, a position she has
held since July 1992, effective September
6. Her future plans are indefinite.
Guinevere Grier resigned March 1 0
as coordinator of Lafiya Ministry for
personal and professional reasons.
were later arrested and two were charged
with the killing.
The annual basketball tournament, in
its 2 1 St year, has as its purpose to build
fellowship among the scattered Church
of the Brethren congregations of Pacific
Southwest District.
Palega had played in the tournament
for four years, and was well known
among its Brethren fans. Dealing with
the senseless killing was particularly
difficult for a peace church, said
Modesto pastor Bonnie Kline Smeltzer.
May /June 1994 Messenger 9
The National Council of Churches appealed to the Czech
president and suspended two of its employees following a case of
international fraud connected to a Prague-based bank. The fraud
could cost the NCC $8 million, earmarked for health insurance
premiums for retired employees. The NCC is seeking to recover the
money. According to authorities with the National Council of Churches
(NCC), the investment was made by an employee who did not follow
normal procedures. NCC General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell has
asked the president of the Czech Republic to return the funds since
they were invested without the knowledge or approval of the correct
authorities.
The General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC)
and the Mennonite Church (MC) are looking toward becoming one
denomination by the year 2003. The General Board of GCMC
unanimously accepted recommendations from the Integration Explora-
tion Committee at its Council of Commissions, March 11-15. The MC
General Board voted on the recommendation in late April.
The Church of England ordained 32 women in a March
12 ceremony. Over 1,200 women are expected to be ordained as
priests this year. The bishop who ordained the women in the historic
ceremony, Barry Rogerson, is also a member of the World Council of
Churches' central committee. The ordination of women has been under
formal debate in England's state church for over 20 years.
A statement presented by women in the United Methodist
Church stated that they believe critics of last fall's ecumenical RE-
Imagining conference in Minneapolis are "creating a climate of witch-
hunting." The women involved with the conference believe critics are
giving a negative impression of the conference and ignoring the
positive aspects. The highly criticized issue of lesbianism was
mentioned in the statement, reading, "engaging in verbal violence
against lesbians reveals the homophobia in the church, and denigrates
the rich contributions that homosexual persons have made to the
church through the centuries."
According to Ecumenical Press Service, eight women presented
the statement, with 800 women endorsing it. The women made this
statement at a press conference concerning International Women's
Day on March 8.
The Presbyterian General Assembly Council's staff
revised its 1995 budget downward by $1 .9 million to allocate for the
member donations they believe will be withheld in protest of the RE-
Imagining conference. The controversial conference was fueled by a
letter sent to the denomination by the 26 staff members involved with
last fall's conference in Minneapolis. The Presbyterians donated
$66,000 of the $400,000 conference budget. The funds came from the
Presbyterian Bicentennial Fund.
As of the end of March, 1 85 of the 1 1 ,500 Presbyterian congrega-
tions have announced a possible protest move. According to available
budget figures, the 185 churches gave large sums of money to the
PCUSA in the last few years. James D. Brown, executive director of
the General Assembly Council's staff leadership team, stated about the
possible boycott, "I am not convinced that a boycott of every ministry
carried out at the denominational level can be justified either biblically
or theologically. After all, we are a family and families stick together
through thick and thin — "
Although the Presbyterian church plans its General Assembly tc
focus on new "mission initiatives," the backlash against the RE-
Imagining conference looks to surround the 206th meeting. The
General Assembly is planned for June 10-17 in Wichita, Kan. Many
letters are prompting the Assembly to investigate the controversial
conference that 400 Presbyterians, including more than 20 staff
members, attended.
The General Assembly also will cover such areas as missions ir
Africa, racial violence, intercity ministry, church development and
redevelopment, volunteers, and spiritual renewal. Over 40 missionai
will be commissioned at the General Assembly.
Thousands of people, including priests and nuns
were killed in April in fighting in Rwanda after the African country's
president was killed in a plane crash, along with the president of
Burundi, in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.
Following the deaths, according to reports from Ecumenical Pre
Service, Kigali descended into chaos with presidential guards and tf
police killing the Rwandan prime minister. United Nations personnel
and thousands of civilians.
The Anglican Church in Nigeria has declared "null and
void" the ordination of three women by Herbert Haruna, the Anglicar
Bishop of Kwara. Disciplinary action is being taken against Haruna,
who has rejected the annulment as unwarranted, and said that he n'
protest to the Church of England.
An invitation for US Surgeon General Joyceiyn Eiders
address the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Chu
June 3 in Lakeland has been withdrawn.
Mike Russell, press secretary for the surgeon general, told Unitf
Methodist News Service the invitation had been accepted in Octobe
but was rescinded in March.
He said United Methodist Bishop H. Hasbrouck Hughes of
Lakeland, Fla., expressed concern to Elders that a group of individu
had threatened to walk out or disrupt the annual conference if she
spoke. Russell said Elders, who "isn't afraid to confront controversy
didn't want to "embarrass" the bishop.
Elders, a United Methodist, has drawn sharp criticism from aero
the country, particularly because of her outspoken views about birth
control and the legalization of drugs.
She said the media have failed to report that she is a strong
proponent of abstinence as a preferred method of birth control,
especially among youth. "I always talk about abstinence," she said.
In December she created a stir when a group of journalists in
Washington asked her if the government should study whether
legalizing drugs would reduce crime. 'They asked if it should be
studied and I said yes. I still feel that way," Elders said.
She said she believes drug use would decline, although not
immediately, if drugs were legalized. "But I think we would get rid o
some crime" related to drugs, she said.
"And we could help treat many of the hard-core users, and
eventually the use would go down," she added. She stressed that n
method of controlling abuse should be left out of consideration.
10 Messenger May /June 1994
Hispanic leaders explore new directions
y Eric B. Bishop
ley came together not knowing what to
pact — Hispanic leaders and represen-
ives of Hispanic Churches of the
ethren — at a consultation April 18-20
Indianapolis, Ind.
What they found in their time together
is a meeting with a
ry "spiritual tone
d the ability to come
'ay with a sense of
ity," said Guillermo
camacion, one of
; participants, and
stor of Alpha and
nega Fellowship in
ncaster. Pa.
\bout 30 people
ended the consultation, including
enn Timmons, associate general
;retary for the Parish Ministries
immission, Berwyn Oltman,
^cutive of Atlantic Southeast District,
d retired minister Phyllis Carter,
10 served as facilitator for the meet-
;s.
[n one of two actions of the group,
camacion, who is also moderator of
! Church of the Brethren in the
•minican Republic, was asked to
■ve as Hispanic consultant, on an
erim basis for two years, replacing
ly Jimenez, who resigned in March,
rhe other action of the group was to
me a Hispanic Steering Committee,
e committee, which hopes to meet
ee times a year, will work over the
xt two years with a Hispanic consult-
t at developing a working plan for
Jological education, raising financial
Dport from Hispanic congregations,
d networking Hispanic churches.
(Another assignment of the committee
to create a fimctional structure for the
spanic movement. In 1996, it will
ve a Hispanic Assembly to revise its
bylaws and present possible new direc-
tions for Hispanic ministries.
Members of the newly chosen
steering committee are Vincent Rivera,
pastor, Iglesia Evangelica La Nueva
Jerusalen, Summit, 111.; Olga Serrano,
co-pastor, Principe De Paz, Santa
Ana, Calif; Gustavo Jimenez, member.
'7/ (the resignations) created some
kind of emptiness among the Hispanics,
and everyone came to the meeting with a
lot of expectations, not knowing if they
were good or bad."
Alpha and Omega, Lancaster, Pa.;
Milton Garcia, pastor, Castaiier, P.R.;
and Gilbert Romero, pastor, Bella Vista,
Los Angeles, Calif Phyllis Carter will
serve as a spiritual advisor for the
committee.
k3ome of the concerns of the group and
the Hispanic churches (churches whose
first language is Spanish) are the same
as other churches in the denomination —
concerns such as homosexuality and the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.
"Our religious background was with
the Catholic church where everything is
black and white," said Encamacion.
"But in the Church of the Brethren there
are areas of gray."
Late last year, three Church of the
Brethren congregations. La Mision De
Jesiis, McFarland, Calif; a new church
development in Dodge City, Kan.; and
Centro Cristiano Vida Abundante,
Levittown, P.R., withdrew fi"om the
denomination. The reasons for the
withdrawal were the concerns about
homosexuality in the church and
objection to a controversial ordination in
Pacific Southwest District.
According to Encamacion, the last
three months have been difficult for the
Hispanic churches because of resigna-
tions of three key people (Luis Bustillo,
pastor of La Mision De Jesus, Pedro
Brull, executive minister for Atlantic
Southeast District, and
Roy Jimenez) who
were considered to be
among the key
leadership. "It (the
resignations) created
some kind of empti-
ness among the
Hispanics, and
everyone came to the
meeting with a lot of
expectations, not knowing if they were
good or bad.
"We were afraid if we didn't do
something, the rumors (e.g., homosexu-
ality) would be harmfiil to the Hispanic
community," Encamacion said. "This
gathering was good because we had the
majority of Hispanic pastors here."
The consultation included, among
other things, a presentation on "The
Brethren Views on the Humanity and
Divinity of Jesus," a session on "Breth-
ren Polity and Policies," a "History of the
Hispanic Ministry in the Church of the
Brethren," an assessment of current
situation and needs, and time for prayer
and worship.
According to Timmons, a lot of
healing took place at the consultation,
and it provided an opportunity for the
participants to come together and talk
among themselves.
The group asked Encamacion to
immediately begin visiting Hispanic
churches to "talk to pastors and congre-
gations explaining the good feeling at
the meeting, and to explore the \tt I
possibilities" for the future. I J
May /June 1 994 Messenger 1 1
Wichita
Brethren will experience a week of
worship, work, and reunion when they
meet June 28-July 3 in Wichita, Kan. for
the 208th Annual Conference.
"Come! Drink the Living Water" is
the theme for the 1 994 Conference, led
by Moderator Earl K. Ziegler, pastor of
Lampeter (Pa.) Church of the Brethren.
Business sessions and worship will be
held in the Century U Convention
Center.
Conferencegoers will be able to
experience a wide array of offerings —
from music and speakers, to exhibits and
meals. This preview presents highlights
of the week's events. More information
is available from the Annual Conference
Office, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL
60120; (800) 323-8039. Information
packets have been distributed to all
congregations.
New business
Two queries from IllinoisAVisconsin
district and a recommendation from the
General Board are the new business
items.
Acceptance and Implementation of
the Americans with Disabilities Act
originated with the Highland Avenue
congregation, Elgin, 111., asking Confer
ence to accept the guidelines of the
Americans with Disabilities Act to alio'
persons with disabilities to participate
fully in the life of the denomination.
Simple Life originated with the
Springfield (111.) First Church and asks
Conference to name a committee to stu(
ways to reemphasize the Brethren
fradition of the simple life and to discei
its full meaning for our time.
The third item of new business come
24-hour reporting of
Conference news
From June 26-July 3, the
Church of the Brethren
telephone Newsline, (410)
635-8738. will feature
daily updates on Annual
Conference events and
business.
Newsline currently
provides weekly updates on
Brethren news, with new
messages posted Thursday
mornings. Newsline 's
recorded message can be
reached 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
1 2 Messenger May /June 1 994
Worship
Tuesday evening: Annual Conference
Moderator Earl K. Ziegler's topic will be
"Come to the River of Life," based on
Thursday evening: Rebecca Baile I
Crouse's sermon will be "Breaking the'
Rules — for Christ's Sake," based on
John 4. She is co-pastor of Antioch
Church of the Brethren, Rocky Mount,
Va.
Friday evening: Western Plains
District will present the drama "Tl
Gathering," based on Matthew
Vj+h£' / '- ^ 27:24 and John 13.
\^0^
John 7:37-38 and Revelation 22:17.
Wednesday evening: David Bibbee, pas-
tor of Elkhart (Ind.) City Church of the
Brethren will preach on "Dear Me,"
based on Matthew 3:13-17 and Mark
1:9-11.
Saturday evening:
Tyrone Pitts, general
secretary of the Progressi-i
National Baptist Convention, will
preach on "Providing Living
Waters to a Dying World," based
on Mark 9:41.
Sunday Morning: S. Joan Hershey's
sermon is on "Abundant Water . . . But
Many are Still Thirsty," based on Isaial
58:1 lb (NIV). She is coordinator of
consulting and resourcing for the
Andrew Center.
Annual Conference Preview
■om the General Board, asking Confer-
tice to suspend 1986 and 1989 Annual
Conference policy statements calling for
ivestiture in South Africa.
Jnfinished business
^Community: A Tribe of Many Feath-
rs tops the business agenda this year,
"he paper explains differences in
ultural and spiritual traditions, reviews
le history of Brethren involvement with
Jative Americans, and calls the church
3 confession and repentance.
/leal Events
breakfasts: Tickets are $7.50. Wednes-
ay: On Earth Peace Assembly. Thurs-
ay: Brethren Press. Friday: People of
le Covenant, Evangelical Prayer,
Washington Office Network. Saturday:
In Earth Peace Assembly,
Luncheons: Tickets are $9.25.
Wednesday: Discipleship and Reconcili-
tion Committee ($5), Ecumenical,
association of Brethren Caregivers
ecognition. Outdoor Ministries Asso-
iation. Program for Women/Global
/omen's Project. Thursday: Older
.dult, HIV/AIDS Network, Brethren
Dumal Association, CoBace, Associa-
on for the Arts lunch and guided tour
f the Wichita Art Museum (cost for the
)ur and transportation is $6, and lunch
n your own will be available in the
luseum cafeteria.). Urban Ministries.
'riday: AACB, Church and persons
'ith Disabilities, Congregational
leacons. Brethren Volunteer Service
;ack lunch), Andrew Center, Womaen's
'aucus. Youth Advisors. Saturday:
iridgewater College, Elizabethtown
■oUege, Juniata College, University of
a Verne, Manchester College,
H. Fred Bemhard
Joel D. Kline
J. Benton Rhoades
Albert Sauls
Candidates for moderator-elect
H. Fred Bernhard, of Arcanum, Ohio (Southern Ohio), is currently pastor of Oak-
land Church of the Brethren, district TRIM coordinator, and a member of the Brethren
Benefit Trust board. Bemhard has served as district moderator, a member of the
district board. Annual Conference Standing Committee (including chairman of
Nominating Committee), Annual Conference head teller and messenger, speaker,
devotions leader, AIM design team, and as a member of the General Board.
His vision is "that Brethren be so excited about God's love for us in Christ that we
rally ourselves in unity to share the gospel with all." Yiis priority is "that Brethren
affirm the primary task of sharing the Good News by being a people who welcome
others as God in Christ welcomed us."
Joel D. Kline, of Fort Wayne, Ind. (Northern Indiana), is pastor of Beacon Heights
Church of the Brethren. He is currently on the district board and ethics committee, and
serves as Brethren Journal Association secretary. He has served as district moderator
and commission chair. Annual Conference worship leader, study committee chairman,
minister's association chairman, AIM trainer, community ministerium chairman,
homeless shelter board secretary, and chairman of the church and society division of
the Associated Churches of Fort Wayne, Ind.
His vision is "that the church be called to take seriously being the body of Christ."
His priority is "to celebrate the varied callings of the church, embracing both evange-
lism and justice making, spiritual growth and church planting, personal healing and
reconciliation."
J. Benton Rhoades, of Claremont, Calif (Pacific Southwest), is a member of La
Verne Church of the Brethren. He is a retired church executive and former pastor, and
has served as sanctuary committee chairman, district work camp director, small group
staff, a missionary. Mission 12 staff, evangelist, ecumenical youth movement of North
America chairman, and Agricultural Missions executive director. He has served on
Aimual Conference study committees, and the Committee on Interchurch Relations.
His vision is "that our church be an inclusive Bible-centered community." His
priority is "that our focus be justice and peacemaking."
Albert Sauls of Manheim, Pa. (Atlantic Northeast), is pastor of East Fairview
Church of the Brethren. He has served as district moderator and board chair. Annual
Conference speaker. Ministers' Association past president, and as area representative
to other denominations. He has also served on the ministry commission, evangelism
committee, youth services board. Vision for the 90s, hymnal feasibility committee,
community service club, and mental health board.
His vision is "to bring truth and justice to the present age." His priority is "to set
clear goals for the Church of the Brethren and work in harmony with one another in
light of differing points of view."
McPherson College, Deaf Ministry,
African American Brethren.
Dinners: Tickets are $11. Wednesday:
Church Growth and Evangelism.
Thursday: Messenger, Outdoor Minis-
tries Association (dinner and campfire).
Friday: Committee on Higher Education,
Hispanic Ministries, World Ministries.
May /June 1 994 Messenger 13
Wichita
Pre-Conference
meetings
The Association of Brethren Caregivers
(ABC) meetings begin with a fellowship
dinner in McPherson, Kan., on Saturday
evening, June 25. This is part of the
Brethren Home's Retreat which takes
place Saturday through Monday, and
includes sessions on Lafiya ministry and
Health Care Reform.
ABC-planned events continue on
Monday afternoon in Wichita with the
start of the Brethren Benefit Trust/
Ministers/Caregivers Conference. The
theme of this year's conference will be,
"From Ethics to Action: Making
Healthcare Choices." Five different
speakers will address the issues sur-
rounding this topic in sessions that
continue through Tuesday afternoon.
ABC holds its annual business lun-
cheon Tuesday.
Paul Boll and Lana Norris will preside
over the breakfast meeting of the
Association of Brethren/Mennonite
Older Adult Ministry.
The Health/Caregiving Festival
rounds off the ABC pre-conference
events, offering a healthy food menu,
entertainment and family fun for all
conferencegoers.
Richard D. Doll will be the keynote
speaker for the Forum on Public
Education on Tuesday, looking at
"Crises in Public Education" and how
The "Tree of Life" that
displayed 3,650 new mem-
bers in the Church of the
Brethren at the 1993
Conference in Indianapo-
lis, Ind, will also be plant-
ed in Wichita for churches
to place leaves to show new
members.
the Church of the Brethren should
respond. Workshops on conflict resolu-
tion, the role of the local church in
public education, cultural diversity and
the role of television in changing famil
values will also be offered.
Two training workshops are being
jointly offered by Ministry of Recon-
ciliation and On Earth Peace Assem-
bly. The first will be led by Margo E.
Maris on "Attending and Healing the
Whole System when Abuse of Power
Happens," and the second will have the
leadership of Jim and Susan Vogt in
examining "Families Making Peace:
What are the Ingredients?" Both
workshops take place over Monday and
Tuesday.
Wendy Wright, a writer who teaches
at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb
will be the guest speaker at the Womer
in Ministry brunch on Monday.
On Tuesday morning the Association
of Brethren/Mennonite Older
Adult Ministry will hold a breakfast
meeting.
Standing Committee will meet
Saturday through Tuesday afternoon.
Standing Committee will hear reports
from the review committee of the 1992
Ethics in Ministry paper and the sub-
committee on sexuality and leadership
concerns. The members will also be
looking at a process for developing a
congregational ethics paper.
The General Board meets Tuesday
afternoon at 1.
Music
"Acappella," a nationally known male
quartet, headlines Annual Conference
with a Saturday evening performance.
The concert, co-sponsored by the Youth/
Young Adult Ministries program and
Annual Conference, will begin at 9 p.m.
following worship.
1 4 Messenger May/June 1994
Annual Conference Preview
The Conference choir will sing in
'orship on Wednesday, Thursday, Sat-
rday, and Sunday. Donald R. Frederick
f McPherson, Kan., is choir director.
Irace Groff of Palmyra, Pa., is the Con-
;rence organist, and Karen Cakerice of
Idora, Iowa, is the Conference pianist.
Congregational singing will precede
ich worship session, beginning at 7
ich evening Tuesday through Thursday.
will begin at 6:50 p.m. on Friday, and
:45 p.m. on Saturday with a children's
Dncert. This years music coordinator
Paul Roth, pastor of Highland Avenue
hurch of the Brethren, Elgin, 111.
Four early evening concerts are
offered during Conference week. All
concerts are at 6:00-6:45 p.m. at the
Century II Theater. Hyun Joo Yun, a
vocal soloist from Seoul, South Korea,
will perform on Wednesday. Califomias:
Classical and Contemporary will
perform Thursday. Judy Chadwick and
Jean Hendricks will perform on duo
Steinway pianos on Friday. The
McPherson College Chamber Singers
will perform on Saturday.
A one-hour recital featuring the
WurliTzer theater pipe organ is arranged
for Thursday at noon in the exhibit hall.
This is one of five WurliTzers still
operating in the country.
Conference tidbits. . .
Volunteers are needed in program areas and activities
planned for Conference participants. Contact the
Annual Conference office for further information.
• McPherson College will host an afternoon open
house on Sunday, July 3. The college will provide tours of the campus and visits
with students, faculty, and staff.
• Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches
(NCC) will be the featured speaker at the Ecumenical Luncheon. She will speak on
"The Urban Crisis and the Churches' response." Campbell will also speak at a
Wednesday insight session titled "The Plight of the City."
• A hearing will be held on Tuesday evening at 9 on the "Community: A Tribe of
Many Feathers" paper prior to the opening business session. Also, the Pastoral
Compensation and Benefits Committee, and Ministerial Leadership Committee will
hold forums Tuesday night.
• A series of Bible study electives will be held each morning from 7:30 to 8:30,
Wednesday through Saturday, and each evening from 9 to 10, Tuesday through
Friday.
• There will be approximately 54 insight sessions held Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday nights.
• The worship leaders for Conference are: Judy Mills Reimer, 1994 moderator-
elect on Tuesday evening; Laura Sewell, a retired India missionary, from Peace
Church of the Brethren, Portland, Ore., on Wednesday evening; Milton Garcia,
pastor of Castaner (P.R.) Church of the Brethren, on Thursday evening; Gail
Erisman Valeta, pastor of Buckeye Church of the Brethren near Abilene, Kan., on
Friday evening; Phyllis Kingery Ruff, Peace Church of the Brethren, Council
Bluffs, Iowa, on Saturday evening; and Stafford Frederick, pastor of Olathe (Kan.)
Church of the Brethren, on Sunday.
Housing, food, & travel
There are 1 1 hotels in the Wichita area
arranged for Conference housing. The
Ramada at Broadview is the official
Conference hotel. There will be free
shuttle service between the convention
center. Friends University, and hotels not
in walking distance. Prices begin at $41
per night (one person, one bed).
Arrangements can also be made for
housing at Friends University, and at two
campgrounds near Wichita.
Food service will be available daily at
concession stands in the convention
center, and Wednesday through Saturday
through cash buffets for lunch and
dinner.
Airfare discounts have been arranged
with United Airlines and TWA. To make
arrangements with United, call (800)
521-4041 and refer to i.d. number
543NP. For the TWA discount, call
(800) 325-4933 and refer to profile
number VI 3661.
There is access to limousines and
taxis for travel between the airport and
hotels.
May/June 1994 Messenger 15
SACRED CROUND: WH
by Ron Pazola
As many modem indigenous people try to get in touch
with their traditional ways, so many non-Native
^ Americans are beginning to discover the social,
spiritual, environmental, and educational contributions that
Native Americans have made. As magic and mystery continue
to be lost in a culture that becomes exceedingly objectified,
computerized, specialized, and compartment-
alized; as organized religion continues to lose
its hold over many of its followers; as people
continue to become disassociated from God,
nature, community, and themselves; and as
Native American prophecies about the de-
struction of the environment seem on the
brink of becoming reality. Native American
spirituality takes on added importance.
But what can non-Native American
Christians learn from Native Americans? Is
the spirituality of Native Americans that
different from the spirituality of Western
Christians? Can indigenous people teach
Westerners anything that they don't already
know from the teachings of the church and
the readings of scripture?
Part of the problem in Western culture is
that it is riddled with dualities. Good
versus evil, body versus spirit, sacred versus
profane are some of the common distinc-
tions that have dominated Western thought
for centuries.
But for the early indigenous people of
North America and many modem Native Americans there are
no dualities. All of life is one. There is a unity to all creation.
All life is interconnected like the web of a spider: To hurt one
living creature is to hurt all living creatures, and to pluck a
flower is to frouble a star. As Joseph Epes Brown points out in
his book The Spiritual Legacy of the American Native Ameri-
can, there is no Native American word for religion because
they do not view religion as a category divorced from society.
Their entire world is a sacred place fdled with wonder and
awe. The mystery of God is everywhere — in the rising sun and
beyond the early morning mist, on the vast plains and in the
dense forests, under a star-filled sky and beneath the light of a
constantly changing moon.
Although every Native American nation has a distinct
spirituality, there are some common threads in all Native
American spiritualities. Referring to the world as Grandmother
Earth, most Native Americans look at their physical surround-
ings as a living being. All things are alive, and spirituality
16 Messenger May/June 1994
There is no Native
American word for
religion because they
DO not view relicion
as a category
divorced from society.
Their entire world is a
sacred place filled
with wonder and awe.
^^v*^^
is sought through intimate communion with the natural wor
Unlike many who look at the world as either a sophisticated
machine or a commodity to be used and thrown away,
traditional Native Americans experience the earth as a
moving, breathing entity that is holy and life-giving. They sha
a notion of cosmic harmony, in which humans, animals,
plants, and the physical earth cooperate wi
the supematural to bring about a balanced
harmonious universe.
As Paula Gunn Allen emphasizes in The
Sacred Hoop, "The notion that nature is son
where over there while humanity is over he
or that a great hierarchical ladder of being
exists on which ground and trees occupy a
very low mng, animals a slightly higher or
and man [never woman] — especially 'civi-
lized' man — a very high one indeed is
antithetical to tribal thought." And, she
continues, "The American Native America
sees all creatures as relatives [and in fribal
systems relationships are central], as offspi
of the Great Mystery, as co-creators, as
children of the mother, and as necessary pe
of an ordered, balanced and living whole."
Animals are especially revered by fradi-
tional Native Americans. (Just as there was
sharp differentiation between divinity and
humans for early Native Americans, so, too
there was no clear distinction between hum
and animals.) Because animals were create(
before humans, animals are looked upon as guides and teachi
of human beings, and in a sense as their superiors because
animals frequently act in the role of agent for the Creator.
Cmcial to understanding Native American spirituality is
the realization that traditionally Native Americans view spac
as spherical and time as cyclical, while Westemers perceive
space as linear and time as sequential. Westem time has a
beginning and an end; Native Americans understand time as
an etemally recurring cycle of events and years.
As Native Americans communicate with the four direc-
tions, they travel around a circle and eventually come back t(
where they started, benefiting from the knowledge and feelir
received on the joumey. The process then begins anew like t
day, the seasons, and the cycles of the moon.
That is why the circle is an especially powerfiil symbol
for Native Americans. At the center of the circle is the hum
person. To lose sight of this sacred center is to lose sight of
one's humanness. In his classic book Black Elk Speaks,
^TIVE AMERICANS BELIEVE
hn G. Neihardt quotes Black Elk, the famous Sioux medi-
le man, who is lamenting the fact that his people must now
e in square houses:
Everything the Power of the World does is done in a
circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is
round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its
greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for
theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun
comes forth and goes down again in a circle.
The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their
changing, and always come back to where they
were. The life of a man is a circle from
childhood to childhood, and so it is in every-
thing where power moves. Our teepees were
round like the nest of birds, and these were
always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest
for many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for
us to hatch our children.
Although differences exist between Native American and
estem spirituality, there are many similarities.
"It's important to remember that Native American and
n-Native Christians worship the same God," says Father
m Hascall, O.F.M., Cap., pastor
the Keweenaw Reservation and
! West Central Diocese of
irquette in the Upper Peninsula of
ichigan and an Ojibwa
hippewa) medicine man and
est. "We can teach [non-Native
nericans] to pray from the
irituality of the land based on the
spels, which can't change."
For Hascall and his Ojibwa
Dple, spirituality is based on
ationship with the family, which
strengthened through sacrifice,
/hen I take cedar and sage and use
;m in my ceremony, they're my
nily. They sacrifice themselves to
Ip me to pray," he says. As Christ
ide every sin his own when he
:rificed himself on the cross,
iscall explains, the Ojibwa make
:rifices so that the entire family
ti benefit. The strengths of the
nily thus allow each person to deal
th hardships that Native Am-
ericans have had to grapple with for thousands of years, he says.
Sacrifice manifests itself in such ceremonies as the sun
dance, the main ritual of Plains Native Americans such as the
Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Shoshone.
A sacred event offered each year in midsummer, the sun
dance is a prayer of thanksgiving, petition, regeneration, and
restoration. It has nothing to do with the worship of the sun as
some critics have erroneously observed. A
large, circular open-frame lodge is ritually
constructed in imitation of the world's
creation with a sacred cottonwood tree in the
center that links sky and earth. There are
four days of intense dancing, together with
flesh offerings and piercings of some of the
dancers' chest and back muscles with
wooden skewers.
Although outsiders may cringe at these
rites. Native Americans do not regard the
piercings as self-inflicted torture but as the
offering of one's self to the Creator — much like Christ on the
cross. Many compare the sacrifices of the sun dance to the
sacrifice of the Catholic Mass, which ritualistically repeats
Christ's death on the cross. Just as all of humankind was saved
i
ATRIBE
OF MANY FEATHERS
by David Radcliff
A'
lone, white wolf crossed the road,
caught in the headlights of our car.
We were in New Mexico in December
1 992 for the first meeting of the commit-
tee selected to write a paper on the
church and Native Americans. Snow was
in the air and on the ground as our group
went out by car for supper one night
during those meetings. That was when
we glimpsed this beautiful ephemeral
creature. According to Indian lore,
Yahola Simms told us, seeing a white
wolf is a good sign. Aware of the
challenge that lay ahead of us in writing
our paper, we were happy for any
indication that our work might succeed.
The stimulus for writing a paper such
as this came from several quarters.
Youth in attendance at the 1 992
Christian Citizenship Seminar, spon-
sored by the Washington Office and
Youth and Young Adult Ministry office,
were brought to a new awareness of the
historical and current situation of
Native Americans. They concluded their
experience by calling on the denomina-
tion to develop a new, updated statement
related to the concerns of Native
I
May /June 1994 Messenger 1 7
, by Christ's sacrificial act, so the larger community benefits
from the rigors and sacrificial elements of the sun dance.
The traditional ritual of the vision quest also involves
sacrifice. For three of four days, a person goes off to a secluded
place to communicate with the spirits to gain direction and
purpose. Through fasting, praying, enduring the elements, and
experiencing solitude, the person has an opportunity for direct
contact with the supernatural.
During the vision quest, someone may experience a dream
or vision from which is received spiritual knowledge and
power that can later be used to help the larger community.
(Although Christians don't profess that Christ went on a vision
quest per se, the gospels tell of Christ's fasting for 40 days and
nights in the desert before he began his public life. From his
desert experience, Christ was able to overcome the devil's
temptations and to gain the strength necessary to begin his
public ministry.)
Unlike the typical Western thought that views suffering as
a problem that has to be explained and justified, traditional
Native American thought sees hardship and pain as the norma
part of the cycle of life. For Native Americans, life is best whei
things are difficult because people learn humility and depen-
dence upon God. Most Native Americans believe that when lif
is too good, people become complacent, think too highly of
themselves, and stop trying to improve.
Thus, traditional Native Americans rarely view death as a
punishment or something to be feared. For them, it is a natural
process that all living things must encounter to begin life anew
As Old Testament Hebrews called their God Yahweh — often
translated as "I am who I am" — tribes such as the Lakota Siou
call God Wakan-Tanka — the "Great Mysterious" or the "Holies
of Everything." According to Sioux beliefs, Wakan-Tanka,
Tunkashila — or Grandfather — and the spirit powers form a
trinity similar to the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Tunkashila is only slightly less "powerfial" than Wakan-Tanka
The creation myths of the Plains Native Americans are
amazingly similar to the creation accounts found in Genesis.
One Sioux creation myth parallels the Adam and Eve story.
Americans. Later that
summer, Ethelene Wilson
and her son Ben, who had
attended the seminar along
with six other Native
Americans from the Navajo
community of Lybrook, in
New Mexico, took part in
the General Board's "live
report" at Annual Confer-
ence. They reiterated the call
for a new statement.
The General Board took
up the challenge at its
October meeting, naming a
committee to draft a state-
ment for eventual consider-
ation by Annual Conference.
These calls came, of
course, in 1992, the 500th anniversary
of Columbus' arrival in the western
hemisphere. The last two words of
that sentence tell us something about
the impact of the series of events that
began to unfold in the year 1492. This
is the "western" hemisphere because
it is to the west of Europe, seen then
and now as a kind of global reference
point by which other parts of the
globe are named. What words might
one substitute for "western hemi-
sphere?" "New World?" New to whom?
"The Americas?" named thus by the
The Native American Study Committee — (front) Erin
Anspaugh, Ben Wilson, Ethelene Wilson; (back) Yahola
Simms, David Hendricks, David Radcliff (staff liason).
Europeans. So, simply to pass this anni-
versary was itself an occasion to pause
and reflect on the profound changes
ushered in by that seaman's voyage.
Our committee of six faced several
challenges. We were a "mixed" group of
people of European and Native Ameri-
can background. My own tendencies are
to be optimistic about the possibilities for
human community in any situation.
Here, however, we needed to quickly
learn about each other and to work with
each other's distinctive characteristics
and perspectives. What are our reasons
for being here? What do periods
of silence mean to different one!
of us? Why are some more
comfortable with eye contact?
What are the often unspoken bu
always present influences on oui
deliberation of our own persona
histories and history of our
respective peoples? What do we
do with words such as "Indian?'
The challenge of relating to one
another with respect and
compassion was the first one we
needed to face.
We knew that the paper
needed to speak for both groups
and, even more, for the whole
church. The "we" of the paper
needed to represent all the color;
and voices of the church. We knew that
there would be some in the church who
would analyze the paper in great detail,
on the lookout for hints of "New Age"
influence or for some other belittling of
the Christian witness. Several of the
responses we received from congrega-
tions and individuals in the fall of 1 993
made us feel that we had not been clear
enough and had left room for such
accusations at several points in the
paper. In revisions presented to the
March 1 994 meeting of the General
Board, we sfrove for greater clarity; the
18 Messenger May/June 1994
According to the Sioux, at one time people dwelled beneath the
earth. Like Adam and Eve, who wanted to be like God by
partaking from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Wazi, the
chief of these underground people, and Kanka,
his wife, wanted to obtain the power of the gods.
A spirit by the name of Inktomi promised to give
them the power if they would help him make
humans look foolish.
Once Wazi and Kanka had this much desired
power they knew they would no longer need
Inktomi, so they asked for the power first. Inktomi
knew what was in their hearts and forced them to
live in the world above where they and all their descendants
would live in shame, while Inktomi continued to make fools of
humankind.
And flood stories are found in both the Old Testament and
Sioux mythology. As creation was bom anew in the story of
Noah and the ark, the Sioux people, according to one version,
were bom from a great flood, which visited the Western Plains
and drowned the original people there. A bald eagle flew by
and a beautiful woman grabbed onto its feet. The eagle carried
the woman to a great tree on a cliff above the water. Upon the
cliff the woman gave birth to twins. And it was these
twins who would eventually form the Sioux Nation.
Native Americans have left a legacy for the
peoples of the world. Respect for life, awe and
wonder for God's creation, stewardship for the
environment, appreciation for sacred time and
sacred place, acknowledgment of the unity and
interconnectedness of the earth and earth's crea-
tures are values that Native Americans
have practiced for thousands of years.
Ai.
Ron Pazola is a freelance writer living in Chicago. III.
This article is an excerpt from a longer one by Ron Pazola that appeared in
US Catholic, Februaiy 1994. It is printed here with permission.
The accompanying photographs of scenes near the Lybrook Mission in New
Mexico were taken by George Keeler.
board told us we had achieved this.
We also felt a special obligation to
represent the feelings and Christian
convictions of the members of Tok'a-
hookaadi fellowship in New Mexico,
as this is the only congregation within
the denomination of primarily Native
American (Navajo) membership. We
didn't want to say things to misrepre-
sent them, while taking care to
address whatever concems they might
wish to bring before the church.
Reports from Tok'ahookaadi are that
the group has grown in recent months,
at least in part due to the feeling that,
in the writing of this paper, the
denomination once more has turned
its attention to them. (See page 20)
We hope that the paper has achieved
several goals. While its primary
purpose is not to be a statement on the
nature or purpose of Christ, we hope
that throughout the paper there rings
an affirmation of the power of Christ
in human history. It is through Christ
that we can reach out to one another
across any human boundary; it is be-
cause of Christ's passion for justice
and peace that the paper calls for these
to be expressed in human relationships.
We hope that the paper likewise
affirms human life in all its God-
given diversity. Religious fervor too
often has been the mask behind which
have hidden the evils of racism, imperi-
alism, greed, and plain hatred. We have
tried to say clearly that God loves all
people, and would have us love, respect,
and work alongside them for justice,
regardless of their religious loyalties or
racial origins.
The paper names the church as a com-
munity of disciples who share a common
salvation, who worship a common God,
and who make a common commitment to
Jesus. Yet the members of this commu-
nity have many different ways of
expressing their Christian faith, based on
cultural and personal differences.
While there is not a section titled
"repentance," the committee believes
that a call to recognifion of past and
present injustices and thus to a spirit of
confrition is implicit in the paper. The
feelings of the Native American mem-
bers of the committee come through in
the telling of history and the recollection
of the mistrust built up over the past 500
years. The committee believes that to
read and ponder this history is itself
something of an act of repentance.
Our committee also hopes that the
paper can lay the basis for a new
beginning in the relationships of people
within the Church of the Brethren, as
well as with others beyond our denomi-
nation. Among the "Recommendations"
is a series of suggestions for improving
communication and in general for
building a deeper fellowship with one
another. We hope that the paper as a
whole points us in this same direction, as
we believe that this is the most important
result that could come of the lengthy
process of studying and adopting this as
a statement of our denomination.
At many points during the work of our
committee, we experienced what we
hope the church as a whole may experi-
ence in the days ahead. We came
together from different worlds, as it
were, to walk on a common joumey. We
leamed to appreciate one another's
peculiarities as valuable assets in the
quest to write a statement that might be
of service to the church. We laughed at
and with one another, and together felt
the pain of listening to voices who
challenged or even condemned our
efforts. We enter this last stage of our
work together feeling love for one
another and for the church, and a
burning desire that, in the words
of Jesus, "we may all be one."
M.
W
David Radcliffis director of Denominational
Peace Witness on the World Ministries Commission
staff. He sen'es as staff liaison to the committee that
drafted the paper "Community: A Tribe of Many
Feathers. "
May/June 1 994 Messenger 1 9
LYBIi<
• !•
K AND n
by George Keeler
Lybrook, the Church of the Brethren's
witness in Navajoland, is just 100 miles
northwest of Albuquerque, the largest
city in New Mexico. But the area seems as remote
as if the journey were only possible by time travel.
At 7,200 feet. Lybrook is centered on a stretch of
North America's highest landscape. It is a starkly
beautiful land of sage, canyons, rainbow-colored
mesas, and towering wind-shaped monuments. It
is home, also, to the largest Native American
tribe in the United States, the Navajo. Getting to
Lybrook, situated on the edge of the reservation,
means stepping into the culture of another nation.
And it is a nation beset with challenges that set it
apart in late 20th-century society.
The Church of the Brethren Lybrook Navajo
Mission opened in 1953 under the leadership
of Ernest and Olivia Ikenberry. Quickly, the
two organized a high-quality private school, a
medical clinic that saw an average of 100
patients a month, an Alcoholics Anonymous
program (which proved to be one of the most
active in Navajoland), regular Christian
worship services, and a Sunday school.
Four years later, there was a regular atten-
dance of 70 persons in church services, in
addition to Navajo reading
classes to translate the Bible,
many baptisms, vacation Bible
school for children, organized
child care, overnight camp-
outs for the youth groups,
summer camp activities for
children, fellowship groups
for women and young adults,
and outpost work for
teaching reading in the
home. By then, the mission
land had grown to 59 acres.
The private school grew,
but mission directors
pushed to have the education of children taken
over by Rio Arriba County and the state of New
Mexico. In 1963, a public school opened its
doors to Navajo children. A preschool program
took up residence in the old school building,
and the mission continued to bustle with
activity. Children were constantly on the grounds,
playing basketball — the favorite sport of the
Navajo — long into the evening hours, aided by
powerful court lights.
In the late 1970s and '80s, the mission focus
changed. The government, which once pushed
social services to the churches, reversed its policy.
The medical clinic was taken over by the govern-
ment and moved. Other programs were lost as
both the govenmient and the Church of the
Brethren General Board faced budget problems in
the 1980s. Nevertheless, one bright spot in the
mid-1980s was the construction of the long-awaited
chapel. The Navajo renamed their new church
Tok'ahookaadi, after an ever-flowing spring on
the property (Messenger, January 1985, page 9).
Then the lights of the mission went out,
literally, in 1991 and it was dark for six months
before Leola Allen and her husband, Ernie Conry..
took up residence as a pastoral couple, unlocked
the chain across the driveway and turned the
lights back on December 1 that year.
Leola is tough and persevering, with wisdom
that comes from getting your hands dirty and
feeling sweat bead on your brow from hard work
and making things happen. Ernie is no stranger
to tough challenges either, having served as a
policeman for 1 0 years in Iowa. During the schoo
year, he teaches fifth grade at an Indian school in
Gallup, and with the support of a Peace Corps
Fellowship, works on his master's degree through
the University of New Mexico. He makes the 1 14-
mile drive back to Lybrook on weekends.
Upon graduation from seminary, Leola served
a 7-year stint at Kingsley (Iowa) United Church |
of Christ/Church of the Brethren congregation, j
Following were two years in the Peace Corps in
!J
i
20 Messenger May /June 1994
HANGING ROLES
the Dominican Republic. Then Western Plains
■District contacted the couple about heading
iLybrook. They accepted. Together, with the
help of a Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS)
married couple from New York, Tom
Cunningham and June Bayard, this team has
restarted the engine of the mission.
But should it still be called a mission? The
road sign was changed before Leola's
tenure as pastor to read Lybrook Community
Ministries. "Mission is an all-inclusive term,"
says Leola. "At the moment, we are the
Tok'ahookaadi Fellowship of the Church of the
Brethren. We'll build from there."
And she is, indeed, remaking Lybrook into
what it can be, rather than what it is. The old
'dilapidated church/school/cafeteria house has
ibeen razed; so has the dirt and log hogan that
visiting youth groups once slept in. The other
old school/social hall building is scheduled to
be razed, too. The new metal one-room church
building serves now as the worship area,
Sunday school room, meeting hall, and social
'hall. An adjacent building is undergoing
complete renovation and will open soon as a
fellowship hall, kitchen, and meeting area.
Lybrook is reshaping its physical plant and its
mission focus.
"I've spent two years 'dejunking' the
physical plant," says Leola. "There was junk
and trash everywhere when we arrived." When
the hanta virus scare started last year in the
four-comers area, where the church is located.
JTl ■■ — 1 <W.y
Lybrook t
CHURCH
iof 'fhe BRETHREN!
Leola sped up the timetable. "We had bags of
ancient grain and other perishable goods,
which should have been distributed to the
people, stored in the old buildings. They
attracted rodents and were disposed of immedi-
ately." Other items that were remotely salvage-
able were given away.
Fortunately, the entire area escaped harm
from the virus, thought to be spread by the deer
mouse. One case was reported last year in
Cuba, 40 miles away, and another in
Farmington, 60 miles away. "We have im-
proved the sanitation conditions here so that the
virus is not a threat," says Ernie.
Maintaining a positive public-relations
image is important for the mission management
team because it relies heavily on volunteer
support for this church in Western Plains
District. "Quinter Church of the Brethren, our
'sister church,' has been very supportive," says
Leola. "We need the help. People with open
hearts are welcomed. I take Christian help
wherever I can get it."
The main volunteer project now is the
renovation of the fellowship hall/kitchen. The
BVS couple has been diligently working on the
project, but it is almost overwhelming for one
or two people. Drywall still needs to be installed
in spots, and wiring and plumbing work re-
mains. When it is finished, it will be the largest
such building in the area. The church building
holds that distinction, too, and is often utilized
for funerals and other community events.
With the physical plant improvements
underway, Leola is implementing an ever-
expanding offering of summer programs.
Besides regular church services every Sunday,
and children's Sunday school, she plans to re-
establish an alcohol support group, conduct
vacation Bible school, contract SERRV Self-
Help Handcrafts to sell Navajo crafts, and start
a summer junior-high recreation program. In
order to do the last, the basketball court is high
on her repair list. The concrete has crumbled to
the consistency of gravel, and the hoops are
missing. "When you let a place go down, it is
unbelievable how much you have to do to bring
j^*^«*-
ag Q g ^ In November,
mw^^ the General
Brotherhood Board
approved a ministry to the
Navajo and authorized the
purchase of a mission at
Lybrook, in New Mexico,
on the edge of the Navajo
reservation.
1953
In September,
Lybrook
Navajo Mission opened,
under the leadership of
Ernest and Olivia Ikenberry.
Regular church worship and
Sunday school were started,
and a one-room school
opened.
1954
Thirty-four
Navajos
enrolled in the first annual
vacation Bible school. A
244-foot well was drilled at a
cost of$l,200. When no
water was found, an even
costlier 1 ,000-foot well was
drilled.
By now. four
Brethren
1955
Volunteer Service workers
augmented the Lybrook
staff There were club pro-
grams for children, young
adults, and women.
1956
The mission
added 55 acres
of land to its four-acre site.
Two houses were purchsed
for use as a clinic and a
residence. William Hayes
began as business manager
and supervisor of volunteers.
His wife, Bemice, a
registered nurse, supervised
medical work.
1957
Mabel Hesuse
began trans-
lating church sermons into
Navajo, Jackson Yazzie
became the first Navajo staff
leader, teaching Sunday
school, leading Bible study,
and conducting worship in
Navajo. In September, Galen
and Ruth Snell succeeded the
Ikenberrys as mission
directors.
May/June 1 994 Messenger 21
1958
The education
program ex-
panded to a two-room
school, with classes through
sixth grade, taught by Mary
Miller and Mildred Myer.
^ Q ^ Q Ten Navajo
m^^W Christians and
the mission staff participated
in love feast. The mission
purchased two four-room
cottages from government
surplus for use as staff
residences.
(g f% > ^^ Edith Merkey
IVOWjoinedthe
teaching staff An Alcoholics
Anonymous chapter was
formed, with Navajo leader-
ship. It quickly became well
known throughout
Navajoland.
'tQJL't Two Navajo
i W^9 I young women
from the mission attended
college, one at McPherson
and one at La Verne. Ruth
Dibert, a registered nurse,
took over the clinic and
health program.
^Q> ^ Jerry and
■ W%9M Berkley Davis
succeeded the Snells as
directors. Two Navajo staff
members. Andrew Hesuse
and Frank Chavez, took
schooling in preparation for
service at Lybrook. Five
Navajos were part-time staff
members.
<g n JL ) ^^^ county be-
' ▼w^ gan providing
elementary education for all
children in the mission area.
The two mission teachers
fransferred to the new county
system. The mission con-
tinued "pre-first" classes, to
help teach Navajo children
English.
ag Q > jt The mission
' <r 0*W continued a 4-H
Club program and Christian
education classes with the
public school children.
22 Messenger May/June 1994
it back," Leola sighs.
Outreach programs in place include general
education equivalency tutoring, performed by
Tom and June; and a Navajo drop-in center,
located in their BVS house. Tom and June play
on the Church basketball team and are popular
with the youth, who visit them at all hours.
"We're having a great time here," says Tom.
"For the Navajo, it is a tough existence. This is
a culture rich in time and poor in resources."
It was the memory of the mission and its
positive impact on the Navajo community that
drove Mary Thompson, a Navajo, to petition
Western Plains District in person for its
reopening. Mary, mother to six children and
four foster children, holds great power in the
community. "In this matriarchal society," says
Leola, "Mary is one of the members who is the
glue. She is the spiritual head of the church."
The Church of the Brethren presence in
Lybrook is important for community members.
"There is a great sense of tradition. The Navajc
went to school and church here. The medical
clinic was here. They have also lived with
Church of the Brethren families around the
country as foster children."
"This church belongs to us," says Frank
Chavez, a long-time member with memories oi
the glory days of the mission. "Something was
broken here, but now we are fixing it."
In the late 1960s, Frank was the only full-
time Navajo staff member, assisting in visita-
tion, services, and maintenance. "I pray every
morning, every day for the future of this
church," he says clutching Diyin God Bizaad
(the Holy Bible in Navajo) close to his chest.
"We need to make our children understand the
importance of going to church," he quietly
adds, his finger resting on 2 Timothy:3.
Indeed, the church's future lies in its
children. And children are everywhere. On
Easter morning 1 994, more than 20 cut out
Easter symbols from construction paper while
'This church belongs to
us/' SAYS Frank Chavez, a
lon<;time member with
memories of the clory da
of the mission. ''somethih
was broken here, but nov
we are fixinc it."
listening to the hymns and sermons of Leola's
service. The church atmosphere is relaxed — the
doors open for the children to come and go.
Coming to Tok'ahookaadi is flm — a chance to
be with friends and participate in a Sunday
school lesson led by Ernie.
After church, sports equipment — in-line
skates, basketballs — come out. The Church of
the Brethren compound provides a substance
not found on the reservation — concrete. Pent-
up energy is released on the concrete sidewalks
and even in the church building itself, as
children bring to church their toys that can onlj
be used on hardtop. Younger children play on
the merry-go-round, swings, and teeter-totters
left from the private school days of the mission.
Leola takes in stride all the children racing
around her. "This church belongs to God and
The Church of the
Brethren compound
provides a substance
not found on the
reservation —concrete.
*ent"up enercy is released
on the concrete side-
walks and in the church
fildinc itself, as children
(rinc their toys that can
3nly be used on hardtop.
le people," she comments, adding, "When the
illowship hall is finished, it will help."
The key to working with the older youth has
een basketball. For the youth, their free time
;volves around the sport. The Church of the
rethren team is in the middle of its league
'ith three wins and three loses. Bleachers are
lied at basketball games in the local school
ym. But no one seems to care what the score
. This is non-competitive basketball. Youth
id adult mixed teams are playing for the sheer
»y of it. "You see differences," says Tom. "It's
ke being in another country."
For the youth, there is not much to do out
here. Bowling and movies are 60 miles
ivay. The Church is sponsoring a Softball team
lis spring. Video nights are planned. Some of
le youth will attend National Youth Confer-
ice in July. Last year, Ernie took a youth
roup to the Church of the Brethren Christian
itizenship Seminar.
Leola and her congregation have put
Dnsiderable energy into softening the starkness
f the steel church building. "I want the inside
I look like the people who worship here," she
lys. "I want people who worship here to feel
imfortable. This is a Navajo Church of the
rethren." Genuine Navajo rugs, woven by
lary Thompson, adorn the pulpit. Scripture is
;ad in both English and Navajo. Melodies of
ymns are familiar, even if the words are not.
'dazing Grace," "What a Friend We Have in
jsus," and "Sweet Hour of Prayer" are all sung
I Navajo. Most of the congregation is bilingual
1965
Jerry Davis
was suc-
ceeded by Myrl Weyant as
mission director.
in Navajo and English. Mary Thompson
usually serves as song leader on the piano.
Sometimes her husband accompanies hymns on
the electric bass guitar, while a daughter leads
the singing.
The people who worship here are relaxed,
comfortable, and subdued. Many of the young
women come in sweats; young boys and old
men wear baseball caps. A few of the older
women come in more traditional Navajo
dresses. Leona dresses up for the occasion and
wears turquoise and silver jewelry — a gift from
the women of the congregation. That is a
symbolic act for her; Tok'ahookaadi women
often wear similar jewelry, and the presentation
of the gift was an invitation to join them. Leola
explains her jewelry: "The Navajo have a
saying, 'Walk in beauty, the beauty way. Beauty
is above me and beauty is below me.' The
Navajo decorate everything. I am told that the
Lord created turquoise and silver to appreciate
and to enjoy."
Navajo baskets are used to collect the
offering, which on Easter Sunday totals $6.37
from the 40-plus people in attendance, some of
1966
The Office of
Navajo Econ-
omic Opportunity took
over the "pre-first" school
program, using the mission
facihties. The mission pur-
chased a government surplus
building to use as a shop.
The Student Intercultural
Program (SIP) was begun,
with Navajo students hving
with Anglo families across
the country while attending
school.
1968
Total church
membership
was 48, excluding staff. The
Navajo Christian Association
and the four missions of the
area were holding joint
evangelisic meetings.
^ Q > Q Navajo Henry
1 w ^9 w Hesuse was
licensed to the ministry and
became full-time pastor of
the Lybrook Navajo Church
Fellowship. Alvin Blough
succeeded Myrl Weyant as
mission director.
a|Qw^^ Elmer Fike
^wt ^^ became
mission director, but was
non-resident, living in
Flagstaff Ariz. He also was
coordinator of Brethren
American Indian Ministries.
Having a non-resident
director was designed to
encourage Lybrook Navajos
to develop and depend on
their own leadership.
<g A7<# Henry Hesuse
1 V • ^ left the Lybrook
pastorate and was succeeded
by Billy Lewis. Land was
secured by lease at Nageezi
for building a new church
facility.
<g079 In response to
tWm^a petition from
Lybrook, the Lybrook-
Nageezi Church of the
Brethren Fellowship was
recognized.
May /June 1994 Messenger 23
h^W
For the larger
community, the church
possesses a vital life"
CiViNC ELEMENT— WATER.
Running; water is
nonexistent on the
reservation. . . . purinc
THE DAY, Navajo drive
many miles in their
dusty pickup trucks to
purchase the delicious,
naturally soft water
(500 <;allons for $1.35).
Life for H
nature an
try to fit i
to conqui
^ ^ w jt The Lybrook
■ <r #"■' Mission pro-
gram, except for evangelism,
worship. Christian nurture,
and Christian service, was
made a separate ministry
under the SHARE program
of the World Ministries
Commission. The function of
Lybrook Community
Ministries, as the mission
was renamed, was to assist
the Navajo people develop
self-help projects that would
uplift and benefit them. The
mission buildings were used
for crafts classes, adult
education, and mechanics
training.
'tQ^C In a painful
mW 9 ^ period of tran-
sition, aggravated by mis-
understandings over the
intent and pace of indigeniz-
ation, Russell Kiester was
called to be interim
development pastor of the
Lybrook fellowship. He also
served as administrator of
community SHARE grants.
m
M
1981
The SHARE
program term-
inated, and Russell Kiester's
role changed to place more
emphasis on pastoral tasks.
Management of the Lybrook
property and direction of its
program was transferred to
Western Plains District.
24 Messenger May/June 1994
m
M
whom drove 30 miles on dirt roads to reach the
church. "That money, most in change, repre-
sents as much to my congregation as families
that put in $100 bills," says Leola. "Many of
our families are very poor. Tok'ahookaadi
Church is not self-sufficient."
The unemployment rate is high. "There are
not a lot of jobs around here," notes Ernie. "The
unemployment rate hovers around 40 percent."
Many members of the congregation are em-
ployed, though, working as auto mechanics,
mechanics for oil and gas companies, and as
nurses and artists. Some are sheep herders.
Navajo culture does not encourage the
accumulation of wealth. "They don't want to be
rich, just survive," says June.
On her first Thanksgiving at the church,
Leola plaimed a traditional all-church dinner.
"One person volunteered to bring the turkey.
But the turkey didn't show up." Leola retreated
to her kitchen. The only meat she found was in
leftover sloppy-joe mix, which she quickly
heated up.
"I apologized to the congregation," says
Leola, and "they answered, 'But nobody is
leaving here hungry.'"
"They don't blame or pass judgment here,"
adds June. "What is, is. There is no judgment
or assessment, just open honesty."
Leola's second Thanksgiving, with a "grand
and glorious feast," went more smoothly. "I
now know things about who is responsible and
who is not," she nods, laughing at the Pilgrim
Thanksgiving symbolism of her congregation
joining with Anglos at the dinner table.
The Tok'ahookaadi
congregation looks
forward to Leola's
seasonal celebrations —
Easter, May Day, back-
to-school hot dog roast,
Octoberfest (non-
alcoholic), love feast,
and Christmas. A
potluck dinner is held
after every church
service. Food baskets are distributed every
Sunday to needy families, with the four staff
members providing the bulk of the food.
The Navajo made all the ornaments for las
year's Christmas tree. Church artists already
are working on a life-size nativity scene that
will be displayed at the Highway 44 entrance
next Christmas. Baby Jesus will be in a cradl
board, with Navajo-dressed figures sporting
traditional hair styles. The wise men will be
cowboys on horseback — two Hispanics
and an Anglo.
"We are on oiu" way to being fully alive
without the formal organization of a church.
We are a living part of the Church of Jesus
Christ," says Leola. "My motto around here i
'The difficult we do immediately. The impos
sible takes longer.'
"The people who worship here are serious
about their relationship with Jesus Christ. I
know it in my heart. They know it in their
hearts. I see it in their selection of gospel
hymns. I hear it in their prayers and commui
cation with me. It is, 'Jesus who saves; Jesus
JCANS IS ONE OF HARMONY WITH
CS THAT SURROUND THEM. ThEY
nJRE AND TO UNDERSTAND^ NOT
ULE.
A'hom we rely on; Jesus who will protect us.'
We are a Christ-centered church."
For the larger community, the church
Dossesses a vital life-giving element — water.
Running water is nonexistent on the reserva-
;ion. So are electricity and phones. The Church
Df the Brethren, which is blessed with electric-
ity and phones, also has one of the few working
wells in the area. During the day, Navajo drive
Visit Tok'ahookaadi
Brethren are invited to visit Tok'ahookaadi and the
Lybrook ministry the week after Annual Conference,
July 5-10.
Special activities, July 5-6, are a Navajo craft
exhibit and sale featuring items made by
Tok'ahookaadi members; tours/hikes featuring
geological formations and ancient Native American
ruins; and Native American/Southwest meals. Also,
there is an Anasazi Pageant in Farmington, July 7.
Camper and motor-home hookups are available,
plus motel rooms and Lybrook housing.
For more information call David Radcliff at (800)
323-8039.
many miles in their dusty
pickup trucks to purchase the
delicious, naturally soft water
(500 gallons for $1.35). The
transaction is done on the honor
system: Money is deposited in
a slotted coffee can that sits on
the parsonage's porch wall.
Other challenges persist for
the Navajo. They are a people
caught between two cultures,
and the frustration erupts with
alcoholism and early deaths. As
Ernie walks through the fresh
graves in the Church of the
Brethren cemetery, he notes
that more than half of the
people died of alcohol-related
accidents or illnesses.
"Families will say, 'We wish
the alcohol was not there,'"
says Tom. "The school drop-
out rate also is high. Many
people just don't make it. Look
at the ages on the gravestones."
The government doesn't
seem to be effective in easing
the pain of the Navajo, either.
A new hospital was opened in
Shiprock, 90 miles away; then
the government ran out of
money to staff it.
Back at Lybrook, meanwhile, they finally got
the basketball hoop up Sunday, April 1 7, and
the church basketball team is practicing late into
the night on its own broken concrete court for
the upcoming championship tournament. The
ball bounces erratically on the concrete, but it
does so equally for both teams.
Leola promised that on her next trip into
Bloomfield, 50 miles distant, she would buy the
group a ball pump. "Now we need a volleyball
net. Then they reminded me the tetherball is
missing. I'll get one of those, too. We are
coming. In the words of St. Paul, we're running
the good race over here. We're in process at
Lybrook, My goal is to be the Church of Jesus
Christ, to follow Matthew 25. My ultimate goal
is to become unemployed, with Navajo as
directors, or to at least have a partnership with
Navajo leaders. We are moving in that direc-
tion, but it will not happen overnight.
We need to bring this place alive."
M.
m
M
m
M
m
M
I^OI" Plains District
granted fellowship status to
Lybrook. chartering it as
Tok'ahookaadi on October
28. The General Board
designated an 1 1 -acre
section of the mission land
for the building of a new
church facility.
HQOJL In a budget
I *^00 crisis, the
General Board discontinued
funding that cared for property
upkeep and pastoral support.
Pastor Russell Kiester
terminated. The fellowship
ceased meeting regularly.
Two Navajo couples. Mary
and James Thompson and
Arlene and Eugene Arviso.
worked at keeping the group
firnctioning.
1987
Catherine Dell,
a Wesleyan
Holiness minister, began
work in August as pastor at
Tok'ahookaadi, serving imtil
June 1991.
<g A Q A Quinter ( Kan. )
■<^OT Church of the
Brethren entered into a
"sister church" relationship
with Tok'ahookaadi. Quinter
helped with summer youth
programs and other
ministries. The district
named a Lybrook Support
Committee.
1991
George Keeler. associate professor of journalism at the
University of La Verne, is a member of La Verne (Calif.)
Church of the Brethren.
Leola Allen and
her husband,
Ernie Conry, came to Tok'a-
hookaadi in December as a
pastoral couple.
«g A A >| Tok'ahookaadi
I ▼ W*9 has a one-
room church building that
serves as sanctuary, Sunday
school room, and fellowship
hall. An adjacent building is
being renovated for use as
fellowship hall and kitchen.
A BVS couple. Tom Cun-
ningham and June Bayard,
also serves the ministry at
Lybrook. Pastor Leola Allen
continues to expand the
Lybrook ministry and to
rejuvenate old programs.
— Keeimon Thomasson
May/June 1994 Messenger 25
Scan the first 10 chapters of the
book of Mark. It's amazing.
Immediately following the
baptism of Jesus, the
ministry of healing
begins. An unclean
spirit is subdued in
the synagogue;
Peter's mother-in-
law is healed of
fever; Peter's house
becomes a clinic
for healing both
chronic and
communicable
diseases; and syn-
agogues in Galilee
see quieting of
demons.
Then the leper, a paralytic, a withered
hand, the sick by the seaside, the
demonic Legion, Janus' daughter, the
woman with a 12-year blood-flow
problem, those too sick to walk carried
on pallets, the Greek woman's child, the
deaf and speech-impaired man in the
Decapolis. the blind man at Bethsaida,
epilepsy, and a blind beggar named
Bartimaeus.
Jesus came healing, Mark says,
because his was a new teaching, a new
authority. But it wasn't just Jesus. The
disciples also anointed with oil and
healed many as they traveled from one
village to another.
The ministry of Jesus, the new
teaching, the new authority, was directly
linked to wholeness of mind and body.
The early church understood and never
questioned the ministry of healing.
Through the years, the church assumed it
must create an atmosphere of hospitality
if there was to be wholeness. It was in
the nature of things that the church
would create hospitals. Health care is not
simply to be left to government, nor is it
a political issue outside the concern of
the church. It is at the heart of faith. It is
to be valued. It is a ministry into which
we are baptized.
So individual Christians and the
community of faith (the church) should
be very much concerned when the health
care system we have created in this
26 Messenger May /June 1994
The
health
care
cure:
An ethical dilemma
by Joel K. Thompson
If health care is not at
a point of trauma, it
does seem to be
experiencing stress.
And whatever the cure,
we will be required to
make tough choices.
country is itself afflicted with a chronic
illness, or as some would suggest, a
catastrophic terminal one.
Health care in this country now
consumes over 1 6 percent of state and
local tax revenues. Since 1986, private
businesses have spent as much on health
care as they earned in after-tax profits. In
all, we are spending over 14 percent of
our gross national product on health,
over S817 billion. Among the 24
industrialized nations making up the
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, the United States
spends over two times more on health
care per capita than any other member,
yet it ranks 2 1 st in infant mortality and
16th in female life expectancy of those
24 nations.
A man living in Harlem, N.Y., has a
life expectancy shorter than one bom in
Bangladesh — one of the four poorest
countries of the world. Our infant
mortality rate is equal to a third- world
Caribbean country. Thirty-five million
members of our community are not
insured for health
care. Thousands
more are
underinsured.
Each year, $70 to
$80 billion of our
health care cost
can be attributed
to fraud — that is,
such things as
shaping the diag-
nosis or treatment
to fit reimburse-
ment provisions,
ordering unneces-
sary tests, and
billing for services not provided.
The Rand Corporation in Santa
Monica, Calif, believes it has clear
evidence that nearly a third of carotid
artery operations are inappropriate and
that 14 percent of by-pass operations are
unnecessary. A San Diego study indi-
cates that 40 percent of angiograms were
done on patients not needing such a
procedure. A Value Health Science study
found unnecessary usage of certain
procedures — hysterectomy (27 percent),
carpal tunnel syndrome ( 1 7 percent),
tonsillectomy (16 percent), laminectomy
(14 percent), upper gastrointestinal X-
ray studies (30 percent), pre-operative
lab tests (60 percent), and cesarean
births (50 percent).
Speaking of cesarean births, 30 |
percent of the births in our country are ,
now by C-section. In some states, these |
"scheduled births" are now at 43.7 |
percent; in other states they are as low as
12.7 percent. Does this mean there are
differences in the women of these states,
or is it the way medicine is practiced?
John Weimberg's studies show it is the
latter. He found that the probability of a
child living in Stowe, Vt., having a
tonsillectomy by age 15 was 70 percent.
If the child lived in Waterbury, it was
about 1 0 percent. He then discovered
that 50 percent of the men in Portland,
Maine, had prostate surgery by age 85,
in Bangor, it was 10 percent. In Iowa,
J.
f
1
i studies showed, heart surgery was
0 times as high in Des Moines as in
kva City.
The bill for unnecessary operations,
;imated at 25 percent, is $135 billion
nually. Twenty-five percent of all
rgeries are done to correct problems of
jvious surgeries.
A study out of Seattle reveals that 53
rcent of all hospitals stays are not
cessary. Twenty-four percent of
tients shouldn't have been admitted,
hat is most significant about this last
:ure is that 1.3 million of us suffer
expected, disabling injuries in
spitals each year. These are called
rogenic injuries (adverse events). They
ppen to one of every 25 admissions,
d result in 198,000 deaths annually,
at is four times the number who die
our highways. The number is so large
;re is a Journal of the International
idy for the Prevention of Iatrogenic
implications. These numbers do not
;lude hospital infections, which, by the
ly, are the biggest epidemic in the US
lay. Not AIDS, not hepatitis, not TB,
t hospital infections.
An Auburn University pharmacist
imates that hospitals make two-or
ee-percent medication errors. In a
0-bed hospital, if we could assume full
cupancy, that would be 60 to 90 drug
ors a day. Some hospitals are thought
have as high as an 11 -percent medica-
n error rate.
All these statistics are just the tip of
; iceberg. We have no really good
stem to insure long-term care for those
our community who need it. And
:e pharmaceutical costs: It's a crazy
5tem. Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug
ide by Wyeth, costs 702 percent more
re than in Canada; Reglan. a gas-
intestinal drug by A. H. Robins is 545
rcent more expensive here; Tylenol
th codeine from McNeil Pharmaceuti-
1 is 484 percent more; Valium, a
>che Biomedical Labs product, is 434
rcent more.
If health care is not at a point of
uma, it does seem to be experiencing
ess. And whatever the cure, we will be
quired to make tough choices that are
influenced by values. And that implies
that we have some difficult ethics issues
awaiting us.
The way professional
health care services are provided
is clearly a value issue.
Our routine practices give us away. In
Joliet, 111., there is an institution that
takes people's clothes when they are
admitted. Each person is then assigned a
number, turns over all valuables, is
assigned a stranger as a roommate, has
family visits restricted, and is forced to
live according to the institution's
schedule designated for eating, sleeping,
and exercising. What have I described?
The state prison? Or St. Joseph Hospital?
A Chicago hospital with 876 beds, a
teaching institution, still has in its nurs-
ing performance standards the phrase
"no more that three medication errors
per year." That, of course, is for each
nurse. Strange. I often wanted to ask
"What is the accepted baby-drop rate in
the nursery?" Isn't it time we expect as
much from our health care providers as
we do from those who make our cars?
Anything less than zero defects is
unacceptable.
Even our language gives us away. We
have "waiting rooms" for patients —
those who should be patient with us, the
providers.
And when a ventilator patient meets
the cardiovascular and brain-wave
protocols for death, a family should not
be held hostage for another day while a
physician demands a second EEG, for
which he will receive a reading fee.
An institution should not allow a solo
OB/GYNE practitioner to run a 47-
percent cesarean birth rate in order to
schedule births at three separate hospi-
tals in an orderly manner.
Determining to whom we will
provide services is a value issue.
We are very much a pick-and-choose
society. We are afraid to provide access
to everyone because we say we will then
have to ration our resources. We prefer
to ration them as we do now — to those
able to pay. We are still trying to dis-
tinguish between deserving and unde-
serving. We simply do not think of us all
being in anything together. I would
think, however, that the church would be
the first to say that everyone should have
the right to basic health care.
But after basic access, there are still
value questions. Who determines that the
governor of Pennsylvania receives a
heart/lung transplant within hours of
going on the transplant waiting list,
while others are by-passed? Does a
family have the right or responsibility to
insist on doing everything possible to
preserve the life of a comatose teenager?
At whose expense? On what basis does a
state legislature cut its support for pre-
natal care while continuing to provide
dollars for a liver transplant for post-65-
year-old alcoholics?
The way we make health care
decisions is a value issue.
The Church of the Brethren has always
understood this issue. It is one of creative
tension between the beliefs held by the
community of faith and an individual's
choice made in the awesome presence of
God. As a health care practitioner, is it
permissible to force upon our patients
our beliefs and practices? When I was a
hospital administrator, I had to deal with
patients and their families when their
wishes were not honored by employees.
An example is a man with terminal
cancer who had filed all the appropriate
documents with the hospital regarding
his wishes on the use of heroic measures.
His chart had a valid DNR (Do Not
Resuscitate) protocol in it, and yet when
he coded in the radiology department, a
doctor and nurse "brought him back."
Another example: A young medical
intern was present when his wife
delivered an infant with major congeni-
tal disabilities that required numerous
technological support systems to main-
tain survivability. He requested that no
support be started, but was overruled by
the official team in attendance. Over the
next week it was the hospital ethics
committee, along with the medical team,
the family, and its parish priest who
resolved the issue.
May /June 1994 Messenger 27
Bringing health care ethics home
Health and health care are hot topics for everyone these days, from the White
House to White Branch, from Washington to Wenatchee. As the debate over a
national health plan grows more intense, some very real ethical issues are often
overlooked or underplayed, especially within the church.
Health care ethics can be brought home by raising a few simple questions:
Would it be possible to find a congregation anywhere whose members,
whether individual or families, do not find themselves confronting hard choices
on health-related matters almost routinely?
What portion of a pastor's time is spent providing pastoral care in times of
illness or personal need?
How much of a small congregation's budget does it take (if it can afford it at
all) to provide insurance for the pastor and family?
If life can be extended well into the 80s and 90s through advancements in
medicine and drugs, what are the benefits and costs of such prolonged life?
How many tough ethical decisions does a retirement home adminisfrator and
board have to make in a year's time?
What dilemmas does a trauma unit chaplain of a community hospital face in
just one night shift?
Questions such as these led representatives of the Association of Brethren
Caregivers, Brethren Benefit Trust, and the Ministers Association to plan a joint
conference on the theme "From Ethics to Action: Making Health Care Choices
for You, Your Family, and Your Church."
The ministers/caregivers conference is set for June 27-28 in Wichita, Kan.
Sessions will begin on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. and continue through
Tuesday afternoon, concluding before the Annual Conference worship service on
Tuesday evening.
The keynote speaker for the conference, David Hilton, a former missionary
doctor with the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, and now serving as a church
health consultant in Atlanta, Ga., will address "Critical Health/Caregiving Issues
Needing our Attention."
Margaret R. McLean, adjunct lecturer in the department of religious studies
and an associate for applied ethics at Santa Clara University, in California, will
focus on "Critical Caring: The Church and Health/Caregiving Ethics."
The article by Joel K. Thompson in this Messenger is a brief version of his
address at the conference "The Health Care Cure: An Ethical Dilemma." He is
director of benefits for Brethren Benefit Trust and a former hospital adminisfra-
tor and church executive.
Laurence J. O'Connell, president of Park Ridge Center, a center for the study
of health, faith, and ethics, in Chicago, will speak about "The Challenge of the
Church in Health/Caregiving Ethics."
Another feature of the conference will be a roundtable discussion on represen-
tative cases dealing with difficult decisions. The moderator for the roundtable
will be Tana Dumbaugh, nurse educator at the College of Lake County, in
Illinois, and past president of the Association of Brethren Caregivers.
The conference is billed for ministers and caregivers. With that description,
everyone should be included and welcome . . . just as surely as everyone is
included in facing difficult health care choices. — Robert E. Faus
Robert E. Faus is director of Pastoral Ministry on the Parish Ministries Commission staff.
What if I demand continued treat-
ment, even if useless? Should the
physician give a $3,500-injection of yet
another chemotherapy miracle drug just
two hours before I die? Should I be told
28 Messenger May /June 1994
"no" by the community? Can a person
choose "passive" euthanasia and then
seek comfort from family and friends
and the church? When does "passive"
become "assisted"? Who will decide
these issues? If not the church,
others will.
The way we determine what is
health care's proper share of the
resource pie is also an ethical issue,
a value decision.
As was mentioned earlier, during the
1980s, health care spending increased
1 1 1 percent; more than 14 percent of the
GNP is for health care. There are other
issues in our society — such as education,
a crumbling infrastructure, a fragile
environment, housing, and the homeless.
And the irony is that resources not spent
on these issues can cause an increase in
the use of resources for health care.
If good health is, as defined by the
World Health Organization, "not simply
the absence of illness, but rather the pre-
sence of well being," then there are other
demons in our society that are Legion.
At least 7.7 million Americans live in
poverty, and we know that those in
poverty usually do not seek out medical
treatment except as a last resort. And
there is usually a correlation between
poverty and poor pre-natal care. Low-
weight babies have increased in the
1980s by three percent and neo-natal
intensive care costs have skyrocketed.
Guns are killing our children at a
murderous rate. There has been an 11-
percent increase from 1984 to 1992 in
such deaths. If guns were polio, we
would not tolerate them in our midst.
Guns are a public health care issue
according to the American Academy of I
Pediatrics, along with drugs, alcohol,
AIDS, pregnancy, and car crashes. ^
The health care issue (for the church, i!
it's proper to say the health care minis-
t?y) is our calling, our ministry. We musi
provide the leadership in our society to
reorder our priorities, Such reordering iS
going to gore everyone's ox, at least a
little. But it will be less painful if we
dust off what was once a key American I
value, and is still the Christian ethic, ant
accept that it is a good thing to give to
the less fortunate, to aid those in need,
especially if you have a whole lot
more than they do.
Joel K. Thompson is director of benefits for
Brethren Benefit Trust.
iTithing: A response to grace
by Wayne J. Eberly
iLoving, someone has observed, is easy in
(the abstract, but hard in the concrete.
(Unfortunately, only the latter kind of
'love is worth anything. How would you
feel upon receiving this note:
f'My own true love,
i Words cannot describe my love for
'ou! I would climb the highest mountain
0 look into your eyes so blue. I would
jswim the swiftest river for one word
from your divine lips.
iP.S. I'll be over Saturday night
idoesn't rain."
if it
What, you may ask, does this have to
Jo with tithing: Perhaps nothing,
Derhaps everything. It all depends
pn how concretely we under-
stand the love of God to be.
■ It's all too easy to say that
God is a spirit whose nature
s love. This can be a quick
"oute to practical atheism, this
llih characterization of an
ibstract concept. It is also contrary to
he biblical picture of God. In both
-lebrew and Christian scripture, the love
bf God reveals itself in concrete experi-
;nces and invites visible responses from
hose who have eyes to see and ears to
iiear.
The first expression of God's love is
;reation. The whole of creation is the
result of God's reaching out, speaking
lis Word and letting that Word take
jnaterial form. The biblical faith is that
)ur lives and all that surrounds us are
xpressions of God's love that we can
eel, see, hear, taste, and smell.
A second expression of the divine love
s a call to relationship that we name the
fovenant. It is a declaration that God
!:ontinues to be involved in the affairs of
lis creation. It is an invitation to become
reative partners with God.
This covenant was understood in
' jlifferent ways by God's people. Some-
imes it appeared simply as a statement
of God's unmerited grace, as ih the
promise to Noah following the flood, or
in Jesus 's teaching that the rain blesses
the just and unjust equally. At other
times the covenant is seen as a condi-
tional relationship, defining the kind of
response that will bring God's people
into the fulfillment of the promises of
creation.
The New Testament or New Covenant
carries the story a step further. God's
Word to all of creation is good news. The
point of it all is life, abundant life, life
heaped up and overflowing with God's
gifts. The new covenant is not a way to
get a greater share of God's gifts,
because those already have been given.
The new covenant is an invitation to find
fiillness of life by helping God fulfill the
God who gives. Giving is always tied to
our receiving. Hilbert Berger, a steward-
ship consultant, reminds us, "God never
asks us to give anything that God has not
already given us." This applies to time,
abilities, and the material world. All of
these are necessary to life.
Some persons feel uncomfortable when
the talk about giving turns to specifics.
The nature of giving, however, is such
that we not only need to form the
intention to give but deliberate on the
size and meaning of our gift. It is true
that Jesus did not, in so many words,
advocate or dismiss the tithe. In the only
specific reference, he seemed to place it
in the context of one's total response to
God — part of the covenant commitment.
Thinking of the tithe in this way
removes it from the status of
a religious tax and makes
it part of our ongoing
discussion of
vision
of creation —
a world in which love
controls the lives of the descen-
dants of Adam and Eve.
And so we come to what it means to
love God. There are many places
in scripture where love is mentioned. For
our present purpose, however, John 3:16
is sufficient. "For God so loved
the world . . . ," we read, "that he gave
his only son." In this one concrete
human/divine life there is both action on
our behalf and example for our response.
Loving and giving are virtually synony-
mous.
This is the point at which we too often
get sidetracked. If we think of loving in
abstract terms we tend also to see giving
abstractly. So we need continually to go
to the roots of our faith which lie in the
how much God has blessed us
and how much we can pass on
to continue the work of love that
God's grace has begun in us. In
this kind of consideration, tithing
becomes a part of our continuing
efforts to grow into the fullness of
the stature of Christ. Tithing takes its
place alongside other spiritual
disciplines that are part of our
response to God's call.
Ai.
Wayne J. Eberly is director of Stewardship
Education on the General Services Commission
staff.
May/June 1994 Messenger 29
Responding to
a blue-light special
The blue lights flashing behind
me were announcing to the world:
'Another so-called Supermom
bites the dust. '
I
by Phyllis H. Grain
quailed when I saw
the state trooper in the oncom-
ing traffic lane. I didn't have to look at
my speedometer to know that I was
driving more than 25 miles over the
speed limit. I checked my rearview
mirror, praying not to see brake lights.
Rats! No such luck!
I already was having "that kind of
morning." I had hit the "snooze" button
on the alarm clock two times too many. I
couldn't get my hair dry enough to style.
There wasn't enough time to cook
pancakes for the family, and there wasn't
any milk for cold cereal. The clothes I
had laid out for my five-year-
old son weren't the
clothes he wanted to wear to
school. My 15-year-old daughter needed
money for a field trip, but I had forgotter
to stop by the bank and cash a check the
day before. I was running late for a
meeting in Greenville. S.C, which was
45 miles away, and I had 30 minutes to
get there. And now the blue lights
flashing behind me were announcing to i
the world: "Another so-called Supermon
bites the dust."
I pulled into a restaurant parking lot.
To my surprise, the trooper did not pull
up behind me in the usual "speeding
ticket" position. Instead, he pulled
around me to the right . . . very slowly
. . . and then parked on my left with his
window even with mine.
I lowered my window and, in my mos'
30 Messenger May /June 1994
essed-are-the-meek voice, said, "Good
oming, sir." I forced a smile and
mmented on the beautiful morning,
le trooper did not smile. He did not
knowledge that it even was morning,
uch less a beautiful one. He wrote on a
d in his hand what I prayed was not a
ceding ticket.
Finally, he made eye contact with me
d gruffly asked, "What does your tag
san?"
"My . . . my tog?" I asked, forgetting
amentarily that I had a vanity license
ate that reads "BRETHREN." Watch-
g the flashing blue lights reflect off my
ndshield, I thought, "This had better
good."
Should I speak of Schwarzenau and
jrmantown. Pietists and Anabaptists,
exander Mack and M.R. Zigler? The
tual seconds seemed like long minutes
fore I began my answer to the waiting
)oper.
"The Brethren ... the Church of the
ethren ... is my denomination. It
gan in Germany nearly 300 years ago.
lere is only one Church of the Brethren
ngregation here in South Carolina . . .
small church in Travelers Rest, about
1 minutes from here. Have you ever
ard of our denomination . . . ?"
The trooper answered sharply, "No."
I considered switching to the tack "We
; kind of like the Baptists," but went
1 in my original direction: "My
ngregation is back near Tryon (just
er the border in North Carolina). It is
small congregation of about 100
smbers. We Brethren are Protestants
d one of the historic peace churches
nscientiously opposing war."
I caught myself. "Just great, Phyllis," I
ought, "This guy probably is a Viet-
m vet." The trooper appeared to be
growing impatient, so I hurried on to
finish my capsulizing of Brethren beliefs
in layman terms.
"We Brethren consider the New
Testament to be our creed. The word
'brethren' is used in the New Testament
as an affectionate way of referring to one
another as brothers and sisters in
Christ." I had a feeling that this hadn't
come out just right, but maybe it sounded
good to the trooper, so I went on. "We
are into service and living out Christ's
teachings on human relationships. For
example, our Brethren Disaster Relief
team spent a year in Charleston helping
clean up and rebuild after Hurricane
Hugo came through. Maybe you are
familiar with the Matthew passage "As
you did it to one of the least of these . . .
you did it to me?"
Tt
he trooper nodded, and I continued.
"1 put 'BRETHREN' on my license plate
for two reasons. I believe the Church of
the Brethren is one of the best kept
secrets in the world and I want people to
see my license plate and wonder 'What
does that mean?" Maybe they will ask me
or take the time to find out. And I want
everyone who sees my plate to know that
in a time when we focus on our differ-
ences more than on our similarities, we
need a reminder that we are all God's
children . . . brothers and sisters . . .
Brethren."
The trooper got out of his car, walked
to the rear of mine, and looked at my
license plate again. He came back to my
window and asked, "Y'all think y'all
gonna be the first up at the rapture?"
I didn't catch his joke. I said, "Well,
no. We haven't ever concerned ourselves
with how many or in what order folks
will be beamed up."
I thought grimly, "Well, we haven 't.
We're too busy writing letters to Messen-
ger fussing among ourselves about
whether our name is inclusive enough."
Then the trooper pointed out that at
the top of my license plate is the North
Carolina boast "First in Flight," with a
silhouette of the Wright brothers'
airplane. "Oh! 'First in Flight: Breth-
ren.' Now I get it!" Well, that's a secure
retirement thought. 1 laughed weakly.
A hint of a smile appeared on the
trooper's face. He said, "I didn't have my
radar on."
"Oh! You didn Y?" I gasped audibly,
whispering inaudibly, "Thank you, God."
The trooper went on. "I turned around
and followed you because you looked so
incredibly guilty."
I thought, "That wasn't guilt. It was
sheer, unadulterated fear — fear of a
speeding ticket and higher insurance
rates."
The trooper's final comment was more
of a rhetorical question: "How about
slowing down so none of us meets our
Maker prematurely?"
As the blue lights finally stopped
flashing, and the trooper pulled away, I
responded, "Yes, sir. I will try to do
that," hedging with "try" instead of
"promise."
Driving on to my meeting ... a bit
more slowly than before ... I pondered
that word "Brethren." In response to
another rhetorial question posed years
ago, "Would a rose by any other name
smell as sweet?" Somehow, I
don't think so.
Phyllis H. Grain is a member of Mill Creek
Church of the Brethren, near Tryon. N. C. She is
coordinator of instruction for a school district in
Spartanburg. S.C.
May/June 1 994 Messenger 31
Growing old: Is the best yet to be?
/ don 't know of I am getting old, but I am aging. In spite of this, I want
my life to be meaningful and useful as long as God gives me breath.
by Paul M. Robinson
When does a person become old?
Popular opinion regards anyone who has
lived the biblical fourscore years as being
old. I recently celebrated my 80th
birthday, but I don't feel old. I know that
I have lived a long time, but that does
not make me feel really different from
the way I felt at 60.
I have known people who seemed old
at 25, and others who seemed remark-
ably young at 95. We are coming to
realize that old age is not just a matter of
years, but of attitudes and perspectives
that help to determine what life will be
like for that ever increasing group of
citizens whom we euphemistically refer
to as "older adults."
Unfortunately, too many of us are
launched into this inevitable process
with very little preparation or reflection.
We just grow older day by day with little
thought for the direction in which our
older years are leading us. Some of our
churches, including my own, have
developed significantly helpful programs
for older adults, providing counsel and
support for the aging process. Because
growing old graceftilly is such a chal-
lenging and potentially rewarding
experience, I am offering a few sugges-
tions for meeting the challenge and
enhancing the potential for rewards.
Plan for the future
This seems so obvious. Yet it is amazing
to discover how many people are totally
unprepared for the changes that develop
in the aging process. We are taught to be
economically provident in younger years
so that we will be financially secure in
old age. But too often little thought is
given to the emotional and psychological
security that is important in changing
life situations.
Retirement from employment can be a
great blessing. It provides freedom from
32 Messenger May/June 1994
a work commitment schedule that has
dominated most of our life. It allows us
to pursue hobbies and special interests
for which there was little time in
working years. But for some people,
retirement is a traumatic and devastating
experience. They no longer feel sup-
ported by the significant relationships
that their employment provided. They
begin to lose their sense of identity as
they see others doing the work that was
once so significant for them. In retire-
Applying 'Oil (
by Hubert R. Newcomer
There is a commercial product called
"Oil of Olay." If you don't know about it,
you don't see magazine ads or watch TV
commercials. Oil of Olay claims to work
wonders for you in retaining your youth.
This lotion will keep your skin soft and
smooth and supple; it will wipe away the
wrinkles. After all, who doesn't want to
stay young? So much for those claims.
A learning from the Church of the
Brethren first National Older Adult
Conference (NO AC) in 1992 revealed
that most older adults are quite satisfied,
thank you, to be the age they are. The
more than 600 people who shared in that
Lake Junaluska experience were a living
example of what Betty Friedan in her
book The Fountain of Age refers to as
"vital aging."
They had no need for "Oil of Olay" to
keep them young. The "Oil of OF Age"
kept them vital as the years passed.
And NO AC at Lake Jxmaluska in the
foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains
was an exciting application of that
vitalizing "oil."
"Oil of or Age" is an attitude, an
attitude that can honestly say "yes" to
our years as we grow older. While
society in general, and too often the
medical community in particular, tends to
see our years after 50 as a degenerative
"disease" plunging us downhill to-ward
death, that was not evident among those
first NOACers. Rather, there was an air
of gratitude and anticipation about God's
gift of life in older years.
In some ways, it was like "old home
week." People whose paths had crossed
in various ways over the years, and
others whose paths were crossing for the
first time, found joy in being together.
Greetings and embraces were epidemic
that week. The readiness to think deep
thoughts, an eagerness for new learn-
ings, and laughter and play were
stimulated by the plaimed and unplannec
activities of those four days. From i
meeting each new morning in ways j
special to the spiritual yearnings of each '
person, to the evening time of total groujj
worship and late evening activities and
conversation, the days were filled with
options for study/discussion groups,
recreation activities, lectures, crafts,
visiting and resting as needed. Oh yes,
and don't forget those times of breaking;
bread together buffet-style, morning,
noon, and evening.
c
'crtainly most older adults enjoy
being in intergenerational settings. The^
delight especially in children. But at
NOAC there was expressed appreciatioi
for being together that week with peers,,
testifying to common experiences, joys,
concerns, dreams, and hopes. Hearing
;nt years, filling our free time with
tivities that may take on new meaning
r us, such as volunteer service in
mmunity agencies or church, the
rsuit of creative hobbies, or learning
w skills becomes not only desirable.
['Age'
i insights and absorbing the feelings of
jsenters, many of whom were of their
m age group, was not only challenging
NOACers but also inspiring and
art-warming. Listening to Paul M.
)binson say, "There have been times
len I have felt like a has-been, but
rtainly not this week," struck a chord
understanding for many. Or to hear
)ward Uhrig comment, "This has been
I greatest experience of my life,"
cumented something of the depth of
iritual and emotional involvement
ared by others. Or to listen to presenter
izabeth Welch, author of Learning to
■ 85 and a member of a jazz band back
me, pound out on the piano "When the
)11 is Called Up Yonder" was to put
ver the hill" out of one's vocabulary.
That first NO AC was a venture into
; unknown. The planners needed to
termine what would be an appropriate
:ation/setting for that kind of gather-
l- They needed to guess at how many
ople would respond to an event that
d never happened before in the Church
the Brethren. They needed to plan a
[ledule and a program that would make
ople want to be there. They needed to
list leadership that would meet the
:erests of those they hoped would
end. And it was a venture into the yet-
■be for those 62 1 brave souls who
iistered for that first NO AC. They had
' one to ask what such a conference
"Oil ofOl'Age" seems to have been applied heavily on these dance-
floor participants at NOAC 1. Enthusiasm for the conference was so
great that NOAC 2 was scheduled for only two years later.
was like or if it would be worth their
time and money.
But the planners planned, the regis-
trants registered, and they came together
by car, by bus, by train, by plane for a
week not soon to be forgotten. It was
observed there that if the average age of
those attending was 70, NOAC had
brought together more than 43,000 years
of wisdom and experience, to say
nothing of the years of such obvious
older adult vitality.
Wh
hile most of us find some consider-
able satisfaction in having someone say
to us, "You surely don't look that old,"
and we may have second thoughts about
being referred to as "the elderly," still
the "Oil ofOl'Age" keeps us happy with
and grateful for the years that we are
being given. The hundreds of evaluations
that were turned in at the end of the first
NOAC were not without some helpfiil
suggestions and concerns, but they were
overwhelmingly positive about what had
happened that week. When responding
to the question of how often NOAC
should be held, with some structured
hint of every four years, many evalua-
tive comments were "I want to come to
the next one and I may not be able to
wait four years." So the next one is
coming this year, 1 994, two years after
the first one.
What to expect of NOAC 2? Ask
someone who attended NOAC 1 .
Obviously, there will be some differ-
ences in terms of program, leadership,
and schedule, but there will be more of
the same in terms of motivation,
values, renewal, challenge, interest,
and vitality. As was true with the first
NOAC, it will be true also with NOAC
2 that the atmosphere and beauty of
Lake Junaluska will greatly enhance
the experience.
What of the "Oil ofOl'Age"? ft
works! ft is an attitude about growing
older, ft is helpfiil to start using \it
it when you are young. I
Hubert R. Newcomer, who with his wife, Alice,
co-directed NOAC I, is a member of Manchester
Church of the Brethren, North Manchester, Ind.
He retired in 19S8 as executive director of The
Palms ofSebring (Fla.) retirement community.
May /June 1994 Messenger 33
Unified or not?
People sometimes ask me if Brethren Vision for the '90s (BV'90s) is part of the
unified budget of the General Board. If you answer this question "Yes" or "No,"
the answer is misleading. Brethren Vision for the '90s includes a broad group of
new program initiatives called for by our people and affirmed by Annual
Conference as the denominational goals for the 1990s. Money given to Brethren
Vision for the '90s goes only to those new program initiatives. In this sense,
BV'90s is not a part of the unified budget.
On the other hand, a number of BV'90s money goes directly into the unified
budget. In this sense, BV'90s is a part of the unified budget. Put it this way:
Brethren Vision for the '90s is a broad group of new initiatives that support and
expand the ongoing programs of the church, that is, the unified budget. Those
who give to BV'90s know that they are supporting the new initiatives called for
by Annual Conference, but they also know that they are supporting and strength-
ening ongoing programs of the church.
Let me illustrate: Annual Conference has called for an emphasis on evange-
lism and mission. We already had an evangelism program, but BV'90s added
$900,000 over a five-year period from 1991 through 1996. We already had
programs in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. BV'90s enables us to add
$450,000 to new work on those three continents.
Annual Conference called for a stronger focus on youth and family life. We
had an existing youth program, but we were able to add $372,000 to it over a
five-year period. The enthusiastic response to this year's National Youth Confer-
ence is one result of our expanded youth program. We also were able to start a
new program in family ministry, which we did not have before.
Annual Conference asked for more emphasis on Bible and heritage. We
already produce church school curriculum and other heritage materials, but over
five years we have been able to add $109,000 to that effort. One result is the new
Jubilee curriculum for children. We have been able to add $96,000 to congrega-
tional resourcing, and $ 1 09,000 to support of the Germantown church in
Philadelphia as a heritage center.
Ministry training has received $ 1 76,000 it would not have had already. We
have been able to re-establish Urban Ministry with $108,000, a program that had
been dropped from the unified budget.
These illustrations show how Brethren Vision for the '90s has supported and
expanded the existing programs of the unified budget. Readers may be aware
that the General Board needed to reduce existing programs by some $400,000 in
1994. This is not caused by BV'90s, for without it the reductions would have
been greater. These reductions result from flat giving from the congregations to
the General Board over the past seven years while insurance and other costs have
been increasing about $200,000 a year. The result is reduction in programs
supported by the unified budget.
BV'90s overlaps the unified budget, supporting it while bringing new initia-
tives called for by the denomination. Is BV'90s a designated fund and therefore
separate from the unified budget? Yes it is. Does Brethren Vision for the '90s
support the unified budget? Indeed it does. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
but necessary as life takes on new shapes
and directions.
My wife, Mary, and I have found it
helpfiil to have both short-range and
long-range plans for our fiiture. When I
34 Messenger May/June 1994
retired from the presidency of Bethany
Theological Seminary, it seemed right to
accept the pastorate of a congregation.
Again upon retirement, the next step was
a brief interim pastorate. When health
became a factor in our plarming, we
moved to a climate more friendly to our I
needs and disabilities. The next step wil]|
be a move to a retirement home. But
each decision was made in the light of
current needs, leaving open future
choices as our changing situation would \
determine. f
Expect and accept changes
Life is a succession of changing experi-
ences that are bound to continue as we
grow older. It is natural for us to becoms
comfortable in what we have adjusted to
so that we would like everything to
remain as it is as the years go by. But,
realistically, we know that aging brings
with it new and different circumstances n
with which we must cope. Sometimes,
these are related to diminishing good
health or even serious illness. We often
must face the death of a spouse or close
friends. We may find it necessary to
move from familiar and friendly sur
roundings to a new and strange enviroi
ment. Older age most certainly brings
with it lessened energy and the inabilitji
to perform ordinary tasks in a manner t
which we are accustomed.
This sometimes creates frustration anl
even depression. Personality changes
may be noted by family and friends, for
as we grow older, little idiosyncrasies
that characterize our behavior become
more pronounced, and sometimes creat, ^
problems for those around us.
Moreover, we must learn to cope wit
unanticipated changes that will com-
pletely alter our expectations for the
fiiture. When a serious infection in myj f|i ■
foot became life-threatening, and I was
told that it would be necessary to
amputate my leg, I thought of somethii
I had recently read, "Life is what happe
while you are making other plans." Fo
years, I had been saying from the pulp
"You cannot always choose the circum
stances that will affect your life, but yc
can control your response to them." N(
I was forced to practice what I preache
I could easily have given in to my
disability, and been confined to a whef
chair, or I could determine to live my i
iSi|
tw
:«i
for
lie
, tenders oJWOAC 1 enjoyed "being together . . . with peers, testifying to common experiences,
\ IS, concerns, dreams, and hopes. " NOAC 2 promises to be just as rewarding an experience.
1 normally as possible in spite of my
J ability. Without becoming either stoic
3'whimpering, it is possible to face
lexpected and challenging circum-
mces with Christian grace and
>titude, in the assurance that God's
I ce will be sufficient for us, whatever
3 needs may be. To claim the divine
3 mise for strength and guidance is to
I ;t our future, whatever it may hold, to
-is loving care.
Be grateful for life, and use your
maining years in productive ways.
V first prayer in the morning is one of
ptitude for the gift of another day. So
eg as we are given life, we should use
)i days in ways that will fulfill God's
"pose for us. Gratitude is always an
1) ropriate response to every age of
kelopment. But in older years it
« omes even more important, not just as
cognition of God's sustaining
II cies, but as a cathartic renewal of our
own energies. If in old age, some parts of
our bodies do not work as well as when
they were younger, we should be gratefiil
for the ones that do.
Age brings with it an accumulation of
wisdom and experience too often
overlooked in the life of the church. On
the other hand, older people sometimes
feel that they have spent their lives in
activities that should now be taken over
by younger people. To overlook the
contribution that older people can make
within the church is a serious mistake.
But it is equally wrong for those of us in
our "golden years" to feel that age has
made us exempt from the claims of
Christ upon our lives. There is no age
limit for Christian service.
Accept the next great
adventure in life — death
Death is a natural consequence of life.
Yet, we rarely talk about it, much less
prepare ourselves for it. As we grow
older, most of us have less fear of death.
It may be God's way of preparing us for
this final change in our earthly pilgrim-
age. It should not be difficult for Chris-
tians to trust this last unknown frontier
to a loving God. Whatever heaven will
be like, we know that God is there with
the Savior we have served for a lifetime
and we will be with them in a glad
eternity.
So when do we get old? I really don't
know. I do know that I am aging. In
spite of this, I want my life to be mean-
ingful and useful as long as God gives
me breath. With poet Robert Browning,
would say, "Grow old along with me."
And if "the best is yet to be" sounds
unrealistic, let us, together
make it the best that it can be.
/it
Paul M. Robinson ser\'ed as president of Bethany
Theological Seminary 1952-1975. Afterward he
ser\'ed in the pastorate until complete retirement.
He is a member ofSebring (Fla.) Church of the
Brethren.
May/June 1994 Messenger 35
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offering
suggestions, perspecthes. and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey . As the writer said
in her first installment, "Remember,
when it comes to managing life s
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
STONES
I gave the doctor my most
convincing "You've got to be
craz)!" look and said:
"You're going to break the
bone in my foot, put me in a
cast to my knee, and make
me walk on crutches for sLx
weeks for the sake of a toe
that's a little crooked?!"
So he ran through it again.
He showed me the X-ray,
explained how the toe had
healed wrong from a
previous surgery, told me
horror stories of how neglect
could lead to crippling
arthritis, and warned me that
if I put any weight on that
foot I'd have the same
problem again. He called in
his partner, who glanced at
the X-ray and said all the
same things.
So I put my affairs in order
and went imder the knife.
I thought I was prepared. I
had the idea that my Ufe
would be just "business as
usual," except that I'd be on
crutches. No big deal, right?
Wrong!
I didn't know what a cast
could do to one's balance. I
didn't know the maddening
frustration of not being able
to carry even the smallest
item. I didn't know the sheer
terror of staring at a stretch
of slippery sidewalk between
me and the door.
After just one day on
crutches I began hurting in
places where I didn't even
know I had places! My
biceps, triceps, and just-let-
me-die-ceps all groaned in
protest from the unfamiliar
work.
As I struggled with the
crutches, literally counting
the days imtil I would be rid
of them, I realized that my
situation was a living
allegory for the broader
spectrum of any recovery
process.
Some things have to be
broken in order to heal.
From the alcoholic who
"bottoms out," to the
womanizer whose wife
finally says "no more," and
leaves, to the cut-throat
executive who loses every-
thing, to the sinner who
prostrates himself before God
crying "Wretched man that I
am!"(Rom. 1:24) — some
things have to be broken in
order to heal.
For different reasons, all of
us have learned to cope in
less than perfect ways. And
we have crooked places.
Sometimes those crooked
places do not interfere with
our day-to-day fimctioning.
And some of them become a
center of dysfunction
requiring that a whole
lifestyle revolve around
them.
Some things have to be
broken in order to heal.
And in the recovery
process, we fmd, as I foimd
with my crutches, the second-
ary effects of recovery can be
just as difficult, if not more
so, than the primary problem.
Take, for example, the
workaholic dad who realizes
he has neglected his family
too long and rejoins them.
That is a good thing.
However, he is likely to
discover a wife and children
who have developed a
routine that works fine
without him and that is
disrupted by his involvement.
Or consider the woman
who pursues some personal
goals that have long been
"on hold." Again, it's a good
thing. But the side effect may
be a husband who feels
neglected that his shirts
aren't always ironed and
resentfiil that supper's not
always on the table on time.
Growth, recovery, and
healing are all good things,
and are always good things.
But just as the crutches,
although necessary to protect
my foot, brought pain to my
arms and shoulders, so the
process of recovery can stress
and stretch relationships.
But you know what? After
I made it through the initial
adjustment period, my arms
were strong enough to
support me ache-free.
Which you'll find holds
true in other healing
processes as well.
/HJ
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren. Middlebury. Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counseling J)
out ofWaterford (Ind.) Community
Church.
36 Messenger May/June 1994
The voice of
the mountains
by Harold S. Martin
-."i^ ''
n
r rom spring to early fall, many
families spend some time in the moun-
tains, enjojing the cool air and admiring
the surrounding beauty. From the earliest
days, believers have said along with the
psalmist David. "I will lift up my eyes
unto the hills." There is something about
hills and mountains that fascinate us.
Jesus seems to have liked the moimtains:
Jesus grew up in the hill coimtry of
Galilee.
It was to a mountain that he some-
times went to pray.
It was on a hillside that he preached
the Sermon on the Mount.
It was on "a high mountain" that he
was transfigured.
It was on the hill of Mount Calvary
that Jesus died.
Mountains have a prominent place in
the accounts gi\en in the Bible. Great
events of Bible times are often associated
with moimtains.
On a mountain, the ark rested after the
flood.
On Mount Moriah. Abraham prepared
to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice.
On Mount Sinai, the Ten Command-
ments were gi\en to Moses.
On Moimt Carmel. Elijah overcame
the prophets of Baal.
On Mount Gilboa. Saul and Jonathan
fell in battle.
On Moimt Nebo, Moses looked out
■^1
ft^WC^F'^'.
..^;k
over the Promised Land.
On Mount Calvary, Jesus died for our
sins.
From the Mount of Olives, Jesus
ascended to heaven.
The psalmist says, "As the mountains
surround Jerusalem, so the Lord sur-
Take Hold of Your Future...
roimds his people" (Psa. 125:2). There is
a minor distinction between hills and
mountains. Geologists define a moun-
tainous area as one that lies at least
2,000 feet above its surroundings. The
land surface has steep slopes and deep
valleys, and usually a variety of plant
...One Step at a Time.
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McPherson, Kansas 67460 • (316) 241-0731
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her college experience has taught
her a lot about independence, and
it's been a good blend ofenjoytnent
and cliallenges. "
Pastor Roger and Mildred Hai'ding
Cherry Grove
Church of the Brethren.
Lanark, IL
Mildred and Roger Harding
(with Lara '97)
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*Awards are available for up to four years provided students remain eligible.
Some awards are based on financial need and availability of funds.
McPherson College welcomes all applicants
regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or physical or emotional disability.
38 Messenger May/June 1994
life. Hills generally are elevations less
than 2,000 feet high. Mountains have
some significant lessons to teach us.
Mountains become
beneficial servants of humanity
Mountains influence rainfall. As the air
rises, it cools and expands, and fi-e-
quently rain falls. Thus mountains are
related to climate and crop productivity.
Mountains become the source of
rivers, and rivers are a source of beauty
and refreshment. Every river and stream
from the tiniest brook to the mighty
:
Amazon owes its movement to the
mountains and the higher elevations of
earth. The mountains cause the air
currents to rise and cool. The excess
moisture drops as rain, and then the rair'
water and melting snow form streams
that rush into the valleys below. There-
fore we can say that the mountain is at
work in the valley below where the
people live, and where little homesteads
cluster about the countryside with its
green pastures and its quiet waters. If
there were no mountains, and if all the
earth were a flat surface, the land areas
would become a dull, marshy wilderness"
Mountains are simply a part of God's
good creation, and one more evidence oil
the wisdom of the Creator.
Mountains call forth lofty aspirations'
The voice of the mountains is a constant^
invitation to climb. We were driving
along one of the highways just northwes'
of Harrisburg, Pa., one Sunday morning,
on the way to a church service, and I sai
to our 1 0-year-old daughter, "Look at
that high mountain over there." And
almost before I had finished the sen-
(!
nee, she said, "Let's climb it!" There is
imething about the strength and
ajesty of mountains that makes us want
aspire to greater things. The very
mosphere of the Alpine heights is like
tonic that makes us yearn to rise higher,
le tremendous mountains are a reminder
"God's strength and stability, and these
lalities overwhelm the soul, and make
1 want to display the same characteristics.
The strength and stability and height
"the mountains should challenge us to
; strong, and to reach for new heights.
le hymnwriter says, "I'm pressing on
e upward way, new heights I'm
lining every day; still praying as I
iward bound, 'Lord plant my feet on
gher ground.'" It should be the aim of
ch of us to live above the world and to
ale new heights as we continue on in
ejoumey of life.
Mountains are a place
to extend one's vision
OSes climbed Mount Nebo and God
ive him a vision of the Promised Land,
euteronomy 34: 1 says, "Then Moses
ent up fi^om the plains of Moab to
ount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which
opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed
m the whole land." From a mountain,
OSes was given a vision of the land of
maan.
No one will ever accomplish much
ithout a vision. The book of Proverbs
minds us that "Where there is no
sion, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18,
JV). Many people who read the
issage in Proverbs think that "the
sion" means one must look into the
ture and plan big things. But the
ebrew word translated as "vision" in
overbs 29 is primarily a reference to
he will of God" as expressed in his
'ord. The vision about which the
overb speaks is the act of getting a
)od clear look at God's Word. If God's
'ord is not kept constantly in view (if
ir vision of Bible truth is limited), we
ion break loose from allegiance to it,
id spiritually we perish.
When we get to the top of a high
ountain, we can really see around —
id just so, when we get into the study of
At the Messenger Dinner, we aren't
promising a rose garden . . .
. . . just the author who made
that line famous.
Joanne Greenberg, author of
I Never Promised Youa Rose
GardeniNAL-Dutton, 1989),
and other novels and stories, is
the speaker for our annual
Messenger dinner. Hear how
JoanneGreenberg'sfaithis
reflected in her writings.
CINN
June 30, 1994
Wichita, Kan.
Tickets available at Annual
Conference ticket sales in Wichita
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May/June 1994 Messenger 39
the Word of God, our vision becomes
enlarged, and we are able to probe more
of the wonders of God's truth. Getting up
into the mountains and looking around
should remind us of the need to get into
the Word of God and enlarge our vision
of heavenly truth. Where there is no
vision (no frequent viewing of the Word
of God) — people become indifferent.
soft, pleasure-seeking, and self-centered.
Where there is no vision there is no
accomplishment.
Mountains are symbols of
calamities of life's journey
Jesus spoke of obstacles and difficulties
in life as "mountains" which can only be
removed by faith. He said, "If you have
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faith the size of a grain of mustard seed,-
you will say to this mountain, 'Move
from here to there,' and it will move"
(Matt. 17:20).
According to a magazine advertisement,:
the United States Steel Company manu-
factures giant machines called "earth
movers." It has produced a huge vehicle
"The Big Dipper," which stands 20 stories
high, has the world's longest shovel, and
can scoop up huge quantities of dirt and ■
shale (and even solid rock) in a relatively,
short time. The company claim to be able
to move mountains with it.
There are physical mountains such as
we see in the Rockies and in the Appala-i
chians, but there are also spiritual
mountains. There is, for example, the
mountain of disappointment. We are
moving ahead with plans for the fiiture,
when suddenly there is a death in the
family, strife in the home, or a lingering
illness that forces a change in plans.
There is also the mountain of defeat.
Sometimes when faced with the chal-
lenge to move ahead in some new
venture, we have dreams of being
successfiil, but things don't turn out the
way we had hoped. All of us face
mountains frequently in our experience
of life. Jesus says that his followers are t(|
face them with a grain of faith, believing
that God is working things for our
welfare. We are to be convinced that he
sincerely cares for us. Absolutely nothinji
can overtake us apart from the Lord's
permission. God has everything under
control. Nothing can harm us beyond
God's plan. We are constantly under tha
shadow of the Almighty.
Mountains bring us face to
face with the great beyond
The mountain rises above the bounds
and limits of the inhabited areas of eartb|
and in a sense, brings us face to face
with the great beyond. We can't see whaj
is on the other side of the mountain. We
either have to accept what someone who
has been there tells us, or wait until we
get there ourselves.
Our family has several times stayed in
a small cabin at the 1 0,000-foot level om
the west side of the Continental Divide
in central Colorado. To see the towns or
40 Messenger May /June 1994
e east side of the Divide we had to
imb another few thousand feet. The
St year we were there, some of our sons
imbed to the top of the Divide and saw
s beautiful town of St. Elmo on the
her side. Several years later, I made it
the top of the Divide and saw St. Elmo
ith my own eyes. Standing on the top
that mountain and looking at the other
ie, was one of the high points of my
e. I no longer had to rely on what
meone told me; I saw the beauty of it
ith my own eyes. From the top of that
Duntain the mind began to wonder
lat it must be like in the eternal world,
irely the half has not been told us.
From the top of a mountain one can
e things that can never be seen in the
lley. That is why we have often heard
2 phrase "a mountain top experi-
ce" — perhaps in connection with some
me Bible study sessions, a revival
;eting, or a weekend Bible conference,
lese are times when we get new
impses of God's creative power and a
w zeal for being more carefiil about
ir daily Christian walk.
There is an awe about the massive
ountains that brings deep emotion to
s human spirit. How puny each of us
ems beside the everlasting hills. How
lall we are when compared to the
eatness of God's creation. The Creator
nply spoke the word and all the
liverse came into being, and Revelation
14-16 says that some day God is going
speak the word again (this time in
dgment), and mountains and islands
ill be moved out of their places. People
ill become terrified and will cry to the
ountains, and say "Fall on us and hide
from the face of the one seated on the
rone and from the wrath of the Lamb."
irely it is the part of wisdom to prepare
)w for that great day. We learn in
jhesians 2:12-13 that, by virtue of the
oning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the
oss, all believers have access to the
)ly presence of Almighty God — the one
ho made the mountains and who
eated humans in his own image.
Ai.
Harold S. Martin is a free minister sending
easant Hill Church of the Brethren, near Spring
■ove. Pa., and is editor ofBKF Witness, a
blication of Brethren Revival Fellowship.
Qt
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Church and district newsletters that reprint "Pontius ' Puddle " from
Messenger must pay $10 for each use to Joel Kaufftnann, 111 Carter Road.
Goshen. IN 46526.
I've &OT MOTHlMfr A&■^^^isr
THE B>9.UCftU COMtEPTS OP
WELLNESS ANO UOLlSTit
HEfcLTu. I'^^ josr
^FR^lC> TtAEY'Ll-
CONVE BETWEEN ^Ae
AMP THE PEOPLE
r SPEND WOSTOP
^AV TifAC With--
\^^
tAV DOCTOR I therapist;
^LlERItVST, TWe (JU^iSE-S
f>.TTHE (iuvsllC., W
CrtlROP^fktTOB. ,
TrtE STAPF OP
THE UOtM-
THE
IRan^
John
ttartso«g^
^"'^yEberly
AND
Combine an analytical, curious mind with a love
to learn. Add sensitivity and commitment to
basic values of church and family traditions.
The mixture's of a rare and remarkable man
like John Hartsough, '69 MC physics graduate,
veterinarian, BVSer, and fourth generation on
the family farm. His driving force? Motivating,
educating, and sustaining roots and wings for
the next generation.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Andy Eberly is quiet but effective. Sensitive
but rational. His appreciation of family
support and Biblical teachings makes him
among the rare and remarkable. A senior
physics major, track co-captain, and Campus
Ministry Board co-chair, Andy's leadership roles
and problem solving skills point to purpose and
direction. His plans? Law school and
opportunities to help the less fortunate.
VALUES * GLOBAL AWARENESS * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know^ if you are planning a special
Manchester College does not discriminate on the basis of marital status, sex,
religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, or handicap in the administration of its
educational policies, recruitment and admissions policies, scholarship and loan
programs, employment practices, and athletic or other college sponsored programs.
campus visit.
MANCHESTER
COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982- 5000
May/June 1994 Messenger 41
Juniata
COLLEGE
Chaplain
Juniata College, a co-educational, lib-
eral arts college in beautiful central
Pennsylvania, invites applications
and nominations for the position of
chaplain. This is a full-time, ten-
month position reporting to the presi-
dent and working closely with the
student services staff.
The successful candidate should
be ordained in a Protestant denomi-
nation and be able to communicate
effectively on intellectual, spiritual,
and emotional levels to the college
community. Ecumenical and inter-
faith work experience, preferably on
a college campus, is strongly de-
sired.
Responsibilities include coordinat-
ing all campus worship and religious
programming; assuring regular pro-
gramming of faith development for
students, including Bible study, dis-
cussion groups, etc.; supervising the
campus ministry staff, advising the
campus ministry board in coopera-
tion with the Catholic campus
minster; and assuring staff support
for all other religious clubs and orga-
nizations on campus. The chaplain
will provide pastoral care and be an
advocate for ethics, justice, and
peace. The chaplain will continue to
enhance and maintain Juniata's rela-
tionships with the Church of the
Brethren at all levels, the Huntingdon
area churches, and the Coalition for
Christian Outreach, and assume pri-
mary responsibility for the Church-
College Relations Council.
Nominations and applications with
resume and three references should
be submitted to Mrs. Barbara M.
Rowe, Director of Personnel Ser-
vices, Juniata College, Huntingdon,
PA 1 6652, no later than June 1 , 1 994.
Juniata College is an Equal Oppor-
tunity Employer and encourages ap-
plications from women and ethnic mi-
norities.
Wilhelm and pluralism
Gregg Wilhelm, in "What's the Differ-
ence?" (April, page 21), seemed greatly
concerned about and ashamed of the
brother whose message "boiled down to a
proclamation of Jesus Christ as the sole
savior of humankind." The thrust of the
article seemed to be the embracing of all
religions.
Ecumenism, in many instances, is a
good thing. But when it comes to
salvation, we cannot be compromising
and pluralistic.
We reach a point where there must be
absolutes. Jesus said, "No one comes to
the father except through me" (John 14:6).
We should live at peace with all
people, but our first responsibility is to
live at peace with God. To do so, we
cannot compromise God's standards as
given in his Word.
Teresa Zumbrum
Lawrenceville. III.
• It should be noted that Gregg
Wilhelm, writing about pluralism in the
April Messenger, uses no scriptural
references in his arguments against the
uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Savior
of the world.
His words are a strange mixture of
human philosophy and religious imagi-
nation, but they are without biblical
basis. John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 clearly
tell why we must be narrow on the point
of Jesus' imiqueness.
Being narrow on this point, however,
still does not give us the right to be ugly
toward those in other religions.
James F. Myer
Lititz. Pa.
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily
those of the magazine. Readers should receive them
in the same spirit with which differing opinions are
expressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should be brief, concise, and respectful of
the opinions of others. Preference is given to letters
that respond directly to items read in the magazine.
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We will not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
letter, the writer 's name is kept in strictest
confidence.
.Address letters to Messenger Editor, 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin, IL 60120.
• I appreciated Gregg Wilhelm's
response to the On Earth Peace Assem-
bly (OEPA) seminar held last December.
Every OEPA meeting I have attended
has been excellent. The one on peace-
making from different religious perspec-
tives was no exception.
For many Brethren, knowledge of
our peace position is like a foreign
language. We don't understand it and
we don't care.
Wilhelm's observation that
Christians sometimes convert their zeal t
into hatred is accurate. In our progress
toward global peace, we need all the
help we can get.
David B. Knige
Lebanon, Pc
Ministry in a mine field
I was heartened by General Secretary
Don Miller's column, "No More of This
(March, page 22). I was overjoyed when
he said that churches can oppose easy
access to guns. Excuse me. Someone's a
my door.
Thanks for your patience. That was
our flower chairwoman, threatening '
to leave the church because someone
left some wedding flowers for the
communion table last Sunday without
first checking with her to see if it was
all right.
Where was I? Oh, yes, I was over-
joyed. And, of course, Don Miller made
a really cogent point when he suggestec
that we can insist that the quality of
mass media be . . . Excuse me again.
There's the phone.
I really am sorry. A choir member isi
upset by the "stupidity" of the choir
director search committee. It seems tha
one of his children had an adolescent
bout of jealousy over the new choir
director. It's either ax the new choir
director or several members of his famj
will leave. Take your pick.
The colimin speaks of the senseless
violence represented in our society witj
"disgusting regularity." It may be just
he says: "Hard-won traditions limiting
violence have been shockingly aban
doned." This is embarrassing. Would
k
!(
42 Messenger May/June 1 994
I
Serry.
May Be Her Only Hope
rhis Guatemalan woman weaves beautiful, brightly
colored cotton fabric, a Mayan cultural tradition
issed down from mother to daughter
)r centuries. Her only hope of
:taining this culture and
:r livelihood is You.
ERRV offers more than
900 Handmade crafts
cm 40 developing
juntries, all made by
lisans who receive
lir payment for
leir labors.
Please call Sheila Buttner at
1-800-723-3712 now
to see how your congregation
can become involved in this
important part of our World
Ministries Program.
SERRV Handcrafts
500 Main Street
New Windsor, MD
21776-0365
SERRV is a
non-profit program
of the Church of the
Brethren and a
member of the
International
Federation of
Alternative Trade.
The 21st
NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE
ON
CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY
Building the
Church Yet to Be—
Stewardship for the
2 1 St Century
U
September 21-24, 1994
Adam's Mark Hotel
Indianapolis, Indiana
Robert Wuthnow Eunice Poethig
Keynote Speaker Bible Study Leader
Robert Wood Lynn
Plenary Session
Biblical/theological presentations
and practical seminars.
Contact your denominational
stewardship office or
Ecumenical Center for Stewardship Studies
1100 W. 42nd Street, Suite 225
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Phone: 317-926-3525
you excuse me just one more time?
Someone's at my door again.
Thanks. The church board chairperson
really let me have it. How dare I write a
letter to the newspaper supporting a
peace rally in the town square? I am
supposed to be the pastor of this church,
not misrepresent it like that. This will be
dealt with at the next church board
meeting.
So, I couldn't agree more with the
general secretary. 'Violence is celebrated
in our time. As I leave the pastoral
ministry, however. I have a lingering
question: Afiter denying easy access to
guns and challenging the violence of the
media, will someone then have the
courage to look at the mine field we call
the church?
Jesus has spoken. And his words "No
more of this" maybe are especially for
the church.
Michael Morra
Lafayette. Im
Jesus didn't dread death
How sad that Ryan Ahlgrim, in "Facing
Our Last Enemy" (April, page 16),
presents death as "terribly frightening,
cruel, and unfair, robbing us of hope,
love, and meaning."
To one who believes in God's prom-
ises, death is a blessed relief, the
entrance to heaven. The "cup" that Jesu
dreaded was not death, but the pro-
longed, agonizing pain of crucifixion.
As believers, let us have no fear of
death, but center our interest on serving!
In ^eautlfuCCentrdJ^[orida
lmk'pm(knt Living •!Assisied Living'
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Social and Recreational Programs
Laundry Service
Barber/Beautician on Premises
Guest Meals
Cable Ready
Special Outings
Religious Services
Rehabilitative
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Library
Affiliated with Florida Brethren Homes, Inc.
*The Assisted Living Facility does not provide complex 24-hour nursing care.
A home where you have friends.
Come live with us!
1-800-248-2681 (in FL)
813-385-0161 or 813-382-4440
The Palms of Sebring,
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I'm interested in
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□ Assisted LivingQ Independent Living
Name
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Phone
44 Messenger May /June 1994
Word From The Moderator
Lord each day that is given to us
e, before we are called to be with him
;r there.
Viola N. Whitehead
North Manchester, Ind
eading not guilty
garding the January editorial on
ism, how long must we feel the guilt
a wrong that was committed by our
efathers 400 years ago?
4any of our Christian brothers own
1 enjoy the wealth of the land that was
en from Native Americans by force
1 without compensation. The bottom
; is that we Christians took the land
^ood faith and homesteaded it. We
;d the blacks and enslaved the redmen
reservations. Fifty years ago we
ght the Germans and Japanese to
keep the world free. That our nations are
friendly today does not mean that we
forgot history. Rather, we forgot the
hatred and held out a hand of friendship.
If the editor is sincere in wanting to
tilt the field in favor of African Ameri-
cans, I challenge him to step down and
elevate an African American to his
position. That would tilt the field and
make history that is not easy to run away
from.
Words come easy to a word merchant,
but where is the sacrifice?
James Denlinger
Kettering, Ohio
We depended on Shawn
The article "The Dependable One"
(April, page 12) so aptly describes
Shawn Replogle and confirms what
The Wichita Annual Conference is
rapidly approaching. Brethren will
gather from around the world. Delegates
from churches will grapple with issues.
Families, some on vacation, will partici-
pate in the Big Meeting.
Controversies rage among us, often
sidetracking us from the priority mission
of the church. While our differences may
be borne out of theological and cultural
diversities, the call to harmony in Christ
always must be clear. The rallying focus
should be as the Portland Annual
Conference paper expresses, "that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, Savior of the
world, and head of the church."
Jurgen Moltmann stated it thus: "The
nearer we come to Christ, the nearer we
come together." Let us approach Wichita
prayerfully resolved to share the love,
respect, and Christlikeness with all of
God's children.
Earl K. Ziegler
1994 Annual Conference Moderator
(?:
c
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The Brethren Hom.
^^ffordable m etirement Uhoices
S
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Secure, comfortable retirement in a not for
profit Christian community. Accredited by the
Continuing Care Accreditation Commission of the
American Association of Homes for the Aging. A
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(717) 624-2161
2990 Carlisle Pike
P.O. Box 128
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Please send information:
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M 5/94
May /June 1994 Messenger 45
BRF
A BRF CORNER
Brethren Revival Fellowship is a
loyal conservative concern movement
within the Church of the Brethren. The
goal is to encourage faithfulness to the
simple biblicism expoused by our
Anabaptist forebears.
BRF's Articles of Incorporation say
that the Fellowship "shall bear witness
to the truth as set forth in the Bible (as
historically Interpreted by the Church of
the Brethren) with unswerving loyalty to
Jesus Christ and the trustworthiness of
Scripture."
The BRF Articles of Incorporation
continue by stressing that
"Uncompromising integrity and love for
the brethren (expressed through respect
for those who may differ) shall be
maintained in the witness of BRF. It
shall always be recognized however,
that love and respect for those who
may differ, does not preclude vigorous
challenge to viewpoints represented."
BRF plans to purchase space in
Messenger five or six times each year
and furnish a "BRF Corner." For more
information about BRF, write to:
BRETHREN REVIVAL FELLOWSHIP
Route 10, Box 201 -N
York, PA 17404
many of us in Bridgewater already knew
about this talented young man.
Shawn was involved in the life of the
church and college and was a summer
From the
Office of Human Resources
Officer, Planned Giving (Far Southeast)
Quarter-time position working in Atlantic
Southeast District.
Officer, Planned Giving (Far West)
Half-time position working with Oregon/
Washington. Idaho, and Pacific Southwest
Districts.
• It would be helpful to live in the
general geographical area for either
postion;
• Requires someone who can relate
well to people, develop deferred and
special gifts support for General Board
programs, and assist donors with their
financial gift planning.
Positions available on July 1. 1994.
For prompt consideration call
Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
employee of mine in the college book
store in his student days. We could
depend on him to perform his duties
superbly.
It is gratifying to know that Shawn
will enter seminary this fall. The church
will benefit fi"om his training, dedication
and commitment to his faith.
Leon W. Rhode.
Bridgewater, Va
"Yow!"forRaschka
"Yow!" As a volunteer in the local
public library, I had the pleasure to put
Christopher Raschka's Yo! Yes? (April,)
page 2) on the shelf for our children to
enjoy.
The children at Hope Church of the
Brethren in Freeport, Mich., also have
heard the stories R andMand Benjamin
Brody 's Backyard Bag. We like Chris
Raschka's work.
Sarah Anne Milk
Lake Odessa, Mid
CLASSIFIED ADS
ARTISTS— if you are interested in any media or area (art,
music, drama, dance, film, etc.), AACB (Association for the
Arts in the Church of the Brethren) would appreciate receiv-
ing your application before or during Annual Conference in
Wichita. For further info, write: Joyce Parker, Secretary of
AACB, 1293 Laurel Drive, West Salem, OH 44287
FOR SALE— Private, licensed residential care home in
McPherson, Kan. Nice income potential for caring people.
The clean home has private rooms for four residents and
separate living suite for the caregivers. All-brick home
features newer roof, garden area, and mature trees. All
surrounded by a quiet neighborhood with a view of the lake
and nearby park. The home is located near the Church of the
Brethren and McPherson College. For more info, write:
Kathy Ball, Sheets/Adams Realtors, 1020 North Main,
McPherson, KS 67460. Tel.: (316) 241-3648.
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. John Mason &
Man/ Ann Millet of Virginia— ^ 986; Ziegler Family Record
(Revised)— 1990; Shank Family Recorcl-^B92■, Michael
Miller Family Record— ]993; John Wampler & Magdalena
Garber-m progress; John H. Gather Family Record— m
progress; Nicholas Garber Family Record— m progress.
Please write for prices and more information. Send long
SASE. Floyd R. Mason, 11 5 E. Rainbow Drive, Bridgewater,
VA22812.
TOUR— Australia and New Zealand with Bridgewater Col-
lege President WayneF.Geisert.17-daytourCairns, Sydney,
Canberra, Melbourne, Christchurch, Queenstown , Mt. Cook,
46 Messenger May/June 1994
Auckland, and Rotooia. Leaves September 17. Returns
October 3. Cost (roundtrip airfare frow west coast, first-
class accommodations, 23 meals, and entertainment) $3,295
per person, double occupancy. Optional excursion available
to Fiji. For info, brochure, write: Australia/New Zealand
Tour, c/o Wayne F. Geisert, Bridgewater College,
Bridgewater, VA 22812-1599. Tel. (703) 828-2501, ext.
1300.
TRAVEL— Tour Japan June 12-21; Alpine Tour in Germany,
Austria & Switzerland June 16-July 1; Spain and Portugal
July 22-Aug. 5; Great Britain Aug. 9-26; China and Hong
Kong Oct. 5-18; Musical Tourto Vienna, Austria & Budapest,
Hungary Nov. 7-16; Christmastime in Switzerland & Ger-
many Nov. 28-Dec. 6; Christmastime in Bavaria Dec. 5-13.
Hosted through Juniata College. For further info, contact:
Gateway Travel Center Inc., 606 Mifflin Street, Huntingdon,
PA 16652-0595. Tel. (800) 322-5080.
TRAVEL— Israel/Egypt Holiday. Wendell & Joan Bohrer,
Fred & Nancy Swartz host a tour to Israel and Egypt. Aug.
8-1 8, 1 994. 1 1 -day tour includes travel to Jerusalem, the old
city. Dead Sea, Megiddo, Galilee, Cana, Mt. Carmel, Mt.
Nebo, Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tut.
For info, write: Wendell & Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal Meadow
Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46217. Tel. (317) 882-5067, or Fred &
Nancy Swartz, 1 0047 Nokesville Rd., Manassas, VA221 1 0.
Tel. (703) 369-3947.
TRAVEL— Spain, Portugal & Morocco with Becky and David
Waas. Sixteen days of memorable & rich experiences; visit
cultural centers in one of the most fascinating areas of tH
worid with a merging of Islamic, Christian & Jewish Iraq
tions. Visit the Alhambra in Granada, the Great Cathedrali
Seville, Medinas of Fez & Rabat; also Madrid, Lisba
Tangier, and others. October 5-20, 1994. For informatio
contact Becky and David Waas, 207 Damron Drive, Nop
Manchester, IN 46962. Tel. (219) 982-4687.
WANTED— Applications sought for a quarter-time paid pi
sition as Pacific Southwest District youth coordinator. Seij
names or inquiries to: Phyllis Eller, Pac. S.W. District offic
Box21 9, La Verne, CA 91 750, orcall (909) 593-2554. Salai
will be negotiated depending on qualifications and expaj
ence. Interviews begin in April. Employment projectedi
begin this summer.
WANTED— Poems for a tribute to poet Bill Stafford, Al
prose, short reflections, or stories. Also photos of poei
writers with Stafford. Need by Aug. 31. Contact Mc
Mitchell, 5650 Abbey Dr., Apt. 4-A, Lisle, IL 60532
WANTED— Mature married couple as full-time manage;
of an 8-bed emergency shelter (vacated 9-4 daily), li
cated 20 minutes northeast of US Capital in suburb;
liflaryland. No alcohol permitted. References requiri
Must be sensitive to needs of the homeless and be able
exert proper control. Benefits: free housing (entire fi
floor, including 2 bedrooms), utilities, and one moii
vacation. Send resumes and references to: Help-by-Phoii
Ltd., Box 324, Riverdale, MP 20738, or call the hotlinal
5 EST (301) 699-9009.
iw Members
elope V^alley, S. Plains:
Charles, Dorothy & Denise
Durkee. Lu & John Germer
crsneld.Pac.S.W.: Polly
Fenwick
r Creek, S. Ohio: Jonathan
Adams, Kelly Sizemore, Vicki
Ullery
^'erton, Mich . : Marlin Yager
ilehem, Virlina: Kim Webster
Creek, S. Plains: Travis
Beason, Laresa Pick, David
Gaut, Lawrence & Patricia
Harmon, Rormie Hickman,
Lonnie & Dorothy Howard. Jon
Mutschelknaus
li Creek, Mid-Atl.: Matthew &
Jenny Brunk, Alma& Robert
Green, Thelma Halliburton,
Diana Himes, Miriam Moore
ool, Mo./Ark.: Stephanie&
Timothy Sanders
mbersburg. S. Pa.: Andrew
Bard, Tricia Daugherty, Laura
Deardorff, Bryan Graham,
Robin Hambright, Alan
Meyers, Marah Ritchey, Todd
Shreiner. Brian Stoner, Alice
Snyder, Erick Wenger
jues, Atl.N.E.: Jason
Binder. Michelle Ebersole,
Lindsey Geib
1st Our Shepherd. S/C Ind.:
Kay Plasterer, Andrew Fry
orus, S.Pa.: RickPitzer
iville, Viriina: Dan & Cindy
Bamum-Steggerda. Karen
Shelton. David & Dorothy
Shumate
: Cocalico, Atl. N.E.: James
Adkins. Glenn & Marie
Eidemiller. Dayna Long. Faye
& Shawn Martin, Scott &
Kelly Weaver
m, S, Ohio: Roger& Barbara
Curry. Steve & Pam George,
Penny GifJin, Melissa Harper,
Lisa Heim, Max Howard.
Robert & Helen Jones, Richard
& Jean Lewis, Deb Lottes,
David Maddox, Tammy Miller,
David, Kris & Sara Preston,
Jerry Price, Jessica Reed,
Penny Rich
ibethtown, Atl.N.E: Martha
Beahm. Arl Haas, Howards
Kathy Haldeman, Carol Welsh,
David Willoughby
lart Valley, N Ind.:
ChnstopherCharlwood
mantown Brick, Virlina:
Justin & Karen Altice,
Matthew Angle. Beth Bowman,
Kyle & Taimer Spencer
ricane Creek, III. AVis.:
Matthew, Sara, Erin & Rachel
Dooly
'erne. Pac.S.W.: Don &
Esther Wickert
caster. Atl. N.E.: Jerry Brown,
Donna Buckwalter, Clyde &
Dorothy Cassel, Robert &
Emilie Dell, Curtis & Anna
Dubble, Emily Fuchs, Roy
Garber, EstherGibble, Audrey
Groff, David, Donna &
Michelle Hernandez, Joseph &
Ethel Howe, Richard &
PriscillaHurter, George Illig,
Dorothy Kaetz, Doris Kant.
Scott Keebler, Grace Leath,
Jeff & Sue Miley, Loren &
Eleanor Nedrow, Daryl & Ruth
Parmer. Violet Sacra. Leslie &
Lois Shallenberger, Doug
Shank, Russell & Dora
Shotzberger, Gregg
Shulenberger, Cheryl Smoker,
Mike, Brian & Mary Snyder,
Dana Statler. Linda & Andy
Zubko
Lima (Elm Street). N. Ohio: Erica
Rumer
Lincoln. W. Plains: Brian Christy
Lititz, Atl. N.E.: Thomas Badorf.
Michael & Nicholas Blose,
Nathan Brumbach. Kirsten
Crosby. Robert & Wendy
Diller. Nancy Ervvin. Berk
Gerdes. Ethan Gibbel. Kevin &
Betty Kelly. Karl Krieg. Marian
Leister, David & Karen
Longenecker, Sonya Martin,
Kendra Renn, Nicholas Rowe,
Dean & Jeanne Small. Mark &
Mary Stuckey, Heather Tennis,
Joshua Walton, Rebecca
WilliatTTS
Maple Grove, N. Ind.: Virgil &
Linda Gingerich, Jack &
John da Scheffers
Deaths
Andrews, Michelle, 27, Shippens-
burg.Pa..Jan.21.1994
Arnold, Robin. 38. Kaleva. Mich..
Feb. 4. 1994
Aungst, Charles. 9 1 , Leamersville.
Pa..Oct. 15, 1993
Bankus, Miriam. 77, Lancaster,
Pa..Feb. 13. 1994
Barnhart, Enmia, 99, Lafayette,
Ind., July 2. 1993
Boerner, Robert, 95, Waynesboro,
Pa.,Jan. 16. 1994
Boettler, Gladys. Massillon, Ohio,
Feb. 2, 1994
Book, Margaret. 83. La Verne.
Calif.Marchl 1.1994
Bower, Harry. 86. Harrisburg, Pa..
Dec. 18. 1993
Brandt, Katie. 94. Lancaster, Pa.,
Dec. 23, 1993
Bright, Clara, 70, Ashland. Ohio,
Jan. 24. 1994
Brown, Trent. 88, Lexington, Va.,
Jan. 5. 1994
Brown, Susie. 89. Fincastle. Va.,
May 26, 1993
Brubaker, Harold, 86, Pomona,
Calif, Nov. 2. 1993
Brumbaugh, Ruth, Saxton, Pa..
Jan. 26. 1994
Chittick, Ethel. 89, Rossville, Ind.,
Jan. 18. 1994
Cline, Dorothy. 90. Roanoke. Va..
Jan. 29. 1994
Cline. William, 54. Palmyra, Pa.,
Feb. 11.1994
CofTman, Eva. 88. Kalona. Iowa,
Jan. 9, 1994
Collins, Mary. Harrisonburg, Va..
Jan. 2, 1993
Collins, Ada, 75, Elizabethtown,
Pa.. Aug. 13,1993
Cottrell, Evelyn, 89, Long Beach,
Calif, Nov.20. 1993
Craun, Merrill. 73. Linville. Va.,
Feb. 1,1993
Daughtry, Bertha, 76. Reading.
Pa. Feb, 1.1994
Diehl, Robert. 78, Greensburg, Pa.,
Aug. 22, 1993
Ditterline. Mae. 80. Quakertown.
Pa..Jan. 13. 1994
Eash. Wilbur. 89. McPherson.
Kan, Jan. 1.1994
Edris,Paul.64.York.Pa.,
Jan. 5. 1994
Eisele, Bertha, 86, Lincoln, Neb..
Nov. 14. 1993
Eisenbise, Viola. 96, Palmyra, Pa.,
June 1, 1993
Eller, Fannie, 94, Bridgewater, Va.,
Jan. 5. 1994
Fahrney, Joann. 60, Chambersburg,
Pa.. Sept. 4. 1993
Feathers, Warren. 8 1 . Claysburg.
Pa.,Feb. 24. 1994
Fenninger, Milton. 8 1 . Ephrata.
Pa, Dec. 29. 1993
Fike, Dorothy, 75 , E I izabethtown,
Pa.,Sept. 15. 1993
Firebaugh, Joe. SO. Troutville,
Va.. Sept. 1.1993
Fisher, Lena. 89. West Alexandria.
Ohio, Sept. 20, 1993
Flora, Bemadine. 7 1 , Quinter,
Kan., Jan. 28. 1994
Forbes, Le Roy. 8 1 , Custer. Mich.,
Jan 23, 1994
Forney, Hulda, 9 1 , Elizabethtown.
Pa., July 9, 1993
Foster. Charies. 60. Boones Mill.
Va..Feb. 14. 1994
Fruitt. Floyd. 89, North
Manchester, Ind.. Jan. 1 1 , 1 994
Fyack. Clarence. 83. Golden City,
Mo.. Jan. 28. 1994
Gallagher, Howard, 82,
Uniontown, Pa..Jan. 7, 1994
Givler. Esther. 8 1 . Ephrata. Pa.,
Aug. 17.1993
Graybill, Edna. 94, Binghamton,
N.Y..Feb.2. 1994
Green. Ethel. 97. Thuimont, Md..
Jan. 3. 1994
Greeting. Estella, 90, Greenville,
Ohio, Jan. 3 1, 1994
Grubb. Sara. 9 1 , Pahnyia, Pa,,
Feb. 3. 1994
Hamilton. Wayne, 77, Oakland,
Md.,Jan. 15, 1994
Harman. Catherine, 85,
Fredericksburg, Va.. Jan. 16,
1994
Harrington, Charles, 76,
Wakanisa, Ind.. Dec. 30. 1993
Harris, Charlotte. 83. Fallbrook,
Calif, Sept. 9. 1993
Harvey, Lucy. 82. Somerset. Pa..
Jan. 11.1994
Helser, Carl. 74. Rushville. Ohio.
Dec. 23, 1993
Herder, Richard. 70, Bakersfield,
Calif.Nov. 11,1993
Hochstetler, Viola. 82. Ashland,
Ohio, Jan. 30. 1994
Hochstetler, Pauline. 78.
Smithville, Ohio, May 22, 1 993
Hocking, Mary, 65, Ephrata, Pa..
Nov. 2 1.1993
Hoffer, Arlin. 74, Palmyra. Pa..
Nov. 28. 1993
Holderread. Andrew. 89. Dover.
Pa, Feb. 3, 1994
Hollinger, Robert, 64, Adamstown,
Pa.,Apr. 15, 1993
Hoover, Ethel, 89, Chambersburg,
Pa., Jan. 8, 1994
Horn, Eva, 98, Danville, Ohio.
Feb. 2. 1994
Horner. Charles, 9 1 , La Verne,
Calif,Ocl. 15, 1993
Howe. Anna, 66, Ephrata, Pa.. Sept.
28.1993
Huffman. Sophia. 66. Lewistown.
Pa.. Jan. 3. 1994
Irvin, Paul. 84, Lititz, Pa., Jan. 27,
1994
Jacobsen. Ruth. 85. San Diego.
Calif, Dec. 1,1993
Jarhoe. Norman, 66, Phoenix,
Ariz.. Jan. 16.1994
Johnson. William. Bridgewater,
Va..Sept. 13.1993
Kettering, Mable. 95. Palmyra,
Pa.. Dec. 6. 1993
Kindred, Marvel. 88, La Verne,
Calif, Feb.21, 1994
King, Jennie, 83, East Canton,
Ohio, Dec. 24, 1993
Kintzel, Paul. 82. Pine Grove. Pa..
Dec. 17. 1993
Kinzie, Genevieve. 95, Troutville,
Va.. July 11. 1993
Lambert, Doris. 69. Wakarusa.
Ind., Jan. 11,1994
Lav7, Orian, 69, Louisville, Ohio,
Nov. 5. 1993
Leight, Jay, 78, Chambersburg, Pa..
Jan. 4, 1994
Lerew, Almeda. 9 1 . New Oxford.
Pa.. Jan. 2 1.1994
Lohrer, John. 25. Palmyra. Pa.. Jan.
18,1994
Lolling, Neva, 57, McPherson,
Kan.Jan. 10. 1994
Lynn, Delia, 75, Williamsburg, Pa.,
Jan. 24. 1994
Lyon, Ruth. 66. La Verne, Calif,
Feb. 14. 1994
Marshall, Joyce. 45. Uniontown,
Pa. Dec. 28. 1993
McNallv, Wilfred. 67, Denver, Pa..
Sept. 28, 1993
Meckley, Ada, 89, Elizabethtown,
Pa..'May20,1993
Meloy, Ernest, 96, Goshen, Ind.,
Jan. 15, 1994
Meredith, Betty, 67, Akron, Ind..
Dec. 10. 1993
Meyer, Gladys. 93, Mount Morris,
Ill..Jan. 14, 1994
Miller, Lillie, 87, St. John. Kan..
Jan. 15. 1994
Miller. William. 8 1 . Claremont.
Calif. Dec. 30, 1 993
Miller. Lucy. 74. Phoenix, Ariz..
Feb. 15. 1994
Nevin, Mary, 85, Heath, Ohio, Dec.
10.1993
Nies. Joseph. 83, Rienholds, Pa.,
Nov.20. 1993
Nuckols, Herbert. 82. Buena Vista.
Va.. Jan. 2 1.1994
Orr, Bryan. 73. Thomville, Ohio,
Sept 2 1,1993
Osborne. Virgin! a. 86, Troutville,
Va.. Dec. 5. 1993
Parson. Robert. 74, Reading. Pa.,
Jan. 3. 1994
Pifer. Irene. 95. New Oxford. Pa..
Jan.21.1994
Rader. Roland, 9 1 , Fincastle, Va..
Sept. 13. 1993
Riegel, Beulah, 86, West
Alexandria, Ohio, Nov. 1. 1993
Robinson. Robert. 59, Harrison-
burg, Va.. Jan. 22, 1 994
Root. E.W.. 96. La Verne. Calif,
July 19, 1993
Roth, Agnes, 96, Rossville, Ind,,
Feb. 6. 1994
Roth, Kenneth, 6 1 , Boiling Springs,
Pa.,Jan. 13. 1994
Schlegel, Robert. 69, New Oxford,
Pa., Dec. 31. 1993
Schrantz, Elizabeth, 92, Hartville,
Ohio, Oct. 3 1.1993
Schrock, June. 77. York. Pa.. Jan.
21,1994
Schwenk,Anna, 100,Carlisle.Pa.,
Dec. 7. 1993
Sensebaugh, Ada. 93. Mineral
Point. Pa.. Dec. 13. 1993
Shank, Russell. 78. Lancaster. Pa..
Sept. 29. 1993
Shaver. Lucille. 83. Somerset. Pa.,
Jan. 13. 1994
Shawver.Nevin. 74. Lewistown,
Pa..Jan.5, 1994
Shearer, Ralph. 78. Waynesboro,
Pa.. Jan. 25. 1994
Shoenfelt, Janet, 65, Hollidaysburg,
Pa.. Jan. 30. 1994
Simmons, Bob. 78. West
Alexandria, Ohio, Oct. 2. 1993
Slabach. Lottie. 92. McPherson.
Kan.,Julyl3, 1993
Slater. Miriam, 81, North
Manchester, Ind.. Jan. 18, 1994
Smiley. Charles, Bridgewater. Va.,
Sept, 12. 1993
Smith, Vera, 94, La Verne, Calif,
Nov. 13. 1993
Sollenberger, Jacob. 70.
Curryville,Pa.,Jan.24, 1994
Spaw. Etta. 9 1 . Uniontown. Pa.,
Jan. 17. 1994
Stanley. Beulah. 96. San Dimas,
Calif. Nov.22, 1993
Strapel, James, 80, Windber, Pa.,
Jan, 16.1994
Studebaker, Mabel, 85, Green-
ville, Ohio, Aug. 20, 1993
Stump. Edith, 93, Goshen, Ind.,
Jan. 16. 1994
Sutherland, Truett. 76. Long
Beach.Calif.Jan. 14. 1994
Troutman, Herman. 7 1 . West
Carrollton. Ohio. Nov. 1 1. 1993
Turner. Leila. Bridgewater, Va..
Apr. 28. 1993
Waggoner, Paul. 82. Winona Lake,
lnd..Jan.8. 1994
Walford, Irene. 9 1 . Palmyra, Pa. ,
Jan. 27. 1994
Walker, James. 76. West
Alexandria. Ohio. Apr, 8. 1 993
Warner. Delbert. Columbia City,
Ind,, Jan. 20. 1994
Waybright, Bob. 7 1 . Weyers Cave.
Va.. Jan. 30. 1994
Weaver, Gladys. 83. Martinsburg,
Pa.. Nov. 8. 1993
Welch, Ernie. 90, Long Beach,
Calif, Sept, 30, 1993
Werner, Henry, 74, New Oxford.
Pa.. Dec. 25. 1993
Whitacre. Effie. 92. Lancaster. Pa.,
June 11. 1993
Wickersham, Eugene. 7 1 , Newark,
Del., Nov. 23, 1993
Wilhelm. Myrtle, 92, McPherson,
Kan..Nov.9, 1993
Williams, Ann. 82, La Verne,
Calif,Julyl2,1993
Wine, Mollie, 99, Harrisonburg,
Va..JulylI.1993
Winter, Amy, 87, York, Pa.. Jan.
19.1994
Withaar, Mildred. 59, Montgom-
ery, 111.. Dec. 29. 1993
Yopp, Cora. 85, Boones Mill, Va,,
Feb.21. 1994
May/June 1994 Messenger 47
irial
Who'll write the book on followership?
I reallv must have needed that $100 I was offered for
serving as leader of my congregation's Boy Scout
troop for two weeks of summer camping. Otherwise,
I would have backed out of the deal long before
leaving for Camp Powhatan. "You're really going to
earn your money, boy" was the theme of all the
remarks 1 heard after 1 agreed to the deal. Appar-
ently the Scouts had made life miserable for the
leaders of previous summers. 1 got the idea that
turning to me, a fresh college graduate, had been
done in desperation.
But off we went, and, in my innocence as a leader,
I simply played it by ear. To my pleasant surprise,
everything went well. Swimmingly, in fact. 1 never
had a prank played on me. My Scouts had a great
two weeks, and so did I. At the boys insistence,
which wasn't necessary, 1 accompanied them again
the following summer. Same resuhs.
That was over 35 years ago, and I have often
reminisced about the experience, analyzed it, and
tried to figure out the secret of my leadership of
those rambunctious boys. I have never succeeded. If I
could figure it out, I'd get me a patent on it. Thou-
sands of Scout leaders, maybe even church camp
leaders, would pay me big bucks to use my formula.
I thought about my leadership experience again
recently, as 1 read an April 1994 Atlantic Monthly
essay by Garry Wills, "What Makes a Good Leader?"
I recommend it for reading by our Annual Confer-
ence Committee on Ministerial Leadership. Even
though the committee is about ready, I hear, to hand
around a tentative report for feedback, it may not be
too late to study one more item of input.
Garry Wills describes two unacceptable forms of
leadership and assures the reader that we don't have
to be stuck with either of them. The two forms are
"the leader who dictates to others and the one who
truckles to them." He goes on to say why neither is
an acceptable alternative: "If leaders dictate, by what
authority do they take away people's right to direct
their own lives? If they truckle, who needs or
respects such weathervanes?"
The successftil leader. Wills says, "is one who
mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leader and
followers." By the time he reached this point of
definition, he had completed his list of the three
essential elements in leadership. "Most literature on
leadership," Wills says, "is unitarian, but life is
trinitarian. One-legged and two-legged chairs do
not, of themselves, stand. Leaders, followers, and
goals make up the three equally necessary supports
of leadership."
Now Wills is talking about political leadership, of
48 Messenger May /June 1 994
course, citing Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D.
Roosevelt as prime examples of leaders who really
understood how to lead. They did not "just vaguely
affect others," but took "others toward the object of
their joint quest."
But couldn't the things Wills says about political
leadership also apply to leadership in the church? In
1990, Annual Conference formed this "blue ribbon"
Committee on Ministerial Leadership, and every-
where I hear the cry that what the Church of the
Brethren needs is good leadership.
And for the last two decades we have had estab-
lished goals . . . Goals for the '80s, Goals for the
'90s. I have some doubts about the extent to which
the individual Brethren member feels personal
ownership of the goals, but I can't easily fault the
process by which the goals were determined: Each
congregation across the denomination had a chance
to discuss goal options and give input. Technically,
the goals truly are denominationwide ones.
B,
>ut Garry Wills makes a point that leads me to
wonder if we don't need something besides Goals for
the '90s and a Committee on Ministerial Leadership.
He writes, "We have thousands of books on leader-
ship, none on followership. I have heard college
presidents tell their student bodies that schools are
meant to train leaders. I have never heard anyone
profess to train followers. The idea seems to be a
world in which everyone is a leader — but who would
be left for them to be leading?"
Good question.
Wills goes on to say, "We have long lists of the
leader's requisites — determination, focus, a clear
goal, a sense of priorities, and so on. We easily
forget the first and all-encompassing need —
followers."
I see I'm painting my way into a comer here,
occupied by me, a chicken, and an egg. But if, as
Wills says, you can't have leaders without followers
(and shared goals), hadn't we better be naming a
"blue ribbon" Committee on Denominational
Followers?
Which came first, the dearth of ministerial
leaders, or the sad state of a denominational mem-
bership which, by and large, has very little under-
standing of what the denomination is, what it stands
for, what its Anabaptist heritage is . . . what it means
to be Brethren?
I don't know the answer, but if that first book on
followership ever gets printed, it should be "must"
reading for all Brethren. — K.T.
FUTURE MODERATOR
>•
Jubilee,
God's Good News.
A children's Sunday school curriculvun.
Contact: Brethren Press 1 800 441-3712
Church of the Brethren
mth ANNUAL CONFERENCE
ME
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS?
Earl K. Ziegler
David M. Bibbee
Rebecca Baile Grouse
Tyrone Pitts
S. Joan Hershey
Drama "The Gathering"
Gwen Bobb
handles
genealogy
inquiries at
the Brethren
Historical
Library and
Archives.
It was Gwendolyn Bobb who put me onto the Henry Adolph
story (page 12). Being a history and genealogy buff, I don't
need much of an excuse to visit the Brethren Historical Library
and Archives (BHLA). It was there that Gwen, a long-time
volunteer in the library who does genealogy searches for
inquirers, tipped me off that "'Henry Adolph; Coverlet Weaver"
was a good story needing to be told. From there
it was just a short step to assigning it to Irene S.
Reynolds, a frequent Messenger writer, who
lives in Lawrence, Kan., right in Henry Adolph
territory.
Before beginning her work in the library,
Gwen served on the General Board staff for 20
years (1959-1979). For many years she has
served as executive director of the Fellowship of
Brethren Genealogists. BHLA has a large
collection of files and books on Brethren
genealogy, and for a fee inquirers can obtain
infoiTTiation from the collection, researched by
Gwen. Call (800) 323-8039 or write to BHLA,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120. Send a stamped, self-
addressed envelope to receive a helpful 16-page booklet. Guide
to Research in Brethren Family Histoiy.
The 500-member Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists is
always looking for new members. One advantage of member-
ship is the privilege of free answers to inquiries sent to Gwen!
{Uncomplicated inquiries, that is!) At Annual Conference in
Wichita, interested people should visit the fellowship's exhibit
booth and attend its annual meeting on Thursday, at 9 p.m. (see
Conference booklet, page 20).
On another note, the May/June Messenger marked two
innovations in its production: We began transmitting the
camera-ready pages to George Printing in Aurora, 111., via
computer disk, by-passing the process of pasting up camera-
ready boards here in Elgin. And, after a long period of feasibil-
ity study (and waiting for the price to be right), we now are
printing Messenger on 100-percent recycled paper. Brethren
environmentalists, take note!
^iM^f9t^py^^^^/n'^^^aya'^My
Printed on
100-percent
recycled paper.
®
COMING NEXT MONTH: An expanded issue of Messenger,
reporting on Annual Conference in Wichita.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B- Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Wilding, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Norma Nieto
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E, Minnich
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Ohio. Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio,
Jack Kline; Oregon/Washington, Margueritfl IKtO
Shamberger; Pacific Southwest. Randy
Miller; Middle Pennsylvania, Ruth Fisher;
Southern Pennsylvania. Elmer Q. Gleim;
Western Pennsylvania. Jay Christner;
Shenandoah. Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains
Mary Ann Dell; Virlina. David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains. Dean Hummer;
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication of the
Church of the Brethren. Entered as secondl ffiDS'f
class matter Aug. 20. 1918. under Act of t ■ .
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filmg date. *'
brjaj
Congress ot Oct. 17, 1917. Filmg
Nov. 1. 1984. Messenger is a '
member of the Associated
Church Press and a subscriber i
to Religious News Service andl
Ecumenical Press Service.
Biblical quotations, unless
otherwise indicated, are from the New
Revised Standard Version.
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Messenger is owned and published 1 1
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1994. Copyright 1994. Church of the
Brethren General Board. ISSN 0026-0355.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes
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kch
ik\(
NDlbe
f.\Ddrft
*«n»
1 Touch 2
lose to Home 4
ews 6
Worldwide 9
pecial Report 10
rem the
General Secretary
tepping Stones 27
etters 28
ontius' Puddle 30
urning Points 3 1
ditorial 32
16
redits:
)ver: Andrew Holbrooke
side front cover: Barbara Greenwald
;22-24: Karen S. Carter
'bottom: Susan Lind
Diane Schmachtenberger
^30ttom: Shenandoah Journal
I John Minnich
I Synapses
!-ll: Eric B. Bishop
Judy Sweets
15: Brethren Historical Library &
^chives
-18, 19 right: Photo Oikoumene
left: Margaret Woolgrove
Henry Adolph: Master weaver 12
With her story of immigrant coverlet weaver Henry Adolph,
Irene S. Reynolds highlights an era of history when the
Brethren were joining other Americans in moving to the
Midwest and Great Plains.
Remembering the exchange 14
George Dolnikowski recalls the bridge of understanding built
between a Christian church in America and a Christian church
in Russia in 1963 with the Russian Orthodox-Church of the
Brethren exchange.
Overwhelmed by injustice 17
For Haitians, their country has become a prison. They are not
welcomed anywhere as refugees and have nowhere to go to
start a new life. Margaret Woolgrove chronicles a Brethren
visit to Haiti and tells of the injustices Haitians must endure.
Sidebars by Woolgrove and Yvonne K. Dilling.
Eglise des Freres Haitiens: The church
of contagious joy 22
Karen S. Carter finds in the Miami (Fla.) Haitian Brethren
not a despairing group of refugees, but a joyous, dynamic
congregation that could well serve as a role model for the
denomination.
Cover story: Raynald, an
1 1-year-old member of
Miami 's Eglise des
Freres Haitiens. captures
the essence of his
congregation when he
says the thing he likes
best about his church is
"the way people love
each other. " Read about
that unique Church of
the Brethren
congregation and the
country from which its
members came in our
special cluster of articles
on Haiti, beginning on
page 17.
July 1994 Messenger 1
uTo
Previewing a career
For Melissa Bollinger, of
Lewiston (Minn.) Church of
the Brethren, a high school
Youth Service Class gave
Melissa Bollinger
hopes that her work
as a high school
student in a health
care center will
lead to a career
helping people with
disabilities.
"In Touch "profiles Brethren
we would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
white, if possible) to "In Touch. "
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave..
Elgin. IL 60120.
her the opportunity to work
at a local health care center
on school time.
For her efforts there and
throughout her rural Minne-
sota community, Melissa, a
high school senior, was
awarded the top community
service award by the
Winona area Chamber of
Commerce.
Melissa, who has long
been interested in working
with the mentally handi-
capped, hopes to spend this
summer as she did the last,
working in Rochester,
Minn., as an adaptive
recreational assistant in a
park and recreation program
for people with handicaps.
"I hadn't worked with the
elderly much before taking
this class," said Melissa,
"and I really enjoyed the
opportunity." Melissa and a
number of other students
spent time four days a week
with residents of Whitewater
Health Care Center.
"We did different things
with them. Wednesday was
Bingo, Thursday was crafts,
and Friday was manicures.
The ladies really enjoyed
getting manicures. It made
them feel pampered."
In addition to her work in
the local community,
Melissa is involved with the
Lewistown church. The
church is not a large one, but
there are about 1 5 youth in
the youth group, of which
Melissa currently is vice-
president.
Like youth groups
throughout the denomina-
tion, the youth at Lewiston
are gearing up for National
Youth Conference later this
month. After that, Melissa
will be going to Bethel
College in St. Paul with hope
of eventually working in a
group home for adults with
disabilities. — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
Names in tlie news
Norman N. Glick, a
member of Empire (Calif.)
Church of the Brethren, has
had a local school named
for him, honoring his 10
years as a school district
trustee and his 38 years on
the Stanislaus County Board
of Education.
• Margaret Lininger, a
member of La Verne (Calif.)
Church of the Brethren, has
received the annual
Women's History Month
Award from her local Beta
Mu chapter of Delta Kappa
Gamma, an international
society of women educators.
The award cited her contri-
butions to education and
community volunteer work.
She is a retired elementary
school teacher.
• Chester Fisher, pastor
of Mount Hermon Church
of the Brethren, near
Bassett, Va., spent time
recently in the Dominican
Republic as a building
consultant, visiting six of the
eight Church of the Brethren
groups there and checking
the condition of their church
buildings. He has had
experience building
churches in Haiti (June
1993, page 4; August/
September 1993, page 4).
• Dwayne Yost, director
of Kentucky Mountain
Housing and a member of
Flat Creek Church of the
Brethren, near Manchester,
Ky., has received the 1993
Dorothy J. Williams Life-
time Achievement Award
from the Kentucky Housing
Corporation.
• Ed Poling, pastor of
Carlisle (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren, ran 40 miles on
April 30, from his home in
Carlisle to Camp Eder near
Fairfield, Pa., raising $3,200
from supporters. The money
was given to Camp Eder. He
has been a runner since the
early 1980s, most recently
raising $3,500 for new-
church development while
running the JFK ultra-
marathon in Maryland
(March 1993, page 2).
• Donald B. Kraybill has
been named the Carl W.
2 Messenger July 1994
These ecumenical friends reunited on Crete: Tiny Apostolov
(Netherlands), Athanasis Anagnostov (Australia), Janet and
Galen Heckman (USA), and Martin Gross (Germany).
Celebrating on Crete
Last summer, two Church of
the Brethren members from
Richmond, Va., traveled to
Greece's island of Crete for
a special anniverary reunion.
It had been 25 years since
their World Council of
Churches (WCC) ecumeni-
cal team was gathered on
Crete to work at various
service projects.
Galen and Janet
Heckman, of West Rich-
Zeigler professor of religion
and history at Elizabethtown
College. He has taught at
Elizabethtown since 1971,
and is the author of numer-
ous books, including The
Upside-down Kingdom,
which won the National
Religious Book Award in
1979.
• Carmen Brubaker. a
member of Chiques Church
of the Brethren, Manheim,
Pa., is touring the Southeast
for four weeks this summer
with the Young Continentals,
a Cliristian musical group.
Members of the group are
youth from 1 2 to 16 years
old.
mond Church of the Breth-
ren, Brethren Volunteer
Service workers seconded to
the 1960s WCC team, were
reunited with the other team
members to reminisce,
update each other, visit
project sites, discover the
impact of their work of a
quarter-century ago, and
greet church leaders of the
island. Among the officials
who met with them was the
Archbishop of Crete,
Timothious.
A mission for the deaf
"I want to help other deaf
young adults have the
confidence and opportunity
to know that there is a
mission for each of them,"
says Jan Eisemann Hoffer,
who, with her husband, Jeff
Hoffer, will be establishing
the Lancaster Service
Adventure unit at their home
in Millersville, Pa., in
August.
Service Adventure is a 10-
and-a-half-month program
for young adults aged 18-20.
The Lancaster Service
Adventure Unit is designed
specifically for deaf young
adults, and is sponsored by
First Deaf Mennonite
Church of Lancaster, Pa.
"All young adults need a
nurturing environment to
deal with the many issues of
their lives," says Jeff, "but
deaf young persons rarely
live in a setting where they
can communicate freely and
openly. We hope Service
Adventure will provide just
such a setting."
Jan and Jeff have
struggled in order to ftilfill
their sense of mission and
purpose in life. "We have
experienced frustration and
pain in the hearing world
because of inadequate
accessibility and communi-
cation," says Jan. "We want
Jan Eisemann
Hoffer (shown here
with daughter
Laura) will begin
working with deaf
young adults in a
special ministry in
Millersville, Pa.
She and her
husband, Jeff, will
operate the
Lancaster Service
Adventure unit.
to find ways to break
through the isolation, to
provide resources, and to
help others develop pride
and delight in the deaf
culture."
Jan grew up in Ephrata
(Pa.) Church of the Breth-
ren. "Lots of kids there
volunteered for service. I
asked God, 'How can I serve
you?' When I realized how
many deaf people there are,
I wanted very much to work
with deaf people. I had a
strong sense of mission for
the deaf, but also a real
vision to be a missionary
overseas."
Jan was on the verge of
deciding that there was no
place for her to serve that
matched her vision, when
she heard of an opening with
Brethren Volunteer Service
(BVS) to teach deaf children
in Haiti, a position which
she held for two years.
"My work since then,"
she says, "has grown out
of my sense of mission,
which received such
affirmation when God led
me to that BVS assignment
in Haiti. Now I want to help
other deaf young adults
have the confidence and
opportunity to know that
there is a mission for each
of them."
Remembered
Harold D. Fasnacht, 86,
died May 1 7 in La Verne,
Calif He was president of
the University of La Verne
(then La Verne College),
1948-1968. After his
retirement he served the
school as director of planned
giving.
July 1994 Messengers
A church reaches out
"For everything there is a
season" (Eccl. 3:1), and for
Northern Colorado Church
of the Brethren, in Windsor,
this past winter season was
a time to hold conflict
resolution workshops. Over
was "The Family as Team."
The 24 participants used
intergenerational play
techniques as an analogy for
successful relationship-
building, gaining skills for
improving family relation-
ships.
A weekend-long "Conflict
David Miller, Mary
Faulhaber, Ruth
Amor, and Michael
Faulhaber were
participants in the
"Family as a
Team" workshop.
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send story ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' 'Close to Home, ' '
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave..
Elgin. IL 60120.
the first three months of
1994, this 62-member
congregation organized and
ran a series of workshops
covering aspects from
internal conflict and family
relationships to mediation
training and commimication
skills.
The workshops were
inspired by a presentation
Diane Schmachtenberger
gave on conflict resolution
training she had attended at
the 1994 Annual Confer-
ence. "Three members of the
congregation approached me
independently expressing
interest in training," says
Diane. "The four of us soon
became a steering commit-
tee for offering workshops to
our church and corrmiunity."
The workshop that
attracted the most people
Resolution Training" was
led by Gary Flory of
McPherson College, who
used role play to teach the
mediation skills.
The steering committee
was pleased that the work-
shops brought the church
together in a new way. "I've
been attending this church
for four years," says Diane,
"and it was the first time
since I've been here that we
really reached out to the
whole community. We have
been greatly strengthened
through working together."
Thus encouraged, the
committee is planning
follow-up practical applica-
tion of the mediation
training skills, as well as
marriage encounter and
reconciliation training.
— Margaret Woolgrove
Campus comments
McPherson College had as
its May 22 commencement
speaker Wayne Geisert,
president of Bridgewater
College. Before beginning
his 30-year career at
Bridgewater, Geisert had
been dean of McPherson. He
retires from the Bridgewater
presidency at the end of
July.
• Juniata College cel-
ebrated Earth Day April 22
with the announcement of a
new academic program in
environmental studies. The
new, interdisciplinary
program will complement
existing programs in
Juniata's core strengths in
the social sciences, humani-
ties, and natural sciences.
• The Amish and the State
(Johns Hopkins University
Press), a reference book
edited by Elizabethtown
College professor Don
Kraybill, has been selected
as one of the "outstanding
academic books of 1993" by
Choice, a monthly review
service published by the
Association of College and
Research Libraries.
• A Helping Hands Day,
May 7, was sponsored by
Manchester College
students to raise money for
bringing two Bosnian
students to the US. For a
donation, students did house
and yard work. The college
is working with the National
Fellowship of Reconciliation
(FOR) in its Bosnian
outreach.
• A 3 -day display of The
Names Project AIDS
Memorial Quilt was held at
Elizabethtown College
March 25-27. The 520
panels on display were part
4 Messenger July 1 994
r
Elizabethtown students read personal tributes featured on
the 520 quilts displayed during AIDS Awareness Week.
of more than 26,240 units
that make up the entire
AIDS Memorial Quilt. The
display was part of AIDS
Awareness Week observed
by the college.
• Bridgewater College
celebrated the 40th anniver-
sary of its Reuel B. Pritchett
Museum May 26. Pritchett
(1884-1974) was a colorful
Brethren minister from
Tennessee, noted for his
flowing beard, Dunker garb,
and pithy language. He also
was a well-known raconteur
and collector. The museum
he established at Bridge-
water reflects his eclectic
approach to collecting.
This and that
Wakemans Grove Church
of the Brethren, near
Edinburg, Va., calls its
youth club the "mid-week
miracle" because it provides
the congregation so many
opportunities for service. It
is credited with attracting
new members and Sunday
school participants. The
youth group has a four-part
program of Bible study,
activities/recreation.
fellowship/supper, and
service/choir or worship
training. The club, in
operation since 1980, has an
attendance of about 35 to 50.
• "Close to Home" scans
the district newsletters and
reports new trends in the
denomination. A recent
Southern Plains newsletter
noted that Frogville Church
of the Brethren in Fort
Towson, Okla., and Waka
(Texas) Church of the
Brethren had held their
annual Groundhog Supper.
In our November 1991 issue
we reported on another
trend-setting Southern Plains
congregation — Roanoke
(La.), which hosted a church
supper featuring as its piece
de resistance that Cajun
delicacy, crawfish.
• The aimual beef-canning
project of Southern Penn-
sylvania and Mid-Atlantic
districts was held in April,
yielding 4,272 cans of broth
and 15,611 cans of meat
chunks. About 390 volun-
teers were involved.
• The April issue of
Pennsylvania Mennonite
Heritage highlights Brethren
and Mennonite hymnology.
It contains four reviews of
the new Hymnal, introduced
to the Church of the Breth-
ren in 1992, and available
from Brethren Press.
• Bridgewater (Va.)
Church of the Brethren
sponsored members Joan
Mangum and Esther
Bittinger on a Heifer Project
International (HPI) tour to
Honduras in January. The
tour covered the work of
HPI in Honduras, taking the
60 visitors to several
development projects. The
Bridgewater pair, represent-
ing the children of their
congregation, presented the
community of El Sitio with
a goat named "CoB."
• A new history of
Southern Ohio District is
Sanctuary denied
Dayton (Va.) Church of the
Brethren closed its doors
against this refugee seeking
sanctuary from a nearby
turkey processing plant.
Presumably the bird lacked
a convincing story of
oppression.
being prepared, with 1995 as
the target date for publica-
tion, 200 years after the first
congregation of the Church
of the Brethren in southern
Ohio was organized. The
district maintains a histori-
cal center at Happy Corner
Church of the Brethren,
Clayton, Ohio, which is
open to visitors by appoint-
ment (see February, page 4).
• Providence Church of
the Brethren, in Royersford,
Pa., is the new congregation
combining the members of
Mingo and Royersford
congregations. Kenneth
Bomberger is the coordinat-
ing pastor.
Let's celebrate
Hanover (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren will celebrate the
25th anniversary of the
dedication of its meeting-
house November 13. Don
Miller, general secretary of
the Church of the Brethren,
will be the guest speaker.
• Mount Union Church of
the Brethren, Bent Moun-
tain, Va., marked its 100th
anniversary June 12 with
worship, dinner, singing,
and a dedication service.
Rocks with paintings on
them depicting the church in
1894 and 1994 were on sale
to mark the occasion.
• East Fairview Church of
the Brethren, Manheim, Pa.,
observed its 100th anniver-
sary March 13, with Kenneth
L. Gibble as speaker. A new
fellowship hall and gym
were dedicated.
• Pampa (Texas) Church
of the Brethren celebrated
its centennial June 12.
July 1 994 Messenger 5
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Children from Atlantic
Northeast and Southern
Pennsylvania Districts pour
water into a basin to symbolize
the centrality of water for
cleansing, new birth, renewal,
and empowerment during
a jointly sponsored Pentecost
service in Hershey Arena
in May.
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
move-ments. the activities reported on may
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
Augsburger, 400-voice choir
inspire thousands in Hershey
About 4,000 Brethren from Atlantic
Northeast and Southern Pennsylvania
Districts experienced a taste of Pente-
cost at a May 1 5 renewal service at the
Hershey Park Arena.
Jointly sponsored by the two districts,
the event was conceived by the Atlantic
Northeast District
Spiritual Renewal
Team, which has
planned renewal
services around a
Pentecost theme for
the past four years.
The evening
worship featured
Washington D.C.-
based Mennonite
pastor and evange-
list Myron Augs-
burger, who serves
as president of the
Christian College
Coalition; a 440-
voice choir direct-
ed by Bethany
Seminary's Nancy
Faus; and a 45-
piece orchestra led
by Southern Pennsylvania District
executive Warren Eshbach.
Christian composer Ken Medema
provided a pre-service concert and dur-
ing the service led a children's choir in
"Lord, Listen to Your Children." Child-
ren from the two districts poured pints
of water from their churches' baptismal
pools into a basin to symbolize the
centrality of water for cleansing, new
birth, renewal, and empowerment.
Included among the children was
Holly Bell, a member of the Mohler
congregation, near Ephrata, Pa., who
brought some of the water in which she
was baptized earlier in the day.
The Lebanon (Pa.) congregation's
Kerry Hurst, who gave her testimony
during the service, was inspired by the
number attending. "Just looking out, I
couldn't believe there were that many
people there," she said. "And the
music — it was breath-taking when the
choir got up. It felt heavenly."
While the worship itself was emotion
ally uplifting, Augsburger refiised to
define spirituality as mere emotional
experience. "Spirituality in the New
Testament," he said, "means you and I
live and walk with the Master."
Augsburger called on the church to
affirm God's purposes, appropriate
God's power, and acknowledge God's
presence in individual lives.
"The greatest movement in the world
is the kingdom of God," he said. "And
church is part of that kingdom." |
Following Augsburger' s invitation
to renew commitments to Christ,
i
Atlantic Northeast District's associate
executive Jan Kensinger led a short
commissioning service for 300 or
more youth and adults from the two
districts who will attend National Youf
Conference.
The evening offering of $9,386.39 i
supported the Susqueharma Valley |
Satellite of Bethany Theological
Seminary and the Bethany Academy,
based in Elizabethtown and jointly
sponsored by Atlantic Northeast and '
Southern Pennsylvania Districts. The
considerable cost of the event was
underwritten by 79 Brethren businesses
and individuals. — Don Fitzkee i
Calendar
National Older Adult Conference (NOAC II):
September 12-16, Lake Junaluska, N.C. [For
information contact Association of Brethren
Caregivers, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL
60120; (800) 323-8039].
Annual Brethren Disaster Relief Auction:
September 23-24, Lebanon (Pa.) Fair-
grounds.
By the Manner of Their Living: Reflections
on Brethren Lifestyles: 1994 Young Adult
Conference, November 24-26, Camp Eder,
Fairfield, Pa. [For information contact Young
Adult Conference, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin,
IL 60120; (800) 323-8039].
6 Messenger July 1 994
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Irethren Volunteer Service Unit 211 completed orientation in La Feria,
exas, April 24. Members are (front row) Maria Lehner, Jeni Fabian, Kathleen
chang, Eric Goubeaux, Gerhard Hoffmann; (back row) Emily Zielinski (orientation
ssistant), Denise Rohrer, Yolanda Jansen, Katherine Kennedy, Laura Austin,
'hristian Rimsche, Tammy Krause Riddle (orientation coordinator), Tilmann Rave.
See page 31 for project assignments.)
)istrict, Board, Benefit Trust
nnounce staff changes
!ene F. Hipskind has been appointed
3 executive of Pacific Southwest
•istrict, effective September 1 . Hips-
ind is presently serving as pastor of
!ew Carlisle (Ohio) Church in Southern
ihio District. He will replace Glenn
tanford who is serving as interim
^ecutive.
Peter J. Leddy Sr., will begin as
<ecutive for West Marva District on
(Sptember 1 . He has pastored Faith
id Milledgeville congregations in
linoisAVisconsin District and Red
ill and Troutville congregations in
iirlina District. Leddy will replace
interim executive J. Rogers Fike.
Sara Speicher began as associate
director, health and caregiving with the
Association of Brethren Caregivers on
June 9. Speicher has spent time in BVS
and worked in the various offices of the
World Ministries Commission in Elgin,
111. She also worked on the "God's
Earth Our Home" packet prepared by
the Eco- Justice office.
Jerry Rodeffer, has resigned as
treasurer of Brethren Benefit Trust and
director of the Brethren Foundation
effective July 8. He and his family
will be moving to Seattle, Wash. Rodef-
fer's professional plans include pursuing
opportunities in both investment
management and dairying.
Gene F. Hipskind
Peter J. Leddv Sr.
Sara Speicher
Jerry Rodeffer
Study anaylzes 1992 Brethren
congregational giving
A study conducted by Olden Mitchell
analyzes 1992 giving to congregations
by church members.
Total reported giving for 1 992 was
$67,049,809.
A total of 954 congregations/fellow-
ships reported their giving. Of those
reporting, 3 1 churches gave less than
$100 per member and six gave less than
$25 per member. Thirty-five churches
gave more than $ 1 ,000 per member.
Five of these were in Michigan District,
five in Pacific Southwest, and four in
Atlantic Northeast. Three gave more
than $3,000 per member. The break-
down showed the highest range was
$300-399 with 185 churches listed.
Districts with the largest per-member
giving were Michigan, $667; Pacific
Southwest, $655; Atlantic Northeast,
$651; and Northern Indiana, $639.
The four districts with the smallest
per member giving for the year were
West Marva, $248; Missouri/Arkansas,
$297; Southeastern, $318; and Western
Permsylvania, $326.
"It is likely that factors other than the
economy and size of the church account
for the level of giving per member,"
said Mitchell in his report. "It could be
helpful to discover these factors in
lifting the level of giving for the entire
Church of the Brethren."
The majority of churches with the
highest per-member giving were under
100 members each. But others were in
the 200-member range, and some with
over 400 members gave above $ 1 ,000
per member.
Mitchell observed that the economy
may account for some of the difference
between the districts with the highest
and lowest per-member giving.
In one district, one church's giving
per-member was 236 times that of
another in that district. In another dis-
trict, of two rural churches in the same
area, the per-member giving of one was
about 1 00 times that of the other.
July 1994 Messenger?
Consultants complete initial
review of the Brethren
The initial review and reflection paper
on a study of the Church of the *
Brethren has been completed by
Communicorp, an Atlanta-based
communications consultants group
(see April, page 7).
Communicorp conducted focus
group meetings with eight congrega-
tions in Illinois, California, North
Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania,
the General Offices, and Illinois/
Wisconsin District. It will continue to
hold focus groups, and were to meet
with individuals and district executives
at Annual Conference.
"We believe the Brethren are doing
a great many things right. . . . But the
Church of the Brethren — like any
organization — also has its frailties,"
the paper said.
The focus groups discussed a variety
of areas, including heritage, plain
dress, rituals such as love feast and
feet washing, programs, including
overseas and domestic, leadership, and
growth of the denomination.
"We wholeheartedly commend the
Church of the Brethren for its service
ministry, a crucial distinguishing
Brethren respond to SOS kit
request for southern Sudan
About 12,700 SOS kits for Sudan were
received in New Windsor, Md., by early
May from Brethren responding to the
campaign. (See "SOS for Sudan,"
December 1993, page 18.)
The kits, packed in 577 boxes, filled
two 20-foot sea containers and were
shipped by sea to Kenya. From there
they were trucked into Sudan or north-
em Uganda. The first shipment was
distributed to Sudanese in June.
"We believe the blessings of giving
are already being felt among many who
8 Messenger July 1 994
feature of the denomination," the
report said. "But as the church contin-
ues its valuable work with outreach,
both nationally and worldwide, admin-
istrators must redouble their efforts to
bolster the delicate but essential net-
work of Brethren congregations."
The study is part of the Goals for the
'90s objective on evangelism and
communication. Recommendations
from the findings are to be shaped
later this year. Once final findings are
in, pilot resources will be created and
tested with churchwide use projected
for the fall of 1995.
The 66-page report concluded with
four positioning points: The Church of
the Brethren, "continuing its centuries-
old tradition, stands in clear contrast
to — not in competition with — other
Protestant denominations; distin-
guishes itself not as an abstract way of
believing, but as a way of living,
conveyed fi^om one person to another;
patterns its daily living after the life of
Jesus — a life of humble service and
unconditional love; and as a compas-
sionate alternative in a world of
increasing violence, complexity, and
alienation, the Brethren way of living
incorporates peace, simplicity, and
togetherness."
participated, and before long these
packages, expressing our caring and
concern, will be in the hands of those
who need them," said Merv Keeney,
Africa/Middle East representative, in a
May letter to participants.
About two dozen kits were handed out
to Sudanese in a symbolic gesture
during the February Hunger for Peace
Tour.
The SOS kit project was selected to
be among the service options for this
month's National Youth Conference in
Colorado.
The SOS kit campaign will continue
through the end of August.
Brethren participate in trip to
IVIiddle East on peace missioi
From May 11 to 23 Brethren traveled
the Middle East with Christian Peace-
maker Teams (CPT), a project of Men
nonite and Church of the Brethren cor
gregations. The purpose was to "learn
about the present state of the peace pr
cess in the Middle East, and to explor
how a church connected international
nonviolent presence could support anc
hasten that process."
The trip was timed so that the grouf
was in Palestinian areas of the West
Bank and Gaza during the transfer of
power from Israel to the Palestinian
Liberation Organization. The develop
ment of these autonomous regions in 1
occupied territories "represents a new
era for the Holy Lands," said CPT, bu
with it comes the worry "that autonon
will result in new forms of excessive
control or intervention from Israel."
The team's first major dialog in the
region was in Hebron at the Ibrahim
Mosque, where more than 40 Palestin-
ians were massacred by an American-
bom Jewish settler in Febmary. Since
then the mosque has been closed to be
Muslims and Jews, who share it as a
common place of worship. According
team members, "Israeli Defense Force
soldiers are posted on all the streets
leading up to the mosque, as well as o
some rooftops of adjacent buildings."
The peacemaker team had a chance
encounter with members of TIPH (Tei
porary Intemational Presence in Heb-
ron), official intemational observers
who have been appointed to Hebron ir
the wake of a worldwide call for im-
proved security for Palestinians. The
TIPH representative urged the group t
"tell the world what's going on in
Hebron. The military presence is
everywhere."
The team also spent time exploring
the possibility of rebuilding homes in
the occupied territories. Many of these
homes were destroyed during the
military occupation of the territories.
lergency disaster funds
>ued to Midwest, Haiti, Cuba
>25,000 grant from the Emergency
;aster Fund has been allocated to as-
with ongoing flood recovery in the
Jwest. The money will support work
Richmond, Mo., and facilitate the re-
nse in areas with renewed flooding,
in allocation of $20,000 has been
de for Haiti. The money will be used
for medicines, blankets and layettes for
persons in poor communities, to provide
legal assistance for those incarcerated in
Haiti, as well as transportation and
financing for small businesses and legal
assistance for Haitians who have fled to
the Dominican Republic.
A grant of $15,000 has been allocated
to Cuba in response to an ongoing
need for medicines in that country.
The money will be used to cover costs
of medicines that will go directly to
churches with whom the Brethren have
partnerships, and for shipping costs.
An allocation of $10,000 has been
given in response to the plight of
displaced persons from Rwanda who
have fled to neighboring Tanzania,
Zaire, Uganda, and Burundi. The fiinds
will be used for emergency relief
assistance such as blankets and medi-
cines.
)C-6 cargo plane carried nearly 30,000 pounds of food,
jicines, hospital sheets, soap, school and health kits to Cuba on
il 28, completing a two-year Church World Service comprehensive
^ram of humanitarian aid.
CWS had a license from the US Commerce Department to send
0,000 worth of aid during the two-year period that ended April 30.
/lay, the Commerce Department granted a two-year extension of
license.
The April shipment brought the two-year cumulative total to
,356 pounds (97.68 tons) with a declared value of nearly $4.5
ion. Goods were sent in a total of 27 shipments.
The aid program is in response to specific needs identified by the
)an Ecumenical Council. All shipments were sent directly to the
)an Ecumenical Council, which was responsible for the receipt and
ribution within the context of the license.
The April shipment included 1 ,417 pounds of medicines donated
he Church of the Brethren, and 100 cartons (4,940 pounds) of
ned meat donated by the t^ennonite Central Committee.
Church World Service further donated 230 pounds of medicines,
30 pounds of hospital sheets, 100 cartons (3,900 pounds) of baby
ittes, 75 cartons (5,700 pounds) of school kits, 150 cartons (9,450
nds) of health kits and 20 cartons (1,620 pounds) of soap.
The declared value of the shipment was $127,526.95.
The full membership of the committee charged to raise
I million for the lakovos Endowment for Faith and Order has been
ned. Melanie May is the Church of the Brethren's representative on
committee.
The fund, a joint project of the National Council of Churches and
World Council of Churches, was named in honor of Archbishop
)vos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South
erica, known for his longstanding commitment to the goals of
menism and the work of Faith and Order.
Three former US Presidents serve as honorary co-cfiairs of the
imittee: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Reflecting
Mary Scott, a member of Chicago (III.) First Church of the
Brethren was among the Americans joining with South Af-
ricans in celebrating the country's first democratic election.
the ecumenical mission of the Faith and Order movement, the lakovos
Endowment Committee is composed of laypersons and clergy from a
broad spectrum of confessions and professions. Eighteen commun-
ions are represented on the committee.
Three members of Congress — Senator Paul S. Sarbanes and
Representatives Lee H. Hamilton and Olympia J. Snowe — have been
named to the lakovos Endowment Committee.
Income from the endowment will be used in equal proportions to
support the Faith and Order work of the two councils. While Christians
in large numbers believe in and seek Christian unity, the churches
remain divided over tenets of faith and forms of structure and worship.
The goal of Faith and Order is to promote a deeper understanding of
those elements that bind all Christians in a common faith while working
to resolve the issues that divide them, including issues of race, class,
gender, nationality, and culture.
The endowment will be used to convene theologians and church
leaders around unity issues; train younger theologians for ecumenical
leadership; bring theologians into direct engagement with church life;
encourage studies around church-uniting and church-dividing social
issues, peace and justice; and insure adequate staffing for Faith and
Order work in both councils.
July 1 994 Messenger 9
Among the suffering is joy
The challenges of war — death, starvation, displacement —
have not shaken the southern Sudanese s faith in God.
by Eric B. Bishop
On the Hunger for Peace Tour in Febru-
ary, I, along with the seven other
members of the tour, witnessed the
suffering and pain as a result of the
current 1 1-year civil war. But what I
had heard about and not seen before the
trip was the joy people can find in life
and the strength of the faith they put in
God and Christ.
In some places, Sudanese begin wor-
ship as early as 6 a.m. and the churches
are so crowded that people have to sit
outside. These early services are held to
avoid the bombing raids of the Sudanese
government — and to show their commit-
Even the children in southern Sudan
openly express their belief in Christ.
ment to the faith they have accepted.
I accepted what I saw as a chal-
lenge— a challenge to a stronger faith.
How do I stand by and watch as people
die needlessly? What is the answer? My
prayers are not only for the Sudanese,
but for myself I pray for an answer on
how I or we can provide a tangible end
to the war. One of the hardest things to
grapple with is that there is no quick
and easy way to end this conflict. It's
going to take time and reconciliation
and healing. Not our normal North
American/European way of wanting to
snap our fingers and end the conflict.
Over and over again we heard from
Sudanese we visited with that there is
no desire for the US military to inter-
vene. There are those, of course, who
would like to receive arms assistance,
and honestly, watching the life people
live and seeing the struggle they're
going through made my mind wonder
and ask "What if . . .?" The reality is
that if we do something, people are
going to die, and if we do nothing,
people are going to die.
While the church struggles in south-
em Sudan, it struggles with its mem-
bers, displaced and on the move.
However, unlike that of her counterpa
in the US, the emphasis of the church,
instead of being put on ends of the
political spectrum or denominational
competition, is on being one in Christ-
the body with Christ as the head.
The Sudanese are a biblical people.
Those we met talked about their faith
and the references to Sudan in the Bib
"Woe to the land of whirring wings
along the rivers of Cush. which sends
envoys by sea in papyrus boats over tl
water. Go, swift messengers, to a peof
tall and smooth-skinned, to a people
feared far and wide, an aggressive
nation of strange speech, whose land i
divided by rivers" (Isa. 18:1-2, NIV).
More than once, when we visited w
displaced Sudanese or Sudanese refu-
gees in Uganda, the same question,
"What keeps you going?" received tht
same answer, "God."
The war in Sudan seems simplistic (
the surface, Muslims versus Christian:'
but in reality it is multifaceted and
extremely complex. Many of the
Sudanese we visited with, ate with, ar
worshiped with told us they could live
Despite the suffering, the Sudanese are capable of finding joy in their lives, and
these children sing for members of the Hunger for Peace tour.
*l ^,^|.1%#.
10 Messenger July 1994
longside their Muslim brothers and
isters. The war is also about economics
nd power. But to make peace a reality,
le southern Sudanese feel there needs
) be "true peace" in Sudan — peace
ith justice.
While there are the obvious results of
'ar — death, starvation, displacement —
iere is also joy among the Sudanese — a
ly in Christ. They display it in their
orship and their music, and their
iDspitality to guests from halfway
|ound the world.
I The beat of the drums and the music
jf songs resounded right through the
J3dy, the bones, and into the soul. As
le sat in the village of Longu, groups of
jiildren and youth paraded through,
jnging and dancing. It was during this
ine of celebration that Roger Schrock
aned over and said, "This is the joy."
\ It was unimaginable prior to the trip
Sudan that there could be such joy
among the suffering of
Sudanese. Yet, as we went to
churches, and villages and
camps, the Sudanese constantly
provided us with warmth and
hospitality.
There is joy in seeing the
hope and sacrifice of people in
a country where there's war
and death, violence and
oppression. A place where,
despite the lack of a monetary
economy or jobs as we know
them, the people gather to
worship Christ and to offer
what little they have. My eyes
widened not only to see the
congregation we worshiped
with in Nimule not only take
up an offering, but to see the
small baskets and bags stuffed
nearly beyond capacity. I had
to ask myself, "Where did these
The horrors of the current civil war will leave not
only physical scars, as on this young boy, but
also mental and emotional scars.
ducation is very important to the Sudanese. These children from a refugee camp
irticipate in building their school by carrying bricks to the building site.
people get their money?"
No matter the amount of joy. there's
still a war going on, and the people
there are doing their best to survive.
There's another realization for me
that in the US the vast majority of us
usually don't need to put our faith to the
ultimate test on a daily basis — the test
of life or death, of survival. The church
in southern Sudan is "the church."
There are different denominations, but
together they work as the body of Christ.
One of the most frustrating parts of
the trip was being asked by the Sudan-
ese why they were forgotten and why
the world would not come to their aid.
As the archdeacon of the Episcopal
church in Nimule surmised, "Maybe the
white man has decided to see that the
black man must go out of this world. If
we are all in Christ and we are people of
God all, we must share this world
together."
M.
July 1994 Messenger 1 1
Henry Adolph: Master weaver
by Irene S. Reynolds
His name sounds Germanic enough to
be Brethren, and his occupation of
weaver puts him in good company, too.
After all, early Brethren leader Peter
Becker and many other immigrants from
Europe were weavers, an honorable
Dunker trade. But that land of origin —
France — has an off-Brethren ring to it.
Ah, but Henry Adolph was from Alsace,
a region of France on the German
border, an area that has been the object
of a tug-of-war between France and
Germany through the centuries. France
possessed Alsace in Henry's time, but
has lost and regained it since.
The hands of Henry Adolph were
skilled at the loom, and he had an
artist's eye for design and color. But he
struggled with the English language all
the years he lived in America. That
language problem did not, however,
prevent him — and his brothers George
and Charles — from producing a legacy
of woven coverlets that are treasured by
today's historians, artists, and craft-
workers.
In 1835, at the age of 20, Henry, son
of Alsatian German parents Peter and
Elizabeth Ruch Adolph, immigrated to
America.
Pauline Montgomery, in her article
"The Weavers," {Indiana Coverlet
Weavers and Their Coverlets, Hoosier
Press, Indianapolis, 1974), speculates
that Henry may have taken up weaving
in Germantown, Ohio, a way-station for
a number of Indiana-bound weavers and
a center of weaving activity.
Most professional weavers in the mid-
1800s were men. Coverlet styles include
jacquard and overshot patterns. The
jacquard coverlets Adolph wove were
made on a loom with a special attach-
ment named for automatic-pattern loom-
maker Joseph Jacquard. Most jacquard
coverlets have a border design and a
"signature block" that includes the
maker's name, date, and location, and
often the client's name.
The 1 840 records show that Henry
Adolph satisfied the Wayne County,
1 2 Messenger July 1 994
Ind., court to the facts: "He had been a
resident of the United States more than
five years, of the state of Indiana more
than one year, and had behaved himself
as a man of good moral character." He
swore to "support the Constitution of
the United States and forever renounce
all allegiance to Louis Philippe, King of
France."
Other records confirm that on January
28, 1841, Benjamin Bowman, minister
of Nettle Creek Church of the Brethren,
south of Hagerstown, Ind., performed
the marriage ceremony of Henry Adolph
and Elizabeth Klein (or Cline) in Wayne
County. Adolph was also baptized into
the Dunker faith in the Nettle Creek
congregation.
B,
►y the time Henry and Elizabeth were
married, Henry was a master of the craft
of weaving. His marriage gave him
another very valuable asset — a
Lancaster County, Pa. -bom wife who
could assist him over the language
barrier that hampered many immigrants
from Germany.
Soon after his marriage, Henry moved
to the eastern Indiana village of Cam-
bridge City, located at the intersection
of the National Road and the projected
Whitewater Canal. There, for a time, he
wove with John Wissler, who was
already established in nearby Milton.
And in 1843, Henry's brothers,
Charles and George, came by ship to
New Orleans and went directly to
Wayne County, Ind.
While most weavers produced eithe
single or double jacquards, the eviden
indicates Adolph was proficient in bol
A Wissler coverlet of 1 840, woven
while Henry was still working with
Wissler, is a double jacquard identical
in pattern and border to one marked, "
Adolph, Douglas County, Kansas,
1866." After Adolph and Wissler split
Wissler's offerings were usually only
single jacquard.
In 1 844 Wissler moved from a farm
south of Milton into the village. Henr
set up his own weaving shop in Cam-
bridge City, two miles north. His
brother George worked with him, whi
brother Charles set up his loom in
nearby Williamsburg.
Henry's coverlets show craftsmansh
in weaving and magnificent sensitivity
to design and color. His double jac-
quards are often colored blue and whil
in patterns and borders customarily
produced by Scottish weavers.
Most of Henry's coverlets are wovei
in broad stripes of color, using sunburi
medallions or variations of the "Four
Roses" pattern. His borders most ofter
use designs of bird and shrub, shrub
rose, or the swag and tassel.
The Adolph dye-pot was important i
\m
Henry Adolph '$
coverlets carry
traditional patten
such as the
sunburst medallio
His borders featui
birds, shrubs, and
buildings. The
signature block oi
this coverlet readi
"Made by H.
Adolph, Walnut
Grove, Mo., 1881.
try sat for this photo portrait in
>5. He died in 1907, at age 92.
ducing attractive coverlets, and
labeth may have been Henry's dyer.
; shades of turkey and scarlet red,
re blue, and sage green were splen-
, but many of the roses were in a soft
;nder pink few other weavers were
; to produce.
>ne of the Adolph's neighbors
arted, "The Adolphs talked very
chy." Henry signed his signature in
Itch" (German) when he sold his
abridge City lots in 1847. He
ears to have mastered writing his
le in English five years later when
iold the remaining two lots,
iut his struggle with the vagaries of
English language continued,
ntgomery's article reports Hamilton
inty was woven into his coverlets as
imildon," "Hamelton," and even
imeldon." He modified the past tense
he verb "weave" to "wov."
1 the 1 850s, Henry moved his family
owa, and on to Missouri. Elmer
toy Craik, in his book The History of
Church of the Brethren in Kansas
es the Henry Adolph expelled from
le County, Mo., drove through with
an ox team to Douglas County. Many
Church of the Brethren families left
Missouri for Kansas over the slavery
question. Marie Adolph Pemberton says
that Henry was a close friend of Dunker
Jacob Ulrich, also from Wayne County,
Ind., who settled south of Lawrence in
1856. In those troubled days before the
Civil War, Ulrich knew John Brown, the
abolitionist of later Harpers Ferry fame.
In 1863, during the war, Ulrich's house
and farm were burned by the notorious
Quantrill's raiders.
The August 16, 1866, issue of The
Lawrence Daily Tribune, Lawrence,
Kan., reports: "H. Adolph of Clinton,
called in to our office yesterday, to
exhibit a most beautiful specimen of his
handiwork, a bedspread or coverlet . . .
and will be exhibiting several specimens
of his manufactures at the approaching
State Fair."
A two-story frame house in Clinton,
Kan., a small town west of the anti-
slavery border town of Lawrence, was
home for the Adolphs after they left
Missouri, where Henry's first wife,
Elizabeth, died in 1859. In 1860 Adolph
married Nancy Studdard of Dade
County, Mo.
He
Lenry lived and worked in Clinton,
Kan., for 20 years. According to Judy
Sweets of the Elizabeth M. Watkins
Community Museum in Lawrence,
Henry Adolph was one of only a half
dozen weavers who produced the
jacquard coverlets west of the Missis-
sippi River.
"He could weave one a day and he
usually charged from five to ten
dollars," says Sweets, "but I noticed he
also would trade. In exchange for at
least one coverlet, records show he
received a yearling calf."
The last known coverlet woven by
Henry is dated 1885. Sweets says that
his Douglas County coverlets are
important because they represent the
last days of a handweaving industry that
began in the eastern US in the 1830s.
Today's Adolph family believes the
industrialized manufacture of coverlets
caused both Henry and Charles, who
had moved to Franklin County, Kan., to
switch to weaving carpets. Brother
George and a nephew were attacked and
killed by bushwhackers in 1866. While
on a trip from Lawrence to Missouri for
supplies, their bodies, team of horses,
and wagon were burned.
Henry and Nancy Adolph moved back
to Missouri and lived in Walnut Grove
for 26 years before Henry's death from
pneumonia on February 14, 1907, only
four days before his 92nd birthday.
His obituary in the Walnut Grove
Tribune, on Wednesday, February 20,
1907, reported that "Uncle Henry" was
survived by his wife, Nancy; one
daughter fi-om among his nine children,
Mary Ann Winters of Lone Star, Kan.;
and a brother Charles, who had come
from Centropolis, Kan., a week before
his brother died. Charles died in 1913.
Adolph coverlets are in museums
throughout the Midwest. The Indianapo-
lis Children's Museum has two made by
each of the brothers. The Kansas
History Museum has four Henry Adolph
coverlets and one woven by a brother-
in-law, John Klein. Henry Adolph
coverlets are included in an exhibit,
"Rare and Historic Coverlets" at the
Elizabeth M. Watkins Community
Museum in Lawrence, Kan., that runs
through October this year.
Adolph coverlets are displayed by
family members at their annual reunion
the first Sunday in August. Descendants
gather in the red schoolhouse on the left
side of the road four miles north of
Council Grove, Kan., some 90 miles
northeast of Wichita.
Today when Brethren think of
coverlets, they likely picture the
colorfijl quilts made at Annual Confer-
ence, mainly by women. But 150 years
ago Brethren coverlets were woven on
looms, mainly by men. And proud is the
museum that has one on exhibit, parti-
cularly if woven into a signature
block is the name "H. Adolph."
M.
Irene S. Reynolds is a freelance writer from
Lawrence, Kan.
July 1994 Messenger 13
Remembering
the exchange
Lydia Popandopulo,
personal secretary to the
supreme head of the Russian
Orthodox church, made
warm friends with Roderick
Miller at the Miller farm
near Bridgewater, Va. The
Millers were among many
Brethren families who
helped give the visiting
Soviets a cross section of life
in the denomination.
By George Dolnikowski
George Dolnikowski was one of thou-
sands of "displaced persons" resettled
in the United States after World War II
by the Brethren Service Commission. A
new book by Brethren Press, This I
Remember, documents the unusual
encounter after 1949 of this Russian
intellectual — buffeted by personal
tragedies following the Bolshevik
Revolution and painful existence for
vears as a prisoner-of-war in Nazi
Germany — with faculty and students on
the campus of Juniata College.
The following is an excerpt from
that book, describing the author 's
experience as interpreter during the
Church of the Brethren/Russian
Orthodox exchange of 1963.
* ♦ • »
The purposes of the Russian Orthodox-
Brethren exchange in 1963 were: "To
establish a bridge of understanding
between a Christian church in America
and a Christian church in Russia. To
provide opportunity for the Church of
the Brethren and the Orthodox Church
of Russia to informally express concerns
and viewpoints on reconciliation and
international peace on the basis of
Christian brotherhood and with a
nonpolitical emphasis. To emphasize a
people-to-people program in contrast to
an exchange of high level officials." I
served as the official interpreter for this
program and very much enjoyed being
in the position where 1 could help others
arrive at an understanding.
Many things impressed the Russian
priests. They began to realize how
strong American religious life is, not
only on its own, but also as recognized
by the government. When they first
came, the Russians were allowed only
25 miles of free movement. But when
the Church of the Brethren promised
Washington that it would be responsibli
for the group, the State Department
gave them permission to go anywhere.
The Russians were impressed by
actions of the Church of the Brethren
against war, as I had been when I
arrived in the United States.
They discovered differences in our
religious services, especially when it
came to singing. In Russia only the
choir sings, but here the entire congre-
gation sings.
They were inspired by the vesper
service by the lake at Camp Alexander
Mack. There was preaching, singing,
and a mutual feeling of peace. One of
the priests said, "Wouldn't it be nice to
live like we are here in this camp?"
The Russians were surprised that the
Brethren knew each other no matter
where they were. One priest even asked
me if it was prearranged to make them
believe that the Brethren are very
friendly to each other. But when I told
him about the history of the Brethren,
when I told him that often 10 percent oi
the membership attends Annual Confer-
ence, he began to understand.
The Russians were impressed with
Bethany Seminary and with the General
Offices in Elgin. They were impressed
with the fiiendliness and the genuine
concern for the well-being of the priests
and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The staff of Millersville (Pa.) College
tried to impress the Russians with their
technology. They showed off their
electronics, and the Russians just said,
"Oh, we have that." But on the way
back fi"om the physics lab, one priest
spotted something on the wall and aske(
what it was. I told him it was a pencil
sharpener. The priest called the other
priests over to look at it. I pulled out a
pencil and sharpened it. We spent 30
14 Messenger July 1994
Top: Archpriest Eugen
Ambartzumov, dean of a
Leningrad (now St.
Petersburg) cathedral, had
ice cream cones explained
to him by Church of the
Brethren member Roy
Forney.
Far left: Church of the
Brethren general secretary
Norman Baugher presented a
1 763 Sauer Bible to Father
Juvenali, head of the
delegation from the Russian
Orthodox Church.
Left: The Russian Orthodox
Church, on a 1967 visit,
presented the Brethren
with an icon. The Brethren,
in exchange, gave the visitors
a large Brethren Service
cup.
Below: The Russian Orthodox
visitors appreciated the
peaceful scene on the shores
of Lake Waubee, at Indiana's
Camp Alexander Mack.
July 1994 Messenger 15
Call leaders and support them
The call for leadership often is heard in the church. Different kinds of things
likely are being asked for by different persons. Many are aware of our need for
pastoral leadership. At any given time, 70 to 80 congregations are seeking
pastors. We have not been able to train enough pastors to fill current pastoral
vacancies.
But the call for leadership may refer to the fact that church school teachers
often are hard to find. For that matter, church board positions and other congre-
gational assignments often are difficult to fill. Our institutions complain about
not having enough Brethren to choose fi^om for executive and other positions.
Or the call for leadership may refer to the need to have accepted leadership
positions be more visionary and assertive. Perhaps people feel that there is no
single authority or no single place where complaints can be lodged. We
remember with nostalgia the visionaries of a previous time.
We in our day, however, are different from previous generations. We have
different expectations of leaders. For one thing, we don't want any one person
to have too much authority, and so positions are clearly limited. Too often we
withhold support fi-om leaders because of a variety of personal expectations.
Gone is the simple devotion we gave to leaders of another generation.
We also want everyone to have an opportunity to serve. This results in brief
terms, however, and in frequent replacement by new people. Church board
members rotate frequently. We now have limited terms for deacons. Lengthy
pastorates are the exception rather than the rule. None of us is ready to return to
the pattern of a previous generation. We value our democratic procedures.
However we must recognize that there is a price to pay. We no longer have the
long-term positions that gave us a sense of leadership.
We also distribute leadership. There are various committees with defined
responsibilities. No one person can speak for all. The resuh is a pattern of
distributed leadership.
An important step toward strengthening leadership is to broaden our use of
calling. We traditionally called leaders from our midst by laying hands upon
them. More recently we have depended upon a person's itmer sense of God's
call or upon the election process. Our practice of discerning the leaders in our
midst and then calling them out has served us well in the past. A few of our
congregations are "calling congregations," and they give us many of our
leaders. All of our congregation should be "calling congregations."
Calling out leadership depends upon discernment of God's will. And, in turn,
discernment comes as we worship together, study the Scriptures together, pray
together, converse together, and fellowship together in the spirit and power of
Jesus Christ. In such discernment, God leads us to call out leadership. In the
same manner, we will become more evangelistic in calling others to join with us.
Such discernment converts a contemporary attitude that will not permit
strong leadership. All of us, rather, are to pray for and support the leaders we
have chosen, even though we don't always agree with them. When we call out
and support leadership we will have it. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
minutes looking at and talking about the
pencil sharpener! Before the delegation
left the country, every priest received,
in addition to all kinds of other presents,
16 Messenger July 1994
a pencil sharpener.
Throughout the encounter many
people asked the Russian visitors, "Are
you communists? Are you spies? Are
you trying to undermine our security
here? Are you really Christians?"
The best answer was given by one
priest: "In 1935, my church was
destroyed and I was sent to Siberia.
After 14 years of hard labor, I returned
to rebuild my church. I am in charge of
it now. What do you think?" Answers
like that were helpful to Americans in
understanding what it means to be a
member of the Orthodox Church in
Russia. Americans take freedom, civil
or religious, for granted. The Russians «
had to fight for them. \
After the exchange was over, while
flying home, I wrote the following lines
A Russian priest
while touring the United States
was asked
After his after-diimer speech:
"How do you like America
and how do you find our food?"
Pondering for a moment,
the priest began
with a quiver in his voice:
"I lived through nine hundred days,
each day a year,
in the besieged city of Leningrad.
Eight hundred thousand died
of sheer starvation.
In order to survive
we ate free roots, cats, dogs,
and rats . . .
And now,
beholding the richness and variety of
sustenance
upon this table.
What can I say?
And still, I must confess
I am hungry for a bowl of borsch
and a piece of real Russian rye
bread."
In our times, experiences such as
these should be supported. It is through
efforts like these that people can bring
themselves to understanding,
working through the conflicts.
M.
George Dolnikowski is professor emeritus of
Russian and German studies at Juniata College,
and a founding member of Juniata 's Peace and
Conflict Studies Committee.
1ISSI0N 1994
ANNUAL REPORT CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN GENERAL BOARD
/ chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear
fruit and that your fruit should abide.— John 15:16 RSV
Phil Grout
What is it to which God caiis the Church of the Brethren? Par-
ticularly in the years remaining in this decade and in this
miilenium?
As I reflect on the Brethren understanding of the Gospel over al-
most three centuries, I sense that at this time God is calling our
denomination to fruit-bearing In quite specific ways:
□ to grow In membership. In disclpleship. In diversity,
□ to widen participation In ministry and leadership,
Q to address violence and injustice at every level of society,
□ to become better stewards of all God's creation.
Our churchwide Goals for the '90s support us In these tasks.
Together we seek to embrace mission and evangelism, to apply
biblical faith and heritage, to undergird family and youth, to
pursue peace and service, to cultivate leadership and renewal. It
Is around these goals that we in the Church of the
Brethren center our labors to "go and bear fruit."
And as we go, we recognize that It Is as we come
to know Christ's love that we become a people for
others. It Is as we take on Christ's suffering and
peace that our mission Is given vitality. It Is as we
enter into Christ's joy that our witness endures.
Cheap grace receives the love of God and reveals
no consequence. Costly grace brings the fruit of
love to bear In relationships with one another and
with those beyond our own. Cheap grace pro-
duces fruit that is worthless. Costly grace bears fruit
that abides.
I offer this report with thanks that we are partners In frult-bearing
and partners In the grace of God.
Donald E. Miller
General Secretary, Church of the Brethren
«
Cover photo. Haiti: Praying in a most
beleaguered land. © J 994 Andrew Holbrooke
Mission is
reiationstnip.
Belnind service
projects, ex-
change pro-
grams, and
materiai aid
sinipments are
persons affirming
persons in tlie
name of Clirist.
Ricl< Traugliber,
center, of Oal<-
iey, iii., witt^
new friends at
Reynosa, Mexi-
co, worl<camp.
Shawn Replogle
Mission is disci-
pieship. Despite
ttnreots and pres-
sures. Pastor Onaido
Pereira and tine
young church in Rio
Verde, Brazil, have
conducted fre-
quent baptisms,
erected their first
meetinghouse, co-
ordinated a city-
wide campaign
against hunger, and
licensed five mem-
bers to the ministry.
Derich Rodriguez
MISSION BREAKTHROUGHS
IT IS A THING OF WONDER'
A mission understanding
of the gospel regards new
life, new birtti, new be-
ginnings, "a new heaven
and a new earth," hope,
joy, even surprise, as
watchwords. These
themes and images affirm
God's unconditional will to
gather up and renew all
things in Christ.
The church in Nigeria uses
the wonderful Hausa ex-
pression Abin mamaki: "It
is a thing of wonder." For
Brethren, wonder may be
found in introducing a new
curriculum for children or
receiving new members; in
risking acts of mission or
service; in striving together
toward wholeness; in
managing and performing
tasks well.
To live in mission is to live
with buoyant expectancy
that God will do wonders
To prepare for the September 1994 lau
of thie new curriculum Jubilee: God's
Good News, more than 90 training eve
were conducted by the Church of the
Brethren. The broadly graded materia
for age two through grade eight, inclu
sets of story figures. The curriculum wo
produced by four denominations roote
the believer's church perspective.
First Church Chicago is one of several
congregations hosting the new Lafiya
whole-person ministry. A handbook and
two videotapes help guide the program,
which was tested in 10 congregations be-
fore being offered to the church at large.
1 993 was a big year for short-term
volunteers. More than 1,400
Brethren Disaster Response workers
served on projects in eight states.
Almost 300 junior highs, senior
highs, and young adults partici-
pated in eight worl<camps. Seen
here is Alan Edwards, Tryon, N.C.,
at a Miami, Flo., workcomp.
Shawn Replogle
Signaling the beginnings of the Andrew
Center for evangelism and congregational
growth, Rosanna McFadden and Pat
Helman created a Tree of Life for the
Indianapolis Annual Conference. By
week's end the tree bore 3,650 leaves,
each with the name of a person reached
for Christ by a Brethren congregation.
Howard Rnyer
In a nationwide study of financial
management practices by reli-
gious organizations, the Church
of the Brethren General Board
was rated No. 1 . Financial
managers shown here are, from
the left, Brenda Reish, Judy
Keyser, Darryl Deardorff, and Ken
Shisler. The extensive study was
funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Groundwork continues to be laid in
Korea for the launching of the
Church of the Brethren. Field
director Dan Kim is cultivating new
ministries through education,
service, and church development.
David Radclijf
MISSION MILESTONES
MARKERS ALONG THE BRETHREN WAY
In a church almost three
centuries old, anniver-
saries abound. One of the
most significant in 1994 is
the centennial of an An-
nual Conference action
authorizing the sending of
a mission team to India.
This decision officially
marked the opening of
foreign missions in the
Church of the Brethren.
Fifty years later, the
advent of the Brethren
Service Center made visi-
ble aspects of mission that
Brethren had long prac-
ticed: relief, development,
service, and reconciliation.
Still older milestones pre-
vail: in 1993, 250 years
since the printing at Ger-
mantown of the first
foreign-language Bible in
the colonies, and in 1994,
250 years since the pub-
lishing of the first Brethren
hymnal in America.
50 years. The Brethren Service Center at New
Windsor, Md., began in 1944 as a relief operation in
response to the devastation of Worid War il. In
hosting a broad range of peace and service minis-
tries through the decades, the center has come to
symbolize a way of life in which service and self-
giving are central. Beyond camera range in the
aerial view below are mammoth warehouse facilities
where medicines, clothing, and equipment are
stored for emergency shipment around the world.
100 years. In a spring 1994 visit
honoring the centennial of Breth-
ren work in India, Church of the
Brethren leaders officiated at
dedications in several Church of
North India congregations.
Moderator Earl Ziegler lays the
cornerstone for a new home for
the Vagalkhod church, whose
members are gathered beside
the old structure.
250 years. Two
years into Hymnal:
A Worship Book, the
denomination
marks the 250th
anniversary of the
first Brethren hymnal
in America— Das
kleine Davidische
Psalterspiel.
Published at
Germantown, Pa.,
in 1 744, the work
appeared in
numerous editions
for more than a
century.
Phil Grout
MISSION PARTNERS
JUST DO IT — COOPER ATI VELY
Whether training for
evangelism, digging wells,
publishing Bible studies,
championing the environ-
ment, marketing hand-
crafts, or extending the
church. Brethren approach
mission by working across
denominational boundaries
as well as within.
Some 1,100 congrega-
tions, 23 districts, sister
churches in several lands,
task groups, and inter-
church coalitions engage
in mission collaboratively.
Each act of mission is
carried out on behalf of the
whole body of Christ.
The slogan of a much-
advertised athletic
corporation is "Just do
it." The motto also
befits Brethren, given
the Brethren impulse
for creative, hands-on
action. Only the
Brethren version
reads: "Just do
it— cooperatively, if
you can."
Ayuba Jalaba Ulea is
general secretary of
one of fhe fastest
growing churct^es in
the world, Ekklesiyar
Yan'uwa a Nigeria.
The Nigerian Brethren
now number nnore
than 85,000 mennbers
in 215 congregations.
Gearing up for a year of
racial justice hearings and
human rights advocacy in
the US are the National
Council of Churches' Joseph
Agne, the Church of the
Brethren's Orlando Rede-
kopp, and the World Council
of Churches' Deborah
Robinson.
Alan Boleyn
Ludovic St. Fleur, a Haitian boat
person, pastors a fast-growing
congregation in Miami composed
largely of boat people and thieir
families. Thie pastor received his
thieological training ttirougti
Education for a Shiared Ministry.
The first woman pastor in the
Dominican Republic is
Diomira Beriguete, a former
street preacher and mother
of three. She is past vice
choir of the Dominican Re-
public church board.
A basketmoker in India is among artisans in
40 countries who through SERRV find a
global market for their handcrafts. Key
also to the SERRV operation ore 3,000 con-
gregations that handle SERRV sales.
Buzz Bowers
MISSION PRIORITIES
GOALS FOR THE '90s
We, the Church of the
Brethren, seek to lead a
life worthy of the calling to
which we have been called
(Eph. 4:1),
. . . going into all the world
to make disciples (Matt.
28:19),
. . . teaching all that is
commanded (Matt. 28:20),
. . . maintaining the unity
of the spirit in the bond of
peace (Eph. 4:3),
. . . letting the oppressed
go free and breaking every
yoke (Isa. 58:6),
. . . calling one another
according to the measure
of Christ's gift (Eph 4:7),
... for the equipping of
the saints for the work of
ministry, for building up the
body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).
—1989 Annual Conference
Service and Peace
Sudan, after 1 2 yei
of civil war and l.J
million deaths, is a
focal point of Bretf
presence and adv
cy. Phil and Louise
Rieman confer wit!
Sudanese friend.
Scripture and Heritage.
Children at Annual Con
ference experienced tb
traditions of distinct gort
and the feetw/ashing sei
vice. The activities are
port of a children's cur-
riculum titled Whatza
Wissahickon?
dn
Phil Grout
Evangelism and Wit-
ness. Paul Mundey
and associates in the
Andrew Center assist
local churches in re-
sponding to the 1992
Annual Conference
"Call to Evangelistic
Outreach."
Phil Croul
Renewal and
Ministry. Over-
tures in this area
include colls to
a disciplined
prayer life, re-
cognition of the
spiritual gifts of
sisters and
brothers, and
the calling of
candidates to
the pastoral
ministry.
Shawn Rephgle
Family and Youth.
Developments include
restaffing of the Family
Ministry portfolio,
seminars on dealing
with charges of sexual
abuse, and expansion
of the network of bi-
lingual Disaster Child-
care givers.
Phd Grout
MISSION PRAYER
GRANT ME THE GRACE OF A TREE
"••nrii -itfiTimiMiiiii—
JL
Church of the Brethren
General Board
1451 Dundee 'enue
Elgin, IL 60120
GOD
Grant me the grace of a tree
Who ber^ds in the storm but does not break
Who seeks deeply for its source of strength
Who stretches out its arms for light
Who shelters the homeless
feeds the hungry
comforts the laborer
preserves the land
Who stands silent through the night
And is first to hear the songs of the morning,
—Wilbur E. Brumbaugh
David RadcHjf
.±±z
Overwhelmed by injustice
How can Brethren witness as peacemakers in a
land where speaking out is not tolerated?
by Margaret Woolgrove
We had been told to expect the worst.
Haiti would be hot and uncomfortable,
there would be few opportunities to
wash or do laundry, running water
would be infrequent, and we would
probably be without electricity for most
of our trip. •>
So we were surprised when we
walked into the low-lying one-story
concrete building that was to be our
home for our 1 0-day stay in Port-au-
Prince. The first thing I noticed upon
crossing the threshold was how bless-
edly cool it was after the rush of tropical
heat that had swept over me as I stepped
off the plane. The house was filled with
an atmosphere of calm serenity. In
Haiti, finding such an atmosphere is as
rare as it is treasured.
The call to travel to Haiti in February
as part of a 1 0-member Brethren
delegation came in the words of the
Gospel of Matthew, "I was in prison and
you came to me" (Matt. 25:36). "Unlike
the Europeans who came to this land
fleeing repression," said Yvonne
Dilling, representative for Latin
America and the Caribbean, "the
Haitian people have nowhere else to go
to start a new life. They are not even
welcomed as refugees. For them, their
country has become a prison. We went
to visit them in the spirit of the gospel,
and of the Savior we all follow."
To those of us fi^om the so-called First
World, the inconveniences of living in
July 1 994 Messenger 1 7
4
countries less economically advantaged
than our own can seem burdensome and
time-wasting. The women (and often the
children) in such a culture spend the
majority of their time finding food and
carrying water, from a standpipe or well
if they can afford it, or from ditches and
rivers. Time in Haiti is measured not by
weeks or months, but by how many days
it has been since it has rained. When
we arrived, Haiti had been without rain
for 58 days. When the rains finally
came, four days into our stay, the
sounds of rejoicing in the street contin-
ued into the night.
When there had been electricity the
night before, we usually had enough
water in the tank on the roof to take
short, cold showers at least once a day.
In a country with daytime temperatures
between 90 and 100 degrees, and streets
filled with dust, we felt lucky to have
this privilege.
Our privileges were in fact numerous,
although many of them were things that
we normally would have taken for
(continued on page 20)
La Gonave:
Haiti in
microcosm
In Haiti the early hours of dawn are
often the most pleasant, with the sun
just creeping over the horizon and
temperatures that are warm but not
suffocating. At 6 a.m., five days into
our stay, six members of our group, plus
a translator, a driver and a cameraman,
piled into a pick-up truck for the ride to
Montrouis, some 40 miles up the coast
from Port-au-Prince. Not exactly the
tap-tap experience, but then, tap-taps
don't tend to hit speeds of 80 miles per
hour while dodging potholes in the
roads. (Tap-taps are the brightly colored
public taxi-cabs that fill the streets of
Port-au-Prince, often carrying 20 or
more passengers in a space which we in
the US would deem suitable for perhaps
18 Messenger July 1994
six or eight people.)
We arrived in Montrouis, an hour
later, amid the bustle of a market day. A
boat from La Gonave (the small island
to which we were heading) had just
arrived, and goats, their legs bound
together to prevent them from strug-
gling, were being slung onto the roof of
a tap-tap for the ride into town. We
were carried through the surf on the
shoulders of young men to a small,
wooden boat. A two-hour voyage took
us to our island destination.
La Gonave is small and mountainous,
with a population of 10,000. There are
14 vehicles on the island, most owned
by Christian mission projects. For the
majority of the population, the only
modes of fransportation are mules or
walking.
La Gonave is a microcosm of every-
thing that goes on in mainland Haiti,
only usually to a greater extreme. Food
and materials are all more expensive,
because of transportation costs.
Charcoal is the primary source of fuel
for cooking in Haiti. The ecological
effects of charcoal-burning have been
devastating to the country, a point
attested to by the barrermess of the
mountains. Haiti, like many places in
the world, was once a lush, and densely;
forested land. On La Gonave, we
probably could have counted on two
hands the number of trees we saw that
were larger than a scrub bush. One of
the leaders with whom we met said that
even 20 years ago the island was
covered with mango trees. "Then the
American government came in and
ordered that we slaughter all of our pigs
because of swine fever. We have a
proverb about the cat that eats his own
paws to survive; this is how it was here
Creole pigs were our livelihood, and
without them, people started cutting
down trees to make charcoal to sell. In
20 more years it will be a desert."
We met with community organizers
and farmer groups in three different
i-«*t ;■ !Xi (t
vposite page: More and more Haitians are going hungry as
e international embargo makes life almost unbearable for the
'untry's poor while hardly affecting the ruling elite.
bove: Yvonne Billing and Don Linden discuss the benefits of
eifer Project with a community organizer on the island of La
onave (see story below).
ght: Haiti's poor champion their exiled president. The poster
'lis for people to mobilize for President Aristide's return.
llages up in the mountains, and I was
ruck by the truism of the Haitian
overb "What the eye doesn't see
>esn't move the heart." Up in these
ountains, a two-hour, pothole-filled
le from Anse-a-Galet, the island's
apital village," we met with ordinary
iople, eking out ordinary existences in
r from ordinary circumstances.
Wh,
hen you are one voice and you
ill, people don't hear you," Pierre
essal, a village leader, explained. "But
hen you are many, people listen. This
why we organized." Community
ganizing began on the island in the
id- 1980s. "We were called commu-
sts," Pierre recalled. "The government
sumed that because we were working
ith the poor we wanted to get rid of
e rich. Eventually it started to believe
our work, and stopped thinking that
e were communists."
The islanders have organized with the
help of Sen'ice Chretien, the Haitian
offshoot of Church World Service. The
community organizers (animators) on
La Gonave are part of a group called
APLAG (peasant animators on La
Gonave), which meets in general
assembly four times a year and in five
local committees once a month. "When
we see a problem in the community, we
come together to try to solve it," said
Pierre.
The ecological crisis in Haiti has been
created by deforestation combined with
overpopulation and high-intensity
farming methods. The reality of this
crisis is readily apparent in rural areas,
where dependence on the land is high.
"When the field gives nothing, then
cattle (animals) are the only hope," said
a village leader we visited. La Gonave
is the only place in Haiti where Heifer
Project is operating, and the importance
of its presence in the communities that
we visited was obvious. "The Bible says
that we must not live only in the spirit,
but also in action. This is what Heifer
Project is doing."
We asked how things had been since
the coup of September 1991. The
country doesn't produce enough, we
were told. "It is a strain on the commu-
nity, and malnutrition is a big problem.
If God doesn't do something, we will
die. We don't have any leaders who are
helping. Only God can. Before the coup,
we used to gather together, now FRAPH
(the paramilitary presence) is every-
where, and people are scared to take
part. None have been killed yet in our
village, but that is only because God is
present here with us.
"In the United States you have the
Statue of Liberty, which guarantees
freedom from persecution for all. Here
in Haiti we have the neg marron
blowing on the conch shell to call the
Haitians to freedom. The neg marron
now calls on the rest of the world to
hear Haiti's cry for fi-eedom."
— Margaret Woolgrove
July 1994 Messenger 19
Brethren in Haiti: A long story
Many different individuals and personalities played a part in the early involve-
ment of the Brethren in Haiti. What follows is an attempt to clarify this history
while recognizing the limitations of doing so in such a short article.
Brethren have had ties with the Haitian people for more than 30 years,
mostly through individuals supporting various independent mission groups, but
also through the denominational placement of volunteers in Haiti since the
early 1960s.
In 1 964 Aide-Aux-Enfants was founded by Luc Neree, a Protestant pastor
in Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince. Aide-Aux-Enfants began as a feeding
program for malnourished children, and eventually expanded to include an
outpatient clinic and the Ecole Pasteur Neree, a primary school which
opened in 1972 (see "Haiti's Theological Warrior . . . and the Brethren,"
September 1982).
The Brethren came to know Pastor Neree through John Barwick, a Church of
the Brethren member who worked for Church World Service in Haiti, 1 962-
1964. The General Board supported Aide-Aux-Enfants from 1969 until the end
of 1990, and in 1980 a covenantal relationship was established with Neree 's
church, Eglise Baptiste des Cites and Aide-Aux-Enfants. From the mid-1980s,
the Board worked closely in cooperation with Child Rescue Services (Ohio)
and the Children's Aid Society (Pa.), to support Aide-Aux-Enfants. Some
Brethren individuals and congregations continued to support Aides-Aux-
Enfants independently after General Board funding ended in 1991.
The decision to stop fiinding Aide-Aux-Enfants came after several years of
continued requests from the Latin America/Caribbean Office for financial
statements, with no financial accountability being offered.
In 1990. Pastor Neree's health declined, and his son took over the ministries.
Shortly afterward, word came through the Neree's newsletter that the Aide-
Aux-Enfants ministry was shutting down.
The October 1 990 newsletter stated that a decision had been made to "close
down Aide-Aux-Enfants' ministry to street children." It went on to say that "we
are faced with our inability to help those in need. We dare not nourish criminal
elements, and there is real danger for our staff ... in refusing to feed them as
well as the small and the weak."
In February 1 992 Luc Neree died. Mona Lou Teeter, who spent a number of
years as a Brethren worker at Aides-Aux-Enfants, said that Luc Neree's
memorial service was attended by "7,000 to 8,000 persons or more ... a
disciplined and structured pageant . . . beginning at 6 a.m. and lasting until
noon. ... He was one of a kind, that is for sure." — Margaret Woolgrove
(continued from page 18)
granted, such as eating three meals a
day. Everywhere we went we were met
by people with outstretched hands,
telling us in Creole and broken English
that they had not eaten for two days,
and asking for a few gourdes for bread.
A Haitian dollar (five gourdes) is about
equal to 37 US cents; a gourde about
seven cents.
Officially, apart from a short break
last year, Haiti has been embargoed by
20 Messenger July 1994
the international community since the
September 1991 military coup d'etat
that overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
the democratically elected president.
Realistically, the embargo has never
been fully enforced, and while the
people with whom we spoke reiterated
their willingness to suffer the effects of
the embargo in order to win back
democracy in their country, it is the
poorest sector of Haiti's society, the 85
percent living in desperate poverty, that
is being hit the hardest by it.
People told us that it was as if the
embargo had been put through a strainer
to ensure that only the poorest people
were affected by it. "It is a game," a
women's group told us, "to help the
elite get back the money they lost in
supporting the coup."
By the time we arrived, it officially
had been 58 days since there had been
gasoline in the country. But the number
of cars on the road increased rapidly
after a tanker of humanitarian aid gas
came in, with the price dropping from
30 to 17 Haitian dollars almost over-
night. During the 10 days that we were
in Haiti, road traffic virtually doubled.
On a 10-minute drive through Port-au-
Prince we counted 30 places selling
black-market gas on the street. The
Dominican Republic turns a blind eye to
Ten Brethren visited Haiti this past
February to study its deplorable
political situation firsthand. Front:
Robin Dessalines, Ludovic St. Fleur,
Margaret Woolgrove, Emily Zielinski,
Brian Stevens. Back: Yvonne Dilling,
Josette Perard (translator), Cinny
Poppen, David Webster, Sharon
Helbert, Don Linden, Haitian driver.
jntraband flowing across its border to
id from Haiti, and there are million-
res being made through black-market
afficking on both sides of the border.
The children of the oligarchy living in
;cluded villas in Petion-Ville have no
;ea of the poverty and turmoil of their
mntry. They are driven to their private
;hools each morning in air-conditioned
irs, returning at night to their homes
1 the hill. From the roof of the house
here our group was staying we got a
)od view of the city, and we saw that
;tion-Ville had electricity every night,
id at regular hours. Where we were
aying, we never knew if the electricity
ould come on at 3 a.m., 6 a.m., 3 p.m.,
• at all.
We met with many of the leaders of
e popular movement in Haiti, and over
id over were told stories of the
pression of Lavalas (the popular
ovement that is seeking the return of
esident Aristide to the country)
ipporters. We heard of a man who now
called "115 Lashes," in reference to
e beating he received from FRAPH
le neo-fascist paramilitary supporters
' the de facto government) after
;ing accused of making pro-Aristide
(continued on page 25)
Haiti's freedom: What it would take
r
by Yvonne K. Dilling
To say "President Aristide," or "Lavalas party" (supporters of Aristide) on the
streets of Haiti today is to commit suicide, because the old Duvalier regime has
again extended its tentacles to every neighborhood and work place. The
gestapo-like organization FRAPH and military attaches (Haiti's version of the
Central American paramilitary death squads) control the innocent civilian
population through brute force. One Protestant pastor said, "If I say something
in my sermon as bland as the Christian duty is to not cheat or coerce others, I
spend the next week hiding from the FRAPH people in our neighborhood, so,
no, I can't take the risk to speak to your group." Power today is the rule of a
mob by terrorism.
In the post Cold War era, one would expect other democracies to see this
easily and speak and act prophetically, realizing that one democracy threatened
is all democracies threatened. One would expect the churches to speak on
behalf of the God of life against the forces of death.
But the statements and actions by the US administration have been lukewarm
at best, deceitflil at worst. US trade increased 50 percent during the embargo
last year, according to the US Department of Commerce statistics. And 62 US
companies are directly benefiting from the embargo. And the majority of
conservative Protestant missions can't see the forest for the trees. They justify
not speaking out on behalf of democracy and a return of Haiti's president,
saying Aristide is Catholic, and soft on voodoo.
The shame of the US policy is revealed every time a statement is produced
that omits reference to President Aristide's return, or determination to enforce
the embargo. Do we truly want the seemingly endless refugee flotilla stopped?
It's quite easy. Haitians don't want to come to the US, or go to nearby coun-
tries; they want their president back. Our own Brethren pastor in the Dominican
Republic (DR) who, along with his congregation, has suffered abominations by
being of mixed Haitian-Dominican descent, told me last December, "My
congregation is going to stay in the DR until our president returns, because
without him, there is no hope for the poor."
As Christians, we are susceptible to the pain of the poverty, destitution, and
violence, and we want to help in some way. I am reminded of Jesus' lament to
the good religious people of his day, "You know how to interpret the appear-
ance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the time" (Matt. 16:3).
It's not the prevailing situation that should overwhelm us, it's the fact that it
need not be so, and is worsening as we read this, by weak, misguided, ill-
advised steps that governments and international organizations have taken.
Only a simple word need be spoken to Dominican authorities — saying their US
aid will be cut if they don't enforce the embargo — and the border will be
sealed. That's all it took to get Mexico and Venezuela to cease trading with
Cuba. A simple word to the thugs who overthrew the Aristide government —
that power sharing is not an option, and that US trade will be fully cut until
they leave — and the thugs would understand.
Haiti does not need a military invasion; it needs some honest, straightforward
treatment in the arena of democratic nations. Short of that, we as Christians are
called upon to offer a civilian invasion, and stand by the victims, bear
witness to their testimony, read the signs of the times, and act.
Ai.
Yvonne K. Dilling is representative for Latin America and the Caribbean on the General Board
staff.
July 1 994 Messenger 21
Eglise des Freres Haitiens:
The church of contagious joy
by Karen S. Carter
He came by boat. It is a painful
memory — riding a sailboat crowded
with over 70 passengers, tossed on the
waves at the beginning of the hurricane
season, going without drinking water for
five of the 20 days of the voyage. All
those on the boat had left behind family
and friends, home
and possessions, life
as they knew it.
Without visas or
knowledge of
English, most
without marketable
skills, they came in
search of survival.
That was during
the Carter presi-
dency, and the
Haitian refiigee
situation was not
nearly as tough then
as now. Even then,
however, illegal
immigrants were
detained by immigra-
tion authorities.
Through the diligent
assistance of a police
official, Ludovic St.
Fleur, one of the boat
people, was released
from prison after
only 10 days. Three
months later he
found work. The year
was 1979.
In 1980, the
Church of the
Brethren Annual
Conference adopted
the "World Mission
Philosophy and
Program" statement.
It called on congre-
gations to be inten-
tional about their
mission, train and
22 Messenger July 1994
send out lay leaders, and increase their
efforts in working with minorities —
Hispanics, African Americans, Native
Americans. Social justice and mutuality
in mission were high on the church's
agenda in those days.
Members of Miami (Fla.) First
Church of the Brethren, already a multi-
ethnic congregation, decided to concen-
The Haitian Church of the Brethren congregation in Miami radiates such
contagious joy that its biggest problem is how to handle the overflow crowd.
E.GLI5E0E5
HAITIENS
trate on the Haitian refugee community
and were looking for a Haitian person to(
train and work with them. When they
met Ludovic St. Fleur, one man's call to^
ministry through a personal vision
connected with a church's search and
hope for a leader. A few months later,
Ludovic was called as pastor to a
fledgling Haitian church that had been
left in a state of
confusion and
disintegration by its
earlier leader. Under
Ludovic's self-giving
shepherding and
engaging witness, thei
church rapidly grew,
It was recognized by ,
the Church of the
Brethren as a
fellowship in 1983
and as a congregatior
of over 100 members
in October of last
year.
Ludovic was first i!
attracted to the
Miami Brethren
because of their
outgoing concern fori
the poorest of the
poor. Their ministry I
to the whole of life
made infinite sense
to him and confirmee*
his own vision. He
began to worship
with them. The love
feast with its feet-
washing service left i
deep impression on
him. "Jesus took a
towel," he reflects,
"and he girded
himself and he knelt
and washed the
disciples' feet. This
is my model for
Christian ministry."
Ludovic St. FleuTr
:
i
ne of the few ethnic minority
sons whom the Brethren have invited
lecome pastor and then trained
ipletely through Education for a
red Ministry (EFSM). Eagerly he
lied Brethren history and theology
1 Everett Fasnacht, a retired India
sionary. "Brother Everett put all his
; and energy into my preparation for
istry and taught me the Church of
Brethren story." Ludovic identified
1 the 1 8th-century Brethren boat
pie who came to Pennsylvania from
ope to find freedom. He understands
present suffering of his flock, Eglise
Freres Haitiens, whose refugee
erience he shares,
he neighborhood in which the
tian Brethren have their place of
ship is not the kind a tourist would
z out. Their meeting house is part of
rpet shop that has been converted
a sanctuary. They have no Sunday
)ol materials, no chalk boards, not
1 walls or dividers around their class
ns on which to post pictures or
sages. Yet the life that is exuded by
group of believers is so conta-
isly joyous, their love so genuine,
visitors readily feel accepted and
uded as part of the church family,
wonder their Sunday worship
idance is almost double that of their
nbership. Between 150 and 190
pie occupy all the pews from front to
, sit on extra chairs moved into the
:er aisle after Sunday school, listen
[1 the adjacent room through the
n doorway, and stand in the back
mse there are no more seats,
rhe Church of the Brethren has so
;h to offer," the pastor observes. "It
ainful to realize that we are almost
le point where we just cannot invite
more people."
xploration is under way with
intic Southeast District to purchase a
rch building vacated because of the
lie changes in the community. It
lid allow the Haitian Brethren to
Ludovic identifies with 18th-century Brethren pioneers, who, like him, were boat
people, seeking freedom. Antoinette, a newly arrived refugee, has been taken into
the St. Fleur home. Christian hospitality is a hallmark of the Haitian Brethren.
grow and to have facilities for Sunday
school. No longer would the children
have to carry their chairs outside and
hold their classes in the inhospitable
atmosphere of an open entrance porch
with an abandoned car as a backdrop. In
this new church, fellowship meals and
love feast could be prepared in a real
kitchen, instead of in a makeshift
fashion in the cemented back yard or the
pastor's apartment above the sanctuary.
Wedding receptions would no longer
have to move to rented space in a
Baptist church.
B.
►ut how can a congregation of
refiigees come up with $700,000? Some
members work for minimum wages.
Others are unemployed. Many still are
undocumented and cannot legally obtain
work. The problem requires a solution
beyond the resources of Eglise des
Freres Haitiens.
The Brethren Revival Fellowship has
been helpful to its Haitian brothers and
sisters. It paid the pastor's transporta-
tion to attend the Brethren Bible
Institute in Pennsylvania three different
years, provided a large van for picking
up people who could not otherwise
attend church meetings, and has
promised large sums toward an adequate
building for the congregation.
Being with the Haitian Brethren and
living among them, even for only a
short period, is an experience that is
bound to expand one's understanding,
shuffle one's priorities, and challenge
one's preconceived ideas. Traditionally,
in Haitian history, leadership means
personal power. The Haitian pastor,
immaculately dressed, expecting to be
waited on and deferred to is as far from
Ludovic St. Fleur as one can get. With
the Suffering Servant as his model for
ministry, Ludovic is unassuming,
always in the background, slipping into
a meeting unnoticed, encouraging and
enabling leadership, giving attention to
others' comfort, being infinitely
available to those in need.
And the needs are not only physical.
"Everybody in this congregation is
suffering," Ludovic explains, "because
everybody has someone who got killed
in Haiti or is in hiding, someone who is
the victim of the violence there.
Because we are one family in Christ, we
are all victims."
He hopes that the Brethren will
continue to sponsor awareness raising
trips to Haiti to learn first hand what life
is like, tell others, write to legislators in
Washington, do the work of advocacy.
"We have to!" he urges. "It is a matter
of justice. We have to work for change.
My people are more than a slave nation!
As Christians, we cannot take political
sides, but we have an obligation to state
what is right and wrong, and support the
'weaker parts' of the family, those who
are suffering."
Some Haitian Brethren who have the
July 1994 Messenger 23
Space is a such a premium in the church facility that three Sunday school classes
meet simultaneously in the sanctuary. Most of the sisters wear head coverings.
green card have traveled back to visit
family members. "Don't mention
anything political when you are there,"
Delouse warns. (His 19-year-old cousin
was shot recently.) "Don't use any buzz
words (such as justice, education,
hunger, human rights). Open your eyes!
See everything, hear everything, and
keep your mouth shut until you get
back."
Ludovic's style of mutual ministry,
his willingness to serve, and the joy that
he radiates are contagious. Therefore his
congregation has no lack of leadership.
Women and men and youth share the
load of teaching, and do it gladly.
Myma, a 1 7-year-old who was baptized
two years ago, explains it this way:
"There is so much love. That's why we
learn so much." Three persons with
some biblical training (one through
EFSM) serve as assistants to the pastor
and preach in his absence. Every
disciple is called to be a minister.
During the Friday evening Bible
studies, about half the time is spent in
presenting the text by the pastor, the
other half in questions and discussion.
"That's my favorite part," 1 1-year-old
24 Messenger July 1994
Raynald says, listening with interest. "I
like it when people ask questions, or
even joke sometimes in their discussion.
That's how we all learn."
"We search for the answers together,"
the pastor commented. "When we
cannot resolve a question, I encourage
everyone to think about it and study it at
home, and we share our findings next
time."
Oharing is the key to Ludovic's
ministry. From a young age, all mem-
bers of the congregation participate.
During weekly prayer meetings, persons
are encouraged to talk about their need
or hurt with their faith community. "It's
not for you to just sit there and not do
anything and cry," Raynald stresses
emphatically. Mature for his age, he has
been allowed to participate in the youth
activities. "On Mondays, the pastor
picks us up and we visit the homes with
special needs," Raynald continues.
"When we arrive we sing a song or two,
then we ask about the concern, and we
pray together." What Raynald likes best
about his church is "the way people love
each other."
For Roselanne, an 1 8-year-old high
school graduate, love feast holds a
special place: "The deacons visit and
admonish people to be reconciled to one
another, to talk through their misgivings
and hurts. On the evening of love feast
the opportunity for reconciliation is
given again. I have seen a lot of recon-
ciling going on before love feast as
brothers and sisters confessed to one
another and asked forgiveness." It is an
important model for her.
To others, the secret to their enthusi
astic growth is hospitality. "Hospitality
and beyond," Ludovic calls it. The
pastor's family keeps an open door for
anyone who does not have a place to
stay. Little Stephen and his mother
came to them directly from the hospital
shortly after his birth because they
could not return to the refugee camp.
Soon thereafter, his mother disappearec
and abandoned the child. Now Stephen
is four and growing up in the pastor's
home; Ludovic's daughter considers
him her brother.
Antoinette arrived at the St. Fleur
home straight from the refiigee camp.
She had met Elisabeth St. Fleur before
Elisabeth had left Haiti about a dozen
years ago. When she gave Elisabeth's
name to the agency seeking sponsors,
Elisabeth was contacted. "We signed fo
her, of course. What can you do?"
Undocumented, 27 years old, illiterate
(62 percent of Haitians are illiterate),
speaking only Creole, without any
marketable skills! This sort of hospitaln
ity is a big risk for the church.
It is also the secret to survival. One
family makes the way for the next.
There is a strong network of support,
often based on distant family ties, but
not limited to that. The church helps oi
with food and clothing, contacting
social agencies and trying to find a
place to stay.
Hard to describe in a few words,
impossible to capture in short vignettes
one has to experience it first hand, this
joyful community. "That's my church,"
Elisabeth says with obvious pride.
"See how they love one another."
i
Karen S. Carter, an ordained minister, is a I
member ofDaleville (Va.) Church of the Brethrei
M
(continued from page 21)
mments to the police.
The repression in Haiti is subtle. On
I surface, except for the nighttime
nfire in many parts of the city, life
peared to be going on as normal,
iing the poorest country in the western
misphere, Haiti has definite economic
d social problems, but only after
ilding up some level of trust with
tsiders can Haitian people speak of
; repression that they are enduring,
'ou cannot use diabolic means to gain
wer and then turn around and try to
blessings with it," we were told at
; Organization for Peace and Justice.
The de facto government has success-
lly carried out a campaign of terror in
liti, and the murder of two of
istide's most prominent supporters
it year has compounded the fear of the
ople. If people as well known and
iportant as these can be murdered,
lat protection is there for leaders of
I popular resistance?
At a peace and justice agency in Port-
-Prince we heard how people are
bject to arrest at any time, and for any
ison, although more likely for a
litical than a criminal offense. "You
n be arrested at home, at work, at
|ht or in the day, with no principles
d no law. As soon as you're arrested
;n you are tortured. In reality we are a
untry occupied by its own army."
This organization does work to help
ilitical prisoners, and we asked how
sy it was to get into the prisons. "Oh,
; can get in any time," we were told,
ith obvious sarcasm. "In most coun-
es," he said, "prisons are made to
ntain criminals. Here, the prisons are
r the people who want to stop vio-
ice, while the criminals run free."
This helps to explain why 400,000 of
liti's 1.5 million population are in
ding. The people we met with were
ger to tell their stories and to enlist
ir support in the struggle to restore
mocracy to Haiti, but virtually
erywhere we went, people asked us
>t to use their names. The man who
oke to us from the platform for the
)pular movement introduced himself
"Mr. A." It is hard to imagine what it
ust be like to live in daily fear for
one's life. "We don't wake up with any
expectations for the day," said a human-
rights worker in Port-au-Prince, "but
each day that we survive, we thank God."
One of our group members, Don
Linden, of Genesis Fellowship in
Putney, Vt., described his cultural shock
upon returning to the United States.
"One of the hardest things," he said,
"was having half a dozen people ask me
if I had a 'good trip.' A good trip
implies something different from what
we experienced. I was overwhelmed by
the huge disparities between the US and
Haiti, not just in terms of wealth, but
also in terms of freedom and safety."
For many of the delegates, the fiill
impact of the visit is only being felt now
THE
AN D #
^edStudebaWet
Jon Scb
rock
To live a life with purpose, that was Ted
Studebaker's goal, a '67 graduate of Manchester
College. Gentle, humble, sincere, determined,
Ted followed Jesus' example. He loved all people,
even his enemies. He returned good for evil.
Alternative service in Vietnam, his love of its
culture and land, his mission in life and
untimely death symbolize this rare and
remarkable man of peace. .^''"
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Having lived in Nigeria and Sudan, Jon
Schrock, a senior at Manchester, exhibits
global perspective. He respects cultural
differences and values the need to resolve
conflicts nonviolently. Open to direction, Jon
plans to work with BVS, perhaps in Cairo.
Fluent in Arabic, Jon's absorbing mind, his
reflective nature, and his devotion to peace may
be his calling among the rare and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNFTY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know If you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on the basis of marital status, sex.
religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, or handicap in the administration of its
educational policies, recruitment and admissions policies, scholarship and loan
■»«■ A "Vr/^T-TT^^TT^U programs, employment practices, and athletic or other college sponsored programs.
coSge • North Manchester, IN 46962 • (2 19) 982-5000
July 1994 Messenger 25
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that they have returned to their "ordi-
nary" lives. "It's like being at a crash
site," Don said. "When you get to the
site of the accident you just do what has
to be done. It's only when it's all over
that you realize the horror of the tragedy
you've just witnessed."
Yvonne Dilling said that for her, the
difference was in actually visiting a
place rather than just reading about it.
"It was important for us to visit, to
make personal contact, and to have the
Haitian people touch our hearts. This
was the most important thing, because
it's only after being changed on the
inside that we are motivated to work for
change on the outside."
A few hours spent one afternoon
feeding and holding babies at an
orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity
gave added impact to the message we
heard from religious and political
leaders. For each of us there was an
event or a moment that will be long
remembered, encouraging us to act.
For David Webster of Monte Vista
Church of the Brethren in Calloway,
Va., it was the pregnant woman outside
the cathedral on our first Sunday in
Port-au-Prince, balancing a child on one
hip and begging for money for food
with her free hand.
One of the most important things for
Yvonne Dilling was the presence in our
delegation of two members of the
Haitian congregation, Eglise des Freres
Haitiens, in Miami. "Having two Haitian
Brethren with us gave us a deeper
understanding of the situation. It meant
a great deal to their home congregation
to know that the church cares about the
struggle for democracy in Haiti."
We spoke with a priest in a rural area
who had been told by the police that his
homilies were too political. In reply,
Pere Jean told them that they obviously
weren't reading the same Bible as he
was. "I have a place (the church) where
I can talk to the people, and where the
people listen," he told us. "This gives
me an advantage in raising critical
consciousness, which is vital in our
struggle. If you don't speak out then
you are supporting what is happening.
You have to speak out, in the
name of God."
M.
26 Messenger July 1 994
mm
jy Robin
/Ventworth Mayer
itepping Stones is a column offer-
ng suggestions, perspectives, and
'pinions — snapshots of life — that we
tope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
n her first installment. "Remember.
I'hen it comes to managing life 's
Hfficulties. we don V need to walk on
voter. We just need to learn where
he stepping stones are. "
My son burst in from school
one day and exclaimed,
"Mom! I got sent to the
principal's office!"
My heart expanded to my
throat and my knees turned
to water. The principal's
office? In an instant the
years rolled back as I relived
my own transgressions.
Second grade: My little
boyfi-iend and I learned that
the older kids had nick-
named the sixth-grade
teacher, an obese man,
"Gorgeous George." Since
we thought that was hysteri-
cally fiinny, one day at
recess we stood a ways
behind him and chanted:
"Gorgeous George sittin' in
a tree . . . ."
He was amazingly agile
for a man of his girth. In no
time, Randy and I were
apprehended and taken
inside, where we found
ourselves sitting in the
principal's office, scared
silly.
Seventh grade math class:
None of us liked Miss
Walters. She was very pretty
and very mean tempered.
She also spoke with an
affected southern accent,
which the parents found
charming but which we kids
used as another reason not to
take her seriously.
I entered class one day, sat
down, pulled out my comb,
and began repairing the
damage from phys. ed. class.
Hair-combing in class was
taboo, and I knew it. But
since the bell had not yet
rung, I believed a little
primping was "legal." Miss
Walters felt otherwise.
"Rahbin, come up heah
and put tha'at in the
tra'ash."
Basically I was a coopera-
tive kid. 1 made decent
grades. I usually obeyed
rules. I got along well with
my peers. It's just that my
mouth occasionally got me
into trouble. So 1 said to
Miss Walters: "I'll put it up,
but I won't throw it away."
"Go to the principal's
office ri'ight no'ow!"
Eighth grade English
class: I always thought that
Mrs. Schwartz didn't like
me. Looking back now, I
still think she didn't like me.
The entire class was in the
library. Permy Hill and I
were talking . . . along with
the other 30 students. Mrs.
Schwartz appeared from
nowhere and flicked me on
the cheek with her pencil:
"You two apologize right
now for talking!" Penny
immediately said "I'm sorry."
/said, "I'll apologize if you
make everybody else here
apologize too." (See what I
mean about my mouth?)
Mrs. Schwartz ripped off a
pass and hissed through
clenched teeth: "Take this to
the principal's office!"
Senior year: My high
school band was on it's way
to becoming a real power-
house in state competition. I
was in the Flag Corps and
we had a junior captain who
was very talented, very
perfectionistic, and a little
abusive with her authority.
One cold, damp, autumn
day — when the pressure was
on for homecoming — the
"pep talk" of the captain of
the corps consisted of her
screaming: "You're just not
working hard enough. If we
don't place first it will be
your fault!" In the room that
grew silent as a tomb the pin
that dropped was my voice
saying: "Trisha, go to hell."
I'm not proud of that. It's
the only time in my life I've
actually said those words to
another.
Anyway, you guessed it:
The principal's office.
So upon hearing my son's
news of being sent to the
principal's office, 1 sat down
and drew him closer: "Tell
me about it. Honey."
And Jameson, his face
bursting with pride, held up
a crumpled certificate signed
by his principal: "Because of
you, our school is a better
place. You have proven that
one student can make a
difference. I applaud your
actions and look forward to
even more great things from
you in the future."
I guess things change
after all.
And sometimes, even
for the better.
Ai\
Robin Wentworlh Mayer, of
Edwardsburg. Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlebuiy, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counsel-
ing out of Waterford (Ind.)
Community' Church.
July 1994 Messenger 27
Name-change suggestions
I have mixed feelings about changing
the name of the denomination (see
"Group Announces Frustration with
Denomination Name," January, page 9).
We are known historically as the
Church of the Brethren. Along with the
Quakers and Mennonites, Brethren are
known as one of the Historic Peace
Churches. To drop the name "Brethren"
would cause the loss of our historical
identity.
The suggested name "Church of
Reconciliation" might associate us with
a group having a similar name.
Could we compromise and be the
"Church of the Brothers and Sisters?"
tr
Ifs a combination of the more
reasonable cost and the element
of service that makes MAA
attractive ...
Donald Munn, MAA Member
Middlebury, IN.
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There are groups with longer names
than that, such as the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Yvonne S. Jame
Elgin, B.
• I like "Church of Reconciliation" as a
new name for our denomination to
consider. It certainly does not remind
me of the exclusiveness my gender feel
when hearing "Church of the Brethren.'
"Brethren" no longer is an inclusive
word. Af^er reading Paul's charge to tht
church in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, 1
recommend that we make name-changaj
our priority. The year 2008 is too long ,
to wait for a new name.
Ginny Whittt
Bridgewater, Vi
Raising an issue
The April letters have an almost
apologetic tone regarding the use of the
King James Version (KJV) of the Bible
The Bible verse from the New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV) on
that issue's cover demonstrates the nee'
to stand by the KJV as an accurate
translation of God's holy Word.
"He has been raised" suggests that
someone, maybe God, maybe Satan,
raised Jesus; maybe Jesus raised
himself. John 10:18 has Jesus saying h'
has the power to lay down his life andi
the power to take it up again.
"He has been raised" leaves one
wondering whether Jesus really had tb
power or was merely spouting empty
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily |
those of the magazine. Readers should receive th
in the same spirit with which differing opinions
expressed in face-to-face conversations. .
Letters should be brief, concise, and respect/Ul l\
the opinions of others. Preference is given to lettt'
that respond directly to items read in the magaziii
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer-
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We wilt not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print th
letter, the writer 's name is kept in strictest
confidence.
Address letters to MESSENGER £</iror. 1451
Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
:
28 Messenger July 1994
e to his followers.
he KJV leaves no doubt in my mind
ch was the case. He is risen, indeed.
James Hankinson
Hampton. N.J.
ing the wrong metaphor
en I read the April "Stepping
nes," I was offended in the first
igraph by Robin Mayer's use of a
ie term to describe spring defying
calendar.
laybe I am too thin-skinned, too
sitive, but I felt the same way 30
rs ago when a pretty, fresh-scrubbed
d used a crude term to protest racial
cks on civil rights marchers,
layer could have had spring "make a
:" at the calendar date, "stick its
gue out," or, with childlike exuber-
e, say "Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!"
Jobie E. Riley
Elizabethtown, Pa.
iristianity is no 'subplot'
;reat deal of what's wrong within the
irch of the Brethren is that few
iple know, understand, believe, and
ctice the ideals of early Brethren. We
e watered down our witness (walk-
in the way of Christ) until we are
; like everybody else.
Mostly we have what Donald E.
icher (April, page 21) calls a "reli-
us stew." Yet it is the Brethren's
que beliefs and practices that have
acted other ethnic groups,
agree with Fancher that cultural
ersity can be a treasure enriching our
ristian life, but I reject Gregg A.
Ihelm's concepts (April, page 21).
J Christian story is not a "subplot."
be Christian is to believe that Jesus
s God incarnate, the total revelation
God's nature. Jesus is the way, the
th, and the life. "No one comes to the
her except through me" (John 14:6).
do not accept that my religion is
led on a "human expression." If I
ieve that, then I deny that the Bible
he inspired Word of God and the
authority for my life. To deny either of
these does "dilute" my Christian belief
until it is worthless. These are two basic
beliefs I cannot compromise.
Rosella J. Combs
Tipp City, Ohio
• Gregg Wilhelm criticized a Brethren
member who spoke about the unique-
ness of Jesus Christ at a seminar on
peacemaking from different religous
perspectives. Wilhelm said that "the
brother's speech had little to do with
Christian pacifism and love of neighbors
who may not be just like us."
On the contrary, the speech has
everything to do with those issues. Jesus
proclaimed, "I am the way and the truth
ICAL STUDIES
The Bible
A timeless
story
told in a
timely way
featuring Brethren writers
talking about the Bible in Brethren life
Group and individual subscriptions $1. 75 per quarter.
plus shipping and handling.
Brethren Press
1451 Dundee Avenue • Elgin, IL 60120-1694
800-441-3712
July 1994 Messenger 29
To subscribe to
call (800) 323-8039^Ext. 247.
Ask for Norma
From the
Office of Human Resources
STEWARDSHIP EDUCATION
This position has been expanded to full-
time with an Elgin location.
This position assistscongregations with
stewardship teaching and enlisting re-
sources of time, talent and financial sup-
port for congregational ministries.
The preferred individual will:
• communicate at a professional level,
be an effective motivator, relate well
with people.
• have administrative & management
skills.
• have an M.Div degree or equivalent.
Prefer two years experience with con-
gregational teaching and practice.
Positions available on July 1, 1994.
For prompt consideration call Barbara
Greenwald (800) 323-8039
and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me" (John 14:6, NIV).
We can dialog with people from other
religious perspectives about peacemak-
ing all we want, but the only way there
will ever be any true and lasting peace
on earth is for followers of Christ to
proclaim that the only way to peace
goes right through Jesus.
Jesus is much more than simply a
Pontius' Puddle
THE B^^ Mt\^S IS TK^T
IS SATOR^TE^.Ts WITH
A^TEW-dLOCrCrlUGr PAT
TMAT CAN CAUSE HEART
ATT^ttCS. ^\^Z G-OOD MEWS
IS, frlVEK THE RlS\MfrT\C>e
OC ViOi-EMte IM PILI^,
rt'? ST|l-l_Tl4E SAPESTi
THiMGr \MTKE: THEAXev.-
model for peacemaking. "He himself is ■
our peace" (Eph. 2:14, NIV).
Jamie Baker
Bridgewater. Va.
Handling our 'birthright'
We haven't lost the "birthright" in
Bethany Seminary's moving to Rich-
mond, Ind., we are affirming it.
Sure, it felt like loss at the "last
reunion" at Bethany in Oak Brook, 111.,
in April (May/June, page 6). But the
assumption that we know, in our brief
span, what the birthright really is must
be abandoned.
The heart of the church's leadership '
training, like the ancient God-of-the-
Mountain, must not be limited to my
perception or that of my generation. All
history is on the move; God is in the
vanguard, and the faithful people will
be on the move too, even as of old, fron
Abraham to A.C. Wieand, to the
successive generation, even to a strange
land, where the wind of God's spirit
leads — to build a new temple and lead
the people forward.
Alan Kieffabt
Denton, Mi
CLASSIFIED ADS
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. John Mason
& Mary Ann Miller ot Wrg/n/a— 1986; Ziegler Family
Record (Revised)— 1990: Shank Family flecorcf— 1992;
Michael Miller Family flecorcf— 1993; John Wampler &
Magdalena Garter— m progress; John H. Garber Family
Record— m progress; Nicholas Garber Family Record— \n
progress. Please write for prices and more information.
Send long SASE. Floyd R. Mason, 1 1 5 E. Rainbow Drive,
Bridgewater, VA 22812.
TRAVEL— Australia and New Zealand with Bridgewater
College President Wayne F. Geisert. 17-day tour Cairns,
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Christchurcfi, Queenstown,
Mt. Cook, Auckland, and Rotorua. Leaves September 17.
Returns October 3. Cost (roundtrip airfare from west
coast, first-class accommodations, 23 meals, and enter-
tainment) $3,295 per person, double occupancy. Optional
excursion available to Fiji, For info, brochure, write; Aus-
tralia/l\lew Zealand Tour, c/o Wayne F. Geisert, Bridgewater
College, Bridgewater, VA 22812-1599, Tel. (703) 828-
2501, ext, 1300.
TRAVEL— Rome/Athens, Jan. 18-25, 1995 with hosts
Herb and Jeanne Smith of McPherson College. Tour
includes; Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Cata-
combs, Forum, Pompeii & Naples (optional), Parthenon,
Corinth, 3-Greek island cruise. Cost; $1,810 includes
transportation, breakfasts/table d'hotedinners, first class
hotels. For information; Herb/Jeanne Smith, McPherson
30 Messenger July 1994
College, McPherson, KS 67460, Phone; (316) 241-
0742, ext. 1 244, or (316) 241 -71 28. Summer address;
26 Mount Lebanon Dr., Lebanon, PA 17042. Phone;
(717)273-9503.
TRAVEL— Tour Japan, June 12-21; Alpine Tour in Ger-
many, Austria & Switzerland, June 16-July 1; Spain and
Portugal, July 22-Aug. 5; Great Britain, Aug. 9-26; China
and Hong Kong, Oct. 5-18; MusicalTourto Vienna, Austria
& Budapest, Hungary, Nov, 7-16; Christmastime in Swit-
zerland & Germany, Nov. 28-Dec. 6; Christmastime in
Bavaria, Dec. 5-13. Hosted through Juniata College. For
further info, contact; Gateway Travel Center Inc., 606
Mifflin Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652-0595. Tel. (800) 322-
5080.
WANTED— Poems for a tribute to poet Bill Stafford. Also
prose, short reflections, or stories. Also photos of poets/
writers with Stafford. Need by Aug. 31. Contact Mark
Mitchell, 5650 Abbey Dr., Apt. 4-A, Lisle, IL 60532
WANTED— Mature married couple as full-time managers
of an 8-bed emergency shelter (vacated 9-4 daily). Lo-
cated 20 minutes northeast of US Capital in suburban
Maryland. No alcohol permitted. References required.
Must be sensitive to needs of the homeless and be able
to exert propercontrol. Benefits; free housing (entire first
floor, including 2 bedrooms), utilities, and one month
vacation. Send resumes and references to; Help-by-
Phone, Ltd., Box 324, Riverdale, MD 20738, or call tl'
hotline 9-5 EST (301) 699-9009.
WANTED— Addresses ortips for locating these BVSersi
Unit 47, June 1960; Virginia Campbell, Judy HawkiP
Linda Tweddell, Barbara Summy Milam, Richard Ay(i
Richard Ernst, Lester Miley, Terry J. Snider. Need t*
planning 35th anniversary newsletter/reunion. Responrf
Glen Draper, R. 2, Box 299, Eldora, lA 50627,
WANTED— Volunteer Camp Managers. Camp Ithjel, (,
lando (Fla.) seeks volunteer couple to assist camp diteC'
with management of year-round outdoor ministry prograi
Responsibilities vary from office work to food servicel
general maintenance. Stipend and housing in furnish:
cottage (kitchen & laundry provided). Three Church oft
Brethren congregations within 20 minutes. Come try-<
the Florida setting. For information contact Mike Ni
Camp Ithiel, P.O, Box 165, Gotha, FL 34734. Tel. (4(
293-3481.
WANTED— RV volunteers. Do you have a camper,
wheel, or RV and want to serve the church? Camp Itt
needs seasonal volunteers to lend talents and skills to
year-round camping ministry. Hookups provided at
charge. Twenty minutes from Orlando. Weekly bible sti
and worship services on site. Come try the warm wif'
climate. For more information write to; P.O. Box 1
Gotha, FL 34734.
w Members
och, Virlina; Leanne
Bowman. Debbie Brubaker,
lamie & Deanna Knox.
Vlartha Stilton
gewfller, Shen.: Eliza
\uckerman. David & Grace
5rightbill, Margaret Dean,
(ennie Draper, Josh Eye.
lolene Flory, Katie Grove,
Cen Klamut, Shannon
^cNett, John Metzler, Andy
vliracle. Beth Murray, Blake
'ennington. Gary & Cheryl
latliff. Myron & Jackie
lummei. Matt & Scott
itevens, Emily Wampler
la Vista. Shen.: Susan Wyant
rata, Atl. N.E.: Cindy Boyd.
^eide Ellmaker. Bridgett
^eckman. Lanie & Jamie
hosier, Shannah Maimer,
Elizabeth White
sole, S. Ohio: Leighanne
!)inlinger. Debbie Jones
over, S. Pa.: Sharon Slothour
pfield, Atl. N.E.: Ross
Boxlan, Elizabeth Bradley.
Jean Connelly, Paul Dum,
Cerri Eshleman. Randy Zurin
idaysburg, M. Pa.: Brent &
^'endy Faust, Rita Murphy
;er, W. Plains: Gair Bridges,
Daniel Butler. Bonnie Hogle,
■ames Pieschke. Galen Smith.
*4atthew Tobias
ison City, S.E.: Mary Kinnick
omo, S/C Ind.: Thomas &
A/^innie Davis, Keith & Chris
Cirtley, Marilyn Moore,
Crystal Ringeisen, Mary Walls
Jrte, N. Ind.: Shirley Beam,
vlelissa & Ron BonDurant.
Michael Johnson, Natasha
'axson, Chris & Walter
Sims. Joyce Stephens, Ethel
A^ayland
assas, Mid-Atl.: Jamie &
'atty Baisden. Heather &
Michael Byrne, Shawna Carl,
!^arla, Jason & Michael
Cline, Jamie Murphy.
Vndrea Parilak. Diane &
'erry Patterson
or, Mid-Atl.: Cheryl & Lori
Baker. Holly & Gary
Durboraw
le Spring, W. Pa.: Norma
Bothwell
herson, W. Plains: Clarence
Brown. Lyllis Frantz, Wilmer
-ehman
dow Branch, Mid-Atl.:
David & Paula Poling
lorial, M. Pa.: Vesta Furry,
Stephen & Suzanne McNally.
Cathleen & Floyd Mitchell,
'eggy Ritchey
die Creek, Atl. N.E.: Ashley
Bollinger. Derrick Frank,
lobert McClellan, Drew
Vlinnich, James Nolt
rstown, Atl. N.E.: Paul
Brugger. Lori Harvey. Joel
Coffer, Bonnie Lackey,
Sherry Rhoads. Carey
Seldomridge. Rose & Wally
iValmer. Shawn Weiler
Carlisle, S. Ohio; Justin
Ooggett. Charlene Flora,
Molly Schock, Kent Stamper
Nokesville, Mid-Atl.: Benjamin
Bear, Byron Clark, Carolyn
Hill. Heather & Matthew
Nelson
North Winona, N. Ind.: Ben &
Curt Barkey, Jennifer
Dilling. Brian Rogers, Jason
Torrence
Northview, S/C Ind.: Walt
Fitzsimons. Bob Moore
Oakland, S. Ohio: Micah
Coblentz, Claudia & Linn
Conway. Sam & Toni Custer.
Valliejo Deeter. Debra & Jeff
Hittle. C.W. Johnston, Leah
Jones, Chris Kolb, Randy &
Terri Kress, Ryan Lutz, Kristi
Simon, Jeffery, Jeremy &
Joshua Swabb
Palmyra. Atl. N.E.: Robert &
Joelie Dudley. Charlotte
Hughes, Paul & Edith
Hunsicker, Carol Kettering
Parker Ford, Atl N.E.: Bryan
Haydt, Nathan Hess, Lyrm
Huzard, Donald Trauger,
Cynthia. James & Jennifer
Valerio. Elisa Wiherin, Julie
& Tammy Yeager
Peru, S/C Ind.: Cari, Sandra &
Tiffany Calfee. Wanda Duncan,
Sidey Hall, Lucy & Mac
Martin, Charles Miller, Jayme
Saylor. Kristi Shaffer, Bonnie
Sullivan, Margaret Wiese
Plumcreek, W. Pa.: Dale
Longwell. Scott & Dermis Orr
Plymouth, N. Ind.: Kari & Julia
King, James & Shonna Lyon
Pomona Fellowship, Pac. S.W.:
Candace & Crystal Cook,
Rob McKellip. Stan &
Phyllis Wright
Prairie City, N. Plains: Andrew
Elrod. Jill Hopkins, Adam
Jones. Andrew Power,
Amanda Smith
Prince of Peace, W. Plains:
Thomas Champion. Albert &
Hazel Guyer. Gladys Holbeach
Roanoke, S. Plains: Steven &
Carol Blanchard, Ken Daniel.
Wade & Melissa Le Gros.
Daquari & Daphne Patrick,
Katie Wenzel
Sebring, Atl. S.E.: Irene Bopp,
Phyllis Frisbie. Wilbur
Gump. Prince Mack, James
& Judy Marine, Arthur &
Frances McDaniel, Virgil &
Ann Sisk
Spring Run, M. Pa.: Scott
Bollinger, Brenda Fike,
Sarah Ort, Karen Rhodes,
Henry & Esther Sechrist.
John & Meloney Specht
Stevens Hill, Atl. N.E.: James
KJlbum
Stone, Shen.: Shiriey & W.T.
Bruffey, Barry. Kathy, Nikki
& Travis Wyant
Stone, M. Pa.: Sharon Benson,
Joseph Cofftnan, Adam Furry,
Scott & Pamela Grugan. Sam
& Katy Reist, Christine
Shuck, Joanne Thurston-
Griswold. Jonathan Wyrick
Trinity, S.E.: Billy, Brandy.
Bryon & Lorri Goebel. Ben
& Judy Johnson, Christopher
Shaver
Trotwood. S. Ohio: Nathan
Chambers. Kimberly Eblin.
Christopher Fitze, Christina.
Dennis & Melissa Hawley,
Shellie Heller. Matthew
McLaughlin. Mark Medlar.
Carl Schaeffer, Scott Snyder
(Jniontown, W. Pa.: Nicole
Hyjurick
Waynesboro, S. Pa.: Ronald
Bower
Welty, Mid-Atl.: Kathy. Nelson,
Rachel, Allen & Jason
Eckstine, Heather Gifft
West Goshen, N. Ind.: Jeffery
Fackler
Westminster, Mid-Atl.: Jordan
Blevins. Michael & Laura
Cleveland, Rachel Lindsay.
Bridget & Ester Marchio.
Rachel Rinehart, Lauren Scott
Wilmington, Atl. N.E.: Heather
& Randal Fisher. Matthew
Hershberger, Aaron Kinsey.
Melissa McLeod, Edward
Olkowski
Yellow Creek, N. Ind.: Cathy &
Dave Fox. Paul Grosse.
Angie McCramer. Melissa
Mitchel. Edd Shepherd
York, S. Pa.: Penny Kohler,
Rachelle & Tiffany Minehart
211th BVS
Orientation Unit
(orientation completed April 23)
Austin, Laura, Tucson. Ariz.; to
be placed
Fabian, Jennifer, Leesport, Pa.; to
Deborah's Place, Chicago, III.
Goubeaux. Eric. Dayton, Ohio;
to Catholic Worker House,
San Antonio, Texas
Hoffman, Gerhard. Pfullendori,
Germany; to Catholic Worker
House. San Antonio, Texas
Jansen, Yolanda, Amsterdam.
Netherlands; to Inspiration
Cafe, Chicago. 111.
Kennedy, Katherine, Winston-
Salem, N.C.; to Casa de
Esperanza de los Ninos,
Houston, Texas
Lehner. Maria. Neuss. Germany;
to Casa de Modesto,
Modesto. Calif
Rave, Tilmann, Munchen,
Germany; to Bread and
Roses, Olympia. Wash.
Rimsche, Christian, Werl,
Germany; to Pesticide Action
Network. San Francisco. CaUf.
Rohrer, Denise, North
Manchester, Ind.; to be placed
Smith, Gordon, Asheville. N.C.;
to Streetbeat Youth Project,
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Tchang, Kathleen. Saskatoon,
Canada; to Pakrac
Reconstruction Project,
Pakrac, Croatia
Wedding
Anniversaries
Anglemyer, Paul and Marilynn.
Forest, Ohio, 55
Benedict, Harold and Edith.
Vermontville, Mich.. 60
Brinkmeier, Reuben and Arlene,
Pead City, III.. 55
Brubaker, Daniel and Amy.
Ephrata. Pa., 60
Butzer, David and Mary, Akron,
Pa.. 60
Carper, Jerry and Eva,
Coopersburg. Pa., 50
Carr, Wayne and Jane. Sebring,
Fla., 60
Coffey, Jim and Ivy. Weyers
Cave, Va., 50
Cramer, Leland and Ruth,
Bridgewater, Va., 50
Davis, Thomas and Winnie,
Kokomo. Ind.. 70
Dixon, Fred and Martha, Akron,
Ohio, 50
Dohner. Ward and Miriam. West
Alexander, Ohio, 60
Filbrun, George and Virginia,
Brookville. Ohio. 50
Flory, Glen and Esther.
Mcpherson, Kan., 65
Funkhouser, Alvin and Maxine,
Bridgewater, Va., 50
Geiger, Mabel and Emanuel.
Churubusco. Ind., 65
Godfrey, Sterling and Katie,
Dallastown, Pa.. 71
Graffis, Lucile and Homer.
North Manchester. Ind., 60
Harshbarger, John and Alma,
Weyers Cave, Va.. 60
Hartleroad, Robert and Betty,
Peru, Ind., 50
Haworth, Paul and Virginia.
Lorida. Fla., 55
Hollen, Francis and Vera.
Bridgewater, Va., 50
Houff, James and Mary,
Champaign, ill.. 50
Kinzie, Galen and Clarice, North
Manchester, Ind., 60
Kissell, Dale and Miriam,
Troutwood, Ohio, 50
Landes, Gerald and Evagene.
Arcadia, Ind.. 60
Lehigh, Roy and Ruth, Lititz.
Pa.. 60
McFrey, William and Joyce,
Moreno Valley, Calif, 50
Miller, Thomas and Naomi,
Huntingdon, Pa., 50
Miller, Dan and Liza, Greenville.
Ohio. 65
Neterer, George and Frances,
Hollidaysburg. Pa., 50
Nicholas, Carlyle and Winifred.
Bridgewater, Va.. 50
Perrill, Louis and Ruth,
Beavercreek, Ohio. 50
Pullin. Harold and Irma,
Waterloo. Iowa, 60
Royer, Jerry and Ruth, Virden,
111.. 55
Seltzer, Harry and Claudia,
Reading, Pa., 50
Sbank, Elery and Ruth. Polo.
III.. 60
Shifflett, Sam and Geraldine.
Weyers Cave, Va.. 50
Sites, Virgil and Celesta, North
Manchester, Ind., 55
Stauffer, Robert and Hazel, Polo,
III., 55
Stover. Glenn and Catharine,
Waynesboro, Pa., 60
Targgart, Glenn and June,
Albion. Ind.. 50
Taylor, Harry and Erma,
Copemish. Mich.. 55
Tritt, Wayne and Esther. York,
Pa.. 50
Vance, Balford and Helen,
Dayton. Ohio. 50
Wheeler, Wayne and Ellen, New
Philadelphia, Ohio. 50
Deaths
Arner, Myrtle. 85. Sebring. Fla.,
Mar. 16, 1^94
Bagshaw, Anna, 88. Bridge-
water. Va.. Jan. 21, 1994
Baker, James. 75, Martinsburg,
Pa., Mar. 9, 1994
Brandt, Amos, 92, Palmyra. Pa.,
Mar. 19. 1994
Callihan, Clark. 84. Martinsburg,
Pa.. Jan, 25, 1994
Claypool, Mary, 78. Sebring.
Via., Oct. 15. 1993
Coiner, Esther, 77, Bridgewater,
Va., Jan. 4. 1994
Frederick. Gene, 62. Dola, Ohio.
July 13. 1993
Galle-Williams, Opal, 80.
Houston, Tex,. Mar. 24, 1994
Hamman, Ruth. 88, East Lansing.
Mich. Dec, 27. 1993
Keiser. Ruth, 88, Lakeville, Ind.,
Apr. 3. 1994
Kensinger. Leon, 82. Martins-
burg. Pa.. Mar. 9. 1994
Kipe, Lester. 66. Waynesboro.
Pa.. Apr. 12. 1994
Knop, Kenneth. 81. Denver,
Colo., Jan. 4, 1994
Leuenberger, Pauline, 86. Lima,
Ohio, Mar. 31, 1994
Lineweaver. Gary, 49. Harrison-
burg. Va.. Dec. IS, 1993
McKimmy, Ottamar. 95. Gladwin,
Mich." Mar, 23. 1994
Middlekauff, Hilda. 79. Sebring,
Fla., April 16. 1994
Miller, Ray. 89. Martinsburg,
Pa.. Feb. 2, 1994
Mishler, Rowina, 94, Greenville.
Ohio. Mar. 26, 1994
Moon, Iva, 99. South Bend. Ind.,
Mar. 6, 1994
Naff, Ruth, 86, Roanoke, Va..
Mar. 25, 1994
Parrish, Roy, 89. Denver. Colo..
Jan. 13. 1994
Pitsenbarger, Alice, 84. Harrison-
burg. Va.. Mar. 13, 1994
Pore, Verne, 69, Sarasota, Fla..
Aug. 3. 1993
Racop. Shirley. 50. Kjiox, Ind..
Feb. IS. 1994
Reeves, Bruce, 39. Bridgewater.
Va.. Feb. 18, 1994
Rhodes, Leonard. 84, Martins-
burg, Pa., Feb. 17. 1994
Snyder, Victor, 81. Sebring, Fla.,
Mar. 5. 1994
Stevens, William. 73. Vinton.
Va., Mar. 9. 1994
Stuart, Viola, 85. Sebring, Fla.,
Apr. 7, 1994
Wagner. Mary, 78, Martinsburg,
Pa., Jan. 25, 1994
Werdenhoff. Ursula. 94,
Sebring. Fla.. Nov. 1. 1993
Working, Ruth. 92. Hagerstown,
Md., Apr. 11. 1994
July 1994 Messenger 31
No unsaved Harrys need apply
I had heard good things about Miami's Eglise des
Freres Haitiens (Haitian Church of the Brethren)
before I assigned an article on it (see page 22). My
rationale for including its story in the cluster of
articles related to Haiti was to demonstrate to the
Brethren that Haiti is not just another country, "out
there somewhere," making political headlines, but
one to which we claim a special tie, through having
a Haitian congregation in our midst.
I had substantiated for me all the good things 1
had heard when I talked with the article's author by
phone upon her return and later received her
manuscript. Karen Carter was enthusiastic about
Eglise des Freres Haitiens and its pastor, Ludovic
St. Fleur.
In her article. Carter speaks of the pastor's "self-
giving shepherding and engaging witness," and
quotes his explanation of his ministry: "Jesus took a
towel and he girded himself and he knelt and
washed the disciples' feet. This is my model for
Christian ministry."
Says Carter, "With the Suffering Servant as his
model for ministry, Ludovic is unassuming, always
in the background, slipping into a meeting urmo-
ticed, encouraging and enabling leadership, giving
attention to others' comfort, being infinitely
available to those in need."
"Everybody in this congregation is suffering," the
pastor explained to Carter, "because everybody has
someone who got killed in Haiti or is in hiding,
someone who is the victim of the violence there."
Everybody is suffering. "Yet," writes Carter, "the
life that is exuded by this group of believers is so
contagiously joyous, their love so geniune. . . ."
"Joy" was the buzzword for Eric Bishop, also, in
describing the southern Sudanese Christians,
wracked by violence, oppression, displacement,
hunger, and disease (see page 10). Joy? If they ain't
suffering, ain't nobody suffering. As with the
Haitians, "everybody is suffering," yet Bishop
writes that, surprisingly, joy marks the life of the
Christians he visited in Sudan.
While these stories were being processed for
Messenger, I read a newspaper article that fasci-
nated me, titled "True Believer." It told about a
Wheaton, 111., man who "is very rich and very
religious."
Because in Wheaton "there's an environment
that's basically hostile to [his] values," Robert Van
32 Messenger July 1994
Kampen is moving to western Michigan, overlook-
ing the lake. There he is building a $3.3 million
house. Under a tennis court he is building a 7,200-
square-foot vault to protect his collection of rare
biblical manuscripts, books, and Bibles, including a
Gutenberg.
Van Kampen is so gripped by the biblical
prophecies about "last days" that he spends most of
his time poring over the Scriptures and has written a
522-page book, The Sign (Crossway Books, 1992),
stating his interpretation of them. (Among his
learnings: Adolph Hitler is most likely the person to
be resurrected as the Antichrist, signaling the
beginning of the end.) Says the author of his 8-year
writing project, "There are so many nuts running
around, crazies predicting when the end of the
world will be, [that] I decided the Bible had to have
an understandable view."
The Sign is a best-seller. About 65,000 copies
have been sold so far. Says Alan Johnson, a
Wheaton College professor, of the book, "It
fits squarely into the context of conservative
evangelical thought shared by 13 to 15 million
Christians. . . ."
Van Kampen had started his own church in
Illinois. To be happy in Michigan, he is building
another church there, Grace Church, a $1.5-million
project. He had buih the Illinois church "so family
members could practice their faith exactly as they
believed it." The same holds true for the church in
Michigan. "We already have the constitution for the
church, which I wrote," he says.
kJo, who will fill the pews of Grace Church? Van
Kampen clarifies that matter, saying, "We're not
trying to bring in the unsaved Harry and then beat
him in the head with the Bible. We're trying to
build churches with people who have a profound
love of the Word of God."
I had Robert Van Kampen figured out as soon as I
read where he was building his new house. For all
his claims to mastery of the Bible, he is building his
house on a sand dune. Apparently he overlooked
Matthew 7:26 in his scrutiny of the Scriptures.
I don't know about you, but when Der Fiihrer
comes marching back, swastika-emblazoned flags
aflutter, I'm putting my money not on Grace
Church but on Eglise des Freres Haitiens. — K.T.
FUTURE PASTOR
Jubilee,
God's Good News.
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As I write this column, I am adding the last element to this
issue before it goes to press. The August issue, except for
Annual Conference coverage, was put together before we left
for Wichita. Since the day we returned, we have been busy
writing our summary of Annual Conference, selecting photos,
and laying out pages 1 1-27.
I had my worst moment at the Wichita airport as I left from
Conference. I was carrying 34 rolls of exposed film home by
hand. As I approached airport security, I suddenly noticed that
the bag of film wasn't in my hand anymore. Resisting panic, I
retraced my steps to the airport's news/gift shop, where I had
laid down the bag while paying for my purchases. All the time
I had the troubling vision of 17 pages of Conference coverage
all dreary, gray text ... no photos! My knees are still weak.
Because the issue had to wait for the Conference summary, it
comes to you later than other issues of the year. Because of
that, the September issue is stepping on August's heels. We
have to have September done two weeks from today. Mean-
while four members of our Communication Team will be gone
to National Youth Conference (NYC) over one of those weeks.
And, speaking of NYC, while I am trying to concentrate on
putting August to bed today, the first contingent of N YC-bound
youth (three church groups from Western Pennysylvania) has
arrived in Elgin, and is spending the morning touring the
offices. So it's a matter of working at my PC a few minutes,
then stopping to speak about Messenger to a tour cluster, back
to my PC, back to the next tour cluster, and so on. It's not too
good for concentration.
That's why this column is what it is — just a glimpse into life
and work here at the General Offices. The work never stops;
the events of the church's life march on; we scramble to keep
up. And it's good for our denomination's youth to see what
really goes on in "Elgin." We are caught with our sleeves
rolled up and our hands busy. We hope the glimpse that
NYCers catch of us is complementary to their experience at
Fort Collins. Who knows what inspiration individuals among
them may gain? 1 recall my own first visit to Elgin as a youth
and the insights and inspiration it provided. So I must put my
best foot forward ... if I can get it out from under my PC.
Printed on
100-percent
recycled paper.
0
COMING NEXT MONTH: An expanded, four-color Messen-
ger— a special issue devoted to the concerns to be addressed at
the United Nation's International Conference on Population
and Development (September 5-13, in Cairo).
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Wilding, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Vicki Roche
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast. Ruby Raymer; Illinois/
Wisconsin, Kreston Lipscomb; Northern
Indiana. Leona Holderread; South/Central
Indiana, Marjorie Miller; Michigan. Mariei
Willoughby; Mid-Atlantic, Ann Fouts;
Missouri/Arkansas. Mary McGowan;
Northern Plains. Faith Strom; Northern
Ohio, Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio.
Jack Kline; OregonAVashington, Marguerit*'
Shamberger; Pacific Southwest. Randy
Miller; Middle Pennsylvania, Ruth Fisher;i
Southern Pennsylvania. Elmer Q. Gleim;
Western Pennsylvania, Jay Christner;
Shenandoah. Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains'
Mary Ann Dell; Virlina. David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains. Dean Hummer;
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication of tb'
Church of the Brethren. Entered as second
class matter Aug. 20, 1918, under Act of ;
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filing date,
Nov. 1 , 1984. Messenger is a ■
member of the Associated
Church Press and a subscribeif
to Religious News Service ani)
Ecumenical Press Service.
Biblical quotations, unless
otherwise indicated, are from the New
Revised Standard Version.
Subscription rates: $12.50 individual)
rate, $10.50 church group plan, $10.50 gl
subscriptions. Student rate 15i an issue,
you move, clip address label and send wij
new address to Messenger Subscriptions,)
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at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published 11 ;
times a year by the General Ser\'ices Cor'
mission. Church of the Brethren General!
Board. Second-class postage paid at Elgil
III., and at additional mailing office. Au^
gust 1994. Copyright 1994, Church of tKl
Brethren General Board. ISSN 0026-035;'r
POSTMASTER: Send address chang((|
to Messenger. 1451 Dundee Ave., ElginjI
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s
Touch 2
lose to Home 4
jws 6
orldwide 9
)ecial Report 10
litorial 27
epping Stones 28
•om the
General Secretary
pinions 34
jtters 37
mtius' Puddle 37
[irning Points 39
30
'edits:
iver, 1,4 bottom, 1 1-26: George
Ceeler
op: David Radcliff
jottom left: Suellen Shively
3ottom second from left: Eric Bishop
5ottom right, 10: Margaret Woolgrove
Joyce Smit
top, 26 top: Paul Stocksdale
; Wallowitch
The Lord's supper: Not just a memorial 10
Margaret Woolgrove's Special Report highlights the 11th
Believer's Church conference, where 115 participants dis-
cussed "Believer's Church Perspectives of the Lord's Supper.'
Living water at Wichita '94 1 1
A complete summary of Annual Conference business, high-
lights, and the presence of living water. Photographs by
George Keeler.
Seek the peace of the city 29
The peace of the city seems so distant in our age of increasing
tribalism, nationalism, and sectarian violence. Scott Holland
takes issue with theologians who advocate a retreat from the
public square into separate, so-called faithful communities.
Cover story: A child
pouring her bottle of
water into the fountain
symbolizing "living
water " speaks to the
need to involve our
children early on in the
life of the church.
Participation in Annual
Conference is one of the
great opportunities for
nurturing our children 's
spiritual life . . . and for
nurturing our own. See
pages 11-27 for how
nurturing took place at
Wichita '94.
August 1994 Messenger 1
Ill
rr
White House greetings
Not many people can say, "I
got my White House job
through an ad in my church
newsletter." But, honestly,
that's how Carolyn Yates
Seidel did it.
She read in the newslettter
of Oakton Church of the
Carolyn Seidel is
friends with Socks,
the First Kitty of the
land, one of the
relationships she
enjoys in her White
House job.
"In Touch" profiles Brethren
we would like you lo meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
white, if possible) to "In Touch. "
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin. IL 60120.
Brethren, in Vienna, Va.,
that church groups were
needed to volunteer in the
White House Greetings
Office. Oakton didn't have a
group to volunteer, but
Carolyn called anyway,
offering her services as an
individual. The office was
eager for help, and wel-
comed her.
Since July 1993, Carolyn
has worked one day a week
at the White House, prima-
rily addressing birthday
cards to people 80 or older,
and wedding anniversary
cards to couples married 50
years or longer.
Because the White
House's immense volume of
mail (four times that of the
Bush years) requires so
much personal attention,
about 50 volunteers work
daily to open and address
mail. Another 15 volunteers
answer the White House
"Comment Line" telephone.
The mail typically consists
of requests to send greetings
for occasions such as
birthdays, anniversaries,
births, weddings, retire-
ments, and Eagle Scout
accomplishments.
Carolyn enjoys numerous
perks in her job — a White
House Christmas tour
separate from the general
public, occasional Saturday
tours of the West Wing,
watching on the lawn as the
president boards his helicop-
ter, and occasional good-will
visits from Socks, the First
Kitty. "I take my camera
every week," Carolyn says.
"You never know what's
going to happen."
The best perk for Carolyn,
however, is the enjoyment
she gets from her work. "I
especially love the card
requests we get from people
for their parents," she says.
"It's neat to read all the
wonderful things they say
about them. People are
surprised and excited to
receive a greeting from the
White House, and I feel that
I have brightened someone's
day." — Lisa Houff
Lisa Houff is a member of
Oakton Church of the Brethren,
Vienna, Va.
Keeping count
Summarizing a person's
career carmot be done with
numbers alone. But in
Warren Kissinger's case,
numbers do help tell the
story of the 25 years he
spent cataloging religious
books at the Library of
Congress. Traveling to work
from his home in
Hyattsville, Md., Warren
logged 30,000 miles on his
bicycle, the equivalent of 10
trips across the United
States. Recently retired,
Warren is a member of
University Park Church of
the Brethren, in Hyattsville.
His work as a cataloger
primarily was assigning
subject headings and Library
of Congress numbers to
125,000 titles. Warren sees a
trend in religious publication
away from heavy theological
writing. "The big names —
Tillich, Barth, Niebuhr — are
gone. These days, most
Warren Kissinger
religious writing is aimed at
the general reader, espe-
cially in the field of spiritu-
ality." What he finds
2 Messenger August 1994
distressing about many
recent religious books is an
emphasis on financial and
personal success. "So much
of the current approach to
religious faith is 'What's in
it for me'?'" he observes.
More than a cataloger of
books, Warren also has been
an editor and a writer. Three
of his four books are
companions to research on
the life and teachings of
Jesus. His fourth. The
Buggies Still Run, is a fond
tribute to his native
Lancaster County, Pa. In his
1 0 years as editor of the
quarterly journal Brethren
Life and Thought. Warren
kept up with historical and
contemporary writings about
the Church of the Brethren.
Warren is planning some
personal history exploration.
During a forthcoming visit
to France he hopes to retrace
the footsteps his father took
as an American soldier in
World War I. A Lutheran
who joined the Church of
the Brethren late in life,
Warren's father left his son
a legacy of trying to under-
stand the tension felt by
those who love their coun-
try, but are committed as
Christ's followers to the way
of peace. Warren has begun
research for a book that will
include personal testimonies
of soldiers repelled by the
horrors of warfare.
More books to be studied,
more miles to be traveled,
more words to be written.
The numbers continue to
add up for Warren
Kissinger. — Kenneth L.
GiBBLE
Kenneth L. Gibble is co-pastor of
Arlington (Va.) Church of the
Brethren, and promotion consultant
for Messenger.
Harry Diehl claims he cured himself of arthritis.
Doctor cures himself
It could be said that Harry
W. Diehl was just following
the proverb that Jesus
quoted in Luke 4:23:
"Doctor, cure yourself"
After studying the crippling
disease of arthritis for 60
years, first at the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), in
Bethesda, Md., and then at
his own laboratory in
Rockville, Md., Harry
believes he, himself, is proof
that a cure has been found.
Harry, who is 84, had the
results of his work published
in the March 1994 issue of
the Journal of Pharmaceuti-
cal Sciences.
The Swiss albino mice
used at NIH are immune to
arthritis. Harry isolated the
substance in their bodies that
keeps them immune, Cetyl
Myristoleate. After treating
and curing non-immune rats
of the disease, he bathed his
own arthritis-wracked joints
with the substance in 1 99 1 .
"I could hardly walk,"
Harry says, "so I said, 'I'm
going to try it.' And in about
three months my arthritis
was all gone."
He hasn't had joint pain
since then, and the treatment
Names in the news
Ed Cable, of Landisville,
Pa., becomes vice president
and treasurer of Manchester
Ed Cable
College this month. He is
vice chairman of the
Brethren Benefit Trust board
and also chairman of its
seems also to have cleared
up his life-long bronchitis
and headaches, with no
apparent side effects.
Harry's wife, Charlyn,
also was treated with the
substance. "It hurt so bad, I
could hardly sew," she
testifies, "and now I hardly
notice it."
A Brethren originally
from the Shenandoah Valley
community of McGay-
heysville, Harry has been a
member of Flower Hill
Church of the Brethren,
Gaithersburg, Md., since 1952.
He hopes that publication
of his work will lead to
ftirther research and to more
widespread use of his
curative. "It's my gift to
humanity," he says. — Karen
DiNSENBACHER
Karen Dinsenbacher. of
DerH'Ood, Md. . is a staff writer for
The Journal & Express newspapers
in Fairfax. Va.
Investment Committee.
• Christina Furry, a
member of Mount Olivet
Church of the Brethren, near
Newport, Pa., is serving in
Australia this surruner as a
People to People Ambassa-
dor.
• The family of Mark and
Jane Flora Swick went
from three members to
seven on April 27, when
Jane gave birth to quadru-
plets Rachel Ellen,
Rebekah Joy, Elizabeth
Marie, and Hannah Jane.
Mark is pastor of Liberty
Mills (Ind.) Church of the
Brethren, and Jane formerly
pastored the Eel River
congregation, near Silver
Lake, Ind. The quads have
an older brother, Micah.
August 1994 Messenger 3
to
Partners with Caimito
For two years Bremen (Ind.)
Church of the Brethren has
been raising money to help
the Christian Community
Center in Caimito, P.R.
(see "Cristo Vive en
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send story ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' 'Close to Home. ' '
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120.
Bremen Brethren lay tile in
Caimito 's community center.
Energizing encounters
At the 1991 Annual Confer-
ence, the Committee on
Interchurch Relations (CIR)
encouraged congregations to
build relationships with
African American churches.
West Milton (Ohio) Church
of the Brethren responded
by creating ties with
Richard's Chapel church, in
nearby Troy.
The first shared experi-
ence was a 1992 Bible
school. Each congregation
has gone to the other's
church for Sunday worship.
On special occasions each
congregation has invited the
other over. Richard's Chapel
Puerto Rico," October 1992,
page 20).
Bremen set a goal of
$9,400 to give to the
General Board fiind,
designated for Puerto Rico.
In addition, $2,000 in
Christmas offerings was
personally delivered to the
Caimito center by six
Bremen members. The
group also took along
playground equipment,
bedding, kitchen items, toys,
and books. While in Caimito
for two weeks, the Bremen
visitors built a handicapped-
accessible entrance for the
center.
Now Bremen has estab-
lished a Small Animal
Project, purchasing chick-
ens, rabbits, and goats to
give to needy families in the
Caimito area.
"Working together on our
mission project brings us
renewal, unity, peace, and
purpose," says Bremen
pastor Tom Hostetler.
came to West Milton for
1993 Thanksgiving love
feast; West Milton paid a
return call for Richard's
Chapel's "Christmas Around
the World," last December.
Blanl(ets and hiay bales
Church World Service
(CWS) has recognized
Bunkertown Church of the
Brethren, in McAlisterville,
Pa., as the leading congrega-
tion in the CWS Blanket
Program since 1984.
Since that year, total
donations of $37,522 to the
blanket fund have made
Bunkertown the champion
blanket-donating church in
CWS's Eastern and Central
Pennsylvania Region.
Bunkertovra was the highest
donor church in the US for
1993, with $5,969 given for
blankets.
Bunkertown designates
each November as Blanket
Fund Month, and encourages
its members to reach and
surpass a challenge goal
approved in a congrega-
tional business meeting.
Bunkertown doesn't
concentrate on just blankets
for the needy. In two
shipments last winter,
Bunkertown, along with
Faith Community Church
of the Brethren in New
Oxford, Pa., donated three
railroad carloads of hay
(over 2,700 bales — 52 tons)
to Iowa farmers who had
lost hay to last summer's
flood.
Can't we tall(?
A long-running dispute
between Caterpillar, Inc.,
and the United Auto Work-
Chris Bowman
ers (UAW) union has led
Peoria (111.) Church of the
Brethren to offer the two
parties reconciliation
services.
4 Messenger August 1994
Peoria pastor Chris
Bowman emphasizes that
the church is not taking
sides in the dispute, nor is
the offer focused on getting
a contract.
Rather, he says, the goal is
to get both sides to talk and
to treat each other as
Christians, getting them to
"step back and say, 'How
can I work toward reconcili-
ation in this process, even
with people I'm diametri-
cally opposed to?'"
Chris believes that
whether or not Caterpillar
ind the UAW achieve a
contract, the way they are
dealing with their dispute is
tiarmful to employees and
Ihe community. "People are
torn up," he says.
"We're asking Christians
:o ground their actions in
:heir faith. Christians often
Drofess Christianity, but they
ground their actions in either
economics or politics."
At press time, neither
[Caterpillar nor the UAW
lad done more than express
;autious interest in the
Peoria proposal, which
ncludes engaging reconcili-
ition experts from either the
Baker Institute in Pennsylva-
lia or the Lombard (111.)
VIennonite Peace Center.
Dampus comments
Dne of Bridgewater
College's oldest traditions,
he annual Spiritual Life
Institute, was held March
15-17, led by Evanston, 111.,
Presbyterian pastor David S.
Handley. Guest speakers
ilso included Church of the
Brethren members Merle
Crouse, Miller Davis, Beth
Marc Rittle (seated), Pat Crowdis, and Jenny Stover are
serving as McPherson College's summer camp interns.
Sollenberger-Morphew. and
Rick Gardner.
• Manchester College
celebrated Black History
Month (February) with a
series of events focusing on
"A Heritage of Excellence."
Activities included a gospel
music concert featuring a
240-voice choir, story-
telling, speakers, a soul-food
fest, and a diversity work-
shop.
• Three McPherson
College students now are
serving as summer camp
interns, visiting Church of
the Brethren camps in 10
states, from Colorado to
Virginia. Each intern serves
as a resource person for a
week at each camp, makes
presentations about the
college, and leads activities
and Bible study. This
summer's interns are Marc
Rittle, from Highland
Avenue Church of the
Brethren, Elgin, III.; Jenny
Stover, Quinter (Kan.)
Church of the Brethren; and
Pat Crowdis, Bethany
Brethren in Christ congrega-
tion, Thomas, Okla.
• Elizabethtown College
and the State Museum of
Pennsylvania are holding an
8-week field school in
historical archaeology this
summer at the Ephrata (Pa.)
Cloister. Students are
training in excavation
techniques, record-keeping,
mapping, informant inter-
view, artifact identification,
processing, cataloging, and
classiiying. The Ephrata
Community — the builder of
the Cloister complex — was a
religious society that broke
away from the Brethren in
1732. The multi-year
research project at the
Cloister is designed to
discover and mark the
location of original struc-
tures, determine their age
and function, and interpret
lifestyles of the community
members.
Let's celebrate
Burkittsville, Md., celebrated
its 80th anniversary April 24,
Carlisle (Pa.) Church of the
evoking the 1914 scene as
Brethren celebrated the 80th
much as possible in the day's
anniversary of its chartering
activities. Noted historian
June 12. Former pastor
and former pastor Austin
Warren Kissinger and
Cooper helped with his
Brethren historian Don
recollections to enhance the
Dumbaugh were speakers.
illusionof old times.
• Richland Valley Church
• Four Mile Church of the
of the Brethren, near
Brethren, near Richmond,
Mossyrock, Wash., is
Ind., will celebrate 185
marking its 75th anniversary
years of fellowship Septem-
August 12. In connection
ber 25.
with the event. Rose McGee,
• Bradford (Ohio) Church
of the congregation, wants
of the Brethren held a
copies of the book Shepherd
groundbreaking April 10 for
of the Cowlitz (Brethren
its new building project.
Press, 1957), which covers
• Cedar Grove Church of
the founding of Richland
the Brethren, New Paris,
Valley. Contact her at 487
Ohio, as part of its year-long
Mossyrock Road E,
100th anniversary obser-
Mossyrock, WA 98564.
vance, celebrated the
• Pleasant View Church
completion of its building
of the Brethren, near
construction June 26.
August 1994 Messenger 5
BIBLE STUDIES
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
movements, the activities reported on may
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
New youth curriculum
planned for fall 1995
A new youth curriculum will be
launched in the fall of 1 995 by Brethren
Press and Faith & Life Press (of the
General Conference Mennonite Church).
This decision follows the withdrawal
last May of Mennonite Publishing
House (MPH; affiliated with the
Mennonite Church) from the Anabaptist
Curriculum Publishing Council (ACPC).
ACPC has published the Foundation
Series Youth curriculum for 15 years.
MPH, which represents some 60
percent of the current market, cited
financial
losses and
announced
plans to produce its
own youth curriculum.
"We were disap-
pointed that MPH withdrew from
the partnership," said Wendy
McFadden, director of Brethren Press.
"But we felt we had to work out
another way to provide Anabaptist
curriculum for Brethren youth, so we
have developed a new partnership with
Faith & Life Press.
"Both of our publishing houses are
sensing that the time is right for a new
emphasis here. Throughout the training
events for Jubilee: God 's Good News,
the number-one question has been, 'Now
when will there be something new for
the youth?' "
The 1995 curriculum will see the
elimination of separate student work-
books or leaflets; teachers' guides will
include reproducible sheets. While two
electives will be produced each quarter,
the material will be undated and earlier
electives will be available to choose from
as well.
"The design of this new curriculimi
responds to concerns and suggestions
voiced by youth ministers and teachers,"
says Chris Michael, director of Youth
and Young Adult Ministries for the
General Board. "Today's churches
want shorter units, more active material.
a strong Bible focus, relevant topics —
and definitely no student pieces."
In addition to the new curriculum, the
package of youth materials will include
YouthGidde, a quarterly resource for
youth leaders and teachers that will be
produced as a newsletter; and With, an
Anabaptist magazine for youth. Informa-
tion was introduced at National Youth
Conference, where Brethren Press held a
series of focus groups to receive input.
Seven denominations are currently in
conversation with the publishers regard-
ing the new materials, including Friends
United Meeting, and General Conferenci|
of Mennonite Brethren Churches in
Canada and the US.
McFadden noted that Foundation
Series Youth (now called Youth Bible
Studies and Electives) will continue
through summer 1995. The publishing
partners for that curriculum have been
Mennonite Publishing House, Faith
& Life Press, Evangel Press, and
Brethren Press. Evangel Press,
affiliated with the Brethren in Christ
Church, shifted last spring from coop-
erative publisher to cooperative user
status.
Calendar
Evangelism Leaders Academy: August 8-11,
Warner Pacific College, Portland, Ore. [For
information call the Andrew Center; (800)
774-3360].
(
S
Bethany Opening Convocation: 7:30 p.m
September 8. Nicarry Chapel, Bethany
Center, National Road West, Richmond, Ind-i
ii
^
National Older Adult Conference (NOAC II)
September 12-16. Lake Junaluska, N.C. [For
information contact Association of Brethren '
Caregivers, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL
60120; (800) 323-8039].
Annual Brethren Disaster Relief Auction:
September 23-24, Lebanon County (Pa.)
Fairgrounds.
Dedication of the Bethany Center: 2 p.m.,
October 30, Bethany Center, National Road j
West, Richmond, Ind.
6 Messenger August 1994
S8
is
ingress, President opt to
iep draft registration system
May, an amendment in the US House
Representatives to end the Selective
rvice System was voted down after
jsident CHnton sent a letter support-
;it.
rhe amendment, introduced by Ron
;llums, D-Calif, would have ended
; requirement for 1 8-year-old males to
;ister with the system. The same day
; amendment was introduced, Clinton
It the letter citing three reasons for
ntinuing registration, "It is a low-cost
lurance policy against unforeseen
eats; ending it would send the wrong
paal to potential enemies; and it links
! all-volunteer military with society at
ge."
Both patriotism and Clinton's position
Te highlighted during the debate in
; House. Five of the six floor speeches
posing the amendment cited Clinton's
ter.
'It seemed the prospects in 1 994 for
ding the draft and Selective Service
;re quite promising," said Tim
;Elwee, director of the Church of
; Brethren Washington Office. "But
! were shocked and disappointed
len, after having initially commended
! Pentagon report. President Clinton
^ed the continuation of the draft
jistration and selective service."
In a related vote, a resolution passed
the House, which, if adopted by the
nate, would recommend that National
ience Foundation grants not be
jvided to colleges and universities
It do not allow military recruiters on
tnpus. This would affect many relig-
is colleges, including several of the
ethren-affiliated colleges, and all 34
iw York state universities along with
out 94 other colleges and universities.
■'We are convinced that, if not for
isons of sheer logic perhaps out of
ipect for religious and conscientious
jection to war, military conscription
d its bureaucracies will one day come
an end," said McElwee.
PV: 't^t/^\
7
Members of the 1994 Youth Peace Travel Team Brian Kruschwitz, Grundy Center,
Iowa; Rhonda Mellinger, Manheim, Pa.; Matt Guynn, Indianapolis, Ind.; and
Becki Lovett, Troy, Ohio, traveled this summer doing peace education and
empowerment with youth and junior highs for two weeks at Camp Emmanuel,
Camp Colorado, and Camp Pine Lake, and one week at Ivester Church of the
Brethren, Grundy Center, Iowa.
General Board announces
staff appointments, changes
Eric Bishop has resigned as managing
editor of Messenger and director of
News Services, effective August 12.
Bishop will be moving to California in
the fall to begin his work as assistant
professor of journalism at the University
of La Verne in La Verne, Calif.
Jan Eller and Jim Kinsey began as
co-directors of Pastoral Ministry on July
1 1 . This is an interim placement, and
both Eller and Kinsey will continue to
be employed as district executives on a
part-time basis.
Todd Reish began as coordinator of
Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS)
Orientation on July 12. Previously
employed as a case worker with Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of the Fox Valley
in Elgin, 111., Reish has a B.S. in
psychology from Manchester College
and former experience in BVS.
Guillermo Encarnacion is the
interim director of Hispanic Ministry for
a two-year period. Encarnacion is pastor
of Alpha and Omega Fellowship in
Lancaster, Pa., and is moderator of the
Church of the Brethren in the Domini-
can Republic. He will work from his
office in Lancaster.
Helen Constable has taken on a staff-
level volunteer position as coordinator
of Congregational Resourcing. Con-
stable will provide resourcing for
congregations and districts, plan follow-
up to Jubilee Time, work with Brethren
Press exhibits at district conferences,
provide a liaison to Church of the
Brethren Association of Christian
Educators (CoBACE), and carry out
other resourcing responsibilities.
Helen Constable
Guillermo Encarnacion
Eric Bishop
Jan Eller
Jim Kinsey
Todd Reish
Messenger August 1 994 7
Bethany graduates 27 in final
Oak Brool( campus ceremony
In June, 27 students graduated from
Bethany Theological Seminary. The
commencement was the last ceremony
held on its Oak Brook, 111., campus.
Four students received Master of Arts
in Theology degrees:
Samuel Dante Dali, Kulp Bible
College, Mubi, Nigeria, will complete
his undergraduate education at
McPherson College and return to
Nigeria upon assignment.
Paul Daniel Dominguez attends York
Center Church of the Brethren,
Lombard, 111.
Deborah Wuerfel Eggum,
Evangelican Covenant Church, Hins-
dale, 111., will enter older adult ministry.
Samuel G. Spire is a member of
French Broad Church of the Brethren,
Dandridge, Tenn.
One student received a Certificate of
Achievement in Theological Studies:
John Crumley, Beaver Creek Church
of the Brethren, Knoxville, Tenn., will
enter lay ministry at Douglas Park
Church of the Brethren, Chicago, 111.
Twenty-two students earned Master of
Divinity degrees:
Gregory Beach will pastor Dunnings
Creek Church of the Brethren, New
Paris, Pa.
Joan Butler Carlson, St. Isaac
Jogues Catholic Church, Hinsdale, 111.,
will enter a hospital chaplaincy.
Cesar M. Cortez, York Center
Church of the Brethren, Lombard, 111.,
will work with World Radio Mission
Fellowship, in Ecuador.
Young Pil Chang, Love Church of
Chicago, 111., will enter the pastoral
ministry.
Dena Eileen Gilbert is a member of
the La Verne (Calif.) Church of the
Brethren.
Dale Gish is lay pastor with Reba
Place Church of the Brethren, Evanston,
111.
Nancy Bess Waters Griffy, is associ-
8 Messenger August 1994
The 1994 Bethany Theological Seminary graduates are (front row) John Crumley, .
Paul Dominguez, Dena Eileen Gilbert, Mark D. Jargstorf, Festus E. Oke; (second
row) Greg Beach, Jae II Suh, Judy Mills Reimer, Samuel Dante Dali, Marilyn
Lerch Scott, Jean Keith, Lori Powell; (third row) Cesar M. Cortez, Young Pil
Chang, Karen J. Lease, Michelle L.B. Grimm, Ratnawati Hadiwirawan, Thomas
Longenecker; (fourth row) Samuel G. Spire, Earl Stovall, Deborah Eggum, Carol
L. Mayernick, Sara Marie Shields-Priddy, Joan Butler Carlson.
ate pastor of Grace United Methodist
Church, Decatur, 111.
Michelle L.B. Grimm is a member of
Indian Creek Church of the Brethren,
Harleysville, Pa.
Ranta Hadiwirawan is a member of
Franklin Grove (111.) Church of the
Brethren.
Mark D. Jargstorf is a member of
First United Church of Christ, Forest
Park, 111.
Jean Keith will co-pastor Douglas
Park Church of the Brethren, Chicago,
111.
Karen J. Lease, of both Union Bridge
(Md.) Church of the Brethren and York
Center Church of the Brethren,
Lombard, 111., will continue ministry in
occupational therapy.
Thomas Longenecker, Florin Church
of the Brethren, Mount Joy, Pa., will
work with Hillcrest Homes, La Verne,
Calif
Carol L. Mayernick will become a
chaplain at Saint Joseph's Hospital,
Bloomington, 111.
Festus E. Oke, is a member of
North Liberty (Ind.) Church of the
Brethren.
Lori Annette Powell will be associ-
ate pastor First Congregational
Church, United Church of Christ,
Naperville, 111.
Judy Mills Reimer, Williamson
Road Church of the Brethren, Roanoke
Va., is the 1994-95 Church of the
Brethren Annual Conference moderator
Marilyn Lerch Scott, First Church o
the Brethren, Harrisonburg, Va., is
pastor of Naperville (111.) Church of th(
Brethren.
Sara Marie Shields-Priddy is a
member of Lombard (111.) Mennonite
Church.
Earl F. Stovall will pastor New
Enterprise (Pa.) Church of the Brethren
Jae II Suh, Korean World Mission
Church, Reseda, Calif, will pastor Fuli
Gospel Las Vegas (Nev.) Church.
John "Woody" G. Woodford is a
member of Outlook (Wash.) Church oii
the Brethren.
tewardship, Baltimore First
stablish Hayes memorial
altimore (Md.) First Church of the
rethren, in cooperation with the
ewardship Office of the Church of the
rethren General Board, has initiated
e William A. Hayes Memorial Fund.
Hayes was elected as the first African
merican moderator for the 1988 Ann-
il Conference, and was pastor at Balti-
ore First church prior to his death.
The fund, to be administered by the
Ministry Endowment Fund, will be used
for scholarships for "African American
students who seek to be equipped for
the work of ministry." Its establishment
was announced at the Urban Ministries
Luncheon at Annual Conference.
Contributions should be sent to the
Stewardship Office, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120. Checks should contain
the notation "William A. Hayes Memo-
rial Fund."
Emergency Disaster Fund
grant issued for Rwanda
An allocation of $25,000 has been given
from the Emergency Disaster Fund in
response to continuing violence in
Rwanda. The money will be used for
food, clothing, blankets, medical sup-
plies, agricultural tools and seeds, water
development, and crisis intervention,
including an attempt to facilitate a
peace and reconciliation program.
an attempt to end debate, Pope John Paul ll said the priestly
jination of women is not a topic for discussion. The pontiff relied on
i teachings of Pope Paul VI and other predecessors in explaining
ly the church cannot allow women priests.
"In order that ail doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great
portance, I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to
nfer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be
finitively held by all the Church's faithful."
The pope also rejected complaints of sexism in the church's
iching pointing out that Christ did not choose the virgin Mary for
nisterial priesthood. That fact, he said, "shows that the non-admis-
in of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of
!ser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them."
The World Council of Churches (wcc) intends to sponsor
; participation of 100 women— 50 of them Chinese— at Forum 95, a
nference to discuss progress on conditions for women, to be held in
ijing in late August next year.
Forum 95 will bring together thousands of women from women's
)ups linked to non-governmental organizations around the world, and
I overlap with the fourth United Nations Conference on Women, also
ting place in Beijing.
The forum will discuss advances for women in UN member states
)und the world in the decade since 1985 when the third UN Confer-
ee on Women drew up its report.
Frank Winnermark of Lexington, Ky., began June i as
ector of the National Council of Churches' (NCC) Office of Finance
d Administration.
making the appointment, Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general
cretary, said Winnermark will bring "coherent and decisive leadership
the management of the Council's financial and human resources."
nnermark will serve during the interim until the new Quadrennium
gins on January 1, 1996. He succeeds Robert Soong, who resigned
following a troubled investment in the Bank of Bohemia in Prague.
Winnermark faces the financial and administrative issues of the
NCC, which is seeking the return of $8 million from the investment.
He comes to the NCC at a time when the organization is moving to
an important stage of a two-year Transformation Process. As a
specialist in human resource development and management, he is
expected to lead in the preparation of new position descriptions for all
staff based on clearly defined policies. "Performance reviews need to
be conducted at stated inten/als and need to be directly related to
approved position descriptions," he said.
American Baptist youth will read the entire Bible
during their Aug. 8-14 national gathering in Estes Park, Colo. They will
use four large-print New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bibles
donated by the Committee on Bible Translation and Utilization of the
National Council of Churches (NCC).
The NCC committee also promised financial support to provide
free NRSV New Testaments to the expected 2,500 participants in the
youth gathering, which is meeting under the theme "VENTURE:
Traveling With the Lord by Our Side."
Young people will use the four large-print NRSV Bibles in a large-
scale reading of the entire Bible at morning devotions and mealtimes,
and during meetings. Representatives from every youth group
attending the conference will be invited to participate, with readers
signing their names and the dates in the Bibles.
Using a large banner, they will mark their progress each evening,
and the whole gathering will celebrate this affirmation of the Bible as
the conference concludes.
After the youth gathering, one Bible will be donated to the
American Baptist Historical Society for its archives. Another will be
given to the American Baptist Assembly at Green Lake, Wis. The two
remaining Bibles will circulate through American Baptist regions, to be
used, signed, and dated at rallies, camps, retreats, and regional youth
conventions.
Messenger August 1994 9
The Lord's supper: Not just a memorial
by Margaret Woolgrove
"I don't know how to speak for a mob,"
said Bill Brackney, in trying to give a
Canadian Baptist view of the Lord's
supper, "but that's what I've been asked
to do."
In putting together a conference on
"Believer's Church Perspectives of the
Lord's Supper," it was inevitable that
the crowd would be mob-like.
From discussions on the "real presence"
(and the "surreal" absence), sacraments
and ordinances, the seeming substantiality
of transubstantiation versus
consubstantiation, some group
consensus emerged, but there were
always those who disagreed.
This was the 1 1th Believer's
Church conference, and the first
one to take on the huge and
potentially divisive subject of the
Lord's supper.
The term "Believer's Church"
was coined by Max Weber who,
according to Brethren historian
Donald Dumbaugh, "wanted a
descriptive term to identify radical
Protestants who had distanced
themselves from state-sponsored
church establishments or other
socially dominant ecclesiastical
bodies" (Ser-vants of the Word,
Brethren Press, 1990, page xvii).
The 115 participants at this confer-
ence, held on the campus of Ashland
Theological Seminary in Ohio, came
from more than 25 different denomina-
tional groupings. They included Breth-
ren (Church of the Brethren, Brethren
Church, Grace Brethren, Dunkard
Brethren, and Old German Baptist
Brethren), Mennonites (General Confer-
ence, Mennonite Church, and Menno-
nite-Brethren), Methodists (Wesleyan
ones, Free ones, and even United ones).
Baptists, Southern Baptists, Presbyteri-
ans, Catholics, Quakers, Moravians,
Seventh-day Adventists, Christian
Church, Church of God, and African
Methodist Episcopals.
On the whole. Believer's Churches
10 Messenger August 1994
Stress adult, or believer's, baptism. This
is seen as an outward sign of an inward
and voluntary commitment. This means
that the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers) — who do not baptize — are
also included in the designation. It was
at Earlham School of Religion (the
Quaker seminary in Richmond, Ind.)
that the groundwork for the first
Believer's Church conference, held in
1967, was laid.
The Believer's Church "title" is an
umbrella that covers a broad scope of
churches, diverse not only in theology, but
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Jeff Bach, a Bethany Seminary professor, and Linda
Fry, of the Juniata College library staff, were among the
115 participants at the Believer's Church conference.
also in culture and geographical location.
There is no guiding body and no support-
ing bureaucracy to the organization, and
the conferences, which happen roughly
every two years, are locally organized.
From the foundational 1967 gathering
on the "Concept of the Believer's
Church," a list of affumations was drawn
up. These included the Lordship of
Christ, the authority of the Word, church
membership regenerated by the Spirit, the
covenant of believers, a need for perpetual
restitution of the church, the necessity
for a separation from the world, procla-
mation and service to the world, and a
non-organizational view of church unity.
With the large numbers of Anabap-
tists at this most recent gathering,
considerable time was spent examining
the Anabaptist tradition of feetwashing.
The biblical precedent for this ritual act
is found in John 13:5-14, and the
mandate for its continued practice is
more obvious than those given for watei
baptism or eucharist (the Lord's supper),
In the context of John's Gospel,
according to J.C. Thomas, who spoke on
the subject of feetwashing, baptism
"would designate initial belief and
fellowship with Jesus, while feetwashing
would signify the continuance of that
belief and fellowship." Thus, feetwashing
"signifies the removal of sin that
might accumulate as a result of
life in this sinful world."
For Brethren, both past
and present, the issue has not
been whether Christ is present
in the elements, but whether
Christ is present in the body of
believers that makes up the
church. Hence the importance of •
Matthew 18:15 and the resolvingi
of interpersonal disputes before
the church body can come
together for commmunion.
Mennonite Myron
Augsburger spoke on the "Imme- j
diacy of Grace" in Friday J
evening's opening worship. "The
sacraments," he said, "represent
the death of one's self, and new
life in Christ. We Mennonites tend to
think that when God got hold of us he
got a bargain. All he had to do was dust
us off and polish us up. But sin isn't jusi
doing wrong things, it's having wrong
attitudes, such as self-centeredness . . .
God is overcoming evil not through
exercising superior power, but through
exercising the superior qualities of love,
mercy, holiness, and grace . . . We are
not our own. We are God's."
For Believer's Churches, the Lord's
supper is not just a memorial of a past
event, but a powerfiil and evocative
reminder of the imminence of Christ in
the body of believers. It is a reminder
not only to remember the past,
but to live out of it.
M^
Karagama Gadzama pours water from Nigeria's Hawal
River into the fountain of unity that flanl<ed the stage
and flowed throughout Conference weel<. For the
third time since 1976, the Church of the Brethren
gathered in Wichita's Century II convention center.
4
Living water
at Wichita '94
What was the Conference
logo saying? Were we to
find refreshment and
renewal at Wichita, or were
we to go out from Wichita
inviting others to drink the
living water? Or was it
both? Ultimately, it was a
question each of the 4,000
participants at the 208th
recorded Annual Conference
had to answer alone. Here
to consider in forming the
answer, is what we witnessed
said and done in Wichita,
Kan.,June28-July3, 1994.
—the Messenger staff
photos by George Keeler
Messenger August 1 994 1 1
Leola Allen, pastor of
Tok'ahookadi Church of
the Brethren, and her
husband, Ernie Conry,
direct Lybrook Commu-
nity Ministries, near
Cuba, N.M. Lybrook is,
at present, the only
Native American project
of General Board
program. The project is
supported by Western
Plains District. (See
IVIay/June, page 20,
"Lybrook and Its
Changing Role.")
Yahola Simms, one of
the Native American
members of the study
committee, defended
the "Native American
Justice" paper in a
Tuesday evening hear-
ing, referring often to
learnings from his
97-year-old grandmother.
Said Simms, "To Indian
people such as I, words
are built on the air that
sustains our life. We
breathe In the air and
we form words, and
those words remain
sacred to us."
NATIVE AMERICANS
Dealing with relationships
Critics doubted paper was really
referring to Jesus Christ
"Community: A Tribe of Many Feathers," the
statement relating the Church of the Brethren to
Native Americans, was overwhelmingly
adopted by Conference although the language
of the paper, in several instances, still did not
please the statement's critics.
Prior to floor discussion, delegates accepted
the substitute paper sent to Conference by the
General Board. Based on feedback received
during the past year, the committee that wrote
the original paper, which was adopted in 1993
as a study paper, submitted it as the proposed
statement for adoption, with numerous changes
calculated to ease its passage. The revised
paper included a section with recommendations
for families and individuals.
More than a dozen people expressed con-
cerns about and affirmations for the paper, and
many more were in line at the microphones
when a motion was made to move the previous
question. Most of the paper's critics raised
concerns regarding Christology and the relation
of Native American traditions and Christian
faith.
General Board chairman David Wine
introduced the paper as dealing primarily with
relationships and justice, rather than formulat-
ing a theological stance. "It notes our diversity
and affirms our unity as a people of the ancient
land we call America," said Wine. "This paper
challenges the church to address the continuing
injustice and misunderstandings that cause
division."
During a Tuesday evening hearing, and again
on the floor of Conference, critics challenged
the committee's assertion that the paper was
not meant to be theological. "I heard the
committee make claims not in line with
reality," said Jamie Baker, pastor of Summit
Church of the Brethren, near Bridgewater, Va.
"The paper is shot through with Christology,
and it is misleading and confusing."
One of four attempts to amend the paper
succeeded. That amendment, moved by Esther
Moeller Ho, of Fellowship in Christ Church of
the Brethren, Fremont, Calif., changed phrases
such as "people of God" and "people of faith"
to "Christian."
Ethelene Wilson, a Native American
(Navajo) committee member from the
Tok'ahookadi Church of the Brethren, near
Cuba, N.M., commented prior to floor discus-
sion, "I hope what the paper accomplishes is
that we will see a Native American pastor,
leaders for our youth group, and Sunday school
leaders."
She added, "I pray that we will have good
spiritual growth, and that one day we will have
more of my people here (at Conference).
"When you come to Lybrook (Lybrook
Community Ministries, of which the
Tok'ahookadi congregation is a part)," Wilson
said, "come to worship God; don't come to
study us. Come and respect us; don't prejudge
us." — Eric B. Bishop
12 Messenger August 1994
live Report' youth-focused
The General Board "Live Report" (which complements the
written report in the Conference Booklet) had a clear focus on
youth, with a singing quartet introducing various aspects of
General Board program. The highlight of the report was a
group of youth assembling on stage a symbolic house;
during National Youth Conference in late July they would
construct the real thing. The members of the quartet, JOYA
(pronounced "Hoya") or Journey of Young Adults, are Brian
Kruschwitz, LuAnne Harley, Barbara Sayler, and Shawn
Kirschner. Accompanying them on drums in their "Live
Report" performance, was Alan Boleyn, currently serving as a
volunteer with the General Board's Communication Team.
Messenger August 1 994 1 3
Andy McKinnell,
of Glen Rock, Pa.,
was just one of
many dads at
Wichita providing
their l<ids with
an early Annual
Conference
experience and
(in this case), on
the side, a lesson
in first steps. Son
Ian seemed to be
catching on fast.
SOUTH AFRICA
Time for a new stance
The South African people had
asked for removal of sanctions
Reflecting the recent peaceful dismantling of
apartheid in South Africa and that country's
free election in April, Annual Conference acted
favorably on a new business item coming from
the General Board, voting overwhelmingly to
affirm the board's suspension of economic
sanctions, divestiture, and boycott components
previously enacted regarding South Africa, and
to suspend previous Conference action regard-
ing divestiture (1986) and its 1989 recommen-
dations regarding boycott and economic
sanctions.
Merv Keeney, General Board staff for Africa
and the Middle East, reminded Conference that
the economic sanctions had been put in place at
the request of the South African people and
now were being removed also at their request.
Statements remain in place that call for
Brethren to work toward eliminating all forms
of apartheid in South Africa, recognizing that
the path toward a truly equal society will be a
long one. — Margaret Woolgrove
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
Following the guidelines
Delegates added a little punch to
Standing Committee's suggestion
The clock was running out on Saturday after-
noon and delegates were getting restless when
"Americans with Disabilities Act" reached the
floor. The query (or, more accurately, the
petition), from the Highland Avenue (Elgin,
111.) congregation in IllinoisAVisconsin District,
called on Conference "to consider accepting
the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines
for the Church of the Brethren and to urge our
churches and institutions to begin study and
implementation thereof. . . ."
Standing Committee member Don Flory,
Paris, 111., in presenting the query, noted that "if
people aren't able (physically) to get into the
church, they cannot worship or participate."
Delegates were not satisified with the
recommended answer from Standing Commit-
tee, which would have had Conference merelv
appreciating the concern and asking congrega
tions to "ac? within the spirit of the Americans
with Disabilities Act. . . ." Acting on a motion
from the floor, delegates approved a substitute
answer that was more forceful: "Annual
Conference responds favorably to the petition
and urges appropriate follow-through by . .
congregations and institutions in behalf of
persons with special needs. . . ."
The Association of Brethren Caregivers
(ABC) offers helpfiil information for congregi
tions wanting to making their facilities more
accessible to the physically disabled. — Paula
S. Wilding
SIMPLE LIVING
Updating simple life rulej
Why must the Brethren simple lif(
be such a complex Issue for us?
"Simple living is not simple," delegates
were told in the discussion of the query
"Simple Life." The query was adopted, with
the goal of enabling Brethren "to discuss and
encounter the Brethren testimony concerning
the simple life."
The query, in the form of a petition, was
brought by the Springfield (111.) congregation,
of Illinois/Wisconsin District, recognizing tl
"cultural pressures against simple living are
different for every generation, and the conte:
porary age of competition, media proliferatioi
and rapid technological change presents uniqi
challenges to Christian simplicity."
As the answer to the query instructed, a
committee of three people, one from Bethany]
Seminary (not yet named) and two appointed
by Annual Conference (Fletcher Farrar Jr. and]
Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm), was formed. It will
examine how the church can witness to its
testimony of simplicity in the current world,
recognizing that while there is "not much
emphasis on simple living in the church today
the church can teach us much." An initial
report, proposing program objectives, processj|
and budget, will be presented to Conference ii
1995. In 1996, Standing Committee will
recommend future direction for the program, j
— Margaret Woolgrove !
14 Messenger August 1994
J
Wichita
wasn't all
'business'
Much of what happens
at Conference is found
beyond the business
sessions. Just as
conferencegoers pick
and choose what to
participate in, our
photographers have to
scramble to record a
sampling of the many
activites.
Top: Dave Fouts and
Sonja Johansen were
among many young
adults who joined in a
work project, picking
up trash in a Wichita
park.
Center: Rhoda Tarfa
and Herkawa Malgwi
came from Nigeria to
represent Zumantar
Matan Ekklesiyar
Yanuwa a Nigeria
(Womens's Fellowship
of the Church of the
Brethren in Nigeria).
Guests of Global
Women's Project, the
pair spoke at insight
sessions and a lun-
cheon, as well as
mixing informally with
conferencegoers.
Bottom: A hastily
planned candlelight
vigil was held
Thursday night to
call attention to the
deteriorating situation
in Haiti.
Messenger August 1 994 1 5
Wichita '94 offered
a richi variety of
"early evening
concerts," that
musical luxury that
Brethren agonize
over indulging in,
competing as it
does with the
supper hour. Among
this year's artists
was vocalist Hyun
Joo Yun, a former
exchange student
who lived with the
family of moderator
Earl Ziegler, and
who now teaches
vocal music at
Seoul (South
Korea) University.
Other early evening
concerts included
a duo piano recital
and a vocal
ensemble.
VIOLENCE
Treat violence Jesus' way
One proposed amendment would
have excused self-defense
Annual Conference adopted a "Statement on
Violence in North America," added by Stand-
ing Committee to the business agenda at
Wichita. The statement deplores the increasing
level of violence in North American communi-
ties and countries.
"Faithful disciples of the nonviolent ways of
Jesus have acted as leaven in the society
against the violent trends of every age," read
the statement after it was amended to reflect
the reality that the Christian church has not
always been the witness it should have been
against the use of violence in settling disputes.
Brethren congregations and agencies are
encouraged "to work with other Christians to
find dramatic and effective ways to witness to
the peace and reconciliation offered through
Jesus Christ."
The statement, noted presenter Paul
Wampler, Manassas, Va., is similar to one
released by the Council of Moderators and
Secretaries of Anabaptist groups in early June,
which was signed by Annual Conference
moderator Earl Ziegler and general secretary
Donald Miller.
Delegates rejected two amendments proposed
from the floor. The first, by Harold Bamett,
pastor of the Mathias (W.Va.) congregation,
which would have excused violence resorted to
in "justifiable self-defense" went down to
defeat amid cries of outrage ft'om defenders of
the traditional nonviolence stance of the
denomination. The second, by Tony
Schneiders, Argos, Ind., would have inserted
the words "abortion" and "assisted suicide" to
the list of violent acts specifically condemned
by the paper. — Eric B. Bishop
ETHICS IN MINISTRY
The committee assigned to review the 1 992
"Ethics in Ministry Relations" statement
brought a report to Standing Committee in
Wichita. Committee members Donna Ritchey
Martin, Pamela T. Leinauer, and Karen P.
Miller have considered only section IV of the
statement, the process for dealing with allega-
tions of ministerial misconduct. Approval was
given by Standing Committee for the review
committee to continue its work and give its
final report in 1995. Turned down was a
recommendation fi^om the review committee
that Standing Committee develop its own
process to handle the appeal of cases of
misconduct. — Paula S. Wilding
MINISTERIAL LEADERSHIP
The Aimual Conference Committee on Ministe-
rial Leadership reported to Standing Committee
that it will be ready to present the findings of
its five-year study next year in Charlotte. A
preliminary study report is being offered to
various groups and individuals for feedback to
help shape the final report.
The committee, formed in 1990, is studying
the calling of not only pastors, but the calling
of congregational members to ministry training
as well. The committee also is focusing on the
mentoring system within the clergy. — Paula S. '
Wilding i
CODE OF ETHICS
As called for by the "Ethics in Ministry Rela-
tions" statement adopted by Conference in
1992, delegates at Wichita approved the
formation of a study committee to develop a
congregational code of ethics "whereby congre-
gations may be called into accountability for
unethical behavior." The elected committee —
Phillip Stone, Fred Swartz, Carroll ("Kaydo")
Petry, Paula Eikenberry Langdon, and Leah
Oxley Harness — will make a progress report to
Conference in 1995 and a final report in
1996. — Margaret Woolgrove
BIENNIAL CONSULTATION
Conference approved a Standing Committee
recommendation that the biennial consultation
of denominational agencies and institutions
initiated in 1 992 be changed to an every-five- '
years meeting. The consultation was called for
by the Denominational Structure Corrmiittee
paper of 1991, with the purpose of promoting
greater cooperation among the agencies and
institutions and of serving as a clearing house '
for scheduling, programming, and fund-raising
16 Messenger August 1994
Jl
le change to meeting every five years reflects
mcem for cutting travel expenses. Also, it
as noted that the Brethren Benefit Trust
ready holds a breakfast meeting each year at
Dnference that includes representatives of the
me agencies and institutions involved in the
insultation and meets part of the need the
insultation serves. — Kermon Thomasson
HOMOSEXUALITY
le 1994 round in the ongoing controversy
'er homosexuality was shaped by two fac-
rs — a report from Standing Committee to the
:legate body and an outcry over the luncheon
ogram of the Womaen's Caucus.
Standing Committee last year established a
ocess to hear concerns about homosexuality
Dm the denomination. The learnings were
ported on Wednesday, the first day of
isiness. A poll of last year's Conference
legates showed that 85 percent of that body
vored the position on homosexuality taken by
e 1983 Conference paper "Human Sexuality
om a Christian Perspective." A majority of
sponses received during the year since
bstantiate the poll's findings.
Standing Committee pointed out that "a
:ong vocal minority (calls) for unconditional
ceptance of homosexuality as a valid
"estyle," while "an equally strong vocal
inority (calls) for the conversion/transforma-
m of homosexuals as the only acceptable
response to homosexuals."
Another finding was that many Brethren
believe other pressing matters are being
neglected while the denomination labors over
the issue of homosexuality. Standing Commit-
tee reported a "strong expression that it is time
for the church to 'move on.'"
The conclusion of Standing Committe was to
reaffirm the 1983 paper, as it had last year. In
addition, the committee urged congregations
"to refrain from requesting additional policy
statements at Annual Conference for the next
five years." Meanwhile, a subcommittee will
design and implement a plan that will facilitate
ongoing dialog across the denomination, "with
the greatest effort put into the district and
congregational levels."
The report of Standing Committee was
accepted after several speeches from the floor.
The speeches reflected more the polarized
positions on homosexuality than the merits of
the five-year moratorium on queries.
At various points on the business agenda,
speakers voiced outrage at Womaen's Caucus
inviting Martin Rock, founder of Brethren/
Mennonite Council for Lesbian and Gay
Concerns, to speak at its Conference luncheon.
Most took the position that the caucus had
violated Conference guidelines. After confer-
ring, Standing Committee and Program and
Arrangements Committee declared that
Womaen's Caucus had not violated any
guidelines. Rock spoke at the luncheon as
scheduled. — Kermon Thomasson
Left: Jamie Baker,
pastor of Summit
Church of
the Brethren, near
Bridgewater, Va., aired
his grievance that a
query on homosexuality
from his congregation
had failed to make it to
Conference. His attempt
to add it to the business
agenda failed, as did
others' attempts to have
this Conference address
the issue.
Above: As a controver-
sial book swells sales
for its publisher, so
does a controversial
speaker reap promo-
tional benefits for the
host group. Womaen's
Caucus enjoyed both a
sell-out crowd for its
Friday luncheon and the
satisfaction of having
Standing Committee and
Program and Arrange-
ments Committee
declare the caucus was
in bounds when it
invited Martin Rock to
speak. Rock, of Wash-
ington, D.C., is the
founder of Brethren/
Mennonite Council for
Lesbian and Gay
Concerns (BMC) and
serves as the bete
noire of those who
oppose acceptance of
homosexuals into the
denomination. In his
luncheon speech, he
recounted his personal
journey, involving
rejection by family,
employers, and the
church.
Messenger August 1 994 1 7
Each moderator makes a
mark one way or
another — by adroit
handling of controversy,
careful application of
rules of order, enthusi-
astic playing out of a
theme, or sometimes
just letting Brethren be
Brethren. Earl Ziegler
may be best remem-
bered for a well-orches-
trated theme — living
water — and for a stress
on unity, supported by a
strategy for playing the
game with no end runs
allowed. As the gavel
was passed to Judy
Mills Reimer, Brethren
waited to see what
would happen with next
year's Conference held
in Dixie and led by a
moderator noted for her
southern charm.
1 8 Messenger August 1 994
GENERAL BOARD
The deteriorating situation in Haiti dominated
General Board discussion and action at its
Wichita meeting. The outcome was a resolution
against US military intervention in Haiti.
"We fear that a decision in favor of US
military intervention may be imminent," the
resolution says. "The gospel of Jesus Christ
compels us as a historic peace church to oppose
the use of any kind of military assault on Haiti
and to urge the US and the United Nations to
apply nonviolent, diplomatic, and judicial
initiatives rather than attempt to restore
democracy and human rights in Haiti through
violent means."
In another action, the board gave approval
for the construction of a 30-unit retirement
complex in New Windsor, Md. Construction on
the independent-living facility will begin after
the sale of 75 percent of the units. The complex
will consist of four one-bedroom units and 26
two-bedroom units. — Eric B. Bishop
ELECTIONS
Fred Bemhard, pastor of Oakland Church of the
Brethren, near Gettysburg, Ohio, was elected
moderator of the 1 996 Aimual Conference,
which will meet in Cincinnati, in Bemhard's
Southern Ohio District. Bemhard will serve
until next July 2 as moderator-elect.
He is a former member of the General Board,
serving at one time as the board's vice-
chairman. He is familiar to conferencegoers as
the head messenger, a post he has held for
many years.
Judy Mills Reimer, the new moderator, has
served as a General Board member, and for two
years as its chairwoman. She has been a
National Youth Cabinet advisor and a member
of several study committees. An ordained
minister, Reimer is a member of Williamson
Road Church of the Brethren, in Roanoke, Va.
She and her husband, George, operate Harris
Office Furniture, in Roanoke.
Newly elected to the General Board as at-
large members are Phyllis Davis, North
Liberty, Ind., and Terry Shumaker, Buena
Vista, Va. Other new members represent
districts — Tracy Sadd, Manheim, Pa. (Atlantic
Northeast); Ruth Clark, Froid, Mont. (Northern
Plains); and Ernest Bolz, Tonasket, Wash.
(Oregon/Washington).
The General Board underwent its annual
reorganization at Wichita:
New chairman is Ernest Barr, and new vice-
chairwoman is Sandra Bosserman. Barr and
Bosserman, along with the chairs of the three
commissions and two at-large members —
Donald Fitzkee and Roger Forry — make up the
board's Executive Committee.
Bosserman is chairwoman of the board's
Goals and Budget Committee, which includes
members of the Executive Committee and
several ex officio members.
General Services Commission: Katherine
Hess (chairwoman), Sandra Bosserman,
I
Christopher Bowman, Phyllis Davis, Donald
Fitzkee, Beth Middleton, Carl Myers, and
Colleen Smith.
Parish Ministries Commission: Phyllis
Crain (chairwoman), Juan Figueroa. Roger
Forry, Dorothy Gall, John Huffaker, Terry
shumaker, Tracy Sadd, and Craig Smith.
World Ministries Commission: Bonnie
Smeltzer (chairwoman), Ernest Bolz, Ruth
Clark, Rogers Fike, Wendell Flory, Lori
•Cnepp, Steve Petcher, and Brian Rise.
Other election results: Frank Ramirez,
ilkhart, Ind., to the Annual Conference
^rogram and Arrangements Committee; Ronald
'etry, Ellicott City, Md., as district executive
nember on the Pastoral Compensation and
Benefits Advisory Committee; Jane Wood,
Boones Mill, Va., to the Committee on Inter-
;hurch Relations; Cheryl Ingold, Fresno, Calif,
0 the Brethren Benefit Trust Board; and Eldon
'ahs. North Manchester, Ind., to the Bethany
Seminary Board.
The four new members of Standing
Committee's Nominating Committee are Scott
3uffey, Westminster, Md.; Judy Epps,
lunnells, Iowa; Richard Landrum, Wenatchee,
^'ash.; and Linda McMurray, Damascus, Va.
—Paula S. Wilding
Fred Bernhard, pastor
of Oakland Church of
the Brethren,
Gettysburg, Ohio, will
serve as moderator of
the 1996 Annual Confer-
ence, in Cincinnati.
General Board mem-
bers serving on its
Executive Committee
are (front) Phyllis Crain
(Parish Ministries
chairwoman), Sandy
Bosserman (General
Board vice-chair-
woman), Bonnie
Smeltzer (World Minis-
tries chairwoman), and
(back) Ernie Barr
(General Board chair-
man), Don Fitzkee
(member-at-large),
Roger Forry (member-
at-large), Kathy Hess
(General Services
chairwoman).
Opposite page: General
Board tapped for
leadership positions
Ernie Barr, Carmel, Ind.
(chairman) and Sandy
Bosserman, Peace
Valley, Mo. (vice-
chairwoman).
I
Messenger August 1994 19
The Conference theme
was highlighted In
several ways during the
week at Wichita. On
opening night, basins of
water were brought
forward and poured into
a fountain (see photo on
page 11.) At week's end
conferencegoers were
invited to take a sample
of the fountain's water
back to their home
congregations.
CONFERENCE THEME
The Annual Conference theme, "Come, Drink
the Living Water" seemed especially fitting in
the dry 100-degree Wichita weather. Even
before the first worship service, the refreshing
and life-giving qualities of water were evident
as parched conferencegoers sought relief in
pitchers of cool water. Participants were
refreshed spiritually as they worshiped
together, studied the Bible, and worked
through issues of diversity.
During the opening worship service,
conferencegoers were given a cup of water and
invited to partake of the symbol of the living
water. Moderator Earl Ziegler challenged each
one to drink Jesus' living water: "Possess his
spirit of love and respect, enable yourselves to
drink freely from the life-giving, life-changing
and life-sustaining water, and be filled."
At the conclusion of that first service,
representatives from congregations came
forward and poured containers of water into a
fountain near the fi^ont of the stage. Hundreds
of congregations brought water from their
churches and communities. Also added was
water from projects where Brethren workers
have served.
Symbolic of the growing diversity of the
church, water fi-om five continents flowed
together in the fountain. Water from places of
Brethren mission work included India, South
Korea, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, and Brazil. Also
there was water from rivers and seas of Bible
lands — the Red Sea, the Nile River, the Jordan
River, and the Sea of Galilee.
A vial of water from the Eder River in
Germany was brought by Bob Roller, pastor of
Fraternity Church of the Brethren, Winston-
Salem, N.C. The Eder River is the location of
the first Brethren baptisms, in 1708. The water
was sent with greetings from Paul Lenz of
Wedemark, Germany, who had served with
Brethren Service workers after World War II.
Brenda Wilkerson of Germantown Church of
the Brethren, Philadelphia, Pa., brought water
from Wissahickon Creek where the Brethren
first baptized in America, in 1723.
Judy Mills Reimer, moderator-elect, brought
water from the Nile River, which she collected
during the Hunger for Peace Tour to Sudan last
winter.
Throughout the week, activities centered
around the Conference theme. Junior-high
youth experienced the gift of water through
watermelon-eating, and studied the symbol of
water in the Brethren traditions of feetwashing
and baptism. Morning and evening Bible
studies led by various people also focused on
water as a symbol of purity, life, witness, and
renewal.
As Brethren struggled with the challenges of
diversity throughout the week, the fountain
became a symbol of unity for the denomina-
tion.
Earl Ziegler noted that the water that was
poured into the fountain was not all the same.
"Some is salt. Some is well. Some is cisterfi.
Some is from fresh springs." he said. "How-
ever, all water is H^O. It may be different in
many ways, but it is still all water."
Brethren struggled with diversity of lan-
guage, tradition, and theology in various ways
during the week. By the end of Conference,
however. Brethren affirmed those differences
within the foundation of the love and faith of
God.
This unity within diversity was celebrated
and refreshed throughout the week. On Sunday,
participants took water from the fountain back
to their home congregations — a tangible
reminder of the living water that Jesus offers to
all people. — Paul Stocksdale
.
20 Messenger August 1 994
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This year's Saturday
night concert was
performed by
"Acapella," a male
vocal quartet. The
group proved popular
with conference-
goers, especially
youth. Youth/Young
Adult Ministries and
Annual Conference
co-sponsored the
performance.
IS ',
■ y
With fast-food
restaurants blocks away
in blistering heat, the
convention center's
concession stands did a
booming business.
These conferencegoers
used the balcony railing
as a makeshift table. It
was a table with a view,
however, providing a
vantage point for
watching the long line
below snaking its way
through the exhibit hall
to food service, another
booming business.
Messenger August 1994 21
Upper right: David
Bibbee explored what
happens when we "get
down off the bank and
into the water."
Lower right: Earl Ziegler
invited worshipers to
"come to the river of
life."
Far right: Becky Crouse
urged the showing of
love to all of God's
children, regardless of
race or ethnicity.
More than one worship
service was marked by
the congregation
participating in symbolic
acts. Darlene and
Gordon Bucher of
Hartville, Ohio, inflated
their balloons in an
exercise Becky Crouse
used to illustrate the
percentages of different
color groups of the
world's population.
WORSHIP SERVICES
Speakers at worship services during Conference
week focused on the theme of "Come! Drink
the Living Water." Declaring that "the closer
we get to Christ, the closer we get to one
another," moderator Earl Ziegler invited
worshipers to "come to the river of life."
Ziegler, pastor of Lampeter (Pa.) Church of the
Brethren, illustrated how Christ as living water
gives, sustains, and changes life. Commenting
that "there is a well within each of us, a well
from which we need to draw and share with
others," he encouraged outreach near and far.
Describing baptism as a "bath of
belovedness," David Bibbee, pastor of Elkhart
(Ind. ) City Church of the Brethren, in his
Wednesday evening sermon, explored what
happens when we "get down off the bank and
into the water." Retelling the accounts of Jesus'
baptism from Matthew and Mark, Bibbee
pointed to baptism as the believer's "yes" to
the most basic truth of our lives — that we are
the beloved sons and daughters of God. This
truth frees men and women from living lives
marked by guilt and alienation.
Jesus' encounter with the woman of Samarifl
from Mark 4:4-24 provided the foundation for
Rebecca Bade Crouse 's sermon on Thursday I
evening. "Breaking the Rules ... for Christ's i
Sake" explored how Jesus' behavior challenge'
the religious traditions, racial prejudices, and '
social conventions of his time. Crouse, co-
pastor of Antioch Church of the Brethren, nea'l
Rocky Mount, Va., urged the telling of the
good news of salvation to strangers, showing
love to all of God's children regardless of racd
or ethnicity, and welcoming into the family ol
faith those whose spiritual journeys have beefil
marked by failure.
"The Gathering," was presented on Friday
evening by members of the Hutchinson (Kan.)
Church of the Brethren. This play powerfully
illustrated in modem idiom the last supper
scene in the upper room. The "Teacher,"
5
ii
22 Messenger August 1 994
5
traying Jesus, remained mute as his follow-
told why they should be left in charge
ing his impending absence. Gospel stories
ivided content and character for each
)stle's soliloquy.
Tyrone Pitts, general secretary of the Pro-
ssive National Baptist Convention, Inc.,
ike on the theme of "Providing Living
iter to a Dying World." Drawing on the
ount in Mark 9 of the disciples" inability to
t out particularly difficult demons, he
sned this to modem Christianity's impotence
h the demons of today. Comparing the
irch of today to stagnant water rather than
ng water, Pitts declared that "our world
fers from a crisis of faith" and "a schizo-
enia of the soul." Contrasting the capacities
t science and technology give us to cure
'ironmental destruction, poverty, and urban
lence with the reality of the world, Pitts
illenged Brethren to formulate new values,
urday evening worshipers were urged to
tinguish between culture and Christ as a
prelude to transforming and changing today's
society.
On Sunday morning, Joan Hershey, General
Board staff in evangelism, illustrated the theme
"Abundant Water . . . but Many Are Still
Thirsty," tracing many scriptural references to
water. Stating that "Jesus placed an incredible
value on the lost; do you?" Hershey pressed for
a church that offers the living water to others.
No longer can our congregations depend on the
old ways of growth, in which the birth rate
filled church buildings, society created a
supportive environment for church activities,
and people stayed in one area for a lifetime.
Reminding her hearers that "structure and
organization can't give life," Hershey urged
Brethren to move boldly into the ftiture.
Receiving the water is not enough; we must not
have "sat, soaked, and soured," but, rather,
have "sat, sipped, and (been) sent (forth)."
— David Shumate
David Shumate is the executive of Virlina District.
Top left "The Gathering, "
was performed by men
from the Hutchinson
(Kan.) congregation.
Lower left: Tyrone Pitts
challenged Brethren to
form new values.
Above: Joan Hershey
pressed for a church
that offers living water
to others.
Messenger August 1 994 23
i
r
f
I
1
t
■
- .._.> --.
i
'^^^Hi
Brethren practi-
cality was demon-
strated by this
conferencegoer
seen pulling her
two sleeping
youngsters in a
wagon. No need for
Conference child-
care services here!
Joel Thompson, director
of benefits for Brethren
Benefit Trust, and
Laurence J. O'Connell
held a panel discussion
during the joint meeting
of the Ministers Asso-
ciation and Assocation
of Brethren Caregivers.
ABC/MINISTERS ASSOCIATION
"Critical health and caregiving issues" was the
focus of a joint Association of Brethren
Caregivers and Ministers Association pre-
Conference gathering. "Ethics is not opinion —
not what I like or don't like — but ethics is
making rationally defendable judgments about
who we are and how we behave." Margaret R.
McLean, teacher at the Center for Applied
Ethics at Santa Clara (Calif) University,
presented an overview of two ways of ap-
proaching ethics.
Ethics can be based on fixed, universal rules
and principles that guide persons in making
decisions. Ethics based on virtue places
emphasis on "What kind of person should I be"
rather than "What should I do?"
"As Christians, we are called to critical
caring," said McLean. Sickness and death are
not the final word, not the worst things. Our
failure to care is a greater vice than to permit
and accept sickness and death.
Church health consultant David Hilton
challenged pastors and health care providers to
be prophetic about "neglected ethical issues" in
the health care debate. "As long as the market
system and technology replace God on the
throne as the supreme values of health in
society, there will not be a just medical
system." Hilton encouraged congregations to
begin a Lafiya program, call members of
Congress, write letters, and become informed
about health-care issues.
"In six or seven years, health care will be
different for good or ill," according to
Laurence J. O'Connell, president of Park Ridge ,
(111.) Center for the study of Health, Faith and
Ethics. "The current discussion will be a
defining moment of our national character and
destiny. We are flirting with a colossal failure
of nerve on health care, due to moral confii-
sion."
O'Connell, who served on President
Clinton's Health Care Task Force, believes the \
church's role is to address the systemic crisis im
values underlying the health-care debate.
"Health care bought and sold contrasts greatly
with the freely given ministrations of Jesus and
his disciples."
The church has a "platform for social
engagement in values discussions," and the
health care debate should be framed within
values of "community individualism, compas-
sion and justice vs. commercially driven
system, and openness to pursue spiritual
dimension of individuals within community."
Each presentation was followed by a panel oi
responders and complicated case studies
discussed at length by persons representing the
fields of ethics, medicine, psychology, pastoral i
care, nursing, and law.
McLean added, "If you feel paralyzed by thei
complexity of these issues, take heart. Jesus
heals paralytics!" — ^Ronald E. H. Faus
Ronald E. H. Faus is pastor of Charlottesville (Va.)
Church of the Brethren.
24 Messenger August 1994
NEWS BRIEFS
leven new fellowships were welcomed into
be Church of the Brethren at Wichita: Rogers
Ark. ) Mennonite Church of the Brethren,
jeorge Engle, pastor; Iglesia Evangelica
.a Neuva Jerusalen, Summit, 111., Vincent
[.ivera, pastor; Dover (Del.), Leland Wilson,
lastor; Moreno Valley (Calif), David
4cKellip, pastor; Principe de Paz, Santa Ana,
^alif., Olga and Mario Serrano, co-pastors;
Togville, Fort Towson, Okla., Bryce Hubbard,
lastor; and Whitehouse (Texas), James
Vashington, pastor.
• The Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA)
-kilometer RunAValk sounded almost like a
epeat of 1993, with the same number of
larticipants (38) and some of the same wirmers.
'irst place went to Frances Bourne and Jerry
>ouse, second to Karen Crouse and David
Jrunk, and third to Rosanna McFadden and
Iteve Middleton. More than $600 was raised,
0 be divided between OMA and Trees for Life.
• Chauncey Shamberger, 100, of Boise, Idaho,
bunder of the Church of the Brethren camping
irogram, was honored at Wichita as the first
ecipient of the Four Horsemen for Leadership
)evelopment Award, given by the Outdoor
/linistries Association. The name "The Four
lorsemen" was used by the four young men
vho organized the first camps in the denomina-
ion — Shamberger, Al Brightbill, Perry Rohrer,
nd Dan West.
• Usually the biggest crowds at Conference
lock in for Saturday and Sunday, but that was
lot the case for Wichita, which counted its
lighest attendance the first evening (Tuesday),
vith 3,225 at worship. Average attendance for
he week was 2,938. Registration totaled 4,089,
ncluding 939 delegates. That compared well
vith 1982, when 4,234 Brethren registered for
hat year's Conference in Wichita.
• Conferencegoers donated 323 pints of
)Iood in the annual blood drive. The blood was
;iven to the Central Plains region Blood
services of the American Red Cross.
• Total worship service offerings at Wichita
vere $48,064. Offerings last year were
564,360, and the year before totaled $101,349.
We worry about membership dropping, but this
suggests the money will run out before the
members do. . ^
• SERRV sales at Conference totaled
$27,207 for the week. Brethren Press sales
totaled over $66,000. One of its hottest items
was a coffee mug bearing the Conference logo.
• Esther Norris, co-pastor of Garden City
(Kan.) Church of the Brethren, was elected to a
three-year term as an officer of the Ministers
Association. Paul Roth, pastor of Highland
Avenue Church of the Brethren, Elgin, 111.,
heads the association.
• Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren
received the 15th annual Ecumenical Award at
the Committee on Interchurch Relations
Terrie Swartz,
Manassas, Va., took time
out from her work as a
teller to be one of 323
Brethren who donated
blood for an area Red
Cross blood bank during
Conference week.
Nancy Knepper,
director of Outdoor
Ministry presented the
first "Four Horsemen"
Award to 100-year-old
Chauncey Shamberger,
Boise, Idaho, founder of
the Brethren camping
program and the first
director of Brethren
youth ministry. Asked
the secret for reaching
the century mark,
the still youthful
Shamberger quipped,
"You have to have been
born a hundred years
ago."
Messenger August 1994 25
Photo by Paul Stocksdale
Photographer George
Keeler stays on top of
things at Conference,
whether it's the quilt
auction or any other
activity. At the Univer-
sity of La Verne he is Dr.
Keeler and teaches
journalism. Wichita is
George's fifth consecu-
tive Conference at which
he has served Messenger
as photographer. His
work as photographer
and writer with the
magazine dates back to
Richmond '77, when he
served as a summer
intern. His most recent
article appeared in the
May/June issue — "Lybrook
and Its Changing Roles."
George volunteers his
service as Conference
photographer.
Conference depends
heavily on volunteers.
Quick work was made of
stuffing delegate
packets by a good
turnout of them, includ-
ing Ralph Royer (right),
former Brethren worker
in Nigeria (his birth-
place), Niger, and
Liberia.
26 Messenger August 1994
luncheon at Wichita. The congregation was
cited for "compassionate service . . . sensitivity
to needs of children . . . responsive concern
for issues of peace and justice" and "an
ecumenical spirit by being active in interchurch
cooperation."
• The Association for the Arts quilt auction
raised $9,900 this year. Three quilts and three
wall hangings were sold. One of the hangings
was made especially to mark the 50th anniver-
sary of Heifer Project. The highest quilt bid
was $2,100.
• Dale T. Ziegler, associate pastor of Union
Center Church of the Brethren, Nappanee, Ind.,
was killed on his way to Wichita, when his
motorcycle was hit by a car. During the week,
conferencegoers were in touch with Ziegler' s
widow. Dawn, offering sympathy.
• Ruth E. Tulley, of North Manchester, Ind.,
makes a claim that likely will have few
challengers: As a three-year-old, she attended
Annual Conference in Wichita in 1917, and has
made it to the three Wichita Conferences since
then— 1976, 1982, and 1994.
• It would have been good to see Anna
Warstler among the former India missionaries
garlanded at Wichita as Conference marked the
1 00th anniversary of the beginning of Church
of the Brethren mission work in India. But the
92-year-old church worker, who served 1931-
1954 in India, died June 27 in Elkhart, Ind. In
addition to India service, she also served on the
General Board staff, in Christian education,
1955-1966.
»
• 1 knew Wichita had an ambience all its own
when, upon my arrival at the airport, the
Ramada Hotel shuttle service came for me in a
pickup truck (Honest!). But I thought it best no
to murmur about that or the shabbiness of the
hotel itself, when the location was so choice —
just across the street from the convention
center. Most Brethren commuted from hotels
six miles out. Maybe it was that hotel situation
Maybe it was the moribund downtown condi-
tions and the dearth of good restaurants. Maybel
it was the 1 00-degree-plus weather or that
freakish thunderstorm Wednesday night. But,
frankly, Toto, I don't think we'll be in Kansas
anymore. Well, at least not before 2000, our
next time to meet somewhere between the
Mississippi and the Rockies. Meanwhile, we
have these Conference locations to anticipate:
Charlotte, N.C., in 1995 (June 27-July 2);
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1996 (July 2-7); Long
Beach, Calif, in 1997 (July 1-6); Orlando, Fla.
in 1998 (June 30-July 5); and Milwaukee, Wis.
in 1999 (June 29-July 4). — Kermon ThoMASsoN
Find that gift to be simple
Grandma Thomasson, who lived into her 90s, was
given to contrasting the times of her youth with the
times of the present. Particularly, she railed against
"all these here modem convinces (conveniences)"
we were pampering ourselves with. In the instance I
recall, our transgression was that of tardily aban-
doning the era of kerosene lamps and wood stoves
for that of electricity and its attendant applications.
For Grandma, who remembered dipping wax
candles as a household chore rather than an artsy-
craftsy hobby, we were spending our money like
drunken sailors on frivolous luxuries. And it was
more than that; it was a family values matter.
Families that huddled around the kitchen table
doing evening chores by the light of a candle
somehow were purer minded than families that
could scatter through the house, flipping light
switches as they went. Grandma's rose-tinted
descriptions of life in the good oV days sounded
like they were based on Currier and Ives prints.
At Annual Conference I thought of Grandma
when the delegates approved a petition to name a
committee to figure out how to revive "the Brethren
tradition of the simple life." I agree with the
petition writers that simplicity is complex, but 1
wondered if asking a committee to "discern the fiill
meaning (of the simple life) for our time" was the
answer. Really, was it delving deep enough? Looks
to me like, if we went deep enough in our study, we
might recognize a set of principles that underlie
simple living in all ages. Then, if we had those
principles graven on our hearts, we wouldn't keep
forgetting the simple life and having to refresh our
memories from time to time.
But as I sat at the press table during Armual
Conference business sessions, it did occur to me
that while we are simplifying things, it might not
hurt to take a hard look at the way we do business
at Conference. Maybe we should petition Confer-
ence to name a study committee.
Lest our officers conclude that my thoughts are
triggered just by this year's Conference, and take
offense, let me hasten to clarify that almost any
Armual Conference of recent memory could serve
as the triggering device.
A few observations:
Asking a 1,000-member delegate body to
deal with the issues of the day may not be the best
way to do the business of the church. My hunch
is that a lot of delegates are chosen for reasons
other than their being the wisest heads in their
congregation. That "elders body" of earlier.
simpler times still has a certain appeal.
It appears to be hard to give proportionate time to
the agenda items. We spend an inordinate amount
of time on an item of little consequence and
(usually under the stress of the clock running out)
hurriedly vote on a more substantive item before it
has been thoroughly dealt with.
Items that reach the floor on Saturday seem
doomed to hasty handling. But. what are we to do?
We can't deal with everything at the beginning of
the week.
Too much time is given to reports — reports
whose written forms might suffice. Reports are
getting out of hand, taking on more the form of
promotion rather than reporting.
Videos are becoming the tail wagging the dog.
We are told we must have reports as an "order of
the day" because they involve showing videos, with
the inflexibilities that setting up for them entails.
Too often, the videos come across more as promo-
tion and entertainment, rather than reporting.
Videos, like television in general, bring change in
subtle ways we don't detect; they spellbind us. At
least, for Conference business, we need to take a
look at what they are doing to us.
The handling of business items wisely and in
good order is seriously hampered by the interrup-
tion of "order of the day" items. Often these "order
of the day" items back up, and we get started with a
serious item of business, only to have to put it on
hold for as much as an entire day, until the video-
studded "order of the day" items parade past.
We
'e have a serious problem when Saturday's final
session comes and there is much business yet to do.
Do we use our time wisely? Can we not easily
dispense with some of the introductions, plugs for
this and that event, privileged program promotions,
whimsical interludes, and all the other time-
consuming distractions that have crept in?
Are we missing something important in not
setting aside a portion of the business time as an
open forum, when anyone can go to a microphone
and unburden his heart for two minutes? This
served well at a couple of recent Conferences.
Those are just a few things that crossed my mind.
Maybe addressing my concerns about our handling
of business would just complicate things. But who
ever said that the simple isn't sometimes complex?
Not I. And not the folks who brought that query
asking for a re-emphasis on the simple life. — K.T.
Messenger August 1 994 27
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column ojfer-
ing suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment. "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
When my dog slips out the
back door unencumbered by
restraints, he makes a
beeline for the neighbor's
mailbox, which he promptly
"marks." Yogi is 100-
percent convinced it is now
his mailbox.
And if the neighbor
approaches the mailbox
when Yogi is around. Yogi
fiercely defends "his"
territory. So the poor
neighbor has 12 pounds of
feisty fox terrier ferociously
barking him away from his
own mailbox.
I wish dogs understood
English: "Yogi, this man can
do anything he wants to that
mailbox. It belongs to him,
not you. You may use it, but
that doesn't make it yoitrsl"
Animals are funny that
way. Just because they go
make a mess on something,
they consider it their
property.
Come to think of it,
people are kind of funny that
way too.
"The earth is the Lord's
and all that is in it, the
world, and those who live in
it"(Psa. 24:1). Most of us
Brethren agree with that
scriptural principle. At least
until someone approaches
our "territory."
The church is growing,
and available Sunday school
space is scarce. So the
church board asks the two
senior citizens classes
(which are shrinking) to
merge, in order to free up a
room for the 20 new young
adults who have begun
attending.
And what happens?
"That's been our Sunday
school room for 35 years,
and we're kicked out. I
guess we just don't matter
anymore. The new people
are taking over the church."
Hurt feelings I understand.
Attachments I understand.
But dear ones, don't you
see? It's not your room. It's
God's room. Just because
you use it doesn't make it
yours.
A financial appeal is
issued for a specific ministry
need. Suddenly, people who
claim to believe Psalm 24: 1
are saying: "I'm already
giving all I can" (which
usually is a dead giveaway
that they're not). Or they
say, "They're always asking
for more of my money."
They forget that "their"
money is given by God. And
God asks only that we return
to him 10 percent — about
half the percentage of
interest many pay out on
credit cards without flinching.
Yogi thinks that because
he goes out and makes a
mess on the neighbor's
mailbox, it belongs to him.
We tend to think that just
because we make a mess out
of our finances they belong
to us.
My beloved Brethren, it's
not our money. It's God's
money. Just because we use
it doesn't make it ours.
Many church members
choose to finance even
budget-approved expenses
out of their own pockets
rather than approach the
Church treasurer for reim-
bursement. Why? Because
all too often the territory has
been "marked" and the
treasurer has lost sight of the
fact that the treasurer is the
dispenser of funds, not the
guardian.
In hobnobbing with
pastors over the years, I've
learned that the pulpit may
be considered "marked"
territory. Often I've heard
the comment: "I won't give
up my pulpit on Sunday
morning."
Excuse me! Whose pulpit?
In any organization, the
"marking" of territory and
the struggle for power will
emerge, a struggle whose
toxic effects can only be
neutralized through surren-
der. Peter knew that when he
wrote the words: "Clothe
yourselves with humility in
your dealings with one
another. . ." (1 Pet. 5:5).
Because Yogi is a dog, he
will never learn that some-
thing doesn't belong to him
just because he "uses" it.
But because we are made in
the image of the One who
"emptied himself (becom-
ing) obedient to the point of
death. . ." (Phil. 2:7-8)
we can.
M,
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren. Middlebury. Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counsel-
ing out of Waterford (Ind.) 'W
Community Church. ~
28 Messenger August 1994
I
Seek the peace of the city
It is dangerous to shun public space and retreat into sacred
reservations to be with our own kind, our own community. Yet
many theologians actually are advocating a retreat from the
public square into separate, so-called faithful communities.
)y Scott Holland
hw these are the words of the Prophet
eremiah which he sent from Jerusalem
1 the rest of the elders of the exile, the
riests, the prophets, and all the people
'hom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into
xile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Seek
le peace of the city where I have sent
ou into exile, and pray to the Lord on
s behalf: for in its peace you will have
eace. In the peace of the city you will
ave shalom (Jer. 29:1. 7. para-
hrased).
* * + *
Anne Roiphe, writing in Tikkun, the
;wish journal of politics, culture, and
jciety laments:
"Here we are in a post-Cold
War period of increasing tribal
warfares, of despair over national-
isms that vie and bite and engage
in death duels as each generation
whispers its hate-filled lullaby
into the cradle of the next.
Everywhere we look, borders are
newly contested and bitter lines of
religion, race, and nation seem to
be inflamed, raw, and terrible."
We are living in sinful times.
oiphe, unfortunately, is right. We are
ving in an age of increasing tribalism,
itionalism, and sectarian violence. The
Jace of the city seems so distant. The
se of gang violence in our major cities
i the Crips clash with the Bloods and
rother slays brother should not surprise
5. After all, it is only a microcosm —
telling reflection of an increasing
itemational gangster ideology, theol-
gy, and politics. Last spring, Jews in
irael and around the world were
stunned and horrified at the news that
Baruch Goldstein, an extremist Jew
from Brooklyn, slaughtered dozens of
Palestinians as they were praying at the
Tomb of the Patriarchs, the burial site of
their common father, Abraham.
Goldstein fired his Uzi in the name of
religion, race, and nation, taking carefiil
aim to kill shalom for the price of tribal
territory and identity. While some
hailed Goldstein as a heroic martyr,
Israel rightly denounced him as a
terrorist, a gangster. But violence breeds
violence. In the shadow of the Tomb of
the Patriarchs, young Palestinians
marched and angrily chanted, "Look out,
Jews! Mohammed's army is coming!"
A Jewish friend of mine, Stanley
Barbrow, with children and grandchil-
dren in Israel, wrote in a letter:
"I am certain that the cowardly,
dastardly murder of a large
number of worshipers, shot in the
back, in the Occupied Territories
has saddened and sickened the
overwhelming majority of Jews
both in Israel and around the
world. We must remember that the
victims of the atrocity were not
just Arabs, they were daddies,
grandpas, sons, husbands — people
more like us than different from
us. It is easy to understand the
cruelty of our enemies. It is
difficult to comprehend that some
of our own people have been led
to believe that hate is better than
love, that injustice is better than
justice, that war is better than
peace."
They were daddies, grandpas, sons,
husbands — people more like us than
different fi-om us, Barbrow insisted. Yet
a bigoted rabbi declared before the
world in The New York Times, "A
thousand Arab lives are not worth the
fingernail of a single Jew."
Even as the powerful film
"Schindler's List" reminded the world
once again of the horrors of the Holo-
caust, neo-Nazis were organizing in the
new Germany, and on American
university campuses Louis Farrakhan's
Messenger August 1 994 29
EYN's courageous faith
Back from a visit to the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, I am filled with
impressions of that experience. Initiated by Church of the Brethren missionar-
ies in 1923, Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN) has grown to a membership of
100,000, with 150,000-200,000 attending worship every Sunday. Last year
alone saw the birth of 25 new congregations. Every congregation is urged to
initiate preaching points, and these often develop into fellowships and then into
new congregations. Earlier found only in northeastern Nigeria, EYN has spread
across the North and even southward to the coast.
In the early years the church was made up primarily of two tribes, the Margi
and the Bura. Now at least a dozen tribes are represented. As people move from
rural areas to urban centers, they take the church with them. When I was in
Nigeria in 1983, the first EYN congregation was assembling in the large city of
Jos; a decade later there are three congregations there. In 1983 I preached at the
only EYN congregation in another large (and predominantly Muslim) city,
Maiduguri, albeit with an attendance of 2,000 persons. Now a half dozen
congregations are there. The church grows with dramatic vitality.
I asked why people are drawn to EYN. The first answer is that people are
enthusiastic about the saving power of Jesus Christ. In an Islamic culture, the
contrast with the gospel is much sharper than in Europe and America, where
the influence of Christianity has shaped the reigning secularism. But among the
many Christian churches in Nigeria, people are drawn by a gospel that includes
a deep concern about the well-being of people. The wells project has furnished
fresh water to hundreds of communities. The new technical school at Garkida is
training young men and women technical skills. The rural health program has
raised the level of public health in hundreds of communities. Kulp Bible College
gives basic training in vocations and church leadership. Brethren are remem-
bered for helping to initiate the leprosarium at Virgwi and the hospitals at
Garkida and Lassa, Waka Teachers' Training College and Secondary School,
Hillcrest School, and the Theological College of Northern Nigeria.
The vitality of EYN does not come without struggle. The economic problems
of inflation in Nigeria are unimaginable. Ten years ago a naira was valued at
about one dollar; now it is worth two cents. The struggle with Islam often
becomes intense. I visited the only EYN congregation in Kano, an ancient
Islamic center. During the riots of 1 99 1 , the meeting house was burned and
bulldozed because Christians met there. Undaunted, the EYN members con-
tinue to meet in a simple open-air facility, usually with 1,000 in attendance.
Automobile accidents last year killed four top leaders of EYN. Other leaders
have been called, and the church continues to grow. Tragedy leaves its mark,
but does not destroy EYN's faith in Jesus Christ.
EYN feels very close to the Church of the Brethren in the US. Yes, it is a
sister church, but considerably more. "You sent people who gave us the faith
we have," I was told. "We are truly sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ." I came
away struck by the difficulties and challenges of life in Nigeria, but liftedr by
the courageous faith of a people who truly are our sisters and brothers in
Christ. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
disciples were making anti-Semitic
pronouncements on behalf of religion,
race, and nation.
We turn on the TV news and learn
30 Messenger August 1994
that the killing continues around ethnic,
religious, and territorial agendas in
Bosnia. In India, Hindus and Muslims
fight about the favor of the gods in the
streets for all to see. In Rwanda, Hutus
commit genocide on Tutsis. Warring
clans are stealing food from starving
children in Somalia. Islamic fundamen-
talists are making bombs for Allah as
right-wing believers such as Pat
Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, and Pat
Robertson call for the exclusion of
cultural, religious, sexual, and political
minorities from full and just participa- I
tion in the common weal — all in the
name of Jesus and family values.
We are living in sinftil times. We are ^
living in an age of gangsters who place
the private interests of clan, territory, and
tribal gods over the common, public goodi
There is a growing disdain for
public life in America.
Philosopher Cornel West, in his book
Race Matters, observes a growing
disdain for public life in America. He
writes:
"Small groups form around
churches and synagogues, sex
idenfities, enclaves, but the notion
of a public life that you enter
without necessarily being ob-
sessed with your own, smaller
public we hold at a distance. This
leads to balkinization and frag-
mentation. If you're a radical
democrat, you believe that some
affirmation of public life is
necessary to keep democracy
vital. It's deeply dangerous if
people shun public space, because
it makes it more difficult to focus
on the social misery in our society
and in the world at large."
It is indeed dangerous to shun public
space and retreat into sacred reservation
to be with our own kind, our own
community. Yet many theologies at the
end of the 20th century are actually
advocating this kind of retreat from the
public square into separate, so-called
faithful communities. They are telling u
the best we can do is live in our own
texts, in our own traditions, in our own
stories, and in our own communities.
This emerging communitarianism or
II
It
s
E
(I
ill
(ill
ang religion begets intolerance,
igotry, and even violence. Indeed,
lany theologians are telling us that
:umenical Christianity and interreli-
ious dialog are dead. Long live the gang!
God is not a tribal deity.
say no. We seek the peace of the city,
ot simply the peace of our individual
Dmmunities. In an age of gangster
leology, ideology, and politics, we are
lergized by diversity, by difference, by
le Other. We need a public vision of
fe, affirming that God is God of all
■eation and not some communal idol
r tribal deity. Thus, to know God we
lust meet God's diverse creation in
le eyes of the stranger, in the voice
F the foreigner, and in the practices
r the Other.
-ecumenical theologian Hans Kung has
isely said: "There can be no peace
nong the nations without peace among
le religions; there can be no peace
nong the religions without dialog."
I like very much what Gordon
aufman, a public theologian at Harvard
ivinity School, says about the impor-
nce of conversation with one another:
"Since theology is principally
concerned with what is ultimate
mystery — mystery about which no
one can be an aiithority. with true
or certain answers to the major
questions — I suggest that the
proper method for conceiving it is
not the lecture, nor is it the text; it
is, rather, conversation. We are all
in this mystery together; and we
I need to question one another,
criticize one another, make
j suggestions to one another, help
! one another. Each of us is in a
I unique position within the mys-
tery, a position occupied by no one
else; and each of us, therefore,
may have some special contribu-
tion to make to our common task
of coming to terms with life's
mysteries. It is imperative that the
theological conversation be kept
open to and inclusive of all human
voices."
We are all in this mystery together.
Kaufman says it well. We are all in this
mystery together. We must learn to live
together and celebrate diversity or we
will die together — lonely, fearful, and
divided. The peace of the city is indeed
our peace. The peace of the city
demands a public vision rather than a
private or provincial worldview. Shalom
is public and political, never simply
private and spiritual. But not all so-
called public spaces are created equal.
I can illustrate this point by contrast-
ing shopping-mall culture with the
culture of the downtown public square.
The public atmosphere of a typical
shopping mall is, in a sense, an anti-
public space. As a modem invention of
the culture of late capitalism, the mall
maintains a carefiilly controlled envi-
ronment. No wind, no rain, no sun, no
sleet, and absolutely no solicitors. As a
very homogeneous culture, it diminishes
difference and diversity. Whether one
visits a mall in San Francisco, Chicago,
Pittsburgh, or Peoria one knows what to
expect. The same Gap, the same
American Eagle, the same Lemers, the
same Things Remembered. Malls
carefully control and tutor tastes to
fashion pale, generic, consuming
citizens. I dislike mall culture intensely.
But the public square: Ah, how I love
the public square! During the last
presidential campaign I stood in the rain
with thousands of others waiting for Bill
Clinton's appearance in Pittsburgh's
Market Square. I savored the smells of
the city — exhaust, strong coffee, cigar
smoke, Chinese food, . . . and rotting
garbage in the trash bin behind me. I
said no to a panhandler who came to me
begging spare change. I smiled at the
solicitors — Black Muslims selling
incense, a Pentecostal preacher selling
Jesus, and Republican campaigners
trying desperately to peddle a lost
cause. Bands played, Clinton spoke, the
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crowd cheered. When the rally ended
and the crowd dispersed I felt very
awake and wonderfully alive.
Looking across the square I spotted
a dear old friend, a Sister of Mercy — a
Catholic nun, a holy woman. We
embraced and she kissed me on the
lips. Mercys still know how to impart
the holy kiss. We modern Brethren
and Mennonites have lost that sacra-
mental art. We stood shivering in the
rain talking about Kennedys and
Kings. We discussed our hopes for a
more just and humane America. We
expressed our pleasure that a draft
dodger and a radical environmentalist
would soon occupy the White House.
Oh, we knew that Clinton and Gore
eventually would disappoint us. yet
we talked about how our political
passions are stubbornly connected to
our hopes, dreams, and spiritualities.
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Dr. Judy Myers-Walls '74 is an enthusiastic
college professor and co-author of children's
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improving strong family values, emphasizing
the Brethren approach of peace and justice.
Energized by making a difference in the lives
of oppressed women and children, Judy
stands out among the rare and remarkable.
'^"•^^^eche,
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Tracy Knechel is an initiator, a diplomatic
mediator, an energetic visionary. With a
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studies, an intern at a center for non-violence,
an A Cappella and Peace Choir member and
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Then, my sister turned to me and said,
"Let's celebrate!" Catholics know how
to celebrate. We entered the Original
Oyster House on Market Square, There
was standing room only. We stood
shoulder to shoulder with politicians in
business suits, the woman from the five
and ten, African American executives,
truck drivers, and construction workersi
Everyone was talking politics. As we
smothered our breaded oysters in
Louisiana hot sauce, and washed them
down with appropriate beverage, my
Sister of Mercy and I agreed that the body
and blood of Christ was very satisfying
that rainy day in the public square.
God dwells not in temples made with
human hands. God is present in many
public spaces far beyond the sacred
reservations of tribal gods.
Redemption begins in Eden
but ends in the New Jerusalem.
Too often we forget that in the Bible the
story of redemption begins in a garden ,
but ends in a cify. The story of redemp-
tion begins in the garden of Eden but
ends in the New Jerusalem.
My wife, Shari, and I live in the rust
belt of Pennsylvania's Monongehela
Valley, in the old steel town of
McKeesport. The large homes of our
neighborhood once were occupied by
the captains of industry and their
attending doctors and lawyers, those
whose hands touched the finest leather
and poured the finest wine. But today
our neighborhood is nicely integrated
with teachers, factory workers, contrac-
tors, social workers, plumbers, and
preachers. Once a white enclave, it now
is about 50-percent African American.
A couple of years ago we needed
some chimney work done. The chimney
men I hired were ex-steelworkers who
had lost their jobs in the mill over a
dozen years ago when the wolf finally
came to the Valley and the economic
base of the region collapsed. They were
tough, white, hard-working good oV
boys from McKeesport. They liked to
call themselves contractors rather than
handymen, which they were. I climbed I
up on the roof with them to point out
the repairs I wanted done. As we looked
out over the community, one contractor '
commented, "This used to be a really
32 Messenger August 1994
ice neighborhood, 20 years ago!"
I replied, "It still is." He looked
irprised.
Just then the neighbor across the
reet, an African American, stepped out
r his large English Tudor house and
■eeted me. "What's up, Scott?"
I waved, "Hey, what's up, Eddie?"
The talkative contractor continued,
Jh, what I mean is there are a lot of
acks in this neighborhood now, aren't
ere?"
"Yes," I answered, "That's why we
<e it!"
"What do you mean?" he asked,
^'hy?"
I thought I would be a bit playful so I
sponded, "Well because of heaven, of
)urse!"
To my surprise, both contractors
!came quite interested. So I told them
at I was a Christian and in the Bible
e story of redemption begins in a
irden but ends in a city. The biblical
vision of redemption is not a return to
the garden where man and woman walk
with God in solitude. It is instead a
vision of a transformed city, the New
Jerusalem, where people from every
nation, every tribe, every kindred, and
every tongue live together in peace, in
Shalom. It is a vision of unity in
diversity, of similarity in difference. It
is a multicultural, interracial, interreli-
gious place. It is not a big church,
synagogue, temple, mosque, or pagoda.
It is a city that has redeemed the
pleasures of Babel.
The contractor, with sincerity and
seriousness in his eyes, exclaimed,
"Y'know, I never thought of it like that.
I'll have to tell my priest!" The three of
us sat on the roof and for the next half
hour talked about God and other great
mysteries. We talked — and argued a
bit — about the problems of racism,
sexism, and religionism. We talked
about the difficult peace of the city.
At the end of the day when their work
was finished, and I was writing their pay
check, the contractor smiled and
repeated our roof-top theology: "Now
what was that again? The story of
heaven begins in a garden but ends in a
city. It does make ya think, don't it?"
In an age of increasing gangster
religion and politics, let us again look at
our communities from a place with a
view. Let us find courage to stand with
the prophets, and with Jeremiah, the
great weeping prophet: "Seek the peace
of the city, and pray to the Lord on its
behalf; for in its peace we will have
peace" (Jcr. 29:7, paraphrased).
Ai.
Scott Holland is finishing his Ph.D. dissertation
in narrative theolog\- at Dm/iiesne University, in
Pittsburgh. Pa. He is a minister-at-large in the
Ohio Conference of the Mennonite Church. His
grandparents were founding members of Maple
Avenue Church of the Brethren, in Canton. Ohio.
His article is an edited version of an address he
made last March to an ecumenical Shalom
Conference.
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Going in circles
The February editorial, "Curling up with
a Catalog," reinforces the idea that
"what goes around, comes around."
We keep recycling concerns, ideas,
fashion, crime rates, war, health and
diet fads ... the whole thing. Aren't
humans weird? Odd? Predictable? Even
stupid?
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily
those of the magazine. Readers should receive them
in the same spirit with which differing opinions are
expressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should be brief concise, and respectful of
the opinions of others. Preference is given to letters
that respond directly to items read in the magazine.
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
only when, in our editorial judgment, it is
warranted. We will not consider any letter that
comes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
letter, the writer 's name is kept in strictest
confidence.
Address letters to MESSENGER Editor. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120.
And we think we are so smart and so
advanced.
Jean M. Winters
Eglon. W.Va.
Dreams of Easy Street
Thanks for "Who, Me a Millionaire?"
(March, page 32) for the insight and the
clear expression.
Many people will accept a little and
pretend that a little does not hurt. They
find the flimsiest reasons to make it
okay, and they dream of hitting it big
and living on Easy Street.
Peter C. Kaltenbaugh
Hartville, Ohio
A bool< on followership
In reference to the May/June editorial,
"Who'll Write the Book on Follower-
ship?" let me mention for study Robert
Greenleaf s book Servant Leadership. Ii
it, Greenleaf presents an aspect that is
important and interesting for us in the
United States and from "Brethren"
circles.
Phyllis Kingery Ru
Omaha, Ne
• The book on "followership" the
editor is waiting for already has been
written . . . long ago. It's been a best-
seller for years. It's titled The Bible.
This may sound simplistic for many,
even for those who are familiar with its
message of service and who have
practiced its message throughout their
lives.
Warren W. Slabaugh wrote a book.
The Role of the Servant (Brethren Press
1954), based on Isaiah 53 and other
passages. Slabaugh, however, did not
pick up on the dilemma that has faced u
through the ages: What is to be the resu!
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34 Messenger August 1994
Address
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iOI
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P'servanthood"?
I Isaiah 54: 1 reads "Sing, O barren one
ho did not bear; burst into song and
iiout, you who have not been in labor!
Or the children of the desolate woman
ill be more than the children of her that
married, says the Lord."
Most of Isaiah's passages that deal
ith servanthood are followed by
romises: "Just hang in there, be obedi-
[it, and your latter rewards will be
reater than the former."
i Matthew 4: 19: "'Follow me, and I
lake you fish for people.'" Matthew
(19-20: "'Teacher, I will follow you
herever you go.' And Jesus said,
wes have holes, and birds of the air
ive nests; but the Son of Man has
awhere to lay his head.'" Matthew
?:21-22: "'Go, sell your possessions,
id give the money to the poor, and you
Jill have treasure in heaven; then come,
i)llow me.' When the young man heard
lis word, he went away grieving, for he
ad many possessions."
One of the Brethren said at the 1958
ational Youth Conference, "The
rethren should quit talking about the
imple life,' and call it the 'good life.'"
great deal of a Christian's energy is
)ent in trying to figure out how to "eat
s cake and have it too." We dodge the
"oblem by passing the buck to others;
's "they" who are the rich ones.
Phil and Margaret Zinn
Tampa. Fla.
earning from Old Brethren
am a deacon in the Dunkard Brethren
lurch. Galen Hackman's article, "What
le Old Brethren Said About Anointing"
v^arch, page 20), was heartening to
;ad.
Many people today are throwing away
;ie past and relegating it to nostalgia,
'rue, as the brother said in the article,
le Old Brethren were not perfect. But
leir simple approach to scripture and
;riptural practices has much merit to it.
Please print more articles of this kind,
id may God richly bless you.
Lynn H. Miller
Newmanstown, Pa.
NOTICE: Church and district newsletters that reprint "Pontius ' Puddle "from
Messenger must pay $10 for each use to Joel Kauffmann, 111 Carter Road,
Goshen. IN 46526.
^^ Pontius' Puddle
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McPherson College welcomes all applicants
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Messenger August 1994 35
OpiDIOIlS
On the dangers of picking and choosing
Gregg A. Wilhelm
Let me clariiy
what I said
In the readers" responses to my article on
pluralism ("What's the Difference?"
April, page 2 1 ), there is confusion over
what I was embarrassed about or
ashamed of I am not embarrassed to be a
To hold in respect and fellowship those in the
church with whom we agree or disagree is a
characteristic of the Church of the Brethren. It is to
the continuation of this value, and to an open and
probing forum, that "Opinions " are invited from
readers.
We do not acknowledge our receipt of obvious
"Opinions " pieces, and can print only a sampling
of what we receive. All "Opinions " are edited for
publication.
Christian or to proclaim my faith in Jesus
Christ. Nor am I refuting the possibility
that God uniquely broke into history
through Jesus. As to my embarrassment,
I simply found the scene at last
December's On Earth Peace Assembly
meeting embarrass/«g.
The message at that meeting delivered
as the so-called "Christian perspective"
concluded that peace will never be
realized until believers of other reli-
gions follow Jesus, accept the Bible,
and convert to Christianity. Not only is
this view naive, it simply is wrong.
Worse, such a view can either make
pacifists passive or Christians insidi-
ously zealous.
Like it or not, we live in a religiously
pluralistic world. Given this fact, part of
our role as Christians — particularly as
Christians rooted in a pacifist tradition —
is to seek ways to generate and dissemi-
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nate peace.
This demanding task is made all the
more difficult when codified snippets of
scripture are thrown up as roadblocks
along the route. Absolutizing individual
Bible verses, concretizing them out of i
context, is a dubious and dangerous
business. ;
John 14:6 has been cited often as a
definitive validation of Jesus' divinity:
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and
the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.'"
First, but without going into complex
historico-critical analysis, we must agree
that the authorship, date of writing, and
theological implications of the book of
John are debatable. John, markedly
different from the synoptics (Matthew,
Mark, and Luke), is the most spiritual
and eschatological (referring to end
times) of the Gospels.
Second, the "Son of God" title was
common at the time within the culture
from which John writes, about A.D. 90.
Not until the Council of Nicea in 325 di(
the phraseology transform into "God thet^
Son," second person in the Trinity.
Third, many Bible scholars doubt thati
at the time of his ministry Jesus actually
thought of himself as God incarnate. It
seems more likely that such identifica-
tion was given him by the early church,
looking back at his ministry.
The "I am" statements of Jesus in the
Gospel of John present problems. As
theologian Adrian Thatcher notes
(maybe too easily), "[T]here is scarcely f
single competent New Testament schola
who is prepared to defend the view that !
the four instances of the absolute use of Ij
"I am" in John can be historically
attributed to Jesus" (Truly a Person,
Truly God, 1990, page 77).
Scandalous? Indeed, if John is to be
taken literally. Like all scripture,
however, the entire book of John must bill
read in context, and read in light of all
the Gospels together, as speaking to whai
it means to be a Christian. This way
there is no risk of undermining
Christianity's integrity while acknowl-
edging the rights of other people to
36 Messenger August 1994
long scripture passages
ilieve differently. Once Christians learn
not be offended by those who do not
ilieve in our soteriology (the section of
eology that treats of the saving work of
irist for the world) or those who do not
ilieve in salvation or afterlife at all, we
ill contribute fewer obstacles to the
lace process.
A main theme within Christian
ripture taken in its entirety is that we
e all part of the same family of hu-
anity, struggling for peaceful relations
ith one another while embracing God's
[conditional love for us. Living in
lace with God's creatures has much to
) with "living at peace with God."
The challenge for Christians seeking
iace, therefore, is not to feverishly
invert peoples of other faiths, but to
Iter into an honest pluralistic dialog
ith them. Where does peace start?
'hile there need not be religious
inverts, there must be a conversion of
iarts. And that is where real
langes start.
Ai.
Gregg A. Wilhelm. a member of Woodberry
lurch of the Brethren, in Baltimore, Md., is an
sistant editor at Johns Hopkins University
ess, in Baltimore. He recently received his M.A.
greefrom the Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary 's
minary. in Baltimore.
eslie E. Cooper Jr.
)on't give truth
he back seat
JA^as excited to see an article offering
ipposing" opinions on one topic in the
pril Messenger ("What's the Differ-
ice?"). But then my excitement
aporated. The statement by Donald
incher was not opposite to the
oughts of Gregg Wilhelm, but was
iddle of the road — middle of the road
tween "traditionalists" and "modem-
s." (Clarification: Messenger did not
icsent Fancher 's and Wilhelm 's
oughts as "opposing" opinions. Read
the introductory blurb to the April article
again. — Ed.)
Diversity in faith expression is
acceptable, but only if it is in concert
with the teachings of scripture. For us
Brethren, how about the New Testa-
ment? Is it the measurement for deter-
mining if our faith is real, or not? Are
we ready to accept a "modernist"
interpretation, or are we seekers of
truth?
We claim that no creedal statement
Ifs a combination of the more
reasonable cost and the element
of service that makes MAA
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Donald Munn, MAA Member
Middlebury, IN.
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^
Messenger August 1994 37
should ever replace New Testament
understanding. That leads me to ask
further questions: Are we reading the
whole New Testament or only those
passages that support our preconceived
beliefs of what it means to be Brethren?
The 21st
NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE
ON
CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY
Building the
Church Vet to Be—
Stewardship for the
21st Century
September 21-24, 1994
Adam's Mark Hotel
Indianapolis, Indiana
Robert Wuthnow Eunice Poethig
Keynote Speaker Bible Study Leader
Robert Wood Lynn
Plenary Session
Biblical/theological presentations
and practical seminars.
Contact your denominational
stewardship office or
Ecumenical Center for Stewardship Studies
1100 W. 42nd Street, Suite 225
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Phone: 317-926-3525
Methods of "biblical criticism" sway our
thinking. We find one passage that suits
us and ignore the rest.
Divine truth is taking a back seat to
new ideas — pluralism, eclecticism,
political correctness. What has happened
to virtue, morality, and ethics? Have we
swung so far from "the most good for the
most people" that we can see only "the
good of the few"?
If, in loving people, we fail to distin-
guish between a person's behavior and
the person, we truly have failed to love.
From the
Office of Human Resources
Managing Editor, MESSENGER/Director
of News Services
Full-time position in Elgin.
This position requires someone who
has a Bachelor's degree in journalism and
skills in the following:
writing, editing, and layout
desktop publishing
supervision and management
These attributes are needed to fulfill
editorial, fiscal management, and pro-
duction functions for Messenger. This
person is also responsible for overall news
sen/ices strategies.
Position available beginning as soon as
possible after September 1 , 1994.
The search for our Planned Giving and
Stewardship Education positions continues.
For prompt consideration and information
call Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
We have the right, as the community of
faith committed to truth, to distinguish
between not only behavior and
personhood, but between a person's faith
(or religion) and his personhood.
Language fails us when we don't use
the same definitions for religious terms.
And we place too much emphasis on the
word of people who have titles. Titles
mean nothing if the holder is leading
people astray.
For me, being Christian first and
Brethren second is important. Out of m;
Christian experience I have chosen to bei
Brethren. I find the claims important. It I
is not the other way around. I didn't
become Brethren first and then find som
of the claims of Christianity valid.
If we have only a piece of the truth
about God, along with all the other
religions of the world, we are, as Paul
put it, "the greatest of fools." We should
take advantage of the beliefs of the othe:
religions of the world, like those on
resurrection and judgment, and "keep o
sinning." But the Bible tells a different
story — of personal accountability, of
resurrection to judgment, I have a
responsibility to tell "the whole truth '
and nothing but the truth." It would i
violate my Brethren understanding of
personal integrity to do flji
anything else. I —
Leslie E. Cooper Jr. is pastor of Waterford
(Calif.) Church of the Brethren.
CLASSIFIED ADS
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. John Mason
& Mary Ann Miller of Virginia— ]9BS: Ziegler Family
Record (Revised)— 1990; Sttank Family Record— ^^92■,
Michael Miller Family Record— ^9^'3: John Wampler &
Magdalena Garber—m progress; John H. Garber Family
Record— in progress; Nicholas Garber Family Record— in
progress. Please write for prices and more information.
Send long BASE. Floyd R. Mason, 115 E. Rainbow Drive,
Bridgewater.VA 22812.
TRAVEL— Rome/Athens, Jan. 16-25, 1995 with hosts
Herb and Jeanne Smith of McPherson College. Tour
includes: Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Catacombs,
Forum, Pompeii & Naples (optional), Parthenon, Corinth,
3-Greek island cruise. Cost: $1,810 includes transporta-
tion, breakfasts/table d'hote dinners, first class hotels. For
information: Herb/Jeanne Smith, McPherson College,
McPherson, KS 67460. Phone: (31 6) 241 -0742, ext. 1 244,
or (316) 241 -71 28. Summer address: 26 Mount Lebanon
Dr., Lebanon, PA 17042. Phone: (717) 273-9503.
WANTED— Volunteers. Discover wholeness in your life by
integrating faith with works. Accept the challenge to grow
38 Messenger August 1 994
personally and spiritually. Learn about the real world.
Consider making a year or more commitment to Brethren
Volunteer Service. For more information contact BVS
Recruitment, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120. Tel.
(800) 323-8039.
WANTED— Histories, Memoirs, etc., to typeset, print. If
you have a family history, district history, personal mem-
oirs, or any other manuscript that you would like to have
typeset and printed, Paschen Communications would like
to talk with you. We can take your manuscript, have it
professionally designed and typeset, and then printed
(either paperback or hardback). For more info., please call
(708) 695-3581, ext. 850.
WANTED— Volunteercamp managers. Camp Ithiel, Or-
lando (Fla) seeks volunteer couple to assist camp
director with management of year-round outdoor minis-
try program. Responsibilities vary from office work to
food service to general maintenance. Stipend and hous-
ing in furnished cottage (kitchen & laundry provided).
Three Church of the Brethren congregations within 20
minutes. Come try the Florida setting. For information
contact Mike Neff, Camp Ithiel, P.O. Box 165, Gotha,
34734. Tel. (407)293-3481.
WANTED— RV volunteers. Do you have a camper, !
wheel, or RV and want to serve the church? Camp Itf
needs seasonal volunteers to lend talents and skills to
year-round camping ministry. Hookups provided at
charge. Twenty minutes from Orlando. Weekly Biblesti
and worship services on site. Come try the warm win-
climate. For more information write to: P.O. Box 1i ^
Gotha, FL 34734. *'
to
It
It
is
WANTED— Poems for a tribute to poet Bill Stafford. Ai
prose, short reflections, or stories. Also photos of pot
writers with Stafford. Need by Aug. 31. Contact M
Mitchell, 5650 Abbey Dr., Apt. 4-A, Lisle, IL 60532.
*;
WANTED— Addresses or tips for locating these BVSeri
Unit 47, June 1960: Virginia Campbell, Judy Hawki
Linda Tweddell, Barbara Summy Milam, Richard A)
Richard Ernst, Lester Miley, Terry J. Snider. Need
planning 35th anniversary newsletter/reunion. Respom
Glen Draper, R. 2, Box 299, Eldora, lA 50627.
t
ambers
ipe, N. Ind.: Joe & Gloria
Dickerson. Bob & Yvonne
Hunt, Paul & Denise Pruitt.
John & Tina Purcell. Martha
Rust. Isabelie Wisner
•on, S/C Ind.: Westley
Gearhart. Erin Weaver, Kara
Whistler
iville, Atl. N.E.: Colleen
Sholly
helorRun, S/CInd: John
Barbarick
timore First, Mid-Atl.:
Marion Golden, Lawrence
Morgan
ver Dam, Mid-At!.: Joseph
Garver
verton, Mich.: Amy Bums,
Bill & Lovene Witkowsky
ke,W. Pa,: Eve Bell, Earl
Doll. Marcy Evanchock,
Cindy & Judy Maloy. Tim
Mangus. Ron Nancorvis, Ben
Penrod. Connie Snoeberger,
Lisa Toth, Mike VanFossen
hany. Mid-Atl.: Jean Hill,
Betty Pate
ie Valley, Idaho: Dallas. Judy
& Greg Chaney
ndts, S. Pa.: Roger & Jorja
Price. Dan & Pat Reeder
tine, S. Ohio: Tiffany
Armocida. Ashley Bevins.
Megan Delk, Larry, Debbie
& Nolan Fourman, Lindsey
Loxely, Dawn Moore. Ronald
Niswonger, Leon & Esther
Ricker, Ellen Seidel, Jerry &
Shirley Shroder, Gala Stites,
John & Beth Studebaker.
Luke VanCulin
ter, N. Ohio: Kelly Jones.
Laura Vickers
rIottesviUe, Shen.: Pam
Starling
jues, Atl. N.E.: Christy &
Jamie Swope
i'er Creek, M. Pa.: Randy &
'Joyce Acker, Jennifer Ayers,
illason Bechtel, Emily
[Caporuscio, Bonnie & Sherry
porle, Malinda Farringer.
^^ene Fox, Joe & Ron Keith,
^hris Risser, Emily Shaw,
hVlyrtle Weyant
prus, S. Pa.: Paul & Donna
Bowman, Rebecca Hartman,
Ulen, Barbara. Robert,
A^il!iamSr.& William III
"omes
I Run, S. Pa.: Mary Fleagle,
iric Goshen, Frank Turner,
Vdam Zeigler
fata, Atl. N.E.: Dorothy
iartzall. Susan Hyman,
ennifer & Paul Loy, Sue
■immons. Donna, Erma,
'lervin & Scott Stauffer
nort, Ill.AVis.: Christopher
'■oeitner, Gary Clark, Dona
Rackow. Brenda Simler
Germantown Brick, Virlina:
Martha & Sylvus Flora
Goshen, N. Ind.: Brandy
Callahan, Christina Chaffee,
Andrea Haney. Todd Igney.
Paul Jones. Gary Kinzie,
Ruth Lawson. John &
Rosemary Rouch, Angie
Schwartz, Randy Valderrama
Hostetler, W. Pa.: Mane, Robert
& Veda Logue
Lampeter, Atl. N.E.: Bobbie
Keener, Norman Miller
Lititz, Atl. N.E.: Daryle Heisey
Mack Memorial, S. Ohio:
Albert. Karen. Mike. John,
Chris & Naomi Cowen
Manassas. Mid-Atl.: Marsha
Todd
Mansfield, N. Ohio: Michael &
Donna Addison. Jonathan
Hoffman, David Picking
Maple Grove, N. Ind,: John &
Todd Green, Jennifer & Tony
Keck, Cletus Miller, Mindy
Monroe. Matthew Nordin,
Chris Vanderveer
Middle Creek. Atl. N.E.: David,
Debra, Daniel & Bobbie
Berger, KoUene Bollinger,
Tiffany Buffenmyer. Carrie
Kraft. Kimberly Lowe.
Charity & Melinda Martin,
Michael, Nicholas & Ruth
McCIellan, Penny Millisock,
Heidi Wagner
Middlebury, N. Ind.: Amy
Adkins. Shelley Broker,
Andrew & Laura Brunson,
Olivia Carney, Carroll &
Joyce Fritz, Shawn
Gingerich, Justin Kindy, Don
& Eunice Munn, Fred &
Maxine Schowalter. Dilynn
Troyer
Midway, Atl. N.E.: Jason &
Jeremy Balsbaugh, Sherri
Bollinger. Jolynn Boyd,
Becky & Beth Brubaker,
Melissa Koons, Joel & Travis
Krall, Katie Lentz. Janice
Nolt. Brenda Wagner,
Abigail Wenger. Jason
Zimmerman
Mount Vernon, Shen.: Joel
Ballew. Tonia Harter, Joseph
Hunt, Timothy Sturdivant,
Bryant Vaughn
Mount Morris. 111. /Wis.: David
Brebner, Roberta Christians.
Jon & Donna Cope, Amanda
Davis. Allison Dietrich,
Roger & Coleen Hanabarger,
Vickie Harriett, Pat Heid.
Shelly Homer, Imogene
Rothermal, James
Rosenberger, Hazel & Joe
Sanger. Casey Ward, David
& Nancy Watkins, David
Weinberg, Marvin & Virginia
Werner
North Winona, N. Ind.: Ben &
Curt Barkey. Jenny Dilling,
Brian Rogers. Jason Torrence
Ottawa, W. Plains: David Bird,
Carrie. Crystal, Lynn &
Stephen Dunn. Eddie Gilmer.
Misty Jamison. Evan
Michael, Crystal Yates
Paradise, N. Ohio: Jim Flaherty.
Sylvia King, Howard & Pearl
Murray
Peters Creek, Virlina: Jeanette
Cockram. Cheri Hayslett,
Belle Honaker, John
Lank ford
Philadelphia First, Atl. N.E :
Jamie Johnston, Matthew &
Morgan Pulido
Poplar Ridge, N Ohio: Gene &
Donna Baldwin. Staci
Peterson, Gene & Christie
Shock, Mary Taylor
Quakertown, Atl, N.E.: Mary &
Michael Breiner. Jeremy
Holsinger, Ray & Rose Fear.
Beth & Marc Shaffer. Grace
Roeder
Sebring, Atl. S.E.: Maria
Echavarria. Floyd & Claire
Wellman
Sunnyside, W. Marva: Ryan
Brown. Luke. Matthew, John
& Diane Everline, Don &
Jeremy Gardner, Dave
Isenberg. Bruce & Bonnie
Jordan, Corey Pritts. Teresa
Rawlings, Mark & Joyce
Reed. Trisha Smith. Herb &
Ruth Staggs, Tonya
Tettenbum. Warren & Angie
Thompson
Topeco, Virlina: Chad. Susan &
Terry Harris. Patricia &
Ralph Hollandsworth,
Matthew Grim. Katrina
Sorber, Gina & Patsy Turner.
Brandon Turman
Woodbury, M. Pa.: Stephanie
Aver, Jeff Bickel Gary &
Wendy Eckenroad, Adam,
Angie & Kathy Gates.
Christine Gregory. Jessica
Keller. Byron & Mary
Morral. Valerie Minter.
Wilburt Snyder. Helen Sterie
York, S. Pa.: Nicki & Ray
Eicher. Lisa Mikus, Keri
Vangreen
Licensing/
Ordination
Airesman, Royden. licensed Nov.
20, 1993, Sipesville,W. Pa.
Aronhalt, Mary Colleen,
licensed Feb. 5. 1994,
Sunnyside, W. Marva
Baskin, Carl, ordained Aug. 14,
1993, Skippack, Atl. N.E.
Bollinger, Glenn, licensed
July 24, 1993, Beaver
Creek. Shen.
Brumbaugh, Alan, licensed Mar
24, 1994, Raven Run. M. Pa.
Buntain, Amold Paul, licensed
Apr. 30. 1994, Wenatchee.
Ore ./Wash.
Coppernoll, Sue. ordained Jan
15. 1994. Mount Morris.
in,/Wis.
Custer, Joe. licensed July 8.
1993, Wawaka. N, Ind.
Driscoll, Brenda. licensed Apr.
23, 1994. Red Hill. Viriina
Fitzkee. Donald, ordained Feb. 6,
1994, Chiques, Atl. N.E.
Foster, Chris, ordained Apr. 23,
1994. Cedar Bluff. Virlina
Gault, Mary Frances, licensed
Aug. 19. 1993, Battle
Creek. Mich.
Gembarowski, Zachary John.
licensed Apr. 7, 1994.
Genesis, S, Pa.
Grimes, David, licensed June 27,
1993. Pocahontas. Shen.
Halverson, Dorothy Mingus,
ordained Nov. 10. 1993.
LaPorte. N. Ind.
Hewitt, Nancy Marie, ordained
Apr. 16. 1994. Hanover.
S. Pa.
Houghton. Sally, licensed Apr. 6,
1994. Pleasant Hill, W. Pa.
Howard, Cortland David,
ordained Jan. 15. 1994,
Pleasant View. S. Pa.
Jensen, Kathleen, licensed Apr.
30. 1994, Peace. Ore./Wash.
Johnson, Anthony. Sr,. licensed
Mar. 13. 1994, Germantown
Brick. Virlina
Ketterman, Curtis Garfield,
ordained Nov. 20. 1993.
Laughlin. W. Marva
Klinedinst, Stephen Lee,
ordained Apr. 16. 1994, York
Second, S. Pa.
Kuykendall, Renee Kristina.
licensed Aug. 22. 1993.
Moorefield, W. Marva
Malone, Sarah Quinter, licensed
June 10. 1993. State College
University. M. Pa.
Maxwell. David, ordained Nov.
10. 1993. Osceola. N. Ind,
Messier, Brian, licensed Sept, 22.
1993. Bridgewater, Shen,
Meyers, Leon Eugene, licensed
Dec. 2. 1993. Upton. S. Pa.
Miller, Norma, ordained Nov. 10.
1993. New Paris. N. Ind.
Miller, Tammy, licensed Nov.
20. 1993. Geiger. W. Pa.
Moreland, Brian Dale, licensed
Feb. 5, 1994. Wiley Ford. W.
Marva
Morris, Harriett Susanne,
licensed Apr. 23, 1994.
Copper Hill,
Myers, Jacob, ordained Jan. 15,
1994, Pleasant View. S. Pa.
Nalley, Michelle, licensed Dec.
16. 1993. Tyrone. M. Pa.
Reimer, Judy Mills, ordained
Apr. 23. 1994, Williamson
Road.
Rosenberger, Mary Sue,
ordained Apr. 25. 1993,
Greenville, S. Ohio
Schreiner, Sally, ordained Sept.
25. 1993, Reba Place.
Ill.AVis.
Shuford, Robert, ordained Sept.
25. 1993. Reba Place.
Ill.AVis,
Smith, Terry Gale, licensed Oct.
21, 1993. Bunkertown. S. Pa.
Stewart, William, ordained Nov.
10. 1993. English Prairie.
N. Ind.
Sutton, David Corliss, ordained
Nov, 20. 1993, Old Furnace,
W. Marva
Walters, Benjamin Clark,
licensed Jan. 7. 1994.
Phoenix, Pac. S.W.
Woodard, Emma Jean, licensed
Apr. 23. 1994, Oak Grove,
Virlina
Pastoral
Placements
Banks, Wilbert. from other
denomination to
Williamsburg. M. Pa,
Bohannon, Ron, from secular to
Trorvi'ood, S. Ohio
Burke, Robby. Jr.. Mount Zion,
Shen., from interim to ftilL
time
Cory, Martha, from Howard. S/C
Ind., to Eel River. S/C Ind.
Fastis, David, from Frederick,
Mid-Atl.. to North Winona,
N. ind.
Eberly, Jim, Pine Grove, Shen.,
from interim to part-time
Eberly. Roger, from Wakarusa,
N. Ind., to Wakarusa/Turkey
Creek. N. Ind.
Guzman, Fabricio, Michigan
City, N. Ind.. from interim to
full-time
Hall, Richard, from secular to
Mount Pleasant. Shen.
Han, Samuel, from Spring Creek,
S/C Ind.. to South Whitley/
Spring Creek. S/C Ind.
Hipskind, Gene F., from New
Carlisle. S. Ohio, to Pac.
S.W. District Executive
Huskins, James. Salem. W.
Plains, from interim to full-
time
Johnson, Roy. from secular to
Piney Creek. Mid. Atl.
Leddy, Peter J., from TroutviIIe,
Virlina. to West Marva
District Executive
Ludwick, G. Daniel, from
Holsinger, M. Pa., to Carson
Valley. M. Pa.
Miller, Douglas, from secular to
West York. S. Pa.
Mitchell, Vernon, from
Onekama, Mich., to
Messenger August 1 994 39
Plymouth, N. Ind.
Morris, Robert, from other
denomination to Glendora,
Pac. S.W.
Petry, Daniel, from Akron. N.
Ohio, to Middlebury. N. Ind.
Reeve, Catherine, from seminary
to Mexico. S/C Ind.
Reininger, Linda, from secular to
Nanty Glo. W. Pa.
Riley, Bobby, from secular to
Mount Joy. Virlina
Roller, Eddie J., from other
denomination to White
Branch. S/C Ind.
SchoU, Emory, from Koontz/
Waterside. M. Pa., to
Curryville. M. Pa.
Scholz, James, from secular to
Oak Grove, lU./Wis.
Scott, Marilyn, from seminary to
Naperville, Ill.AVis.
Shaver, Byrl, from Morrellville,
W. Pa., to Laton, Pac. S.W.
Stovall, Earl, from seminary to
New Enterprise. M. Pa.
Tinnean. Nancy, from secular to
Panora. N. Plains, assoc.
Tinnean. LeRoy. from secular to
Panora. N. Plains
VIeck, Wayne, from other
denomination to Pleasant
Valley, N. Plains
Wiebe, Ray, from other
denomination to Fruitdale.
Ore.AVash.
Yocum, George, from Valley
Point, M. Pa., to Bethel/
Yellow Creek, M. Pa.
Wedding
Anniversaries
Bowman, Paul and Sarah,
Stanardsville. Va.. 50
Boyd, George and Grace.
Campbelltown. Pa., 50
Chandler, James and Marie,
Nampa, Idaho, 50
Clague, Donald and Betty, La
Verne, Calif, 50
Ebersole, Betty and Ralph,
Hollidaysburg. Pa.. 50
Frey, Kenneth and Miriam,
Palmyra, Pa,, 50
Grove, Glen and Mildred, South
English, Iowa, 60
Hertzog, Spencer and Florence,
Stevens, Pa.. 50
Moyer. Glen and Mabel.
Greenville, Ohio, 73
Moyer. Glenn and Margaret,
Flora, Ind., 55
Myers, Kenneth and Carrie,
Goshen, Ind.. 60
Royer, Jerry and Ruth. Virden.
111.. 55
Shaffer, Marlin and Dorothy,
Manheim, Pa.. 50
Smeltzer, Charles and Ivagene.
Arcadia. Ind.. 50
40 Messenger August 1994
Smith, Abram and Laura,
Palmyra. Pa., 55
Wingert, John and Martha,
Dallas Center, Iowa, 65
Deatlis
Amos, Earl, 75, Peru, Ind.. Dec.
11. 1993
Arnett, Freda, 79, Bradford,
Ohio, Feb. 14. 1994
Aungst, Charles. 91. Leamers-
ville. Pa., Oct. 15. 1993
Balmer, Allen. 91, Lancaster,
Pa.. May 4, 1994
Beaver, Albert. 70. Westminster.
Md.. May 1, 1994
Beeghly, Herbert, 83, Trotwood,
Ohio, Feb. 28, 1994
Bittner, Galey, 89, Greensburg,
Pa., March 30, 1994
Black, Ada Mae, 89, Union,
Ohio. March 15, 1994
Bleile, John, 87, Goshen, Ind.,
Jan. 10, 1994
Book, Margaret, 83, La Verne,
Calif, March 11, 1994
Bowers, Hersel. 77. Boonsboro.
Md., Feb. 28, 1994
Bowser, Ruth, 45, Roaring
Springs, Pa.. April 11, 1994
Brandenberry, George, 86,
Goshen, Ind.. Sept. 18. 1993
Carpenter. Paul. 71. Dayton.
Ohio, March 11, 1994
Clark, James, 57, Gettysburg,
Ohio, March 15, 1994
Cleaver, Charles. 77, York, Pa..
May 26. 1994
Clymer, Goulda. 92, Uniontown,
Pa., April 1. 1994
Copenhaver, William, 69,
Taneytown, Md.. April 8,
1994
Corle, Frank, 93, Altoona, Pa.,
April 28, 1994
Corle, Fleda, 83, Altoona, Pa..
April 5. 1994
Cosnear, Myrtal, 77, Mt. Storm.
W.Va.. April 5. 1994
Crist, Galen. 80. Bridgewater,
Va.. May 3. 1994
Crossiand. Victor. 75. Haxtun.
Colo. March 23. 1994
Crouse, Charles. 68. Johnstown.
Pa.. April 23, 1994
Crow, Kenneth. 87. Champaign,
111.. May 10. 1994
Davis, Elmer. 84. Martinsburg,
Pa.. March 17, 1994
Diehl, Dorothy, 61, Hollidays-
burg, Pa.. April 27, 1994
Domer, Beverly. 45. Louisville.
Ohio. April 20, 1994
DoMercr, Stanley, 79, New
Oxford, Pa.. Aug. 20, 1993
Drabant, Darlene, 45, Stoney
Point. NY.. March 26, 1994
Dulaney, Arthur. 95, Bealeton,
Va., May 25, 1994
Duncan, Fred, 74, Peru. Ind..
Dec. 24, 1993
English, Raymond, 96, Hunting-
don, Pa., Jan. 21, 1994
Eveland, Lucille, 85,
Champaign, 111., April 8,
1994
Fasnacht, Harold, 86, La Verne,
Calif, May 17, 1994
Fay. Earl, 84, Waterloo, Iowa,
"April 21, 1994
Feathers, Warren, 81, Claysburg,
Pa., Feb. 24, 1994
Feathers, Orpha, 76, Claysburg.
Pa., Aug. 16, 1993
Feathers, Sadie, 100. Claysburg,
Pa.. April 3. 1994
Flory, Elmer. 58. Defiance.
Ohio. February 27. 1994
Foster, Harold. Deepwater. Mo..
March 17, 1994
Furry, George, 88, Frederick,
Md., April 29. 1994
Garver, Joseph, 83, Johnsville,
Md.. April 29. 1994
Gehr, Charles, 74, Ephrata, Pa..
March 18, 1994
Gerhard, Nellie, 98, Ottowa,
Kan., April 10, 1994
Gibble, George, 66, Lancaster,
Pa.. Feb. 23. 1994
Godfrey, Emmert. 78. Red Lion,
Pa.. May 26, 1994
Godfrey, Mary. 8 1 . Stewarts-
town, Pa.. May 14, 1994
Grady, Lois, 69, Waterloo, Iowa,
March 16, 1994
Hall, Irvin, 88. Rocky Mount,
Va.. Jan. 6. 1994
Hall, Sidney, 89, Peru, Ind.,
March 17, 1994
Hartzler, Jesse, 76. Wooster,
Ohio, March 9, 1994
Hearn, Martha, 98, Huntingdon,
Pa.. Oct. 30. 1993
Heaston, Fred, 87, Haxtun,
Colo., March 31, 1994
Henderson, Etta, 70, Stanley,
Wis., May 2, 1994
Henson, Shannan. 78. Buena
Vista. Va., April 21, 1994
Might, Vema, 91, Harper Woods,
Mich.. April 12. 1994
Bollinger, Allen. 81. Lancaster.
Pa.. Jan. 14, 1994
Hoover, Hazel, 90, Greenville,
Ohio, March 7, 1994
Houck, Anna, 103, Westminster,
Md.. May2S. 1994
Huffman, Naomi. 86, Bridge-
water, Va., May 16, 1994
Hurt, Grace, 86. Parker Ford,
Pa.. May 15. 1994
Hutchinson, Roger, 51, Brad-
ford, Ohio, Oct. 19, 1993
Kauffman, Hilda, 85, Wooster,
Ohio, Feb. 10, 1994
Kaufman, Dorsey, 69, Middle-
bury, Ind.. March 10, 1994
Keiser, Ruth, 88, Lakeville, Ind.,
April 3, 1994
Kilhefner, Annie, 101, Lancaster,
Pa., March 14, 1994
King, Jenny, 83, Louisville,
Ohio, Dec. 24. 1993
Kitchen, Alan, 47, Hagerstown,
Md.. Feb. 25. 1994
Kline, Benjamin. 60, Dundalk,
Md.. Jan. II, 1994
Lavy, Orion. 69, Louisville,
Ohio, Nov. 11. 1993
Lehman, Mary, 90, York, Pa.,
May 7, 1994
Lehman, Nathan, 73, Chambers-
burg, Pa.. May 28. 1994
Leininger, Esther, 79, Stryker,
Ohio, April 25, 1994
Liskey, Hilda, 82, Sebring, Fla.,
M"ay 5. 1994
Livingston, Emma Grace. 94.
Newark. Del.. May 22, 1994
Lokey, Rosalie, 86,
Harrisonburg, Va., May
1. 1994
Long, Dale, 85, Reading, Minn.,
May 6, 1994
Long, Elizabeth, 94, Midland,
Va., March 7, 1994
Lopp, Florence, 97, Springfield,
Mo., May 22, 1994
Lutz, Miriam, 96, Lancaster, Pa.,
April 6, 1994
MacAdam, Esther, 68, Freeport,
111.. Aug. 12, 1993
Markley, James, 81, Annville,
Pa., April 21, 1994
Martin, Erma, 88, Gettysburg,
Ohio, Nov. 16. 1993
Martzall, Alvin, 77, Sebring,
Fla.. April 30, 1994
Mason, David, 79. Bealeton. Va..
Feb. 12, 1994
McGlothlin, Charles, 76,
Johnson City, Tenn., Dec.
24. 1993
Miles, Esther. 80. Leonard. Mo..
April 16. 1994
Miller, Ethel Ruth, 87, Green-
ville, Ohio, March 11, 1994
Munday, Dortha, 73, Haxtun,
Colo., April 28, 1994
Naff, Mildred, 85, Boones Mill,
Va., April 30, 1994
Neff, Fern, 92, Goshen, Ind.,
March 27, 1994
Nitchman, Marguerite, 87, New
Oxford, Pa.. May 25, 1994
Overholser, Louise, 73,
Greenville, Ohio, March 9,
1994
Paul, Wahneeta, 69, Aimville,
Pa., April 11. 1994
Phares, Belva, 100, Mansfield,
Ohio, Sept. 14, 1993
Pyle, Kenneth, 78, Detroit,
Mich.. May 14. 1994
Rinehart, Leona. 86, Trotwood,
Ohio, April 19, 1994
Ring, Dorothy, 68, Kansas City,
Kan.. March 16, 1994
Robbins, Ruth Irene, 95,
Sacramento, Calif, March
23, 1994
Rogers, Charles, 80, Kokomo,
Ind., Jan. 30, 1994
^
I
I
Ruth, Birt, 81, Meridian, Idaho
March 25, 1994
Saylor, Sandra, 51, Lititz, Pa.,
May 22. 1994
Schenk, Ruby, 74, Garrett, Ind..
Feb. 13, 1994
Sexton, Albert, 80, Lapel, Ind.,
May 11. 1994
Shilling, Raymond, 85. Polo. Ill
March 2. 1994
Shingler, Keller. 78. Huntingdi
Pa., Oct. 20, 1993
Shively, Eva, 93, Charubusco,
Ind., Oct.25, 1993
Shively, Chalmer, 89,
Charubusco, Ind., March 28
1994
Shoenfelt, Janet, 65,
Hollidaysburg, Pa.. Jan.
30, 1994
Sbrimplin, Idabelle. 77, Dan-
ville, Ohio, April 26, 1994
Sink, Harden, 79, Rocky Moun: r\
Va..Jan. 4, 1994
Smeltzer, Mary, 95, Cando,
N.D.. March5, 1994
Smith, Ruth, 90, New Lebanon
Ohio, Oct. 25, 1993
Smith, Marlin, 52, Lebanon, Pa
May 17, 1993
Starrett, Austin, 89, Kansas
City. Kan.. Jan. 2, 1994
Stauffer, John, 96, Manheim,
Pa., May 22, 1994
Steen, Elizabeth, 74, Milford,
Del., May 3, 1994
Stephens, Letitia, 78,
Harrisonburg, Va.. April
16. 1994 _,
Stonesifer, Leah, 63, Littlestot*^
Pa., March 1, 1994
Stultz, Ruth, 86, Bridgewater,
Va, April 6, 1994
Summy, Vernon, 67, Bridge-
water, Va., March 24, 1994^
Swigart, Jane, 88, Huntingdoiy,
Pa.. Feb. 8, 1994
Taylor, Everett, 77, Polo, III,
March 14, 1994
Viney, Margaret, 70, Flora, lodi
April 22, 1994 i|
Walgamuth, Fred, 92. Akroni"?
Ind., March 16, 1994
Warren, Lewis, Jr., 30, Kansai
City, Kan.. Feb. 28, 1994
Weaver, Vem Witt, 76, ManS'
field, Ohio, Oct. 4. 1993
Weaver, Kenneth, Sr., 79.
Versailles. Ohio, Oct. 20,
1993
Werdenhoff, Ursula, 94, Seblin
Fla., Nov. 1, 1993
Wingert, John, 87, Dallas CeB*
Iowa, May 20, 1994
Wolf, Kelton. 65, Peru, Ind.
31. 1993
Yoder, Wave, 93, Martinsbi
Pa., June 1, 1993
Vounce, Fein, 95, Sebring, F^'
Feb. 23, 1994
Zigler, Donna, 68, Middlebi
Ind., Dec. 18, 1993
BLBCTRIfY YOUR JUNIOR HICH AND
JIM
BORUS
Join Jim Burns as he addresses critical issues
facing Junior High and Senior High youth
workers. A special morning session focusing on
Senior Highs will be followed by Jim's insights
into the challenging world of Junior Highs.
Attendees will also have a choice of attending
a variety of workshops to meet their specific
needs. Join us as we come together and learn
new insights into these exciting ministries. A
listing of the workshop offerings and
registration information is given below. Hope to
see you there!
men?
mere?
October 1, 1994 - 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p. m.
Hagerstown Church of the Brethren, 15 South Mulberry St.
Hagerslown MD
How Much? $6 registration fee
Pastors, teachers, youth workers, and all persons interested in youth ministries
For who?
Junior High
Four dynamic worl(shops
available on Junior High Ministry
(You'll choose two)
• Mentoring
• Teaching a Junior High Sunday
School Class
• Discipline & Junior Highs
• How to Have a Balanced Junior
High Program
Senior High
Four insightful workshops
available on Senior High Ministry
(You'll choose two)
• Peer Evangelism
• Youth Ministry in Small
Churches
• Involving Parents in Youth
Ministry
• Future Trends in Youth Ministry
\
wmrnm
..^^..WmRHICHfOR
room CHURCH
PAW
STONE
David stone has been in youth ministry more than 25
years. He has written many books including Spiritual
Growtti for Youth Ministry, The Complete Youth
Ministries Handbook, Catching the Rainbow ar\6
others. David is currently president and founder of
Youth Ministries Television Network. He is in high
demand as a workshop leader.
David is a energetic, humorous communicator and
one of the leading experts in the US on junior high
ministry.
When? Octobers, 1994 - 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
mere? Salem Church of the Brethren, 6037
Phillipsburgh Rd.Englewood, OH
How Much? Only $6 registration to cover the cost of lunch and snacks.
For who? Pastors, teachers and all persons interested in junior high
ministry. ^
Why is This Workshop Important?
Effective junior high ministry is the future of the church, in today's
world, critical decisions are being made by people between ages
eleven and thirteen. Growing up has been accelerated and the church
cannot "warehouse" this age group until they are older. We must
learn how to effectively communicate, guide and inspire this dynamic
age group. Doing so will prepare tomorrow's Christian leaders for
their role in the church.
For a registration brocure call
Chris Michael at 1(800) 323-8039
FUTURE PILLAR
OF THE CHURCH
Sometimes pillars of
the church are
pint-sized. If she's
going to grow as a
disciple of Jesus, tell
her she's valued now
GOO'S GOOD B
Jubilee,
God's Good News.
A children's Sunday school curriculum.
I
'
Contact: Brethren Press 1 800 441-3712
Messenger production
assistant Paul Stocksdale gets
credit for designing our cover
and pages 13-32 of this issue.
The extra pages and the splash of color in this issue were
afforded by Messenger and four other denominational maga-
zines together receiving a grant from the Pew Foundation for
each to produce a special September 1994 issue that ties in with
this month's United Nations International Conference on
Population and Development (see footnote on page 13).
The magazine staffs of all four denominations
agree that our cooperative venture — producing
simultaneously four versions of the same cluster
of articles — has been a worthwhile experience,
full of learnings. We could hardly have accom-
plished our task without our current desktop
publishing technology, supplemented by ex-
changes of computer disks and faxes ... as well
as resorting to the traditional communication
links — the telephone and the mail. All of us are
ready to return to our old familiar magazine
formats next month.
Only one thought troubles me in this whole
exercise. I have this nagging suspicion that there
might have been some inconsistency in our
preaching the word about stewardship of the
world's resources and altering our lifestyle
while, at the same time, we were struggling to
keep up with the latest, most efficient technol-
ogy in producing the magazine that carries the preaching.
Well, no, there are two troubling thoughts. Time was, when I
was capable of doing all the operations of magazine production
short of the actual preparation of the plates and the printing.
But now, as I have watched our gifted production assistant,
Paul Stocksdale, sit at his PC and design this special September
cluster right on his computer screen, I realize that staying
abreast of technology has become one of the most daunting
aspects of my work. Still I find some small comfort in the fact
that we in the trade have been scrambling to stay abreast of
technology ever since Gutenberg invented the type mold.
Food for thought for me. And I hope the whole cluster of
articles on the peril of the earth is food for thought for you.
Printed on
100-percenl
recycled paper.
COMING NEXT MONTH: Recognition of two significant
anniversaries — the 50th anniversary of Heifer Project and the
100th anniversary of the beginning of Church of the Brethren
work in India.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Eric B. Bishop
Editorial assistants
Paula Wilding, Margaret Woolgrove
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Vicki Roche
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast, Ruby Raymer; Illinois/
Wisconsin, Kreston Lipscomb; Northern
Indiana, Leona Holderread; South/Centra.
Indiana, Marjorie Miller; Michigan. Marii
Willoughby: Mid-Atlantic, Ann Fouts;
Missouri/ Arkansas. Mary McGowan;
Northern Plains. Faith Strom; Northern
Ohio, Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio,
Jack KJine; Oregon/Washington. Margueri,
Shamberger; Pacific Southwest. Randy
Miller; Middle Pennsylvania. Ruth Fisher'
Southern Pennsylvania. Elmer Q. Gleira;
Western Pennsylvania, Jay Christner;
Shenandoah, Jerry Brunk; Southern Plain*
Mary Ann Dell; Virlina. David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains, Dean Hummeg
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication oft!
Church of the Brethren. Entered as secor
class matter Aug. 20. 1 9 1 8. under Act of
Congress of Oct. 17. 1917. Filing date,
Nov. 1. 1984. Messenger is ai
member of the Associated
Church Press and a subscribel,
to Religious News Service an
Ecumenical Press Service.
Biblical quotations, unless
otherwise indicated, are from the New )
Revised Standard Version. (
Subscription rates: $12.50 individual
rate, $10.50 church group plan, $10.50 j|
subscriptions. Student rate 75f! an issuer
you move, clip address label and send w!
new address to Messenger SubscriptioDSil
1451 Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120. Alloj!
I
at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published II
times a year by the General Services Coi;
mission. Church of the Brethren Genera
Board. Second-class postage paid at Elg
111., and at additional mailing office. S^
tember 1994. Copyright 1994, Church fl
the Brethren General Board. ISSN 0026-1
0355.
POSTMASTER; Send address chang*
to Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgili|
60120.
Touch 2
ose to Home 4
iws 6
orldwide 10
^pping Stones 1 1
om the
General Secretary
tters 35
)inions 36
ntius' Puddle 36
irning Points 39
litorial 40
34
edits:
ver, 1,17 right: David Greear
ide front cover. 7 top left: Barbara
ireenwald
jlenn Kinsel
)p: Scott McAlpine
ottom, 29: Merv Keeney
' bottom right: George Keeler
!7, 3 1 : Alan Boleyn
Emily Zielinksi
National Aeronautics and Space
kdministration
Jerry Alexander/Tony Stone
left: Chris BakerTony Stone
Jerry Mounton/Tony Stone
Martin Rogers/Tony Stone
•21, 23: Nancy Anne Dawe
David Hiser/Tony Stone
David Woodfall/Tony Stone
David Radcliff
Fred Swartz
A sermon in a sandbox 12 '
When the rains come in south Texas, residents dread to think
about what might be in the mud and water. Emily Ziehnski
chronicles a Brethren Volunteer Service orientation work
project that tried to provide a little security in building a
playground.
Standing room only for an explosive show 14
Shantilal P. Bhagat opens our special cluster on the environ-
ment by writing about rocketing population growth and the
effects it is having on our world.
Tending tlie ark 20
Our covenant relationship with God involves rescue and
protection of our environment, writes Richard Cartwright
Austin,
You can mal^e a difference 25
Shantilal P, Bhagat suggests things we all can do as respon-
sible envirormnental stewards in our communities. Sidebars
and examples of what Brethren are doing by David Radcliff,
Paula S, Wilding, Margaret Woolgrove, and Eric B, Bishop.
Creation: A Vesper Hill view 3 1
The earth and all of life are a gift of God, Judy Mills Reimer
asks what will become of it if we continue our nonchalance
for the next 50 years.
Cover story: Cars
crowding a busy street
are symbolic of one way
we are overconsumers in
a world whose resources
are sorely taxed and
whose environment is
being spoiled. Turn to
page 13 for a 20-page
look at the situation.
September 1994 Messenger 1
In
rr
Heading for disaster
When flood waters rise and
hurricanes roar, Glenn and
Helen Klnsel are more
likely to be seen heading
Glenn and Helen
Kinsel have begun a
stint with Church
World Service as
disaster resource
consultants.
"In Touch "profiles Brethren
we would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
while, if possible) to "In Touch, "
Messenger, !451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120.
into the disaster area than
out of it.
Glenn and Helen, mem-
bers of Summerdean Church
of the Brethren, in Roanoke,
Va., are part of a national
network of disaster resource
consultants named by the
disaster response office of
Church World Service
(CWS).
The Kinsels have been in
disaster response work for
over 20 years. Glenn's first
project was in Permsylvania
in 1972, and since then the
Don't just stand there
Bob and Mary Wille, of
Tucson (Ariz.) Church of the
Brethren well could warrant
a sidebar story to this
month's feature article "You
Can Make a Difference"
(page 25). They do make
a difference, not only in
their church but in the
community.
couple has worked in many
different areas, including
Louisiana, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Maine,
Florida, and Puerto Rico.
"The work done by the
Refugee/Disaster Program of
the Church of the Brethren
is very significant," says
Glenn. "Disaster response
volunteers never go into an
area to proselytize, but
working in a community is a
living witness to your faith."
Helen adds, "Wherever we
go, people want to know
why we have come to help
them. We tell them it's
because our Christian faith
tells us to help those in
need. It is a wonderfiil
witness."
In their new roles as
disaster resource consult-
ants, Helen and Glenn will
work in partnership with the
Virginia Council of
Churches to help communi-
ties prepare for and prevent
disasters.
"Responsibility for caring
for those affected by
disasters is a year-round
effort, not just when disaster
strikes," says Kenlyrm
Schroeder, director of CWS
Disaster Response. "We
must be prepared to care."
— Margaret Woolgrove
Tucson church supports
the work of the city's
Community Food Bank.
Mary and Bob have volun-
teered there since 1992.
They sort donated food,
pack food boxes, glean fruits
and vegetables from area
farms, pick up and deliver
donated food, and help with
food drives and benefits.
They also serve meals to the
homeless and are camp
counselors for children with
disabilities.
They even found time last
year to work in Midwest
flood relief. Just recently
they took a load of goods to
Lybrook Community
Ministries, in New Mexico
(see May/June, page 20).
Busy in the Tucson church
as well, the couple serves
there as assistant teachers
for the young adult Sunday
school class.
You can make a difference?
You'd better believe it.
Remembered
Baxter Mow, 102, died July
31, in Loris, S.C. He had
served as a missionary to
India, 1923-1940. An
accomplished astronomer,
he was a scholar with a
command of 10 languages
besides English — Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic,
German, French, Gujarati,
Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic.
Names in the news
Laurence ("Bud") Johns,
member of Hagerstown
(Md.) Church of the Breth-
ren, has been named a
Melvin Jones Fellow of
Lions Club International
Foundation.
• Manchester College
Alumni Association has
given its Honor Award to
Ernie Barr, Northview
Church of the Brethren,
Indianapolis, Ind.; Bill
Hare, Mount Morris (111.)
Church of the Brethren;
David Waas, and John
I
2 Messenger September 1994
I
Honored with awards from Manchester College were Ernie
Barr, David Waas, Bill Hare, and John Wagoner.
Wagoner, both of Manches-
ter Church of the Brethren,
North Manchester, Ind.
• Enten Eller, co-pastor of
Root River Church of the
Brethren, near Greenleafton,
Minn., is spending Septem-
ber and October in Kenya
and Uganda, providing
computer training for the
staff of the New Sudan
Council of Churches and
setting up an electronic mail
(E-mail) system for the
council.
• Ada and Monroe Good,
members of Alpha and
Omega Church of the
Brethren, Lancaster, Pa., left
August 13 for a four-month
stint in Nigeria, where they
have served before. Ada is
teaching English at Kulp
Bible College and Monroe is
serving as a consultant with
the staff of EYN (Ekklesiyar
Yaniiwa a Nigeria — Church
of the Brethren in Nigeria)
and finishing up some recent
workcamp projects.
Scholarships for Sudan
Ekklesiyar Yaniiwa a
Nigeria (EYN— Church of
Sudanese student Daniel Deng
the Brethren in Nigeria), like
its sister church in the
United States, relates to the
problems of Sudan.
A delegation of
EYN leaders visited
Sudan in 1992 and
returned to Nigeria
with stories of the
oppression and
persecution of Chris-
tians that are part of
the ongoing war in
Sudan.
The Nigerians had
asked the Sudanese
church leaders what
EYN might do to help
them. They were told
that training leaders
was a good way to
deal with the present crisis
and the future needs of the
church.
From that, it was decided
that EYN would offer a
scholarship for a Sudanese
student to study at Kulp
Bible College (KBC), an
EYN institution.
Daniel Deng is now in his
second year at KBC, in a
four-year diploma program.
He is from Bor, in southern
Sudan.
No writer's blocl(
When we asked the Brethren
Historical Library and
Archives for a list of the
writings of Florence S.
Studebaker in Brethren
publications, we were
surprised to receive a 20-
page, single-spaced print-out
of story and article titles.
My mother had written
493 individual articles and
stories, in addition to 28
serial stories and articles
totaling 157 chapters. Of
these stories and articles, 1 1 8
appeared in The Gospel
Messenger (earlier name for
today's Messenger).
Even if one were a ftill-
time writer, the list would be
impressive. But this record
was achieved by a busy
mother of four children who
kept a fine house, taught
Sunday school, sang in the
church choir, led summer
camp programs, held district
positions, actively partici-
pated in the Women's
Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU), and served as a
full partner of her pastor
husband, Paul B. Studebaker.
She had no private
sanctuary to which she could
retreat to do her writing. It
usually was done in a
parsonage study shared with
her husband. While her
children were growing up,
the study was not off limits
to their recreation.
In the Franklin Grove (111.)
pastorate (1934-1938) the
family moved three times
within four years. Yet,
during that time, Mother
wrote 67 articles and stories,
including seven serial stories
that totaled 52 chapters. A
knack for concentration
clearly was a key to
Mother's output.
Mother doesn't ply her
Florence Studebaker in J 958.
journalism craft anymore. At
age 99 (on September 10),
she busies herself making
"wheel" rugs from cloth
remnants as she lives in
retirement at Hillcrest
Homes in La Verne, Calif
Hearing from her family,
fans, and fiiends is the
writing that she now most
enjoys. — David H.
Studebaker
David H. Studebaker is a retired
high school administrator, from
Burlingame. Calif.
For readers who wish to contact
this 99-year-old Brethren writer, her
address is 2600.4 St. Rm. 64. La
Verne. CA 91750
September 1 994 Messenger 3
I)
On the road
They're too young to
remember "Caravan to Small
Churches," but the members
of JOY A (they pronounce it
"hoya") — Journey of Young
Adults — are doing much the
Unsteady unicyclist
Brian Kruschwitz,
gets help from
Shawn Kirschner,
Barb Sayler, and
LuAnne Hurley in a
JOY A skit about
empowerment during
the recent Annual
Conference's General
Board "Live Report. "
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send story ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' Close to Home, ' '
Messenger. 1451 Dundee Ave,.
Elgin. IL 60120.
same thing that the members
of that early 1 970s group did.
JOYA is visiting Brethren
congregations for four
months this fall, concentrat-
ing on small churches,
building bridges between
them and the wider church.
"We are celebrating how
wonderful life can be and
This and that
Roaring Spring (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren
dedicated a completed
$150,000 construction and
remodeling project January
30. Added to the church were
access ramps, a five-level
elevator, and handicapped-
accessible restrooms. Then
Annual Conference modera-
how great God's love is by
presenting music, drama, and
workshops," says a JOYA
spokesperson. "We're
creating an environment of
empowerment for people to
share, express, and be heard
by others."
The four members of
JOYA are Brethren Volun-
teer Service (BVS) workers
LuAnne Harley (Lincoln-
shire congregation. Fort
Wayne, Ind.), Shawn
Kirschner (South Waterloo,
Waterloo, Iowa), Brian
Kruschwitz (Ivester, Grundy
Center, Iowa), and Barbara
Sayler (Eden Valley. St.
John, Kan.). Annual
Conferencegoers at Wichita
heard them sing during the
General Board "Live Report"
(August, page 13).
During a BVS orientation,
LuAnne, Brian, and Barbara
discovered the joy of singing
together and thought of
going on the road. Shawn
joined later. On Earth Peace
Assembly (OEPA) became
their chief supporter.
In addition to music and
inspiration, JOYA offers
workshops on topics ranging
from racism to global peace
and justice. Congregations in
15 districts will benefit from
JOYA's "joyftil noise."
tor-elect Judy Mills Reimer
was the guest speaker.
• USA Today reports that
the Church of the Brethren
ranks second (70.8 percent)
behind the Mormons (73. 1
percent) among US religious
groups with the highest
percentage of married
members.
• When a Des Moines
synagogue was defaced in
March, Ankeny (Iowa)
Church of the Brethren sent a
letter expressing its sadness
and its support. The letter
said, in part, "We feel that the
hatred expressed toward you
is a hatred toward us and all
that we stand for as well."
Rabbi Steven Fink re-
sponded, "So long as we
stand together against
prejudice and hatred, our
diversities will be affirmed
and our relationships strength-
ened for the good of all."
• Live Oak (Calif)
Church of the Brethren has
such an effective child care
center that a recent inspec-
tion by state officials was so
positive it enabled the church
to receive expansion money
to accommodate 1 6 more
children in addition to its
present 97. The program,
which has developed since
^CH'LD CAf,
1977, provides child care
and teaching while parents
are at work or school.
Teaching is bilingual, since
80-90 percent of the children
are Hispanic. Anyone
interested in learning more
about Live Oak's child care
ministry should contact
director Lorelei Perkins,
1990 Archer Ave., Live
Oak, CA 95953.
• There now is a church at
1451 Dundee Avenue, in
Elgin, 111. Living Gospel
fellowship has leased and
remodeled part of the former
warehouse space at the
4 Messenger September 1 994
rhurch of the Brethren
jeneral Offices for use as its
;hurch. Formerly the largely
African American group
hared the facilities of the
lighland Avenue congrega-
ion in Elgin.
• Pleasant HiU (Ohio)
rhurch of the Brethren
iresented a "dinner theater"
iroduction of "The Reunion"
>Lpril 29-30. The drama
ddresses the theme of
lienation and reconciliation
k'ithin the family. From the
irofits of the production the
ongregation sent a check for
1,185.62 to the Emergency
)isaster Fund of the General
Joard.
• Eight families in Young
4ak Church of the Brethren,
'anorama City, Calif,
eceived S6,000 from Church
Vorld Service for damage
uffered in last January's
arthquake. In spite of some
if its members being among
he earthquake's victims, the
ongregation provided
helter for displaced people
nd cooked and served meals
or area people following the
isaster. Also in the earth-
uake aftermath, 85 Brethren
aregivers ministered to
,900 children.
)urham-area Dunkers
obacco-planting in the
"arheel state may be on the
/ay out, but church-planting
5 on the way in. Virlina
)istrict is checking the soil
ertility of the Research
nangle area of North
Carolina with the hope of
ilanting a new Church of the
brethren congregation there.
The Research Triangle,
/hich includes the cities of
)urham, Raleigh, Chapel
Sebring NYC Alumni gather: Before leaving for National Youth Conference in July,
the youth of Sebring (Fla.) Church of the Brethren held a reunion of the congregation's
members who had attended past NYCs. The alumni reminisced about their experiences, and
displayed photos, scrapbooks, T-shirts, and NYC pillows. The youth heading for Colorado
presented a skit about the 1994 NYC theme. Front row: Bonnie Kesselring, Kurt Borgmann,
Thomas Hoover, Fauna Keppen, Lester Kesselring, Dean Hollenberg, Wendell Eller. Back
row: Jerel Eller, Loyce Borgmann, Dawn Kesselring-Eller, Sharon Kesselring, Becky Medina,
Barbara Kesselring, Marvin Miller, Dorma Hoover, Carolyn Miller, Sonya Eller, Tina Hoover.
Hill, and Cary, is being
checked out by a committee
of foiu- members, to deter-
mine the number of Brethren
already in the area and the
level of interest in planting a
new church.
A kick-off meeting is
scheduled for September 1 1 .
Research Triangle Brethren
interested in the project
should contact Dave and
Lynette Minnich at (919)
846-7998 or Duane and
Darla Kay Deardorff at (919)
851-2626.
Back from the margins
Beavercreek (Ohio) Church
of the Brethren had a
situation that most congrega-
tions experience — aging
members unable to fiilly
participate in church life
because of disabilities,
illness, or other conditions
that marginalize them. That's
why the congregation created
an outreach ministry it calls
"Re-member Me."
Instead of assigning such
members to deacons,
Beavercreek links them with
a partner who takes personal
interest in the case. The
partner makes an initial visit,
discusses concerns and
common interests, explores
the possibility of the older
person becoming "re-
membered" into congrega-
tional life, and provides
transportation and friendly
support.
Presently there are five
linkages established, and the
ministry is considered a
success. Some of the elderly
members chose to maintain
the level of participation
they already had established,
but even with these people,
it is possible to enhance
their involvement. And,
whatever the contact, most
people find it's sweet to be
"Re-membered."
Let's celebrate
Libertyville (Iowa) Church
of the Brethren is celebrating
its sesquicentenary
September 9-11. Liberty-
ville is the oldest active
Church of the Brethren
congregation west of the
Mississippi River, dating to
the days of treaty signings
with the Fox Indians.
September 1994 Messenger 5
If
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
movements, the activities reported on may
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
Brethren prepare to 'Fill the
Ark' for Heifer Project 50th
Brethren involvement in the 50th
anniversary celebration of Heifer
Project International, the organization
founded by Brethren Dan West, contin-
ues with the "Fill the Ark" campaign.
The official celebration of the
anniversary began last October with the
kick-off in Little Rock, Ark., the
headquarters for HPI.
The "Fill the Ark" campaign was
introduced at Annual Conference in
Wichita. Resources included in the
packet of offering materials are a
leader's guide, two bulletin inserts, a
miniature ark, a 30-day refrigerator
calendar, a poster, an evaluation form,
and an order card.
Families are encouraged to read each
day's information about HPI and
Church of the Brethren ministries and to
contribute to the ark bank daily. At the
end of the month, gifts are to be gath-
ered by the congregation and sent to the
Congregational Support Office at the
Elgin headquarters.
Gifts support both Heifer Project and
relief and development ministries of the
Church of the Brethren.
Congregations participating in the
program may also order a free 20-
minute video "Legacy for Efrain," and a
discussion guide.
October 9 is marked as the kick-off
date for the campaign, one day after a
celebration in Little Rock commemorat-
ing the anniversary.
"During World War II the Church of
the Brethren gave birth to Heifer Project
International and arranged for the first
shipment of 1 8 heifers to Puerto Rico,"
says the cover letter by Donald Miller,
Church of the Brethren general secre-
tary, and Jo Luck Cargile, executive
director of HPI. "Today Brethren
continue to be the largest per-capita
donor — at a level four times that of the
next denominational group."
HPI works with 13 member agencies
including the Church of the Brethren. It
provides approximately 18 different
kinds of food- and income-producing
animals, including heifers, baby chick-
ens, fish fingerlings, and bees, as well
as intensive training in animal hus-
bandry, community development, and
ecologically sound, sustainable agricul-
tural methods.
Recipients of animals agree to pass oi
the gift to others in their community.
HPI assistance includes farm animals,
training, and technical help. The
organization also works at educating
people about root causes of hunger and i
poverty. |
The organization continues to work aj
its original vision of moving people
out of the serving lines and into the
lines of service within their own
community, and to serve as a bridge
between those who can help and those
who need help.
Calendar
National Older Adult Conference (NO AC II):
September 12-16, Lake Junaluska, N.C.
[contact Association of Brethren Caregivers,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800)
323-8039].
Training Workshops by Cooperative Disaster i
Child Care, Dallas Center, Iowa, September
23-24; Tire Hill, Pa., October 28-29;
Springfield, Ore., November 4-5 [contact
CDCC, 500 Main Street, P.O. Box 188, New x
Windsor, MD 21776, (410) 635-8734],
General Board Meetings: General Offices,
Elgin. 111.. October 24-25.
New Call to Peacemaking workshop,
"Managing Inter-Personal and Group
Conflict," October 27-29, Tempe Friends
Meeting House, Tempe, Ariz, [contact Ann
Hardt. 914 E. Laguna Drive. Tempe, AZ
85282. (602) 839-8399]. i
i
Dedication of Bethany Center: 2 p.m., ||
October 30, Bethany Center, National Road ".
West, Richmond, Ind.
Young Adult Conference, "By the Manner of
their Living," November 24-26, Camp Eder, i
Fairfield, Pa. [contact Young Adult Ministry |
Office, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120;
(800) 323-8039].
6 Messenger September 1 994
tl
;neral Board, seminary
inounce staff changes
bert D. Kettering has been ap-
inted director of Church Development
a half-time basis. Kettering, who is
rking from his home in Manheim,
, began this work September 1. He
1 continue to serve the West Green
!e Church of the Brethren as interim
itor through December.
riydia Koch began as human
ource associate at New Windsor on
gust 9. In her new role she will co-
linate the residential volunteer pro-
m work with the recruitment, pay-
l, benefits, and procedural systems of
Office of Human Resources.
Qm Yaussy Albright began August
s director of the Bethany Academy
une consultation result of
eneral secretary's effort
. June consultation in Northern
eland began the work of an ecumeni-
il effort to combat violence.
The impetus of the consultation,
)onsored by the World Council of
hurches (WCC), grew out of a
atement for a Programme to Over-
Dme Violence drafted by General
ecretary Donald Miller along with a
ritish Quaker and a Canadian
uaker, while attending the WCC's
entral Committee meeting in Johan-
jsburg. South Africa in January.
The statement recommended that the
^CC establish a Programme to Over-
)me Violence, and the purpose of the
rogram is to challenge and transform
le global culture of violence in the
irection of a culture of just peace.
It also recommended that there is a
;ed to confront and overcome the
)irit, logic, and practice of war and to
;velop new theological approaches,
Dnsonant with the teachings of Christ,
hich start not with war and move to
2ace, but with the need for justice.
Lamar Gibble, director of Peace and
Robert D. Kettering
Clvdia Koch
Kim Yaussy Albright
for Ministry
Training. In her
one-third time as-
signment she will
coordinate certifi-
cate-level and con-
tinuing education
programs for
ministry training in
the Church of the Brethren. Albright, a
graduate of Bethany Theological
Seminary, will continue to serve as co-
pastor of the Huntington (Ind.) Church
of the Brethren.
International Affairs, was selected by
WCC staff to moderate the June con-
sultation titled "Building a Culture of
Peace." Sixty-three people from 41
countries took part in what was called
the first step at helping the WCC
design the program.
A summary of the consultation re-
ported, "It is time to address the prob-
lems of violence in our culture with
renewed intensity and commitment.
The emphasis of a WCC program to
confront violence should be to iden-
tify, challenge, stimulate, sustain, and
link local, regional, and national
church initiatives."
The consultation dealt with ques-
tions such as how to define peace, and
in discussion peace was often linked to
justice. Participants agreed that the
just war theory should be replaced
with a just peace concept.
The consultation participants
discussed theology, politics, and
education, in terms of violence.
Also in June, Miller and Annual
Conference moderator Earl Ziegler,
signed onto a statement by Anabaptist
moderators and secretaries condemn-
ing violence in North America.
Jan Schrocl< takes leave of
absence to lead urban project
Jan Schrock, director of Brethren
Volunteer Service (BVS), has been
granted a one-year leave of absence to
take an assignment with the National
Council of Churches (NCC).
Schrock began August 1 directing the
Ecumenical Program for Urban Service
(EPRUS), headquartered with the NCC
in New York.
The NCC has received an $850,000
grant from AmeriCorps, the national
service initiative signed into law by
President Clinton. This grant funds
service workers who will provide direct
service in places of need in the US. In
its initial year the program will place 74
volunteers in four US cities (Cleveland,
Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Seattle).
They will work with inner-city children,
youth, parents, former gang members,
and homeless youth. Training will be
done in cooperation with the Council of
Religious Volunteer Agencies.
"We have an opportunity to build
bridges with inner-city neighborhoods,
where often the only remaining struc-
tures are the churches that are working
together," said Schrock. "Our goal is to
participate in rebuilding the city from
the grassroots up. As Christians, this is
what we are being challenged to do."
During her absence, Ivan Fry, who
began August 1 , is serving as the
interim director of BVS.
Fry has served in volunteer assign-
ments in the World Ministries Commis-
sion including an assignment in China
in 1988-89. He has been a BVS repre-
sentative and served as coordinator of
orientation for three-and-a-half-years.
Jan Schrock
Ivan Fit
Messenger September 1994 7
Training begins for leadership
in Soutli Korea mission work
For the past several months, seven
South Korean students have been
participating in a leadership training
school organized by Brethren staff.
The training program, begun by field
staff Dan Kim with the aid of several
other South Korean leaders, has a
curriculum that includes courses in Old
Testament and New Testament, as well
as Brethren history.
"This is an important part of laying
the groundwork," said David Radcliff,
General Board staff for South Korea.
"We don't want just church leaders
from other denominations, but those
who will be coming up through our
program with a full understanding of
and commitment to who we are."
The continuing effort to familiarize
South Koreans with the Church of the
Brethren has included their attendance
at this year's Annual Conference and
National Youth Conference. According
to Radcliff, both visits are attempts to
give South Koreans not only an idea of
the structure of the denomination, but
also a taste of Brethren life. Addition-
ally, professor Young Tae Kim will be a
scholar in residence at Bethany Theo-
logical Seminary. Kim wants to learn
more about the Brethren in anticipation
of future participation in the mission
project.
There also is a continuing effort to
stress in South Korea Brethren values
such as adult baptism, ministry (where
the entire membership is involved),
service to others, women in ministry,
and the ordinances of the Church of the
Brethren. According to Radcliff, the
South Koreans, fully aware of our peace
position, face a challenge because they
live in a country that requires military
service.
It is possible, according to Radcliff,
that by next year's Annual Conference,
there could be pastors and people from
South Korea ready to become a part of
the Church of the Brethren.
8 Messenger September 1 994
Anabaptist/Pietist groups
iool( at vision of next century
More than 200 persons gathered for a
June event titled "Whither the
Anabaptist Vision: New Directions for
a New Century," to mark the 50th
anniversary of an address by Harold S.
Bender, then president of Goshen
College, to the Society of Church
History in 1944.
From Bender's address came the
principles that would define Anabap-
tist churches for the next half-century.
Those congregations would understand
the church as "gemeinde" (a called
out family of faith), would seek to
live out their discipleship in the
footsteps of Jesus (Nachfogle Christi),
and would practice the New Testament
principle of agape love and nonresis-
tance.
Mennonite and Brethren scholars
were prominent at this conference.
There were people present from other
denominations around the world who
are practicing these basic faith-life
principles. Such persons related
experiences from England, Germany,
Latin America, and Africa.
From a Church of the Brethren
perspective, the following was heard:
1. Affirmation for Bender's
"Anabaptist Vision." 2. Inner and inter
struggles regarding making the vision
relevant for today's world and
tomorrow's church. 3. Questions and
Worid Communion Sunday
focuses on India centennial
A centennial celebration of the first
longstanding foreign mission effort in
the Church of the Brethren is com-
mended for World Communion
Sunday, October 2. Congregations
are encouraged to plan special obser-
vances and draw on World Mission
Offering resources to highlight the
event.
The specific focus is India, a country
concerns about whether this vision for
the church as "gemeinde" can be built
without the Brethren-Mermonite
"family tree" structure. 4. The need to
revitalize congregations and structures
in such a way that people will re-
encounter the living Christ so that
their lives and the church's life will be
changed. 5. A call from Bethany
Seminary's Professor Dena Pence
Frantz, to biblical scholars, pastors,
and teachers to share a proclamation ol*
the gospel that does more than callinj
people back, but which calls for
Christ's transforming presence with
people who live at the precipice of
modernity.
Questions raised from the confer-
ence include "Can the view of the
church as 'gemeinde' help restructur(
the church for the coming decade of
new century?" and "What changes ii
our polity and structure need to be
addressed, given the Anabaptist visi(
or a reformulation of it?" If, as one
speaker hinted, "tomorrow's church
will be built from the bottom up and
be more congregational, district, or
regional oriented," then how does this
impact current General Board and
District plaiming processes for the
fiiture?
These provided much positive inter- iifci
action at the conference, in addition tdi
seeking God's guidance for where the
future will take the "anabaptist
vision." — Warren Eshbach
1
»e"
aj;
ael
to which Wilbur B. Stover, Mary
Emmert Stover, and Bertha Ryan
headed on October 16, 1894. The thro,
were the first missionaries to depart fo(
overseas with full approval of Annual >\ ^,
Conference.
Widespread centermial observances
in India will occur early next year,
timed more nearly to coincide with
the arrival in 1 895 of the Stovers and
Ryan in Bulsar. On India's west coastMy^,
along the Arabian Sea, Bulsar is 120
miles north of Bombay.
i
^f(
Hea
km
be Agne, NCC racial justice desk, Orlando Redekopp, staff for urban ministries,
\eborah Robinson, WCC Programme to Combat Racism, and Donald Miller,
eneral secretary, met last spring to discuss the Campaign on Human Rights
liolations in the United States.
ICC, NCC look at racism
5 human rights violation
I an effort to combat racism in the
United States, the National Council of
lurches (NCC) and the World Council
Churches (WCC) joined together for
e past year on this ecumenical cam-
lign. The title of the campaign is
Lacism is a Violation of Human
ghts."
Leaders in the NCC and WCC recog-
i?:ed that racism is a "persistent and
insistent" problem that needs to be
I alt with, according to Deborah Robin-
sn, executive secretary of Program to
(mbat Racism for the WCC. "Unfor-
tiately, the US has the mindset that we
sould send out, but we do not need to
T'eive."
vVith hopes of change, nine eminent
cjrch officials and human rights ex-
f1s from around the world will join in
t. October hearings which are part of
tl campaign. The panelists come from
F;rto Rico, Cameroon, Germany, Nev/
2dand, and India.
n an effort to involve denominations
vhin the councils, representatives are
h ding forums in October throughout
tl' country in six cities.
he hearings are scheduled for two
w.3ks in October and the tentative
si'edule is as follows: October 7-9,
NW York; October 11-12, Chicago,
dand, El Paso; October 14-15,
ahoma (city to be determined). El
Paso, October 17-19, Washington, D.C.
Church of the Brethren congregations
near these cities, including Chicago
First church, and Washington City, have
been invited to participate in the
hearings in their area.
The hearings will focus on racism in
the US through the eyes of international
experts. The focus of the hearings are
divided into three groups of rights: Civil
and Political Rights, Economic/Social/
Cultural, and Peace/Solidarity /Environ-
ment. Under generational rights, areas
for discussion include political participa-
tion, criminal justice, death penalty,
political prisoners, police bru-tality,
unemployment, and environmen-tal
racism.
Following the hearings, a report will
be processed and sent to the United
Nations, as well as congregations inter-
ested in combating racism.
The campaign also enlisted "covenan-
ting congregations" within involved de-
nominations that are committed to work
"for human rights and against racism."
Through the hearings, the NCC and
WCC hope for international acknowl-
edgment and awareness of racial
problems in the US.
More information concerning racism
as a human rights violation may be
obtained from WCC/NCC Campaign:
Racism is a Violation of Human Rights,
Suite 572, 475 Riverside Dr., New
York, NY 101 15-0050; tel. (212) 870-
2387.
NSCC skeptical of cease fire
called by Sudan government
Religious leaders in southern Sudan and
Nairobi, Kenya, were skeptical of a
cease-fire declared by the government
of Sudan (GOS) in late July in the coun-
try's long-lasting civil war.
According to Church of the Brethren
field staff Roger Schrock, who also
serves as executive director of the New
Sudan Council of Churches, there was
continued fighting on the part of the
government following the July 23 dec-
laration. The cease fire was announced
over radio by the GOS.
"There has been fighting since then,
and this is merely a public relations
tool," said Schrock. "Some believe
that the government does this when they
want to move in more hardware."
Though all sides are involved in the
IGADD (Inter-Governmental Authority
on Drought and Development) peace
talks, there is some feeling that little
progress is being made. And some
question the seriousness of some of the
IGADD negotiating teams. The latest
round of talks ended in July, and
negotiations are not expected to begin
again until the first few weeks of
September.
According to a progress report sent to
the Washington Office in July, two
issues dominated the latest peace
talks — "self-determination" and
"separation of religion and the state."
The report states that for the Khar-
toum government, self-determination
implies separation or secession by the
south from a unified Sudan, thus the
dismemberment of an existing state.
Southerners see self-determination as a
political mechanism by which the
people exercise their choice in deter-
mining the form of government under
which they live.
Reaction in Washington, D.C,
has ranged from those with a little
optimism about the process to those
who believe the entire process is a
farce.
Messenger September 1994 9
Disaster grants issued to
Rwanda, Colombia, China
An Emergency Disaster Fund grant of
$20,000 has been allocated in response
to the civil strife in Rwanda. The money
is being used to provide food and
shelter, distribute seeds and tools, and
establish food-for-work and reforesta-
tion programs. This brings the total
allocations for Rwanda from the EDF to
$55,000.
An allocation of $ 1 0,000 has been
granted to assist in clean-up work by the
Church of the Brethren Disaster Re-
sponse Program in response to Tropical
Storm Alberto and the subsequent flood-
ing in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida
that has affected over 15,000 families.
A grant of $5,000 has been allocated
to provide assistance to survivors of the
June 6 earthquake in Colombia. The
money will be used to provide urgent
relief supplies, medical attention, and
quick restoration of agricultural lands.
An allocation of $5,000 has been
granted to assist the more than one
million persons in China who are living
in tents and using contaminated water
because of torrential rains and floods irf
June. The money is being used to pro-
vide water purification tablets, blankets,
food, and temporary shelter.
A grant of $5,000 has been given in
response to inadequate rainfall and
subsequent crop losses in India's West-
em Rjasthan and Madhya Pradesh re-
gions, which have a history of recurring
droughts and floods. This money will b«
used to conduct a food-for-work
campaign to boost water resources and
address immediate food needs.
i
Church World Service (CWS) has provided over $552,000
to help Rwandan refugees. The funds were used to buy tents, bedding,
food, and blankets for refugees in Zaire, Tanzania, and Kenya. CWS is
also assisting the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) in developing a
crisis-intervention program among the refugees, as well as child care
and economic development projects.
CWS and CCT are mostly working in the Karega region-Ngara
District camps where over 500,000 refugees, mostly women and
children, are "coping with food shortages, lack of adequate clothing,
disease, and social tensions." CCT and the Kagera Anglican Church
are training local leaders and pastors as counselors for refugees. CWS
is in need of medical teams to serve for three months.
Pope John Paul II is planning an October 20-23 trip to
New York City, Newark, N.J., and Baltimore, Md. The centerpiece of
John Paul's trip will be his address to the United Nations General
Assembly, where he will act as the head of a government —the
Vatican— rather than as a spiritual leader. In that address, John Paul is
expected to take note of the UN's 50th anniversary and look ahead to
its role as peacemaker, especially in such religiously sensitive trouble
spots as the Middle East and central Europe.
The infamous "Philadelphia 11" remembered the 20-year ann-
iversary of when they openly ignored the Episcopal Church's ban on
women priests. Twenty years ago in July, before 2,000 people— both
ardent supporters and horrified critics— 1 1 women were ordained by
three retired bishops. Their "irregular" or "illegal" ordinations paved the
way for hundreds of women to move into Episcopal Church pulpits in
years following. In recent interviews, members of the "Philadelphia 11"
contend that the church still has a long way to go in battling preju-dices
that plague women in the church. They are still pressing reform, urging
the church fora/ard on issues like equal employment and use of
gender-neutral liturgical language, even though women priests have
become common in most dioceses and several boast women bishops.
10 Messenger September 1994
More than 2,500 Roman Catholics have signed an advertise-
ment challenging the Vatican's stance on the forthcoming United
Nations population stabilization conference, in Cairo, Egypt.
"Vatican policy opposes one of the most effective means of
voluntary family planning— contraception. This policy— which has no
basis in the gospel— also fosters unwanted pregnancies, increases th(
number of abortions, deepens the misery of women and children
worldwide, and deters responsible action to prevent the spread of
AIDS." The Vatican has been critical of a draft plan of action that dele
gates to the conference are expected to adopt because among its
many proposals are calls for making women's health central to devel-
opment programs, for more widespread access to family planning by
women in developing nations, and for efforts to end unsafe abortions.
The National Council of Churches (NCC) sent 18 new
teachers of English to China in late July. The teachers are serving wit
the NCC's partner agency, the Amity Foundation, for two years in six
provinces in east and southeast China. Most of the teachers are belni
assigned to poorly funded, less privileged teachers' colleges to train
English teachers for rural middle schools. Others are being assignei
engineering, meteorological, agricultural, and women's colleges. Thi
new group will bhng the number of NCC teachers of English in Chini
to 34. Since the program began in 1986, between 15 and 20 new
teachers have started a two-year term of service each year.
A clergyman-in-training at Vanderbilt Divinity School
Nashville, Tenn., is believed to be the first Korean senior pastor
appointed to serve a predominantly white United Methodist congrega
tion in the southeastern US. Hyeon Sik Hong was appointed in June
the 200-member Pegram United Methodist congregation in Clarksvi
Tenn. The number of cross-racial appointments, particularly minority!
pastors to predominantly white churches, has risen in recent years in
the multiracial, international denomination, although relatively few sui
appointments have been made in the South. g
stepping
>y Robin
Ventworth Mayer
Pepping Stones is a column offer-
!g suggestions, perspectives, and
oinions — snapshots of life — that we
jpe are helpful to readers in their
hrislian journey. As the writer said
! her first installment. "Remember,
hen it comes to managing life 's
•ffwulties. we don 't need to walk on
ater. We just need to learn where
le stepping stones are. "
There it was again . . .
chirping. Desperate, panic-
stricken chirping. I stopped
jogging and looked across
the road in time to see a cat
darting behind some shrubs,
while flying low overhead
was a pair of distraught
robins.
A sick feeling came over
me as I realized the cat had
one of their babies in its
clutches. I froze with
indecision, listening to the
periodic distress signal of
the captured fledgling and
watching the helpless flurry
of its parents and siblings
each time it cried.
"Save the baby!"
screamed my Maternal
Instinct.
"Only the strong survive,"
whispered a distant echo of
Evolution.
"But that cat is
somebody's well-fed pet!"
argued my Ethics.
"It's probably too late
anyway," came the reply
from my Cynical Side.
The bird cried again, and
something inside of me
snapped: The strong should
help the weak, not eat them.
So I moved toward the
bushes.
This was not easy for me.
The sight of blood makes me
faint. So as I drew closer to
the sounds I felt my stomach
heave.
The cat was crouched
before the bird, which
appeared to be unharmed.
Keeping the gray tabby at
bay, I scooped up the baby
robin, carried it a stone's
throw away, and let it flutter
off. Then I carried the cat to
her owner, several houses
down the block.
With my mission accom-
plished, I jogged off into the
sunset feeling incredibly
noble.
That is not, however, the
end of the story. The fact of
the matter is, I don't know
the end of the story. The
poor little bird may yet have
died of shock. Another
predator may have caught it
before it recovered enough
to get off the ground. And
though I sternly instructed
the cat to stay home, I have
no doubt she slunk back at
the first opportunity.
The world was still full of
dangers for one little robin
who had just left the nest. I
didn't save the bird at all.
All I did was buy it some
time.
Remembering that bird
keeps me humble. Because
as pastor, sometimes I want
to be a savior.
As a counselor, sometimes
I want to be a savior.
As a parent, sometimes I
want to be a savior.
Many, many roles in life
can seduce us into believing
we are saviors. And, at least
for me, it is stabilizing to
remember that no matter
how skilled, determined,
insightful, inspired, or
prophetic I may be when I
intervene in the lives of
others, more often than not
my contribution boils down
to creating a temporary
pocket of safety that buys
them some time — time to
recover and get strong
enough to "fly" on their
own.
And that is honorable
work, friends. In an age
when 'Enabler' and 'Res-
cuer' top the list of "rela-
tional sins," we can be
intimidated into a posture of
paralysis where others are
concerned. Co-dependency
notwithstanding, there are
situations where "buying
time" for another means the
difference between life and
death, heaven or hell.
Take my little feathered
friend, for instance. He
undoubtedly would have
been, well, dead meat, had I
not responded to his SOS
call.
It's a limited role, but
a valuable one. We're
not saviors. But buying
time — creating temporary
pockets of safety for those in
crisis — can make a world's
worth of difference in a life,
and a life's worth of
difference in the world.
M,.
Robin Wentu'orth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg. Mich. . is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlebwy. bid. She
operates Stepping Stones Counsel-
ing out of Waterford (Ind.)
Community Church.
Messenger September 1994 11
A sermon in a sandbox
by Emily Zielinski
When the rains in south Texas come
down hard, Colonia Linda Vista is deep
in mud and dirty water. When many of
your neighbors don't have a septic
system, you don't joke about cholera.
You dread to think what might be living
in that mud and water. And you
certainly don't want your children
playing in it.
But "children will be children," and
as often as not the children do play in
the flooded areas in front of the Unidos
Podemos (United We Can) community
center. It's not a playground; it's just an
area where children discover how far
the dirt, the neighborhood dogs, and
their imagination will take them.
In the Rio Grande Valley, the border
between the United States and Mexico
is a technicality. Families live on both
sides of it, the culture (with its varia-
tions) straddles it, and Spanish is more
common than English on the US side of
the Rio Grande. Many people know
about the squalid living conditions on
the Mexican side of the border, where
people from the interior come in search
of low-paying jobs in the numerous
foreign-owned factories. Yet people are
surprised to learn that living conditions
often are little better on the US side.
The truth is that this is one of the
poorest areas of the United States.
Colonias are endemic to the border
regions of Texas. They are rural or
semi-rural communities that often are
unincorporated and unstructured —
without basic services such as a sewage
system, electricity, clean water, paved
roads, and telephones. The population is
Mexican or Mexican-American. Most
people do not speak English, making
employment difficult to find. A large
percentage of the people in the three
border counties live in these colonias.
Colonia Linda Vista, part of the town
of Mission, Texas, is one of the most
active communities in the region. Its
coimnunity organization, Unidos
Podemos, has worked to get some basic
12 Messenger September 1994
services and has built a community
center that houses several programs.
Most people in the colonia have safe
drinking water, many have electricity,
and some have telephones. Advances in
Colonia Linda Vista have come through
the hard work of community leaders and
members. Alliances also have been
made with area service organizations,
both at government and grassroots
levels. There is a Colonia Service
Providers' Coalition that seeks to
improve conditions and to link people
with resources to the people who need
them.
AVANCE is a children's agency
working with parenting programs in a
number of colonias, including Linda
Vista. AVANCE wanted to build a
playground for families in the area, but
lacked workers necessary for the
project.
Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS)
was holding an orientation for volun-
teers in nearby La Feria, Texas. BVS
orientation includes work projects, and
its call seeking a place to spend a few
days in community work came at the
right time for AVANCE and Linda
Vista. I knew AVANCE director Raquel
Oliva from having spent the previous
year in the Rio Grande Valley as a
BVSer. The people of Linda Vista were
familiar with BVS because an earlier
orientation unit had painted its commu-
nity center. Everyone was excited about
BVS once again being involved in
Linda Vista. As BVS assistant in
orientation, I was particularly excited.
In most work projects, we go in for a
day and, with little advance involve-
ment, do manual labor. But this time,
faxes sped between Elgin, 111., and
McAllen, Texas, filled with playground
designs, safety considerations, ideas,
and meeting plans. Early in the orienta-
tion, three B VSers from Unit 2 1 1 met
with AVANCE staff and Unidos
Podemos president Lupita Coronado.
When we arrived at the colonia, I was
surprised and pleased, after a year's
absence, to see finished walls, addi-
tional rooms, and a ceiling that no
longer had a sky view. And there were
electtic lights and a telephone.
We went over playground constructioE
plans that would engage the 12 volun-
teers the next week. We tossed ideas
around and compared a little playhouse
(Continued on page 33)
BVSer Tilmann Rave, from Germany, helped build a playhouse for Linda Vista.
Environment:
» Lifestyle Crisis?
RICOIUO is 14, one of nine children in
his family. His parents brought him to Rio
de Janeiro because there was no work in the
small village in which he was born. But there
was no work in the city either, and like
hundreds of thousands of others who faced the
same problem, his family set up some cardboard
and a piece of corrugated metal in one of Rio's
smoky, gray hillside shantytowns: no water, no
sewer, and on most days, little food. Ricardo ran
away when his mother gave birth to his seventh
brother. No one will even miss me, he thought.
Now, like one of every five residents in Rio, he
lives on the streets, homeless, living day-to-day
on whatever he can find— or steal.
Richard is also 14,
three years older than his only
sister. Together with his parents, the
four live in a comfortable house
outside of Philadelphia. The two-story
colonial with the in-ground pool and
state-of-the-art technology throughout
is testament to the affluent lifestyle
they enjoy. At dinner Richard talks
about an upcoming class trip to study
the dwindling Brazilian rain forest; his
mother talks about the bargains she
got at the store on beef and fruits.
Neither realizes they're talking about
the same subject . . .
This special section of Messenger, focusing on oveq^opulation, consumerism, and the environment, has been prepared with the assistance of a grant
from the Pew Charitable Trusts through its Global Stewardship Initiative and in cooperation with the magazines of three other denominations: The
Church //eraW (Reformed Church in America), The Disciple (Christian Church-Disciples of Christ), and Presbyterian Sun'ey (Presbyterian Church,
USA). Discussion of these issues is timed to coincide with the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, September
5-13. in Cairo, Egypt. Earth photo above used courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The
Environment:
A Lifestyle Crisis?
Rocketing population growth is part of
ecological crises— and a symptom of mc
BY Shantilal P. Bhagat
In April 1991 a great storm roared from
the sea into the river delta of Bangladesh
and killed an estimated 125,000 people
and thousands of cattle. About 9 million
people were left homeless and 20,000
square miles of farmland (almost 13
million acres) were flooded.
Bangladesh has 1 15 million people in an area
the size of Arkansas, which has 24 million. Even
in years when there are no hurricanes, 870,000
children under the age of five die from hunger.
In spite of that terrible toll, the population of
Bangladesh grows by more than the entire
population of Arkansas every year. If the loss
of life in the 1991 cyclone was 125,000,
Bangladesh parents replaced that number in
about 15 days.
Heedless human activities are overwhelming
the global environment. Our expanding
numbers overtax the agriculture potential of the
land and move into areas risky for human
habitation. We release chemicals that gnaw
holes in the ozone shield protecting us from
harmful ultraviolet radiation. We bum fuels
that emit heat-trapping gases that build up in
the atmosphere. Tropical forests, the home for
millions of biological species, are cleared away
for agriculture, grazing and logging. At an
astounding rate we draw materials from the
earth to stoke the engines of a growing world
economy. And we treat the atmosphere, land
and waters as receptacles for the countless tons
of wastes we produce every day.
Presently 5.5 billion people are living on
Earth and the number may go to 8 billion by
the year 2025 and to 14 billion by the end of
the next century. The planet's soils, forests.
fish stocks, waters, atmosphere and oceans
already are strained. What will happen if we
plop down another whole human world on top
of this one, much less two or three?
But no one talks about population and no one
does anything about population because no
one knows what to do about population. Or,
more accurately, everyone pretends not to
know what to do.
Poorer nations have trouble discussing the
problem directly because they entangle it with
their ethnic hostilities and their old resentments
toward colonizers and oppressors. Richer
nations entangle the problem with their unre-
solved attitudes about sex, religion, and
abortion, and therefore fail to share fertility-
control technology. They remain silent also
because breaking the silence would require the
richest one-fifth of the globe to question
lifestyles that are drastically out of balance with
the earth's natural processes. It would shake up
the basic foundation of our economic system,
which must have continuous economic growth
for its survival. Those who benefit most by the
current economic arrangements feel threatened
by adjustments that an alternative system could
require, adjustments that would lower their rates
of consumption and radically change their way
of living to one fiiendly to the earth.
Overpopulation:
a taboo subject
There are many ways to define overpopulation
and many places in the world that are overpopu-
lated by any definition — Los Angeles County,
the Nile Delta, the Netherlands, and Bangladesh
among them. We are unwilling to say that in
public. We talk about storms, about poverty,
about pollution, about traffic jams, and about
overflowing landfills, but we won't talk about
!
4
i
k
!i
4
14 Messenger September 1994
(ironmental and
lamental problems
o many people or people-extensions such as
IS, houses, factories, and fields.
There's a good reason for that. Garrett
ardin of the University of California, Santa
irbara, said 23 years ago: "Were we to
entify overpopulation as the cause of a half-
illion deaths, we would threaten ourselves
ith a question to which we do not know the
iswer. How can we control population
ithout recourse to repugnant measures?
larfully we close our minds to an inventory of
issibilities. Instead we say that a cyclone
used the deaths, thus relieving ourselves of
sponsibility for this and fiiture catastrophes."
We don't know a constructive way to suggest
at there are too many of us. We fear, and
;htly so, that people will start thinking in
rms of which kinds of people there are too
any of And so we attribute deaths from lung
sease in Los Angeles to air pollution, and
aths from hunger in Bangladesh to a storm.
• to the poverty of the Bangladeshis. We would
efer not to think that it was our own silence.
"No one ever dies of overpopulation," said
irdin. "It's unthinkable."
What brought about rapid population
owth? There are two main reasons for it
death-rate reduction, and increased energy
ailability to supply food. Living populations
i limited by environmental factors such as
;k of food, water, natural resources, space,
d pollution. Through use of science and
:hnology — primarily in medicine and agri-
Iture — humans have been able to postpone
ture's limitations up to this point. How long
is can continue is an open question.
As population increases, more and more
ople are moving to cities, causing unusual
ban concentration around the world. A
cfold increase in urban population is foreseen
■ the world as a whole between 1950 and 2020.
H WHENEVER WE IMPROVE
Well over 50 percent of the less industri-
alized countries expect to be urban by 2020.
Before the advent of modem transporta-
tion and the international grain trade, the
size of a city was determined by its ability
to command the agricultural surplus of
farmland, usually in neighboring areas.
All that has changed now: Mexico City and
Caracas have grown by exchanging oil for food.
In cities that have nothing to exchange, foreign
aid has intervened to mitigate hunger and so,
incidentally, to increase population further.
LIVING CONDITIONS
FOR PEOPLE, THE RATE
OF THEIR POPULATION
GROWTH DECREASES.
The wrong focus:
family planning
On the surface the "population explosion"
looks like a simple problem with an equally
simple solution: The world is getting crowded
and all these people are putting too much stress
on the environment. The obvious solution is to
have fewer children. Political, social, and
cultural roadblocks are there, but if we could
just cut the birthrate we would have the root
cause of our envirorunental problem licked.
Yet this simple picture is at best only half the
Messenger September 1994 15
^
^mi..
ff'
*fl»ii
^'^1^
IH^^Ri^*^5^^^^Hn^HHfi^' ^^jf - ^'^
Jerry Alexander Ton,
THE REAL
QUESTION IS NOT
IF BUT HOM^ TO
ACCOMMODATE A
GLOBAL POPULA-
TION AT LEAST
TWICE THE SIZE
OF TODAY'S.
truth. Human family planning is part of an
intricate and fascinating web of relationships
that touch on almost every aspect of society —
with many surprising consequences. And
population growth is more often a symptom
than a cause of our fundamental problems.
The experience in many countries has been
that the decline in birthrate cannot necessarily
be traced to the existence of family
planning programs. Yet the focus on
family planning continues unabated. Why?
Population Trends
The world's population now exceeds 5.3 billion and is expected to
reach 8.5 billion by the year 2025. The majority of people, 3.1
billion, live in Asia, and that will continue to be true in 2025,
according to United Nations population projections. The greatest
proportional increase will occur in Africa, where the population is
projected to nearly triple, from a 1990 level of 642 million to 1.6
billion in 2025. Europe is expected to show the smallest rate of
population increase, just 3.4 percent over 1990 levels.
Source: World Resources 1992-1993. Copyright 1992 by the World
Resources Institute.
Despite the rather less than reassuring
performance "in the field," overpopulation
theorists persist in their optimism and in the
analysis that has led to it. One of the experts,
Dudley Kirk, explains the reason. While he
acknowledges the general failure of birth
control programs to date, he says: "Given the '
favorable attitudes found in surveys, family
planning may be easier to implement than '
major advances in education, or the economy,
which require large structural and institutional '
change in the society '
as a whole."
Policies addressing
the relationships
between population
and development havt'
rested on two basic
assumptions. The firs
is that rapid populatic
growth is the greatest:
hindrance to "sustain
able development."
The second is that
filling women's
"unmet need" for
16 Messenger September 1994
1
itraception — in order to eliminate unwanted
tility — is the best strategy for achieving
ibal population stabilization.
\ narrow focus on population growth is
igerous because it is based on myths that
3w us to ignore the basic problems, of which
Tent demographic trends are not the cause
t the consequence. And poverty is one basic
)blem. Many studies have shown that people
: not poor because they have large families.
■ite the contrary: They have large families
:ause they are poor. Whenever we improve
ing conditions for people, the rate of their
pulation growth decreases.
n 1954 a Harvard team undertook the first
ijor field study of birth control in India. The
jple of a number of test villages were
)vided with contraceptives and suitable
icational programs. Over a six-year period,
54-60, birthrates, death rates, and the health
tus of the population were compared with
: rates found in an equivalent population in
lages not provided with the birth control
)gram. A follow-up in 1969 showed that the
pulation control program had failed. Al-
mgh in the test population the birthrate
Chris BakerrTony Stone Images
dropped from 40 per 1,000 in 1957 to 35 per
1,000 in 1968, a similar reduction also occurred
in the comparison population.
A story from the test village of Manupur
gives a partial explanation. Despite the study's
statistics regarding ready acceptance of the
offered contraceptives, the birthrate was not
affected: "One such acceptance case was Asa
Singh, a sometime land laborer who is now a
watchman at the village high school. He said
they used the birth control tablets regularly.
However, Asa Singh had a son in late 1958 or
1959. When questioned about this, he said that
sometimes it is better to lie; it stops you from
hurting people, does no harm, and might even
help them. Most of the people in the experi-
ment had thrown the tablets away."
While the family planning effort failed to
reduce the birthrate in Manupur, improved
living standards succeeded in doing so. No
"family planning" program would have suc-
ceeded, because birth control contradicted the
vital interests of the majority of the villagers.
The real question, then, is not if, but how to
accommodate a global population at least twice
the size of today's.
David Greear
Above and
facing page:
Teeming
populations of
the world— in
Vietnam and
in London
Messenger September 1 994 1 7
1
«
A necessary focus:
consumption control
What is needed more than anything else
is "consumption control." Industrial
nations, with 22 percent of the world's
population, consume 70 percent of the
world's energy, 75 percent of its metals,
85 percent of its wood, and 60 percent of its
food. They are responsible for about 80 percent
of the world's environmental pollution.
Economic strategies should be aimed at the
technologies and practices that have the lowest
Pursuit of Unhappiness
Measured in constant dollars, the amount of goods and services that the world's people
have consumed since 1 950 is equal to that consumed by all previous generations put
together. Yet this historical era of large-scale consumption appears to have failed to make
the consumer class any happier. Regular surveys by the National Opinion Research
Center of the University of Chicago reveal, for example, that no more Americans report
they are "very happy" now than in 1957. The "very happy" share of the population has
fluctuated around one-third since the mid-1950s, despite near doublings in both gross
national product and personal consumption expenditures per capita.
Studies on happiness indicate that the main determinants of happiness in life are not
related to consumption at all. Prominent among them are satisfaction with family life,
especially marriage, followed by satisfaction with work, leisure to develop talents, and
friendships.
Source: The Futurist. January-February 1993.
energy and materials requirements with the
maximum feasible benefits to the poor. We
cannot afford to continue using the conven-
tional patterns of economic development that
require a lot of energy usage for production and
transportation.
In 1 970 the total population of Honduras was
about 2.6 million people; by 1989 the number!
had nearly doubled to 4.9 million. Anthropolo- '
gist Bill DeWalt, director of the Center for
Latin American Studies at the University of
Pittsburgh, and two colleagues write: "During
the same time period the country experienced
environmental destruction on a grand scale."
"There appears to be a direct link," they
continue, "between the rapid increase of
population and this non-sustainable utilization
of land and water resources." But "the evidence
. . . is remarkably consistent that enviroimiental
destruction is attributable more to the inequal-
ity of resource distribution and patterns of
economic development in the region than to
population increase."
Alan Duming of the Worldwatch Institute i
raises the issue of "wanting more" in his book
How Much Is Enough? which opens: "Con-
sumption: the neglected god in the trinity of
issues the world must address if we are to get
on a path of development that does not lead to
ruin. The other two — ^population growth and
technological change — receive attention; but
with consumption, there is often only silence."
Duming suggests that today's appetite for
more consumer goods was a deliberate goal of
American business and government. Retailing
analyst Victor Lebow stated shortly after Worl
War II: "Our enormously productive economy
. . . demands that we make consumption our
way of life, that we convert the
buying and use of goods into
rituals, that we seek our
spiritual satisfaction in con-
sumption. . . . We need things
consumed, burned up, worn out
replaced, and discarded at an
ever-increasing rate."
The chairman of the US
Council of Economic Advisers
in 1953 pronounced that the !
ultimate goal of the American
economy was "to produce men
consumer goods."
And it was immensely
successfiil, so much so that we
now classify cars, television,
telephones, refrigerators,
microwave ovens, and stereos <
18 Messenger September 1994
s necessities. We even think of
urselves as "consumers," and
shopping" is a recreation.
Consumption has become so crucial
)r the economy that in periods of
session, the consumer is often
lamed for not spending enough,
'hile business and governments seek
'ays to increase consumer confidence
) stimulate spending.
)ver-consumption:
. symptom of
omething wrong
ledia propaganda pounds home the
lessage that consumption brings
ippiness. But possessions can't fill
le emotional and spiritual needs of
aman relationships, community, and
)me purpose beyond accumulation
F wealth and goods.
Over-consumption is not a goal that
)ciety must maintain at all costs; it
is become a symptom that some-
ing is wrong because no matter how
uch we possess, we are not fulfilled
• satisfied. I
o
Our lifestyle extracts a heavy price: g
olence, alcoholism, burglary, j
mdalism, drug abuse, alienation,
neliness, pollution, and disruption of family
id neighborhood.
If poor people remain in desperate straits,
)pulations will keep on growing. There are
)od reasons for that, fi-om the poor people's
)int of view. Children are their hope, children
e their only security, and, because they have
tie control over their own fertility, even more
lildren come to them than they aim for. At
ime point the accumulated consequences of
eir powerlessness will surpass the earth's
nits — if indeed those limits have not already
sen surpassed. The consequences will not be
sited only upon the poor. In this economi-
lly and ecologically interconnected world,
iverpopulation" anywhere affects everyone.
It may be a cosmic joke — or a plan of God —
at just at the point in human history when the
iman race has the technical means, the global
immunications, and the accumulated wealth
to end poverty, we also are confronted
with the absolute necessity of doing so. If
we do not, the population forecasts will
continue to go up — until nature tells us
without ambiguity and without mercy
how many is too many.
Unabated population growth will make
it absolutely clear that the style of life to
which the developed nations have
become accustomed no longer will be
possible without a new approach to world
relations. The lifestyle of the developed
countries cannot be universalized; it
cannot work in a world of 10-15 billion
people. What will future historians write
of us? Will they say that our selfish
pursuit of materialism and inability to
limit family size put civilization at risk?
Or will there be anyone around
to write our history?
Ai.
Shantilal P. Bhagat. director of Eco-Justice Concerns on the World Ministries Commission
iff of the Church of the Brethren, is the author p/" What Does It Profit? Christian Dialogue on the
S. Economy; The Family Farm: Can It Be Saved? and Creation in Crisis: Responding to God's
jvenant (Brethren Press). He recently compiled for the National Council of Churches an
formation packet. "God's Earth Our Home " (see page 32).
Consumption by
Industrialized
Countries
The 24 countries of the
Organization for Eco-
nomic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
represent an immense
concentration of economic
activity. The OECD
countries also place a
huge demand on the
natural resources of the
planet and contribute a
very large share of the
global pollution burden. In
1989 the seven largest
OECD economies con-
sumed 43 percent of the
world's production of
fossil fuels, most of the
world production of
metals, and a large share
of other industrial materi-
als and forest products.
Source: World Resources 1 992-
1993. Copyright 1992 by the
World Resources Institute.
Messenger September 1994 19
BY Richard Cartwright Austin
Included on
the following
pages are tips
for "tending
the ark"-
suggestions to
help prevent
further global
warming and
improve the
environment.
Source: f/ghf
Clobal Warming:
29 Things You Can
Do, by Sarah Clark.
Copyright 1991 by
the Environmental
Defense Fund
Christians can face bad news
because we have heard the Good
News. We beheve bad news is
not the last word.
Today the earth's living
community is in crisis. But we
may be able to address the modem "flood" that
threatens so many species because we remem-
ber the ancient Ark and can recall God's
covenant promise to all the creatures rescued
by God's grace.
In the natural history of life on planet Earth,
we must go back 67 million years to the end of
the Mesozoic Era to encounter a catastrophic
extinction of species equivalent to that which is
taking place in the late 20th century. The
ancient crisis of extinction that eliminated the
many forms of dinosaurs, as well as thousands
of less spectacular species, was apparently
caused by a large meteor that struck the earth .
with such impact that it created a cloud of dust'
that hid the sun, chilled the earth's climate, and
disrupted fundamental systems of life support.
Today's crisis of extinction also has a single i
cause. It is the impact of the modem human i
community on the planet. Our growth-oriented
economy depends on the rapid consumption of ii
natural resources and fossil fuels, and upon I
chemical compounds that do not recycle ,
naturally but act as pollutants. Our wastes I
overwhelm the environment, as does our I
exploding population. :
The ancient crisis of extinction was followedii
by a gracious renewal of life over millions of
years, evolving many of the animals and plants :
with which we are familiar and, eventually, the
first humans. Some lovers of nature fear that '
modem pollution is so far out of control that it
threatens to extinguish human civilization
along with most other complex forms of life,
although they hope that after millions of years
an earth without humanity might again evolve
20 Messenger September 1994
I
Number of Species
Lost Each Year
The estimated loss of living species
from 1700 to 1992. The normal or
"background" rate of extinction
remained essentially unchanged for
the last 65 million years— from the
disappearance of the dinosaurs
along with countless other species at
the end of the Cretaceous period
until the present century.
Source: Earth in the Balance, by Al Gore
(Houghton Mifflin Co., 1992).
100,000.
10,000.
1 ,000.
100-
10-
1700
1800
2000
1
id protection
nd people^
lovel forms of life. The Bible can be quoted to
support such radical despair for human culture,
however, we can also hear the Bible calling us
0 redeem from destruction the community of
ife that we know to be beautiful and now find
0 be fragile.
The Bible is one of several ancient texts to
^reserve memories of an impending extinc-
ion — a Great Flood that threatened the survival
)f humanity and other terrestrial species,
jenesis recounts successive stories of decline
Tom the Garden of Eden, until human wicked-
jiess was so pervasive that God despaired of the
very act of creation. "I will blot out from the
:arth the human beings I have created — people
ogether with animals and creeping things and
:)irds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made
hem" (Gen. 6:7).
But there was one good family to whom
jod turned to moderate the impending
;ragedy. Noah's family built a boat to ride
|)ut the storm. Following God's instructions,
hey herded aboard representatives of each
species threatened by high water.
After more than a month of uncomfortable
confinement and being tossed around on the
rising waters — during which time the storm
without must have been matched by the stench
within — the ark settled at last on a
mountainside, and the animals, reptiles, and
birds could be discharged. In celebration God
appointed the rainbow to serve as a continuing
sign of reassurance for humanity and for all the
creatures. "I have set my bow in the clouds,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between
me and the earth. . . . The waters shall never
again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When
the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and
remember the everlasting covenant between
God and every living creature of all flesh that
is on the earth" (Gen. 9:13-16).
This is the first mention of "covenant." The
history of redemption, which is the Bible's
overarching theme, begins here. Yet most
Christians have overlooked the striking fact
that God's covenant embraced not just the
human family but also the fiill range of species
that God had created with great delight, had
asked Noah's family to rescue, and now
promised to protect.
In the community:
Every creature
Generations later God restated this covenant
promise to Moses at Sinai, offering to create
"holy people" and also to redeem a "holy
land" where all life together might find relief
from oppression and abuse. Sabbath law,
derived from the Ten Commandments, would
spell out human responsibilities toward
the weak, and it extended this sense of
T
Trees do
more than
consume
carbon
dioxide.
In urban
areas, by
providing
shade,
evaporative
cooling, and
wind breaks.
trees can
reduce
greenhouse
gas
emissions
from heating
and cooling
by 15 times
as much as
they absorb
directly.
Messenger September 1994 21
Bike, carpooU
or use mass
transit.
Cars and
light trucks
produce
20 percent
of all carbon
dioxide
emissions
in the United
States.
The
average
American car
emits 7.5 tons
of carbon
dioxide
per year
(based on
15,000 miles).
responsibility to the land itself, to domestic
animals and to wildlife. Every creature was
drawn within the community of moral regard,
where each was entitled to sustenance, rest
and renewal. "For six years you shall sow
your land and gather in its yield; but the
seventh year you shall let it rest and lie
fallow, so that the poor of your people may
eat; and what they leave the wild animals may
eat. . . . Six days you shall do your work, but
on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your
ox and your donkey may have relief
(Exod. 23:10-12).
In this same inclusive spirit the Gospel of
Mark reports that after his baptism Jesus retired
to the wilderness and spent time with wild
beasts. Luke reports that when Jesus first
stepped into Peter's boat the slack nets were
overwhelmed by fish crowding close to him.
Jesus considered a field of wildflowers more
beautiful than kingly robes, and when he
wished to convey his love for siimers he
compared us to lost sheep. The earth quaked
when Christ died because it, like we, had a
stake in the event.
John on the island of Patmos foresaw that in
the final days when Christ, the Lamb Trium-
phant, opens the Book of Life every creature
will join in praise because all will be beneficia-
ries (Rev. 5:13).
Pollution: Human
injustice to nature
We call our modem crisis pollution — a profound
biblical concept. Pollute translates a Hebrew
word for ceremonial impurity, but in the Bible
itself the idea of pollution expands from
ceremonial concerns to embrace general moral
corruption and also, in its broadest reference, t<
describe the fouling of the landscape.
Our modem application oi pollution to
environmental contamination resonates with |
this biblical usage. Pollution was part of the
wickedness that led God to despair at the time
of Noah.
In the Bible, pollution conveys the impact ol
human injustice on the vitality of nature. Caini
murder of Abel is the first biblical instance — ai
unjust spilling of blood that weakened the
ground and damaged nature's potential for
agriculture. "You are cursed fi^om the ground, I
which has opened its mouth to receive your
brother's blood from your hand. When you till
the ground, it will no longer yield to you its
strength" (Gen. 4:11-12).
In the book of Numbers, laws concerning
murder similarly conclude with a warning
against degrading the landscape: "You shall ni
pollute the land in which you live; for blood
pollutes the land" (35:33).
22 Messenger September 1 994
!
To a later generation the prophet Rosea
ould complain: "There is ... no knowledge
~God in the land. Swearing, lying, and
urder, and stealing and adultery break out;
oodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the
nd mourns, and all who live in it languish;
gether with the wild animals and the birds of
e air, even the fish of the sea are perishing"
los. 4:1-3).
Given this biblical perspective. Christians
ive a responsibility in the modem environ-
ental debate to clarify the many modem
innections between social injustice and
ivironmental degradation. Indeed, we have
:gun to do so. It was church leaders who first
iticed that toxic waste dumps are most often
cated in poor and minority communities,
;cause people without power find it more
fficult to resist them. Detailed studies of this
ttem led the National Council of Churches to
arge both government and industry with
nvirormiental racism."
A society that would never knowingly allow
Kins to seep into an affluent suburb will
lerate the poisoning of blacks, Hispanics, and
jpalachian people. These folks endure higher
in average rates of illness from environmen-
causes. However, when they find the
ength to stand up and resist toxic dumps
d poisonous working conditions, it forces
; larger society to confront the task of
minating pollution rather than dumping it
the weak.
Pollution violates the will of God, who
:ated all creatures. The first chapter of
mesis tells us that, day after day, God took
light in the beauty of each creature that came
life and pronounced them all "good." When
; first woman and man were blessed with
le image of God," this was a commission to
jresent God's dominion over all species so
It every creature might continue to have
ison to praise God. It was not a license to
ploit other forms of life, craelly or thought-
;sly, for human benefit alone.
Adam exhibited God's image when he named
: animals and recognized their differences.
le family of Noah exhibited it splendidly
ten they rescued creatures from the flood.
Christians understand that Jesus exhibits the
age of God most clearly, and that sinners
ly recover this image as we conform cur-
ves to Christ's character. And Jesus gave us
int instmctions to restrain our fi-etful
ploitation of the earth and, instead, to notice
! beauty of our surroundings and leam
im other creatures: "Do not worry about
your life. . . , Look at
the birds of the
air. . . . Consider the
lilies of the field..."
(Matt. 6:25-33).
Human needs will be
met within a faithful
community that honors
all forms of life.
Indeed, the Apostle
Paul argued that when
Christians, at last,
exhibit the image of
God clearly, all
creatures will benefit.
"The creation waits
with eager longing for
the revealing of the
children of God" so
that the consequences
of pollution may be overcome, and
creation itself may "obtain the
freedom of the glory of the children
of God" (Rom. 8:19-21).
God's call:
Tend the ark
The Bible urges us to participate
in a congregation of praise that
embraces all living creatures,
communities of life, and the natural
forces that sustain life on this planet: "Praise
the Lord fi-om the earth, . . . fire and hail, snow
and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills, fmit trees and all
cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping
things and flying birds! . . . Let them praise the
name of the Lord" (Psa. 148:7-13).
Creatures, ecosystems and the air and water
that support life are not merely objects for our
management or good "stewardship." They too
are subjects before God, members alongside us
in the community of life, and partners in the
covenant. Our opportunities to manage nature
must be disciplined by the "image of God"
offered to us, which obliges us to serve God's
interests, not simply human benefit. The God
revealed in the Bible loves all creatures and has
an abiding interest in their welfare.
Awakened by the growing intensity of
worldwide pollution that threatens the extinc-
tion of so many species, and guided by
scripture. Christian congregations face new
challenges. God's Word calls us to transcend
the anthropocentrism that has led us to
envision the inclusive congregation as a
Weatherize
your
home or
apartment.
Pulling the
shades
down
dot
windows
at night
several
dollars
per window
a year.
Messenger September 1994 23
Use a fan
instead of
conditioner.
Fans tise
one-tenth
the energy
of air
conditioning.
CHRISTIANS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY
TO CLARIFY THE MANY MODERN
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL
INJUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
Spirit-filled gathering of
people only. It may be seen,
more truly, as a gathering of
all living creatures who share
a local network of life — our
"ecosystem." Within this
covenanted gathering of
God's creatures, vulnerable to
the elements and to one
another. Christian people
have a special role of deep
responsibility to assist God in
the administration of life for
the welfare of all.
Within our communities
there may be the homeless, the
hungry, the abused, and the
imprisoned. Within our
communities there may also be polluted
systems, endangered species, and abused
creatures. Jesus Christ, Savior of the world,
stands in solidarity with each of these and
promises that when we reach out to meet their
needs we will encounter him among them.
Each congregation, therefore, embraces not
just the churched and the unchurched people,
but also trees, streams, and gardens; household
pets, livestock, and wildlife — even the quality
of air that passes among us as we breathe.
If all creatures can help each other obtain the
healthful "freedom ... of the children of
God," then we will become brother and sister
to one another, transcending isolation within
our own species. Science suggests that mutual
support is the character of a healthy ecosystem,
and Isaiah prophesied a day when all creatures
might achieve communion with one another in
the presence of the Messiah (Isa. 11:1-9).
It is exciting to ponder what a redeemed
community of life might look like. Ezekiel
imagined that a stream of
water will emerge from the
throne of God in Jerusalem
and expand as it flows,
generating the renewal of life
in its depths and on its banks,
until even the earth's most
barren places are restored to
vitality (Ezek. 47:1-21).
John echoed this vision in
Revelation 22:1-5. Those
who trust that "God so loved
the world" as to send Jesus
(John 3:16) should take a
renewed interest in these
visions. They give us hope.
Meanwhile we must tend
the ark. Environmental
pollution, the depletion of
natural resources, the
destruction of wild places,
the growth of human popula-
tion, and the extinction of
other species — all these
trends are likely to get much
worse before they get better
because they are driven by
the growth and profit
energies at the heart of
Western industrial society. It is difficult to
imagine the depth of repentance and reform
required to turn our society around so we can
begin to build better lives utilizing more frugal
consumption, and make peace with one another
and with the natural world.
Christian churches must call for such
repentance and work for such reform. And yet
during the hard decades ahead we must also
join with other institutions to fashion strategies
that protect the vital natural systems that
remain, that guard species threatened with
extinction, and that protect from abuse the
animals that depend upon us.
It will be difficult and uncomfortable to
ensure the survival of all on a crowded,
polluted planet while we weather the storm
and look for the means to revive the natural
vitality that was God's gift to us all. But
if we claim the image of God we must hear
God's call to gather all life together
while there is time.
m
Richard Cartwright Austin, a Presbyterian minister who lives in Dungannon, Va., teaches environmental!
theology with the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center based in Berea. Ky. He is author
o/Hope for the Land: Nature in the Bible, and other books on Christian environmental responsibility
distributed by Creekside Press. Abingdon. Va.
24 Messenger September 1 994
JT
Honduras workcamps
3Y Shantilal P. Bhagat
^^^ ecognizing the seriousness of rapid
^^V global population growth, the 1964
^^L Annual Conference of the Church of
I ^^the Brethren addressed the issue with
strong emphasis on the need for family
anning and sharing resources. During the
ree decades that have gone by, the population
oblem has become more serious, even a
reat to the quality of life on planet Earth.
The United Nations has declared 1994 the
ear of Population. New energy has been
irred into the population debate in preparation
r the UN's International Conference on
)pulation and Development (ICPD). Many
m-govemmental organizations (NGOs),
eluding the World Council of Churches
VCC), have made preparations to attend
e ICPD.
A WCC discussion paper on Population
id Development expresses the need for
lurches to become more involved in the
arch for a just balance in population issues.
(Continued on next page)
The Christian Commission for
Development (CCD) has devel-
opment projects in over 100 poor
rural communities in Honduras.
Most often, the location for their
projects is not too different from
Agua Zarca, the community of 1 7
families high in the hills of the
Santa Barbara region where our
group of 1 5 Church of the Brethren
members spent a week last May.
Accessible only by a 45-minute ride
on a tortuous dirt road, Agua Zarca
is far enough off the beaten track
that government services do not
reach it, except for providing a
teacher for the one-room, six-grade,
45-pupil school on the hill.
Since 1986, 1 have taken five
Brethren workcamp groups to
Honduras through CCD. In the
1980s, Christians went to Central
America out of disagreement or
anger with United States' policies
in the region — policies that often
meant supporting dictatorial
regimes, with little thought given
to the underlying problems or to
the impact of our policies on the
common people.
Today, for the most part. Central
America has slid off the geopoliti-
cal map. It is of little interest to US
policy makers. Any attention paid
to the region focuses on its role in
providing cheap labor and potential
markets for US businesses.
Central America has slid in other
ways as well. In Honduras, despite
over S2 billion in US aid in the '80s
(about half of it military aid), over
that same decade rates of illiteracy
have increased to over 50 percent,
while per capita income has fallen.
Seventy percent of all Hondurans
now live in poverty. And this isn't
poverty US style, with safety nets
provided. It is a poverty of swollen
stomachs, crippled minds, and lost
dreams. As economist Ramon
Velazquez Naser told our group,
"Seventy percent of the population
is half-dead, with not enough
sustenance to sustain themselves."
So Brethren continue to go to
Honduras. We still learn about the
larger economic factors, such as
World Bank policies that have
caused a 1 5-percent increase in the
poverty level in Honduras since
1989. Other reasons for going
include allowing Brethren to
experience a place not so far away
as the crow flies, but in other ways
on a different planet, or at least a
different century. We also go to
build relationships between people
whose lives differ in almost every
way, except in our longing for a
better world for all God's people
and our commitment to Jesus as
the herald of this better world. And
we go to make a difference —
perhaps not much of a difference
in the larger scheme of things, but
in one place with a community
bent on improving its lot in life, a
difference nonetheless. — David
Radcliff
David Radcliff is director of denomina-
tional peace witness on the Church of the
Brethren World Ministries staff.
Messenger September 1994 25
It says that a balance must be struck between
the need to solve population problems on
the one hand, and the need on the other hand
to provide individuals, particularly women,
the opportunity for reproductive rights and
health. The paper recommends that churches
make a more positive effort toward providing
education on sexuality and toward the promo-
tion of family planning.
No environmental issue is so troubling as
the fact of growing human numbers. The
Beef-canning project
In April, a milestone of 1 5 years
was reached in the Church of
the Brethren's Southern
Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic
Districts. The two districts operate
a beef-canning project that helps
their communities, as well as the
world.
Over 300 volimteers from the
two districts gather at a Church of
the Brethren member-owned
turkey-processing plant. Using
donations from churches within
the districts, the volunteers buy
deboned meat to be canned. In
addition, beef cattle are some-
times donated.
The volunteers spend six
days within two weeks
at the plant. The meat
Clyde Grossnickle,
Chester Wolfe, and
Aden Hawbaker
grind the beef— the
last process before it
goes to the canner.
is ground, cooked, and sealed in
cans that are washed and labeled,
all by volunteers. After the meat
is sent to a local plant for testing,
75 percent of it is sent to agen-
cies in the US and around the
world. All the broth and 25
percent of the meat remains in
the districts, and is sent to local
agencies.
This year, a total of 15,61 1 cans
were given to agencies such as the
Salvation Army and food kitchens.
With the help of Donna Derr,
director of the Church of the
Brethren Refiigee/Disaster
Program, 650 cases were sent
overseas. — Paula S. Wilding
dreary statistics are familiar: It had taken
from the beginning of human history to 1 940
for the human population to reach 2 billion.
In the half-century since 1940, that number
has increased to 5.5 billion, and it is
growing at a rate of 92 million people per
year. Even more startling, if couples today
agreed to limit their children to two, the
population would still climb by another 6
billion in the next 35 years (since so much
of the world's population is still below
childbearing age).
So where is hope? The issue is a
particular problem for Christians, in part
because Christian understanding of the
worth of the human individual has helped
to increase population by rapidly reducing
the death rate over much of the world. But
the same high standard of human worth
makes many Christians reluctant to support
some stringent strategies for limiting
population, such as abortion or even (in the
case of the Catholic church) artificial birth
control.
Crucial as the population issue is, in the
wealthy world it often is used as a way of
avoiding facing an even more serious and
immediate problem — the high consumption
rates of North Americans. A child bom into
an average American family will use up to
50 times as much of the earth's goods — and
leave at least that much more waste — as a
child bom into a poor family in the
"developing" world (where 88 of the 92
26 Messenger September 1994
nillion people added to
he world will be
)om this year). Popula-
ion growth and overcon-
lumption among the
vealthy puts unparalleled
)ressure on the earth's
ragile and often irre-
•laceable environment,
lut wealth offers protec-
ion for a time against the
onsequences of this
oily. For the poor,
lowever, the conse-
[uences are immediate
. . . and devastating.
The tragedy is that the
tandard of "develop-
lent" to which those
illions aspire is set by us
1 the "developed" world.
Shantilal Bhagat
led workshops
based on his
packet "God's
Earth Our Home"
at the Church
of the Brethren
National Youth
Conference
in July.
Brethren housing projects
Since 1988, several Church of
the Brethren congregations
have worked at combating
homelessness in their areas.
A dramatic change has occurred
in the Harrisburg, Pa., community,
thanks to six Church of the
Brethren congregations that make
up the Brethren Housing Associa-
tion (BHA). The congregations are
Harrisburg First, Hanoverdale,
Conewago, Ridgeway Commu-
nity, Hershey Spring Creek, and
West Green Tree. Volunteers from
these congregations help in the
housing project.
When BHA first began, it owned
one home and operated with only
volunteers. Since then, BHA has
restored three homes, bought 10
apartments for transitional
housing, and helped 37 families.
It also is trying to acquire three
more properties. With a grant
from the Whitaker Foundation,
BHA was able to hire John Nantz,
a full-time director, who special-
izes in counseling and case
management.
BHA is known throughout the
Harrisburg corrmiunity. Its
services are so sought after that
for every one family accepted, 12
may be turned away.
Harrisburg First church hosted a
National Youth Workcamp this
summer. In the future, BHA hopes
to strengthen its present position
through counseling, hiring more
full-time staff, and concentrating
on follow-up work with clients.
While BHA works with other
Brethren congregations, the
Brethren Housing Corporation
(BHC) in Manassas, Va., works
primarily with its community.
BHC has received numerous
grants and forgivable loans from
local, county, and state agencies,
and employs eight staff members
within the facilities.
BHC concentrates on four
projects — transitional housing,
much like the housing in Harris-
burg; a shelter facility that sleeps
35 people per night; a SERVE
food warehouse that feeds up to
4,000 people every month; and a
Gerry and Carroll Conner of
Manassas volunteer in the
SERVE food warehouse.
child care center that also is a
Christian day school. "Although
BHC's original intention was only
in transitional housing, the
community needs are too great
in the other areas," says Irv
Heishman Sr., president of
BHC— Paula S. Wilding
Messenger September 1994 27
Trees for Life
Since 1984, Trees for Life has
been empowering people to
help themselves in the struggle
against environmental destruction
and global hunger. It does this by
providing resources and know-how
that help people in developing
countries grow firewood and fhiit-
bearing trees (coconut, banana,
papaya, guava, orange, apple,
pear, and lemon), cultivate
medicinal plants, build fiiel-
efficient stoves, and dig wells
Balbir and Treva Mathur,
ofWichita (Kan.) First
Church of the Brethren,
are the founders of Trees
for Life. Success for them
is measured not by how
many trees are planted,
but by how many lives are
touched. "It's not about measur-
ing results," says Treva. "It's about
setting something into motion and
seeing where it takes us."
But statistics can speak elo-
quently, and in the 10 years since its
founding. Trees for Life has helped
to plant 20 million fruit trees around
the world, in Guatemala,
Nepal, Brazil, and India.
The average fruit tree
produces more than
10,000 pounds of fruit in
its lifetime, so one begins
to get an idea of how
planting trees can combat
world hunger. More than
this, each tree helps
prevent soil erosion and
Trees for Life
founder Treva
Mathur explains
"tree kits" to
vacation
Bible school
participants.
flooding, as well as working to keep
the water supply clean.
In the past five years, more than
2 million students in the US have
taken on the challenge to grow their
own frees from "tree kits" provided
by Trees for Life. "American kids
don't get many chances to get their
hands in the dirt," says Treva, "and
the tree adventure kits give them
just that chance."
Trees aren't the only thing
growing at Trees for Life. With
four full-time Brethren Volun-
teer Service workers
(BVSers) now based at the
project. Trees for Life
needed somewhere to house
its staff. The "tree house"
(as their new residence is
known) is situated within a
two-minute walk of Wichita
First church, where Trees for Life
is headquartered.
For more information about
Trees for Life or Tree Adventure
Kits, write to 1 103 Jefferson,
Wichita, KS 67203, or call (316)
263-7294. — Margaret Woolgrove
What We Can Do
■ Support programs and agencies that use
responsible and compassionate methods to help
slow population growth. Fourteen million
children in poor countries die before the age of
five because of poor sanitation, contaminated
water, disease, and malnutrition. Suffering can
be reduced by limiting the number of births.
■ Reduce consumption. Trimming down the
earth-threatening resource consumption in
affluent societies is one of the world's most
pressing enviroimiental challenges. Citizens of'
industrial countries typically consume 10 times
as much energy as their developing country
counterparts, along with 10 times the timber,
13 times the iron and steel, 14 times the paper,
18 times the synthetic chemicals, and 19 times
the aluminum. We cannot tell the rest of the
world to not also aspire to overconsuming
unless we are willing to work our way back
from "excess" to "enough."
The consumer societies take the lion's share
of the output of the world's mines, logging
operations, pefroleum refineries, metal smelt-
ers, paper mills, and other high-impact indus-
trial plants. These enterprises, in turn, account
for a disproportionate share of the resource
depletion, environmental pollution, and habitat
degradation that humans have caused world-
wide. A world full of consumer societies is an
ecological impossibility.
The Bible frequently speaks about the
28 Messenger September 1 994
ll
iritual dangers of wealth. Jesus often men-
ned possessions and wealth as obstacles to
r relationship with God. Learning to live
)re simply is essential for the sake of the
met, for the sake of the world's poor and for
r own spiritual well-being.
■ Use the US Government's
i your own privilege and
wer to formulate public
licies that distribute resources
ire equitably and to create
)grams of study, reflection,
i action that
-Encourage and promote full
;ess to educational, social, and
momic opportunities for
men and female children;
-Make known and available
full range of health services,
luding family plaiming
vices;
-Support women's rights and
ilth advocacy groups and
er non-govemmental mecha-
ms at national and intema-
lal levels;
Offer economic assistance
1 opportunities to all so that
^e families will not be
essary for economic viability.
■ Participate in Bread for the World's 1994
Offering of Letters campaign "A Child is
Waiting." This campaign asks the US Congress
to ftilly fund WIC (the Special Supplemental
Food Program for Women, Infants, and
Children) through Health Care Reform.
d
Teacher
Daniel Nkirda
explains
crankshafts
in a class at
theEYN
Technical
School.
Technical School in Nigeria
For Ralph and Carol Mason,
Church of the Brethren members
from Centralia, Wash., what began
IS a six-month volunteer stint in
Migeria has become a decade of
involvement resulting in the
;reation of a vocational training
school for young Brethren adults.
[t meets a need for skilled workers
n an area where most are unskilled.
In 1983, the Brethren sent Ralph
:o Garkida, Nigeria, to manage the
Tiission workshop and keep all the
urogram vehicles, pumps, and
generators in running condition.
By combining Ralph's practical
cnowledge and Carol's teaching
jkills into a more formal nine-
nonth training program, by 1985
he Masons had trained five
Nigerians to run the workshop.
They returned to Nigeria in
1989 to manage the mechanical
shop and help Ekklesiyar Yamiwa
a Nigeria {¥YH: The Church of
the Brethren in Nigeria) explore
the possibility of establishing the
EYN Technical School. They
spent 18 months consulting and
planning with EYN. Each of the
20 E"YN church districts re-
sponded with pledges to support
the school budget. In addition,
EYN as a whole provides an
annual grant and has permitted use
of numerous buildings and
property. Bread for the World
responded with a five-year
commitment to provide one-third
of the running costs, start-up
money, and a revolving, no-
interest loan for the graduates to
buy their own tools and get their
own workshops started. The USA
Brethren support the Masons and
supply addifional fianding.
Over the years, Brethren
missionaries have followed
Christ's example and shared the
Good News, fed the hungry,
healed the sick, and taught the
uneducated. The EYN Technical
School is a reflection of this
emphasis on a holistic mission
thrust. It also is a contemporary
example of how the particular
gifts, creativity, and commitment
of people serving in mission can
be applied to the needs of the
global church. — Eric B. Bishop
Messenger September 1994 29
Arlene and Cliff
Kindy, Church of
the Brethren
members in North
Manchester, Ind.,
garden without
pesticides and
insecticides.
Organic gardening
As concern grows about the health
hazards connected to agricultural
use of pesticides and insecticides
in crops grown for human con-
sumption, the popularity of
organically grown vegetables has
also grown.
Art and Peggy Gish, who form
part of New Covenant Fellowship
in Athens, Ohio, are Brethren who
have taken the biblical injunction
to live at peace with their neigh-
bors one step farther, to include
the whole of God's creation.
"We live with the understanding
that the desire to control and
dominate nature is not sustainable,
and that it leads to destruction,"
Art says. "One expression of that
desire to control is using chemi-
cals that poison the land and
God's creation."
The Gishes live in an intentional
community started by two couples
from Bethany Theological Semi-
nary in 1972. It has a number of
ideals — to follow the New Testa-
ment, to share all possessions in
common, to live in peace with
each other and with the earth, to
live simply, and to take in troubled
people when the need arises.
The community now has three
families at its core. In seeking a
more sustainable way of living, the
community markets organically
grown vegetables for income.
Another Brethren family. Cliff
and Arlene Kindy and their two
daughters, ages 13 and 15, also has
felt called by its Brethren convic-
tions to live more sustainably on
the land. The Kindys, who live
near North Manchester, Ind., farm
two-and-a-half acres of land,
growing organic fruits and
vegetables that they sell in the
local Farmers' Market.
"We live below the taxable
income level," says Arlene, "so
that we don't have to pay military
taxes." Taking their Christianity
seriously has meant simplification
on many different levels, includ-
ing riding their bicycles instead of
driving a car, and home-schooling
their daughters. "We don't want to
put poisons into our bodies, or
into the earth," Arlene says. "This,
and our Christian beliefs, is our
biggest motivation." — Margaret
WOOLGROVE
WIC provides medical screening, nutritional
food, and nutrition education to low-income
pregnant women, to infants, and to children
to age five.
Our history appears to have brought us to a
time of limits — to growth in population, to the
quantity of food the planet can produce and^
distribute, and to the damage the earth can
endure and still sustain the higher forms of life,
Our churches provide an appropriate arena
for these discussions, where we can evaluate
changes and reflect on our prospects. However
painftil these conversations, we, as members of(
the Body of Christ, have been called by God tol
care for one another and to be responsible
participants in our communities. We accept
self-imposed limits because our value system
demands that we do so.
Loving God with mind and heart implies a
willingness to deal with both facts and faith.
Faith helps overcome the fears that are real.
We find it possible to deal with facts because
we have chosen to be hopeful. Many hopefiil
pessimists believe that honesty requires
admission of the evidence while accepting the
challenge to keep going because we believe
God is ultimately in charge of the creation, and
God will not abandon us to our own
limited visions of the Promised Land.
i
30 Messenger September 1994
Creation:
A Vesper Hill View
BY Judy Mills Reimer
I have a fond childhood memory of sitting
on Vesper Hill at Camp Bethel. From there
I had a panoramic view of Virginia's Blue
Ridge Mountains stretching toward the
vestem horizon. Pine fragrance floated up from
he forest, programing my nostrils to instantly
etrieve the Vesper Hill image even a half-
entury later. In the nearby pasture, cows
ested, languidly chewing their cud. A railroad
rack wound its way at the foot of the hill, a
lotential intrusion into the peaceful scene. Our
amp leaders scheduled our vespers to avoid
he passage of trains during our sacred time.
In the early evening peace that surrounded
s, all of God's creatures and creation in this
iyllic setting were enjoying the harmony of
ach other's interconnectedness. As we
ampers sat absorbing the beauty of the earth
nd seeking rest and renewal, surely God was
leased to pronounce the birth of this Vesper
lill memory as "good."
It was traditional that after we had sat quietly
3r a while our music leader would start us in
le hymn "This Is My Father's World." As 10-
ear-olds, we knew all three verses. I got goose
imips as I sang the words and melody to this
reat creation hymn. I still do.
Today, when I visit Vesper Hill, I find the
:ene changed. The trees have grown very tall,
no longer can see the railroad track. Neither
an I see any cow pastures. The environment
as shifted.
A number of years ago, our camp committee
tended political meetings to prevent a
arbage dump from being made along the road
) the camp, just past the entrance. And we
loved our "old" campfire site from the side of
much traveled road to a more central location
n the camp property.
I celebrate the way our campers of today are
lught to eat what they put on their plates. Each
'eek, leftover food is weighed and charted to
lotivate campers to keep waste at a minimum.
Jid campers are encouraged to give their
loney to the camp offering for the summer
project, saving only a small amount for
personal spending at the Trading Post.
Today's campers live in a world that is
different from ours of a half-centtary ago. Years
ago, terms such as overconsumption. Clean
Water Act, Com-
munity Reinvest-
ment Act, Environ-
mental Protection
Agency, and
Superfiind were
unheard of And
some terms, such as
community garden,
migration landfill,
and racism, have
taken on new
meanmg as we
become aware of
the way we are
abusing our earth.
Our campers are
modeling for the
entire Church of the
Brethren the need
for all of us to take
care of our Mother
Earth so that she
will be able to care
for people in the generations to come.
Those who study the earth tell us that human
overpopulation and overconsumption are
putting too much stress on our environment.
What will become of our earth if we continue
our nonchalance for the next 50 years?
The earth and all of life are a gift from God.
Like all good gifts this should be cared for, not
taken for granted. As Christians, we must lead
others in the biblical caregiving for God's
earth, through love, living in community, and
giving the scriptural cup of cold water. Yes, we
can fulfill so beautifully Jesus' mandate to love
one another as we care for the earth as God
created it, rather than participating in the
destruction of it.
Often when I read about population projec-
tions, poverty increases, water pollution,
famine, high infant mortality, gender equality,
international migration, moral corruption.
Church of the
Brethren Annual
Conference
moderator Judy
Mills Reimer harks
back to her child-
hood impressions
gained at Camp
Bethel as she calls
Brethren to action
in caring for the
environment and
to hear God's
affirmation again
that the earth is
"holy ground."
Messenger September 1994 31
violence . . . and on and on ... I want
to scream, "Stop the world and let me
off." Sisters and brothers, when that
impulse wells within me, I need to
slow down and remind myself that I
can continue to raise my awareness
level of the need for caring for God's
earth and creatures.
How? Here are just a few ways:
■ By encouraging my congregation to
use the resource packet "God's Earth our
Home: A Resource for Congregational
Study and Action on Environmental and
Economic Justice." This packet was
compiled and edited by our own
Shantilal Bhagat for the National Council
of Churches and sent last spring to each
Church of the Brethren congregation.
■ Our church family could create an
environmental news bulletin board to
motivate action.
■ We could use Shantilal Bhagat's
resources in small-group settings.
■ We could learn the definitions of the
words listed in the packet's glossary.
■ We could promote care of God's
earth several Sundays a year during
worship hour.
■ Our church family is blessed with
people gifted in creativity; therefore, our
list of "awareness raising and action"
learning experiences could be energizing.
We hear much today in the church
about accountability. I believe that God
expects each of us within the church to
be accountable for the earth by caring
for the creation and creatures, through
prayer and action, to make a difference
one person at a time, one day at a time.
Whether I have joined that great
cloud of campers in the sky or whether I
am still sitting on Camp Bethel's Vesper
Hill as an older adult, the words "This is
my Father's world, and to my listening
ears all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres" need clean air
of the great outdoors, unaffected by the
threat from overpopulation and overcon-i
sumption for generations to come ... to
enable my goose bumps to pop out, to
enable God's creation rest and renewal,
to hear God's affirmation again
that the earth is "holy ground."
Ai.
Judy Mills Reimer, ofGoodview, Va., is a
member of Williamson Road Church of the
Brethren, Roanoke, Va. She is an ordained minister
and the moderator of Annual Conference.
For further study
■!
3 God's Earth Our Home is a
packet for congregational study and
action on environmental and economic
justice. It contains 12 study sessions,
and worship and other resources. It was
prepared for the National Council of
Churches and in support of the National
Religious Partnership for the Environ-
ment, by Shantilal P. Bhagat. Copies
already have been sent to all Brethren
congregations, district offices, and
members of the General Board. A
12-page booklet provides a listing of
denominational resources on ecology
and justice as well as environmental
organizations to contact for information.
Study sessions provide action steps as
well as topical resources. To order,
(800) 441-3712.
3 Creation: Called to Care is a
statement of the 1991 Annual Conference.
To order the statement and a study guide,
call (800) 441-3712.
a The Earth Is the Lord's is a
1 7-minute video produced by the
Church of the Brethren General Board.
It challenges attitudes and practices
that blur the line between dominion
and destruction, and tells stories of
several change activists. To order,
call (800) 441-3712.
3 Christian Lifestyle is a statement
of the 1980 Annual Conference. To
order, call (800) 441-3712.
3 Creation in Crisis: Responding
to God's Covenant is a Brethren
Press book by Shantilal Bhagat. To
order, call (800) 441-3712.
a Between the Flood and the
Rainbow is a newsletter on environ-
mental issues and action. To order
write. Director, Eco-justice Concerns,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, or
call (800) 323-8039, Ext. 227.
3 Six Billion and More: Human
Population Regulation and
Christian Ethics, by Susan Power
Bratton (Westminster/Knox Press,
1992). To order, call (800) 395-5599.
a Healing and D^ending God's
Creation: Hands On! Practical
Ideas for Congregations (VoXmnQ 1
and 2) contains worship, education,
and action materials for all ages, with
many examples of projects undertaken
by congregations. To order, call (800)
524-2612 and ask for DMS #259-91-907
and #259-93-939.
a Listen to the Crying of the Earth:
Cultivating Creation Communities,
by Alvin Pitcher (Pilgrim Press, 1993). To
order, call (800) 537-3394.
Sj Break Forth Into Joy: Beyond a
Consumer Lifestyle, a 15-minute video,
explores consumerism and its effects on
people, the earth, and the human spirit.
Order form Alternatives, P.O. Box 429,
Ellenwood, GA 30049; tel.: (404) 961-
0102.
[3 Tis a Gift to Be Simple: Embrac-
ing the Freedom of Living With
Less, by Barbara DeGrote-Sorensen and
David Allen Sorensen (Augsburg Fortress,
1992). To order, call (800) 328-4648.
3 Creation Spirituality, a quarterly
magazine edited by Matthew Fox,
explores the themes of earth-based spirit-
uality, deep psychology, cosmology and
new science, feminism, transformational
art, and creative ritual. To subscribe, write
to Creation Spirituality, 160 E. Virginia
St., #290, San Jose, CA 95112.
'fl
32 Messenger September 1 994
(continued from page 12)
leighbor had to the one we were
inning. We weighed the merits of
iged or sliding sandbox covers. (Have
u, in building a sandbox, had to
;lude dog-prevention/protection?)
rhe BVSers spent the rest of that first
emoon spreading gravel and caliche
ay) that the county had donated to
Ip control the flooding. The task was
anting, and both staff and volunteers
I for the day feeling there was enough
ivel left in the pile to cover the lower
If of Texas. "It will still be there next
;ek," they warned the rest of us.
hey need a bulldozer to move that
e."
Mo bulldozer showed up, of course,
'er the next week, many Linda Vista
aple worked with rakes and shovels to
;pare the area for playground build-
;. When the BVSers and staff next
3wed up, those who had spread gravel
;viously were relieved to find that
ase of the project done.
Work was slow to begin, and we spent
the morning moving every sharp rock
that might injure a child falling on it.
We looked like people scouring the
ground for a lost contact lens.
I had warned our volunteers the
evening before that to show up expect-
ing everything to begin immediately
would lead only to frustration. In south
Texas and especially in the colonias,
things move at their own pace. People
are accustomed to delays, and they are
taken as a matter of course. Anyone
with a northern, urban sense of rush gets
a shock upon arrival there. So we picked
up rocks while we waited for the lumber
truck that had been expected the day
before. It arrived at mid-morning, well
timed with the last removal of danger-
ous little rocks.
Jaime, AVANCE's construction
coordinator (who was accustomed to
working alone), divided us into groups
and assigned us our places. Several
people from the community, as well as a
VISTA volunteer, joined us. Workers
unfamiliar with hammers began build-
ing a playhouse, a sandbox foundation,
and a covered porch. Power tools were
entrusted to workers with a bit more
experience. At noon we sat down to a
generous lunch provided by AVANCE.
"Isn't this costing them too much?" a
volunteer asked. But one must never say
no to an offer of food in the Rio Grande
Valley.
It became evident that we had been
overly optimistic in thinking we would
put the finishing touches on the play-
ground by the end of the second day. It
became further evident that we had been
overly optimistic in thinking we could
get through two days without an
argument. Work-style differences and,
indeed, cultural differences clashed. Put
a Mexican-American man used to doing
construction on his own in charge of
vocal Anglo women used to doing
things without male "help" and the
friction of gender and cultural differ-
ences produces fireworks.
Everyone, at some point, had
frustrations: "Don't tell me how to
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Messenger September 1994 33
The tie that binds
The diverse opinions and sharp debates of the recent Annual Conference make
me wonder what it is that holds us together. What is the glue that binds us?
A primary candidate is our German background. Conversations with confer-
ence visitors from Nigeria, South Korea, India, and Cuba make me aware of
how much our German background remains with us.
Perhaps our worldwide programs of mission and service are the compass
point of our circle. Certainly our mission efforts in Nigeria, India, China, and
more recently in South Korea, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic are known
by all our people. And what Brethren are not inspired by the church's role in
establishing Brethren Volunteer Service, Church World Service, Heifer Project,
and SERRV? Yet these are hardly sufficient to hold us together.
Perhaps our colleges, retirement homes, camps, and other institutions are the
tie that binds. Could we remain a vital Christian body without our colleges and
seminary? I doubt it. Would our youth come to the church without our Chris-
tian education and camping activities? Probably not. Could our church remain
faithful without the care we give the elderly? Not likely. Yet taken together I
doubt they are sufficient to hold us.
Does our solidarity finally depend upon our leadership? One can track past
achievements by the footprints of unusual leaders. Yet few today would say we
are primarily leader-oriented, even though we have many fine leaders.
One hears often of the "Brethren game," especially at Annual Conference.
The primary rule of the game is to trace one's ancestry until one finds a
cormection with a sister or brother who is doing the same. And yet many people
in the church have no blood kinship with anyone else. That becomes increas-
ingly true as new people enter the fold. Blood lines clearly are not the binder.
All the above factors do play their part, but none is sufficient alone, nor even
taken together. In my judgment the primary tie is our relationship to Jesus
Christ, our awareness that God's grace in Christ includes us, our commitment
to be a part of the way of Christ as it is being embodied in human life.
In spite of the fact that Brethren at Annual Conference had obvious differ-
ences about the language of faith, about human sexuality, and about what
should be permitted or required, delegates voted overwhelmingly together on
nearly every issue. We understand that our faith in Christ leads us to be willing
to listen to Native American concerns. We are not willing to let issues around
human sexuality divide us even where there are obvious disagreements. We are
not willing to force the same language of faith upon every believer; it smacks
too much of credalism. We as a community believe and trust that our church is
sustained by the spirit and teaching of the living Christ.
Of course we are held together by ethnic background, family ties, programs
of service and mission, schools, camps, congregations, and leadership. Yet
none of these is sufficient in itself Our center is God's embodiment of the way
of Jesus Christ in human life, including us. All else will change, but the center
will hold. Annual Conference is a powerful reminder of this truth, and that is
why it is so important to us. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
hammer." "I am measuring the way you
told me." "Why do you ask such stupid
questions?" "Why do you people insist
on doing comers this way?"
34 Messenger September 1994
This was the reality of working in a
cross-cultural context. As Raquel Oliva
said, "Being culturally sensitive is not
listening to mariachi music and liking
it; it's learning to work together."
In the end, we didn 't get the play-
ground finished. The playhouse frame
was up, most of the sandbox foundation'
had been leveled, and the covered porch
was just about complete. At first we
keenly felt the disappointment of not
being able to hand the community a
completed product. I was afraid we had
let the leaders down.
But the incompleteness was closer to
reality. Disappointments and uncom-
pleted work are what the BVSers would
face on their own, upcoming projects.
Projects take a long time. Often the sun
is hot, the wind is blowing, and there
aren't enough tools to go aroimd.
Supplies don't come on time. And
everyone doesn't agree on what's the
best way to tackle the job. You discover
that there are cultural differences in the
way people want to get things done.
Even though the roof wasn't on the
little playhouse, and the sandbox wasn'tj
ready for sand, the playground area no
longer floods with dirty water. We got
the gravel laid, and you can sit in the
shade, out of the hot Texas sun. Maybe i
one mother will worry less about wherei
her child plays. Maybe one little boy
will have the excitement of helping puti
finishing touches on the playhouse.
Maybe one BVSer somewhere will
pause before becoming irritated in
working alongside someone from
another cultural understanding.
Can we really ask for more than that?l|
The hardest part of any project is
getting it started, Raquel said, and the ,
playground is well on its way. People
from AVANCE and the community can'
work on it when they have the chance. !
The BVSers who spent two or three
days with the people of Linda Vista wil
carry memories of rural Texas as they
go on to their project placements across
the country and around the world. No
one will ever look at a sandbox n*.
the same way again. Yj
Emily Zielinski, of Detroit. Mich., completes hei
work as orientation assistant at BVS headquarteri
in Elgin. III., this month.
)ialog Room a good format
'arish Ministries, Ministry of Reconcili-
tion, and other groups responsible for
he Human Sexuality Dialog Room at
k.nnual Conference are to be com-
lended (see August, page 17).
I was a small-group facilitator for
ome of the sessions. The common
ssponse I heard was that the Dialog
Loom process was a good one. It was
ist too bad that more people did not
articipate, especially people who spoke
bout homosexuality on the floor of
Conference.
It would be helpfijl in future years if
le Dialog Room were better publicized
efore and during Conference. And I
ncourage pastors, district executives,
tid others to call on the Ministry of
.econciliation to use the Dialog Room
)rmat to discuss not only human
;xuality but other issues as well.
I see this and Matthew 1 8 as models
)r us to handle our conflicts and
iscussions.
Chris Power
State College, Pa.
ake a leap of faith
efore and during Annual Conference I
jmmunicated with several people who
tare my position of loving and accept-
ig gay and lesbian Christians in the
hurch of the Brethren.
Many described moving from judg-
lental attitudes toward gays and
sbians to loving acceptance of them,
rogress in making that move comes
om counseling with friends who have
issed that way before, by prayer, by
le opinions expressed here are not necessarily
ose of the magazine. Readers should receive them
the same spirit with which differing opinions are
pressed in face-to-face conversations.
Letters should be brief, concise, and respectful of
e opinions of others. Preference is given to letters
at respond directly to items read in the magazine.
We are willing to withhold the name of a writer
\ly when, in our editorial judgment, it is
irranted. We will not consider any letter that
mes to us unsigned. Whether or not we print the
'ter. the writer 's name is kept in strictest
mfidence.
Address letters to Messenger Editor. 1451
mdeeAve.. Elgin. IL 60120.
learning the facts about homosexuality,
by studying scripture, and by being
open to new understanding from God.
Brethren who long for reconciliation
with gays and lesbians should take a
leap of faith and trust to understand the
thing they hate or fear. There are
brothers and sisters ready to reach out
and help you understand that God loves
persons with same-sex orientation no
less than the rest of us.
Grace A. Black
Baltimore, Md.
Farewell to the farm
Only about 3 million Americans live on
farms today. Time was when many
more Americans lived on the farm than
in town. (The writer speaks from the
perspective of a 1 00-year-old man: see
August, page 25. — Ed.)
When the Brethren moved to town,
there were no Brethren congregations
there, and so they became pillars of
other churches. We didn't even build a
"farm" church on the other side of the
tracks.
But then we gave up a lot of things
that made us look like bumpkins, and
we started building churches in town.
And times have changed otherwise; who
would have "thunk" we'd live to see
Annual Conference moderated by
lawyers and women?
I figured out that there are more than
30 occupations among the Brethren of
the Mountain View congregation in
Boise, in contrast to the churches that
used to have only farmers as members.
We ain't no longer a country church.
Chaiincey Shamberger
Boise, Idaho
Church of the Living God
A challenging new name for our
denomination would be "Church of the
Living God." It suggests many Christian
values, including reconciliation. We
also can be a living and active denomi-
nation working in partnership with God.
Elizabeth Detrick
North Manchester, Ind.
MAC
FACTS
WHO
Dr. Deborah Neher
Visiting Assistant Profes-
sor in Plant Pathology at
North Carolina State Uni-
versity (Raleigh, NC)
Assesses soil health by
studying the composition
and abundance of plant-
pathogenic and beneficial
TaTWAT' "*f"*'odes (roundworms),
VVlirli research that can be ap-
plied not only to agricul-
tural systems but to forest,
wetland, and other settings
Since 1990, as a member
of the agroecosystem com-
j ,, y _-,, _ ponent of the Environmen-
WiIIjJM tal Protection Agency's
Environmental Monitor-
ing & Assessment Pro-
gram (EMAP)
WHERE
HOW
WHY
Across North Carolina and
Nebraska. This fall she
will be extending her soil
sampling to five mid-At-
lantic states.
B.S. in environmental sci-
ence at McPherson College
(1984); M.S. in plant biol-
ogy from the University of
Illinois-Champaign/
Urbana (1986); Ph.D. in
plant pathology from the
University of California-
Davis (1990)
"I like thinking about sys-
tems and how people inter-
act with the environment.
I'm interested in methods
that achieve ecologically
sound agricultural prac-
tices. My educational
background gives me a
holistic perspective; I
can think about all the dif-
ferent components in-
volved in agricultural sys-
tems for production of
food and fiber."
McPherson College welcomes all applicants regardless of
race . religion, color national origin, sex. or physical or emo-
tional disability.
Messenger September 1 994 35
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Send payment for reprinting "Pontius ' Puddle "from Messenger to
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for second stip in same issue. $10 for congregations.
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36 Messenger September 1994
Opiniis
On renaming t(
Philip H. Phenix
We're members
of one family
I understand that the word "Brethren" i
intended generically to refer to all
people in our historical faith commu-
nity, regardless of gender. Still I think
the inclusive intention could be ex-
pressed more clearly and positively by
re-forming our name to fit the reality o,
our life together in the Body of Christ.
I have been inspired by Kenneth
Morse's text for hymn 322 in our new
Hymnal, "For We Are Strangers No
More." Here is a key to our distinctive
character: "For we are strangers no
more, but members of one family .
neighbors to each other now . . . sisters
and brothers now." There we are, with
clue to a name fiilly explicit in its
inclusiveness. Could we then say that
more fitting for us than "Brethren" is
the word "Family"? Our community of
faith is composed of those who are
members of a "Family of God in
Christ." This name is analogous to thos
used by other denominations who use
generic designations such as Society o)
Friends and Disciples of Christ.
In further support of the Family
designation, consider the response of
Jesus in Luke 8:21 when his family —
mother and brothers — came looking fo
him: "My mother and my brothers are
those who hear the word of God and dt
it." What could be more "Brethren" an
New Testament than calling those who
believe in Christ and seek to live by hi
example members of the "Family of
God in Christ"?
To hold in respect and fellowship those in the
church with whom we agree or disagree is a
characteristic of the Church of the Brethren. It is
the continuation of this value, and to an open and
probing forum, that "Opinions " are invited from •
readers.
We do not acknowledge our receipt ofobviouS'
"Opinions "pieces, and can print only a sampling
of what we receive. All "Opinions " are edited for'
publication.
irch, parents of gays speaking up
rhe Bible suggests that God delights
changing names when spiritual and
iral considerations are at stake. Jacob
Penuel was renamed "Israel" — one
10 struggles with God. Simon was
lamed "Peter" — the rock upon whose
irk as apostle to the new Israel, the
irch, would be built. And the rabbinic
V Saul, on the road to Damascus,
:ame "Paul" — apostle to the Gentile
irld of which Rome was the political
Iter. Our Brethren have had the
5dom and the courageous imagination
change their name from such a
lited symbol as "Dunkard" to do
tice to the wider spiritual realities of
sir age. (Clarification: The Church of
\ Brethren has never officially had the
me "Dunkards" [or "Dunkers"] ; it
a nickname given the denomination
others. — Ed.)
[s not the "Family of God" a more
propriate symbol than "Church of the
ethren" in a time when the centrality
the family for the fiilfillment of the
dne purposes is increasingly evident?
not Christ's church a living fellow-
ip of mothers, fathers, brothers,
ters, cousins, grandparents ... in rTjT
art, a "Family of God in Christ"? I
^hilip H. Phenix is a member of Bridgewater
\.) Church of the Brethren.
I
3ve Sterne
Ve've come out
f the closet
y wife, Karen, and I feel that Annual
inference Standing Committee and the
nomination as a whole are not
tively pursuing greater understanding
the homosexual issue. Meanwhile,
lurch of the Brethren gays and
ibians, their parents, and other family
ambers are being persecuted and
nied by the denomination. We wonder
w African Americans would have felt
the 1960s to have a 5-year morato-
im put on their struggle for civil
;hts? (See August, page 17.)
I was going to make a statement about
this during the open forum at the end of
the Conference business session at
Wichita. But, of course, as we know, the
business agenda extended until there
was no time for the forum.
We were gratefiil to the Program and
Arrangements Committee and to Parish
Ministries for the opportunity to engage
in dialog about our 1 983 statement on
"Human Sexuality From a Christian
Perspective" in the Human Sexuality
THE
^0^
AND
Notable, ethical, down to earth, and firm in his
convictions, Andrew Cordier '22 embodied excel-
lence as church statesman. United Nations lead-
er, and scholar of history. An authority on
national and international problems. Dr.
Cordier's power and influence as a public
speaker gained him respect as world peace-
maker. Undeniably, Andrew Cordier depicts
the ultimate among the rare and remarkable.
^drew
Cordiet
^y»n
Cbtistii
wnsen
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Diplomatic and cotu-teous, Ryan Christiansen
'96 is also an effective and dynamic speaker.
An Honors student, political science major,
history minor, member of Cordier Club, Pre-
law Club, and more, Ryan's goals include ser-
vice abroad and law school. Named All- Amer-
ican in National Mock Trial competition, Ryan's
optimistic view of hfe and strong moral values
mark him as rare and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on the basis ol such factors as national or
ethnic origin, race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, disability, or
veteran status in admissions or any other area of campus life, including its educational
programs, scholarships and loan awards, residence life programs, athletic programs, or
MANCHESTER
COLLEGE
extracunlcular programs,
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982-5000
Messenger September 1994 37
Opini
To subscribe to
call (800) 323-8039 WExt. 247.
Ask for Vicki.
From the
Office of Human Resources
Applications are still being considered
for the following positions:
Stewardship Education
Full-time position located in Elgin for a
person who will assist congregations
with stewardship teaching and enlisting
resources of time, talent and financial
support for congregational ministries.
Position beginning January 1. 1995.
Managing Editor, Messenger/
Director of News Services
Full-time position at Elgin. This per-
son is responsible for editorial, fiscal
management and production functions
for Messenger; also responsible for
overall news services strategies.
Position available beginning as soon as
possible after September 1, 1994.
For prompt consideration and information
call Barbara Greenwald (800) 323-8039
Dialog Room. (See Letters, this issue).
We are very appreciative to the
Ministry of Reconciliation for its skills
of mediation throughout the Conference
week.
We encourage the Church of the
Brethren to remain committed to
including all people who believe in
Christ.
My wife and I have been members of
the Church of the Brethren for 39 years.
Until eight years ago we believed we
were typical church members. We
marched for peace and civil rights in the
1 960s. We boycotted for migrant farm
workers and against apartheid. We have
been deacons, church board members,
district board members, Sunday school
teachers, youth counselors, and choir
members.
Ten years ago, our oldest son wanted
to commit suicide rather than tell his
Christian parents he was gay. Through
counseling, 1 8 months later he gained
enough courage to "come out."
We reacted like most — no, all —
uninformed parents faced with an issue
they "just don't talk about." We prayed.
We cried. We quoted scripture. I yelled.
We condemned ourselves for having
done something wrong.
By the grace of God, I read in i
Agenda, our denominational in-house 1
newsletter from Elgin, about a retreat '
that the Mennonite Listening Commit-
tee was sponsoring for parents and
siblings of homosexuals. We attended
that retreat and, encouraged, began a
new phase of our Christian journey.
We helped begin a support group of
Brethren and Mennonite parents to
travel this journey of one of the myster-
ies of God, that our sons and daughters
are homosexual. Now, seven years later,i
we have over 150 parents, many of
whom still are "in the closet" to their
congregations because of the fears of
rejection and persecution we do face
when we "come out."
Our hope is that our denomination,
the Church of the Brethren, will allow
us to continue our journey as part of tha'
Church of the Brethren and continue
dialog for better understanding about
homosexuality. We also hope to have
our beautiful. Christian sons and
daughters accepted as equal parts of the
whole body of Christian fellowship FTT
within the Church of the Brethren. L
Steve and Karen Sterne are members of
Pleasant View Church of the Brethren,
Lima, Ohio.
CLASSIFIED ADS
FOR RENT— Was ttiere too much snow and cold for you
last winter? Why not try Sebring, Fla. this winter? Fur-
nished apartment leased Nov. 1-Aphl 30, or longer. Lo-
cated across from Sebring Church of the Brethren. Con-
tact; Jason or Julia Bauserman, Box 61 -A, Arbovale, WV
24915, Tel. (304)456-4915.
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. Johr) Mason &
Mar/ Ann Miller of l//)p;/)/a— 1986; Ziegler Family Record
(Revised)— 1990; Shank Family Record— 1992; Mictiael
Miller Family Record— ^993■, John WamplerS, Magdalena
Garber—m progress; John H. Garber Family Record— m
progress; Nicholas Garber Family Record— m progress.
Please write for prices and more information. Send long
SASE. Floyd R. Mason, 1 15 E. Rainbow Drive, Bridgewater,
VA 22812.
FOR SME— Descendants of Isaac Ritchie of Virginia, a
geneology of an old Virginia family, by Vergie Carr Lantz.
Pub. 1983. Over 850 pgs., 20,000 names, 130 photos,
index. Cost $35, incl. tax and postage. Order from Vergie
Carr Lantz, P.O. Box 95, Broadway, VA 22815.
EXPLORE— Northern India and Nepal. Visit Trees for Life'
projects and interact with the people. Participate in the
annual pilgrimage to the Ganges and India's Republic Day
celebration. Experience the Taj Mahal. Take a breathtaking
private excursion over and around the Himalayas and Mount
Everest. We will visit Katmandu, Varanasi, Allahabad,
Khajuraho, Agra, Jaipur, and Delhi. January 11-29, 1995.
38 Messenger September 1994
$2,950 includes all taxes, meals, and accomodations. For
info., contact Bonnie Jo Holmes, c/o Explore, 2246 Colum-
bine, Wichita, KS 67204. Tel./Fax. (316) 838-5990.
WANTED— Christian Churches United, a tri-county ecu-
menical ministry, is seeking applicants for Executive Di-
rector. Applicants must have experience in fund raising
and supervision of a diverse staff. Experience with govern-
ment and community agencies desirable. Proven ability to
work with a variety of faith traditions. Masters degree
required. Send resume by Sept. 26 to; Search Committee,
Christian Churches United, 900 S. Arlington Ave., Room
128, Harrisburg, PA 17109.
WANTED— Church planters. The creation of a new Church
of the Brethren fellowship in the Research Triangle of
North Carolina (near Raleigh) is being explored by the
Viriina District Extension Committee. The group is solicit-
ing the names of Brethren and other interested persons in
that area. If you or someone you know would be interested,
contact Daria Kay & Duane Deardorff at (919) 851-2626,
or Dave & Lynette Minnich at (919) 846-7990.
WANTED— Histories, Memoirs, etc., to typeset, print.
If you have a family history, district history, personal
memoirs, or any other manuscript that you would like
to have typeset and printed, Paschen Communications
would like to talk with you. We can take your manu-
script, have it professionally designed and typeset,
and then printed (either paperback or hardback). For
more Info., please call (708) 695-3581, ext. 850.
WANTED— Participants for the 1 994 Young Adult Confe '
ence, Nov. 24-26 at Camp Eder. Theme is "By the Manmi
of Their Living" led by Debbie Eisenbise and Lei
Krahenbuhl. Registration at 3 p.m., Thurs. Conferenc
ends at 1 p.m.. Sat. Cost: $70, including $20 registratic
fee, due Nov. 1 . Limited scholarship help available ■
BVSers and distance travelers. Open to all young adult.
For info., contact Chris Michael, YouthA'oung Adult Miii
istry Office, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
WANTED— Volunteer camp managers. Camp Ithiel, C
lando (Fla.) seeks volunteer couple to assist camp direct)
with management of year-round outdoor ministry progran
Responsibilities vary from office work to food sen/ice
general maintenance. Stipend and housing in furnish*'
cottage (kitchen & laundry provided). Three Church of tf.
Brethren congregations within 20 minutes. Come try tl
Florida setting. For information contact Mike Neff, Can,
Ithiel, P.O. Box 1 65, Gotha, FL 34734. Tel. (407) 293-348i
WANTED— RV volunteers. Do you have a camper,
wheel, or RV and want to serve the church? Camp Ith ;
needs seasonal volunteers to lend talents and skills to
year-round camping ministry. Hookups provided at '
charge. Twenty minutes from Oriando. Weekly Bible stui
and worship services on site. Come try the warm winl
climate. For more information write to: P.O. Box It
Gotha, FL 34734.
:ensing/
dination
nard, Wanda Joy, licensed
May 21. 1994, Easton.
Mid-Atl.
tzei, Paul Wilbert, licensed
June 1, 1994, New Fairview,
S. Pa.
^man. Nelson Lewis, licensed
May 21. 1994, Frederick.
Mid-Atl,
(■ser, Paula, ordained April
23, 1994, Ankeny, N, Plains
in, Kathy Neufeld. ordained
May 15, 1994, Shalom
Community, Mich.
inery, James Mark,
ordination received May 14,
1994, Little Pine, S.E.
cia, Milton, ordained April
23, 1994, Castaiier,Atl. S.E.
er, Joanne, licensed May 21.
1994, Thurmont. Mid-Atl.
tman, Wayne Striebig.
licensed June 1, 1994, New
Fairview, S. Pa.
Eman, John Albert, licensed
May 21, 1994, Midland,
Mid-Atl.
Ion. Steve Joe, ordination
received May 14, 1994,
Lowman Valley, S.E.
iler, Clinton. Jr., ordained
April 23, 1994, Liberty,
Ill./Wis.
imon, Cory, licensed March
22, 1994, Harris Creek,
S. Ohio
Igren, Craig, licensed Jan.
15. 1994. Stanley, Ill./Wis.
Cibben, Tammy, licensed
May 18, 1994, Waynesboro,
Shen.
tzgraff-Eller, Enten.
ardained Nov. 6, 1993, Root
River. N. Plains
i, Robert William, ordained
May 14, 1994, Peak
Creek. S.E.
ira, Jorge, ordained April 23,
1994. Christo Nuestra Paz,
Ml. S.E.
t, Marilyn Lerch, ordained
'Vpril 23, 1994, Naperville,
lU./Wis.
th, Sam. licensed Feb. 21,
1994. English Prairie. N. Ind.
iffer, Matthew Aaron.
licensed May 23, 1994,
W. Marva
mas, Ricky Lane, licensed
Mov. 20, 1993, Mount
Mry, S,E.
ley, Charles Eugene, licensed
Vlarch 19, 1994, Lowman
Valley. S.E.
:y, James Allen, ordained
^pril 26, 1994, New Hope,
Shen.
storal
icements
*n, Dennis, from secular to
Elk Run, Shen.
, Raymer, from Rockford
First. Ill./Wis.. to Brick/
Petersburg, W. Marva
', Horace, from Bethel/
jreenville, W. Pa., to
Hockhill, M. Pa.
ore, Kendal, from Pine
Grove, N. Ind.. to Greenhill,
Mid-Atl.
Gardner, Harry, from Pleasant
Valley. Shen., to
Waynesboro, Shen.
Garrett, Dean, from Fruitful
Vine Project, S. Ohio, to
Pleasant Valley/Poplar
Grove/Fruitful Vine, S. Ohio
Gray, Daniel, from other
denomination to Pem,S/C Ind.
Grumbling, Wayne.
Holmesville, W. Plains, to
Christ Our Shepherd,
S/C Ind.
Guilliams, William, Bethel, N.
Ohio, to Ridge, S. Pa.
Holsey, John Paul, from secular
to Waynesboro. S. Pa.
Hosletler, Marvin. Wichita. W.
Plains, from interim to
full-time
Kessler, Clinton, Liberty, 111./
Wis., to Olivet, S. Ohio
La Rue, Robin, from other
denomination to Yellow
Creek, N. Ind.
McClelland, George, from other
denomination to Mountain
View, Mid-Atl.
Moreland, Brian, from secular to
Romnay. W. Marva
Sadd, Tracy Wenger, from
Hempfield, Atl. N.E., to
Lititz, AtlN.E.
Snyder, George, from secular to
Mount Olivet, S. Pa.
Spencer, Robert, from secular to
Purchase Line. W. Pa.
Stauffer, Paul, from Oak Park,
W. Marva, to Moxham, W. Pa.
Wedding
Anniversaries
Anderson, Charles and Bemice,
Uniontown, Pa.. 60
Andes, Ray and Mildred,
Summerduck. Va., 55
Bard, William and Ruth,
Lancaster. Pa., 50
Bleber, Charles and Mary,
Ephrata, Pa,, 50
Boitnott, James and Daisybelle.
Rockwood, Pa.. 50
Brumbaugh, Elmer and Averie,
Kent. Ohio, 70
Davis, Raymond and Edmae,
Waynesboro. Va.. 55
Duffey, Clarence and Evelyn.
Smithsburg, Md.. 75
Embrey, Ernestine and Ashley,
Midland, Va., 55
Fry, Ralph and Pauline,
" Rockford, 111., 55
Garber, Harry and Bessie,
Waynesboro. Va.. 60
Good, Willard and Pauline,
Waynesboro, Pa.. 50
Harnage, Ivey and Bertha.
Sebring. Fla.. 60
Houser, George and Anna Lou.
North Liberty, Ind.. 55
Hurst, Earl and Martha.
Lorida. Fla.. 50
Keeport, Ralph and Evelyn,
Wyomissing. Pa.. 55
Lightner, Gilbert and Nellie,
Troy, Ohio, 55
M essick, Obrey and Virginia,
Midland, Va.. 50
Michael, Herbert and Marianne,
Iowa City, Iowa, 50
Miller, Wilmer and Luella,
Windber, Pa., 60
Moyer, Glen and Mabel.
Greenville. Ohio, 73
Proctor, Chester and Lorene.
Shawnee, Kan., 50
Russell, Harry and Maxine. Troy.
Ohio, 50
Schlosser, John and Thelma,
Ephrata. Pa.. 50
Shaffer, Wilbur and Bemice,
Uniontown, Pa., 60
Shoup, Irvine and Viva, Ashland.
Ohio, 60
Smeltzer, Charles and Ivagene,
Arcadia, ind.. 50
Weaver, Dwight and Dorothy.
Elton. Pa.. 50
Zook, Herbert and Shiriey,
Greencastle. Pa.. 55
Deaths
Ankerbrandt, Samuel. 78,
Waynesboro, Pa., June 18, 1994
Ault, Edwin, 82, Brookville,
Ohio, May 27, 1994
Bachman, Maria Anne, 10 days.
Goshen, Ind. July 11, 1994
Ballard, Ruth, 81, Michigan
City, Ind, July 4 1994
Barnharl, Robert, 51, Brook-
ville, Ohio. May 24, 1994
Baugher, David, 80, Spring
Grove, Pa.. June 23, 1994
Bender, Dorothy, 71, Hamburg,
Pa., Jan. 28, 1994
Birkenholtz. Dorothy, 64, Prairie
City, Iowa, June 16, 1994
Blackburn, Harry, 81. Windber,
Pa., May 29, 1994
Bohn, Ethel Grace, 93, Boons-
boro, Md., May 19, 1994
Bonham, Gwendolyn, 30, New
Carlisle, Ohio, May 23, 1994
Bonsack, Blanche, 94, Hanover.
Pa., June 23. 1994
Boone. Ralph. 80. Modesto,
Calif. June 6, 1994
Bowers, Ida Schildt, 95,
Hanover, Pa.. June 23. 1994
Boyd, Joann, 60, Defiance, Ohio,
June 5, 1994
Briscoe, Nathan, 77, Chatham,
111.. April 30, 1994
Brooks. Florence. 88. La Veme.
Calif. June 2, 1994
Brownsberger. Vema. 85. La
Veme, Calif, May 30, 1994
Brumbaugh, Robert. 92, Martins-
burg, Pa, July 3. 1994
Buckles. William, 49, New
Cariisle, Ohio, May 22, 1994
Gary. Mable. 99. La Veme.
Calif, July 13, 1994
Clinkenbeard, Thelma, 66, Prairie
City, Iowa. May 29. 1994
Cory, Arlene, 72, Milford, Ind,,
May 21, 1994
Darkwood, Lloyd, 83, Nappanee,
Ind., March 3, 1994
DeBolt, Edgar, 90, Ephrata, Pa..
June 17. 1994
DeBolt. Gerlad. 54. Uniontown,
Pa.. May 6. 1994
Deishcr. Elizabeth. 80. Waynes-
boro. Va., Feb. 3, 1994
DichI, Evangeline. 93. Trotwood,
Ohio, Jan, 27. 1994
Dorwart. Ray. 59. Elizabeth-
town. Pa.. June 23. 1994
Ebeisberger. John. 42. Warren-
ton, Va., July 12. 1994
Eikenberry. Arnold. 44, Modesto,
Calif , March 25, 1994
Ellison, Carroll, 69, Sinking
Spring, Pa., May 17, 1994
Espenshade, Charles, 64, Lower
Swatara Twp„ Pa,, May
18, 1994
Fike, Sara, 78, Waynesboro, Pa.,
July 12, 1994
Flora, Sylvia, 77, Wirtz, Va..
June 9. 1994
Gibson. Alma. 59, Salem. Va..
Jan. 1, 1994
Givler, Harold, 89, Ephrata, Pa.,
July 2, 1994
Griep, Mable, 98, Dayton, Ohio,
May 30, 1994
Grow, Mary Lucille, 95, Brad-
ford, Ohio, May 28, 1994
Grubb, Mildred, 90, Smithville,
Ohio, June 29, 1994
Halligan, John, 78, Akron, Pa,,
June 4, 1994
Harper, Blanche, 94, Monroe-
ville. Pa. Jan. 16. 1994
Hartman. Mary, 76, Troy, Ohio,
April 22, 1994
Harlzler, Jesse, 76, Wooster,
Ohio, May 9, 1994
Heisler, Dale, 78, Rockford, 111.,
June 25. 1994
Hemmerich, Ethel. 68. Brook-
ville. Ohio, June 23, 1994
Hess. Herman, 84, Goshen, Ind.,
May 22, 1994
Hess, Abram, 94, Neffsville, Pa.,
June 17, 1994
Hodges, Pearl, 86, Salem, Va.,
May 24, 1994
Hoffman, Roy, 93, Quincy, Pa..
June 17. 1994
Hoke. Virginia. 89, Elkton, Md..
June 5. 1994
Holderread. Helen. 77, North
Liberty, Ind., May 15. 1994
Holland. Marguerite, 90, Brook-
ville, Ohio, April 12, 1994
Holsinger, Elizabeth, 79, Richland-
town. Pa.. May 31. 1994
Hoover, Joe, 36, Modesto, Calif.
March 4, 1994
Hostetter, Kenneth, 69,
Hanover, Pa., July 8, 1994
Hottinger, Frances, 68, Waynes-
boro, Va.. April 26. 1994
Hughes. Margaret. 104.
Wyomissing. Pa.. Feb. 21. 1994
Hyer. Robert. 77. Michigan City,
Ind.. March 27. 1994
Kampitch. Addah Belle. 72.
Monroeville. Pa,, May 7, 1994
Kellman, Eleanor, 69, Monroe-
ville, Pa„ Sept. 29. 1993
Kerr. Florence. 73. McVeytown,
Pa, Dec. 8, 1993
Kettering, Mable, 95, Palmyra,
Pa., Dec. 6. 1993
Kilhefner. Annie. 101. Lancaster,
Pa„ March 14, 1994
Klingler, Weldon, 94, Lima,
Ohio, June 28, 1994
Krull, Pauline, 64, Nappanee,
Ind., June 28, 1994
Kuhn, Richard, 61, Greencastle,
Pa, June 6, 1994
Kurtz, Mabel, 99, Neffsville, Pa.,
June, 15, 1994
Lam, Wallace, 59, Waynesboro,
Va., Jan, 18, 1994
Lee, Elizabeth, 89, San Diego,
Calif, June 16, 1994
Lehman, Helen, 77, Dayton,
Ohio, May 15, 1994
Long, Dale, 84, Worthington,
Minn.. May 6. 1994
Martin, Noah W., 89. Ephrata,
Pa.. Februarys. 1994
Martin. Edythc, 95, Worthing-
ton, Minn., July 20, 1994
Metzger, Edna, 90, Sebring, Fla..
July 17, 1994
Mow, Ba.xter, 102, Loris, S.C,
July 31. 1994
Mulligan. William. 83, Pomona,
Calif, Julys, 1994
Nicolas, Alfred (Nick), 86, La
Veme, Calif . June 27, 1994
Petry, Lois, 70, Dayton, Ohio,
June 1, 1994
Rcber, Helen, 102, Centerpoint,
Pa., Dec. 9. 1993
Rhoades. Floris, 80, Greenville,
Ohio, July 3, 1994
Rogers, Charles Orlense, 95,
Sebring, Fla., May 17, 1994
Rowe, Robert, 69, Dallas Center,
Iowa, June 3, 1994
Ruthrauff, Herbert, 93, Mountain
Home, Ark., June 15, 1994
Saylor, Sandra, 51, Lititz, Pa.,
May 23, 1994
Schaffer, Donald, 78, Hanover,
Pa.. July 2. 1994
Schaller. Harold Craft. 76,
Waynesboro, Pa., May 1. 1994
Schwenk. L. Anna, 100, Carlisle.
Pa., Dec. 7, 1993
Sell, Susie, 96, Martinsburg. Pa,,
May 26, 1994
Shafer, Russell, 88, Greencastle,
Pa., May 28, 1994
Shaffer, Donald, 78, Cross Keys,
Pa„ July 2, 1994
Shaver, R, Mae, 93. Sevema
Park, Md.. May 19, 1994
Sibray, Loretta, 69, Flora, Ind,,
June 1, 1994
Singer, Eva, 92, Union Bridge,
Md., June 22, 1994
Slabaugh, Lulu, 96, Nappanee,
Ind., April 17, 1994
Slough, Carl, 82, Troy, Ohio,
Feb. 12, 1994
Snyder, Hilda, 71. Wymer,
W.Va., May 14. 1994
Stauffer, John, 96. Manheim.
Pa., May 22, 1994
Stinebaugh, Esther, 89, Flora,
Ind., June 9, 1994
Strayer, Beula, 86, Cross Keys,
Pa., June 26, 1994
Sutton. Charles, 76. Dayton,
Ohio, June 17, 1994
Swihart, Ross, 75, South Bend,
Ind., May 17, 1994
Takach, Laura, 74, Newark,
Del.. June 12. 1994
Taylor. Minnie, 93, Modesto,
Calif, June 4, 1994
Terry, Ruth, 89, Waynesboro,
Va, Jan. 29. 1994
Trachsel Kart. Jennifer K., 42,
New Ha\'en. Ind.. May
24. 1994
Trueblood. Opal. 86, Tipp City.
Ohio. June 11. 1994
Via, Buri, 87, Waynesboro, Va.,
March 16, 1994
Wagner, Raymond, 91, Gettys-
burg, Pa, Nov. 29. 1994
Wagner, Eva. 82, Greenville,
Ohio, July 14, 1994
Weaver, Ruth, 79, Windber, Pa„
July 3, 1994
Weaver, Katherine, 80, Hanover,
Pa, July 7, 1994
Whitmer, Paul, 81, Avon Park,
Fla., April 25, 1994
Whitmoyer, Mamie, 87, Campbell-
town, Pa„ Dec, 16, 1993
Wright, Irene, 76, Salem, Va.,
Jan, 9, 1994
Younce, Patricia, 85, Sebring,
Fla.. July 22. 1994
Ziegler. Dale. 35. Nappanee,
Ind., June 27. 1994
Messenger September 1 994 39
Creation: Some consuming thoughts
This month's Messenger has given 20 pages — half
the issue — to talking about the threatened environ-
ment. It would be unseemly for the editorial not to
complement those 20 pages. Yet, if we have chosen
our topics and writers wisely, should there be anything
left to say on the matter? It leaves the editor just a
bit desperate, feeling akin to a speaker sitting on
stage with several other speakers, all assigned the
same topic, and being the one to speak last.
As for the problem facing this fragile planet, Pogo
said it all when he paraphrased Perry: "We have met
the enemy, and they is us." Earth, unlike Jupiter, has
an internal problem. In mid- July we looked skyward
and watched a runaway comet smash into the giant
planet. Lucky Jupiter. When the dust settles, it will
just continue rolling around heaven like it always
has. Poor Earth. The enemy isn't out there, capable
of only a one-time strike. The enemy is within,
gnawing at the planet's vitals.
Our 20-page overview pretty well lays out the
problem — too many people, wasting of non-renew-
able resources, overconsumption, and callousness of
the haves toward the have-nots. The question is what
to do about it . . . how to get us to change our ways.
I see a comparison between this problem and the
problem of slavery in the antebellum United States.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of
Independence that "all men are created equal." It
wasn't enough that, as a slaveholder, he would write
those ironic words; he always argued that slavery
was an evil, yet held onto his slaves until his death.
James Madison, father of our country's Constitution,
likewise spoke of the curse of slavery and wished it
didn't exist. But he also held onto his slaves.
Why did Jefferson and Madison (and all the rest)
continue to participate in slaveholding while railing
against the system? Simple: Their living and their
lifestyle depended on it; they couldn't get out of
the system.
So I soft-pedal my criticism of our US forebears
caught up in the slavery system. In the situation of
the earth being threatened by overconsumption, I am
walking in the shoes of Jefferson and Madison. I
know that overconsumption is a great and terrible
evil, but I feel helpless to extricate myself from the
system. Oh, I can make a few token gestures here
and there (like a slaveholder salving his conscience
by being kind to his slaves), but take a personal
stand? Not I. I've got to take care of myself and my
family (exactly what Jefferson reasoned). What kind
of life can I lead if I unfetter myself from all
expressions of overconsimiption. all the benefits of
our society I enjoy at the expense of the world's
have-nots?
My dilemma is rather like that of a person in a car
hurtling recklessly down a highway crowded with
other speeding vehicles. I dare neither to slow the
car down nor to fling open the door and jump out.
It is truly a dilemma as defined by the dictionary.
So what to do?
The first step in any reform is to become in-
formed. One writer on the consumer society has
said, "New values never arrive in the abstract. They
come entangled in concrete situations, new realities,
and new understandings of the world."
Another step, for the individual, may seem like what
I earlier called a "token gesture." While voluntary
simplicity may be only an ideal, and an unattainable
one, we can work at something short of ascetic self-
denial; we can attempt to live a life of unadorned
grace. We can take a hard look at the luxuries in our
lives that we are tempted to call necessities, and
shed a few of them, down-size a little.
And, in another step, we can join forces with
those of like minds; together we can accomplish
more than is possible when operating as a lone
crusader. We can get something started in our
congregation or in our community that not only
educates people and brings local changes, but, it
would be hoped, also challenges the laws, institu-
tions, and interests that profit from profligacy.
T»
hat's slow-moving progress. But have we any
alternative? The slavery problem that Jefferson and
Madison agonized over, and abolitionists worked
unsatisfactorily at solving, resulted in a great civil
war that destroyed the system. Way over a hundred
years later, we are still working at rectifying the
evils (particularly racial prejudice and its ramifica-
tions) that the slavery system bred. Where would we
be if the war hadn't happened? Could we have
resolved the issue with some step-by-step approach?
I don't know.
Can we resolve the issue of overconsumption step
by step, or will we, some day, be dealt with in some
global and bloody "civil war"? I don't know. All I
know for sure is that we overconsumers must, if we
are to be good children of God the creator, wrestle
with our consciences and be the best stewards of
creation we can be. I sure don't want to be caught
wantonly overconsuming when the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the angels with
him.— K.T.
40 Messenger September 1994
FUTURE PASTOR
I
Jubilee,
God's Good News.
■ IfiUnnni'lK a ^V.:i^^<><^<c Cun^^v cr-hr>r>l mrririiluTn.
Contact: Brethren Press 1 800 441-3712
J\.nd Jesus took a basin and a towel.
India, 1894-1994: A Century of Partnership
The vision of the Servant Christ
still works miracles in our lives.
Y
Church of the Brethren
World Mission Offcri:
Church of the Brethren October 1994
I
Wilbur B. Stover
'To India a century ago'
Everyone who knew Heifer
Project founder Dan West
surely must have a store of
tales thev could recite.
Everyone who knew Dan West surely must have stories to tell.
Beyond being the pioneer of Brethren camping, the founder of
Heifer Project International (HPI), and instrumental in getting
Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) started, Dan West was a
character in his own right. As I worked with coverage of him in
this issue, marking the 50th anniversary of Heifer Project, my
own memories of Dan came back to life, like the
ash-covered coals of last night's campfire stirred
and blown into flames again. My favorite
memory of Dan West has the two of us strolling
together across the Gettysburg, Pa., battlefield.
He and I are leaders for a BVS orientation, and
our group of recruits are up ahead of us on our
battlefield tour. Our base camp is Gettysburg
Church of the Brethren, and this is an afternoon
outing. Dan and I have our heads together,
talking, but what a curious, disjointed
conversation it would have seemed to anyone
eavesdropping on us.
"We are met here on a great battlefield "
"We have come here to dedicate ... no, there's
no 'here,' just 'come to dedicate' " "Dedicate
what?" "Uh, ... to dedicate a portion of this
field . . . no, that field ... as a ... as a ... as a
final resting place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation " "Are you sure he said 'that that'?"
"Sure! They gave their lives that that nation might live."
"Okay, then ... It is altogether fitting and proper "
Well, you guessed it. Dan and I were trying to get Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address straight in our minds. We were planning a
short vesper service for the BVS unit, to be held at a spring up
ahead, and the address was to be a segment of the service. We
were planning on the spur of the moment, so had no copy of the
address with us.
Thus it was that I, with great misgivings about the accuracy
of my rendering, recited Lincoln's Gettysburg address, at
Gettysburg, with Dan West as my coach and critic, and the
June 1960 BVS unit as my enthralled audience.
But that week at Gettysburg was my only experience with
Dan West. See page 19 for someone who knew him a lot better
than I did.
Printed on
100-percenl
recycled paper.
®
COMING NEXT MONTH: A multi-paged summary of the 1994
National Youth Conference, including statements from several
of the NYC participants.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Editorial assistant
Paula Wilding
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Vicki Roche
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
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Ohio, Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio,
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Western Pennsylvania. Jay Christner;
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Mary Ann Dell; Vlrlina. David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains, Dean Hummer;
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication of tf
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class matter Aug. 20. 1918, under Act of
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filing date,
Nov. 1, 1984. Messenger is a
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Messenger is owned and published 1 1
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Com-mission. Church of the Brethren
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office. October 1994. Copyright 1994.
Church of the Brethren General Board.
ISSN 0026-0355.
POSTMASTER: Send address change
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Wilbur B. Stover: India pioneer 10
Although Church of the Brethren overseas mission work dates
back to 1876, it was Wilbur B. Stover, in 1894, who began in
India the first mission work that had the wholehearted
endorsement and support of the denomination. Galen Stover
Beery tells his grandfather's story.
Sidebar by H. Lamar
Gibble.
I dream of the day 1 5
Annual Conference moderator Jud>
' Mills Reimer has a rather
elaborate dream for the Church of the Brethren, about a day
that the denomination, heeding her dream, should work
toward.
Jubilee: It's cool! 16
Phyllis Eller describes June 5, 199^
\ — Jubilee Sunday at
Pomona Fellowship church.
I called Dan West "Dad"
19
Dan West was a hero to many Brethren, who remember him
as founder of Heifer Project. But Jan West Schrock knew him
a different way. Sidebar on Heifer
Project International.
Touch 2
The church's confessional choices 23
ose to Home 4
Timothy A. Snell wonders if we w
11 go off the deep end and
ews 6
include every faith expression . . .
or remain within the
oridwide 9
bounds of the New Testament in our faith.
epping Stones 18
mtius' Puddle 22
"om the
General Secretary 24
ixed Reviews 28
Btters 29
urning Points 3 1
litorial 32
Cover story: Galen
.'
Stover Beery was a
-^'<^^
natural choice for
^
writing a definitive piece
on Wilbur B. Stover to
- ^ \
mark the 100th
■ u )
anniversary of Brethren
'I -^W.
mission work in India.
The writer knows his
subject welt, since Stover
»^ ''^gSt^^
was his grandfather. And
it^^^^^^m
Galen Beery is currently
redits:
)ver. 10-14: Galen S. Beery
;ollection
side front cover: Brethren
historical Library and Archives
Irene S. Reynolds
-17: George Keeler
-20: Kermon Thomasson
: Ewing Galloway
immersed in writing the
family history. Further,
he has a great collection
of family photos, which
he made available to us.
So. enjoy the Wilbur B.
Stover story, which
begins on page 1 0.
October 1994 Messenger 1
In
m
Into heavy metal
The elegant appearance of
the denominational logo on
the front gable of the
Ottawa (Kan.) Church of the
him the rectangular metal
tubing in which lawn
mowers are crated for
shipment.
"I drew the pattern of the
cross and the abstract waves
Brian Yates used
scrap metal to
create the Church
of the Brethren logo
for his church in
Ottawa, Kan.
Among his
metalworking
hobbies, Brian
enjoys restoring old
vehicles, such as
this Model A Ford.
"In Touch "profiles Brethren
we would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
white, if possible) to "In Touch. "
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave..
Elgin, IL 60120.
Brethren belies the fact that
it was created from recycled
metal.
Brian Yates, a 26-year-
old member of the congrega-
tion, was selected to make
the logo as a memorial to a
long-time member, Grace
Turner. Brian knew where to
turn for his raw material. He
immediately asked a local
equipment dealer to save for
on the concrete floor of our
farm shop," explains Brian.
"Next I cut and heated the
tubing so I could bend it into
shape. Then I welded it and,
finally, painted it."
The impressive logo
gained Brian a reputation.
Soon after the logo was
installed, the Western Plains
District Board asked him to
make another Brethren logo
for the district's Camp
Mount Hermon. That logo
now hangs above the
fireplace in the camp's
dining hall.
Brian has been into metal
work since, as a teenager, he
restored a John Deere 1936
B tractor as a 4-H Club
project. Two summers ago
he made large, skinny steel
wheels for a tractor he
reconditioned for use in the
family's milo fields.
But Brian's pride and joy
is the 1978 Ford pickup he
retrieved from a hedgerow
two years ago (and made
into his main vehicle) and
the Model A Ford he
restored last winter.
Five years ago Brian and
his father reclaimed a
tandem-wheeled 4366
International tractor that
now is the work horse on
their 500-acre Frank D.
Yates and Son farm. "We
have 22 antique tractors,"
Brian says. "Only four have
been restored, so Dad and I
need a lot more winters
together."
With Brian's spreading
fame come interesting
requests. He has made a
three-story, free-standing
stairway and matching
overhead railing for a new
house, as well as a 30-foot
bridge.
The Yates family's dairy
herd is Brian's main respon-
sibility. He works a three-
hour shift twice a day,
milking 55 cows. But his
leisure time usually is spent
in the farm shop, dreaming
up projects to utilize his
metal-working and restora-
tion skills.
— Irene S. Reynolds
Irene S. Reynolds is afi-eelance
writer from Lawrence, Kan.
2 Messenger October 1994
Recalling Jesse James
For most people, the name
Jesse James conjures up
images of outlaws and train
robbers. But for 88-year-old
Eva Grogan, of First
Central Church of the
Brethren in Kansas City,
Kan., it calls up memories of
kind neighbors. As a school
girl in the early 1900s, Eva
was a classmate of Jesse
James" grandsons by his
daughter Mary James Barr —
Laurence, Forster, and
Chester.
Eva's story of childhood
is reminiscent of a "Little
House" episode. "My folks
moved from Kentucky to
New Mexico when I was
three. That was in 1909,
when New Mexico was a
territory. It didn't become
a state until
1912. We home-
steaded for four
years, until we
owned our land.
Then we moved
to a farm outside
Kearney. Mo.,
just down the
road from where
Frank James
lived on his
brother Jesse's
place. We
traveled by
horse and wagon
to our new farm
home."
Jesse James
was killed in
1882 by a
member of his
own outlaw
gang. His
brother Frank,
tried for various crimes but
never convicted, led a life of
respectability in his later
years, and died in 1915.
The James brothers'
exploits as bank and train
robbers were highly exag-
gerated and romanticized by
writers and filmmakers to
meet the demand for bloody
Western tales of derring-do.
The actual story of the
brothers' lives is still
controversial.
Ask Eva Grogan 's opinion
and she will say, "I don't
know . . . but I do know
what a wonderful family the
Barrs were. I felt they were
a part of our family, and I
ate many a meal at their
home."
Eva remembers Frank
James' funeral procession.
"There was this black hearse
pulled by horses, going in
front of our home. We didn't
go to the services because
one of Jesse James Jr.'s
REWARDS
70ZI TKB ASSXST OF
Eipress and. Train Eohhen.
FRANK JAMES and JESSE W. JAMES,
THOS. T. CHITTENDEN.
MICKT. K- MuOHATK. &
daughters had diphtheria.
I was disappointed that I
couldn't see them because
we had played together in
the summers when they
came back to visit their
family."
Locally, the James family
lived down its reputation for
lawlessness. One of Jesse
James' great-great grandsons
is a judge in Orange County,
Calif. Eva Grogan, like
others who neighbored with
the Jameses in Kearney,
prefers to remember them
for what they became, and
not the history they had to
live down.
Adapted from an article by
Nadine Dooley. a member of First
Central Church of the Brethren, in
Kansas Citw Kan,
Names in the news
Susan Grubb, of
Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church
of the Brethren, is serving as
an elementary school teacher
at Hillcrest School in Jos,
Nigeria. Her assignment
came through Brethren
Volunteer Service. Hillcrest
was founded by the Church
of the Brethren Mission in
1942.
• Charles Cable, chief
executive officer of Hillcrest
Homes, in La Verne, Calif,
has been elected chairman of
the board for the California
Association of Homes for
the Aging (CAHA).
• Kathryn Kiracofe, a
member of Bridgewater
(Va.) Church of the Brethren
and a retired India mission-
ary, has received the 1994
Valiant Woman of the Year
Award from Harrisonburg-
Rockingham Church
Women United members.
• McPherson College has
given the 1 994 Alumni
Citation of Merit award to
Theodore C. Geisert,
Kingman, Kan.; Guy Hayes,
McPherson, Kan.; Phyllis
Kingery Ruff, Omaha,
Neb.; Laura Sewell,
Portland, Ore.; and Paul
Suavely, Fruitland, Idaho.
• Charles and Helen
Sutton, of Dayton, Ohio,
have been honored by the
establishment of a scholar-
ship fiind in their name, for
their work with the World
Friendship Center in
Hiroshima, Japan. The fund
supports the missions of
Peace Ambassadors to heal
war wounds. Charles Sutton
died June 17.
• Ingrid Moser, a
member of McFarland
(Calif) Church of the
Brethren, has joined an 18-
month tour as a member of
the Covenant Players
professional drama ministry.
• Andy and Terry
Murray, members of the
Juniata College faculty, will
present "Ballads of Brethren
History" at Elizabethtown
College's Bucher Meeting-
house, November 6.
• Gordon Bucher, of
North Manchester, Ind., has
been named "District Execu-
tive Emeritus" by Northern
Ohio District, which he served
as executive for 33 years.
Remembered
Philip M. Kulp, 64, died
August 10, in Nicoya, Costa
Rica, where he was living in
retirement from a career as a
university professor. The son
of Nigeria missionary
pioneers Stover and Chris-
tina M. Kulp, he served in
Nigeria as an educator,
1958-1965.
October 1994 Messenger 3
A cup of reminder
For a long-time Fraternity
Church of the Brethren,
Winston-Salem, N.C., has
taken an offering every fifth
Sunday for disaster relief
On every first Sunday a 20-
this offering as people leave
the sanctuary after the
morning service, with an
usher holding out an
offering plate.
Pastor Bob Roller found a
old, very large Brethren
Service cup in his study and
Carol Atkins drops
her special offering
in an old Brethren
Service cup held by
usher James Dunn.
Pastor Bob Roller
(right) found the
cup in his study.
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send story ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' 'Close to Home. ' '
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave..
Elgin. IL 60120.
Worth-for-Hunger offering
is taken. Half of the hunger
offering goes to the denomi-
national world hunger
appeal and the other half
goes to a local "Crisis
Control" program.
The custom is to receive
New Bethlehem news
Hagerstown (Md.) Church
of the Brethren's Bible
school this past summer was
held outside ... or at least
in the open air. The setting
was the marketplace of what
was called "New
Bethlehem."
Pastor Beth SoUenberger-
Morphew had seen the
concept work at another
church, and Bible school
director Helen Caron used it,
with a year's preparation, to
got permission for it to be
the "offering plate" at the
door. This traditional
symbol of service heightens
the sense of giving for the
folks at Fraternity and has
been enthusiastically
received.
good effect.
In the town's Baser Park,
tents were erected and other
props used to suggest a
market town of Bible times.
The children observed and
participated in the activities
of a cheesemaker,
brickmaker, baker, carpen-
ter, scribe, shopkeeper,
shepherd, tax collector,
"Roman" soldier, and a
storyteller.
There also was a syna-
gogue. Bible school teaching
was done in these settings.
The children, as well as the
adults providing the settings,
wore costumes.
"I was really nervous
about it," said Helen, "but as
the week went on, not only
the children, but adults as
well, were showing keen
interest. Many of the leaders
were people who had not
been involved with Bible
school before. The experi-
ence brought people to-
gether and led to a change of
attitude among some of
them."
Many children asked,
"We're coming back next
year, aren't we?"
William Pifer-Foote, of
"New Bethlehem, " shows
Hagerstown children how to
cook bread over a fire. Such I
activities added realism to
the Bible school lessons.
4 Messenger October 1994
Panorama City pastor Wayne Zunkel (second from left) and
other gardeners display some of their summer '94 crop.
Urban Brethren farmland
Panorama City (Calif.)
harked back to its Dunker
roots this past summer,
utilizing part of its church
property, surrounded by
urban highrises, to create
"community gardens."
The crops of com,
tomatoes, squash, peas,
beans, and melons were
shared with Camp La Verne
and two homeless shelters in
the community.
The enterprise piqued the
curiosity of the neighbor-
hood, and the back-to-the-
soil group's hope is that next
year more of the potential
for 40 or 50 garden plots can
be reached. It's a new
concept in urban church
"planting."
Campus comments
The University of La
Verne's Wilson Library, a
converted supermarket
building, has been demol-
ished to make way for a
new, two-story, 53,588-
square-foot library, many
times the size of the old
grocery store. Construction
is expected to be completed
in about two years.
• The second International
Seminar on Arms Control
and Disarmament was held
at the Juniata College
Conference Center, Septem-
ber 8-17. the seminars are
designed to teach to devel-
oping nations skills in
negotiating arms control
agreements and resolving
disputes peacefully.
"The seminar offers us an
opportunity to continue
building regional networks
of scholars who are inter-
ested in arms control and
demilitarization, and who
have had an opportunity to
study these issues with
international leaders in the
field," said Andrew Murray,
director of the Baker Peace
Institute and associate
professor of peace and
conflict studies at Juniata.
• A new dorm at
Mancliester College has
experiential theme units
(ETUs). Each ETU is a
group of students who have
a year-long residential
experience focused on a
theme and providing a series
of programs and activities.
Let's celebrate
Bethany Church of the
Brethren, Farmington, Del.,
will mark its 75th anniver-
sary November 13. Larry
Dentler will be guest
speaker for the event.
• Wolgemuth Church of
the Brethren, near Dillsburg,
Pa., celebrated its 150th
armiversary August 28, with
Elmer Q. Gleim as guest
speaker.
• Berkey Church of the
Brethren, Windber, Pa.,
celebrated the 25th anniver-
sary of its church building
and the 35th anniversary of
the congregation's reorgani-
zation with a day of activi-
ties July 10. Guest speaker
was 1987 summer pastor
Rick Conrad.
• Mineral Creek Church
of the Brethren, Leeton,
Mo., held a 125th anniver-
sary celebration August 21.
John Thomas, of Guthrie,
Okla., was the guest
speaker.
A hanging for Heifer Project: Quiiters at Hope church of
the Brethren, Freeport, Mich., made a special wall hanging
for the 50th anniversary of Heifer Project (see pages 19-22).
The hanging depicts a farm scene with animals associated
with Heifer Project. "The animals come alive," commented
one quilt connoisseur.
October 1994 Messenger 5
Il
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
movements, the activities reported on may
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
New magazine for Brethren
youth introduced at NYC
In cooperation with the Sunday school
youth curriculum due in the fall of 1995,
the Youth and Young Adult Ministry
office introduced With, a youth maga-
zine, at National Youth Conference this
summer.
With is endorsed by the Parish
Ministries Commission a^he
official
magazine for
Church of the
Brethren youth. The
Brethren have not had an
official youth magazine since the
Horizons edition of Youth, which was
last published in 1970.
Brethren Press has joined with Faith
& Life Press, the publishing arm of the
General Conference Mennonite
Church, to publish the Sunday school
curriculum FastLane Bible Studies,
YoiithGiiide. and With. Faith & Life
Press had been publishing the maga-
zine for 26 years with the Mennonite
Publishing House before the Mennonite
Publishing House decided to publish its
own curriculum.
Faith & Life Press and Brethren Press,
which have cooperated on several
projects, including the children's
curriculum Jubilee, will focus on the
Anabaptist church beliefs in the new
materials.
"We would like to see Brethren
writers in With, as well as advertise-
ments from Brethren colleges," said
Chris Michael, staff for Youth and
Young Adult Ministry.
With was openly welcomed at NYC.
"The overwhelming impression I
received was that 1 had come across an
entire denomination of youth workers
who were starved for quality printed
resources, and that the resources I was
introducing (With, YouthGuide,
FastLane Bible Studies, and the new
Sunday school curriculum) were just the
kind of thing they were looking for,"
stated Eddy Hall, co-editor of With.
Caiendar
General Board fall meetings: October 21-25,
General Offices, Elgin, HI.
Dedication of the Bethany Center: 2 p.m..
October 30, Bethany Center, National Road
West, Richmond, Ind.
Brethren Benefit Trust Board meetings:
November 18-19, Manchester College,
North Manchester, Ind.
By the Manner of Their Living: Reflections
on Brethren Lifestyles: 1994 Young Adult
Conference, November 24-26, Camp Eder,
Fairfield. Pa. [For more information, contact
Young Adult Conference. 1451 Dundee
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-8039].
Urban IVIinistries scheduies
peace tour in IVIidwest
The Urban Ministries office is conduct
ing an Urban Peace Tour the week of
October 23-30. The tour is the first of
kind, and its initiators hope to raise the
awareness of urban congregations in tb
Church of the Brethren.
"The purpose of the tour is to high-
light the ministries of Brethren urban
congregations, to increase the support
for these churches, and to help develop
a deeper solidarity among our urban
churches," stated Orlando Redekopp
director of Urban Ministries.
Services are planned for each churcl
The music will focus on Hispanic and
African American music. Messages wi
be given on ministries within urban
churches and sermons on the joys and
struggles of those ministries.
The tour will begin at Iglesia La
Nueva Jerusalen, Summit, 111. During
the week, the tour will visit Brethren
churches in Indiana. The congregation
are Manchester, Roann, Goshen City,
and Bremen. The tour will conclude at(
First Church in Chicago.
Participants in the tour include
Redekopp, Gilbert Romero and the
Bittersweet Band, and Richard
Kyerematen.
1
6 Messenger October 1994
S
H
nyder files new suit against
hicago Theological Seminary
previous suit against Chicago Theo-
gical Seminary (CTS) having been
smissed for lack of "detail" (May/
ne, page 7), professor Graydon Snyder
I August 30 filed a new suit, contend-
g that a June 17 statement distributed
■ the seminary's public relations firm
lims the classroom story-telling at the
art of his difficulties "was only part of
series of troubling events."
Snyder's original suit against CTS
volved his disciplining following a
'92 incident in which a female student
Snyder's supposedly became offended
' a story from the Talmud he told to his
iss explaining, he said, the differences
between biblical intent and action.
Snyder, a member of the Church of
the Brethren and a former professor and
dean at Bethany Theological Seminary,
contends that CTS has mounted a
deliberate campaign to humiliate
him, ostracize him in the academic
community, and "ultimately force his
departure from CTS." He is seeking
more than $30,000 for the humiliation
and damage to his reputation wrought
by a 1992 memo distributed by CTS to
250 students.
The case has gained national signifi-
cance since, according to legal scholars,
it eventually could force the US
Supreme Court to address the conflict
between freedom of speech and
restriction of harassment.
rethren Volunteer Service Unit 212 completed orientation in New Windsor,
[d., August 26. Members are (front row) Jackie Keller, Angela Miller, Andy
aomis, Andrea Stremmel; (second row) Kristie Sharpe, Jamie Beachy, Amanda
ender, Johanna Olsen, Grit Marschner, Kyle Hall, Mary McDonagh, Emily
ielinski (orientation assistant); (third row) Tempo Bierley, Ozkan Alkasi, Shelley
ngemach, John Harvey (orientation assistant). Tammy Krause (orientafion coordi-
itor), Katie Johnson, Beate Klemm, Kermit Eby. Chariotte Reimche; (back row)
iul Borian, Deviprasad Nileschwar, Scott Hoelscher, Jamie Risser, Todd Reish
dentation coordinator), Ruth Eby. (See page 31 for project assignments.)
Emergency Disaster Fund
targets Haiti, Tanzania
A grant of $30,000 has come from the
Emergency Disaster Fund in response
to the ongoing emergency needs in
Haiti. A portion of the allocation will
be used by the National Coalition for
Haitian Refugees victim assistance
fund, and the remaining funds will be
used to assist other groups that are
working to provide special medical
care for Haitians begin detained at
Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, and
elsewhere.
EDF has granted $30,000 to assist
Interchurch Medical Assistance in
developing an onchocerciasis (river
blindness) surveillance and control in
Tanzania. IMA plans to design a pilot
project for distribution of a drug that
halts progression of the disease.
A grant of $10,000 has been given in
response to the refugee and economic
crisis in the country of Georgia. The
funds will be used to help the over one
billion displaced people to buy food and
medicine.
An allocation of $5,000 has been
given to help 350,000 refugees in
Armenia who are suffering from the
continuing warfare in Azerbaijan. The
funds will be used to supply shelter,
food, medicine, agricultural rehabilita-
tion, and peacemaking efforts during the
winter months.
A grant of $3,000 has been given in
response to recent floods in Cambodia.
The funds will be used to buy plastic
sheeting, rope, and household items for
the more than 1 6,000 people who have
been displaced.
An allocation of $500 has been given
for the community of Cheektowaga, a
suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., affected by
landfill contamination that resulted in
well contamination and high incidence
of cancer among the residents. The
funds will be used to support partner
agencies that provide counseling,
outreach, and direct aid for medical
treatment to uninsured people.
Messenger October 1994 7
Herman Kaiiffman
Herman Kauffman appointed
DE for Northern Indiana
Herman D.
Kauffman has
been appointed
executive of
Northern Indiana
District. He is
currently pastoring
Everett (Pa.)
Church of the
Brethren and will begin his new assign-
ment on November 1 . He succeeds
interim executives John Tomlonson and
Earl Hostetter.
Evangelism Leaders
Academy draws 1,200
The Andrew Center has completed the
ninth Evangelism Leaders Academy,
which drew over 1,200 attendants to its
six locations around the country.
The Evangelism Leaders Academy is
a multi-denominational event for
Anabaptist churches. Joining partici-
pants from the Church of the Brethren
were others from The Brethren Church,
General Conference Mennonite Church,
and The Mennonite Church.
The principal speakers for the
academies spoke on topics such as
"Leadership Skills for the 21st Cen-
tury," "Stewardship and the Growing
Church," "Strengthening your Adult
Sunday School," "The Empowered
Congregation: Mobilizing Members into
a Movement!" "Recovery Groups:
Reaching Those Who Hurt," and
"Getting the Gospel out the Door:
Practical Outreach Strategies that
Work."
John Ortberg, principal speaker at the
academy held at Manchester College,
North Manchester, Ind., in an allusion to
the apostle Paul's "running the race"
imagery, stated, "If the [Christian] race
is serious, then trying is not enough.
You must reorder your life around
certain practices that will eventually
8 Messenger October 1 994
enable you to do by training what you
cannot now do by trying."
The six academy locations were in
Florida, Kansas, Indiana, Virginia,
California, and Oregon, and the Acad-
emies were held from June to August.
Joel K. Thompson of BBT
loses life in airline crash
A USAir airliner crash in Pennsylvania
September 8 took the life of Joel K.
Thompson, 6 1 , director of benefits for
the Brethren Benefit Trust. He had held
that position
since 1991. His
responsibility
was the
operations of
the Church of
the Brethren
Pension Plan
and the Breth-
ren Medical,
Life, and Long-
term Disability Joel K. Thompson
Plans serving more than 3,500 pastors
and lay employees of Church of the
Brethren congregations, national boards,
and agencies.
From 1977 to 1980, he was executive
secretary of the Church of the Brethren
Pension Board, predecessor of the
Brethren Benefit Trust Board.
A native of Ohio and a graduate of
Manchester College and Bethany
Theological Seminary, Thompson
began his work at the denomination's
General Offices in 1959, as interim
director of Brethren Volunteer Service.
He spent three years, 1960-1963, in
Indonesia as a missionary before
returning to the US to serve as director
of mission education and recruitment
for what was then the Foreign Mission
Commission.
In 1969, when the Foreign Mission
Commission and Brethren Service
Commission were merged to become the
World Ministries Commission, Thomp-
son became its first executive. In 1977
he moved laterally from that position to
become executive of the General
Services Commission. In that post, he
served as publisher of Messenger.
Thompson left the General Board
staff in 1 980 and began an 1 1 -year
career in hospital administration in the
Chicago area.
A member of York Center Church of
the Brethren, Lombard, 111., Thompson
leaves his wife, Janine Katonah, a
daughter, two sons, two step-daughters,
and a grandson.
Annual Conference offices
open for nominations
The Annual Conference Nominating
Committee has requested nominations
for positions to be filled by election at
the 1995 Conference in Charlotte.
Offices open in 1995 include Annual
Conference moderator-elect; General
Board members from Pacific South-
west, Southern Plains, and Southy
Central Indiana Districts, and two at-
large positions; Program and Arrange-
ments Committee; Pastoral Compensa-
tion and Benefits Advisory Committee;
Committee on Interchurch Relations;
Brethren Benefit Trust; Bethany
Seminary electors; Review and Evalua-i
tion Committee; and representatives to i
the National Council of Churches and
World Council of Churches.
The Armual Conference Office mailec
a packet with instructions and nomina-
tion forms to all congregations in August
Nominations are due by December 1.
Youth and Young Adults to
Hold 16 workcamps in '95
The Youth and Young Adult Ministry
office will hold 16 workcamps in 1995;
The senior-high workcamps are:
Brooklyn, N.Y., June 18-25; Camp
Colorado, Sedalia, Colo., June 19-25;
Queen Louise Home, St. Croix, V.I.,
me 19-25; W.Va., July 3-9; Tidewater,
a., July 10-16; Lybrook, N.M., July
7-23; Chicago, 111., July 17-23;
astaiier, P.R., July 24-30; Orlando,
la., July 31-August 6; Heifer Project,
ittle Rock, Ark., August 7-13; and
[itney, Vt., August 7-13.
As of press time, the workcamps for
junior-high are Tidewater, Va., July 5-9;
New Windsor, Md., July 10-14; Rich-
mond, Ind., July 26-30; and Harrisburg,
Pa., August 2-6.
Young adults will have the opportu-
nity to attend a workcamp in Belfast,
Northern Ireland.
The coordinators for the 1 995
workcamps are Wendi Hutchinson and
Greg Laszakovits. For more information
on the workcamps, contact the Youth
and Young Adult Ministry office at
(800) 323-8039.
rank Chikane, general secretary of the South African Council
Churches has announced plans to leave the council: Chikane said
at he would leave his position now that the victory over apartheid
as a "mission accomplished," in a speech in July at the council's
inual conference outside Johannesburg.
Chikane told the meeting: "We meet here today, after a momen-
us event in this country— a transition from the monstrous, evil, and
cist apartheid system to a non-racial, non-sexist, and democratic
'Stem of governance . . . that system which treated blacks like dirt
id nonhumans is gone!"
Chikane asked that a search committee that was formed to
'ersee the transition quickly choose and name his successor. The
luncil also is redefining its role in a new South Africa— from outspo-
in opponent of the apartheid system to a principle player in the
construction of a new society. In his speech, Chikane spoke of the
)w role of churches, saying there is a need for a "ministry of reconcili-
ion and development" and a "ministry of reconciliation and healing."
3 expressed hope that a truth commission investigating past human
)hts abuses will "liberate us from the past so that we can move into
e future without fear or doubt."
1 1991, the Presbyterian Church USA Hunger Program
'HP) committed itself to the goal that, by 1994, at least 50 percent
all projects funded would meet its criteria for gender and racial
clusiveness. The PHP committee shot past that target at its meeting
July when it awarded $856,147, or nearly two-thirds of it grant
oney, to projects implemented by women. Internationally, $463,247,
66 percent of PHP's funding, went to projects that were planned or
iplemented by women, reflected the racial composition benefiting
immunity and/or empowered women, especially women of color.
Also in line with its inclusiveness priority, the committee set aside
;holarship monies for five hunger action enablers to attend 'The Road
Beijing: A Seminar on Global Women's Issues and the United
ations" in t\/larch 1995.
The group reviewed 1994 allocations previously made to hunger-
fated programs through the World Council of Churches and Church
'orld Sen/ice and Witness, the relief and development arm of the
ational Council of Churches. The committee allocated an additional
n 9,487 to 95 more international relief and development programs. It
rther stipulated that projects not receiving the full amount they
^quested will be recommended if additional funds become available.
In August, a four-member delegation representing the
National Council of Churches (NCC) initiated dialog with President
Clinton's special advisor on Haiti, William H. Gray, to press concerns
about the restoration to power of exiled Haitian President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide and about the current conditions of Haitian refugees.
The delegation's meeting with Gray, which took place in the New
York offices of the United Negro College Fund, of which Gray is
president, was described by participants as an open and candid
meeting that included an offer by Gray to continue meeting as often as
necessary to hear ecumenical concerns on Haiti.
According to a "Perspective on the Situation in Haiti," which the
delegation presented to Gray during their conversation, the council and
its 32-member communions are "bold to speak at this particular
moment" because "the member churches of the NCC have been
related to the churches and people of Haiti for over 30 years and are
reminded daily of the fear, frustration and anger of the people of Haiti."
The NCC statement urges the US to "act within the context of the
United Nations" in support of the restoration of the Aristide government
and to adhere to UN standards relating to the status of refugees.
Participants in the meeting with Gray reported that their conversa-
tion was wide ranging, touching on the interplay between the political
situation in Haiti and the refugee crisis. According to NCC deputy
general secretary James Hamilton, "Mr. Gray stated that in order to
solve the refugee problem we must first solve the political problem."
Nearly 900 persons from all over the country attended the 13th
annual Peacemaking Conference in Montreat, N.C., sponsored by the
Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. "Peacemaking: Alternative to
Violence" was the conference theme and, discussion ranged from
domestic violence to Middle East and Yugoslavian conflict, to the
violence in America, as people of all races and ethnicities struggle to
find new ways of living together peacefully.
"As Christians, we are called to become a healing people. By
God's grace, we are enabled to confront the pain and violence in
ourselves and in the world," stated the conference theme.
One of the foci was on domestic violence. According to Marie
Fortune, founder and executive director of the Seattle, Wash., Center
for Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, the four categories of
domestic violence are: physical, sexual, psychological, and destruction
of property important to the victim.
"Home is the most dangerous place to be for women," stated Fortune.
Messenger October 1 994 9
/Q^. UJJ^-.^ ^- ,<2^^i=i^^ /^
»,^l»-j;^—
Despite being a Dunker, Wilbur Stover (ca. 1890-1892) wore a mustache and, under
his plain-cut coat, a tie. The October 4, 1892, minutes of the General Church
Erection and Missionary Committee noted his appointment to India, on the
condition "that he conform fully to the order of the church in dress. "
Although Church of the Brethren overseas
mission work dates to 1876, it was Wilbur B.
Stover, in 1894, who began in India the first
mission work that had the wholehearted
endorsement and support of the denomination.
by Galen Stover Beery
How can we be celebrating the centen-
nial of Church of the Brethren overseas
mission work in 1 994, considering that
Christian Hope began Brethren mission
10 Messenger October 1994
work in Denmark in 1876? It's a matter
of how you look at it.
The Danish mission was launched by
Northern Illinois District, not by the
denomination as a whole. The Brethren
in 1 876 were about five years away from
their splits of the early 1880s. One of the
reasons why the Old German Baptist
Brethren split off was their opposition to ■
overseas missions. After the "Old
Orders" left, the Church of the Brethren
that remained felt freer to endorse
mission work, but it would not be until
1 894 that Annual Conference called and
sent the first missionaries representing
the denomination as a whole.
On October 16, 1894, three young
Brethren sailed from New York on the
S.S. Havel. They were Wilbur Stover,
28; his wife, Mary, 22; and Bertha
Ryan, 23. They were bonded together
by a zeal to evangelize in India, and
Bombay was their destination.
Wilbur Stover had not simply an-
swered a call to India. He was enthusias-.
tic about the mission concept, spoke
and wrote tirelessly about it, and had
offered his services in 1 892 to the
General Church Erection and Mission-
ary Committee (later the General
Mission Board). But to understand the
fledgling missionary's enthusiasm and
zeal, one needs to know the story of his
earlier life.
Wilbur Breimer Stover, bom in 1 866,
was the oldest of four sons of a
Greencastle, Pa., nurseryman, Jacob A.
Stover, and his wife, Mary Lesher
Stover. Church was a large part of
Stover family life. Jacob Stover, a
"Dunker pastor," regularly took his turn i
preaching at Shady Grove schoolhouse.
The close family life was shattered
when Wilbur was almost nine: His
father died, and his mother married
a man who abused her and made life
difficult for his stepsons.
Wilbur followed his family to
northern Illinois, where church leaders
began to see his potential. They ar-
ranged for him to receive a year's free
tuition to attend the church-supported
Mount Morris College. He first took
business courses to become a book-
keeper, working as a janitor and farm
laborer for room and board.
When funds ran low, Wilbur spent a
year in Minnesota selling stereopticon
"views." He enjoyed meeting people,
and developed a successfiil selling
technique. The Presbyterian church he
attended in Miimeapolis had a mission i
program and mission books that highly
ifluenced the young man.
When Wilbur returned to Mount
lorris, he strongly supported the
oncept of missions. He had been
aptized, and he became a leader in
hurch work. He led student prayer
leetings, was active in a literary
ociety, sang in a quartet, and was
lected to the ministry. After gradua-
on, he began preaching in churches
ear Hagerstown, Md., and then served
year as pastor of the Germantown
hurch, in Philadelphia.
Wilbur resigned his pastorate to
ecome a mission evangelist. His short,
light figure became a familiar sight
ehind the "reading table" of dozens of
Irethren meetinghouses. He had a
pade-shaped beard and a mustache,
ncharacteristic of the Brethren and
oublesome to the mission board. He
rare the dark, conservative Dunker
arb, however.
Ihose who met Wilbur remarked on
is intent eyes, his friendliness and
incerity, and his fervor for spreading
le gospel. He enjoyed people, showed
0 hesitation in greeting strangers, and
ad a good sense of humor.
Wilbur met his second cousin, Mary
immert, in college. They shared a
Irethren heritage and forebears who
rere hardworking farmers and minis-
;rs. Mary's father, J.J. Emmert, was a
linister, as was an uncle, George
Pollers. Her family situation was similar
) Wilbur's: Her mother died when she
^as 1 0, and her stepmother was not
^arm toward her. Mary also was
iterested in missions; her father and
er Uncle George Zollers had influ-
nced Christian Hope, and Zollers had
aptized him. Common backgrounds
nd values led eventually to marriage
etween Wilbur and Mary and to a
lutual, life-long love and admiration,
nth Wilbur in the leading role. Mary,
omewhat shy, became his strong
upporter.
In three and a half years, Wilbur
reached almost 600 times; by 1 894 he
/rote that since December he had
reached "every night and twice on
lunday, with but four or five excep-
ions." As he moved from church to
church, he made friends with congrega-
tional leaders, and a support network
emerged. Wilbur organized "Missionary
Reading Circles," and wrote numerous
articles on missions. Many younger
members among the Brethren joined the
reading circles. Optimistic about
reaching their goal, Wilbur and Mary
married in 1893 and thenceforth visited
churches together, preaching "missions"
and offering to go to India. As interest
grew, others also offered to go.
Members of the Waynesboro, Pa.,
congregation pledged $800. The
General Church Erection and Mission-
ary Committee in 1892 had given its
conditional endorsement to sending
Wilbur to India, after learning of the
Waynesboro support. This led to the
Meyersdale (Pa.) Annual Conference of
1894 appointing Wilbur and Mary, and
Bertha Ryan, as the first India mission-
aries. The trio knelt to be consecrated,
confident at last that the challenge to
Brethren to begin mission work, had
been accepted.
Arriving in Bombay that fall of 1894,
the new missionaries went north and
located in Bulsar, a commercial center.
Wilbur learned the Gujarati language,
and started holding evangelistic meet-
ings the next year. By 1 897, however,
only 16 people had accepted Christianity
through the work of the Brethren trio.
Real success came unexpectedly when
plague and famine ravaged the Bulsar
region. The missionaries undertook the
task of housing, feeding, and clothing
dozens of orphans. Wilbur preached,
and brought home children. Bertha
Ryan supervised orphanages. And Mary
became "Mother Mary" of the mission.
Wilbur wrote, "We were ill-prepared to
begin so great a work, but each did all
that we could." The orphans, raised as
Christians, became the nucleus of the
India church.
After furloughs to the US in 1902 and
1912, the Stovers returned to India with
renewed vigor. D.L. Miller, editor of
The Gospel Messenger (since 1965,
Messenger) and a member of the
General Mission Board, visited them
several times, and once went with
Wilbur along the African coast to
explore the prospects of establishing
mission work there. Miller was deeply
moved by the work in India and by the
hundreds of converts that had been
made. He helped to promote the India
mission through his numerous books
and articles.
More Brethren missionaries arrived to
join the effort, and new mission stations
were opened. Periodic meetings were
more like family conferences. The close-
There are very few depictions of Wilbur Stover carrying on his India mission work,
since most photos of the era were posed. This rare candid shot shows him "doing
village work. " He is the figure in the dark suit and light helmet.
Messenger October 1994 1 1
A yellow cloth bookmark was sold to
"Missionary Reading Circles" in the
1890s to raise money for missions. The
"heathen across the sea" image of
missions has changed over the century.
\
eiixoFlixi^
I uvB la • «eU-fttTnlshed cottage
Ai bappj »s Cbrlctlan can be.
But e'er and anon cornea the thought of i
The heathen across the sea.
I've leisure and books and the toTtd one*
And things just about as I wQl,
Bnt the fullness oi blessing condeamt me
Becanse of the unsared stUL
I pray at morning and evening
For God to hasten the day
When all shall have heard o{ Jesus
Salvation the good old way.
I give of my plenty a little,
And g-o, I hope, some others will.
Yet somehow I feel I don't answer
The call of the unsaved still.
There are many at home unconverted.
And the members need preachers too^
So why should I think to go elsewhere
When there's plenty at home to dot
But the heathen, ah, the heathen.
Who worship the gods oi their will;
And the voice from the far-away land Is
The call of the unsaved atUl.
The ripple of " sacred " waters,
The fall of rain from above,
The voice of the silent idol.
The absence of parental love.
The sad and downcast expression,
Souls longing great truths to fulfil.
All these seem to me as surely
The calls of the imsaved still.
I know our forefathers were heathen
And the very vilest of men.
And we would have been the same now
But for the foreign missions then.
To-day we're out of the darlcness
And claim to do his will
But can we unless we answer
The call of the unsaved still.'
The call comes loud to me, louder,
As I sit In my rocklng-chalr
And think of the hopeless condition
Of the millions away over there.
And I pray the Lord for conviction.
His wishes to be my will.
That I may heartily answer
The call of the unsaved still.
fV. B. Stover.
knit missionary children called each
other's parents "Uncle" and "Aunt."
The Stovers moved to the town of
Anklesvar, into a large mission
bungelow, where Wilbur and Mary
raised their five children. Mary taught
them, dividing her time with the scores
of church members and Indian children.
Most aspects of the Stovers' life
revolved around their faith. Their days
began with a wake-up hymn in Gujarati.
A prayer began each meal. Scriptures
were read at bedtime, and Wilbur visited
each child for a good-night kiss.
Although the Stovers emphasized
family togetherness, when they returned
to India in 1913 they left their three
oldest children behind to get an Ameri-
can education. (Getting an American
education and the need to spread the
gospel were given as reasons, but the
Stovers' losses of their own parents
when they were young may have uncon-
sciously influenced them.) They could
BRETHREN IN INDL
by H. Lamar Gibble
Q: Why did the Church of the Brethren in India become part of the Church olj
North India (CNI) in 1970?
A: Church union was first discussed by India Christian groups in 1929. World War
delayed the process, but by 1951 a "negotiating committee" had been formed and al
plan for union published. The final plan was completed in 1965. By 1968 both disti
of the Church of the Brethren in India had voted to enter the union.
It was believed that union would provide a more effective Christian witness. |
Denominational differences were not major, and distinctive denominational aspect;!
were preserved in the union. The uniting churches already were doing many things
cooperatively. Gujarat United School of Theology is one example. Another motiva
for union was to demonstrate Christian unity to the predominant religions of India,
which viewed denominationalism as divisive and competitive.
Q: Why do we no longer send worliers to India, hold workcamps there, or eve
sponsor tour groups?
I
t
A: By the late 1950s, the government of India was questioning the admission of
foreign church workers, believing that Christian missions efforts had not nurtured
Indian leadership. Ultimately, foreign missionaries were denied visas, although '
workers already in India were allowed to stay on. Thus it was not a matter of foreiji
mission agencies deciding to cease sending workers to India.
Our not sponsoring Brethren workcamps and tours relates to high costs and
logistical problems; to not having staff on the field to help with arrangements; to
India leadership being overworked and underfunded; and to the awkward situation'
such events cause, taking place in the midst of tensions between the CNI and the
Christians in the former Brethren area who broke away fi^om the CNI. Even small
delegations visiting India have been caught in the middle of tensions that the schisi
has precipitated.
t
Q: What is the condition of Christianity in India today?
A: Christians in India make up 2.6 percent of the population. While Christians in
some periods have been afforded privileged positions and roles, Christianity faces
new pressures (and, some would say, persecution) because of the spread of Hindu
and Islamic fundamentalism.
1 2 Messenger October 1 994
J
It
jestions & answers
/en so, the CNI is growing, especially in certain areas and among dalits ("untouch-
s") and tribal peoples. In Gujarat State and CNI diocese, the growth is largely
ng tribal peoples. The conversion to Christianity from Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Jain,
dhist, or Parsi religions is very limited.
lave the former members of the Church of the Brethren in India integrated
with the CNI?
tost of them have integrated well. Indeed, it was about 10 years after the union
differences emerged. Most of the key leaders of the "breakaway group" held
tions, many of them key positions, in the CNI for that first decade.
Vhat is the present situation of the "breakaway group"?
'his group claims to have from 2,000 to 3,000 members. No records are provided,
the numbers vary according to the person reporting. The CNI seriously questions
iforementioned figures. The "breakaway group" also claims 12 congregations
additional mission centers, three high schools, and several hostels,
irrently there are 33 court proceedings outstanding that have been brought by the
akaway group" leadership and dissident Church of the Brethren General Board in
I trustees related to securing former Brethren mission property for the benefit of
'breakaway group." The "breakaway group" also has contested the nominees of
rhurch of the Brethren General Board to replace trustees who have died or
3ied. This immobilizes the trustees in their caring for the properties intended for
iseoftheCNI.
Vhat involvement do we have in India now, through the CNI?
represent the Church of the Brethren on the CNI Partners in Mission Commit-
-the foreign mission representatives from the uniting churches and CNI church
;rs who consult regularly regarding common support and witness. Down from a
set for India of over $200,000 in 1970, the Church of the Brethren World Minis-
Commission now makes a yearly grant of $6,000 to the CNI. We also provide
00 a year for the Rural Service Center at Anklesvar. I continue to work with
UNI on litigation matters related to former Brethren mission properties.
M>
Lamar Gibble is a member of the World Ministries Commission staff, serving as director of the Peace
nternational Affairs Office and as representative for Europe and Asia.
The mission enterprise begun in 1894
by Wilbur B. Stover lives on in 1994 in
the Church of North India. Earl K.
Ziegler, 1994 Annual Conference
moderator, joined Indian Christians last
spring in unveiling a Bulsar street sign
honoring the Brethren pioneer.
not understand why friends had little
interest in helping. An Iowa farm family
eventually took the children into its
home. The parting was prayerfiil . . . and
painftil. During the seven years of
separation, Wilbur and Mary often
regretted their decision. Other mission-
ary children were educated at boarding
schools in India.
In 1920, the Stovers returned to the
States and settled in Illinois. Mary's
poor health had ended overseas mission
work for her and Wilbur. The family
was reunited. The children attended
Mount Morris College, where Wilbur
became professor of missions. Each
morning, the family knelt in the living
room for Bible study and prayer, a
practice Wilbur urged in his book The
Family Worship. Two more books were
published (he wrote five), with Mary
assisting, and he went on lecture tours.
On them he gave what were billed as
"rousing missionary sermons" to
encourage interest and support.
Each year the Stovers attended
Annual Conference. Each Conference
featured an emotional consecration
service for new missionaries. At the
close, after the missionaries rose from
kneeling to receive the blessing of the
church, conferencegoers stood and sang
the missionary hymn "Speed Away,
Speed Away," and gave the traditional
Chautauqua salute — the waving of
thousands of white handkerchiefs.
The Stover family moved west in
1927, and Wilbur became pastor in
Seattle, Wash. He plunged enthusiasti-
cally into church activities there and
invited strangers to attend. He also
preached in other churches and made
weekly Bible study broadcasts on the
new Seattle radio station. Family
members sang and played music for
these programs. To fiirther unify
churches of the Pacific Northwest,
Wilbur and Mary wrote and published
Messenger October 1 994 1 3
a magazine. The Little Brother.
But the Pacific Northwest was not
India, and Wilbur's enthusiasm met
some opposition. When a camp in Idaho
was named "Camp Stover," some
members feh that Wilbur had become
too popular. There also were those who
felt that "outsiders" bringing in "new
blood" tended to "spoil" the Brethren.
But there were many supporters, too,
although even they tired of so many
sermons on missions.
At age 64, Wilbur accepted a pastor-
ate in Olympia, Wash. He and Mary
were driven down (neither had learned
to drive a car) to the little Olympia
parsonage, the first home just the two
of them had ever shared. They began to
work at building up the congregation
and continued publishing their
magazine. A month later, Wilbur's
mission evangelism ended. He left a
temperance meeting at which he was to
speak, walked home, lay down, and
passed away.
Mary lived on in relative obscurity,
with several children in California, on
their support and a slender income from
a missionary service fund. The Brethren
pension plan later helped. She and
At Wilbur Stover's birthplace near
Greencastle, Pa., stands a stone pulpit
memorializing him. The old farmstead
is preserved as an environmental
studies center, and carries the name
Tayamentasachta. An Indian word, it
means "living water" and refers to the
abundant spring that still flows there.
Wilbur had put nothing away for
themselves. Mary maintained a wide
correspondence with friends, and
enjoyed hearing about the work in India.
In 1945, she provided many details for
Wilbur and Mary Stover had five children. Shown here in a 1920s photo are
Wilbur Stover, Emmert, Miriam (Beery), Helen (Royer), James, Daniel (in front),
and Mary Emmert Stover. Only Miriam and Helen still survive.
the book Fifty Years in India. She passed
away in 1960.
Wilbur planted a banyan tree in Bulsar
in 1895, saying, "I like the banyan tree;
it's the symbol of the church." Banyan
trees send down shoots from their
branches that root and become addi-
tional trunks. The branches of Wilbur's
tree have spread so that hundreds of
people now can meet in its shade. It
symbolizes the growth of the church in
India.
The Church of the Brethren in India
became autonomous in 1945 and joined
five other denominations in 1970 to
form the Church of North India. Wilbur
would have approved the move toward
turning church leadership over to Indian
Christians, and Mary felt it was appro-
priate when it happened.
The 1955 Grand Rapids Annual
Conference directed overseas missions
to indigenize, but the Church of the
Brethren mission program did not peak,
in terms of missionaries on the field,
until 1969, when there were 134 mis-
sionaries serving in India, Nigeria,
Ecuador, Indonesia, and Puerto Rico. By|
then, of course. Christian converts
numbered in the thousands. By 1972, the
number of missionaries had dropped to
72, and presently, there are only 12
contract workers who more or less fit the
definition of "missionary." For the
Church of the Brethren, the era of
missions under the old concept is over.
In his last pastorate, Wilbur wrote the
General Mission Board a letter express-
ing satisfaction with the growth of the
work in India, and gratitude that "we
were thus used throughout the years."
This became his farewell. A stone
pulpit stands on the Stover farm near
Greencastle, memorializing him at his
birthplace. Wilbur and Mary Stover,
pioneer missionaries to India, would
rejoice that thousands of Indian Christians
continue their task: "missions — the
first great work of the church."
/Hi
Galen Stover Beery, a member of La Verne
(Calif.) Church of the Brethren, is a grandson
of Wilbur and Mary Stover. Like them, he has
given long service in Asia, working 13 years in
Laos and Malaysia in rural development and in
refugee programs.
14 Messenger October 1994
f
I dream of the day
3y Judy Mills Reimer
iistorians have my greatest admiration.
stand in awe of their gift for keeping
listorical events alive and vivid in our
nind's eye.
I was in my 20s when Martin Luther
Cing Jr. was assassinated. I remember
lis 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. But
IS the historians and the media have
:ept life in that famous oratory, the
vords have become more meaningful
or me with increased age and under-
tanding. I, too, have a dream, and a
peech about it, for our beloved
hurch — the church of Jesus Christ as
ived through the window of the Church
if the Brethren.
I dream of the day when members of
he Church of the Brethren are focused
in the "bigger" picture of Jesus Christ,
eeking to discern through scripture,
irayer, and community life how God
rould have us live our days as a
lenomination. Issues and questions will
Iways be with us. Answers will come
s we forthrightly communicate with
ach other in love and respect.
I dream of the day when members of
he Church of the Brethren take to heart
esus' mandate of going into all the
rorld to tell the gospel story, remem-
lering that the world includes those
lext door as well as the global village,
elling the gospel story is giving of our
iresence to those in need of a smile, a
riendly word, or a listening ear, as well
s giving our money to aid in disaster
espouse, refiigee resettlement, "start-
p" churches at home and in other
ountries, and program support and
esources.
I dream of the day when members of
lie Church of the Brethren can
elebrate their diversity as in the
mage of the body projected by Paul in
Corinthians 12:12-31. Each of us is
reated in the image of God. Alleluia!
"herefore, each of us has gifts, ideas,
nd insights given by God to be
respected by each other in our journey
together. As we seek to be faithful to
Jesus' teachings, to be the body of
Christ. Jesus' love commandment is a
beacon light in the chaotic darkness.
This love that Jesus teaches brings
harmony while we seek unity in the
body through Christ.
I dream of the day when members of
the Church of the Brethren are genuine
encouragers to each other. Along our
faith journey, each of us — from infant
believers to the most seasoned believ-
ers— needs positive encouragement. We
can encourage each other to use our
gifts in the church. We can empower
each other through these genuine words
of praise. How sad God must be — a
nightmare — when God's children pray
for the downfall of their sisters and
brothers within the body of Christ.
I
dream of the day when members of
the Church of the Brethren live out
their ordination into the priesthood of
all believers, as we promise at our
baptism. We are ordained to live God's
ministry 24 hours a day. We are
Christ's arms, legs, eyes, and ears. This
priestly living takes discipline, com-
mitment, and dedication. What a joy to
know that God calls each of us — as
teachers, medical caregivers, business
persons, homemakers, counselors, as
well as our "set-apart" people — to be
about God's ministry today. The joy of
our faith is to shine through in all we
do and say. To live each moment to the
fiillest. To live for God's honor and
glory. These are not mere words of our
faith, but action words of enthusiasm
and energy radiating from our very
being, drawing to us like a magnet
those people who do not know Jesus in
a personal way.
I dream of a day when members of
the Church of the Brethren, through
their commitment to Jesus Christ,
automatically give God's tithe, without
conscious thinking, and know that all
that is given above God's tithe is our
offering. 1 dream of the day when
decision-makers for our church must
spend energy discerning how to spend
our overflowing money in carrying out
God's ministry.
I dream of the day when members of
the Church of the Brethren enhance
their self-esteem and self-confidence.
We can then with feeling and meaning
say who we are as God's people, out of
our heritage as New Testament, commu-
nity, peace and justice, service, simple-
living believers. We have a story to tell
. . . and to live. Our lives are an invita-
tion to others: "Come, join us." I dream
we can hold in tension a sense of loyalty
to our denomination, to who we are as a
culture, while exploring and acknowl-
edging the transitions taking place
through paradigm shifts.
I dream of the day when members of
the Church of the Brethren will "eye-
ball" each other, will talk together in
love and respect. I dream of the day
when all our "voices" are gathered at a
round table, out of our love and respect
for each other, to relate our visions and
dreams. Each voice will be a good
listener. These voices will sensitize us
to hear those who feel they are on the
margins of the church.
I dream that the historians will uplift
our Church of the Brethren dreams as
realistic, having been lived out by
peculiar followers of Jesus. Hundreds of
years from now, our descendants will
know God's spirit was guiding us in the
mid-1990s by the way we set our sail,
determining the direction of our boat as
we journeyed into the 21st century.
They will know and understand that
these simple dreams were ftilfdled by
our seeking to be faithful to the
teachings of Jesus Christ.
M.\
Judy Mills Reimer, ofGoodview, Va., is a
member of Williamson Road Church of the
Brethren, Roanoke, Va. She is an ordained
minister and the moderator of Annual Conference.
Messenger October 1994 15
JUBILEE:
It's cool!
On Sunday, May 29, worshipers arriving at Pomona (Calif.)
Fellowship Church of the Brethren were greeted by odd figures.
Along the front walk, at key entrances, and in the sanctuary
stood life-size replicas of the tiny wooden figurines used in the
new Jubilee Sunday school curriculum.
As their creator, Phyllis Eller, had calculated, the unusual
"greeters" led to lots of questions. Pastor Jonathan Shively told
the congregation, "If you want to know about these figures,
come back next Sunday."
The next Sunday, June 5, three of the figures and a large
Bible (the center of the Jubilee curriculum) formed the
sanctuary's worship center. Other figures stood in the hallway
and near the sanctuary entrances. Young people of the congre-
gation had used helium-filled balloons to make a rainbow arch
over the central walkway to the church and to line the center
aisle of the sanctuary.
A graduation breakfast began the celebration. Jubilee mugs
filled with purple flowers formed table centerpieces. The
people were told, "If you agree to be a Jubilee teacher, you
may take a mug home." Most of the mugs were taken.
Worship and Sunday school were combined that morning,
with the pastor taking his text from Luke 4, the key Jubilee
text. For Sunday school, the congregation worked in five
groups — viewing the video "This is Jubilee"; hearing a Jubilee
Bible story, using story figures, and learning a blessing;
responding to the Bible study with a craft activity; learning the
three Jubilee theme songs; and learning the hymn "You Shall
Go out with Joy."
After everyone had participated in all five groups, the
congregation gathered in the fellowship hall, sang the songs,
gave the blessing, and then sang the benediction "You Shall Go
out with Joy."
Afterward, one Pomona mother reported that her 1 1 -year-
old son had exclaimed about the Jubilee activity, "Hey!
This is cool." A grandmother's response to the unusual
experience was, "This was such a great morning. Why don't
we do it more often?" — Phyllis Eller
Phyllis Eller. a member of Pomona (Calif.) Fellowship Church of the
Brethren, is Pacific Southwest District nurture chairwoman and a Jubilee
trainer. She made her life-size figures from bicycle boxes.
16 Messenger October 1994
Messenger October 1 994 1 7
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offer-
ing suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey . As the writer said
in her first installment, "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
STONES
I helped my husband mow
the lawn not too long ago.
At first it was kind of fiin.
That is, until I began
surveying my work. We
don't have one of those
lush green, Better-Homes-
and-Gardens lawns. We've
got a dirt-colored lawn with
rocks, roots, ridges, and
rumble strips.
When I turned to look
behind me, I couldn't see
where I'd been.
I took off my "blue
blocker" sunglasses, and I
still couldn't see where I'd
been.
I got off the tractor and
stooped down for a close-up
look. And still it was hard to
see where I'd been.
I remember that experi-
ence often.
I remember it when I hear
a mother tell of walking
through the house she just
cleaned yesterday, picking
up socks, putting away
shoes, and calling for kids
who much be wearing
blinders and ear plugs. She
can't tell where she's been.
I remember it as I listen to
a noncustodial father grieve
over the inequities and
injustices of a legal system
operating on a deeply
embedded bias that consis-
tently enables the dysfiinc-
tion of an embittered,
vindictive ex-wife. After
eons of negotiations, miles
of red tape, thousands
of dollars, and years of
trying, he can't tell where
he's been.
I remember it once again
as a disillusioned pastor
repeats the old, old story of
pouring out his life as a
drink offering before a
congregation that is long on
good intentions and family
ties, but short on vision and
follow-through. He can't tell
where he's been.
I remember it every time a
struggling brother and sister
tells me of yet another visit
to the doctor confirming
that the weight, cholesterol,
and blood pressure are still
high even after weeks of a
diet that is low-fat, low-
sugar, low-salt, and low-
taste. They can't see where
they've been.
I am beginning to think
that nothing in life carries a
higher "discouragement
quotient" than the fear that
our efforts are in vain.
I find it interesting that
tanning salons provide little
body decals. Since so many
of the clientele opt to tan all
over, the sticker apparently
is a way to measure "before"
and "after."
Whatever our task, be it
sacred, frivolous, or mun-
dane, we need to believe
that our work counts for
something.
When I mowed the grass,
I couldn't tell where I'd
been. That is, imtil my
husband pulled me over to
view my work from his
perspective. And, lo and
behold, from a different
angle I could indeed see the
demarcation between where
I had been and where I was
going.
That's a valuable lesson.
When our energy is low and
our frustration is high, it
helps to have another
perspective. We are usually
our harshest critic. So
someone else willing to help
us view our work from a
different vantage point can
go a long way toward
alleviating the suffocating
panic that taunts us into
believing our efforts are
useless.
In I Corinthians 3, the
apostle Paul tells us that the
day will bring to the light
our work, that it will be
shown for what it is, and
that fire will test the quality
of each one's work.
And I truly believe on the
spiritual level, that even
when we can't see where
we've been, God can. And
what God sees counts.
Meanwhile, I think I'm
going to switch from \AA,
lavm mowing to tanning. ^-—-^
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlebury, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counsel-
ing out of Waterford (Ind.)
Community Church.
18 Messenger October 1994
F
I called Dan West 'Dad'
On the 50th anniversary of Dan West's Heifer Project, his daughter
recounts a dozen values he taught her as she was growing up.
y Jan West Schrock
s Dan West's daughter, I grew
) knowing what a heifer was. A
;ifer is a young cow that has not
it had a calf. Heifer Project
temational is so named because
;ifers were the first gifts of this
temational program that now
ials in a whole menagerie of
limals.
People often ask me what it
like, being Dan West's
lughter. So I have made a
It of 12 things that I learned
Dm him.
Why 12? Well, 12 is a good,
miliar and often used number —
dozen. It's a practical number,
in West was a very practical
irson. Many called him a
ophet. Some called him a
actical prophet, an idealist, a
earner, a visionary, a pillar of
e church, a leader, a friend. I
lied him "Dad."
Here are my learnings:
'S good to Dad once drew
e humble, a circle in the sand
Ut timidity when we
wrong. were on the beach.
; told me that inside the circle was all
at you know. What you don't know is
i.tside the circle. As you learn more,
E circle expands.
Dad encouraged me to constantly
pand my circle, to ask questions, to
;lcome continuous learning, to be a
adent all my life. A life-long learner
humble. Dad encouraged all who
me in contact with him to widen
eir own circles.
And he encouraged them to speak
about their convictions. I heard him say,
"A timid soul has an unhealthy agenda."
Follow a We ground our own
healthy wheat, and Dad taught us
diet, and to make our own yogurt,
exercise. using the sun for warmth.
This was long before health food fads. 1
always thought that yogurt was a treat
that Dad had learned fi-om some interna-
tional experience. It was delicious,
topped with strawberries or raspberries
that we raised. This sometimes took the
place of dessert for us. Dad refiised
to eat cake as long as there was
hunger in the world.
He loved to take hikes, espe-
cially in the woods. I walked with
him on many Sunday afternoons.
He enjoyed walking in all kinds of
weather. I was taught the names of
trees, and learned to watch breath-
lessly for birds. When Dad lived in
Elgin, 111., he spent many early
mornings in the forest preserves.
Travel is Dad traveled by
educational, train most of his
life. People thought it a bit strange
that this denominational staff
member lived near Elkhart, Ind.,
and chose to commute by train to
Elgin, 111., for a monthly week-in-
office. He had his own office in
our home, and sometimes a
secretary lived with us and became
part of the family.
Train rides were Dad's time to
contemplate, read, plan, and be
creative. Sometimes he took me
with him. It was exciting to change
trains in Chicago, to stay at the
Brethren Fellowship House in Elgin, and
to hang out in the publishing house with
all its amazing machines. The smell of
printer's ink stays with me.
Dad thought that denominational staff
should find their life with congregations
and, if at all possible, not live and work
in a centralized location.
Be a world Dad encouraged me not
citizen. to recite the Pledge to
the Flag, salute the flag, or sing nation-
alistic songs. Not to be unpatriotic, but
because. Dad said, nationalism limited
Messenger October 1994 19
one's view of the world. Political
boundaries are for purposes of power.
When Dad was moderator of Annual
Conference, he requested that the US
flag not be on the stage. When it was
time to open Conference, Dad made no
move. There was an unbearable silence
and confusion as everyone watched him
sit motionless before them. Several
people said it was time to begin. Silence
from Dan West! Finally someone asked
him why he would not start the session.
Dad reminded the person that his request
had not been carried out. Then the flag
was taken away, and he opened Confer-
ence . . . not with the pounding of a
gavel but with the waving of a towel.
It was a different Conference that year
in Louisville (1966), more visual than
auditory. Dad was nontraditional. He
practiced Dietrich Bonhoeffer's prin-
ciple of being "in the world, but not of
the world."
One's When I was a fifth-
education grader. Dad invited me
cannot be to accompany him on a
contained month-long trip to
or limited. California. It was
February. My teacher, Mrs. Miller, was
aghast. She said I had just recovered
from a third grade slump, and should
not miss out on what she could provide
me in her classroom.
Dad said, "Schooling should never
interfere with your education." We
took along a bag of books, but I didn't
open them.
I was not afraid, even when the train
pulled out in Kansas City without Dad.
He had gotten off to mail letters or
make a phone call. I knew about his
ability to get onto a moving train. I had
seen him do it in Elkhart. Soon he
would be coming through the cars to
join me again.
I discovered on that trip that strangers
always were potential friends. Dad
opened up the "road" to us.
Gandhi, one of Dad's heroes, had
been assassinated just before our
trip. We attended several memorial
services along our way to California.
I learned about nonviolence at age 1 1 .
Mrs. Miller could not have taught me
20 Messenger October 1994
what I learned on that trip with Dad.
Live the simple i ran into
life; wealth and Dads office
the accumulation one day to
of material show him my
things are sinful, new pair of
shoes. I was excited. They were shiny
and bright. "Do you really need them?"
Dad asked me. I suppose I did, for my
feet were growing an inch a year. I was
1
WM
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J
As director of Brethren Volunteer
Service (a program Dan West helped to
found in 1948), Jan West Schrock
inspires and nurtures youth, in the
tradition of her well-known father.
stumped by Dad's question; it was too
heavy to answer.
Dad had a way of asking heavy
questions. Thankfully, Mother was
managing the practical side of our
growing family, and she did not consult
with Dad at every turn.
I learned later that Dad asked that
same question, "Do you really need
them?" at many Hilltop retreats and
Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS)
orientations. He taught many people to
examine carefully the instinct to accu-
mulate. "More than three pairs of shoes
gets into issues of world injustice."
I have talked with many people whose
lives were changed by Dad, and their
conversion sometimes began in their
clothes closet. Struggling with this
lesson keeps one humble, part of lesso:
number one.
The principles of the simple life are
difficult to master in a culture of choic
affordability, and affluence. Doing
without requires discipline. I see
BVSers learning this as they live on %^
a month spending money. Some
volunteers manage to save money
during their service, some find it too
difficult, and some manage even to gi^
away money. The plan is a good one.
Dad was a designer of practicing the
simple life through BVS, for which he
often was a week-long resource leader
He is remembered for an all-afternoon
discussion struggling with the concept
"Everyone is doing the best he can."
People get very uncomfortable with th
idea of his. Judgment and self-
righteousness wither and fly out the
window. Acting on this idea would
bring peace where there is war.
Enjoy Dad loved classical musi(
the arts. "Madame Butterfly" was
his favorite opera. We read "King Leai
as a family when I could barely hold
Shakespeare's collected works on my
lap. Dad worked with a puppeteer to
create "Spots and Stripes," a film abou
embracing differences rather than fightii
about them. He knew and respected th(
power of the media. He discouraged
competitive sports. It was difficult for
me to be a youth in basketball-crazed
Indiana. If Dad had been a coach, his
team seldom would have won because
he would have wanted everyone to pla;
Look for Dad taught me to ask
meaning "Why?" and "Why not?'
behind He taught me that
action. problems don't need to
be solved so much as discussed. "You
can get a heap of work done in a day i:
you don't care who gets the credit."
That takes talking, planning, taking J
responsibility, and not passing the buc
Dad taught me to argue my convic-
tions. He studied and took training in
group-process techniques. We spent
many long Sunday afternoons around
our family table discussing the momin
sermon or our Sunday school lessons.
I
We discussed the problems with
lited concepts such as "only through
irist." What about the rest of the
ople of faith in the world? Are good
ndus, Buddhists, and Muslims
redeemable in God's eyes? Is there
ly one path up the mountain to meet
)d? What effect does Christian
clusivity have in the world, through-
t history, and for tomorrow?
We learned Christian principles. We
;re not hemmed in by church houses,
nominations, political boundaries, or
ths. At times I thought we Wests
;re misfits in our rather conservative
mmunity.
slieve Dad spent his life working
youth, with youth. It was youth
10 began BVS 46 years ago, with his
aching. They lobbied Annual Confer-
ee for $6,000 to begin the BVS
Dgram without going through the
lablished channels.
Dad trusted youth when others did
t. He challenged them to think for
jmselves, take on leadership roles, to
t fear being wrong or misunderstood.
; believed that youth were the hope
d future of the church, and continu-
sly sought ways to invest in them.
Someone told me of participating in a
ainstorming session during the Bethel
3uth Camp of 1938, when Dad asked
; youth what they would do about the
iverty and helplessness following the
lanish Civil War. The youth con-
aded that sending cows to Europe was
good idea.
Dad knew that youth would come up
ith outrageous ideas, just like his. He
itened to youth and did not package
ograms for them. Youth always talked
ore than he did. Many people today
member their ideas coming alive
ound him. Their ideas, not his.
elieve in the Just as nations
CUmenical build barriers and
iiurch. bureaucracies, so do
inominations. Dad looked for ways to
in hands and work together for common
ilues. One of his sayings was "If
hristians stopped killing other Chris-
ms, there would be peace on earth.'"
An ark for today's world
Fifty years ago, a heifer named Faith and 1 7 other dairy cows traveled by boat from
the United States to Puerto Rico. Just as the animals of Noah's ark promised a new
beginning in days of old. Faith stepped out of her "ark" and brought hope to the
Lopez family, whose children had never before tasted cows' milk.
The dream of Dan West, a Church of the Brethren farmer and founder of Heifer
Project, was "not a cup, but a cow" — to provide families who are hungry with a
source of food rather than short-term relief
As World War II came to a close, thousands of animals sailed across the Atlantic to
help desperate familiies whose livestock — and livelihood — had been lost to fighting.
Heifer Project International (HPI) rarely ships animals in "arks" anymore. Today,
quality animals that are better suited to the local environment can usually be bought
near the projects at a better price and lower shipping costs.
But the ark still symbolizes the work of HPI. It's a story of urgency; the families
requesting HPI's help often depend on their new animals for their very survival. It's a
story of faith, not only in God, but in each other. It's also a story of new beginnings,
as families are given a chance to build a better future for their children.
In 1944, the only animals HPI's "ark" carried were cattle. This year, the ark
provides families in 31 countries with 20 different kinds of animals, from yaks and
camels to llamas and geese.
In its 50 years, HPI has provided more than one million families with food- and
income-producing animals in 110 countries, as well as training in animal husbandry;
in ecologically sound, sustainable farming; and in community development. HPI is
about much more than providing animals to struggling families. It is:
Helping children. Project families can provide life-saving nutrition through milk,
meat, or the ability to produce or buy food. Extra income can help them afford health
care and school for their children.
Enabling families and women. Many women who traditionally have been denied
education and other privileges are empowered, as they are able to own property and
provide directly for their families' needs for the first time.
Caring for the environment. Participating families plant trees and grasses and
learn techniques to preserve the environment for future generations.
Passing on the gift. There is no handout. Each family agrees to pass on one or
more of its animal's offspring to another family in need, so the original gift begins a
ripple effect that spreads to an entire community.
HPI celebrates the 50 years of heroic efforts of its supporters, staff, and recipient
familiies who have brought new life to many people.
But HPI hopes for the time when not one of God's children will go hungry for one day.
Meanwhile, HPI continues to help hungry families feed themselves, care for the
earth, and have a new hope. After all, the ark is a story of hope and promise.
M,.
Adapted from a Heifer Project International promotional booklet.
We get hemmed in and limit our
creative power by linear and small-
minded thinking. If denominational and
independent peace programs began
working together, we could make an
impression upon the military power
agendas.
Much to the dismay of many, Dad
insisted that Heifer Project not be
limited to just the Brethren. What would
this program be now if it did not reach
across 13 denominations, several faiths.
and several businesses, and did not
work cooperatively with government
programs?
Help people
achieve their
As Dan West's
child, I felt that I
higher goals, always was asked to
stretch beyond myself Dad often loaned
money to students who wanted to go to
college. I still meet people today who
tell me of their gratitude for Dad giving
them a start. He helped me get through
Messenger October 1994 21
Pontius' Puddle
NOTICE: Send payment for reprinting "Pontius ' Puddle "from Messenger to
Joel Kauffmann. Ill Carter Road, Goshen. IN 46526. $25 for one lime use. $10
for second strip in same issue. $10 for congregations.
THE GrOOD
rr^
o o
f ^ °
KEEP TWE
FAITH 1
O o '^
ANDSOTHEV
I'rAKEEPlNCr
It TO ^^SSEuF
IT'S KUSW
HOSH HE(?E .
L HAVEM
TOLOASOOU
THE
1^0^
AND
Teacher, administrator, and a Camp Mack
founder, John Eberly '29 made programs work
and moved on to more. Self-sufficent, organized,
and practical, John humbly left the world a
better place. From work with Heifer Project,
Student Exchange, New Windsor Center, and
as Washington Representative, the effects of
John's boundless service places him among
the rare and remarkable.
3obn
Eberly
^^"Nery,
comer
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
An inspiring, vivacious, young woman, Tina
Newcomer '95 makes good things happen.
She is on the move in campus ministry func-
tions, as a disaster relief worker, worship
leader, and Camp Mack counselor. Tina plans
for a teaching career. No doubt she'll be a
success. Her solid faith, leadership abilities,
and organizational skills place her among
Manchester's rare and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on ttie basis ol sucti factors as national or
ethnic origin, race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, disal3ility, or
veteran status in admissions or any other area o( campus life, including its educational
programs, scholarships and loan awards, residence life programs, athletic programs, or
extracurricular programs.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982-5000
college by giving me the use of our ^
chicken house and all the grain I needed
I became a poultry raiser for a few
summers.
Higher goals? Dad used to ask, "And
then what?" He always seemed to have
the larger picture.
Believe in This brings me tc
empowerment, cows and fishing
poles. When Dad was distributing
powdered milk to starving children in
Spain during the '30s, with the Emer-
gency Peace Campaign, its decision,
when the milk supply was running out,
was to give milk to the strongest
children and let the weak ones die. It
was a horrible situation and a decision
that no one ever should make.
Dad saw green fields lying idle, and
knew that Indiana farmers would be
willing to give a cow, not a cup. He
knew that if you give hungry people a
fish, you give them food for a day. If
you give them fishing poles, they can
find food for a lifetime for their famil>
and for their neighbors.
This simple idea, the guiding prin-
ciple for Heifer Project, is embraced b
fanners and families around the world
today. Once a family receives the gift '
a heifer, a goat, a sheep, a turkey, hens
or bees, they then give to their neigh-
bors. The gifts are passed on and on.
Empowerment, not a handout, brings
dignity. Cows and fishing poles, not
powdered milk and fish.
Dad's memory lives on. The ideals
and the programs he inspired are alive
and flourishing today. Dan West
touched many lives, dared to march to
different drummer, ruffled feathers,
spoke truth to power, and cared for the
poor through empowering programs. H
cared for me, and I cared for him. He
taught me much, and I know, as a
parent, that I taught him too.
A^
Jan West Schrock, director of Brethren
Volunteer Service, is on a leave of absence,
serving as director of the National Council of
Churches ' new Ecumenical Program for Urban
Ser\'ice (EPRUS). See September, page 7.
22 Messenger October 1994
The church's confessional choices
Are we going to include every faith expression, religious and secular,
in the tremendously diverse market of ideas and practices that our
culture and world have to offer? Or will we choose to remain within
he bounds of the New Testament in our faith, our confessional witness?
Y Timothy A. Snell
ly time the church is called upon for
lewal, it must take the "re" part of
lewal very seriously. This implies a
urn to the church's roots, a revival of
It which originally animated the
urch, a recovery of what may have
sn lost or cast aside over the years.
With that in mind, let's re-examine
me items from the church's history,
e Church of the Brethren was bom in
08 out of reaction to and concern for
ipecific circumstance in the history of
: larger church — the alliance of
urch and state.
Phis marriage between the church and
; civil governments in what now is
)stly Germany created a situation in
lich church laws and state laws,
urch boundaries and state boundaries,
d church membership and state
izenship virtually were identical. If
u were bom and lived in a certain
jvince you were automatically
nsidered to be a Christian (either
)man Catholic, Lutheran, or Re-
rmed) from birth to death by virtue of
ur citizenship.
In this environment the tendency was
r the church to ask the state powers to
force uniformity of belief throughout
I entire country or province. This
ve rise to the situation that confronted
; early Brethren: People might give
sent to the creedal affirmations of the
urch because of cultural pressure
one, or with little or no idea of what
; creeds meant or pointed to, or with
tie or no intention of taking seriously
e source to which the creeds pointed
le biblical. New Testament, apostolic
itness), or with little or no evidence of
Tsonal acceptance of, devotion
ward, or obedience to the Person
(Jesus) to whom the creeds and the
biblical witness pointed.
So then, the early Brethren undoubt-
edly were opposed to an empty and
powerless "creedalism." They never
rejected, however, the foundational
confessions and tenets of faith of either
the apostolic church (found in the New
Testament) or the 2nd- to 4th-century
church (represented by summaries of the
apostolic teaching and preaching in such
affirmations as the Apostles' Creed and
Messenger October 1994 23
Where in the world?
When Wilbur Stover traveled to India in 1 894, his trip marked the beginning of
Brethren concern for world mission.
The concern grew dramatically after those who opposed this direction
separated in 1881 as the Old German Baptist Brethren. The enthusiasm for
world mission continued to develop during the next half-century. Wherever in
the world Brethren went they brought a passion for the gospel as a way of living
as much as a doctrine to be preached. We were dedicated to including educa-
tion, medicine, and agricultural development within the New Testament witness
to Jesus Christ.
Awakened Brethren were sensitive and responsive to world tragedies that
occurred after World War I. Dan West's volunteer service to those suffering in
the civil war in Spain in 1936 gave rise to the idea for Heifer Project. After
World War II, Brethren were instrumental in initiating the Christian Rural
Overseas Program (CROP), Church World Service, Brethren Volunteer Service,
and International Christian Youth Exchange. Brethren poured an enormous
amount of energy into the growing Brethren Service program. This effort was
well received in part because Brethren promised European church leaders that
we would not evangelize their people.
The period after World War II saw a growing respect for other Christian
traditions and for cultures in other parts of the world. The Church of the Breth-
ren in India joined together with other Christians to form the Church of North
India. The church in Nigeria was encouraged in the same direction. They
preferred to have their own aimual conference and to be identified as the Church
of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN). With other Christians, the Brethren in China
seemed to be swept away by the communist revolution.
In 1 968 the General Board combined the programs of Brethren Service and of
overseas mission into the World Ministries Commission. But that action did not
overcome the conflict between establishing new churches overseas on one hand
and providing service under the direction of other Christians on the other hand.
This issue surfaced again in the 1980s, when Atmual Conference urged the
establishing of new overseas missions. In particular. Conference directed that
the Church of the Brethren be established in South Korea.
Subsequently the Church of the Brethren has been established in the Domini-
can Republic and Brazil. The Dominican Republic work was initiated by
Brethren from Puerto Rico, and the Brazil work was initiated by a Brazilian
graduate of Bethany Seminary. We are constantly confronted with the dilemma
of whether to start new churches or whether to support those already begun.
Brethren have never wanted to simply preach the gospel and then abandon those
who respond. We believe the gospel calls for medicine, education, and agricul-
tural help. While we may seem to move more slowly, we hope by God's grace
to embody Jesus Christ's example of genuine love.
The world today faces an enormous number of challenges — overpopulation,
poverty, climate changes, and others. The gospel calls us to reach out in Christ's
name, and this includes a love for the neighbor that addresses the suffering of
our time. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretaiy of the Church of the Brethren.
the baptismal confession of Hippolytus,
to which they also appealed as early
church evidence for trine immersion).
They applauded, in fact, the "reforma-
24 Messenger October 1994
tion of faith" of Luther, Calvin, and
Zwingli (which retained and reaffirmed
the confessional core of the church), but
they wanted to see that reformation
result in a corresponding "reformation
of life." They understood that the
simple signing or reciting of a creedal
statement was no guarantee of any sucl
reformation of life.
The early Brethren, however, did ho
to a "credo" (Latin for "I believe"), a
faith confession — the New Testament
itself. There they found confession of
faith in Jesus literally all over the plac
filling the pages of holy scripture. (See
Matthew 1:16, 1:20-21, 1:22-23, 2:1-6
2:10-11, 2:15, 3:11-12, 3:14, 3:16-17,
4:1-11, 4:13-16, 4:24, 5:17-18, 7:28-2<
8:16-17, 8:27, 8:28-34, 9:2-8, 9:19-22,
9:27-31, etc. Associated with almost
every healing or exorcism is some kim
of faith statement, either having to do
with the faith in Jesus of the person
healed or delivered, or with Matthew 's
own confession, as in 8:17. Later on,
there are the great confessions of 16:L
17, 17:5, 16:63-64, 27:54, 28:5-7,and
28:16-20. And that's not all from the
gospel of Matthew. See also John 1,
Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 1 and 15,
Philippians 2, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrew
1, and Revelation 1 . . . just for starter;
Against these confessions of faith
found in the New Testament the early
Brethren did, implicitly and explicitly,
measure their own faith. They did not,
as did the Inspirationists and others
among the more extreme Pietists, base
their movement on the subjective
authority of individual experience and
personal speculation, but rather rooted
themselves in the authority of scriptun
Even the decision to "become a church
and proceed with the first baptisms
ultimately was made because they foui
no other way to obey the command of
the only Son of God, their risen Savior
and Lord, as found in holy scripture in
Matthew 18:17.
Even though the Brethren were
"noncreedal" in the technical, philo-
sophical sense, they were not noncreed;
in the biblical, confessional sense. The;
refiised to speculate beyond the bounds
of the New Testament in terms of their
confessional witness, their faith and
practice. They certainly put an emphasi
on obedience to Christ, but they never
lestioned, reduced, rejected, or added
the basic, orthodox, evangelical New
;stament tenets of the faith, especially
; common teaching of the whole New
;stament regarding the life, death, and
Even though the
Brethren were
'noncreedal' in the
?chnical, philosophical
sense, they were not
noncreedal in the
biblical, confessional
sense. They refused to
speculate beyond the
bounds of the New
Testament in terms of
their confessional
witness, their faith
' and practice. They
certainly put an
emphasis on
obedience to Christ,
but they never
questioned, reduced,
rejected, or added to
the basic, orthodox,
evangelical New
Testament tenets of
the faith
odily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth,
le only Son of God, the Lamb of God
'ho by his death on the cross took away
le sins of the world, the only Savior
^ho conquered death and hell by the
ower of his resurrection, and the only
Ascended Master," who someday will
return to earth to set all things right
again (judge the living and the dead) at
the end of the age.
All these New Testament assumptions
and teachings were simply held as
foundational by our Brethren forebears.
(See Donald F. Dumbaugh, European
Origins of the Brethren, source
material; Donald F. Dumbaugh,
The Brethren in Colonial America,
source material; William R. Eberly,
The Complete Writings of Alexander
Mack; Vemard EUer's article on
"Brethren Beliefs" in The Church of the
Brethren Past and Present; and Filer's
unpublished article "Faith Confession:
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SPONSORED BY: Bridgewater College (VA), Elizabethtown College (PA), Juniate College (PA),
Manchester College (IN). McPherson College (KS), University of La Verne (CA).
Messenger October 1 994 25
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The Community's First Work.")
The situation in which we find our-
selves in 1994 in America is quite
different in some ways from the situation
of the early Brethren in 1 8th-century
Germany, In our culture and time, we are
not dominated by any one state-sponsorec
church. Our culture is much more "plural-
istic" than was 18th-century Germany in
terms of what people "believe," especiall;
regarding religious belief What we now
have is an incredible diversity of religion!
and belief systems in our culture — a
growing proliferation of religious expres-
sions under the protection and "tolerance'
of a supposedly benign and neutral
government.
This situation, however, is not unprec-
edented in either church history or world
history. It is very much like the situation
faced by the early church up to the time
of Constantine in the 4th century. Under
both republican and imperial Rome, a
large variety of "religious expressions"
were "tolerated," so long as they were
amenable to incorporation, to amalgam-
ation, into the imperial Roman system, sc
long as they didn't threaten the great
Roman peace, the "Pax Romana."
Judaism was tolerated, unless it was
Zionist or Zealot (Jewish nationalist).
Mithraism was a Persian mystery cult
especially popular among the soldiers of
the empire. Various philosophical school
(Platonist, Epicurean, Stoic) were popula
with both Greeks and Romans, and with
many Greek-speaking people among the
conquered provinces. Gnosticism and
other Hellenistic and Eastern (Persian,
Hindi) mystery religions gained large
followings all over the empire. Egyptian
religious ideas also were influential. And
of course, watching over and encompass-
ing it all was the great, universalistic
pantheon of imperial Rome, borrowed
directly from the Greek pantheon of gods
and goddesses and enlarged to accommo-
date all the "new" gods and goddesses of
the empire.
Into this mix stepped the early disciple!
of Jesus. They were at first considered a
Jewish sect, and thus were tolerated and
even afforded protection (see Paul's
appeal in Acts 21:39). They were noiu'e-
sistant and renounced worldly (political)
26 Messenger October 1994
iwer, so they were not identified with
5 Jewish Zealots. They lost their
ccepted" status, however, when they
entually were expelled from the
nagogues and disowned by the Jewish
mmunities.
The Roman authorities finally
formed them that they could receive
proved status if they did two things —
cede to the imperial edicts claiming
ity for the Roman emperor, and
nply allow their "god" (Crestus, the
tin name for Christ) to go right up
;re in the pantheon alongside all the
ler gods and goddesses, including
lesar. Eventually the Romans de-
mded an oath of allegiance of their
bjects involving the statement
aesar is Lord." This translated to
aesar is (a) god."
o these demands the early Christians
ponded curiously. They countered the
perial oath "Caesar is Lord" with what
IS almost certainly the first Christian
•edo" or confession of faith outside the
:w Testament, a confession which had
origin in the New Testament itself:
;sus is Lord," or "Christ is Lord." (See
ke 6:46, John 20:28, Philippians 2:9-
, 1 Peter 3:13-16. See also Vemard
er's aforementioned article "Faith
nfession: The Community's First
3rk.") To this very peculiar, particular,
1 exclusive confession they added
lir refusal to simply place Jesus Christ
ingside all the "other" gods and
ddesses of the empire. For the
ristians, Jesus was unique and pre-
linent, not to be confused with the
ds that "by nature are no gods." (See
latians 4:8. See also Acts 17:22-34
J 1 Corinthians 8:4-6.)
For this uncompromising stance,
5med complete foolishness by the
mans (who ridiculed Christians for
irshiping a crucified and thus abso-
ely discredited god), thousands of
ristians lost their lives in the coliseums
the empire. They were willing to offer
their lives rather than deny (relin-
ish their confession of faith in) "the
ister who bought them" (2 Pet. 2:1).
rhis may seem foolish and pointless
to us as well. The very cross of Christ
itself may, in fact, seem foolish (mean-
ingless) to many of us present-day
Greco-Romans (1 Cor. 1:17-25) — the
cross of him who "testified the good
confession before Pontius Pilate" (John
18:33-37, 1 Tim. 6:13).
So the church of today, including the
Church of the Brethren, is faced with a
number of choices:
Are we going to force upon ourselves
an inclusiveness of every faith expres-
sion, religious and secular, that is now
out there in the tremendously diverse
market of ideas and practices that our
culture and world have to offer? Or will
we choose to remain within the bounds
of the New Testament in our faith, our
confessional witness?
Will we embrace unitarianism, or
universalism, or pantheism, or human-
ism, or syncretism, choosing to deny or
reduce or minimize the deity (and thus
the full humanity) of Christ while at the
same time attempting to create some
overriding "unity," some synthesis,
which will reject by definition the
specific revelation of God in Jesus of
Nazareth, Jesus Christ? Or will we hold
to that irreducible revelation of God in
Christ that is the heritage of the historic
apostolic church?
Will we take as our final authority for
faith the theories of the physical or
social sciences, or our own subjective
experience? Or will we measure and
judge our experience and theories by the
time-tested truths of the New Testa-
ment, that which continues to be called
our rule (yardstick, plumb line) of faith
and practice?
Once again, in a new time and a
new historical setting, we are being
called upon to be faithful to the apos-
tolic witness. Even as the early Brethren
then called upon the testimony of the
New Testament and the early church on
such matters as baptism, nonresistance,
and church discipline, so must we
now call upon that testimony — the
testimony of the apostles and martyrs —
in the matter of the church's
confessional choices.
M..
MAC
FACTS
Timothy A. Snell is pastor of Lindsay (Calif.)
Community Church of the Brethren.
Dn Herb Smith
Professor of Religion &
TaTUH Philosophy
WnU Dr. Jeanne Smith
Assistant Professor of
Education
Leading a 10-day
WHAT McPherson College
tour of Greece and Rome
WHEN January 16-25, 1995
Rome, The Vatican,
TVOppp Athens, Corinth, a thiee-
island cruise
Trans-Atlantic flight to
Rome; tour bus for the
McPherson College group
with a guide m each
country. To join the group
or receive more informa-
tion, contact the Smiths
at 316/241-0731.
HOW
WHY
"The 1995 Interterm
travel course will afford
participants a first-hand
taste of international
flavor. The focus will
center on the intriguing
variety of ancient
Mediterranean religions
and their relationship to
the history of Christianity
Bin the eternal city of
Rome and the Platonic
city of Athens. Also
included will be a survey
of pedagogical styles in
classical and Christian
traditions."
-Dr. Herb Smith
McPherson College welcomes all applicants
regardless of race, religion, color, national ori-
gin. sex, or physical or emotional disabibty.
i
ii
Messenger October 1994 27
In a rough
world, love
endures
by Frank Ramirez
Mixed Reviews critiques books, films,
and other products of the entertain-
ment media that speak to Brethren
living out their faith. The reviews are
not to be taken as Messenger V
endorsement, necessarily. Rather, we
present them as helpful information
for readers who encounter the
subjects they treat.
REVIEWS
It's a rough world out there.
You can try to ignore it, or
you can speak honestly with
your kids about it. Your
choice.
And sometimes, even
when you want to broach a
difficult subject, it's hard to
know how to begin the
dialog. For my daughter,
Jessica (age 11), and me,
reading The Whitney
Cousins aloud together
helped us discuss some
tough issues. And as these
books show, communication
is sometimes half the battle.
The three Whitney
Cousins novels were
published simultaneously
and are intertwined. {The
Whitney Cousins: Heather.
The Whitney Cousins:
Amelia, The Whitney
Cousins: Erin, by Jean
Thesman; Avon Books;
$2.95) Each is written in the
first person, and speaks with
the voice of a different
cousin. Their lives are
connected, yet their situa-
tions are quite different.
As the first novel opens,
Heather's mother has
remarried and the family
moves from Seattle to Fox
Crossing, a few hours away.
In addition to a new home.
Heather inherits a stepfather,
a cold and distant stepsister,
and an outwardly hostile
housekeeper. Adjusting to life
in a new community, a new
school, and a new life nearly
prove impossible for this
Whitney cousin. She moums
the loss of the old way of life.
However, when her stepsister
loses a scholarship because of
a cheating scandal. Heather
fights to clear her and in the
process sorts out some, but
not all, of the difficulties that
come with a difficult change
of life.
As the book closes,
Heather admits to a new
friend a few qualms about a
relationship her cousin
Amelia has written about.
The situation proves
disastrous for the second
Whitney cousin.
To put it bluntly, Amelia
becomes the victim of an
attempted date rape.
At last. Heather convinces
Amelia she must trust her
parents, who believe her and
support her. However school
officials remain skeptical,
preferring not to believe her
accusations as they would
have to take action. Some
friends believe, while others
wonder if she had it coming.
And Amelia begins to
discover there are several
like her at school, girls with
haunted eyes who have
endured similar experiences.
Only when her friends
convince her to join their
clown froop does she begin
to take control of her life
and reclaim some of her
former self Moreover, she
becomes empowered to take
action against Warren.
For Erin, the third
Whitney cousin, the problem
is the death of her parents,
victims of a drunk driver.
Acting out her hostility to
the world has alienated Erin
from all her relatives. She is
not about to risk love again.
She is kicked out of several
schools and homes.
But there is one teacher
who cares, and encourages
her to pursue her artwork.
And Erin discovers another
artist at the waterfront who is
also a victim of grief More-
over, the Whitney family is
determined to love her. And
they are not alone in finding
her worthy to be loved.
Despite the often desper-
ate subject matter, through
all three novels runs a wild
streak of joy. Life is waiting
to be discovered in spite of
all obstacles. Love endures.
The books provide no easy
sugar-sweet answers. The
powers and principalities are
present in the persons of
administrators, teachers,
erstwhile friends, and
outward enemies.
As I said at the outset, it
can be an ugly world. The
Whitney cousins trilogy may
be part of a dialog to show
that trust and love still
provide some of the
answers.
Mi
Frank Ramirez is pastor of
Elkhart Valley Church of the
Brethren. Elkhart, Ind.
28 Messenger October 1 994
/ichita: My kind of town
rom the editor's critique of Wichita
August, page 26), I assume he defi-
itely will not be interested in the
scorning study on the simple life, since
Wichita's Ramada Hotel was too shabby
ir him. Although I didn't stay there, it
loked more than adequate to me.
I'm sorry he felt such a "dearth of
3od restaurants." Funny thing, I
lought the food service was set up for
mferencegoers who found no restau-
ints to their liking.
And if 100-degree weather is such an
sue, why do we hold Annual Confer-
ice in Jiilyl Does the editor have an
laska location to suggest? We Kansans
ive also gotten quite hot in Phoenix,
orfolk, and Cincinnati. I guess it won't
; hot in Charlotte.
It surely was nice of the editor to talk
k'er his grievances with Toto. Toto is,
F course, the representative for us
labby Kansas folk.
Eloise Lichty
McPherson, Kan.
blunteers' work depreciated
he editor's comments about Wichita
August, page 26) depreciated, by
nplication the sacrificial service given
y hundreds of volunteers, in addition to
le hours of preparation by General
oard staff The editor is really saying
lat regardless of the above, Wichita
'as pretty bad.
There has not been the best of
rerything at any Conference I have
ttended. My provincial pride was
ffended by these pot shots.
Why couldn't such "creative
loughts" just be passed on to the
rogram and Arrangements Committee?
Kent E. Naylor
McPherson, Kan.
iscaping healtii-care dilemma
is for the health-care dilemma (May/
une, page 26), I believe our govem-
lent wants to take control of the health-
are industry. This is not because of any
governmental concern for the people,
but because of a desire to control 14
percent of the gross national product. It
seems to me that Satan is influencing
the dilemma.
Jesus Christ showed us that healing
was a result of faith. The poor and sick
are gifts to us, an opportunity to let the
Holy Spirit work. Too many times we
are more concerned about a person's life
than his soul.
If I focus on Jesus, I find that our
"health-care dilemma" is only a symp-
tom of a sinful generation. The true
sickness is sin. And the true cure of that
sickness is faith in Jesus Christ.
Anthony J. Valant
Richmond. Ind.
/r
=^
IV s a combination of the more
reasonable cost and the element
of service that makes MAA
attractive ...
Donald Munn, MAA Member
Middlebury, IN.
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Are you receiving the service you deserve?
1-800-255-1243
for your FREE video
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Insurance protection exclusively for Brethren
churches, homes, farms, camps, small businesses,
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For a quote or more information, call our toll free number
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^
Messenger October 1994 29
Memory Lane to Lybrook
Reading "Lybrook and Its Changing
Roles" (May/June, page 20) headed me
down Memory Lane and a nostalgic
look through more than 40 years' worth
of photos, papers, and articles.
The trip took me beyond 1952
(Lybrook Ministry's beginning). The
Brethren who did the pre-Lybrook
From the
Office of Human Resources
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Administrative Director,
Evangelism Leaders Academy
half-time position
Director, Program Volunteers
full-time position, Elgin. Two-year
commitment beginning 3/1/95
Doctors
Castatier, Puerto Rico. Six month
minimum commitment
Host/Hostess
Corrymeela Community, Belfast,
Northern Ireland. Mature couple. Two-
year commitment beginning 1/1/95
Various Opportunities
Available at the Brethren Service
Center, New Windsor, Md.
For information call Jon and Carol Hoke,
Directors. Program Volunteers (800) 323-8039
surveys and "leg work" stayed in our
home back then, visited the mission in
which we worked and worshiped, met
the Navajos in their hogans, and prayed
with us for an early Church of the
Brethren mission.
Through the years there were many
other interested Brethren visitors. Now,
more than 42 years later, after numerous
moves, work in six states and seven
countries, and meeting many Christians
and missions, Lybrook is still very
special. I pray that God will bless the
continued efforts to spread the "good
news" to our Indian friends.
Ruby Brumbaugh
Canton. Ohio
Social activism overdone
I left Conference concerned that "peace
and justice" have become "God" for
many Brethren. The only way to have
peace and justice is through a life-
changing encounter with Jesus.
Our faith must be centered in God and
what he has done for us through Jesus
Christ. Then, through heartfelt devotion
to him, good works will come.
Peace and justice need to happen one
heart at a time. Peace and justice are '.
only a part of our Christian experience.
We should be bound together hy faith,
not by social activism.
Dawn Sne
Lindsay, Cali
On target on simplifying |
The August editorial, "Find That Gift t(
Be Simple," was right on target, and
very well done. I
Harold S. Marti
York. Pt
Jesus cruising the mall?
I enjoyed the vision of an urban king-
dom in "Seek the Peace of the City"
(August, page 29). But in the midst of
the acceptance of diversity, there were
stones cast at many people and places.
We will never find peace by simply
redefining our enemies. Can Jesus be
found even at the mall? Well, I recentl)
saw a rainbow that arched from
McDonald's to Wal-Mart.
Frances R. Townsen
Warsaw. Im
CLASSIFIED ADS
FOR RENT— Would you like to spend a winter in Florida?
We have a 2-bedroom bungalow completely furnished.
$350 a month if rented for six months or more. In the heart
of Sebnng (305 S. Pine St.), and 3 blocks from the Church
of the Brethren. Contact: Mrs. T. Lee Norton, 313 S. Pine
St., Sebring, FL 33870. Tel. (813) 385-8228.
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. John Mason
& If^ary Ann Hauler of Virginia— ^9%■.Ziegle^ Family Record
(Revised)— 1990; Stianl< Family Recorcl-^992■. Michael
Miller Family Record— ^99y. John WamplerS Magdalena
Garber—m progress; John H. Garber Family Record— in
progress; Nicholas Garber Family Record— \r\ progress.
Please write for prices and more information. Send long
SASE. Floyd R. Mason, 1 1 5 E. Rainbow Drive, Bridgewater,
VA22812.
FOR SALE— 3-bedroom/3-bath, golf course home in
Sebnng, Fla., a great place for Brethren to retire! House,
built and owned by Brethren, is four miles from Sebring
Church of the Brethren. If you buy, you can be assured of
no hassles and no hidden expense. Take a look— video
and fact sheet available. For infer, write to Kurt Borgmann,
718 Ninth Ave., Sebring, FL 33872. Tel. (813) 471-3948.
NOTICE— The Atlantic Faithful Servant Church of the
Brethren officially closed its doors on May 1, 1994. We
thank everyone who lovingly supported us over the years.
Brethren in Atlanta area will still meet twice a year. On the
30 Messenger October 1994
first Sundays in May and November we will have a "Breth-
ren Homecoming" that will include a potluck love feast,
communion, a feetwashing service, and plenty of fellow-
ship. For information on the meeting place or general
information on Brethren in the Atlanta area contact Bob
and Rose Garrison at (404) 979-7343.
TRAVEL— Grandtourof Europe— including Paris, the Swiss
Alps, Venice, Vienna, Prague, united Berlin, and
Schwarzenau. July 10-31, 1995. Forinfo. write to J. Kenneth
Kreider, 1300 Sheaffer road, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL— Tour Israel and Jordan, Feb. 9-20; Eastern
Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
Republic, Poland, and Berlin, Germany), May 8-27, 1 995;
Scandinavia, July 12-27, 1995; Great Britain (England,
Wales, Scotland), Aug. 8-25, 1995; Alpine Tour (Germany,
Austria, Switzerland), Sept. 21 -Oct. 6, 1995. For further
info, contact; Gateway Travel Center Inc., 606 Mifflin
Street, Huntingdon, PA 1 6652-0595. Tel. (800) 322-5080.
TRAVEL— "Highlights of Scandinavia" tour Visit Den-
mark, Non/vay, and Sweden, along with a mini-cruise
across the North Sea. See the "Little Mermaid" in the
harbor at Copenhagen. Visit Eward Grieg's home at Bergen,
Nonway. July 1 9-Aug. 6, 1 995 (1 9 days). $2379 from New
York (JFK). For info, write Wendell and Joan Bohrer, 8520
royal meadow Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46217. Tel. (317)
882-5067.
WANTED— Church planters. The creation of a new Chun
of the Brethren fellowship in the Research Triangle
North Carolina (near Raleigh) is being explored by tl
Viriina District Extension Committee. The group is solic
ing the names of Brethren and other interested persons
that area. If you or someone you know would be intereste
contact Daria Kay & Duane Deardorff at (919) 851-262'
or Dave & Lynette Minnich at (919) 846-7990.
WANTED— Participants for the 1 994 Young Adult Confi,
ence, Nov. 24-26 at Camp Eder. Theme is "By the Manr
of Their Living" led by Debbie Eisenbise and L
Krahenbuhl. Registration at 3 p.m., Thurs. Conferen
ends at 1 p.m.. Sat. Cost; $70, including $20 registrati'
fee, due Nov. 1. Limited scholarship help available
BVSers and distance travelers. Open to all young adul '
For info., contact Chris Michael, Youth/Young Adult M
istry Office, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
WANTED— Volunteer camp managers. Camp Ithiel, C
lando (Fla.) seeks volunteer couple to assist camp dirf
tor with management of year-round outdoor minis
program. Responsibilities vary from office work to fo
sen/ice to general maintenance. Stipend and housing
furnished cottage (kitchen & laundry provided). Thr
Church of the Brethren congregations within 20 minuti
Come try the Florida setting. For information conti
Mike Neff, Camp Ithiel, P.O. Box 165, Gotha, FL347;
Tel. (407)293-3481.
5W
smbers
ron. N. Ohio: Don & Brette
Day, Michael & Diane Fuller,
Betty Landis
ington, Mid-Atl.; Randy Hill.
Donna Jones. Bonnie
Montgomery
icon Heights. N. Ind.: Russell
Degitz, Shawna Dick. David
Eikenbeny, Amy Fry-Miller,
Gene & Pam HoUenberg.
Michelle Keim. Jill Kline.
Jackie Osbum. Robert Runkle
hel. N. Ind.: Arlene Cory,
Juanita Yoder
dgewater, Shen.: David &
Grace Brightbill, Margaret
Dean. Ken Klamut, Gary &
Cheryl Ratliff. Myron, Jackie
& Mindy Rummel
lokville. S. Ohio: Jacob Dull.
Kim Hartley, Tina Marie
Ossvvald, Amber Simpson.
David Tomlin
;h Creek, Mid-Atl: Ray &
Gladys Holsinger
h Creek, Mid-Atl.: Kathryn &
Matthew Conway, Bryan,
Chontelle. Joel. Kellie. Paul &
Shirley Hockenbery. Deane &
Max Myers. Jessica Weller
impaign. Hi. /Wis.: James
Drook. Debbie, Hazel &
Larry Zink
lorus. S. Pa.: Scott Barshinger
las Center. N. Plains: Amber
Beni. Emily Brewer. Angela
& Scott Hawbaker. Kelli &
Nathan James, Phillip Leake
'ton, Shen.: Lindsay Estes,
Bill & Pansy Hoover.
Lenford & Helen Harold,
James & Anita Beckman
xelHill, Atl. N.E.: Steven
Bums, Edie Hinkle, Diane &
Robin Hummel, Tina Reed,
Lisa Shaffer
tFairview. Atl. N.E.: Carol
& Dennis Fahnestock, Jeff &
Laura Graybill. Maijorie &
Randy Kauffman
t Cocalico, Atl. N.E.: Fran
Beck. Ashley Brubaker. Lori
& Lou Casanova, Linda &
Tim Kilbum. Jared Long,
Barbara & Robert Nissley.
Sue Ream
hart City. N. Ind.: Tobe
Graber, Joan Risden
irata, Atl. N.E.: Robert
Gottlieb, Daryl Strine
rett, M, Pa.: Adam &
Andrew Decker. Randy
Pepple. Susan Schetrompf,
Mary Shaffer
■in. Atl. N.E.: Nancy
Anderson, Bonnie Brinkman,
Jim Bollinger. Jeff Carter.
Eric Danz, Anne Daubert,
Marsha Dehniey, Carolyn &
Shelly Dohner, Beth & Doug
Ebersole. Barb & Greg
Goodling. Don & Donna
Grove. Joe & Joy Howard,
Maryana Kostishak, Joe
Pepper, Rich Rowley. Ron &
Judy Sadd. Beth Semmens.
Sharon Weaver, Dennis &
Galen West.
eport, Mich: Lisa Zupin
en Tree. Atl. N.E.: David &
Barbara Eller, Kimberly
Hallman, Eleanor & Mary
Hunter. Vera Koch. Bill &
Mary Lapina. Kevin &
Wendy Morris. Man Orie,
Jason Szabo. Joe & June
Tometta, Scott Wolfe
Greenville, S. Ohio: Emerson &
Ruth Baker. Daniel
Bondurant, Mista Boone,
Jennifer & Michael Byers.
Matthew Carter. Judy Cornell.
Darrell & Betty Fryman,
Estella Geeting, Harry Moore.
Tom & Mary Patterson, Irene
Petry. Alice Young
Hanover, S. Pa.: Molly Ault,
Timothy Hurtack, Jeremy &
Natalie Mowery, John V.
Mowrer, Heath & Wayne
Mummert. Ryan Yingling
Happy Corner. S. Ohio: Chris
Barker, John Brown, Jessi.
Mike & Susan Dull, Jo
Eppley. Eric Fisher. Becky,
Tom. Kaitlin & Tyler Hagan,
Wendy Jackson, Duane &
Norma Murphy. Kay Watson
Harman. W. Marva: Glenda
Cooper, Heather Harman,
Kathy Hedrick. Cindy
Wellman
Harrisonburg, Shen.: Margaret
Adams, Christine & Heather
Bowser, Megan Burtner, Phil
Buskirk, Becky Coffrnan.
Diane Cowger. William &
Elsie Eicher, Lisa Falls. Jean
Glick. Angela Graves, Jessica
Holl, Marc Hudson. Samantha
Lambert, Sarah Martz. Chris
McCutcheon, Faye. Madeline
& Melody Miller, George
Nipe, Thomas Norford. Lu
Ritchie, Addie Showalter
Hartville, N. Ohio: Cheryl &
Len Cottrell. Jesse Willard
Evans, Ann, Mary, Roy &
Vernon Hershberger. Glen &
Matthew Maranville, Gilbert
& Jackie Rudd, Bill Stewart,
Mark Weary, Kevin & Katie
Wittek, Betty. Sara. Norman
& Levi Yoder
Heidelberg, Atl. N.E.: Jamie
Gibson. Michelle & Kyle
Hartman. Keith Witman
Keyser, W. Marva: Grace
Kesner, Joyce Petry. Ida
Weatherholtz
Lampeter. Atl. N.E.: Bobbie
Keener. Norman F. Miller
Lewiston, Atl. N.E.: Kevin
Cadorette. Elise Harrington
Lima. N. Ohio: Tom Werner
Michigan City. N. Ind,: Fabricio
& Lucille Guzman
Middle District, S. Ohio: Russel
& Grace Baker, Karen
Gausman, Karen & Peter
Kesauer
McPherson, W. Plains: Lyie &
Rowena Albright, David
Baker, Monica Cantero,
Sonja Griffith, Jim Wiseman
Midland, Mid-Atl.: Terry &
Cathy Tanner
Modesto, Pac. S.W.: Max Bashor,
Julie & Russell Coon. Jodi
Ford. Justin Gait, Carolyn &
Mike Guzman, Jo Heckman.
Katie Johnson, Sara. Steve.
Gwen & Wayne Miller. Bob
Vardaman. Martha West
Mohrsville, Atl. N.E.: Jaseph
Barr. Alicia & Michael
Gross. Gregg Kinsey,
Grelchen Kunkle. Brandon
Miller, Brandon Weiss.
Angela & Melissa Werley
Moxham. W. Pa.: Michael
Lightner. Crystal Prebehalla
Nappanee, N. Ind.: Dawn. Kara
& Roxanne Huff, Sheila Croy v
New Paris, N. Ind.: Lori. Phil.
Rosemond & Trent Lindeman.
Kenneth & Tammy Washburn.
James Valencourt
Osceola, Mo. /Ark.: Deborah
Harper, Carol Novak
Ottawa, W. Plains: Carrie,
Crystal. Lynn & Stephen
Dunn. Eddie Gilmer
Peace Valley. S. Mo./ Ark.: JetT
Holton. Mark Reno, Mary
Shrubb
Fenn Run, W. Pa.: Jeanne Clark,
Cortney Cramer, Catherine &
Sara Fyock, Becky Golden,
Shawnda Misko, Chad,
Rashell & Travis Moore,
Matt Rapach
Pleasant View. Mid-Atl.:
Bradley & Josh Gaither,
Virginia Hamby
Pleasant Chapel. N. Ind.: Joe
Muzzillo, Rachel Skelly
Prince of Peace. W. Plains:
Gregory Dawson, Terry &
Linda Hatfield, Bess Malone
Reading, Atl. N.E.: Gerald & Kay
Stuber, Mary & Russell Werner
Ridgeway Communitj', Atl.
N.E.: Heather Derr, Brad
Geesaman, Jimmy Mazzolla,
Meghan McCann, Jessie
Yagel
Scalp Level, W. Pa.: Mervin &
Rhonda Hess, Warren Lewis,
Heather Martz, Paul Mock
Springfield, Atl. N.E.: Jessica
Cascioli
Stevens Hill Community. Atl.
N.E.: Josiah Amdt. Jennifer
Dillinger, Clyde Dupler.
Linda Evans. Bob Gross.
Greg Light. Peggy & Merv
Myers. Rock Smeal, Jason
Wagner
Union Center, N. Ind,: Dave,
Sue & Erica Garl. Bill & Sara
Haldeman-Scarr, Roger
Miller. Andy Mitschelen,
Lisa Price, Caria Smith, Cliff
& Marie Thomas
Virden, Ill./Wis.: Becky Delich.
Erika Kiliam, Barry Liss,
Dacia Marsaglia, Diana
Miller. Donna Wright
Waynesboro, Shen.: Roger Falls.
Reta Grey, June Lambert,
Raymond Myers, Kevin
Tanner
West Charleston. S. Ohio:
Tamme Gostomsky. Emily
Taylor
Westminster. Mid. Atl.: Elizabeth
Haff. Sheila Johnson. Maureen
Mclver, Michael Scaizi
White Oak. Atl. N.E.: Melody
Bross. Date & Diane
Burkholder. Cayle, Jeremiah
& Marchelle Martin, Jacob
Myer. Nelson Wenger, John
Zimmerman
York Center, Ill./Wis.; Yong &
Young Chang, Valeria
Crumley. Scott & Melanie
Dovel, Fred Edmonds, Beth
Gregersen. Brett Gunnell,
Ruth & Mark Karasek, Lori
Kirkwood. Sarah Scott
Wedding
Anniversaries
Bieber. Charles and Mary Beth,
Ephrata. Pa., 50
Cassell. Mary and Jeffe. West
Milton. Ohio, 50
Eash. Clare and Beryl. Freeport,
Mich.. 60
Flory. Carson and Lucille,
Harrisonburg. Va., 50
Heinbaugh, Ray and Feme,
Summerset. Pa., 77
Herrington. Chester and Verla.
Millbury, Ohio. 55
Kauffman. J. Clair and Dorothy,
Goshen, Ind.. 55
Layman. William and Ellen,
Dayton, Va,. 50
McCamey, Robert and Dorothy.
Millbury. Ohio. 55
Metzler. John and Anita.
Nappanee. Ind.. 50
Schrock, Elwood and June.
Rockwood. Pa.. 50
Throne. Clair and Feme.
Brookpark. Ohio, 60
212 BVS
Orientation Unit
(Orientation completed
August 26)
Alkasi. Ozkan, Neununster,
Germany, to Franciscan House
of Mary & Joseph. Ciiicago, 111.
Bierley. Tempo, Bowling Green,
Ohio, to Polish Ag. Exchange,
Skiemiewice, Poland
Eby. Kermit, Mishawaka, Ind.,
to Older Adult Services,
Fresno, Calif.
Eby, Ruth, Mishawaka, Ind.,
to Older Adult Services.
Fresno, Calif
Hall, Kyle, Fairfield. Pa., to
Friends School, Ramallah.
West Bank
Hoelscher. Scott, St. Paul, Minn.,
to Catholic Worker House,
San Antonio, Texas
Johnson, Katherine, Modesto,
Calif, to On Earth Peace
Assembly, New Windsor, Md.
Keller, Jacqueline. Spring Cove,
Pa., to Gould Farm,
Monterey, Mass.
Marschner, Grit. Dresden,
Germany, to Eco-Justice
Network, Ithaca, N.Y.
McDonagh, Mary, Sligo, Ireland,
to Bread and Roses, Olympia,
Wash.
Nileshwar, Deviprasad,
Birmingham, U.K., to
NCADP, Washington, D.C.
Olson, Johanna, Wautoma, Wis.,
to be placed.
Reimche, Charlotte, Fresno,
Calif, to Tri City Homeless
Coalition. Fremont, Calif
Risser. James, St. Charles, Minn.,
to Koinonia Partners,
Americus, Ga.
Sharpe, Kristian, Graham, N.C..
to Near Eastside Service
Center, Indianapolis. Ind.
Stremmel, Andrea, York, Pa., to
Washington City (D.C.)
Church of the Brethren Soup
Kitchen
Vender. Amanda, Williamsville,
N.Y., to Casa de Proyecto
Libertad, Harlingen, Texas
Deatlis
Akers, Marget, 86. Lowry City,
Mo.. May 11, 1994
Balmar. Hilda, 90, Palmyra, Pa.,
Nov. 30. 1993
Bergdoll, Martha, 83, Cumberland,
Md., Aug. 3, 1994
Butts, Ruth. 84, Lacey, Wash.,
May 9, 1994
Carter, Mary, 87, Carlisle, Pa.,
July 18, 1994
Church. Ella Mae, 71, Winston-
Salem, N.C.. June I, 1994
Clements. Paul. 69, Palmyra, Pa..
Aug. 5, 1994
Clinebell. Nikki, 58, Akron,
Ohio, March 25. 1994
Copenheaver, Lucy, 93. New
Oxford, Pa., Aug. 1. 1994
Corner, Marie, 82, Elkhart, Ind.,
July 23, 1994
Gripe, Retha, 86. Osceola, Mo.,
June 22, 1994
Davidson, Goldie, 90, Tipp City.
Ohio. Dec. 29, 1993
Eagle, Donald. 64, Harrisonburg,
Va., Aug. 12, 1994
Eshleman. John, 52. Denver. Pa.,
July 13, 1994
Flora, Eby, 82, Elkhart, Ind.. July
17, 1994
Foster, Harold, 67, Deepwater,
Mo., March 17, 1994
Gerhard, Nellie, 98, Ottawa.
Kan. April 10. 1994
Good, Virginia, 81. Port
Republic, Va.. Aug. 3, 1994
Crush, Thelma, 75, Windber, Pa.,
Aug. 1, 1994
Howard, Buck, 63, Fredericks-
burg, Pa, July 21, 1994
Jones, Lillie, 90, McPherson,
Kan., Aug. 8. 1994
Karns, Dorothy, 83, Tipp City,
Ohio, Feb. 20, 1994
Kiracofe. Galen, 63, Harrison-
burg, Va, July 31. 1994
Lantz, Laura, 94, Elkhart, Ind.,
May 18. 1994
Lawson. Beulah, 78, Winston-
Salem, N.C., May 18, 1994
Leckrone, Elmer. 87, Custer.
Mich.. July 25. 1994
Light, Marvin, 81, Annville, Pa.,
Aug. 2, 1994
Loucks, William, 96. Goshen,
Ind., July 15, 1994
Madill. Paul, 49, Nokesville, Va.,
July 17. 1994
Martin. Elizabeth, 73, Annville,
Pa.. July 28, 1994
Martin, Vera, 77, Nappanee,
Ind., July 26, 1994
Meinert, Ralph, 86. Elkhart, Ind.,
Aug. I, 1994
Peffly, James, 61, Elkhart, Ind,,
May 26, 1994
Replogle, Ralph, 80, Goshen.
Ind, June 19. 1994
Shaffer, Ethel, 78, Hooversville,
Pa.. Aug. 1, 1994
Shaver, Joseph, 87, Harrison-
burg, Va., Aug. 2, 1994
Skidmore, Richard, 90,
Harrisonburg. Va.,
June 12, 1994
Steele, Randy, 38, Meyersdale,
Pa.. July 16, 1994
Thomann, Virgil, 70, Lacey,
Wash., July 20, 1994
Thompson, Donna, 56, Tipp
Ciry, Ohio, March 24, 1994
Woodhouse, Harlan, 90, Lacey,
Wash., Feb. II, 1994
Messenger October 1994 31
What will our children celebrate?
I get depressed when I visit a church for the first
time and see memorials to departed members all
over the place — little plaques on the backs of pews
and under stained-glass windows, memorial pieces
of furniture, memorial rooms. 1 wonder if there is a
correlation between the number of such memorials
and the health of the congregation housed in the
building.
Not that memorials are, of themselves, bad. But
my concern is that we may become too preoccupied
with harking to the past, and unmindful of attending
to the work of the present and to pressing on
responsibly to the future.
This present year has been a year of anniversary
markings in the Church of the Brethren. In my
December 1993 editorial, I mentioned Messenger
planning for its 1 994 issues. We named so many
50th anniversaries to celebrate that I quipped,
"Let's just lump them all together and celebrate the
50th armiversary of the 'Brethren Heyday.""
That would be funny, except that the very word
"heyday" suggests that the days of achievement are
over. Your "heyday" is your best shot; your high-
water mark. Whatever comes afterward is a pale
shadow of the past.
This fall we are marking three anniversaries, the
100th anniversary of the beginning of Brethren
missionary work in India, the 50th armiversary of
Heifer Project, and the 50th anniversary of the
Brethren Service Center at New Windsor, Md. Each
one of these has a different feel to it.
The India celebration is a celebration of some-
thing that is largely over and done, as far as direct
Brethren involvement is concerned. The church we
began in India in 1894 became part of the Church
of North India in 1970. Turning loose in India was a
good thing. We can continue to be supportive of the
ongoing work of Christians in India and we can
have a relationship with the Christians in India
whose roots are in Brethren missionary work, but
their future is in their own hands.
Heifer Project, under the Brethren, was such a
success that it exceeded the ability of one denomi-
nation to maximize its potential. It outgrew us.
Heifer Project became ecumenical and now rightly
is named Heifer Project International. Brethren still
support Heifer Project enthusiastically. In fact,
Brethren continue to be the largest per-capita donor,
at a level four times that of the next denominational
group. Heifer Project is one of our best examples of
our Brethren knack for starting something good that
32 Messenger October 1994
eventually outgrows us.
The Brethren Service Center celebration is
different from the other two celebrations in that we
are marking an anniversary of something that isn't
over yet, or out of our hands. The Brethren Service
Center, while there is ecumenical cooperation in its
operation and programs, is still a lively, vital part of
General Board program. It continues to develop
under Brethren direction.
All three of these anniversary events are celebra-
tions of the life of a person as well as the celebra-
tion of an institution. We connect India to Wilbur
B. Stover (see page 10), Heifer Project to Dan
West, and the Brethren Service Center to M.R.
Zigler. Each was a Brethren "hero."
The other day an old friend and I bumped into
each other by chance and spent time catching up on
each other's life, as well as reminiscing about the
Brethren history we had lived through. Talk got
around to Reuel B. Pritchett, and that led to the old
friend wondering where all the Brethren "heroes"
had gone . . . and if there would be anymore.
I was not prepared to definitively answer his
question off the top of my head. I conceded that
since the death of M.R. Zigler, we certainly seemed
to be without Brethren giants among us. But I held
out hope that others might emerge. I reasoned that
we might be too close to the lives of potential
"heroes" to recognize their future stature. I reasoned
that we Brethren of today live in a democratic time,
when leadership is so shared that "heroes" aren't
given enough tenure to develop. I reasoned that we
live in a culture that likes to cut people down to
size. I also reasoned that — in my opinion, anyway —
we Brethren are in transition, much as they were in
the late 1 800s (during and after the Brethren splits);
we aren't sure who we are anymore. When we find
out again who we are and where we're headed,
perhaps a new crop of "heroes" will emerge to lead
us. In fact, the new "heroes" might be those who
help us discern our identity and direction.
Will our children live long enough to see
armiversary celebrations of Brethren events they
experienced? I rather expect they will. Will there be
"heroes" living among them who led the way? They
may have to redefine "hero," but I am confident,
too, that that species of Brethren has not become
extinct.
Meanwhile, with an eye to the fiiture, let's
celebrate our past without apology. And hurrah for
our "heroes," too. — K.T.
'De ol' ark's a-moverin
//
I ^f B ake a four-week
' voyage into activ-
ities that help reduce world
hunger. Use the descriptive,
colorful calender to chart your
daily giving to the intriguing
ark bank. Learn how your gifts
express God's love and make a
real difference in the world!
"Fill the Ark" is a joint
project of the Church of the
Brethren and Heifer Project
International. Many congre-
gahons will launch the venture
on October 9, but you can
embark at a time of your own
choosing.
Contributions equally benefit
Heifer Project International and
the Church of the Brethren
General Board. For the latter,
support is directed especially to
development programs in
Sudan, Nigeria, and India, and
to the placement of BVSers in
hunger-related work at home.
Bring a whole flotilla of arks
together as your congregation
celebrates its collective role in
responding to hungry people
around the world.
Let's work to see the that "de
ol' ark's a-moverin'" again!
Church of the Brethren/Heifer Project International
For a free "FiU the Ark" sample pack, caU 800 323-8039, ext. 424.
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«»«•«.>
Our cluster of articles on National Youth Conference (page 10)
provides an opportunity to introduce to our readers a member
of our Communication Team, albeit tardily, for he already has
been with us since January. Alan Boleyn works most closely
with Howard Royer, director of Interpretation. Many of the
interpretive pieces on Brethren program that you see produced
by that office bear witness to Alan's work.
Alan came to us through Program Volunteer
Service, and he arrived with talent and skills in
writing, design, and photography. It was as
photographer that he was asked to cover National
Youth Conference. If you read Messenger so
thoroughly as to note even the photo credits on
page one, you will have seen Alan credited often in
the past months for other photos he has shot for us.
It says something for the passage of time that
Alan was bom in Nigeria while I was a mission-
ary there. His parents were my missionary
colleagues Lester and Esther Boleyn. Since then,
this couple has gone on to work in Nairobi,
Kenya, serving on a team that is producing the
Bible in the Nuer language for use in spreading
the gospel in Sudan.
Alan spent time in Kenya, himself, during his
college years, and it was there that he met his
future wife, Justine. She came to America, completed college,
and the two were married last Christmas.
Alan traveled through Nigeria on his way home from Kenya,
revisiting the land of his infancy, and he admits to being
captivated by Africa. One of his interests is music. Those
readers who were at last summer's Armual Conference saw and
heard Alan, in the General Board "Live Report," playing a
large Nigerian drum made from a hollowed section of log. (He
performed again at National Youth Conference.) As another
lover of Nigerian culture and music, I was pleased to provide
the drum from my own collection.
This brief profile serves to emphasize what I often have
expressed before, that one of the joys of my work is having fine
Brethren young people serve their stints on our team, rejuvenat-
ing us with their youthfiil zest and giving the gift of their
talents to the denomination. Say hello to Alan the next time
you spot him at a Brethren gathering.
Alan Boleyn brings to
the Communication
Team many gifts,
including music skills.
Printed on
100-percenl
recycled paper.
®
COMING NEXT MONTH: A multi-paged summary of NO AC
II, the National Older Adult Conference held at Lake Junaluska,
N.C., in September.
November 1994
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Editorial assistant
Paula Wilding
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Vicki Roche
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble
Publisher
Dale E. Minnich
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast, Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast, Ruby Raymer; lUinois/
Wisconsin, Kreston Lipscomb; Northern
Indiana, Leona Holderread; South/Central
Indiana, Marjorie Miller; Michigan, Marie
Willoughby; Mid-Atlantic, Ann Fouts;
Missouri/Arkansas, Mary McGowan;
Northern Plains, Faith Strom; Northern
Ohio, Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio.
Jack Kline; OregonAVashington, Marguerit
Shamberger; Pacific Southwest, Randy
Miller; Middle Pennsylvania. Ruth Fisher;
Southern Pennsylvania, Elmer Q. Gleim;
Western Pennsylvania, Jay Christner;
Shenandoah, Jerry Brunk; Southern Plains
Mary Ann Dell; Virlina, David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains. Dean Hummer;
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon.
Messenger is the official publication of th(
Church of the Brethren. Entered as second
class matter Aug. 20, 1918, under Act of
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filing date,
Nov. 1, 1984. Messenger is a
member of the Associated
Church Press and a subscriber
to Religious News Service and
Ecumenical Press Service.
Biblical quotations, unless
otherwise indicated, are from the New
Revised Standard Version.
Subscription rates: $12.50 individual
rate, $10.50 church group plan, $10.50 gii
subscriptions. Student rate 75^ an issue. If
you move, clip address label and send witl
new address to Messenger Subscriptions,
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120. Allow
at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published 1 1
times a year by the General Services
Commission, Church of the Brethren
General Board. Second-class postage paid
at Elgin, 111., and at additional mailing
office, November 1994. Copyright 1994,
Church of the Brethren General Board.
ISSN 0026-0355.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, II
60120.
I
n Touch 2
;;iose to Home 4
»(ews 6
kepping Stones 9
'"rom the
General Secretary
'ontius' Puddle 28
setters 28
furning Points 3 1
Editorial 32
22
I
Dredits:
I^over, 1,2, 10-23: Alan Boleyn (except
for photos that carry credit lines).
nside front cover: Kermon
Thomasson
( top: Renee Knoeber
i bottom: Glenn Mitchell
) bottom: Gordon Wickes
J: Paula S. Wilding
?: Brethren Volunteer Service
i top: Eric B. Bishop
i lower left: Merv Keeney
24: Graphic by Paul Stocksdale
Claiming it! NYC '94 10
The 1994 National Youth Conference was the biggest one ever,
with 4,120 participants gathering on the campus of Colorado
State University for a week of worship, prayer, work, thought,
and soul-searching. Margaret Woolgrove summarizes the event
and adds three supplementary sidebars. Many youth at NYC
had transformational experiences that began to reshape their
lives. Testimonies from some of them have been added to the
cluster, demonstrating how important it is for Brethren to
provide nurture for their youth, part of the hope of the church
today, as well as the church of the future.
On pondering the Word 24
Patricia Kennedy Helman, like many other Brethren, was
grieved at the spirit of condemnation that seized some partici-
pants at last summer's Annual Conference. With John 3:17 in
mind, she asks those who spoke judgmentally of other sisters
and brothers, "Does God, who is all love and understanding,
want his children stoned by either bricks that kill the body or
words that bruise the soul?"
Cover story: As the
saying goes, "You had to
be there. " Too much of
what happens when over
4.000 Brethren youth
experience a National
Youth Conference evades
the notice of writers and
photographers. But we
have tried to capture as
best we can the
experience of Brethren
Youth at Colorado Slate
University last summer.
Through an arrangement
between us and the Youth
and Young Adult Ministry
office, our November
issue serves in lieu of the
traditional NYC "memory
book. " and has been
mailed to each of the
NYC attenders. We hope
that, for them, it
preserves the memories,
and, for the rest of our
readers, it provides an
idea of what NYC was all
about. Coverage begins
on page 10.
November 1994 Messenger 1
In
rr
Telling about Hiroshima
Although the bombing of
Hiroshima in 1945 is
familiar history to most
Americans, On Earth Peace
Assembly (OEPA) has
Miyoko Matsubara
uses her experience as
an atomic bomb
victim to teach others
about the horror and
evil of war.
"In Touch "profiles Brethren
we would like yon to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
white, if possible) to "In Touch, "
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin. IL 60120.
provided an opportunity to
learn about the experience
of the Japanese through the
story of Hiroshima survivor
Miyoko Matsubara.
Miyoko was 12 years old
when the atomic bomb was
Planning for Century 21
"People really get emotional
over anything that affects
their land," says Barbara
("Bobbie") Flory, past
chairwoman of the Douglas
County Planning Commis-
sion in northeastern Kansas.
"My stomach often is in
dropped on Hiroshima, one
mile from her and her
schoolmates, in the summer
of 1945. Miyoko has
dedicated her life to telling
her story to others. In order
to become a "storyteller in
English," Miyoko learned
the language and now uses
her skill to reveal the horror
of her experience of surviv-
ing an atomic bomb blast.
Miyoko lives in Japan, but
she is spending August
through December this year
on a speaking tour with
OEPA (a World Ministries
program of the Church of the
Brethren), promoting peace
instead of nuclear weapons.
The tour includes the Church
of the Brethren General
Offices, and engagements in
Illinois, Ohio, Michigan,
Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Miyoko has lost most of
her family to the effects of
radiation exposure. She has
suffered from cancer linked
to that exposure. But her
story does not focus on what
has been lost. Instead, she
looks at her experience as a
way to teach others about
the horror and evil of war.
"Nuclear weapons and
human beings cannot
coexist. We must all leam
the value of human life," she
says. — Paula S. Wilding
knots when I head to another
meeting confronting a touchy
controversy, so I turn off the
radio and send up a prayer."
Bobbie makes the 20-mile
trip from her home on a
farm to Lawrence's city hall
on the Kansas River at least
once, and often two or three
times, a week.
"I felt the greatest pres-
sure when I was presiding
over the monthly public
hearings," says Bobbie. That
pressure continues as she
serves on the commission's
steering committee to
formulate the Horizon 2020
Plan that will map out use of
the land for Douglas County
(population 8 1 ,000) into the
next century.
Bobbie is conscientious
about spending eight hours a
month studying the issues, as
well as attending the four-
hour, ad hoc committee
meetings and the public
planning sessions that run
until midnight or after. "My
prayers make a huge differ- i
ence," says Bobbie, who ^
admits she didn't think much
about God and church until
she married her high school
sweetheart eight years ago.
Scott Flory is a fourth-
generation member of
Washington Creek Church of
the Brethren, near Lawrence.
Bobbie grew up as a
"Lawrence town girl," but
chooses to stay at home to
help Scott on the family
dairy farm and to care for
their two small children.
At first, Bobbie refused to
consider a position on the
planning commission. But
after talking with other
people, she realized the need
for residents to be involved
in the master planning of
the county.
She reconsidered and was
appointed to the commission
in 1990. She became vice
chairwoman two years later,
and then chairwoman this
past year. She will complete
her second and final term on
the commission in 1998.
Being in government as a
2 Messenger November 1994
Barbara Flory
planning commission
member has been a growing
experience for Bobbie, who
majored in business in
college. "On the commission,
I learned to evaluate issues of
land use, rezoning, and
subdivision plans, but I also
learned a lot about people
and working in groups. And,
as chairwoman, I was
determined not to let
I
Serious about love feast
Cassie Quesenberry takes
love feast seriously. In 80
years, the 90-year-old
member of Coulson Church
of the Brethren, near
Hillsville, Va., has only
missed twice.
She missed her first love
feast in 1935, when one of
her two sons was bom. Then
attorneys intimidate
me and run away
with the meeting."
Some tried, but,
says Bobbie, "I
made a crib sheet
from Robert 's Rules
of Order, strove to
always be courte-
ous, and achieved
my goal of keeping
control."
Bobbie grins and
says, "I say things
as I see them, in plain
English, and I'm told that is
one of my pluses."
As she continues her
work, Bobbie is proud of her
part in creating the visionary
map that will guide a
segment of "The Heartland"
through the next 25 years.
— Irene S. Reynolds
Irene S. Reynolds is a freelance
writer from Lawrence, Kan.
she missed again in 1972,
when her husband was in
intensive care at the hospi-
tal. "He encouraged me to
attend, but I felt my place
was by his side."
Back in the old days,
Cassie says, folks would
come from other Church of
the Brethren congregations
miles around to attend love
feast, communion, and
feetwashing. Often her
parents' home would be full
of visitors. And she and her
family reciprocated, riding
their farm wagon to other
congregations' love feasts.
"I feel very blessed to
have lived this long and to
Names in the news
Dale Keller, a member of
White Oak Church of the
Brethren, Penryn, Pa., left in
September for an 8-month
mission assignment to
Belarus with REACH. He
will be working with
Immanuel Mission in the
town of Kobrin, helping
develop a former army base
into a center for biblical
training and youth camps.
REACH is a joint venture of
Rosedale Bible Institute and
Rosedale Mennonite Mis-
sions of Irwin, Ohio.
• Lowell Brubaker, a
member of La Verne (Calif)
Church of the Brethren has
been presented the University
of La Veme's Christian
Service Award. He adminis-
tered the university's Summer
Service Program from 1 972 to
1975, and was co-director of
the program with his wife,
Eugenia (deceased), until
1979. He also served ULV as
director of church relations
and director of financial aid.
• Bob Richards, a former
Church of the Brethren
minister, and well known a
generation ago as a world-
champion pole-vaulter (he
won an Olympic gold medal
in 1956), is back to promot-
ing Wheaties cereal, one of
the ways he cashed in on his
have had the good health to
attend love feast, commun-
ion, and feetwashing so
many times and so regu-
larly," says Cassie. "People
just don't seem to take it as
seriously as they used to, but
they should."
fame as the "Pole-vaulting
Parson." Recently, in
Chicago, he joined three
other Wheaties promoters —
former sports stars Bruce
Jenner, Mary Lou Retton, and
Michael Jordan — in introduc-
ing a new flavor of Wheaties,
still their favorite breakfast
food, as champions.
• McPherson College
presented its Young Alumni
Award to Jean Lichty
Hendricks and Dennis H.
Heisey in October. Jean
Hendricks, of Lawrence,
Kan., is director of Ministry
Training, on the General
Board staff. Deimis Heisey is
a deacon and Sunday school
teacher in Hempfield Church
of the Brethren, East
Petersburg, Pa.
• Ira and Mary Petre, of
Martinsburg, Pa., have been
given a Distinquished Service
Award by Morrisons Cove
Home. The Petres, former
missionaries in Nigeria,
served for 10 years in chap-
laincy service at the home.
• Charles Cable, a
member of La Verne (Calif)
Church of the Brethren and
president of Hillcrest Homes,
has been appointed to the
Continuing Care Contract
Advisory Committee of the
State Department of Social
Services by California's
Governor Pete Wilson.
Messenger November 1 994 3
I)
A mascot named Mack
At the 1992 Annual Confer-
ence in Richmond, Va.,
making "Dunker dolls" was
one of the children's
activities. Reports pastor
Melvin Fike of Meadow
Branch Church of the
Brethren, Westminster, Md.,
Meadow Branch "mascots,"
and they travel wherever
members may go. The
mascots lead to conversa-
tion about the church.
Photos are taken and kept
in a scrapbook. Travels
include both Annual
Conferences since 1992
and district conferences, as
Meadow Branch 's
mascot "Mack" posed
at Annual Conference
with moderator
Earl K. Ziegler and
moderator-elect
Judy Mills Reimer.
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send story ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' 'Close to Home. ' '
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin. IL 60120.
"We purchased two kits and
made our own dolls. They
became Adam Mack Sr. and
Adam Mack Jr. ('Adam' for
our ultimate forebear and
'Mack' for the 1708 Breth-
ren pioneer)."
The Macks became
Campus comments
Elizabethtown College has
been named by US News
and World Report magazine
as one of America's best
colleges. Elizabethtown
ranked first among liberal
arts colleges in the north
region in the "discount
tuition price" category.
• Bridgewater College
installed Phillip c. Stone as
its seventh president during
well as Bethany Seminary
ground-breaking, a Carib-
bean cruise, Niagara Falls,
and Hawaii. Adam Mack
Sr. posed at Wichita with
1994 moderator Earl K.
Ziegler and moderator-
elect Judy Mills Reimer.
inauguration ceremonies
October 14. A full week of
activities leading to the
installation centered on the
theme "Education for Live."
• Manchester College has
been rated a best buy in
education, according to
Barron's Best Buys in
College Education. For
students and parents consid-
ering schools that offer the
best education at the best
price, Barron's said that
Manchester's $13,000
tuition, fees, room, and board
"couldn't be more right."
• Torin Dm Alexander has
been appointed as the new
chaplain for Juniata
College. He is a graduate of
Union Theological Seminary
in New York City.
Seniors in action
In September the Retired
and Senior Volunteer
Program (RSVP) of
Pennsylvania's Somerset
County held its ninth annual
Volunteer Recognition
Dirmer. On the back of the |
printed program were the 1
names of 1 13 volunteers, ■
each of whom had given 200
or more hours of community
service between July 1,
1993, and June 30, 1994. |
How does RSVP succeed
so well in recruiting and
using volunteers? Much of
the success lies with the gifts
of Jay L. Christner, who is
chairman of the advisory
board for RSVP. He also is
pastor of Rockwood (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren.
RSVP has 400 people
volunteering their services.
"The community gets half a
million dollars worth of
volunteer work out of
people," says Jay, who also
works at Somerset Hospital
as volunteer chaplain.
Another Brethren, Debbie
Baker, serves as RSVP
project director. It was she,
in fact, who recruited Jay.
She has been with the
program from its beginning.
Jay says he's been
involved in community
activities all his life. "1 don't
know if I'm an eager beaver
4 Messenger November 1 994
or just in the right place at
the right time," he specu-
lates. "I've just gone from
one thing to another."
Apparently there are other
"eager beavers" among the
Somerset County Brethren.
Two of them were among
the top 10 volunteers
recognized at the recogni-
tion dinner. Charles Boyd
had given 908 hours to
Camp Harmony, a Brethren
camp near Hooversville, Pa.
And George Swick had
given 97 1 hours at the camp.
Overall, Jay calculates, 12
Brethren volunteers had
collectively given 4,129
hours to Camp Harmony in
1993-1994.
This and that
Westminster (Md.) Church
of the Brethren was
presented the annual
Ecumenical Award of the
denomination's Committee
on Interchurch Relations on
September 1 1 . The award
was presented by Mid-
Atlantic District Executive
Ron Petry. The congrega-
tion was selected because
of its "long-standing
mindset for mission."
• Conestoga Church of
the Brethren, in Leola, Pa.,
is celebrating its 270th
anniversary November 12-
13 with the dedication of a
major addition to the
church and the renovation
of its previously existing
facility. The $1.5 million
project includes a new
sanctuary, kitchen and
fellowship area, offices,
lobby, library and heritage
room, and youth and
women's fellowship areas.
The change at Conestoga is
striking, since the old
church's worship space still
included the traditional
love feast benches, and
baptisms were conducted
Florence church '$ intern, Bangern Jinna, from Thailand,
will work for one year with pastor Kurt Gall Ritchie.
outdoors. Conestoga,
established in 1724, is the
third oldest congregation in
the denomination.
• Florence Church of the
Brethren, in Constantine,
Mich., welcomed as a
pastoral intern Bangern
Jinna, of Tapsakae, Thai-
Mid-Atlantic District's executive, Ron Petry (right), presented the Committee on Interchurch
Relations' Ecumenical Award to Westminster (Md) Church of the Brethren, represented by
Emma Gosnell, chairwoman of the Witness Commission, and Lisa Blevins, chairwoman of
the Nurture Commission. Westminster was cited for its "long-standing mindset for mission. "
land, on August 28. She will
serve one year. Bangern
came to Florence through
the Mennonite Central
Committee International
Visitor Exchange Program.
Let's celebrate
La Porte (Ind.) Church of
the Brethren celebrated its
125th anniversary October
23 with "Heritage Day." The
Mabel Murphy Library was
dedicated, and former pastor
Bob Byerly was the
anniverary speaker.
• Brummetts Creek
Church of the Brethren,
near Green Mountain,
N.C., will celebrate its
150th anniversary June 4,
1995. All former pastors
and their spouses are
invited, as well as evange-
lists, members, and friends.
• Conestoga Church of the
Brethren, Leola, Pa., cel-
ebrates its 270th anniversary
November 12-13. (See
longer article on this page.)
Messenger November 1994 5
ft
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
movements, the activities reported on mav
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
Bethany welcomes new
beginnings in Richmond
With so much change in such a short
time, says Bethany Theological Semi-
nary President Eugene Roop "the prize
virtue of Bethany is patience."
Bethany's move this summer from Oak
The new Bethany
building (back-
ground) blends in
well with Earlham
School of Religion
(right). Below:
President Gene
Roop, Moderator
Judy Mills Reimer,
ESR dean Andrew
Grannell, and
Bethany professor
Murray Wagoner
join in the
convocation service.
Brook. 111., to Richmond, Ind.. taught
the staff of Bethany patience, above all
else. According to Roop, "the transition
was something we were all going
through together, so it actually pro-
moted unity among the staff."
After nine decades in the Chicago
area, training Brethren men and women
for ministry, Bethany opened a new
school year in September by holding its
90th convocation on its new campus in
Richmond, adjacent to Earlham School
of Religion (ESR). But as those in-
volved with the seminary have said,
Bethany has made change part of its
life, and this change will be as profit-
able as the others.
Not that Bethany has forgotten its past.
It is ready to move on, but it draws from
its rich heritage to continue as a semi-
nary. This is indicated by the entrance
to the new Bethany Center. The white
stone resembles the ESR buildings. The
red brick has the look of the Oak Brook
campus. The individual bricks that line
the entrance walk are reminders of those
who have served, taught, learned, and
i
given to Bethany. The cornerstones
from the Bethany locations in Chicago
and Oak Brook joined that of Richmot
in the walls of the new center.
The Bethany Center is a "tribute" to
the Church of the Brethren "not only f
its beauty, but for all the work and
people involved," remarked Andrew
Grannell, dean of Earlham School of
Religion. Bethany staff and numerous
volunteers from churches near Oak
Brook and Richmond assisted with the
landscape and clean-up work. A bus
load of youth from Southern Pennsylvi
nia District stopped in Oak Brook to ■
help on their way home from National
Youth Conference this past summer.
Skilled workers gave of their time and
supplies to help with the building of th
Center. The building was finished earl
and under budget.
At convocation time, the building
project was ahead of schedule with onl
minor details to be completed. Althouj
the organ pipes lay on the floor and
folding chairs stood where the perma-
nent chairs would be placed, the chape
was complete. (The chairs arrived the
morning following the convocation.)
The landscape was nearly complete, ai
the school looked like a campus.
"ESR has always been on the edge oi
Earlham College. With the new Bethai
Center and the landscaping, we have tl
look of a campus, too," said Grannell.
Although change for Bethany has not
been easy, there are numerous gains
from the move. With the affiliation of
the two schools, Bethany and ESR are
now able to offer a wide curriculum to
their students. "The course schedule is
far richer than either institution was ab
to offer before," said Roop. "The
faculty is able to teach with resources
that before were not available. It is a
good program for students and more
exciting for the faculty."
"By being in a community together,
ESR and Bethany smdents will be able
to challenge each others' faith and
beliefs," said Grannell. "Our students
will be continuously challenged by the
6 Messenger November 1994
lurch of the Brethren and by
;thany"s strengths, by which they can
im to appreciate their own strengths."
Although there were inevitable feelings
loss and disorientation by both
dools, "the new potentials overshadow
; problems." Grannell believes,
udy Mills Reimer, Church of the
ethren Annual Conference moderator,
ve the challenge during the convoca-
m. Most of the people in attendance
;re Bethany students and staff, with
me ESR people supporting Bethany
d its new beginning,
leimer, a 1994 Bethany graduate,
ve each person a strip of denim. She
Iced that they place it somewhere
lere it would be seen oflen, as a
Hinder to pray for the seminary,
rhe Oak Brook property sale is still
n hold," according to Roop. During
October meetings, the Bethany Board
of Trustees started over in its dialog
concerning the Oak Brook site. Accord-
ing to Roop, the board had a wide
variety of options before it and would
take action after the meetings.
But with the seminary now focused on
Richmond, Roop and the board are more
clearly envisioning the seminary's once
uncertain fiature. The board will continue
to anticipate the seminary's needs for
ministry education for the Brethren. It
will look for new ways to connect
education and congregations; gi\e
attention and to respond to cultural
behavior and ethnic diversity; emphasize
the need for ministry education in small
congregations; and help the denomina-
tion re-envision the Church of the
Brethren identity. Most importantly.
Roop sees the seminary "actualizing our
precious heritage in this time and age in
which we live." — P,^UL.^ S. Wilding
Brethren
Volunteer Service
Unit 213 completed
its orientation
August 24, at Camp
Eder, Fairfield, Pa.
The unit was made
up entirely of
members of
Brethren Revival
Fellowship (BRF).
The four BVSers
also are members of
one congregation —
Upton (Pa.) Church
of the Brethren. All
four were assigned
to Good Shepherd
Food Bank, in
Lewiston, Maine.
Front: Melisa and
Jerry Negley. Back:
Mark Paylor. Ar\in
Ocker.
Disaster auction raises over
$350,000 for relief funding
The 18th annual Brethren Disaster Relief
Auction raised S350,000 at the Lebanon
County (Pa.) Fairgrounds in September.
Auction earnings benefit the denom-
ination's Emergency Disaster Fund.
An increase of over S40,000 from last
year's auction was earned in the two-
day event sponsored by Atlantic
Northeast and Southern Peimsylvania
Districts. Over 8,000 people attended
the popular event.
A heifer auction raised S68,000 by
selling 54 heifers and calves. A roll-top
desk made by a member of White Oak
Church of the Brethren sold for S4,400.
0\er S57,500 was collected in a quilt
auction, with two quilts selling for
S3, 000 each. One quilt was sold five
times for a total of SI 0.450.
The Brethren Disaster Relief Auction
Commitee plans to build a house in
Lititz. Pa. to be sold at next year's
auction. In another innovation, recipes
are being compiled for a cook book that
will publicize the auction and be on sale
in 1995.
Calendar
Brethren Benefit Trust Board meetings:
November 18-19 at Manchester College.
I North Manchester. Ind.
By the .Manner of Their Living: Reflections
on Brethren Lifestyles: 1 994 Young Adult
Conference, November 24-26. Camp Eder,
Fairfield. Pa. [For more information, contact
Young Adult Conference. 1451 Dundee
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-8039].
Nigeria Worlvcamp: January 28-February 27,
1 995 [For more information, contact Merv
Keeney. Africa Middle East Office. 1451
Dundee Ave.. Elgin. IL 60120: (800) 323-
8039].
Advanced Pastoral Seminar: For TRIM.
EFSM. and Master of Divinity graduates.
February 20-24. 1995. Bethany Theological
Seminary [For more information, contact
Bethany .Academy Director. 615 National
Road West. Richmond. Ind.. 47374; (800)
BTS-8822].
Messenger November 1994 7
Lake Junaluska, in North Carolina 's
beautiful Great Smoky Mountains, will
host NOAC III in 1996, serving for the
third time as the site of the popular
National Older Adult Conference.
NOAC il proves a success;
next conference in 1996
The second National Older Adult
Conference (NOAC II) was a success,
with around 900 Brethren attending.
The conference was held September 12-
16 at Lake Junaluska, N.C.
"I felt an inclusive and challenging
spirit," said Sara Speicher, associate
director of Association of Brethren
Caregivers (ABC), the Brethren minis-
try that sponsored NOAC. "The people
at NOAC have a commitment to the
church, not just as an institution, but to
what it is supposed to be."
"The generation at NOAC is very
loyal to the church, so this is a signifi-
cant coming together," said Jay Gibble,
director of ABC. "It is an opportunity
for participants to rekindle their
vision."
Participants voted to make NOAC a
biennial conference. NOAC III is
planned for September 1996, back at
Lake Junaluska. According to Gibble,
Lake Junaluska offers "too good a deal
to turn down" as a meeting place for
Conferences such as NOAC.
In-depth coverage of NOAC II will
appear in the December Messenger.
8 Messenger November 1994
EDF allocates funds for
Puerto Rico, Guatemala
The Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF)
has granted an allocation of $5,000 to
assist Witness for Peace in its ongoing
work of accoinpaniment to indigenous
Guatemalans being repatriated to their
homeland. The grant will support one
long-term volunteer for one year in
working with the Guatemalans to regain
their lands, their human rights, and their
freedom from military control.
The Emergency Disaster Fund also
granted an allocation of $2,000 in
response to the damage done in Puerto
Rico by recent drought. The fiinds will
be used to transport bottled water to
those in need in Caimito, a community
in the capital city of San Juan.
Nigeria church announces
shake-up in leadership
After a lengthy period of administrative
and financial difficulties, the Executive
Committee of Ekklesiyar Yanitwa a
Nigeria (EYN — the Church of the
Brethren in Nigeria) has done a major
shifting of leadership personnel.
David Malafa,
EYN chairman,
has announced
several person-
nel changes
that became
effective
October I.
EYN General
Secretary
Ayuba Ulea has
been trans-
ferred to the Maiduguri pastorate. Bitrus
Bdlia is now acting general secretary.
Jesse Shinggu, EYN treasurer, has been
transferred to Kulp Bible College as a
teacher. Kevin Peter is now acting
treasurer. Elijah Kabur, assistant to the
general secretary, has been replaced by
Lohkat Fambya and reassigned to Uba,
Bitrus Bdlia
as pastor. Those appointees in acting -
positions will serve until the 1995
Majalisa ("Armual Conference").
Expressing his concern about the
difficult times, Mervin Keeney, World
Ministries representative for Afiica an(
the Middle East, has written to David
Malafa, "We pray for healing of broke
relationships and for renewal of trust
between segments of the church so tha
EYN might move forward with new
spirit and vigor."
Stewardship and BBT make i
new staff appointments ^
Kenneth Neher has been named office
of Planned Giving in the Far West area
on the denominational stewardship teat
Neher serves on the Board of Trustees
the University of
La Verne and is
moderator of the
Sunnyslope Chur
of the Brethren,
Wenatchee, Was
He will be respoi
sible for planned
giving activity
in Oregon/ ■
Washington, Idaho, and Pacific South-
west Districts, beginning his new
position on December I .
Mark D. Pitman became director of
the Brethren Foundation, Inc., a part of
Brethren Benefit Trust, September 19.
He comes to the position from the
American Nation
Bank and Trust
Company in
Chicago, where I
worked as trust
securities proces-
sor, custody
administrator, an
assistant managei
in the personal
asset management division. Pitman and
his family are active in Highland Aveni
Church of the Brethren, Elgin, 111.
Kenneth Neher
Mark D. Pitman
L
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offer-
ing suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment, "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
STONES
Just yesterday I received a
"Special Holiday Greeting"
from a large department
store stating it was so
impressed with my credit
rating that it wanted to offer
me the exclusive opportu-
nity to participate in its
"Holiday Deferred Billing
Plan" that it reserved for its
most valued two or three
million customers.
According to the new,
higher limit the store had set
for me, it looked like I could
just about purchase Fort
Knox in time for Christmas.
All this, with payments
deferred until March 1995.
This letter was then warmly
endorsed and signed by my
close personal friend,
"Senior Vice President."
Now since I am not
opposed to getting some-
thing for nothing, I scanned
the terms to see if this was
anything I'd be interested in.
And there I saw it . . . down
at the bottom of the page,
nearly buried beneath the
hype: "(Finance charge
assessed during deferral
period)."
As I understand it then,
the idea is to flatter people
into overextending their
credit, then seduce them into
skipping a few months
payments, which in turn
allows the lender to collect
more than three times the
normal amount of interest.
all adding up to a great big
Christmas present for the
department store. As I tossed
the letter into the wastebas-
ket, I wondered: "Do people
really fall for this scam?"
Of course they do. And
not just financially. Consider
the other ways we "defer
billing" in our lives.
How many of you are
overextended in stress? You
regularly exceed your limit
by taking on more than you
can effectively manage. The
psychological meter ticks
away as the emotional
interest compounds daily in
backaches, migraines,
ulcers, insomnia, and other
insidious, somatic distur-
bances. In the end your cost
is much higher than it would
have been had you made
consistent efforts to reduce
your balance.
Or perhaps you "defer
billing" in your relation-
ships, expecting immediate
benefits without making
current investments. Are you
telling your "significant
other" you're not "ready"
for a commitment? Are you
telling yourself you'll get
around to supporting your
children's interests when
they're older and involved in
more "important" activities?
Are you telling your spouse
there'll be time later for
long walks and sweet talks?
If so, you may well find
that the dues accumulate and
the interest escalates to the
point where you are left only
with the option of declaring
"bankruptcy" in those
relationships.
Have you "deferred
billing" in dealing with the
issues, echoes, and ghosts
fi-om your own past that are
haunting you? While
disassociating from the pain
of abuse or neglect may
have been an appropriate
choice for survival at the
time, if you continue to
neglect that "account" it is
liable to expand and exact
payment in depression,
psychoses, or other post-
traumatic stress symptoms.
Financial institutions have
become very rich, very
powerful entities as a result
of the "buy-now-pay-later"
mentality. And while you
may be able to juggle
resources and stay a half
step ahead of the piper
where money's concerned,
"deferred billing" in the
areas of physical and
psychological health leads
only to inflated emotional
costs and impoverished
relationships.
Ai.
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren. Middlebury, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones
Counseling out of Waterj'ord
(Ind.) Community Church.
Messenger November 1 994 9
Text by Margaret Woolgrove
Photography by Alan Boleyn'
1 0 Messenger November 1 994
T he campus of Colorado State
University, a mile above sea level,
is more akin to a mountain top than
cliff edge, but it was here, this past
uly, that Church of the Brethren youth
mm around the country and the globe
;athered to "Come to the Edge, Claim
le Call."
With 4,120 youth, advisers, and staff
rom 35 US states and Puerto Rico,
Jigeria, South Korea, and the United
kingdom, it was not only the largest
Irethren gathering this year, but also
le largest National Youth Conference
SJYC) in the 40-year history of the event.
Helping to ensure that the many
articipants were more than just a
umber were the many different and
ractical forms of color coding used
irough the week. Meal cards came in a
ot of colors from green to white, to
ellow to red. T-shirts also came color-
oded by church or by district. Atlantic
fortheast's were purple, Shenandoah's
'ere pink. Western Pennsylvania's were
bright turquoise, and the 44 participants
from Chiques church in Pennsylvania
were sporting a tasteful forest green. No
doubt these splashes of color helped
with identification of youth groups and
districts in the sea of shirts and faces in
the full-group NYC photo that was
taken at mid-week.
Moby Arena sports hall was the site
of Tuesday evening's opening session
and all subsequent main sessions
throughout the week. "It is amazing,"
said Bonnie Lesher, a youth adviser
from Salem Church of the Brethren in
Ohio, "to stand in an auditorium that is
filled to capacity, and when prayer is
given, not to hear any sound whatso-
ever, and then to hear voices raised to
sing until it's just overpowering." It was
not just voices, but practically the roof
that was raised when Lee Krahenbiihl
introduced his theme song, "Come to
the Edge, Claim the Call." Certain
phrases from the song took on life of
their own as the week wore on, and by
the end of NYC it took only a few notes
of the introduction to get virtually every
person in Moby on his feet, moving and
clapping in time.
The hopefiil expectancy created a
surge of energy for the "NYC wave"
that welcomed North Manchester, Ind.,
pastor Susan Boyer on Tuesday evening.
Speaking on the theme "Edge of Risk,"
she said, "Through no choice of our
own, life is risky." Using Matthew
14:28-31 as an example, she explained
that Peter took the risk of walking on
water not for the thrill, but in order to
be with Jesus. "Like Peter," she sug-
gested, "some of us forget to keep our
minds on Jesus. That's when we start to
sink." She encouraged NYCers to take
some risks during the week, whether it
was meeting new people or allowing
God to speak to them personally. "Risk
the edge. I hear it's incredible."
Phill Carlos Archbold, associate pastor
of Brooklyn First Church in New York,
took up the theme of risk with the "Edge
Moby Arena sports
hall at Colorado
State University
was the setting for
full-group events
at the 1994
National Youth
Conference. Arms
were much in
evidence at NYC
(opposite page),
for interpreting
songs, for signing,
for doing the NYC
wave, and for
hugging. Speakers
such as Brethren
pastor Susan
Boyer inspired the
NYCers, and many
youth came
forward on
Saturday night to
be anointed.
Messenger November 1 994 1 1
Face confusion with love
"In the midst of horrendous confusion and trouble in the world, what inspires
me is seeing Christians living out their faith and taking risks, dancing and
celebrating God's love." explained Ken Medema. who inspired thousands of
youth with his concert on Thursday night of NYC. "To see people facing
confusion with love, that inspires me."
Ken Medema is a Christian, he is a storyteller, he is a song writer, and he is a
singer of songs. He is also blind. But Medema. a tremendously talented
musician, has never let this "disability" stand in the way of his giftedness,
recognizing the blessings that go with the limitations.
Ken began writing songs while working as a music therapist in the 1 960s.
One thing led to another, and by late 1 972 he not only had a hit first album
("Fork in the Road") but also a tour schedule so demanding that he had to give
up his day job. "I decided I'd try touring fiill-time for a while, and see how it
worked." says Ken. He's been touring now for 22 years, and is received well by
diverse audiences all over the world.
He communicates with an ardor that invites people in to share in his musical
world for a few hours. With his obvious love of people, and his tremendous
wisdom and insight into the human condition, Medema has the gift of fully
engaging an all-age audience. While the younger folks clap and move in time,
the older folks tap their toes and
smile at the stories and the music.
Baptist by conversion, Ken
feels a strong friendship with the
Brethren, and is comfortable
with their theology and the
diversity. He first got acquainted
with the church in the early '70s,
at a conference of major reli-
gious publishers, and was
impressed by how compatible
their philosophies were. "The
Brethren talk the same language
1 do — evangelical, but with a
commitment to social change
and justice." he explains. "But
the Brethren are like other
European groups. They're
yearning to loosen up. I think
that's why the youth brought me
to Annual Conference in Rich-
mond Uvo years ago."
Ken particularly enjoys youth audiences, whose visions and dreams are still
unfettered by age and cynicism. "There is so much energy and passion in these
kids at NYC," said Ken. "As a group. Brethren youth need to be encouraged to
stand up and be counted, to have a strong identity as workers for social
change." He encouraged them to demand excellence in the programing given to
them, and to assert themselves in their congregations.
"Don't settle for anything less than the best," said Ken. "Take your wonder-
ful heritage and make it work in the 21st century." — Margaret Woolgrove
1 2 Messenger November 1 994
of Sacrifice" on Wednesday evening, j
declaring that it was time to reclaim
American cities for Christ. He called th
a "safety first" generation, which has
taken the maxim "Look before you leap
far too literally, spending a lot of time
looking and not very much leaping. |
Referring to the parable of the talents
(Matt. 25: 14-30), Archbold reminded
the group that reclaiming the cities
called for the risk of participation, not
observation. In contemporary imagery,
he urged NYCers not to be like the "on
talent man" who was afraid of AIDS, o:
homelessness, and of getting shot. "Thi
is not an adequate excuse," he thundere
out to the throng. "Christ doesn't
necessarily call any one of us to make z
big splash, but . . . there is a place for
every one of us, and it might just be in
the city." Archbold urged youth to claii
the call that Christ has made by coming
to the front of the arena, "even if you
don't know where God is calling you."
Hundreds of youth responded to his
invitation, streaming down to the stage
from all comers of the arena.
Andy and Terry Murray's concert thi
night focused on risk-takers in the
Church of the Brethren, as they sang
Brethren folk favorites about Anna
Mow. Sarah Major, and Ted Studebake
Thursday evening was the high point
of NYC for many youth, combining th(
fervent enthusiasm of Paul Mundey wii
the high-energy style of singer/songwrite
Ken Medema. "It's a world hugathon!"
exclaimed Medema with a look of glee
on his face. "You have two minutes to
hug 700 other people in the audito- i
num." It was Medema's fiin-loving
exuberance and his compassionate
retelling of people's life stories througl
song that made youth such as Carrie
Ebling of Pleasant Valley church in
Virginia and Jessica Lehman of High-
land Avenue church in Illinois dub him
as "the best."
Also getting high ratings on Thursda;
evening was speaker Paul Mundey,
teakers at NYC brought a
be of gifts to their
esentations. Phill Carlos
'chbold (top left), associate
istor of the Brooklyn (N.Y.)
lurch, emphasized urban
inistry and issued an altar
Jl that brought youth
'earning to the stage. Paul
undey (top right), director
Evangelism, told youth
There 's more to life than
>ing for yourself " Christy
'altersdorff (lower right),
sociate pastor of the
'estminster (Md.) Church,
Id how God makes odd
loices in calling people,
abitatfor Humanity
rector Millard Fuller
jwer left), was on hand as
>uth built a house for his
oject (seepage 16). Noted
rethren leaders led
orkshops, including Annual
onference moderator Judy
Ulls Reimer (center).
dtm
ib.
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Messenger November 1994 13
director of Evangelism for the Church
of the Brethren. With the topic, "Called
to Care," Mundey addressed the
question of how to minister to a genera-
tion that doesn't know where it is going.
"There is something more to life," he
declared, " than living for yourself"
Christianity is not a religion, he said. It
is a relationship with a living God made
incarnate through the living person of
Jesus Christ. "Persons who want to
show others the way, need to get risky.
The most contagious evangelical
Christians are the ones who risk giving
all to God." Unless we're living a life
that is abundant and joyful, how can we
expect to bring Jesus Christ into the
lives of others? he asked. "Tell the
church to get a life!"
"I think what he said was totally real,"
said Jamie Eller from New Covenant
fellowship in Florida, while Eric Benny
from Christ Our Shepherd church in
Indiana felt that "we need more preachers
like Paul Mundey in our churches."
Drama was incorporated into many of
the services, but Friday evening's
service was less traditional in many
ways, relying heavily on the genre of
story-telling, from the spirited rendering
of Joshua and the battle of Jericho to the
unusual, and, to some, slightly shocking
retelling of the biblical books Song of
Solomon and Revelation by Margie
Brown of Pacific School of Religion in
Berkley, Calif "I don't think I could
wash my hair in front of 4,000 people,"
said Courtney Cowan from Salem
Church of the Brethren in Ohio, in
Happy feelings make me cry
At the end of his sermon at NYC, Phil Carlos Archbold invited everyone who
wanted to make a commitment to service in our cities and elsewhere to come
forward. I went forward, and I learned something new and important. When the
Holy Spirit moved within me, I cry . . . out of joy, I
hope. It was the first time I had felt the Holy Spirit like
that. It was an inner peace meshed with an overwhelm-
ing sense of love and joy. And all those happy feelings
made me cry.
At NYC I became more aware of my talent for public
speaking. I spoke for a few minutes during Chris
Michael's sermon on "The Power of Youth." I wasn't
nervous, in spite of expecting to be. My new awareness
of my public speaking talent hasn't made me give up
my dream of being a doctor. But I hope that with God's help, I can incorporate
the talents he has given me to do my best for him. — Anne Beavers
Anne Beavers is a youth from Dranesville Church of the Brethren, Herndon. Va.
14 Messenger November 1994
Shawn Replogle
(NYC coordinator),
Chris Michael
(director of Youth
and Young Adult
Ministry), and Wendi
Hutchinson (NYC
assistant coordinator)
were the team at the top
that produced the
highly successful
conference. At week's
end, Chris gave Wendi
a teddy bear, and
Shawn a kitten named
Buddy. Shawn and
Buddy are now at
Bethany Seminary,
where Shawn is a
student Wendi is
continuing her work
with Chris, coordinat-
ing the 1995 National
Workcamps. For Chris,
1994 was her third NYC
as staff
awed, but admiring tones.
Not only did Margie Brown wash her
hair on stage, she also put on a horse I
mask, read love letters from God, and
swallowed fire in a performance that
was either loved or hated. "I didn't
really understand it all," said one
adviser from Virginia, "but when I
realized that those stories had touchei
the heart of a girl in my youth group as
none of the other speakers had been abl
to, I gave thanks for it."
Christy Waltersdorff, associate pasto
of Westminster Church of the Brethren
in Maryland, spoke of unusual people ii
her message on Saturday evening.
"Esther," she said, "had three strikes
against her. She was an orphan, a Jew ii
Persia, and a woman in a culture where
only men counted." Waltersdorf pointec
out that Esther was an outsider, a
foreigner, and a nobody, and yet she
became a queen, saved her people, and
had an Old Testament book named for
her." The Bible, Waltersdorff said, is
full of people like Esther who went
against societal rules and yet did great
(continued on page 18)
{
Me a messenger of Christ's word?
In a small-group gathering on Saturday night at NYC, our leader invited us to
say something about our experiences and what we hoped to take back home.
The circle worked its way around to a girl named Jennifer, who was as friendly
as she was fragile. She told us it was hard for her, since she had just moved and
had no friends to take a message to. She started to cry.
While the group sat there and watched, a force, a
calling, picked me up and moved me the eight feet
across the floor to give Jennifer the comfort that she
desperately needed.
I put my arms around her and led the group in prayer.
Usually I am more reserved, but what I did that evening
seemed as natural as the sun coming up over the
Rockies. I thank God for moving my soul those eight
feet that seemed like eight miles. After the group broke
up, some of the adults asked me if I had ever considered the ministry. But
before they asked me, the thought of ultimate discipleship already was tossing
about in my head.
It was so amazing. They considered me as being a messenger of Christ's
word. That night was my "edge." That night God pushed me. And I flew.
— Kerry W. Burd Jr.
Kerry W. Burd Jr. is a youth from Uniontown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren.
Colorado state University became a beehive of activity on NYC opening day as dozens
of buses rolled in from across the country. A youth with his typical burden of bags
seems to wonder what's next, but a fine-tuned system awaited him, providing his
materials packet, name tags, keys, meal tickets — all he needed for a smooth-running
week at NYC. Two youth (upper left) had the distinction of being speakers for the event,
winners of the NYC speech contest (see May/June, page 3). Kristi Rittle is from Elgin,
III., and Mac Bair is from Hanover, Pa.
matssiefsss: <^':EsmKH'
Messenger November 1994 15
A house that was a sermon
It was just over a year ago that the National Youth Cabinet met and discussed
the possibilities for a service project at National Youth Conference. "Why
don't we build a house?" someone asked.
It seemed like an impossible dream, but after contacting Habitat for
Humanity's Loveland affiliate, 12 miles from Fort Collins, the impossible
began to seem possible.
The foreman of the project, Byron Frantz, of North Colorado Church of the
Brethren, heard about the project on the Habitat for Humanity grapevine and
was immediately interested. Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Orientation
coordinator Tanmiy Krause Riddle and BVSer Emily Zielinski were brought on
board as work project coordinators, and pretty soon it was all systems go.
The only problem? Too much interest. The NYC office received 1 ,300 forms
from people who wanted to help in the 300 time slots at the house. "It was
overwhelming," said Tammy Riddle.
The house was built in two sections in a parking lot on the university campus.
This meant that it could be worked on as two separate units, using more people.
By the time of the dedication service on Saturday, five days after the start of
the conference, most of what could be done to the house at its parking lot site
had been done. The bathroom fixtures were in, the walls were plastered, and
two of the three bedrooms had been painted. "After you've all gone home
again," said Byron, "we'll put the whole thing on a truck and drive it to
Loveland to put it on its permanent foundation."
Knowing that "the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power"
(1 Cor.4:20), about 250 youth each spent a four hour shift during NYC helping
to build the house.
"Some came for an hour and wanted to leave," said Tammy. "Maybe it was
too hot, or maybe they didn't want to get dirty, or maybe they just realized that
building a house is a lot of hard work. But most of these kids had real commit-
ment to the project, even though they didn't know for whom the house was
being built. The thing that for me has been overwhelming, is that they're
willing to forgo going to the swimming pool, or to some workshop, to be out
here on blacktop in the blazing sun, saying, 'Show me how to hammer.'
"It's exciting," she said, "to see these young people, and know that in four or
five years, or maybe next year, some of them are going to come through
Brethren Volunteer Service, and they're going to put in the same love and
commitment to a community for a fiill year that they have done here this week."
The youth had many different reasons why they decided to work on the
house. Some, like Erin Smith from Maple Grove Church of the Brethren in
Ohio, thought it would be a good chance for their youth group to work on
something together. Others, like La Shea Henderson and Liza Fultz from Cedar
Creek Church of the Brethren in Alabama, had been on workcamps before, and
wanted to hone their skills. Beth Binkley, from Lititz Church of the Brethren in
Pennsylvania, wanted to be able to help people.
"It's easier to see a sermon than to hear one," said Millard Fuller, founder of
Habitat for Humanity, in his sermon on Friday morning, "which is why we call
each house that we build a sermon."
Citing statistics of house survival from recent disaster sites, he went on to
speak of the excellent track record that Habitat houses have in times of flood,
hurricane, or earthquake. "People want to know how come Habitat houses stand
firm. And I tell them that there are three reasons. First, we build them on
rock — the "rock" of the Bible. Second, we put love in the mortar joints. And
third. Habitat houses are built by volunteers. Most of them don't know what
they're doing, so when the rules call for two nails, most of them put in 10. A
hurricane doesn't stand a chance." — Margaret Woolgrove
"It's easier to see a sermon than to hear ont
NYCers, "which is why we call each house t
during their week at NYC was a powerful se
others who heard about the feat After its co
Colo., to serve a needy family in the Habitat
1 6 Messenger November 1 994
S9BS!
ity director Millard Fuller told
. " The house that the youth built
s not only to the builders but to
se was trucked to nearby Loveland,
Much of what NYC is about eludes the written record It's
about whimsy: Joe Bowman (left), of North Manchester,
Ind, is having a good-hair day or a bad-hair day, depending
on one's point of view. It's about caring: McPherson
College student Lara Harding (riglu)doesn 't lack for a
support group. It's about.. . whatever happens when boys
and girls get together (bottom) ...at NYC or anywhere.
(continued from page 14)
things. "God calls those whom the
world least expects, and knows our
potential better than anyone else," she
said, urging youth to remember the
injunction of 1 Timothy 4:12.
"The world says that your happiness
depends on your hairstyle or your body
shape or your car. I am here to tell you
that this is a lie. Your happiness
depends on your love for Jesus Christ.
God is calling you right now to make a
difference in the lives of those you may
never meet."
Christy reminded the youth that they
are the generation that is going to lead
Sports at NYC was as informal and easily
organized as hackey-sack, or as
dependent on long-range planning and
logistical fine-tuning as horseback riding
in the Rockies.
into the 21st century. "I pray that you
will do it with dignity, with courage,
and with the grace of God."
With words of atonement, encourage-
ment and love, the anointing service
that followed the sermon was an
emotional time for many, marking the
culmination of a week of intense
spiritual and emotional renewal. A time
of endings and partings, it was also a
time of recognizing the power of God's
love in their lives.
The midnight "curfew" was extended
by one hour on this, the last night of
NYC, and the "NYCPD Blue" night
(Continued on page 23)
Jim Tomlonson
A real peace bridge
Building bridges between divided factions tends to be a metaphorical occupa-
tion for peacemakers. But the youth at NYC daily walked over a peace bridge
built of bricks and mortar during their week at Colorado State University.
Like many college campuses in the Vietnam era of the late 1960s, the CSU
student body divided itself into pro- and anti-war factions. The demonstrations
were fierce and furious, and on one night, after an anti-war march, someone set
fire to Old Main, one of the historic buildings on CSU's campus.
Peggy Ratcliff, a graduate of McPherson college, and a postgraduate student
at CSU at the time, was so incensed at this violence that she wrote a letter to
the community decrying the action, and asking people not to judge the spirit of
all the protesters on the behavior of this one. She posted the letter on the door
of the Coloradoan newspaper that night, and it was published the next day.
It was about 30 years later that someone came up with the idea of building a
peace bridge on campus.
The bridge is built from the bricks of Old Main, and dedicated to healing
between peoples. — Margaret Woolgrove
Wk
18 Messenger November 1994
Opening night at NYC featured a parade
(district banners. Billy Garst and
rannie Jones did the honors for
'outheastern District NYCers brought
n prepared on the site) 6,000 "SOS
its " (Soap, salt, and towel) to send to
>ar refugees in Sudan (see "SOS for
'udan, " December 1993, page 18).
My focus changed to God
When I was asked to sing my song "Claim Your Call" at NYC, I answered with
an enthusiastic yes. I thought how great it would be . . . but also how nervous I
would be. Usually I sing with my brother and my father. But this time 1 would
be alone, except for God.
When I arrived at NYC my focus changed from the
song itself to God. I knew I had come to get closer to
God. Echoing in my ear were words from the NYC
theme song: "Living only for yourself is not living
at all."
I listened to speakers talking about risk, sacrifice, and
caring. I heard youth giving testimonies about these
three subjects in their lives. I was asked to tell a story ^^ ^
from wv life relating to the title "Claiming our Gifts." -^^^l» r
So singing at NYC was in the back of my mind until the spotlights came on
that Saturday night. Four thousand youth waiting to hear a song. I have never
feh anything like it.
God was with us at NYC . . . and still is. I gained more that 1 ever had
expected. But what I gained will stagnate and spoil unless I keep the intention
to live and to give this message to all: "Come to the edge, claim the call."
— Jeremy J. Kendall
Jeremy J. Kendall is a youth from Uniontown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren. He sang his own
composition. "Claim Your Call, " at both Annual Conference and at NYC.
Messenger November 1 994 1 9
I felt in my heart I should go
Two experiences at NYC stand out for me. After Phill Carlos Archbold's
moving sermon, I received a paper called "At the Edge" as I was leaving the
arena. I stuck it in my pocket and went on to my dorm.
When I emptied my pockets, I saw the paper and
skimmed it. I stopped at one word — "minister." When I
saw that word, I just knew that was what I would be
doing the rest of my life.
Then, on the last night, after the sermon, there was an
invitation to come forward and be anointed. I was
sitting with my fi-iends, and no one made any motion to
go forward. I felt in my heart that I should go. I told my
friends I was going, and left before they could say a
word. When I was halfway through the line I saw one of my friends walking
down the bleachers to go forward and be anointed. It made my day. I knew that
if I had not gone forward first, she would not have had the courage to "claim
the call." — Chris Warren
Chris Warren is a youth from Beech Grove Church of the Brethren. Pendleton. Ind.
NYC was loaded with stage talent Youth
from Manchester Church of the Brethret
in Indiana performed a number from
"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dream Coat " Clowns (below) played a
significant role in several worship
20 Messenger November 1994
f
eff Parsons, pastor of Mount Carmel
hurch in North Carolina, directed an
rchestra that played during worship,
'outh brought their own instruments or
sed rented ones. One musician (above)
dded a bit of whimsy.
No angel appeared by my bed
Promised by friends, advisevs, and pastors that NYC would be the most
powerful week in my life, I imagined that at NYC God would deliver answers
to the tough questions of my life — relationships, college, career. NYC would
make everything crystal clear.
But no blinding vision struck me as I stepped off the bus in Fort Collins. No
angel with a map for my life appeared by my bed. But
was NYC life-changing? Absolutely!
How could I be with over 4,000 excited Brethren
youth and not feel joy? How could I watch those youth
build a house for a needy family in four days and not
feel love? And how could I worship with those youth
twice a day and not have my life changed?
After I was anointed on Saturday night, I reflected on
the call delivered to me. God doesn't always write on
walls. But he has a plan for me to fulfill. And that call is
not just for me alone. Jesus fed the 5,000. Why can't the 4,000 NYCers feed the
world, both spiritually and physically? If all of us, young and old, came to the
edge and claimed the call given us by Jesus, we could change the world.
I went to NYC thinking that God owed me the answers to all my questions. I
came away from NYC knowing that I owed God the answer to his call.
— Jonathan Brush
Jonathan Brush is a youth from Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren.
m^-.
Messenger November 1994 21
Come to the edge
Youth are interested in the church again. The 1994 National Youth Conference
was the largest ever, with 4,120 persons in attendance, including some 800
adult advisers. After nearly two generations of disinterest, youth are again
listening to hear God's call.
Of course not all youth have been disinterested in the church. Many have
sought to walk the way of Jesus in the past generation. Nevertheless there was a
radical decline in youthful loyalty to the church beginning about the time of the
Vietaam War. This was true not only in the Church of the Brethren, but also in
most other denominations. Perhaps it was because of the moral crisis brought
on by the war at that time, or perhaps it was because leading Christians were
saying that God was to be found in the world rather than in the benches of the
church. Perhaps the religious revival following World War II had lost its zeal.
Whatever the reason, many youth stopped being interested in the church.
We Brethren cut back on our Christian education programs, including the
work with youth. The National Youth Cabinet was discontinued. The resulting
absence of young adults has been evident in many of our congregations.
During the 1990s the trend is reversing, and youth are seeking God's will
again. They are challenging the whole church with the theme of the National
Youth Conference — "Come to the Edge, Claim the Call." The conference was a
collage of outstanding and irmovative worship, Bible study, top speakers,
dozens of informative workshops, challenging service opportunities, and
entertaining evening events. Working together with Habitat for Humanity, the
youth built a house in four days. They enjoyed mountain hikes, horseback
riding, tennis, volleyball, and many other recreational activities. Their faith
was challenged by the music of Ken Medema, and Andy and Terry Murray.
The Saturday evening anointing service was the peak for many who said that
they had never experienced God's presence in such a real way before.
Youth are saying they want a strong Church of the Brethren for their own
children so they too might know the Brethren commitment to New Testament
Christianity. Growing points of the church's engagement with youth include 12
workcamps last summer. Brethren Volunteer Service, annual Christian Citizen-
ship Seminars, regional youth conferences, district youth activities, peace
caravans, and resourcing materials and ideas for youth from the General Offices.
I am shocked, however, by the number of youth in our church who have
confessed to me that their experience in home congregations is disappointing.
They say this with reluctance, but clearly many feel it to be so. They often do
not find their faith nourished or challenged by their home church. Worship
services lack the vitality that touches youth, vitality that was so evident at
NYC. Many of our hundreds of small churches have only one or two youth of
high school age, and they feel left out.
Making youth a priority will strengthen almost any congregation or district.
We need to assist one another to call out the faith of our youth. We need more
Brethren youth in our colleges and seminary. We need more opportunities for
youth to serve in the name of Christ. Youth are ready to challenge the church
again, and I, for one, am ready to celebrate. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretaiy of the Church of the Brethren.
22 Messenger November 1 994
SYC fellowship was enhanced by the
presence of Brethren youth front other
countries. South Korean youth by Dan
Kim (top. at left), and Puerto Rican
>outh were led by Milton Garcia (above,
It right). Wakuma Mshelbwala (left) was
me of two Nigerian youth.
(continued from page 18)
)atrol gave a 15 -minute grace period to
^Cers — just to make sure that no one
;ot sent home on the last night.
For those who were up to a seven a.m.
tart each morning, Richard Kyerematen,
»astor of Germantown Church of the
brethren in Peimsylvania, led devotions
in different biblical characters through-
lut the week. For youth who slept
hrough morning devotions, there was
ilways the morning worship to get them
;oing with a spiritual charge in the
My future may be in the church
NYC helped me take steps toward making decisions, decisions that I had been
postponing. Before NYC I had put little thought into my beliefs and how I had
come by them. It was easier to not think about them. And 1 had been avoiding
the important question of what to do with my life.
A week before NYC, David Radcliff, director of
Denominational Peace Witness, asked me to be on a
peace workshop panel. I thought, "No problem." I was
wrong. David asked me many questions that I would
never have asked myself They made me examine my
beliefs. I now know that, deep down, peace is the way
to go. Now I can tell myself and others why it is. No
longer is it something I just accepted because people
had told me it was the way.
I am a high school senior, and it's time to think about where I want to go with
my life. 1 am not one of those people who just know what they want to do. But
after a week of talking with my friends 1 think my future may be in the church.
Many people think NYC is over. Not for me, however. NYC continues to
impact me every day. — ^Nathan Shonk
Nathan Shonk is a youth from Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren.
morning. People who led the morning
worships included Shawn Replogle
(coordinator of NYC), Chris Michael
(staff for Youth and Young Adult
Ministry), Kristi Rittle and Mac Bair
(winners of the NYC speech contest),
Millard Fuller (founder and President of
Habitat for Humanity), and David
Radcliff (staff for Denominational
Peace Witness).
On Sunday morning, David RadcHff
spoke of the many new and different
things that had been experienced by the
youth during the week. "You people
built a house, you prepared SOS kits for
the Sudanese people, you filled every
day with worship and workshops and
small groups, and you walked 400 miles
across this campus to do it." It certainly
felt like that distance by Sunday. "But
for most of us," Radcliff went on, "this
is not the end, but the beginning. If you
don't face the challenge, then you don't
find yourself." Warning that the comfort
and closeness of the NYC community
would soon give way to the problems
that had been left behind, Radcliff
encouraged participants to hold on to
their dreams and strive to become the
people they had felt called to become
during the week of NYC.
"Will you walk with Jesus? The way
is risky, and those who travel it are few.
Will you walk ahead? I want to say yes.
I've seen the vision in your eyes, I've
heard the anger in your voice over
things that aren't right. I've seen the
love in your hearts that's greater than
any power on the face of the earth. I've
seen you ready to give your life to
something bigger and better and farther
and higher. Get out to the edge, and
claim the call."
When NYC ended on Sunday, it was a
tired group of people who made their
way one more time across CSU's
campus to strip beds and collect luggage
for the trip home. But the tiredness was
bom of outdoor exertion from hikes and
horseback rides in the splendor of
Colorado's Rockies as well as from the
endless questing and searching that the
week had entailed. "1 think I've become
closer to God," said Beth Nolen, of
Dranesville church in Virginia.
Likely she spoke for 4.120 other
Church of the Brethren youth.
M\
Margaret Woolgrove. a Brethren Volunteer
Ser\'ice worker from Scotland, completed a year as
editorial assistant with Messenger in August.
Messenger November 1 994 23
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On pondering it
by Patricia Kennedy Helman
omen
G
HI
I
happen to them."
I was shocked to read such cruelly
irresponsible and vindictive words as
had fallen from the vicar's mouth. I w<
hurt for all of the women in the world
who serve and who desire to serve Go<
in response to a call, a call that knows
no sexual distinction. The news of the
day had left me in complete psychic
disarray, and lingered stubbornly in m;
mind and heart.
Vicar Kennedy has since been
chastised by his superiors, but the fact
remains: Here is a supposed man of Go(
who has been directing the spiritual liv
One late spring morning when
the sun was on an early high,
1 fetched the morning paper
from the mailbox, and sat down with
gratefulness to enjoy the printed word.
Scanning the front page quickly, I was
informed of another drive-by shooting
in our city, of a surfeit of violence
around the globe, and of the early death
of a prominent local citizen. I was
turning the page to see if psychic relief
from such mayhem and sorrow might be
found, when my eye caught a small
headline in a lower comer of the
front page: "Clergy-women
Should Bum, Vicar
Says." Being an
ordained minister,
1 found this a
harrowing thought,
and I read on to see if
this was some feature
editor's idea of a joke. It was
no joke. A history-making event
was occurring in the ,^^^*X 1— T T A A AO D T F^ HT^
Church of England with £ ^ I ii JL V V V^ iVL L^ i '
the ordination of 33
women priests at
Bristol's Anglican
cathedral.
Anglican vicar Anthony
Kennedy "let off steam" as
the date was imminent
for this to happen by
saying that the
ordinands should be
"bumed at the stake."
"Priestesses should be
bumed at the stake," he
said, "because they are
assuming powers they have no right to.
In the medieval world, that was called
sorcery." Kennedy lamented the demise
of the bonfire as a means of corporal
punishment, saying, "It's illegal now, but
if 1 had my way that is what would
NDEED
OD DID NOT i
SEND THE CON
INTOvJ
L>ONDEM^
THE WORLD,
BUT IN ORDER
THAT THE WORD
MIGHT BE cave
THROUGH ,>
HIM.
IOHN3:i7
24 Messenger November 1994
/ORD
if many Anglicans for a long time,
bviously armed with only a minuscule
nderstanding of the mind of Christ. The
se of condemnatory language and the
leanness of spirit espoused has nothing
3 do with the message of the New
'estament. This incident does and shall
jrever remain with me as an example
f what not to do, say, or be if one
rofesses a faith that claims membership
1 the Body of Christ on earth. It
;minds me of a quotation fi-om the
jwish tradition: "Words are so powerfiil,
ley should be used only to bless, to heal,
ad to prosper."
This bit of unwelcome news concem-
ig the Vicar's misogyny came as my
usband and I were preparing to go to
/ichita for Annual Conference, which
'as for us a homecoming to a city in
'hich we had lived for several years.
/e looked forward to the national
athering of our church, to the meeting
id greeting of friends, to the catching
p on events and business and all that it
leans to be a part of the Beloved
ommunity.
As I listened at Wichita to what
)eakers on the Conference floor said, as
heard about the continued bias that
dsts in our church toward several
)ecific groups, as I witnessed some of
le personal hurts that had been too
;adily inflicted on our brothers and
sters during the week, I could not help
It think of the misguided English vicar.
While burning one at the stake is no
3tion, bruising one's soul is. And many
mis left Wichita wondering about the
ive and sense of community that was
/ident in the prayers and songs and the
iriety of worship experiences, but
iemed absent in many other settings.
he Living Water that did indeed seem
I flow in abundance in the dramatic
onference logo, to which our eyes were
repeatedly drawn, was a home for tears
as well as for rejoicing in this life-giving
water of the faith.
The first Bible verse I remember
learning as a very young child was
John 3:16, referred to often as the
"gospel in a nutshell." Herein we find
that God loved the world so much that he
sent his Son, and that if we believed in
the gift of Jesus Christ we would be
certified to receive immortality. It was
many years after John 3:16 fell so
quickly from my childish lips before I
read John 3:17: "Indeed, God did not
send the Son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him."
My sense of Armual Conference was
that, along with inspired leadership and
a bounty of blessings, there were
present too many condemnations.
Questions posit themselves in one's
mind. Are there those among us who
speak with absolute certitude concern-
ing who should be singled out for
condemnation?
In reference to our brothers and sisters
who have been courageous enough to go
public concerning their sexual prefer-
ence, one must read beyond the verse or
two in the Old Testament in which God
supposedly speaks of any preference
other than heterosexuality as an abomi-
nation to the Lord. Read on to the
directive, "They shall be put to
death . . ."(Lev. 20:13). In the Torah
there are numerous mentions of behavior
and practices that are an abomination to
the Lord. Among them is the admonition
against eating shell-fish. (Deut. 14:9-10)
Most of us have savored a good meal of
lobster or shrimp without any sense that
we were working against the edicts of
God or that we might be punished for
such errant behavior.
Does God, who is all love and
n.
MAC
FACTS
WHO
WHERE
George Sanders, a Native
American from Tennessee
and a senior at
McPherson College
Receiving bachelor's
degrees in education and
sociology, the first in his
family to graduate from
high school and attend
college. Already teaching
by providing "a different
perspective" for the other
students in his classes
and by leading classes in
Native American Culture,
Cultural Diversity, Native
Religion.
Graduatmg May 1995
On to graduate school —
"We don't have a lot of
people in higher educa-
tion. I want to open the
door and show my people
it can be done. We need
to go outside the Native
American world and
acquire understanding, as
well as dignity and self-
control. Someone has to
start the way."
When people would say,
'But I'm only one
person,' my grandfather
used to speak of the river
and how it started as one
drop of water pushing up
through the ground, being
joined by others until it
was a mighty, rushing
force. I'm that drop,
attracting the others."
"There's still a real
cultural clash when it
comes to bringing people
together, since everything
up to now has been
forced. There's got to be
mutual understanding to
bring people to a
common ground, and
that's what education is."
McPherson
College
McPherson College welcomes all applicants regard-
less of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or
physical or emotional disabihty.
Messenger November 1994 25
understanding, want his children stoned
by either bricks that kill the body or
words that bruise the soul? Surely we
must in our Christian lives be able to
open the doors of our hearts and treat
with loving kindness those with whom
we may not be in total agreement. As
the great and spiritually attuned psy-
chiatrist Carl Jung has pointed out, "The
trouble within the organized church is
that people 'talk the faith," but they
never interiorize it."
While the Church of the Brethren has
opened the doors to women in ministry,
it is notable that the doors of many
hearts are closed against us. We are
grateful for what has been accom-
plished, but the harsh condemnation of
the Womaen's Caucus and its chosen
speaker expressed volumes concerning
the lack of love and respect for some of
God's children.
It is quite understandable, given the
cultural ethic of our Judaic-Christian
heritage, that there are still those who
find it difficult to welcome women into
that sacred space behind the pulpit or
wherever else a woman's ministry might
take her. There is a long history of
searching for scripture that puts women
in their place, and presumes they will
stay there. Often, Paul is quoted as the
authority on theory and doctrine con-
cerning a woman's role in the church.
B>
'ut then there is that insightfiil
scripture from Paul that resonates in our
hearts: "There is no longer Jew or
Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for
all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal.
3:28). These are powerful words that are
a blessing, that could be healing, and
that portend prospering within our
spirits.
Our brothers and sisters, the Native
Americans, were singled out at Confer-
ence for some negative response that, a
least on the surface, had mostly to do
with language. In the Annual Confereni
paper's affirmation regarding our
relationship to this group, the followin
statement occurs: "We affirm that to
live according to Christ's example is t(
respect Native Americans, including
their religious traditions, and to work
for justice alongside people of native
ancestry regardless of their religious
affiliation."
I find it puzzling that we would find
so much about which to argue concern
ing the word "pathfinder" as a way of
speaking of Christ. Jesus himself said,
"I am the way . . ." (John 14:6). If,
indeed, we accept his claim, could it n
also mean Jesus can show us the way?
The Native Americans' language, like
all peoples', is precious to them, and il
we truly honor plurality within our
community, then we must be ready to
accept the group's way of identifying
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New Oxford, PA 1 7350
Cmss Keys Village
Please send information:
3 Cottages / Apts. □ Personal Care □ Nursing Care
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tQVAl HOUS1MC
M 1 0/94
26 Messenger November 1 994
e sacred in its members' lives.
At a small private dinner on
lursday evening of Conference week,
e host concluded the gathering with a
lignant request. As he stood before us,
s countenance was one of sorrow
d perplexity. In carefully chosen
ards he called for the ones who had
oken bread together that evening to
ay for the church. He spoke of the
avy presence of ignoble language
at revealed too much concerning
ndemnation and too little concerning
£ image of a loving Savior, Jesus
s Christ.
As I understand the Church of the
ethren, our chief motif is "commu-
ty." We like to think of ourselves as
mily members, a loving family. We
ten hear our Annual Conference
ferred to as the "Brethren family
union." In Wichita there was some
nse of a family with chosen scape-
lats at our yearly gathering. My own
ayer, inspired by our brother's
quest, is that we are granted grace,
lazing grace, that is shared in the
acious spirit of God's promised
esence through the Holy Spirit and the
ve of Jesus Christ.
^arl Menninger, the psychiatrist who
tablished the famous Menninger
inic in Kansas, scoped the dark
gions of many thousands of souls
iring his long career. He noted that
ery human being is marked by a "vein
evil," and that each of us lives with
ir own fault-line that can stir up chaos
the psyche just as the meteorological
ult-line can stir up chaos in the bowels
the earth. If, however, we stay
tuned to God's presence in our lives,
irhaps we can in the true sense of
immunity be gracious to all our sisters
id brothers, acknowledging our own
;akness and sins with such sincerity
id remorse that condemnation of
hers would not be a consideration. For
as it not Jesus himself who said, "Why
» you see the speck that is in your
iighbor's eye, but do not notice the log
your own eye" (Matt. 7:3)? In an
)scure book of wisdom literature,
Joseph is quoted, saying, "This is part of
what my Lord taught me. I have aban-
doned the religion of those who do not
believe in God and in the life-to-come. I
follow the religion of my fathers.
Abraham, Isaac and, Jacob: Judgment
belongs to God."
I trust that the Wichita experience
might have helped many of us to sense
the truth in Joseph's legacy of thought
and in Jesus Christ's reminder concerning
beams and motes in the various
conditions of our humanity.
Ai.
Patricia Kennedy Helman. a member of
Lincolnshire Church of ihe Brethren, Fort Wayne,
Ind., is an ordained minister and a writer.
THE
^ane
AND
Through dramatic pageantry and artistic leader-
ship, Sadie Wampler '16 influenced generations
in her 43 years of teaching and theatrical pro-
ductions on campus and for the church. Her
own enthusiasm inspired others to be enthusi-
astic. Her pageants, with madeover yet elabo-
rate costumes and stage sets, attracted large
audiences. To recall Sadie Wampler is to
recall a rare and remarkable person.
Sadie ^•"'P^''
^lyaat
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Theatrical, musical, and creative, Kevin
Bryant, a senior, enjoys acting, constructing
stage sets, and singing in musical groups. He
is also president of Alpha Psi Omega, a drama
honorary organization. Combining analytical
and organizational skills vdth career goals in
video production, Kevin's inquisitive mind and
multitalents place him among Manchester's rare
and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know if you are planning a special
campus visit.
Manchester College does not discriminate on the basis ot such taclors as national or
ethnic origin, race, color, age. gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, disability, or
veteran status in admissions or any other area of campus lile, including its educational
programs, scholarships and loan awards, residence lite programs, athletic programs, or
extracurricular programs.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982-5000
Messenger November 1994 27
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^
Belief hinges on 'creationism'
The September Messenger article
"Tending the Ark" blatantly disregards
scripture. I hold the Anabaptist traditior
of the Brethren in high regard. I have
been taught throughout my Christian lif
that the theory of evolution is just that,
theory. But the aforementioned article,
from the beginning, states the evolution
of species as a fact, disregarding the
scriptural account of creation. How sad.
To think I believed Brethren still held
the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God
without error.
When I first saw the September covei
I thought I could use the issue to teach
my son about stewardship of God's
creation. I home-teach him, and always
look for ways to reiterate Anabaptist
thoughts and lifestyle. Now I find that
Messenger has become an embarrass-
ment and is an unacceptable publicatioi
for my child to read.
Please, Messenger, leave the theory c
evolution to those who teach it best — ■
humanists. '
Janet W. Else
Augusta. W. Vi
Does God need our defense?
I have begun receiving unsolicited
"bulletins" from something called
"Brethren Brotherhood of Evangelicals,
including requests for $100 donations.
It makes me sad when brothers and
sisters rise up against one another,
slinging accusations and untruths
toward one another while an unbeliev-
ing world looks on.
Doesn't it just show our arrogance
when we invite "fellow Christians" to
come together to defend our faith and
ow God? Do we really believe that Goi|
needs our defense?
It has been my experience that the
Church of the Brethren always is open '
and searching for the will of God for oi'
day. Let's not destroy this witness. '
Rather, let's outdo one another in \
showing love. Or, as Ephesians 4:32 '
28 Messenger November 1994
uts it, "Be kind to one another,
mderhearted, forgiving one another, as
rod in Christ has forgiven you."
Ben Herring
Hastings, Minn.
leeded: A stewardship center
', in fact, we Brethren are at risk of
inning out of money before we run out
f people (August, page 25), perhaps we
dould put a stewardship center right
longside evangelism 's Andrew Center,
nd give them equal billing.
Marianne Michael
Iowa Citv, Iowa
temembering 'Aunt Florence'
read with delight the story about
lorence Studebaker (September, page 3).
was taken into the Studebaker home in
ranklin Grove, 111., when my mother
ied in 1937. I was seven years old.
I have wonderful memories of that
pecial family. Each day we had
ssigned tasks. At night we often lay in
le yard and studied the stars. When we
^ere all in bed, we would sing, in
armony, the song "Good Night, May
mgels Guard You." It was beautiful.
"Aunt Florence" visited us a few
ears ago. She recited poetry and told
tories of the old days. She took home
ome cloth scraps and quilted me a
Dvely bedspread ... at age 91.
When she left from her visit with us,
£r parting words were "See you in
ilory."
Evelyn Piesen Zuck
Lanark: III.
V feeling of personal loss
t was with a feeling of deep personal
OSS that I learned of the tragic death of
oel Thompson (October, page 8).
)uring the 34 years since I first met
lim, I had come to know him as a
lerson of keen insight, deep convic-
bndgewater Village, a christian
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rA/
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•Resident Service Coordinator on staff
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• Easy access to local services, transportation
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• Real estate taxes paid by Bridgewater Village
• Planned activities and the opportunity to
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For more complete information including charges and expenses, call
1-S00-9-PHAXIS to receive a prospectus. Please read the prospectus
carefully before you invest or send money.
Messenger November 1994 29
1
To subscribe to
f
call (800) 323-8039 WExt. 247.
Ask for Vicki.
From the
Office of Human Resources
Needed regularly: part-time pastors
More than half of the Church of
the Brethren congregations call
part-time pastors to serve them.
Have you considered relocating
to serve? Or, in retirement, have
you considered serving one of
these congregations?
Is yours a calling congregation?
Are you identifying and calling
forth persons with gifts for min-
istry? How long has it been
since you have called some-
one into the ministry of the
church?
For more Information, contact your district
executive, or co-director of Ministry,
James Kinsey at (61 6) 364-8066.
tions, inspiring courage, challenging
leadership, delightful humor, and, above
all, as a person with a great gift of
caring.
Karen S. Carter
Daleville, Va.
Look to the New Testament
1 read the "Opinion" of Steve Sterne
(September, page 37) with much
sympathy and concern. I became a
member of the Church of the Brethren
1 0 years ago, delighting to be part of a
church whose creed was the entire New
Testament — the unchangeable, unerring
Word of God. In dealing with the issue
of homosexuality, we must look to that
New Testament.
Homosexuality is not a "disease," to
be "cured" with medication or surgery.
It is not a habit, to be broken by will
power. One cannot be born with
something that is an abomination to
God. That would make John 3:16 a lie,
and God cannot lie (Tit. 1:2).
We learn how to deal with this issue '
from reading Mark 5:1-20, 7:24-30, 6:7-
13; and Matthew 10:1. See also Ephesian
6:12, John 8:32, and Hosea 4:6.
We must recognize our enemy and th
havoc he is creating in our church. Let
us be open to the work of deliverance si
that we can experience unity.
Dorothy Mullir,
Ada. Ohi
It's good to be remembered
I appreciate the Church of the Brethren'
concern toward my war-torn country of
Sudan (May/June, pages 5 and 8).
The work the Brethren are doing and
have done is a clear definition of the
church's name. It is good that Brethren
are trying to teach our people that
violence cannot solve our problems.
The Brethren's efforts have made me
feel loved and cared for by the Christiai
world.
Peter Patrick Las
Adjumani, Ugand
CLASSIFIED ADS
FOR SALE— "Our Family Books" by Mason. John Mason &
Mary Ann Miller of Virginia—} 986; Ziegler Family Record
(Reme6)-mO:Shanl<FamilyRecord-}992:MictiaelMiller
Family Record-} 993: John Wampleri Magdalena Garber—
in progress; John H. Garber Family Record— m progress;
Nicholas Garber Family Record— m progress. Please write
for prices and more info. Send long SASE. Floyd R. Mason,
115 E. Rainbow Dr., Bridgewater, VA 22812.
NOTICE— Atlanta Faithful Servant Church of the Brethren
officially closed doors on May 1 , 1 994. We thank everyone
who supported us over the years. Brethren in Atlanta area
will still meet twice a year. On first Sundays in May and
November we will have a "Brethren Homecoming" with
potluck love feast, communion, feetwashing service, &
fellowship. For info, on meetings or general info, on Brethren
in Atlanta contact Bob & Rose Garrison at (404) 979-7343.
REUNION— International WeinAA/ine reunion Aug. 26-27,
1995, in SW Germany, near Black Forest. Tours arranged
if sufficient interest expressed soon. Many/most Wines in
US descended from Michael Wine with ancestors in Ger-
many & Alsace. Name changed from Wein to Wine in
America. For reunion info., contact Ross Wein, 7135
Saskatchewan Dr. NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G
2A4. Tel. (403) 436-0141.
TRAVEL— Grand tourof Europe— Paris, Swiss Alps, Venice,
Vienna, Prague, united Berlin, & Schwarzenau. July 10-31 ,
1995. For info, write to J. Kenneth Kreider, 1300 Sheaffer
Rd.,Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
30 Messenger November 1994
TRAVEL— Tour Israel and Jordan, Feb. 9-20; eastern Eu-
rope (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Repub-
lic, Poland, and Berlin, Germany), May 8-27, 1995;
Scandinavia, July 12-27, 1995; Great Britain (England,
Wales, Scotland), Aug. 8-25, 1 995; Alpine Tour (Germany,
Austria, Switzeriand),Sept.21-Oct.6, 1995. Forfurther info,
contact; Gateway Travel Center Inc., 606 Mifflin St.,
Huntingdon, PA 16652-0595. Tel. (800) 322-5080.
TRAVEL— "Highlights of Scandinavia" tour. Visit Denmark,
Nonway, Sweden; mini-cruise across North Sea. See "Little
Mermaid" in Copenhagen's harbor. Visit Evard Grieg's
home in Bergen, Norway. July 19-Aug. 6, 1995 (19 days).
$2,379 from New York (JFK), For info, write Wendell and
Joan Bohrer, 8520 royal meadow Dr., Indianapolis, IN
46217, Tel. (317)882-5067.
TRAVEL-China; May 16 to June 10, 1995. Cost; $4,775,
incl. all expenses leaving & returning from Chicago. Visit
former Brethren mission area Shanxi. other churches,
seminaries, & friends. Tourist attractions in Beijing, Xian,
Nanjing, Shanghai, & Guilin; exit thru Hong Kong. Host:
Wendell Flory, 319 N. First St. #201, Bridgewater, VA
22812. Tel. (703) 828-4182.
WANTED— Participants for 1 995 Young Adult workcamps in
El Salvador (June 3-13) and Belfast, N. Ireland (June 1-11).
Help the environment & people of El Salvador in a reforesta-
tion project; replant tropical rain forests destroyed from civil
war. In Belfast, work at Glebe House, residential home for
Protestant & Catholic children. Both projects offer great
opportunities to meet people & experience new cultures. Fi
more info, call Young Adult Ministry Office at (800) 323-803
WANTED— Camp manager. Camp Bethel, 25 mi. n.
Roanoke, Va. Educ/exp. required; BA/BS expected, Ma
ters preferred; lengthy business, camping, or nonprofit ex
considered; strong personnel, supen/isory exp.; ability
oversee financial record-keeping, accounting; backgrour
in & commitment to Church of the Brethren, both district
denom.; commitment to quality camp program & facilit
Position open Jan. 1, 1995. Send application, resurr
immediately to Mark Nichols, Outdoor Ministries Searc
Comm. Ch., 4083 Dawnridge Ln., Troutville, VA 24175
WANTED— Church planters. Creation of new Church of tt
Brethren fellowship in Research Triangle of North Carolir
(near Raleigh) is being explored by Virlina District Extensic
Committee. Commitee is soliciting names of Brethren
interested persons in that area. If you or someone you kno
is interested, contact Daria Kay & Duane Deardorff at (91:
851-2626, or Dave & Lynette Minnich at (919) 682-9253,
WANTED— Volunteer camp managers. Camp Ithiel, C
lando (Fla.) seeks volunteer couple to assist camp direct
with management of year-round outdoor ministry prograr
Responsibilities vary from office work to food service
general maintenance. Stipend and housing in furnisht
cottage (kitchen & laundry). Three Church of the Brethrf
congregations within 20 min. Come try the Florida settin
For info, contact Mike Neff, Camp Ithiel, P.O. Box 16
Gotha, FL 34734. Tel. (407) 293-3481.
ew
embers
iDville, Atl. N.E.: Colleen
Sholly
ssett. Virlina: Aileen Arden.
Roger Boyd, Payton Gilbert
ar Creek. S. Ohio: Barbara.
Susan & Philip Bucher.
Trenten O'Hair. Bruce Terrill
aver Dam. Mid-Atl.: Craig
Moxley. Larry Stattlemyer
thel, N. Ind.: Violet Birky,
Teresa Miller
thlehem. Virlina: Gregory &
Susan Gordon
rlisle. M. Pa.: Ronald &
Carolyn Madeira. Janet
McCoy, George & Mary
Mixell. Helen Rebert. Diann
Ryan. Mervin Trinimel
ampaign. IlI.AVis.: Paul &
Peter Kohler
rist the Servant. At) S.E.:
Kimberly Chaney. Ken &
Melanie Dehon, Helen &
Cory Donahew, Kimberly
Donehes, Isabel & Joe Esala,
Ron & Casey Grattan. Mary
Hobbs, Donna & Ron Luke,
Elizabeth Moore. Robert &
Kathy Wise
hrney-Keedy Fellowship.
Mid-Atl.: Ruth Ecker,
Katherine Fink. Janis & John
Geoghegan. Flora Gregory.
Creola & Stanley Jones
<od Shepherd. Virlina; Graves
& Rebecca Clayton, Ruth
Higgs. Mark & Paige Hunter.
Ed & Sherri Turner
shen. N. Ind.: Derek Blough.
Edward, Phyllis & Jason
Carl. Rebekah Yoder
rper Woods. Mich.: Jason
England. Christen Williams
pe. Mich.: Traci. Shawna &
Thomas Bumell. Jennifer
France. Michele Lewis,
Mona Stewart
iple Grove, N. Ind.: Jim &
Phyllis Kirkdorffer
imorial. M. Pa.: Jay & Lori
Burke. Rick & Denise Keller,
Lester Stombaugh
ddle Creek. Atl. N.E.: Gary Nolt
lunt Bethel. Virlina: Arlene
Hickman. Cindy Bowers
w Paris, N. Ind.: Robert Van
De Water
rthview. S/C Ind.: Erica Egolf
ikDale. W. Marva: Monica
Evans. Jonathan & Lisa
Hawk. Charles & Rosalee
Leach. Amy & Bonnie
Parsons. Debbie & Donald
Pritts
ivet. S. Ohio: Jack Kessler.
Nick Leckrone. Chris Ours.
Bob Paxton, Eric & Monica
Rutherford. Aaron Smith
Imyra. Atl N.E.: Wendy
Amdt. Christopher Gottshall
'radise. N. Ohio: Mathias
King. Noah Wengerd
fsons, W. Plains: Nina Davis.
I Heather Goodyear, Kathy
; Smith
sadena. Pac. S.W.: John &
I Susan Belotte, Jabani
: Mambula. Elizabeth Rowan.
Nada Sellers
Pittsburg. S/C Ind.: John &
Linda Bulington. Craig &
Sherri Cripe. Betty
Kirkpatrick. Beverly Seese,
Carl Seese. Mary Shaffer
Ridgely. Mid-Atl.: Eric
Voorhees. Chad Judy
Rossville. S/C Ind.: Lisa
Latshaw. Cara Gangwer.
Dale & Debbie Luper
Rummel. W. Pa.: Kay Blough.
Christi Driscoll. Boruiie &
Michael Jacobs. Kristin
Mack, Shawn Rhoades,
Tracy Strick, Everett &
Paulette Whistler
San Diego. Pac. S.W.: Allen Stem
Sangerville. Shen.: Jeffrey
Kiracofe, Paul Minns, Susan
Simmons, Paul Tilley
Shiloh, W. Marva: Robert Back.
Mellisa Brandy
Thurmont. Mid-Atl.: Larry.
Donna. Becky & Greg
AUnutt. Edel Anders. Wanda
& Wendy Lambert, Matthew
Mercer
Troutviile. Virlina: Anetra,
Bruce, Erica .& Lisa
Cambata, Joshua Loan,
Matthew & Stefan Traylor
Wakarusa. N. Ind.: Beth &
Bruce Tillotson, Gary & Gail
Zimmerman
West Goshen, N. Ind.: Charlotte
Huber. Kenneth Long,
Howard Troup, Gary &
Brenda Yoder
Westminster, Mid-Atl.: Curt
Pospisil
Worthington. N. Plains: Lucinda
Douglas
Wedding
Anniversaries
Andes, Raymond and Virginia,
Bridgewater. Va.. 50
Bomberger, Harold & Betty,
Mount Gretna, Pa.. 50
Bowman. Paul and Nadine.
North Manchester. Ind., 50
Chrispyn. Paul and Fern.
Goshen. Ind.. 55
Clark. Ben and Dollie,
McPherson, Kan.. 50
Donnelly, Arthur and Hilda,
Lacey, Wash., 50
Enyeart, Truman and Mabel,
Silver Lake, Ind., 50
Faust, Kenneth and Beulah,
Windber, Pa.. 60
Forney. Paul and Mary. Palmyra.
Pa". 65
Frantz. Elvin and Rachel. Buena
Vista. Colo.. 50
Hodgden. Ralph and Margaret,
Erie. Kan.. 55
Hoover. Russell & Esther,
Goshen. Ind.. 50
Kercher. Robert & Olive.
Goshen, Ind.. 55
Kintner, Dana and Mary. Lacey,
Wash., 65
Kruger. David and Naomi.
Lebanon, Pa., 50
Macy, Ralph and Olive, West
Milton, Ohio. 60
Michael. Orin and Charlotte.
Olympia. Wash., 60
Weaver, Wilfred and Louise.
Modesto, Calif, 50
Wertenberger, Ralph and
Waneta, Warsaw, Ind.. 50
Weybright. George & Rachel.
Goshen. Ind.. 60
Will. Edwin and Anna Mae.
Bridgewater. Va,. 50
Zimmerman, Charles and Dottie,
Sebring, Fla.. 50
Licensing/
Ordination
Baker. Sandra M.. ordained May
21, 1994. Rummel, W. Pa,
Beers, Kevin L., licensed May 21.
1994. Green Tree. Atl. N.E,
Bidgood. Elizabeth, licensed May
21. 1994. Green Tree. Atl, N.E,
Brown. Joseph E,, licensed May
21, 1994, Hosteller, W. Pa,
Carroll, Michael A., licensed
July 30, 1994, Peters Creek,
Virlina
Enders, Gregory, licensed April
6. 1994. Lancaster. Atl. N.E.
Gaver. Joanne, licensed Aug, 14.
1994. Thurmont. Mid-Atl.
Graham. Jeffrey, licensed July
16. 1994. Mexico. S/C Ind.
Gross, Aaron V.. licensed July
16, 1994, Mexico, S/C Ind.
Lewis. Powell, licensed March
24. 1994. Raven Run. M, Pa,
Longwell. Eric, licensed Aug. 28.
1994, Plumcreek, W, Pa,
Mathis, Terry, ordained April 1 7.
1994. Valley View. Pac, S.W,
Naff. Robin Collins, licensed
July 30. 1994, Red Oak
Grove, Virlina
Quesenberry, James Hebron.
ordained July 30. 1994,
Beaver Creek, Virlina
Shockey, Howard, licensed
April 23, 1994. Cerro Gordo.
Ill./Wis.
Sousley, Kendra. licensed July 1 6.
1994. Northview. S/C Ind,
Wurzburger. Kenneth Douglas,
ordained July 30. 1994.
White Rock. Virlina
Pastoral
Placements
Binkley, Timothy, from seminary
to Onekama, Mich.
Borgmann, Kurt, from Sebring,
Atl. S.E,. to Oakton. Mid-Atl.
Bowman. Christopher, from
Peoria. Ill./Wis., to Martins-
burg Memorial. M. Pa.
Huffaker. John L.. from East
Fairview. Atl. N.E.. to Ninth
Street( Roanoke). Viriina
Johnson, Jeffrey, from Madison
Ave.(York), S, Pa., to
Morrellville, W. Pa.
Lemmon. Cory, from secular to
Han-is Creek, S. Ohio
Smith. Arthur, from Eden
Valley. W. Plains, to
Blissville. N. Ind,
Wilczynski. Vince. from other
denomination to Pleasant
Dale, S/C Ind.
212th BVS
Orientation Unit
(Names omitted from the list in
September MESsr.NciLR)
Beachy. Jamie. Littleton. Colo.;
to Church of the Brethren
Washington Office. D.C.
Borian. Paul. Doylestown. Pa.: to
Interfaith Council for the
Homeless. Chicago. 111.
Klemm. Beate. Leipzig.
Germany; to Bread and
Roses. Olympia. Wash.
Loomis. Andrew. Pennsylvania
Furnace. Pa.; to Church of
the Brethren Washington
Office
Miller, Angela, Keezletown, Va.;
to Catholic Worker House.
San Antonio. Texas
Ungemach. Michelle. Palmyra,
Pa.; to Catholic Worker
House. San Antonio. Texas
Deaths
Albright. Nannie. 83, Winchester,
Va,,May 28, 1994
Amos, John, 74, Parsons, Kan..
March 6. 1994
Angle, Jason, 18, Milford. Ind..
Aug. 20. 1994
Ashby. Doris. 75. LaVeme.
Calif . Sept. 3. 1994
Ault. Mary. 96. York. Pa.. Aug.
13. 1994
Bailey. Berdie, 99, Sabetha,
Kan.. July 26. 1994
Baker. Albert. 80. Toms Brook.
Va.. July 18. 1994
Beeghly. Harry, 96, Oakland,
Md, Aug. 13. 1994
Belser. Florence. 86. Evanston.
111. Aug. 13. 1994
Bcnse. Mildred. 81. Windber.
Pa. June 25. 1994
Bloom. John. 74. New Carlisle,
Ohio, Aug. 10. 1994
Blue. Loren. Johnstown. Pa,.
July 9. 1994
Bodkin. Lloyd. 85. Verona. Va..
July 20. 1994
Bollinger. Adam. 78. Ephrata,
Pa.. July II. 1994
Botkin. Lloyd. 85. Waynesboro,
Va.. Aug. 2, 1994
Breneman. Floyd. 85. New
Castle. Ind.. July 28. 1994
Chambers. Erma. 78. Milford.
Ind. July 5. 1994
Clapper. Mary. 79. Martinsburg.
Pa.. May 22. 1994
Cooper. Gae, 70, Harman,
W.Va.. Nov. 26. 1993
Grouse. Esther. 90. Ridgely,
Md.. April 9. 1994
Daniels. Elva. 93. Modesto.
Calif. Aug. 30. 1994
Dilling. Gertrude. 89, Martins-
burg, Pa.. May 2. 1994
Ebersole. Harold, 86. Neffsville,
Pa.. July 10. 1994
Eckard. Lee. 60. Mount Airy.
Md.. July 19. 1994
Eisele. Albert. 87. Lincoln. Neb..
June 18. 1994
Filbrun, Virginia. 72, Brookville,
Ohio, March 6, 1994
Flora. Bruce. 83. Roanoke. Va..
July 19. 1994
Fox. Ida. 74, Milford, Ind.. Aug.
2. 1994
Frazee. Bette, 53. Uniontown.
Pa.. Aug. 24. 1994
Freeman. Ellen. 82. Palmyra.
Pa.. May 1. 1994
Frutz. Leona. 81. Troy. Ohio.
May 18. 1994
Frye. Alice. 79. Martinsburg. Pa..
June 3. 1994
Good. Ira. 85. Middletown, Pa.,
May 24. 1994
Graham. Edith, 95, Modesto.
Calif, Aug, 8, 1994
Graybill, John, 91, Wenatchee.
Wash. July 29. 1994
GrifTith. Eldo. 80. Carleton.
Neb.. Aug. 5, 1994
Hall. Sadie. 78. Delphi. Ind..
Feb, 11. 1994
Hamilton. Manlle. 65. Buena
Vista. Va,. Aug. 21, 1994
Harman, Leona, 69. Harman.
W.Va. Oct. 10. 1993
Harrison. Rebecca. 86. Silver
Spring. Md,. Aug. 20. 1994
Hartman. Raybum. 74. Palmyra.
Pa. April 27. 1994
Heiland. Dorothy. 79. Delphi.
Ind. July 7, 1994
Helsel. Maude. 83. Claysburg.
Pa.. June 16. 1994
Hoff. Mary. 84. Westminster.
Md. Sept. 4. 1994
Hoover. Raymond. 66. Windber,
Pa.. Dec. 8. 1993
Horner. Han^. 88. Windber. Pa..
Feb. 15, 1994
Horner, Kenton, 73, Johnstown.
Pa.. March 4. 1994
Huffman. Lester. 94. Roanoke,
Va.. May 9, 1994
Hunsicker. Edith, 77. Palmyra.
Pa.. Aug. 6. 1994
Ingram. Bertie. 93. Bassett. Va..
March 29. 1994
Kinzie. Paul. 89. Troutviile. Va..
May 26. 1994
Kiracofe. Donald, 5 1 , Valdosta,
Ga.. April 1. 1994
Kiracofe. Paul. 72. Waynesboro.
Va.. May 29. 1994
Leffler. Carlos. 71. Richland. Pa.,
Aug. 14. 1994
Lichty. Mae. 89. Rockwood. Pa..
Jan, 1. 1994
Lichty. Iva. 60. Somerset. Pa..
Aug. 6. 1994
Light. KB.. 90. Palmyra. Pa..
May 11. 1994
Lineweaver. Faith. 96. Roanoke.
Va,. May 24. 1994
Lynds. Gladys. 89. Sebring, Fla.,
Aug. 11. 1994
Markley. James. 81. Annville.
Pa.. April 21, 1994
Marko, Emma, 87. Windber. Pa,.
March 16. 1994
Mauzy. Elva. 97. Franklin.
W.Va. June 6. 1994
McPheron. Earl. 92. Lincoln.
Neb.. July 11, 1994
Meredith, Richard. 68. Akron.
Ind.. July 7. 1994
Miller. Gordon. 80. Baker.
W.Va. April 24. 1994
Morris. Harold. 58. Uniontown,
Pa. Aug. 22. 1994
Moyer. Bruce. 70. Mathias.
W.Va.. May 24. 1994
Messenger November 1 994 31
Will there be any stars in our crowns?
As I drift toward old curmudgeonhood (like an
unwary canoeist on a languid stream beginning to
sense the tug of a waterfall up ahead), I feel more
and more often the necessity (or, perhaps more
accurately, compulsion) to make a shocking confes-
sion to others: I was once a callow youth.
Likely it is because of my being in this stage of
life's river that I so much enjoy the comic strip
"Crankshaft." Ed Crankshaft is an old curmudgeon,
as cantankerous as they come. A widower, he lives
with one of his children, and he exasperates the life
out of his family and the neighbors. Occasionally the
comic strip does flash-backs to Ed's boyhood,
usually showing him in escapades that are the
counterparts of the fixes he gets into as an old man.
ft's that flash-back technique that I find helpful to
replicate for myself in my own mind: What was I
like as a "callow youth"?
I thought of that as I worked with our coverage of
National Youth Conference (NYC) in this issue of
Messenger (pages 10-23). I did not attend NYC, and
so relied on the reports of others for my impressions
of it, but in handling the text and photos I got a feel
for the event and how it affected its participants.
From my own youth, I recall the unarticulated
need I felt for adults who would take me under their
wing. And the few who did that effectively were not
youth advisers at church (although I am confident
they were well intentioned), but people outside my
congregation. And as often as not, my best help
came from other youth. I made it, but it was a pretty
lonely journey.
I never attended an NYC, having been virtually
unaware of it when I was of eligible age. Then
throughout the 1960s and into the '70s, I was out of
the country, and so was out of touch with our
denominational youth program. Thus it still is rather
shocking for me to read in Don Miller's column on
page 22 of this issue how youth lost interest in the
church in the 1960s, and Brethren cut back on their
work with them. A scholarly study of that era in
Brethren life would be most helpfiil. Likely it
would help explain a lot of today's problems in the
denomination — problems such as decreasing
numbers, dying congregations, our denominational
identity crisis, and a dearth of active, involved
middle-aged Brethren.
ft's hard for me to understand the apparent
shortsightedness of Brethren leadership of the era
when we so neglected the nurturing of our youth
(with likely an accompanying lack of nurture for
32 Messenger November 1 994
children and adults). I don't think I am exceptional
in placing value on giving attention to children, to
encouraging them, nurturing them. It's part of
common sense. What happened to us?
I recently attended, with my wife, a reunion of her
home congregation's youth of the 1940s and '50s.
Mount Hermon Church of the Brethren, near Bassett,
Va., was quite rural at the time, reflecting the Blue
Ridge Mountains culture in which it had been
planted, scarcely in the mainstream of Brethren life.
But a phenomenal number of the group at the
reunion had broken the mold, gotten higher educa-
tion, and gone on to be effective leaders in their
congregations, in their districts, and in the denomi-
nation. Out of that small congregation have come
teachers, doctors, lawyers, ministers, missionaries,
two Aimual Conference moderators. General Board
staff, a General Board chairman, the executive
secretary of the Brethren Benefit Trust, and, most
recently, a Brethren college president. To say
nothing of those who stayed right at home and are
sturdy leaders and pillars of the congregation today.
X^or me, it was instructive to hear the reunion
attenders testify to the importance of the nurturing
they received as children and youth in the congrega-
tion. While much credit was given to a couple of
effective pastors, there also was much significance
placed on the nurturing provided by individuals in
the church, the mothers and daddys who, while
struggling hard to make a living, took time for the
youth. One mentioned a woman who tore around the
community in a pickup truck, hauling kids here and
there. Another mentioned a factory worker, dog-tired
at the end of a work week, taking time to play ball in
the pasture with the kids. Most of those saints have
gone to their reward, and what dazzling stars in their
crowns they must wear! Jesus would not have been
amiss, in Matthew 25:31-46, in having the king say
to those on his right hand, "I was a youth, and you
nurtured me."
So read the NYC '94 story and be instructed.
Especially note the sidebar testimonies by individual
NYCers. View the NYC video. Ask the youth from
your congregation to relate their experiences. Those
4,000 youth who went to NYC, together with
thousands of others who didn't go but who are filled
with as much potential as those who did, are the
hope of the church. Nurture them. Believe me, it'll
mean stars in your crown. — K.T.
t
Gifts
of the
Spirit
Praying with the
M Anabaptists M
The Secret of Bearing Fruit
by Marlene Kropf and Eddy Hall
The first book to clearly
articulate the heritage of
Anabaptist spirituality,
Praying with the
Anabaptists offers fifteen
meditations and guided
prayer exercises that pro-
vide direction for bear-
ing spiritual fruit. Each meditation includes
text from John 13-17, a
reflection on the biblical
passage, words from the
early Anabaptists, and a
guided prayer exercise. A
companion cassette by the
Chamber Singers of Eastern
Mennonite University
includes a hymn for each meditation and
reflects the intimate Anabaptist connection
of singing and prayer.
An ideal gift for individual or group use.
"We need this
book. It is time we
draw on the wells
God provided
within our own
Anabaptist
history, heritage,
and hymns. "
Arthur Paul Boers,
pastor and author
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
\ . - '\ V V
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1 800 441-3712
1451 Dundee Avenue • Elgin, IL • 60120
The Call
of Christ
Is Clear.
Get Involved!
VJET INVOLVED. CoME TO THE EDGE. ClAIM THE CALL.
Get involved — involved in the work and witness of
Jesus Christ in the world, raising signs of hope.
Come to the edge — the edge where God is, there in
the midst of the broken, the wounded, the despairing, the
dispossessed.
Claim the call — the call of the Spirit to heal and
uphold and walk in newness.
These are challenges to Church of the Brethren
junior highs, senior highs, and young adults from Youth
and Young Adult Ministry. These are vistas opened and
careers signaled through leadership training, national and
regional conferences and seminars, workcamps, evangelism
and service programs, travel teams, and study resources.
Join in support of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
with your gift to the Christmas
Achievement Offering. Let youth J
know you are with them as they
claim the call of Christ.
Youth and Young Adult Ministry
Christmas Achievement Offering
I >^
The people who
walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
«.VV-*
,wit^^-^^SN*.
Decorating the Christmas
tree are (clockwise from
left) Kermon Thomasson,
Nevin Dulabauin, Paula
Wilding, Vicki Roche,
and Paul Stocksdale.
As Christmas 1994 rolls around, we at Messenger are feeling
more like it is New Year's than Christmas. The reason is that
we have a sense of newness more associated with the new year
beginning than with the old year ending.
This past summer saw three members of our Messenger
team leave us. Norma Nieto, who had managed our subscrip-
tions department for 10 years, moved to Texas
with her family. Eric Bishop, managing editor,
left us to return to the University of La Verne
as a journalism teacher. And Margaret
Woolgrove, a Brethren Volunteer Service
worker, serving as editorial assistant, com-
pleted her year and returned home to the
United Kingdom.
So during the late summer and early fall, we
were shorthanded. But things are looking up.
Vicki Roche transferred from another program
area to succeed Norma. Nevin Dulabaum has
succeeded Eric as managing editor. As for
Margaret's successor, there won't be one for a
while. We are using in another way the budget
marked for having a BVSer. (You have to be
creative when you are confined by a flat budget.)
In lieu of a BVSer, we have hired someone to
help us with Messenger promotion. That
person's name is not a new one here at the
General Offices. Linda Myers Swanson worked
in Brethren Press marketing for several years, and now will be
using the expertise learned in that position to help us gain new
subscribers to Messenger.
Linda had not begun her new job when we took the photo of
us decorating the Christmas tree. But 1 am sure she joins us in
wishing for each Messenger reader a wonderful Christmas.
May the blessings Christmas holds be evident to each of you
and touch your life.
^^Wt/M^'^^lifitn^^
Printed on
lOO-ptrcent
recycled paper.
®
COMING NEXT MONTH: News and features to get you started
on an exciting new year in the Church of the Brethren.
Editor
Kermon Thomasson
Managing Editor
Nevin Dulabaum
Editorial assistant
Paula Wilding
Production, Advertising
Paul Stocksdale
Subscriptions
Vicki Roche
Promotion
Kenneth L. Gibble, Linda Myers Swansc
Publisher J
Dale E. Minnich I
District Messenger representatives:
Atlantic Northeast. Ron Lutz; Atlantic
Southeast, Ruby Raymer; Illinois/
Wisconsin, Kreston Lipscomb; Northern
Indiana. Leona Holderread; South/Centr
Indiana. Marjorie Miller; Michigan. Mai
Willoughby; Mid-Atlantic, Ann Fonts;
Missouri/Arkansas, Mary McGowan;
Northern Plains, Faith Strom; Northern
Ohio. Sherry Sampson; Southern Ohio,
Jack Kline; OregonAVashington, Marguei
Shamberger; Pacific Southwest. Randy
Miller; Middle Pennsylvania, Ruth Fisht
Southern Pennsylvania, Elmer Q. Gleim
Western Pennsylvania, Jay Christner;
Shenandoah. Jerry Brunk; Southern Plai;
Mary Ann Dell; Virlina, David & Hettie
Webster; Western Plains, Dean Hummei
West Marva, Winoma Spurgeon. ■
Messenger is the official publication of 1
Church of the Brethren. Entered as secoi
class matter Aug. 20. 191 8. under Act ol
Congress of Oct. 17, 1917. Filing date,
Nov. 1, 1984. Messenger is a
member of the Associated
Church Press and a subscribe
to Religion News Service am
Ecumenical Press Service.
Biblical quotations, unless
otherwise indicated, are from the New
Revised Standard Version.
Subscription rates: $12.50 individual
rate, $10.50 church group plan, $10.50 g
subscriptions. Student rate 750 an issue,
you move, clip address label and send w
new address to Messenger Subscriptions
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, !L 60120. Alio
at least five weeks for address change.
Messenger is owned and published 1 1
times a year by the General Services
Commission. Church of the Brethren
General Board. Second-class postage pai
at Elgin, 111., and at additional mailing
office, December 1994. Copyright 1994,
Church of the Brethren General Board.
ISSN 0026-0355.
POSTMASTER: Send address change
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60120.
■
Touch 2
lose to Home
;ws 6
epping Stones
om the
General Secretary
;tters 24
tntius' Puddle
irning Points
194 Index 31
litorial 36
14
28
30
20
edits:
lide front cover: 6; 9 left, top left
and right: Alan Boleyn
3 top; 9 far right, second ft'om top:
15-19: Kermon Thomasson
ight: Jay Christner
lottom: Michael Reilly
lop: Manchester College
bottom: McPherson College
Gramstorff Brothers
An anointing 1 1 t
J. Woody Woodford describes an encounter under a bridge in
deep winter that left him pondering the ways God has of making
his presence known.
Looking toward Christmas 12
Patricia Kennedy Helman presents four of her Christmas poems
that get at the heart of Isaiah's words: For those in darkness, a
great light shines.
NOAC II: Choosing between lake and hills 15
Attending the second National Older Adult Conference, Kermon
Thomasson couldn't help noticing the symbolism of Lake
Junaluska's smooth lake and rugged hills.
Born from above 22
Exploring the Gospel story of Jesus and Nicodemus, L. Byron
Miller considers not only the question the two dialoged about, but
recommends that each of us follow the example of seeker
Nicodemus.
Main story: II 's true that many people who participate in the National Older
Adult Conference do so partly for the fun of seeing old friends, of talking old
times, and of updating one another. Earle Fike and Loren Bowman, once
colleagues on the General Board staff demonstrate that aspect of NOAC.
Read the report on NOAC II. beginning on page 15. for other reasons why
older adults in the Church of the Brethren flocked to Lake Jimaluska. N.C..
this past September.
December 1994 Messenger 1
Ill
rr
A mother-friendly lab
Lancaster (Pa.) Laboratories
really likes mothers. The
company has been cited as
one of "10 Best Companies"
in Working Mother
■•s-«-J.. "Wi'.^
Company president
Earl Hess plays Santa
Claus at Lancaster
Laboratories, which
has been cited for the
help it provides
working mothers.
Among its provisions
is on-site child care.
"In Touch "profiles Brethren
we would like you to meet. Send
story ideas and photos (black and
white, if possible) to "In Touch, "
Messenger, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120.
magazine's "100 Best
Companies in America for
Working Mothers." This
makes six consecutive years
that the company has made
the magazine's "100" list.
Lancaster Laboratories'
president is Earl Hess, a
member of Conestoga
Church of the Brethren, in
Leola, Pa. The company has
on-site child care, adult day
care, and fitness centers for
its employees and associ-
ates. It provides analytical,
research and development,
and consulting services in
the environmental, food, and
pharmaceutical sciences for
clients around the globe.
Making happy trails
In a time when the public is
leery of strangers in public
places, one person is doing
his bit to perpetuate an older
image — the helpful one
along the way.
Maynard Sembower, a
member of Rockwood (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren, is a
volunteer tour guide and
information provider for the
15-mile Allegheny High-
lands hiking and biking trail,
which begins at Rockwood.
Retired, Maynard became
familiar to trail officials and
was asked last year to
become a member of the
trail's personnel. He wears a
distinctive cap and a vest
with "Trail Watch" im-
Maynard Sembower
printed on it. He keeps track
of trail users to make certain
no one gets lost. He also
dispenses information about
the trail and its animal and
plant life.
A former employee of the
Pennsylvania Game Com-
mission, Maynard says, "I
like to meet people and I
like to answer questions."
That makes him a natural as
a trail guide and a familiar
friend to hikers and bikers.
Names in the news
Jesse Hopkins was honored
by Bridgewater (Va.)
Church of the Brethren for
his 20 years as director of
music/Sanctus Choir
director. The September 25
worship service was dedi-
cated to him. An anthem,
"For He Is Salvation," had
been written in his honor.
• The life and work of the
late poet Bill Stafford was
celebrated during the
November annual conven-
tion of the National Council
of Teachers of English, in
Orlando, Fla. Brethren Press
exhibited his book Scripture
of Leaves and made a
donation to the William
Stafford Memorial Fund for
Teachers of the Dream. The
fund is used to recruit people
of color to the teaching of
English.
• Lloyd Horner, a
member of First Central
Church of the Brethren,
Kansas City, Kan., received
the 1 994 Spring Volunteer
of the Year award, given by
31st Cancer Action, Inc.
• Esther Boleyn, Africa
Office field staff member
working in Nairobi, Kenya,
in Bible translation, has
written a little book. Women
for Christ and the Church. It
fills a need in Sudan, where
2 Messenger December 1994
Clarence and Elma Mishler
One function of the National Older Adult Conference (see
page 15) that was not covered in its purpose is that of match-
making. At NOAC II, one couple on hand had attended
NO AC I, in 1992, as singles. Clarence Mishler and Elma
Noffsinger met then, fell in love, married, and attended
NOAC II as husband and wife. They live now in New Paris,
Ind., and are members of Union Center Church of the
Brethren, in Nappanee. At NOAC II, the challenge was given
for others to follow the example of the Mishlers, but no word
of developments has reached Messenger.
teaching resources usually
reach men first, and women
do not have access to
materials that lift up women
as leaders. The book was
first published in the Nuer
Robby Burke collected shoes to display in Washington,
D.C., in a demonstration favoring handgun control.
language, and later in
English. Encouraged by the
response to the book, which
presents stories about New
Testament women, the
author is now working on a
sequel, about Old Testament
women.
• At Bridgewater
College's annual President's
Dinner, Shirley Fulcher
Wampler and her late
husband, Galen, received
Outstanding Achievement
Awards. The Wamplers,
members of West Richmond
Church of the Brethren,
Richmond, Va., were cited
for their work in medical
and social services. Dale
Ulrich, a Bridgewater
professor and member of
Bridgewater (Va.) Church of
the Brethren, received an
Outstanding Service Award.
In addition to teaching, he
also has served as the
college's dean and provost.
Shoes against shooting
Robby Burlie Jr., had good
reason to join the "Silent
March" on Washington in
September. The pastor of
Mount Zion Church of the
Brethren, near Luray, Va.,
was shot and robbed in
1991, and the experience
turned him into an activist
for gun-control laws.
The "Silent March" was
the displaying of 38,000
pairs of shoes, representing
the number of Americans
killed by handguns in 1993,
placed inside a large outline
of the United States on the
front lawn of the national
capitol. The event was
sponsored by churches and
gun-control groups, includ-
ing Virginians Against
Handgun Violence.
Robby uses his own "gun
violence" story to educate
people about gun control.
"It's part of my personal
therapy," he says. He
collected shoes publicly in
Harrisonburg and elsewhere,
drawing attention to the
"Silent March" and using
the opportunity to talk to
people.
Robby is not opposed to
all guns. He would like to
see the most dangerous
guns, including "Saturday
night specials," banned, and
gun-buyers required to take
safety courses before they
can own a gun.
Remembered
Lucile Long Strayer
Brandt, 93, died August 20
in Goshen, Ind. After a
career of teaching English at
three Brethren colleges —
Mount Morris, Bridgewater,
and La Verne — she taught
English at Hillcrest School
in Jos, Nigeria, 1965-1969.
She also was an author and
poet. The Brethren Encyclo-
pedia says of her, "She has
been known for keenness in
thinking, impatience with
the faulty, proficiency in
teaching, and intensity in the
defense of orthodoxy."
• T. Wayne Rieman, 82,
died November 9 in North
Manchester, Ind. He was
professor of religion and
philosophy emeritus at
Manchester College, having
had a career there that began
in 1948. He also had been a
Church of the Brethren
pastor in several congrega-
tions.
December 1994 Messenger 3
to
Bethlehem recreated
Ten years ago, on a trip to
Tennessee, Inez Moodie
visited a walk-through
drama depicting Bethlehem
on the day of Jesus' birth. It
so impressed her that she
eventually led her congrega-
tion in Ohio in producing a
"Bethlehem Experience."
This Christmas the fourth
came in 1993. The drama is
held the last weekend of
November and the first
weekend of December.
In the drama, the village
of Bethlehem is recreated,
with visitors registering for
the census and otherwise
participating as Bethlehem
citizens.
As visitors wander the
streets, they encounter
In its "Bethlehem
Experience, " Eaton
Church of the
Brethren depicts the
scenes surrounding
Jesus ' birth.
annual "Bethlehem Experi-
ence" is being produced by
Eaton (Ohio) Church of the
Brethren at the Preble
County Fairgrounds in
Eaton. Over 6,000 visitors
soldiers, beggars, shopkeep-
ers, shepherds, artisans,
craftspeople, and animals.
Eventually the visitors reach
the scene of the nativity, the
highlight of the experience.
"Close to Home " highlights
news of congregations, districts,
colleges, homes, and other local
and regional life. Send stoiy ideas
and photos (black and white, if
possible) to ' 'Close to Home, ' '
Messenger, 145! Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120.
This and that
Indian Creek Church of the
Brethren, in Harleysville,
Pa., held its second annual
"Fall Festival" in October,
with many features familiar
to festival followers. There
were the usual apple butter
boiling, pumpkin carving.
pumpkin pie eating, and
hayrides. What made the
Indian Creek festival
different is that one fam-
ily— that of Charles and
Cynthia Ebersole — supplied
all the food and provided the
activity. Well, all but the
apple butter production. The
congregation's youth
handled that, already
making money toward
expenses for the 1998
National Youth Conference.
• The site of the 1995
Annual Conference — the
new convention center in
Charlotte, N.C. — opens with
a "Mid-Atlantic Boat Show"
January 28-February 1. On
hand for a special tour at that
time will be Sue Thompson,
Annual Conference assistant.
She will be getting firsthand
acquaintance with the
facility to allot locations for J
the events of the Brethren ■
gathering. The Church of the
Brethren is the first client to
commit itself for a "religious
convention" at the new
center. Charlotte officials
figure the Brethren will have
an economic impact of $2.5 I
million on the city.
• A three-story, brick
colonial house is being built
just south of Manheim, Pa.,
to be sold to the highest
bidder at Atlantic Northeast
District's 1995 Disaster
Relief Auction. A ground-
breaking was held in ^
September, and the work is
proceeding with volunteer
labor and donated materials.
• Camp Inspiration Hills,
near Burbank, Ohio,
suffered a fire October 27
that heavily damaged
Beechwood Dining Hall.
The fire, caused by an
electrical malfunction,
happened while the building
was undergoing a $225,000
expansion. New plans now
are needed for the entire
building, according to
Northern Ohio District
executive Tom Zuercher.
• The Sunnyslope and
Wenatchee (Wash.) Breth-
ren-Baptist congregations
held a spiritual growth event
4 Messenger December 1994
called "Led into Wilder-
ness" October 15-16.
Oregon-Washington District
moderator-elect Gayle
Hunter Sheller was guest
speaker. Workshops on
spiritual disciplines were
featured, as well as an
evening concert by JOYA
(September, page 4).
Campus comments
The University of La Verne
debate team won 10 trophies
at the annual Oregon State
University Forensics
Tournament in October. The
six-member team received
more awards from a single
tournament than any other
team in the history of ULV
debating.
• Zandra Wagoner, of La
Verne, Calif, a 1993
graduate of Bethany Semi-
nary, and a Church of the
Brethren ordained minister,
became campus minister at
McPherson College
October 1 . In the Church of
the Brethren, she has served
as chairwoman of the
Zandra Wagoner (right), chats
students she now serves as the
Parker Marden and his wife, Ann, enjoy a carousel ride at
the carnival that followed the Manchester inauguration.
National Young Adult
Steering Committee, 1989-
1992, and director of a
Young Adult workcamp in
1992. She is convener of the
National Council of
Churches' Young Adah
Ministry Team.
• Manchester College
inaugurated its 13th presi-
dent, Parker G. Marden,
October 22. Following the
with McPherson College
school's campus minister.
inauguration, a carnival was
held on the campus mall for
students, guests, and the
public.
• Juniata College hosted
an Intertribal Powwow
October 29-30, with repre-
sentatives from 20 Native
American tribes participat-
ing in dancing, arts, crafts,
and cooking. The goal of the
powwow was to teach
attenders about Native
American people, history,
and culture.
Let's celebrate
Walkers Chapel Church of
the Brethren, near Mount
Jackson, Va., celebrated its
centennial September 18.
Willow Grove Schoolhouse,
in which the members first
met, still stands. Former
pastor William Zirk was
guest speaker for the
centennial event.
• Danville (Va.) First
Church of the Brethren
marked its 80th anniversary
September 25, with Virlina
District executive David
Shumate as guest speaker.
Richard Berkley, a great-
great-grandson of the first
pastor, Marion Prather, was
licensed during the morning
service.
• Jones Chapel Church of
the Brethren, near Martins-
ville, Va., dedicated the
remodeling and expansion of
its sanctuary October 23,
with former pastor Tom
Fralin as guest speaker.
• The Gujarati group of
Naperville (111.) Church of
the Brethren, celebrated the
100th anniversary of
Brethren mission work in
India November 6. Glen
Campbell, a former India
missionary, was guest
preacher. The celebration
also included singing by the
Gujarati Choir, an interna-
tional meal, and Indian
dancing.
• Tok'ahookaadi Church
of the Brethren, Cuba, New
Mexico, set December 4 as
the date for the dedication of
its new Community Center/
Fellowship Hall.
• Living Gospel fellow-
ship, Elgin, 111., dedicated its
new sanctuary November
20. The church was recog-
nized as a fellowship at
Illinois/Wisconsin District's
recent annual meeting.
• East McKeesport (Pa.)
Church of the Brethren
marked its 50th anniversary
June 19, with Western
Pennsylvania District
executive Ron Beachley as
guest preacher. The
congregation originated as
a joint venture of the
Greensburg and Pitts-
burgh congregations.
December 1 994 Messenger 5
fc
Communicorp's Patti
Crane shakes hands with
Sara Speicher, associate
director of Association of
Brethren Caregivers
(ABC). Speicher and
other members of the
staff and General Board
participated in a
two-hour workshop, led
by Crane, in which the
new "identity lines" for
the denomination
were discussed.
In background: General
Board chairman Ernie
Barr and General
Secretary Don Miller.
General Board focuses on
Brethren 'identity lines'
"Identity lines" proposed by the messag-
ing firm Communicorp (see sidebar
story) occupied much of the time of the
Church of the Brethren General Board
at its October meeting in Elgin, 111. The
board found the lines showing signs of
popular acceptance across the denomi-
nation, and readily added its endorse-
ment to their use. Each commission, as
well as the full board, discussed the
Communicorp report in its meeting. In
addition, a workshop was held for both
board, staff, district executives, and
visitors by Patti Crane, Communicorp
vice-president.
In other General Board activity, the
Parish Ministries Commission (PMC)
held discussions with representatives
from liaison groups with which it has a
established relationship. The groups
include Association for the Arts in the
Church of the Brethren (AACB),
Brethren/Mennonite Council for
Lesbian and Gay Concerns (BMC),
Church of the Brethren Association of
Christian Educators (CoBACE),
Anabaptist Deaf Ministries, Hispanic
Ministries, Womaen's Caucus, and
Brethren Renewal Services.
Because the news pages include news from
various Church of the Brethren organizations and
movements, the activities reported on mav
represent a variety of viewpoints. These pages also
report on other national and international news
relevant to Brethren. Information in news articles
does not necessarily represent the opinions of
Messenger or the Church of the Brethren.
From the Communicorp study of the church: Phrases that
"pull us toward our roots ... and toward our future"
Succinct. Forthright. Open. Simple words to say complex things.
These were responses from the October General Board meeting to two sets of*
phrases aimed at helping Brethren identify themselves to others. The first phrase
is "Another way of living," to be accompa-
nied by either the denominational logo oij
selected scriptures. The second phrase is |
"Continuing the work of Jesus. Peacefully.
Simply. Together."
The identity lines are ftirther intended to
prompt Brethren individuals and congrega-
tions to talk in depth about what being
Brethren means. The effort grows out of a
new media outreach project of the General
Board, bridging communication and
evangelism.
Based on extensive study and a score of
Brethren focus groups conducted throughou
the country by Communicorp, an Atlanta-
based messaging firm, the identity lines
come at the conclusion of reflection papers
totaling nearly 100 pages.
To background the study, Communicorp
vice-president Patti Crane opened the
General Board meeting with a two-hour
workshop. Her presentation was followed
by reviews in each of the three commissior
and by the General Board as a whole, resulting in approval (with one negative
vote and one abstention).
Spurred by an insight session at the Wichita Aimual Conference in which a
progress report was given by Crane, the identity lines over the summer and fall
months found their way into sermons and print materials, Sunday school class-
rooms and camp bulletin boards, and in district conference reports. In Oakland
Church of the Brethren, near Gettysburg, Ohio, pastor (and Aimual Conference
6 Messenger December 1994
PMC was seeking to clarify the
ilationships of the various groups with
le commission, as well as with the
jnomination and the General Board,
he commission will continue studying
)w well the liaisons are working.
The World Ministries Commission
VMC) heard a report that leaders of
e Reformation Presbyterian Church in
Duth Korea, representing 25 congrega-
)ns, have voted to join the Church of
e Brethren. David Radcliff, director of
orean Ministry said, "We have much
common, including our understand-
gs of pastoral leadership, the role of
ity — and of women in particular, and
an emphasis on expressing Christian
faith in daily life."
Reformed Presbyterian Church leaders
attended the 1994 Annual Conference,
and several of its youth attended this
year's National Youth Conference.
Prior to entry into the Church of the
Brethren, these leaders and congrega-
tions will be involved in an orientation/
education process, including training
sessions this fall led by Dan Kim (South
Korea field staff member) and others,
and presentations on Brethren theology
and history next spring, led by Dale
Brown, retired Bethany Seminary
professor. Atlantic Northeast District
oderator-elect) Fred Bemhard built his fall membership class around the lines
id also used them in the pulpit.
The General Board discussion gave strong affirmation to the way the terse
irases accent lifestyle, action, heritage, reconciliation, simplicity, community,
id a personal relationship with Jesus — values Brethren hold dear.
Critics said the phrases lack pietistic fervor, overemphasize works or ethics, and
ive no proven acceptance from strangers.
New General Board member Ernie Bolz, pastor of Ellisforde Church of the
•ethren, near Tonasket, Wash., said he responded with tears of joy when he first
ad the Communicorp reflection paper on the heels of Annual Conference. "It
ills us toward our roots and it pulls us toward our future," he declared.
Phyllis Crain, Parish Ministries Commission chairwoman, a public school
ministrator, and a member of Mill Creek Church of the Brethren, near Tryon,
C, heralded the identity lines as something "people fi'om children to older
ults can put to memory."
Ron Retry, Mid-Atlantic District executive, explained that what feels so good
out the report is "that it already has drawn us together in amazing ways."
Another new board member, Tracy Wenger Sadd, minister of nurture at Lititz
a.) Church of the Brethren, lauded the paper itself, but said the words of the
;ntity lines were "not broad enough, not sound enough, not theological enough"
guide a media campaign. She urged that a mission statement be developed
fore identity lines are adopted.
Bethany Seminary dean Rick Gardner explained that he resonated with the
commended words from Communicorp "because they catch up what the Gospel
Matthew is about — a Gospel very foundational to Brethren thought. The words
tch up the nuances of the Matthew story and the Brethren story and what they
y about us in today's world."
Tentative plans call for the reflection paper, with a discussion guide, to be
inted by Brethren Press for churchwide use.
Other eventual applications will include a series of folders, local church
lerpretation materials, and postcards for congregational mailings. Coordinating
i next steps is a committee whose members are Dale Minnich (chairman), Joan
;eter, Barbara Ober, Pam Leinauer, Wendy McFadden, Paul Mundey, and
)ward Royer. — Howard E. Royer
Howard E. Royer is director of Interpretation on the Genera! Services Commission 's
mmunication Team.
executive Allen Hansell will work with
Radcliff in overseeing the process of
examining and recognizing the ordina-
tion of pastors and the receiving of
congregations.
Yvonne Dilling, WMC staff represen-
tative for Latin America and the
Caribbean, relayed a request from the
Brazilian Brethren (Igreja da
Irmandade) asking the General Board to
support a farm project in Brazil related
to helping street children. WMC
expressed interest, but is awaiting
additional information before making a
decision on the request.
Miller Davis, director of Center
Operations of the Brethren Service
Center in New Windsor, Md., reported
that the project corrmiittee for the
proposed New Windsor Brethren
Retirement Center is in the marketing
phase for apartment units. Interested
individuals are urged to call Davis'
office at (410) 635-8716 (or write to
Brethren Service Center, Box 188, New
Windsor, MD 21776) and request a
descriptive brochure.
The General Board approved a
Preferred Care Health Insurance Plan
presented by the Brethren Benefit Trust
(BBT) and the General Services
Commission (GSC). The plan, which
goes into effect January 1 , is expected
to provide approximately $100,000
savings toward ensuring a balanced
General Board budget, while offering
in-network and out-of-network provi-
sions for employees.
The General Board also approved the
1 995 budget for the general programs
with an expense parameter of
$6,626,000. (This does not include the
income-producing centers.) The budget
essentially remains a flat one, with the
only expansion being a 4.5-percent
increase in staff salaries and benefits for
cost-of-living considerations.
A report was heard on the Fill the Ark
project, a joint fundraising effort of the
Church of the Brethren and Heifer
Project International (HPI). (See April,
page 9, and October, inside back cover.)
The project already is being supported
by 358 Church of the Brethren congre-
gations.— Paula S. Wilding
December 1 994 Messenger 7
Moderator-elect meets with
Fidel Castro on Cuba visit
A lengthy discussion with Fidel Castro
was the highlight of a trip to Cuba in
September for Annual Conference
moderator-elect Fred Bemhard and
other members of a delegation orga-
nized by Pastors for Peace.
Castro scheduled for the delegation a
midnight meeting that lasted for over
two hours. Bemhard was impressed that
"Castro was more interested in what
(the delegation) wanted to talk about
than in what he had to say."
Castro and the delegation discussed
the challenges ahead for Cuba, the
recent International Conference on
Population and Development in Cairo
(see September, pages 13-32), and how
the US can help Cuba without violating
its sovereignty.
The Pastors for Peace group, which
included, besides Bemhard, nine
leaders from other denominations,
visited Cuba to investigate the impact
of the new policies of the US on the
Cuban people, to stand in solidarity
with Cuban Christians, and to dialog
with political figures about a just
resolution to the long-standing impasse
between the US and Cuba. These
purposes were explained in a press
conference held upon the group's
arrival in Havana. The Americans were
met by a host of media people eager to
encounter the first official delegation
to enter Cuba since the tightening of
the US embargo in August.
Pastors for Peace is a nondenomina-
tional group that works for peace,
reconciliation, and social justice in
Central America and the Caribbean. In
early September, it was asked by
Christian leaders in Cuba to send an
emergency delegation of denomina-
tional leaders to accompany Cuban
Christians in the crisis brought on by
US government policies affecting their
country. Bernard's inclusion in the
delegation was facilitated by Yvonne
Billing, representative for Latin
America and the Caribbean on the
General Board staff New US restric-
tions on travel to Cuba forced the
Cuba 's Fidel Castro was more interested in listening than in talking when he met
this fall with Moderator-elect Fred Bernhard (left) and other US church leaders.
group to travel to Cuba by way of
Cancun, Mexico.
During his visit, Bemhard attended
two church services and preached at the
Cuban Christian Pentecostal Church
(ICPC), a partner of the Church of the
Brethren since the early 1980s. In the
past three years the ICPC has tripled its
numbers, and most of its converts are
young adults. "It is very encouraging to
see the church growing," said Bemhard.
"The ICPC has started 57 new congre-
gations in the past three years."
Bemhard saw evidence of Church of
the Brethren witness in Cuba during his
visit. In a meal with ICPC members, he
was surprised to see a good supply of
meat. Upon inquiry, he was told, "It
came from you." The meat had been
supplied by Southem Pennsylvania and
Mid-Atlantic Districts' beef-canning
project (see September, page 26). Most
of the beef had been given to nursing
homes and day-care centers, with 1 0
boxes kept for use at church events.
In the home of a church member,
Bemhard recognized a large plate
inscribed with the words "Church of
the Brethren." It was a commemora-
tive anniversary plate from the
Richland (Pa.) congregation, given to
Rafael Columbie at the Wichita
Annual Conference. "It reminded me
that we are so near and yet so far,"
said Bernard.
The delegation planned an October I
trip to Washington to meet with US
leaders such as President Clinton and
Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Because of the then tense situation in
Haiti, the delegation postponed the trip
but hopes to reschedule it.
Calendar
Nigeria worlicamp: January 28-February 27,
1995 [For information, contact Mervin
Keeney, Africa Office, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-8039].
CoBACE Conference: February 17-19
(change of previously posted dates). Golden
Gate Seminary, San Francisco, Calif [For
information contact CoBACE Conference,
Phyllis EUer. 2448 Third St., La Verne, CA
91750-4921; (909) 593-1742].
"Violence in the Media and Youtli: Tlie
Cliurcli's Ministry" worlisliop: February
23-25, Bethany Theological Seminary,
Richmond, Ind. [For information and
registration, contact Jeff Bach, Bethany
Theological Seminary, 615 National Road
West, Richmond, IN 47374; (317) 983-1818].
BVS Retreat: March 21-24. Wesley Woods,
Lake Geneva, Wis. [For information,
contact BVS Office, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120; (800) 323-8039],
8 Messenger December 1994
Deardorff resigning treasurer
post; Keyser to succeed him
Darryl Deardorff, General Board
treasurer since 1987, has resigned. Judy
Keyser, currently corporate controller,
will succeed him, with the changes
becoming effective June 1.
Deardorff began his work with the
General Board in August 1987, having
previously directed his own business-
:onsulting and accounting firm, in
Danyl Deardorff
Judy Keyser
layton, Ohio. His first major task was
alancing the General Board budget,
fhich had developed a large deficit
quiring shifts in program and staff
In a transition arrangement,
•eardorff will serve as a consultant to
Peyser for an interim period after
June 1. Afterward he will develop his
own consulting service.
Deardorff and Keyser were instrumen-
tal in the Church of the Brethren being
ranked number one in good financial
management practices among denomi-
nations nationwide, according to a
survey by Indiana State University
(October 1993, page 8).
Keyser has worked for the General
Board since 1986, beginning as control-
ler in Elgin, 111. After 1991, her title was
changed to corporate controller, and she
began supervision of the Brethren
Service Center controller, whose office
is in New Windsor, Md. When Keyser
becomes treasurer, she will supervise
both the Elgin and New Windsor
controllers.
As treasurer, Keyser will be chief
financial officer for the General Board,
administer the work of the treasurer's
office, establish program goals and
objectives for that office, and assist in
formulating the General Board's goals
and budget. She also will be Annual
Conference treasurer and serve on the
Administrative Council.
Keyser holds degrees in business
administration from Elmhurst College
and Northern Illinois University. She
has had 20 years with nonprofit organi-
zations, 1 5 of those years with Brethren
organizations. She came to the General
Board staff after seven years at Bethany
Theological Seminary as assistant to the
business manager and director of
housing.
General Board announces
appointments, resignation
Nevin Dulabaum began service as
managing editor of MESSENGER/director
of News Services on November 7. He
succeeded Eric Bishop, who left the
post in August to return to teaching at
the University of La Verne.
Dulabaum, a Manchester College
graduate, has worked as a newspaper
reporter in Indiana and Illinois. He
also is a professional photographer. A
resident of Elgin, 111., he is completing
Nevin Dulabaum
Brenda Reish
Beth Sulleiiberger-
Morphew
Wayne Eberly
a graduate degree in journalism at
Northern Illinois University. He and
his wife, Mary, serve as youth advis-
ers at Highland Avenue Church of the
Brethren, in Elgin.
Brenda Reish has been named
corporate controller in the treasurer's
office on the General Board staff
succeeding Judy Keyser, who has been
named treasurer. Reish currently is
serving as senior accountant, a position
she has held since 1984. She will begin
her new position June 1 .
Reish is a native of Elgin, 111., and a
member of Highland Avenue Church of
the Brethren there. Her husband, Todd,
serves as coordinator of Brethren
Volunteer Service Orientation.
Beth Sollenberger-Morphew has
been named director of Stewardship
Education on the General Board's
Stewardship Team, effective February
1 . The position has been made full-time,
having previously been half-time.
Sollenberger-Morphew currently is a
member of the denominational Steward-
ship Strategy Committee. An ordained
minister, she has held pastorates in
Florida, Ohio, and Maryland, and most
recently has been co-pastor, with her
husband, Tim, of the Hagerstown (Md.)
church. The couple will be moving to
Elgin, 111., before February.
Wayne Eberly completes at year's
end his work as half-time director of
Stewardship Education, a position he
has held since 1990. He continues to
serve as coordinator of Ministry
Training on the Parish Ministries staff
December 1994 Messenger 9
1994 participants total 21 for
EFSIVI and TRIIVI programs
Bethany Theological Seminary hosted
orientation for participants in Education
For a Shared Ministry (EFSM) and
TRaining in Ministry (TRIM), August
13-18, on its campus in Richmond, Ind.
EFSM participants and their congre-
gations were Kevin Kessler, Canton
(111.); Connie Ludlum, Canton (111.):
Robert Pfeiffer and Patricia F. Fourman,
Painter Creek, Arcanum, Ohio; James J.
Scholz and Sam Westerfield, Oak
Grove, near Lowpoint, 111.
EFSM offers education for Minister-
In-Training (MIT) with a small
congregation, training for elected lay
persons to assume shared ministry
functions, training experience for the
congregation, and congregational self-
study and goalsetting.
TRIM participants and their congre-
gations were Angela Arehart, Pulaski
(Va.); Nick Beam, West Milton (Ohio);
Sandy Bosserman, Peace Valley (Mo.);
A. Paul Buntain, Wenatchee (Wash.)
Brethren-Baptist; Melinda Carlson,
Trinity, Troutville, Va.; Duane
Crumrine, Curryville (Pa.); Mary
Frances Gault, Battle Creek (Mich.);
Dorinda Sue Heilman, Lakewood,
Millbury, Ohio; Jeffrey S. Holton, Peace
Valley (Mo.); James W. Hubble, Bethel,
Carleton, Neb.; Nanette Lape, Roaring
Spring (Pa.) First; Judith Mohler
McGlothlin, Venice (Fla.); Mischelle L.
Nalley, Tyrone (Pa.); Donna McKee
Rhodes, Stonerstown, Saxton, Pa.; and
Nelda J. Risden, Elkhart (Ind.) City.
TRIM is designed for persons
interested in entering the ministry but
unable to attend seminary full-time. It
focuses on general education, biblical
and theological studies, and ministry
skills.
Training takes 3-5 years, with the
pace set by the trainee and the district
coordinators supervisors. The program
is coordinated by Parish Ministries
staff members Jean Hendricks and
Wayne Eberly.
Brethren Volunteer Service Unit 214 completed orientation in Chicago, lU.,
September 25-October 15. Members are (front row) Johnny Barr, Wendy Anderson,
Gail Long, Greg Laszakovits, Demetra Heckman, Laura Clark, Christa
Koppenhoefer, Delia Fischer, Mike Grubb, Spiro Anton, Paul Andre; (second row)
Shannon Wiens, Peggy Vining, Mike Bischoff, Lisa Plantico, Charlotte Peschke,
Christine Grochowina, Inez Gruner, Johnny Harvey (orientation assistant), Suzanne
Tershack, Steve Bowman, Todd Reish (orientation coordinator), Diana Lewis (BVS
staff), Melania Landwehr, Molly Graver, Jon Schrock, Kryss Chupp. (See page 30 for
project assignments.)
10 Messenger December 1994
SERRV helps Haitian artists
again after embargo lifted
In October, SERRV Handcrafts sent
orders to four Haitian craft organiza-
tions so that work could resume for
dozens of artist in Haitian villages, woi
that has been limited for three years by
the trade embargo.
Most Haitian artists have been
severely hampered by the embargo
and unable to purchase materials for
their craftwork. Some of them even
had been forced to sell their tools.
SERRV now is making it easier for
these artists by placing orders and by
sending them funds to revive their
handcrafts production.
"With the embargo lifted, we are
immediately sending advance payment
to the Haitian groups," said Bob Chase
director of SERRV. "For the Haitian
craftspeople, this is the only credit the)
can get to buy raw materials to begin t<
produce.
SERRV Handcrafts has been market-
ing Haitian crafts for more than 25
years. During the three-year embargo,
SERRV stayed in regular contact with
Haitian craft groups and received a
special license from the US govemmen
last fall to import handcrafts despite th(
embargo.
Emergency fund combats
storms, famine, drought
The Emergency Disaster Fund has
allocated $20,000 to help people still
affected by Tropical Storm Alberto. Th
grant supports Brethren rebuilding worl
in Bonifay, Fla. It also helps Genesis
Ministries provide families with
housewares and other needed supplies.
A grant of $20,000 responded to
conditions in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania
Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where people
are suffering from drought, famine, wai
and political instability. The funds help
provide food and water, seeds, and fam
tools, as well as infrastructure rebuild-
ing, rehabilitation, and livestock
recovery.
f
An anointing
3y J. Woody Woodford
: was a cold, clear winter night. I had
ist "hit the streets" in my capacity as
olunteer clergy for NightWatch, an
iterdenominational night street
linistry of presence in the downtown
ore of Seattle.
I was bundled up against the cold,
here was no traffic. There was only
lence, except for the wind.
Then I heard the echoes of my name
eing called into the wind: "Father,
ather, FATHER!!" My ears sought
irection, and then my eyes saw a
omeless friend hobbling toward me.
e was agitated about something, and
Dparently glad to see me.
"Father," he said (because I was
■earing my clerical collar, the required
Iress of the day" for volunteer clergy),
V'ou must come!" With that, he
lotioned to me, and off we walked into
le wind, headed for the wharf
Soon, he and I greeted two other
lembers of his street family, who, like
im, had been searching for me. In
tiison they said, "Come with us."
rusting these street-hardened, alco-
dHc, crippled, and dirty men, I fol-
iwed into the night. Into dark streets,
irough the filth and squalor of down-
(wn alleys we plunged, braced against
le bitter cold.
We scaled barbed wire at one point,
^e slid through cracks in wooden
inces. They led. I followed. Deeper
ito the night. Into the mysteries of the
reet we moved with unspoken purpose.
We came to what I call the "Viaduct
otel," a place below a freeway viaduct,
his was the "penthouse" of the home-
ss culture. It was a secure place,
[akeshift hovels helped keep out the
)ld, the weather, the wet. There was a
aiting list for this place. One moved up
to the penthouse when someone died, or
when someone was killed for the spot.
As we approached, I could barely
make out bodies in the darkened
shadows. Faces came out, curious. My
friends announced, "He's here!" Then
hands came out of the night. The right
hand of fellowship. The words attached
were uniformly, "Thank you for
coming. Father Woody." I knew none of
them. I was amazed that they knew me.
We worked our way through human-
ity and trash, toward the most protected
area — the abutment. A barrel fire lit the
way. When we reached the dead end, I
saw a woman on the ground. A very
pregnant woman. Young. Haggard. A
product of all that is the streets of
Seattle. She may have been 16, but her
haggardness belied her youth.
Th
he woman was helped to a half-
standing position by two "caregivers." I
was presented to her. She smiled,
although her pain was obvious. With
labored breaths, she whispered "It was I
who sent for you. Father. Thank you.
Thank you for coming." I was silent. I
waited. She looked me squarely in the
eyes, and continued, now somehow
stronger, "Father, will you anoint me?
Father . . . (in a whisper again) OH
FATHER, will you also bless my
baby?"
There are some times when the
church or a seminary cannot adequately
train you for service. The impetus
comes from the alive spirit of Christ,
with us. Somehow, I found the words.
No printed ritual here, no orthodox
liturgy. I knelt. Everyone else knelt
also. I do not remember the words, nor
if I could, would I repeat them. This
was a sacred, sacred moment. This was
holy. Someone whispered the words of
Psalm 23. Tears froze on our cheeks.
I prayed aloud. A bottle of "virgin"
olive oil, still sealed, was produced. I
caressed her brow with the oil, now
warmed a little by my palm. I reached
out and felt the baby move beneath my
hand in its protected place.
I have been in European cathedrals. I
have been in large and small sanctuar-
ies. None could possibly match the
magnificence of this place below a
bridge. As surely as there is a Creator,
and that Christ lived on this earth, it is a
surety that the Almighty was present
with us in such a way as I had never felt
before then, or in quite the same way
since.
This is boiled down, in-your-face
theology. This is God present with us, in
full intimacy. Christ was there.
Somehow, somewhere the church had
touched this woman. Somewhere, love
had been shared that stayed with her
through her "valley of the shadow of
death," Why / was called I will never
know. How she knew to ask, I cannot
say. But in the movement in her belly,
and in the softening of her brow upon
anointing we both knew that God in his
mercy would travel with both of us
through even this valley. "I fear no evil.
Your rod and your staff — they comfort
me. You anoint my head with oil.
Surely . . . mercy shall follow me. . . ."
This may be only a small moment in
time, and only one instance of God
working through a servant in the service
of anointing. Yet, I am convinced of
God at work in ways that we cannot
fully understand, only witness to.
If God can create, so can God
also heal. I believe that with all
my heart.
Ai.
ii'
ii
J. Woody Woodford, a member oj Outlook
(Wash.) Church of the Brethren, is a 1994
graduate of Bethany Theological Seminary.
December 1994 Messenger 11
JS(^
toward Christmas
y^.
The people who
walked in darkness
#rl|t'"'
have seen a
jJR."^;^^
great light;
those who lived
To look toward Christmas
in a land of
One must turn to
deep darkness-
the East
on them light
Where hght was born.
has shined
(Isa. 9:2).
Borne on the silence
of darkness
In a great flowering
^
of stars.
\
.~i 1 ■
i
/\
n-
\
^
Patrici^JC!6nnedy Heknan
A bright vision of f jB
Peace and Goodwill,
Illuminating our hearts
with love. ', ^
Tor God so loved the world
iBp^ ■* .-IP f^'^
Christmas carillon
In the early morning
We hear the chimes of the carillon,
Borne to us across the lake
;- on the frosty air of winter,
Coming to claim the dawn
That lights up the deep woods —
An invocation against the day.
It
1» ■^ .%, •
When those trees feel the edge of darkness
and the woodland creatures scatter toward home.
The bells are heard again,
A clarion clue to harmony and peace,
A benediction against the night.
And now, at this gracious season of celebration,
Celebration of an ancient and holy birth,
The chimes are melodious reminder of the
Unspeakable Gift, even Christ Jesus.
f
■*■■•■-.
■■r^.
I
♦ w-
^r>
CAI
Lv^
7> 4
Gift exchange f:^
'<^^4t The gift came in silence jttr I
'^^ on a light-drenched night, '
It was a gift of self —
God's Self.
The gift was wrapped
in swaddling clothes —
Alpha and Omega was
three hours old.
'^
^v. In exchange for this gift
j.*!****^ wisemen brought gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
What can one give
to the child who is everything?
A Christmas wish
I wish I could have gone to the *'|s#k.
manger as a child ...
One whose heart
was touched by star-fire that set
the firmament aglow that Holy Night.
We still try to get by
bringing baubles and gold, . .
When the exchange demands 4B('i
jm- that the gift we bring Wj ^
-im^ to the manger
is Self!
If I could have been there
I would have kneeled down
and offered the Little One
a home in my heart.
For Mary's Son would have seen me [
in adoration . . . wondering, pondering
the mystery of the Light. Light that
suffused straw and infant alike . . .
even the Light of the world.
I am still wondering and pondering that
birth . . . that Holy Child in the manger
whose coming rent time asunder and
scattered the darkness of the world.
Even as I write these words, my heart is
strangely warmed for this I know, the Child
in the manger still comes and dwells with ,M^__
rr%
those who Love him.
Patricia Kennedy Helman. a member of Lincolnshire Church of the
Brethren. Fort Wayne, Ind., is an ordained minister grid a writer
li
i'r,
J"
1
^-Ji:
'L.SL
m^.
by Robin
Wentworth Mayer
Stepping Stones is a column offer-
ing suggestions, perspectives, and
opinions — snapshots of life — that we
hope are helpful to readers in their
Christian journey. As the writer said
in her first installment, "Remember,
when it comes to managing life 's
difficulties, we don 't need to walk on
water. We just need to learn where
the stepping stones are. "
steppinj
STONES
I Still carry the faded blue
key to my parents' house.
I had it made my senior
year of high school when 1
noticed an incredibly cute
guy working at the key
counter in Sears. The
moment 1 laid eyes on him 1
knew my life would be
enriched if I had my own
personal house key.
But that key remains on
my key chain and goes
everywhere I go. It has
endured countless key ring
weedings. It has outlasted at
least a dozen other keys of
residence. It has remained
fast through no less than 10
different vehicle keys. It has
seen several office keys
come and go.
It means something to me.
The key to my parents'
house has become an
important symbol. For
instance:
It reminds me that I'm
loved.
It reminds me that I
always have some place to
go and somewhere to turn.
It reminds me of strengths
and virtues bom at home
that have become my keys
for survival. It also reminds
me of "hang-ups" bom at
home that are areas yet to be
unlocked.
For better or worse, these
qualities are constants that
combine into my keys for
problems, barriers, chal-
lenges, and opportunities.
Tune in to the climate of
the Christmas season and
you will find that it is
saturated with sentiments of
home.
Carols sing about going
"home for the holidays."
Television is punctuated
with stories of emotional
reunions. And the classic
Christmas movie "It's a
Wonderful Life" tells about
a man who didn't realize
how much home meant to
him until a befuddled angel
revealed to him how tragic
home would have been
without him.
Years ago Maijorie
Holmes wrote a masterpiece
titled "At Christmas the
Heart Goes Home." In it she
tells how one Depression
Years Christmas she and her
adult siblings all managed to
finagle crowded, bumpy,
unheated rides from various
parts of the country so they
could all be together for the
Holy Day. There were no
presents, no trimmings, and
no extras. But they were
home.
She then draws a parallel
between our instinctive
yeaming for home at
Christmas and the story of a
young couple from Nazareth
who were mysteriously
propelled toward their
hometown, Bethlehem.
Indeed, "there's no place
like home for the holidays."
Yet, for many survivors of
divorce — living out the
complications of broken and
blended families — nostalgic
pictures of Christmas
homecomings can be little
more than wistful memories
of days gone by.
I am reminded of this as I
hang up the phone from yet
another conversation attempt-
ing to juggle the geographical
and relational logistics
required to insure that
everyone gets a piece of the
children for Christmas. I
swallow the lump in my
throat and acknowledge, once
more, that "home" did not
turn out the way I planned.
But I have the key!
It reminds me that no
detour can destroy the
"home" we carry in our
hearts. It reminds me that no
disappointment can steal our
ability to create "home"
wherever we find love. And
it reminds me that, thanks to
Bethlehem, we have an
eternal home that no
upheaval can shake and no
disaster can break.
So to all of you who feel
like "home" is scattered in
pieces ... to all whose
homes did not turn out the
way you planned . . . my
wish for you this Christmas
is that you will find the
courage to use the "keys" of
faith, hope, and love to re-
create all the blessings
"home" brings.
Ai.
Robin Wentworth Mayer, of
Edwardsburg, Mich., is pastor of
Pleasant Valley Church of the
Brethren, Middlebuiy, Ind. She
operates Stepping Stones Counsel-
ing out of Waterford (Ind.)
Community Church.
14 Messenger December 1994
f
Choosing between
S^e and mils
SOACers rode the popular tram to sessions that offered challenges for every level of energ}\
3y Kermon Thomasson
^ake Junaluska, located in the moun-
ains of North CaroHna, between the
Jlue Ridge Parkway on the east and
jreat Smoky Mountains National Park
)n the west, is a contrast in terrains. The
ake, of course, is mirror smooth, and its
»erimeter is flat enough for easy
valking. But immediately beyond that
ilane, hills jut up, each outward ridge a
iroportionately lighter blue than its
ellow toward the lake.
The lake suggests calm and serenity.
t coaxes the beholder to set aside cares
nd relax, to slacken one's pace, to set
side strenuous activity, and to embrace
est and contemplation.
The hills are symbolic of challenges
ahead. They entice the beholder to push
forward, to explore the successive
ridges, to seek further excitement and
adventure.
So the setting, both the lake and the
hills, is a fair symbol of the offerings
of the National Older Adult Conference
(NOAC) . . . and a symbol, too, of life
choices older adults have . . . options
for taking it easy or for pushing
vigorously on.
At NOAC II, held at Lake Junaluska
Assembly September 12-16, choices
were offered from break of day until
bedtime. There was the option, of
course, of sleeping in until 7:30 a.m.
breakfast ... or skipping that, getting
up only in time for the 9 a.m. general
session. Okay, you could skip that too.
if you were of a mind to.
There was the option, also, of rising at
7 a.m. to "Meet the New Day." You
could meet it in various manifestations.
If you cared to just meditate and think
pretty thoughts, a handy mediation
guide was available for each morning,
prepared by a different writer each
day — Gene Roop. Paul Robinson,
Becky Baile Crouse, and Raymond
Peters. A meatier option was Bible
study, led by different teachers each
morning. Paul Fike and Dick Gottshall
led off the first morning, with Karen
Carter, Doris Cline Egge, Clyde Carter,
and David Radcliff among those
following. One Bible teacher sorely
missed and mourned was Joel Thomp-
son, who had died in an airplane crash
December 1994 Messenger 15
Bob Neff, president of
Juniata College and
noted Old Testament
scholar, was a NOA C
general session speaker.
He also led a study of
Jeremiah. Like other
presenters, he engaged
his audiences in dialog.
The content of NOA C
sessions often was the
topic of conversation
when attenders took
their coffee breaks.
Wil Nolen, executive secretary of Brethren Benefit Trust, directed the NOAC choir. His wife,
Joyce, was pianist. Gerry Pence served as song leader, and his wife, Bernie, was organist.
the previous week (October, page 8). A
memorial service for him was added to
the NOAC schedule.
There was the option of bird-watch-
ing, led by Merle Crouse. Granted, 7
a.m. in September is not ideal bird-
watching time. And granted, also, that
Lake Junaluska's daily fog that lifts
only around 10 a.m. turns 7 a.m. bird-
watching mto bird-hearing. Along the
shore dimly seen, obliging ducks and
geese were about the only visible birds,
and, farther in the gloom, the calls of
blue jays and crows were the only
audible signs of bird life. Afternoon
16 Messenger December 1994
bird-watching, also on the schedule, was
more rewarding.
NOACers less intentional about what
they would see could opt for a 7 a.m.
"Walk in God's Out-of-doors," led by
Paul and Kay Alwine, with participants
simply seeing what there was to be seen.
Friskier NOACers who liked to hit the
floor running, could participate in Tai
Chi exercises, led by Mel Myers.
Choices at breakfast and other meals
were not unqualified. Some NOACers
found themselves living "down the
hill," but assigned to a dining room "up
the hill." If one did not have a car, that
meant choosing a steep, appetite-
enhancing hike, or taking a chance at
catching the cute little shuttle tram
going the right direction in its leisurely
transits of the grounds.
By 9 a.m. each morning, most
NOACers, having exercised their early
morning options, were ready for the
day's general session. At each of these e
different presenter addressed a topic
geared to older adults and to the
conference theme, "Say yes to years; th(
best is yet to be."
Juniata College president Bob Neff,
ever the Old Testament scholar and
NOACII was held in a
complex of buildings on
the shores of Lake
Junaluska. General
sessions, worship
services, and some
interest group sessions
were held in Stuart
Auditorium (center).
Lodging was scattered all
about, with the handiest
building being Terrace
(background). But no
matter where one was,
the beautiful lake was
close at hand.
One thing that Church of
the Brethren general
secretaries have in
common, apparently, is
expressive body
language. All living
general secretaries — •
Raymond Peters, Loren
Bowman, Bob Neff, and
Don Miller — participated
in NOAC IL At one
point, former Annual
Conference moderator
Elaine Sollenberger
engaged them in dialog
in a talk-show format.
:rumpeter, harked back to Moses and
)ther patriarchs to challenge NOACers
0 "affirm the faith." The elderly
VIoses, he said, was "full of sap" (in
Hebrew, leach). "Saying 'yes to years"
s not enough; say yes to life," Neff
idmonished his audience. "Hoe to the
:nd of the row. That's what Moses
lid." Like all the other presenters in
jeneral Sessions, Bob Neff lifted up
lis eyes unto the hills, encouraging a
;hallenging climb rather than drowsy
akeside reveries.
Rosalita Leonard, of the Brethren
historical Library and Archives staff.
used her great store of humor to enliven
her address. She made her presentation
almost a workshop on how to preserve
the best of the past, emphasizing the
need to pass one's stories on to the next
generation. To clinch her message, she
taught her audience three key words —
"relate, record, bequeath" — sung to the
tune of "Auld Lang Syne." Sister
Rosalita put teeth into her message by
teaching NOACers a new version of the
familiar camp song "You Pass Your
Cup From Left to Right Like This."
Former general secretary Loren
Bowman, for whom the usual has
never been enough, cited numerous
statistics of today's rapidly expanding
store of information and advancing
technology to encourage NOACers to
welcome today's "frontiers." It took
1,500 years from the time of Christ for
humankind's amount of accumulated
knowledge to double. Bowman said,
citing scholars whose own accumu-
lated knowledge includes that statistic.
Knowledge doubled again in 250 more
years. By 1988, knowledge was
doubling every year. The Bowman
challenge was for older adults not to
resist change, but to get with it and
December 1994 Messenger 17
Living proof that
NO A Cers are open to
expressions beyond those
smiled upon in the days
of their youth was the
warm reception they gave
to a troupe of local
doggers. Enthusiasm
peaked with NOACers
such as former Annual
Conference moderator
Curtis Bubble rushing
the stage to join the
dancers for a rafter-
rattling finale to the
evening frolic.
help to shape it for the best.
Historian Don Dumbaugh authorita-
tively "affirmed the heritage" of the
Brethren, making everyone feel good to
be numbered among those blessed with
so rich a history. Both appreciate the
past and pass it on, the Brethren
Encylopedia editor said. Write a special
will, he recommended, that counsels
one's heirs what values to perpetuate — a
kind of "spiritual bequest."
And. if history and heritage were not
enough, Annual Conference moderator
Judy Mills Reimer drew upon present-
day events — upbeat anecdotes from her
recent travels about the denomination —
to assure NOACers that it's good to be
Brethren, even amid downsizing and
diversity.
Speakers at daily worship services
lifted up themes complementary to
those of general session presenters.
Curtis Bubble encouraged NOACers
to affirm others in our diverse family of
Brethren.
Dorotha Fry stressed balance. Each
component of life offers a balance to all
of life; all of life is one whole.
Phill Carlos Archbold used "running
18 Messenger December 1994
the race" imagery to stress the need for
older adults to throw off the unneces-
sary weights that prevent them from
their last years to the fullest.
Elaine Sollenberger used the image of
a Pueblo clay bowl to make her point.
The design on each bowl has a break in
it, a so-called "pathway" that suggests
that while the piece of pottery is
finished, the life of the potter is not.
"Isn't that a fitting analogy of this
NOAC group?" the former Annual
Conference moderator asked — "Church
of the Brethren potters with a history of
taking ideas in that raw clay stage and
forming, shaping, polishing remarkable
finished products."
On Thursday evening, in lieu of a
worship service, troupers from North
Manchester, Ind., presented Ernest
Thompson's play "On Golden Pond,"
which addresses the problems of aging.
The production did not receive rave
reviews from the audience. Some people
were offended by the vulgar language in
the script, and everyone would have
appreciated a snappier pace to the
unfolding drama. Those who produced
the play and acted in it certainly
deserved an A for effort and good
intentions, but the thought remained tha
showing the film version of the play
might have been a better idea.
Many NOACers likened their confer-
ence to the denomination's Annual
Conference. One feature that certainly
seemed familiar was "interest groups,"
which corresponded to Annual Confer-
ence "insight sessions." And the variety
was about as great at Lake Junaluska as
at Wichita.
Some "interest groups" focused on
themes geared to aging, such as
intergenerational communication,
retirement home choices, dealing with
depression, living with disabilities, and
volunteering.
Others looked at facets of Brethren
life today — Bethany Seminary in
transition. General Board directions, a
recent Russian study tour, war in Sudan
the role of deacons, and Brethren
missions today.
Still other "interest groups" were just
for fun — whittling, working with staine(
glass, discovering water coloring, and
making Christmas decorations.
For those for whom the morning Bibli
Byron Flory, of Waynesboro, Va., tries his hand at
whittling, in an interest group led by Dean Egge.
Elsie Eicher, of
Harrisonburg, Va.,
took literally the
expression "Take
time to smell the
roses. " Over 200
rose bushes line
the lake shore,
exhibiting gorgeous
colors and tempting
fragrances.
Bird-watching was
a popular pursuit
both morning and
evening. Ellen
Thomason, of
Martinsville, Va.,
was one of many
bird-watchers who
headed out with
leader Merle
Crouse.
December 1 994 Messenger 1 9
Are we going backward?
At NOAC II, former moderator Elaine Sollenberger presided over a talk show
with four living general secretaries — Raymond Peters, Loren Bowman, Bob
Neff and me. Ruth Baugher represented her late husband, Norman.
Elaine addressed a question to me. A recent writer has suggested that
churches resist change with new hymnals and programs of evangelism. Are we
going backward? 1 am sure Elaine was baiting me, but let me take the question
seriously. The question has two obvious assumptions. One is that worship and
heritage resources keep us closed in upon ourselves. The other is that an effort
to be evangelistic is defensive.
I do not accept these assumptions. 1 do not believe the various denomina-
tional traditions must be washed out in order to make way for positive change.
True enough, we can hold to our traditions so as to resist the changes God is
bringing to us. But abandoning all tradition will not move us forward.
At NOAC II, Brethren historian Donald Dumbaugh quoted Martin Marty's
comment that the various traditions give color to Christianity. To have a
Christianity in which the various traditions were leveled out would be to lose
the vitality and richness of Christian faith. We are always at the point of
interpreting what we believe in order to meet the challenges of our time.
We Brethren seek to live the way of Jesus, to discern the mind of Christ. We
emphasize Jesus' ordinances of baptism, love feast, feetwashing, and anointing
for healing. We stress prayerful study of scripture, simple living, reconciliation
with God and neighbor, service in Christ's name, and worship together in
communities of loving concern.
This way of living does indeed look back to the early church and the early
Brethren, but it also looks forward to God's call today, to sharing the "good
news" in a time of despair and violence, to living the way of Christ in the 2 1 st
century, to the hope of the resurrection. The churches need new hymnals, for
our faith encounters new challenges. Living faith is shared faith so that
evangelism belongs to the "good news" of God's love in Jesus Christ. To
respond otherwise would indeed go backwards.
You might think a conference of people over 50 years of age would be
primarily engaged in remembering what used to be — in other words, looking
backward. Not true at all. It was a remarkable call to hear God's challenge for
our time, a call for older persons to make a difference, a call to live the way of
Christ as we move forward into another century.
Now is the advent season, the time when we celebrate newness of life,
giving, and the wonder of God's love. The story of advent includes two very
special older persons. Simeon and Anna were both of advanced age. Anna was
84, and Simeon was near the end of his life. Both looked forward to God's
redemption in the baby Jesus (Luke 2:25-38). So Christmas joins together the
hope of the elderly with the reality of new birth. NOAC II was an anticipation
of Christmas. No, we are not going backward. — Donald E. Miller
Donald E. Miller is general secretary of the Church of the Brethren.
Studies were not enough, there were
other Bible studies scheduled among the
"interest groups."
In the spirit of church bulletins'
qualified instruction "Those who are
able may stand," NOACers were
encouraged to get their exercise. Some
20 Messenger December 1994
walked — most of them along the
inviting trail around the lake. Some
jogged. Some played tennis, shuffle-
board, and golf Some found just getting
from one place to another sufficient
exercise for the day.
And some NOACers, unabashedly
reinforcing the general stereotype of
older adults, boldly occupied the big,
comfortable rocking chairs that were
handily, temptingly placed at every
vantage point around the campus. They
nursed their cups of tea and coffee and
simply stared dreamily out at the
tranquil lake scene.
Many walkers took time to smell the
roses along the way. Over 200 bushes,
in full and fragrant bloom, made a
section of the lakeside walk a delightful
route to take, even for those who
necessarily had to pass that way to read
their distant lodgings.
Four busloads of NOACers spent thei
free afternoon on a trip to a recon-
structed Indian village. There they
watched Cherokee craftspeople creating
pottery, baskets, weavings, blowguns,
and arrowheads. For those who had
experienced the hottest issue debated at
this year's Annual Conference, it was ai
opportunity to observe Native Americar
culture firsthand. In the nearby town of
Cherokee they also were able to observf
American tourist culture firsthand.
Whether NOACers rocked by the lake
or took to the hills, either figuratively o
literally, the truth that was pounded
home all week was this: Older adults an
important; they're somebody. They hav(
a significant role to play in society and
in the church. The buoyant spirit that
prevailed among NOACers at Lake
Junaluska was evidence that the mes-
sage was heard . . . and it sounded good
Some NOACers went to Lake
Junaluska to have their previous
contribution of service to the church
affirmed. They don't like feeling they
have been put on a shelf.
Some went to find if there was a plac(
for them to make a further contribution.
The collection of leadership fi"om earlie
generations of the church was remark-
able to see. To sit before 80-year-old
Paul Robinson and hear him expound oi
New Testament texts with the vigor of
his years at Bethany Seminary was
thrilling. To observe the youthfiilness ol
88-year-old Raymond Peters as he
;ounted his years as general secretary
the 1940s was both to be inspired and
have demonstrated the lesson of older
ults' continued significance and
ntributions.
Some NOACers were on hand partly
greet old friends and colleagues.
ary Dadisman and Grayce
umbaugh, retired missionaries in their
s, were delighted to encounter nearly
other old Nigeria hands.
Many NOACers found the conference
)lace to become informed, to be
dated on denominational program.
ley witnessed to their continued
erest and involvement in the life of
5 church. NOAC was a place to pick
firsthand information without the
mplex environment of Annual
)nference; many General Board staff
;mbers and other leaders were on hand
speak and to answer questions . . . and
;ren't lost in an Annual Conference
3wd of 5,000 other Brethren.
Many people contrasted NOAC and
inual Conference. "It's just great,"
id one. "It's like Annual Conference,
it without the rancor that spoiled it for
; at Wichita." Others applauded the
irit of unity that prevails at NOAC,
It is so elusive at Annual Conference.
Clearly NOAC does not attract those
ethren who are hung up on the issues
at make unity so difficult to achieve at
mual Conference. Clearly, too,
OACers make up a core group of
lunch supporters of Annual Confer-
Lce and of denominational programs,
kely there was diversity of thought
'en within the group at Junaluska, but
1 appealing atmosphere of forbearance
evailed among the NOACers. Breth-
n with axes to grind seek places to
ind them other than at Lake
maluska. Brethren at NOAC seem to
; of one mind and one spirit.
It was that opportunity afforded by
OAC to fellowship with one's sisters
id brothers in the faith without having
deal with discord that made so many
OAC I attenders return to NOAC II.
nd that same opportunity will bring
them back to NOAC III in 1996. The
batteries recharged at NOAC II sent 900
older Brethren back home to accept the
challenges tossed to them at the confer-
ence. Like Moses of old, they found new
vigor with which to implement their
resolve to "hoe to the end of the row."
"See you in '96!" was the hearty
parting call heard most often as the cars,
RVs, shuttle vans, and buses rolled out
of Lake Junaluska Assembly when '\~ig~\
NOAC II came to an end. It^
THE
'Rcm^
. i'^^S.r-r
w
AND
;?
^j6^ n
Harriet Hamer '80 Cassell grew up in Nigeria, the
daughter of medical missionary parents. Influenced
by serving others, Harriet looks beyond herself and
fmds meaning in life as an anethesiologist, ER physi-
cian, and free clinic volunteer. As a student, she was
a harpist, in choir, and on Campus Ministry Board.
Committed and caring to be Christ-like, Harriet is
named one of Manchester's rare and remarkable.
Vlarrict
YlataeT
Cassctt
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
TRADITION
Marcie Moller '95 was bom in Taiwan and adopted
by missionary parents. Wanting to give to others,
Marcie feels called to be a missionary doctor.
Through Intercollegiate Ministries, Marcie worked
the '93 summer in Haiti amidst the struggle and
turmoil. On campus, she's been an oboist, in choir,
and part of Outreach Ministries. Dedicated and
compassionate, Marcie stands out among the rare
and remarkable.
VALUES * GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE * FAITH * ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
* LEARNING * ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS * COMMUNITY
PEACE & JUSTICE * STEWARDSHIP * SERVICE
Write or call to receive more information on Manchester programs or stewardship
opportunities, to refer prospective students, or to let us know* if you are planning a special
campus visit. , , ,
Manchester College does not discriminate on ttie basis of sucti (actors as national or
ettinic origin race color, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, disability, or
veteran status in admissions or any ottier area ol campus lite, including its educational
programs, scholarships and loan awards, residence lile programs, athletic programs, or
extracurricular programs.
MANCHESTER COLLEGE
• North Manchester, IN 46962 • (219) 982-5000
December 1994 Messenger 21
Bom from above
by L. Byron Miller
Read John 3:1-21
A nighttime conversation is taking place
between a teacher of the law —
Nicodemus — and a teacher come from
God — Jesus Christ. Credentials?
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, lawyer,
member of the Jewish Sanhedrin,
churchman. Jesus had no credentials but
himself Age? Nicodemus likely was an
older man; Jesus had barely turned 30.
What they talked about involved the
nature of humankind, the fundamental
change necessary for entrance into the
kingdom, and a growing relationship
with God. Jesus used the symbol of
birth to describe it.
Birth is a miracle beyond naturalistic
explanation, be it physical or spiritual.
Nicodemus was a good man of moral
character, keeper of the law, church-
man, doing good deeds. In many of our
churches, we likely would gladly have
welcomed him, saying, "We're glad to
have you! A prominent, successfiil
lawyer as you are, you'd make a good
chairman of our finance commission.
Welcome to our church!"
But Jesus said Nicodemus needed
more. With a ring of authority and
finality, he said to him and to humanity
as a whole, "By nature, you are not
spiritually alive enough to enter the
kingdom of heaven; you need to be bom
again, bom from above."
"Very truly, I
tell you, no one
can see the
kingdom of God
without being
born from
above"
(John 3:3).
/'^ V.
"%.
Nicodemus didn't get it, and gasped.
"How can this be? How can I, an older i
man, be pressed back into embryo in mj
mother's womb, and be bom all over
again?" The "necessity" and the "how"
baffled him.
Jesus essentially said that one is a
member of the human family by being
bom of human life — the union of sperm
and egg. And to be a member of the
divine family, one must be bom of
divine life — the union of faith and the
grace of God that embrace at the cross.
(John 3; 16) There's no other way.
Do we understand this any better than
Nicodemus? Could it be that some of us
are trying so hard to grow a life that is
yet unborn? Leslie Weatherhead, an
English clergyman, wrote, "I believe thi
greatest trouble in the churches today is
that a high percentage of our people are
spiritually without the vital experience
of Christ that's offered in the New
Testament." We grow in it, once we're
bom into it.
We may become confused as to our
part and God's part. The salvation plan
was God's idea. In love, he took the
initiative and offered his Son as a gift,
as our sin-bearer, to rescue us from the
bondage of sin, into a life of righteous-
ness, (see John 3:17; 2 Cor. 5:21) Our
part is penitence to believe and receive
the gift, to commit our lives to God, anc
to obey his directives. God's part is to
forgive us, to transform us, to dwell
within us, to empower us, and to use us
to kingdom advancement. So, "being
partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter
1:4), Paul's testimony now becomes
ours: "For to me living is Chrisf (Phil.
1:21). "Everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!" (2
Cor. 5:17). What things? What's new?
We're now under new management.
Once we were chained in the prison of
self-centeredness. We did what we
pleased. Self made the decisions and
dictated the terms. But now, self has
abdicated the throne and Christ has
22 Messenger December 1994
"A
moved in, his rightful home. We are
Christ-centered. He is Lord of all we
I are, have, or do. Christ in us is our real
self. And we can now pray, instead of
just say, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done on earth, in me, as absolutely
and completely as it is done in heaven.'
Physical heart transplants are a
(relatively new phenomenon, but
spiritual ones are not. Ezekiel wrote,
Inew heart I will give you, and a new
jspirit I will put within you" (Ezek.
!36:26). Paul wrote, "If anyone is in
Christ, there is a new creation" (2 Cor.
15:17).
f The Christ-filled life is not the old
carnal nature "patched up," but a new
heart. When the Lord dwells within us,
Ihe brings his nature with him. This does
not mean that our neurotic nature is no
longer existent. It still raises its ugly
head and lusts against the Spirit in a
never-ending struggle. As someone
wrote: "There are two mes in me. The
one I love, the other I hate; And
whichever one I feed, will dominate."
/\nc
d with the new heart, comes a new
lifestyle. It's the committed life to Jesus
Christ. Brethren have called it the
"simple life," the "good life." Life
outside of Christ is stale, flat, unexcit-
ing, with no all-impelling purpose. One
has said, "Our generation is a 'hollow'
people." As a suicide note read, "I'm
tired of inventing things to make me
interested in life." A deep law written
within us is the law of completion. And
with the basic change called conversion,
life is gathered up into a central unity,
and has purpose, meaning, direction,
and wholeness. It moves toward the goal
of Christ-likeness, obedience to his
commands, unselfish service to others,
and faithfulness to the church.
Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?"
That's the test of discipleship. The
trouble with many in our society is a
misplaced love — an obsession with
money, things, pleasure, lustflil appetite,
honor, and a power to control. But with
Christ in the heart, the worid has lost its
attraction for us. An elderly Brethren
minister said, "We are not wholly won
to Christ, until he has won our affec-
tion." Jesus told an inquiring scribe to
love God with all his being, and his
neighbor as himself. Have you ever told
Jesus, "I love you?" We sing it in the
hymn "My Jesus, 1 Love Thee." We can
best show it by loving others with
warmness and depth.
If our lives are to count for the Lord,
we must appropriate a power beyond
our own. Jesus said, "Apart from me,
you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Yet
how hard we try in Christian service to
impress, to be effective, to change
things. But the power is the Lord's, not
ours. We supply the willingness; he
supplies the power (Acts 1:8). And he'll
take care of the results, which is real
freedom. We ought to do nothing for
God until we pray "Come, Holy Spirit,
anoint us for the task."
This all gives us a sense of urgency to
share our faith, to witness. We do this
by life and by lips. We Brethren are
pretty good "livers," but are not known
for our evangelistic fervor in "telling the
story." Yet Jesus was chiefly a personal
worker. So were his early followers.
Andrew led his brother Peter to Christ,
Philip found Nathanael, Peter won the
household of Cornelius, Philip won an
Ethiopian eunuch, and the first Chris-
tians went everywhere telling the story
of a living Lord. We can keep the light
of Christ out of our lives, but we can't
keep it in. Telling others deepens our
own faith. The more we make of Christ,
the more he will mean to us.
What is your deep spiritual need?
Engage Jesus in conversation, as did
Nicodemus, and he will reveal it to you.
In each of us, there must be a clear
"before Christ" and "after Christ."
Ai.
MAC FACTS
WHO ^^- ^'*" <^"'"'"
. — -. — , Director of Choral
yJHA'P Activities and Music
Education
- HvV' Joined the McPherson
TiTLITTKT College faculty in
l/yfltliW August 1994 (gradu-
ated from McPherson
College in 1983)
The place I want to
start with undergradu-
ates is with their
beliefs and vision. My
goal is to foster a
strong connection
between the
individual's vision of
life and his or her daily
choices, including how
to teach and perform
music.
Along with the most
effecrive methods of
singing and teaching, I
focus on why the
methods are effective.
Asking why leads
students to understand
the principles behind
their decisions and
gives them the freedom
to create and choose
personal and musical
goals.
I sought to teach at
McPherson College
because I know it
offers the right envi-
ronment to foster a
student's vision. I
know this because the
vision I began to
develop as a student
there has served me
well in every personal
and professional
situation.
HOW
WHY
L. Byron Miller is a retired Church of the
Brethren pastor, living in North Manchester. Ind.
" McPherson
.College
McPhefSon College welcomes all applicants regard-
less of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or
physical or emotional disability.
December 1994 Messenger 23
A taboo on this issue?
The supposed taboo on discussing
overpopulation was not evident in the
September Messenger's environmental
articles, and that's good.
It was interesting to be reminded that
the 1964 Annual Conference recognized
"the seriousness of rapid global popula-
tion growth" by emphasizing "the need
for family planning and sharing re-
sources." The taboo seems to have been
stronger at the 1 99 1 Annual Conference,
when a mild and modest proposal to
encourage family planning and limita-
tion of family size (a proposed amend-
ment to the paper "Creation: Called to
Care") was flatly rejected.
The Messenger comment that
because poor people "have little
control over their own fertility, even
more children come to them than they
aim for" prompts a suggestion. The
Church of the Brethren should be
active in promoting family planning
and limitation of family size at all
economic levels. Fewer rich people
mean less consumption, and fewer
poor people mean less suffering. Isn't
it long overdue that we recognize that
large families are a manifestation of
greed, anywhere on earth?
Be fruitful, multiply, and overpopu-
late the earth. Is this biblical?
Donald B. Miller
Con'allis. Ore.
Reverse a deadly trend
I appreciated the September Messenger
with its emphasis on the environment.
Overpopulation and widespread
environmental destruction threaten the
survival of many life forms. We
Christians cannot afford to withdraw
smugly into our churches, comforted by
the promise of eternal salvation. We
represent God on earth, responsible for
protecting and preserving what he has
created.
Let's study Shantilal Bhagat's packet
of material, "God's Earth Our Home"
(September, page 32) and join the efforl
to reverse the deadly trend before it is
too late. Our grandchildren will thank us.
Dave Foul
Lutherville. Mc
An inspiring idea
If we focused on learning to know Jesus
Christ and his will for our lives, througl:
Bible reading and prayer, the church
would go forth in power. We would
have to be planting new churches to
contain the growth.
Messenger should provide only
inspirational reading. If our church
activities are Christ centered, they can
be included as inspirational. Permit
24 Messenger December 1994
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nothing that would cause doubts that
God's Word and its meaning are exactly
as presented in the Bible, nothing more,
nothing less.
As the song says, "God said it. I believe
it. That settles it." Let us not be like the
people in 2 Timothy 3:5: "(People)
holding to the outward form of godliness
but denying its power. Avoid them!"
Maiy Lieu Shiflet
Davton. Ohio
Christ versus culture
"Amen" to Timothy SnelFs October
article, "The Church's Confessional
Choices." He writes about an age-old
dilemma — Christ versus culture.
And, for those who proclaim Christ as
Savior and serve Jesus as Lord, the
decision should be an easy one, as it
was for Joshua: "As for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord"
(Josh. 24:15).
Jamie Baker
Bridgewater, Va.
A piece worth rereading
When I got the October Messenger and
read Timothy Snell's article, "The
Church's Confessional Choices," I saw
it deserved further study. I reread it and
looked up and read each scriptural
reference. Thanks for an exceptionally
good article.
Margaret Herbster
Lakeville, Ind.
What Jesus stressed
I understand Dawn Snell's concern
about "social activism overdone"
(Letters, October), but she misses the
point of the Brethren and (if I may be so
bold) of Jesus as well.
Jesus stressed that it is not who we
name, but whose will we do — namely,
service and justice. He highlighted these
especially in his hometown inauguratior
(Luke 4: 16-30) and in his sharp
summary of the meaning and duty of his
followers in Matthew 25: "Just as you
did it to one of the least of these . . . ,
you did it to me."
Most denominations define them-
selves by creed and ritual. Brethren
are defined by the love feast and
social action — service and justice.
Absent this definition, by which we
are even now redefining ourselves, we
may as well simply melt back into the
other denominations of words, robes,
and useless spirituality.
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Denton, Md
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Who is confused?
Fm confused. I was under the impres-
sion that the world's population was
five billion and climbing. So it was
most disturbing to read in the October
Messenger (page 7) that there are over
"one billion displaced persons (needing
food and medicine."
John Ditmar
Washington, Km
(Hey, the problem is worse than you
realize. If you had read your September
Messenger carefully, you would have
noticed that on page 14 we put the
population of Arkansas at 24 million.
And that's with much of the state's
population displaced and living in
Washington, D.C.! Seriously, we regret
having inflated millions into billions,
and for missing that important decimal
point in Arkansas 's population, which
actually is 2.4 million. — Ed.)
A tale of the Titanic
I enjoyed the October article on my
father, Wilbur B. Stover.
One memory of our India years I'd
like to tell. We were in England on ouri
way to the States for furlough in April
1912. The new and beautiful ship
"Titanic" was ready to make its maiden
voyage to America. The ship was so
well built that "Not even God can sink
this ship" was printed on ticket ads.
Every day. Father and my brother
Emmert went to the ticket office,
hoping to purchase tickets for us to go
home on the "Titanic," but none were
left, and there were no cancellations.
What a disappointment! Father eventu- j
ally purchased tickets for the "Panovia,'i
which sailed four days later.
Earlier, in India, Father had becomei
ill with sleeping sickness. A Menno-
nite woman was among the missionar-
ies who prayed for his healing and
anointed him. The doctors said Father
likely would not live and, if he did, h<
would be brain damaged. But he
recovered fully, and we thanked the
Lord for his healing.
That same sweet Mennonite woman
28 Messenger December 1994
who had prayed for Father was on the
"Titanic." After the iceberg hit it, she
stood in Hne to board a lifeboat, wearing
her Hfe jacket. An Italian woman,
carrying her baby, came up, crying. She
had no life jacket, and none was left.
Her husband was in New York, awaiting
her and the baby, whom he had never
seen. The Mennonite woman gave the
Italian mother her life jacket. The
mother and baby were rescued. The
Mennonite woman went down with the
ship, dying as she had lived, helping
those in need.
After we got to New York, Father
visited the Mennonite woman's family
and told them what he knew of her, and
how she had prayed for him years
before. We hope to all see her in heaven.
Helen Stover Rover
Strathmore, Calif.
A time of appreciation
The October Messenger revived many
memories. Some of them were of Heifer
Project and its founder, Dan West. In
1956, as an 18-year-old, I had the
experience of a lifetime, serving as a
Heifer Project "sea-going cowboy,"
helping to care for 59 heifers in a
voyage across the Atlantic to Germany.
One of that experience's highpoints was
to sit on a hillside overlooking the
peaceful village of Schwarzenau and the
Eder River.
In June 1960 I entered Brethren
Volunteer Service (47th Unit). As I read
the October "From the Editor" column,
I remembered well our evening at
Gettysburg Battlefield and Kermon
Thomasson reciting Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address.
Having Dan West with us BVSers was
a highlight of that summer. As my
unit's barber, I even had the privilege of
giving brother Dan a haircut.
This October, my wife, Xinia, and I
took part in a Northern Ohio Brethren
heritage tour. We visited Ephrata
Cloister and Germantown, in Pennsylva-
nia; Washington, D.C.; and New
Windsor. I'll always cherish the
memory of walking over Brethren
"hallowed ground" (not holy, but
certainly set apart). Special for me was
visiting and working again at New
Windsor. And what an emotional high
to stand in the old Dunker church on the
Antietam Battlefield in Maryland and
sing "Study War No More."
Yes, October was, for me, a time of
Brethren appreciation.
Richard M. Tobias
Akron. Ohio
What about IVIary'
In the October cover story, I was
distracted by the focus being on Wilbur
Stover, rather than on Wilbur and Mary
Stover. The same was true for Donald
Miller's "From the General Secretary"
column in that issue.
Fairness and equality need to be
basic to any Church of the Brethren
publication.
Linda F. Weber
Lombard. III.
From the
Office of IHuman Resources
Three steps toward a better world
STEP 1 : Pick one of the statements below
Q I will write or call for my BVS
application today.
□ I will talk with (fill in name)
about BVS and challenge them
to apply.
□ I will learn more about BVS
by getting information about
the opportunities and program, and
then will share my new knowledge
with at least one other person.
STEP 2: Say it out loud, preferably
to another person.
STEP 3: DO IT!
For more information or an application form contact
Ptiyllis Michaelsen, BVS Recruitment,
(800)323-8039.
CLASSIFIED ADS
-OR SALE— Neeid Christmas presentfor church lay leader?
3ive a copy of Read it Right ... or Don't Bother, a
landbook forworshipful reading written by retired commu-
lication professor. Practical suggestions for reading ser-
nons, scripture, responsive readings, etc; discussions on
landling fear of speaking and using microphone. Send $7
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Elizabethtown, PA 17022
vlUSIC— "A Thousand Cranes of Peace," cantata for
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JOTICE— Atlanta Faithful Servant Church of the Brethren
■ifficially closed doors on May 1 , 1 994. We thank everyone
i/ho lovingly supported us over the years. Brethren in
Atlanta area will still meet twice a year. On first Sundays
1 May and November we will have a "Brethren Homecom-
ing" with a potluck love feast, communion, feetwashing
service, & fellowship. For info, on meeting places or
general info, on Brethren in Atlanta area contact Bob and
Rose Garrison at (404) 979-7343.
TRAVEL— Grand tour of Europe— Paris, Swiss Alps,
Venice, Vienna, Prague, united Berlin, & Schwarzenau.
July 10-31, 1995. For info, write to J. Kenneth Kreider,
1300 Sheaffer Rd., Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
TRAVEL— Tour Israel and Jordan, Feb. 9-20; Eastern
Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
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Scandinavia, July 12-27, 1995; Great Britain (England,
Wales, Scotland), Aug. 8-25, 1 995; Alpine Tour (Germany,
Austria, Switzerland), Sept. 21-Oct. 6, 1995. For further
info, contact: Gateway Travel Center Inc., 606 Mifflin
Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652-0595. Tel. (800) 322-5080.
TRAVEL— "Highlights of Scandinavia" tour. Visit Den-
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See "Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen's harbor Visit Ed-
ward Grieg's home in Bergen, Nora/ay. July 19-Aug, 6,
1 995 (1 9 days). $2379 from New York (JFK). For info, write
Wendell and Joan Bohrer, 8520 Royal Meadow Dr., India-
napolis, IN 46217. Tel. (317) 882-5067.
TRAVEL-China; May 1 6 to June 10,1 995. Cost; $4,775,
incl. all expenses leaving from & returning to Chicago. Visit
former Brethren mission area Shanxi, other churches,
seminaries, & friends. Tourist attractions in Beijing, Xian,
Nanjing, Shanghai, & Guilin; exit thru Hong Kong. Host;
Wendell Flory, 319 N. First St. #201, Bndgewater, VA
22812. Tel. (703)828-4182.
WANTED— Church planters. Creation of new Church of
the Brethren fellowship in Research Triangle of North
Carolina (near Raleigh) is being explored by Viriina District
Extension Committee. Commitee is soliciting names of
Brethren & interested persons in that area. If you or
someone you know is interested, contact Daria Kay &
Duane Deardorff at (919) 851-2626, or Dave & Lynette
Minnich at (919) 682-9253.
WANTED— Volunteer camp managers. Camp Ithiel, Or-
lando (Fla.) seeks volunteercouple to assist camp director
with management of year-round outdoor ministry program.
Responsibilities vary from office work to food service to
general maintenance. Stipend and housing in furnished
cottage (kitchen & laundry provided). Three Church of the
Brethren congregations within 20 min. Come try the Florida
setting. For information contact Mike Neff, Camp Ithiel,
P.O. Box 165, Gotha, FL 34734. Tel. (407) 293-3481.
December 1994 Ivtessenger 29
Tiffiiittff Poiiife
New
Members
Annville. Atl. N.E.: Shon Berry;
Sambo Bun; Daniel Figueroa;
Michelle Finkle; Nicole
Gingrich; Jessica Graves;
David, Richard, Timothy &
Linda Light; Luke Snyder;
Brad Wampler; Nathan
Wentling
Antelope Valley, S. Plains. Carey
& James Evans
Arcadia, S/C Ind.: Robin
Hildebrand
Bachelor Run. S/C Ind.: Scott &
Lynda Jordan
Beech Run, M. Pa.: Tambra Dell;
Carol & John Harkleroad;
Jessica Rowe; Russell
Streightiff; Andrew,
Catharine, Otto & Joanne
Krugh
Chiques, Atl. N.E.: Marilyn
Fitzkee. Jan Ginder. Randy &
Kiersten Hoffman. Richard
Keller, Paul Shaff'er
Deepwater. Mo. /Ark.: Ermat &
Rick Miller, Keith Abney
Duncan's Chapel, Virlina: Daniel
& Sarah Akers, Shelby & Ellis
Dulaney, Robert Turman
East Chippewa, N. Ohio: Annette
Hochstetler, Melissa Horst,
Angela Kauffman, Leslie
Lake, Mariaime & Krista
Lance, Randall & Maxine
Lehman
Elizabethtown, Atl. N.E.: David
& Kathy Merkt
Happy Corner, S. Ohio: Heather
Collinsworth
Huntsdale, S. Pa.: Judy Beck;
Jane Brough; Jan. Jeremy &
Stephen Custer; Donald &
Sara Long; Marion Miller.
Sharon Swank; Gloria
Williamson
Keyser, W. Marva: Morgan Clay,
Aubrey Dantzic, Katie
Leatherman, Leona Liller,
Lois Miller, Jonah & Stacy
Reed, Amie Rotruck, Jeff"&
Mary Shaw, Heather Smith
Lampeter, Atl. N.E.: Geraldine
Emmert. Walter and Martha
Helsel, Kimberly Merritt
Lititz, Atl. N.E.: Chariene Blough,
Ruth Herr, Susan Hiester,
Kevin & Tracy Sadd, Scott &
Kathy Stauffer, Daniel Toews
Live Oak, Pac. S.W.: Mildred
Border. Harold & Emily
Larson, John & Donna
McAvoy, Irven & Pattie
Stem. Dick & Elna Sutter
Maple Grove, N. Ohio: Barbara,
Jason & Tracey Bright, Scott
Freer. Virginia & Will
Moherman. Angela Way.
Helen & Richard Wesner
Maple Spring, W. Pa.: Amy
Croyle; Neil & Karen Harvey;
Calvin Heam; Courtney
Hubbard; Jed Marion;
Florence Martin; Florence
Schillinger; Mike, Chris &
David Wolk
McPherson, W. Plains: Kristin
Grimes, Ines Heuser, Brian &
Carla Koehn, Gladys & Kurtis
30 Messenger December 1994
Naylor, Bemadine Ohmart.
Karen Walton
Meadow Branch. Mid-Atl.: Steve
Bamold, Joshua Eaton
Middle Creek, Atl. N.E.: Chris
Burkey, Dennis Hosier, Ray
Nolt, Rhonda Schnupp,
Danielle Ulrich
Moscow, Shen.: Pat Hunter, Craig
Michael
North Liberty, N. Ind.; Jessica
Garcia. Emily & Marcus
Houser. Kristi Summers
Paradise, Pac. S.W.: Garth &
Olivia Pollart, David & Laura
McCann
Shiloh, W. Man/a: Robert Back.
Melissa Brady
South Waterloo, M. Plahis:
Rosalea Grove
Springfield, S. Ohio: Cora &
Philip Morrow
Sugar Ridge, Mich.: Marge
Cheladyn, Sandra Durfee.
Rhea Eikenberry. Phyllis
Lessnick, Joyce & Jim Rupert
WiJIiamsburg. M. Pa.: Christy
Hetrick, Travis McCall,
Kristina Over, Jeremy Shock
Woodbury, M. Pa.; Ashley
Appleton, Allen & Jarmette
Jarrett, Ryan Keller, Mark Sell
Worthington, N. Plains: Conrad
Douglas
Wedding
Anniversaries
Baker, Emerson and Ruth,
Greenville, Ohio, 60
Bomberger, Harold & Betty,
Palmyra, Pa., 50
Caldwell, Charles and Christine,
Roanoke, Va., 50
Carey. Stanley and Dorothy,
Unionlown, Pa., 60
Davisson, Glen and Jean.
Modesto, Calif., 50
Deardorff, Everett and Helen,
Hartville, Ohio, 60
Forney, Paul and Mary. Palmyra,
Pa". 65
Fryman, Darrell and Betty,
Greenville, Ohio, 50
Grogan. Herman and Eva,
Kansas City, Kan., 70
Heaston, Gordon and Emma,
Modesto. Calif.. 60
Holderread, Amo and Alice, N.
Canton, Ohio, 50
Hornish, Richard and Genevieve,
Defiance, Ohio, 50
Jones, Kermit and Druscilla,
Windber. Pa., 50
Kruger, David and Naomi,
Annville, Pa.. 50
McKinnon. Neil & Marie.
Paradise, Calif, 60
Moore, Edwin and Ethel,
Uniontown, Pa., 55
Noonkester, Earl and Stella,
Danville, Va., 75
Shamberger, Kenneth and
Marguerite, Wenatchee,
Wash., 50
Warner, Sam and Lois, Seven
Valleys, Pa.. 50
Young. Alvin and Dorothy,
Hartville, Ohio, 55
212tll BVS
Orientation Unit
(Orientation completed
October 15 in Chicago, 111.)
Anderson, Wendy, Carbondale,
Colo.; to Pesticide Action
Network. San Francisco,
Calif
Andre, Paul, Rosevilie, Minn., to
be placed
Anton, Spiridon, Niles, III.; to
Cafe 458. Decatur, Ga.
Barr, John, Bridgewater, Va.; to
Trees for Life, Wichita, Kan.
Bischoff, Michael, St. Joseph,
Mo.; to Friends for a Non-
violent World, Minneapolis,
Minn.
Bowman, Stephen, Rocky Mount,
Va.; to Wenatchee Church of
Brethren, Wenatchee, Wash.
Chupp. Kiystal. Chicago, 111.; to
Christian Peacemaker Teams,
Chicago, 111.
Clark, Laura, Ashland, Ohio; to
Camp Courageous,
Monticello, Iowa
Fischer, Delia, Erlangen,
Germany; to Camp
Courageous, Monticello,
Iowa
Graver, Molly, Overland Park,
Kan.; to San Salvador, El
Salvador
Grochowina, Christina. Hanau,
Germany; to Tri City
Homeless Coalition,
Fremont, Calif
Grubb, Michael, Elizabethtown,
Pa.; to Brethren Woods,
Keezletown, Va.
Gruner, Inez, Ladenbtirg,
Germany; to Camp
Courageous, Monticello,
Iowa
Heckman. Demetra. Richmond.
Va.; to On Earth Peace
Assembly. New Windsor,
Md.
Koppenhoefer, Christa, Portland,
Pa.; to Casa del Pueblo.
Washington. D.C.
Landwehr. Melanie. Cloverdale.
Ohio; to Camp Inspiration
Hills, Burbank, Ohio
Laszakovits, Gregory, Tempe,
Ariz.; to Youth & Yoimg
Adult Ministries, Elgin, 111.
Long. Gail, Hummelstown, Pa.;
to Peace Movement of
Vojvodina, Novi Sad,
Yugoslavia
Peschke, Charlotte.
Neuendettelsau. Germany; to
Friendship Day Care,
Hutchinson, Kan.
Piantico. Lisa, Portland, Ore.; to
Safeplace Women's Shelter.
Olympia. Wash.
Schrock, Jon, Elgin, 111.; to be
placed
Tershak. Suzanne, State College,
Pa.; to Capital Area Food
Bank. Washington, D.C.
Vining, Peggy, Goldsboro, N.C.;
to Community Mediation
Center. Harrisonburg, Va.
Wiens, Shannon, Santa Maria,
Calif; to Inspiration Cafe,
Chicago, 111.
Deaths
Baker, Orpha, 90, Martinsburg,
Pa., Sept. 8, 1994
Beaumont. Esther, 89, Waterloo,
Iowa, July 29, 1994
Becker, George. 57, Hanover,
Pa.. Oct. 5. 1994
Blickenstaff. Margaret. 86. La
Verne, Calif , Sept. 7, 1994
Bollinger, Ira, 87, Ephrata, Pa..
Sept. 30, 1994
Bolyard, Jacklyn, 63, Moatsville,
W.Va.,Jan. 16, 1994
Booth, Ruth, 98, Wenatchee,
Wash., July 1, 1994.
Bowman, Harold, 54, Cleveland,
Ohio, Sept. 14, 1994
Bretz, Martha, 82, Harrisburg,
Pa., Julys, 1994
Brown, Joe, 80, Waterloo, Iowa,
Sept. 9, 1994
Brubaker, Daniel, 8 1 , Neffsville,
Pa.. Sept. 26. 1994
Claar. Jesse. 61, Harrisonville,
Pa., Sept. 13, 1994
Crowe, Florence, 93, New
Lebanon, Ohio, June 24, 1 994
Decker, Charlie, 80, Buena Vista,
Va., Oct. 9, 1994
Detrow, Everett, 8 1 , Smithsbiu'g,
Pa., Sept. 27, 1994
Dupras, Iva, 86. Live Oak,
Calif, May 20, 1994
Eckblad, Florence, 98, San
Dimas, Calif, Sept. 6, 1994
Frederick, Harvey, 104,
Nappanee, Ind., Aug. 16. 1994
Garber, Edith, 90, Kettering,
Ohio, Aug. 11, 1994
Gardner, Bernard, 55, Hanover,
Pa.. Sept, 20. 1994
Geeting. Estella, Greenville,
Ohio, January 31, 1994
Graybill, Bemice, 90, Wenatchee,
Wash.. Aug. 30, 1994
Hess, Robert, 75, Manheim, Pa.,
Aug. 28, 1994
Hoover, Edith, 77. Vandalia,
Ohio, Oct. 6, 1994
Jones, Harold, 69, Waynesboro,
Pa.. Oct. 1, 1994
Kauffman, Rudolph, 91, Waynes-
boro, Pa., Oct. 10, 1994
Kessler, Clara, 81, Falls Church,
Va., Sept. 5. 1994
Kimble, Anna, Wenatchee,
Wash., June 18, 1994
Kline, Earl, 93, Hagerstown,
Md., Sept. 12, 1994
Kreiser, Marie, 81, Lebanon, Pa..
Sept. 13, 1994
Lake, Mildred, 79, Uniontown,
Pa.. June 28, 1994
Laugerman, Lloyd, 77, York,
Pa., Sept. 17, 1994
Lechlitner, Evelyn, 62, Goshen,
Ind., Sept. 21, 1994
Leininger, Warren, 88, Neffs-
ville, Pa., Aug. II, 1994
Lorenz. Naomi, 75, Kokomo,
Ind., May 3, 1994
Maarschalk, Johnny, 74, Louis-
ville, Ohio, Sept. 8, 1994
McCornick, Marjorie, 74, Buena
Vista, Va., Oct. 9, 1994
Meeker, Roscoe, 88, Nixa, Mo.,
February 21, 1994
Metzler, Howard, 80, Lititz, Pa.,
Sept. 26, 1994
Miller, Kent, 42, Brandon, Iowa,
Aug. 24, 1994
Miller, Leander, 69, York Towis
ship. Pa., Aug. 24, 1994
Miller, Meda, 98, Dayton, Ohio,
Sept. 17. 1994
Moore, Harry, Cincinatti, Ohio,
March 15, 1994
Mort, James, Harrisburg, Pa.,
July 30, 1994
Moyers, Vincent, 80, Mathias,
W.Va., June2, 1994
Nissley, Roy, 91, Manheim, Pa.,
July 22, 1994
Noll, Adam, 77, Reamstown, Pa.
Sept. 30. 1994
Noonkester. Earl, 95, Danville,
Va., Sept. 19, 1994
Orr. Lona, 93, Delphi, Ind.,
April 9, 1994
Overly, Clyde, 88, Tipton, Ind.,
Aug. 25, 1994
Overly, Ruth, 74, Atwater, Ohio
June 22, 1994
Painter, John, 78, Luray, Va.,
May 31, 1994
Parrett, Eva, 96, Lancaster, Pa.
April 6, 1994
Payne, Ethel, 92, Palmyra, Pa.,
"Aug. 7, 1994
Payne, Jack, 71, Bringhurst, Ind
Aug. 18, 1994
Peffer, June, 84, Johnstown, Pa.
Oct. 19, 1994
Perez, Robert, 7 1 , Parsons, Kan,
June 15, 1994
Poling, Arthur, 97, Moatsville,
W.Va., July 13, 1994
Powell, Esther, 68, Rossville,
Ind.. Aug. 6, 1994
Reber, Ruth, 68, Myerstown, Pa
June 12, 1994
Rebok, Helen, 79, Waynesboro.i
Pa., Aug, 18, 1994
Rebuck, Glenn, 81, Greencastle'
Pa., Aug. 26, 1994
Rhan, Almena, 87, Harleysville,
Pa., July 31, 1994
Rhoades. Evelyn. 97. Wenatchee,
Wash., Aug. 22, 1994
Rice, Jeanette, 66, Thurmont,
Md., Sept. 30, 1994
Richards, Everett, 84, Brroks-
ville, Ohio, Aug. 22, 1994
Ripple, Mary, 81, Windber, P3.J
April 26, 1994
Ritchey, Iva, 92, New Enterprise
Pa., May 27, 1994
Ritchie, Henrietta, 79, Broadwa
Va.. June5, 1994
Royer, Cecil, 89, Astoria, 111.,
July 5, 1994
Ruby, Bertha, 99, Bloomingtonv
111.. Sept. 3, 1994
Sanborn, Irma, 86, Savoy, III.,
July 23, 1994
Schieber, Raymond, 76, North
Liberty, Ind., Sept. 13, 1994
Showalter, Bertha, Bridgewater
Va., Aug. 10, 1994
Shull, Lloyd, 74, Bridgewater,
Va., May 29, 1994
Singer, Amy, 87, Frederick, Md',
Sept. 19, 1994
Smith, Fred, 82, Luray, Va., Juu
18, 1994
Smith, Marlin, 52, Lebanon, Pa.
May 17, 1994
Snider, Martha K., 76, Elgin, 111!
July 24, 1994
Studebaker, Dale, 81, Engle
wood, Ohio, June II, 1994 <
i
UJHi
ft-
9m
lai.
IBIE
IStll
Sir
h
K
IND
1994
Listed on these pages are
articles, poems, editorials,
opinions, names ot contribu-
tors, and obituaries that
appeared in MESSENGER
during 1 994. Classifications
have been made according
to author and subject matter.
Numbers indicate month
and page.
AUTHORS
ELLER. PHYLLIS
Jubilee It's cool! 1016
ESHBACH. WARREN
Anabaplisl/Pielis! groups look at vision
of next century g-Q
FANCHER. DONALD E.
What's the difference? 4*21
FAUS. ROBERT E.
Bnnging hieallfi care ethics
home 5/6-28
FAUS, RONALD E. H.
ABC/Ministers Association
(Annual Conf.) 8-24
FITZKEE. DON
Dry Run: A river runs through it 1:17
Eari Ziegler likes to watch
things grow 2:12
GIBBLE, KENNETH L
In Touch 3:3
Mixed Reviews 3:24
When the door is closed 2:22
GIBBLE, H. LAMAR
Another 'heifer project". , .in the
wilderness 3:13
Brethren in India 10:12
HACKMAN. GALEN R.
What the Old Brethren said about
anointing 3:20
HAYNES. PETE
A mug of remembrance 4 18
HELMAN. PATRICIA KENNEDY
Looking toward Christmas ,,,. 12:12, 13
On Pondering the word 11:24
HOLLAND. SCOTT
Seek the peace of the city 8:29
HOUFF, LISA
In Touch 8:2
JONES, R. DOUGLAS
Close to Home 5/6:4
KEELER. GEORGE
Lybrook and its changing roles .. 5/6:20
KEENEY, MERVIN
Refugees dream of a restaurant ...3:12
KENDALL. JEREMY J.
My focus changed to God 11:19
KURTZ. KAREN B.
Chicago First and Goshen City: A day
camp with diversity 1:11
LANDRUM, RICHARD J.
Healing faith 1:24
MARTIN, HAROLD S.
The voice of the mountains 5/6:37
MAYER, ROBIN WENTWORTH
Stepping Stones 1:20, 2:26, 3:16.
4:11. 5/6:36, 7:27, 8:28,
9:11. 10:18, 11:9. 12:14
MILLER. BYRON L.
Born from above 12:22
MILLER, DONALD E.
From the General Secretary 1:25,
2:24, 3:22, 4:22, 5/6:34, 7:16,
8:30. 9.34. 10:24. 11:22. 12:20
MITCHELL, OLDEN D.
Opinions 4:26
NEWCOMER. HUBERT R.
Applying 'Oil of OI'Age' 5/6:32
PAZOLA, RON
Sacred Ground: What Native
Americans believe 5/6:16
PHENIX. PHILIP H.
Opinions 9:36
RADCLIFF, DAVID
A tribe of many feathers 5/6:17
Honduras workcamps 9:25
RAMIREZ, FRANK
Meal loaf evangelism 1:21
Mixed Reviews 10:28
REIMER, JUDY MILLS
Creation: A Vesper Hill view 9:31
I dream of ihe day 10:15
REPLOGLE, SHAWN
National Youth Conference: 'The
most powerful event 4:14
ROBINSON. PAUL M.
Growing old: Is the best yet
to be? 5/6:20
ROYER, HOWARD E.
From the Communicorp study of
the church: 12:6
Ode to a working well 2:20
SCHROCK, JAN WEST
I called Dan West 'Dad' 10:19
SHONK. NATHAN
My future may be in the church ... 1 1 :23
SHULL-REYNOLDS, IRENE
Close to Home 1:4
Henry Adolph: Master weaver 7:12
In Touch 10:2, 11:2
SHUMATE. DAVID
Worship Services (Annual Conf.) ...8:22
SNELL, TIMOTHY A.
The church's confessional choices 10:23
STERNE, STEVE
Opinions 9:36
STOCKSDALE. PAUL
Conference Theme (Annual Conf.) 8:20
STUDEBAKER, DAVID H.
In Touch 9:3
THOMASSON, KERMON
Biennial consultation (Annual ConI )8:17
Editorial 1:32, 2:32, 3:32, 4:32.
5/6:48, 7:32, 8:27, 9;40,
10:32, 11:32, 12:36
From the Editor ,,, 1:Cover 2, 2:Cover 2.
- 3:Cover 2. 4:Cover 2, 5/6; Cover 2,
7:Covef 2. 8:Cover 2, 9:Cover 2.
10:Cover 2, 11:Cover 2. 12:Cover 2
Homosexuality (Annual Conf.) 8:17
John D. Metzler Sr 3:i7
Lybrook chronology 5/6:20
NOAC II: Choosing between lake
and hills I2:i5
News Bnefs (Annual Conf.) 8-25
THOMPSON, JOEL K.
The health care cure; An ethical
dilemma 5/6:26
WARNER. JAY B.
Mixed Reviews i:23
WARREN, CHRIS
I felt in my heart I should go 1 1 20
WILDING, PAULA S.
Americans with disabilities
(Annual Conf.) 8:14
Beef-canning project 9:26
Bethany welcomes new beginnings
in Richmond ii:6
Brethren housing projects ...9:27
Elections (Annual Conf.) 8:18
Ethics in ministry (Annual Conf.) ...8 16
General Board focuses on Brethren
'identity lines' 12:6
In Touch 2:3, ii:2
Ministerial Leadership
(Annual Conf.) 8:16
Violence a stepchild of apartheid
says WCC 4:8
WILHELM, GREGGA.
Opinions 8:36
What's the difference? 4:21
WOODFORD, J. WOODY
An anointing 12:11
WOOLGROVE. MARGARET
'A Danng and Hopeful Vision' 3:10
A house that was a sermon 11:16
A real peace bridge 11:18
Brethren in Haiti 7:20
Can we have hope for Haiti? 3:15
Chicago Brethren captured the
dream 1:14
Claiming it! NYC "94 11:10
Close to Home 2:4, 3:4, 4:5, 7:4
Code of ethics (Annual Conf.) 8:16
Face Confusion with love 11:12
Haiti: Ovenwhelmed by injustice 7:17
In Touch 1-3, 3:2-3. 5/6:2-3, 7:2, 9:2
Join us for a journey 2:16
La Gonave: Haiti in microcosm 7:18
Organic gardening 9:30
Simple Living (Annual Conf.) 8:14
South Africa (Annual Conf.) 8:14
Spending Thanksgiving building
bridges 2:10
'The dependable one* 4:12
The Lord's supper: Not just a
memorial 8:10
Treasure in an earthen vessel 2:18
Trees for Life 9:28
ZIEGLER, EARL K.
Word from the moderator .... 1:28, 2:29.
3:28. 4:30. 5/6:45
ZIELINSKI. EMILY
A sennon in a sandbox 9:12
SUBJECTS
A
AFRICA
Keeney, Mervin. Refugees dream ot a
restaurant 3:12
Royer. Howard E. Ode to a working
well 2:20
ALBRIGHT. KIM YAUSSY
Staff Changes 9:7
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Annual Conference offices open
for nominations 10:8
Editorial 8:27
Filzkee, Don. Eari Ziegler likes to
watch things grow 2:12
From the Editor 8:Cover 2
Initial Standing Committee ballot ready
for Wichita 3:8
Living Water at Wichita 8:Cover. 1 1
Native American paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
Wichita: Annual Conference
Preview 5/6:12
ANOINTING
Landrum. Richard J. Healing faith 1:24
Hackman, Galen R, What the Old
Brethren said about anointing 3:20
Woodford, J. Woody, An anointing . 12:11
ASSOC. OF BRETHREN CAREGIVERS
Faus, Ronald. ABC/Ministers Association
(Annual ConI.) 8:24
B
.. 5/6:3
BACHMAN, DAVID J.
In Touch
BAIR, MAC
In Touch ..5/6:3
BARR, ERNIE
In Touch 9:2
BDLIA. BITRUS
Nigeria church announces shake-up
in leadership lis
BERNHARD. H. FRED
fuloderator-elect meets with Fidel
Castro on Cuba visit 12:8
Wichita: Annual Conference
Preview 5/6:12
Wilding, Paula S. Elections
(Annual Conf ) 8:18
BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
1994 participants total 21 for EFSM
and TRIM programs 12 10
Bethany graduates 27 in final Oak
Brook campus ceremony 8:8
Bethany signs agreement for Oak
Brook property 5/6:6
Bethany welcomes new beginnings
in Richmond ii:6
Close to Home 2:5
Letters 7:30
Staff Changes 4:10, 9:7
BHAGAT, SHANTILAL
Models of hope, inspiration tor rural
ministry addressed 1:9
Shantilal Bhagat compiles NCC
environmental packet 4:9
BIBBEE, DAVID M.
Native Amencan paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
Worship (Annual Conf.) 8:22
BIBLE
Brethren attend consultation to
promote biblical literacy 5/6:9
BISHOP, ERIC
Staff Changes 8:7
BIXLER, RUSSELL
In Touch 5/6:3
BOBB, GWEN
From the Editor 7:Cover 2
BOLEYN, ALAN
From the Editor 11:Cover 2
BOLEYN. ESTHER
In Touch 12:2
BOLLINGER, MELISSA
In Touch 7:2
BRANDT, LUCILE LONG STRAYER
In Touch 12:2
BRETHREN BENEFIT TRUST
Benefit Trust board discusses medical
plans, investments 2:8
Staff Changes 7:7. 10:8
BRETHREN HISTORY
From the Editor 7:Cover 2
In Touch 5/6:5
Reynolds,! rene S. Henry Adolph:
Master weaver 7:12
BRETHREN LIFE
Woolgrove, Margaret. Simple Living
(Annual Conf,) 8:14
BRETHREN PRESS
Eller, Phyllis. Jubilee: It's cool! 10:16
'Jubilee. God's Good News' 1:6
BRETHREN REVIVAL FELLOWSHIP
Letters 428
BRETHREN VOLUNTEER SERVICE
Zielinski, Emily. A sermon in a
sandbox 9:12
BVS Unit #210 4:7. 31
BVS Unit #211 7:7, 31
BVS Unit #212 10:7. 31
BVS Unit #213 11:7
BVS Unit #214 12:10, 30
Brethren volunteer joins peace team
in Balkan region .2:8
BRUBAKER. CARMEN
In Touch 7:3
BRUBAKER, HARRY
In Touch 2:3
BRUBAKER, LOWELL
In Touch 11:3
BRULL, PEDRO
Staff Changes 4:10
BUCHER, GORDON
In Touch 10:3
BUCKWALTER, GREG
In Touch 4:3
BURKE, BOBBY JR.
In Touch 12:3
BURTON, LARTIA
Larlia remembers 1:15
CABLE. CHARLES
In Touch 10:3, 11:3
CABLE. ED
In Touch 8:3
CASSEL. JOHN
Staff Changes ..4:10
CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS
Brethren participate in trip to Middle
East on peace mission 7:8
CHRISTMAS
Helman, Palncia Kennedy. Looking
toward Christmas 12:12
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE
Three Brethren named as CWS disaster
consultants 3:8
Worldwide 3:9. 7:9, 9:10
CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE
In Touch 3:4
COLLEGES
bndgewater and Manchester announce
new presidents 3:6
Close to Home: Bridgewater 1:5, 3:5
5/6:5, 7:4, 8:5, 11:4
Close to Home: Elizabethtown 1:5. 3:5
5/6:4. 7:4, 8:5. 11:4
Close to Home: Juniata 35, 7:4, 10:5
11:4. 12:5
Close to Home: Manchester 5/6:5. 74
8:5, 10:5, 11:4. 12:5
Close to Home: McPherson 1:5, 5/6:5
7:4, 8:5. 12:5
Close to Home: La Veme 1:5. 5/6:4
10:5, 12:5
CONGREGATIONS
Carter, Karen, Eglise des Freres Haitians:
The church of contagious joy 722
Close to Home: Columbia City (Ind.),
Olathe (Kan ), Eden (N.C.).Drexel Hill,
Everett (Pa.), Oak Grove, Roanoke,
Pleasant Dale, Poages Mill, Williamson
Road (Va.) 1:5
Close to Home. Columbia City (Ind,),
Osage (Kan,), Happy Corner (Ohio),
Ephrata, Faith Community, Three
Springs, Yor1( (Pa,), Stone (Va.) 2:4
Close to Home: Salem (Iowa). Lone Star
(Kan.), Lake Charies Community,
Roanoke (La ), Meadow Branch (Md.).
Chiques, Conestoga (Pa.) 3:5
Close to Home: Washington City (DC),
Beacon Heights (Ind,). Paint Creek
(Kan.), Troy (Ohio), Curryville, Maple
Grove, Parker Ford. Sugar Run (Pa.),
Pleasant Dale (Va.) 4:4
Close to Home: Cando (N.D.). Lititz, Tyrone
(Pa,), Bassett (Va) 5/6:4
Close to Home:Northem Colorado (Colo.).
Roanoke (La). Happy Corner (Ohio),
Frogville (Okia ). East Fatn/iew,
Hanover. Mingo, Providence, Royers-
ford (Pa.), Pampa, Waka (Texas).
Bridgewater, Dayton, Mount Union.
Wakemans Grove (Va) 7:4
Close to Home: Highland Ave,, Peoria (III.).
Bremen, Four Mile (Ind). Quinter (Kan.),
Pleasant View (Md.), Bradford, Cedar
Grove, West Milton (Ohio), Bunkerlown,
Carlisle, Faith Ckjmmuntty (Pa.).
Richland Valley (Wash.) 8:4
Close to Home Live Oak, Young Nak
(Calif), Sebnng (Fla), Highland Avenue
(III.), Lincolnshire (Ind ), Ankeny,
Ivester, Libertyville. South Waterioo
(Iowa). Eden Valley (Kan.), Beavercreek,
Pleasant Hill (Ohio). Roanng
Springs (Pa.) 9:4
Close to Home: Panorama City (Calif.).
Bethany (Del). Hagerstown (Md), Hope
(Mich). Mineral Spnngs (Mo.). Fraternity
(N.C.). Beridey, Wolgemuth (Pa.) ...10:4
Close to Home: La Porte (Ind,). Meadow
Branch, Westminster (Md ), Florence
(Mich) Brummetts Creek (N,C ),
Conestoga, Rockwood (Pa.) 11:4
Close to Home Living Gospel, Naperville
(III.), Maxwell (Iowa). Tok'ahookaadi
(N,M,), Eaton (Ohio). East McKeesport.
Indian Creek (Pa,). Danville First, Jones
Chapel. Walkers Chapel (Va). Sunny-
slope, Wenatchee (Wash.) ,12:4
Fitzkee. Don Dry Run A river runs
through It 1:17
Kurtz, Karen Chicago First and Goshen
City; A day camp with diversity 1:11
CONSTABLE. HELEN
StaH Changes 8:7
COX. RON
In Touch 1:3
CREED
Snell. Timothy A. The church's
confessional choices 10:23
GROUSE, REBECCA BAILE
Native American paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
Worship (Annual Conf.) 8:22
December 1994 Messenger 31
CUBA
Moderator-elect meets with Fidel
Castfo on Cuba visit 12;8
CURBV, A STAUFFER
In Touch 2:3
DEARDORFF. DARYLL
Deardorrf resigning treasurer post, Keyser
to succeed him 12:9
DENG, DANIEL
In Touch 9:3
DETROW, EVERETT
In Touch 4:3
DIEHL. HARRY W.
In Touch 8:3
DISABILITIES
Wilding, Paula S. Americans with
disabilities (Annual Conf.) 8:14
DISASTER RESPONSE
California earthquake initiates quick
Brethren response 3:7
Disaster auction raises over $350,000
lor relief funding 11:7
Disaster fund grants issued to Burundi
refugees, Cuba 1:8
Disaster grants issued to Rwanda,
Colombia, China 9:10
EDF allocates funds for Puerto Rico,
Guatemala 11:8
Emergency aid granted to Midwest states,
Armenia 2:7
Emergency disaster fund grantissued
for Rwanda 8:9
Emergency disaster fund targets Haiti,
Tanzania 10:7
Emergency disaster funds issued to
Midwest. Haiti, Cuba 7:9
Emergency fund combats storms,
famine, drought 12:10
Emergency grants issued to California,
Florida, Haiti 3:9
Emergency grants issued to California,
Russia, Southeast 5/6:8
From the General Secretary 2:24
DISTRICTS
Augsburger, 400-voice choir inspire
thousands in Hershey 7:6
Close to Home. Atlantic N.E 12:4
Close to Home Mid-Atlantic 7:5
Close to Home: Middle Pa 3:4
Close to Home: Shenandoah 1:4
Close to Home: Southern Ohio 7:5
Close to Home: Southern Pa 2:4, 7:5
Close to Home: Virlina 9:5
Staff Changes 1:7, 2:9, 3:8, 5/6:9, 7:7, 10:9
Wilding, Paula S. Beef-canning
proiect 9:26
DIVERSITY
Fancher. Donald E. What's the
difference? 4:21
Hetman, Patricia Kennedy. On
Pondering the word 11:24
Kurtz, Karen B. Chicago First and Goshen
City: A day camp with diversity 1:11
Letters 5/6:42. 7:29
Opinions 8:36
Wilhelm. Gregg A. Whafs the
diflerence? 4:21
DOERING, ERNIE
In Touch 4:3
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic Brethren hold third
annual assembly 4:6
DULABAUM, NEVIN
Staff Changes 12:9
DURNBAUGH, HEDDA
In Touch 5/6:3
DURNBAUGH, DONALD F.
In Touch 5/6:3
EBERLY. WAYNE
Staff Changes 12:9
ECKER, ALDENE
In Touch 1:3
EISEMANN, MILDRED
In Touch 1:3
ELLER. ENTEN
In Touch 9:3
ELLER, JAN
Stan Changes 8:7
encarnaci6n, guillermo
Staff Changes 8:7
ENVIRONMENT
Editorial 9:40
Shanlilal Bhagat compiles NCC
environmental packet 4:9
The environment: A lifestyle
32 Messenger December 1994
crisis? 9:Cover, 13
Austin. Richard Cartwright. Tending
the ark 9:20
Bhagat. Shanlilal P. Standing room only
for an explosive show 9:14
Bhagat. Shantilal P. You can make a
difference 9:25
Bishop, Eric B. Technical school in
Nigeria 9:29
For further study 9:32
Radcliff, David, Honduras
workcamps 9:25
Reimer. Judy Mills, Creation: A
Vesper Hill view 9:31
Wilding. Paula S. Beef-canning
project 9:26
Wilding. Paula S. Brethren housing
projects 9:27
Woolgrove, Margaret. Organic
gardening 9:30
Woolgrove, Margaret. Trees for Life 9:28
ETHICS
Woolgrove. fvlargaret. Code of ethics
(Annual Conf.) 8:16
Wilding, Paula S. Ethics in ministry
(Annual Conf.) 8:16
EVANGELISM
Evangelism Leaders Academy
draws 1.200 10:8
Ramirez, Frank. Meat loaf evangelism 1 :21
Opinions 2:28
FASNACHT. HAROLD D.
In Touch 7:3
FIKE, CECIL
In Touch 1:3
FIKE, J. ROGERS
StaH Changes 5/6:9
FISHBURN, ALVIN
In Touch 2:3
FISHER, CHESTER
In Touch 7:2
FLORY, BARBARA
In Touch 11:2
FRY, IVAN
Jan Schrock lakes leave of absence to
lead urt]an project 9:7
FRYE, TRAVIS
In Touch 2:2
FRYSINGER, HIRAM
In Touch 2:3
FURRY. CHRISTINA
In Touch 8:3
GADZAMA, KARAGAMA
Photo 8:11
GEISERT, THEODORE C.
In Touch 10:3
GEISERT, WAYNE
In Touch 4:3
GENERAL BOARD
Bishop, Eric. General Board
(Annual Conf.) 8:18
Deardorff resigning treasurer post; Keyser
to succeed him 12:9
General Board hires experts to discover
Brethren image 4:7
General Board spring action include
Hebron, South Afnca 5/6:7
Royer, Howard. From the Communicorp
study of the church 12:6
Staff Changes 1:7, 3:8. 4:10. 5/6:9.
7:7, 8:7, 9:7, 11:8. 12:9
Wilding, Paula S. General Board focuses
on Brethren 'identity lines' 12:6
GLICK, NORMAN N.
In Touch 7:2
GOOD, ADA & MONROE
In Touch 9:3
GRIER, GUINEVERE
Staff Changes 3:8, 5/6:9
GROG AN, EVA
In Touch 10:3
GRUBB, SUSAN
In Touch 10:3
H
HAITI
Brethren in Haiti: A long story 7:20
Carter, Karen. Eglise des Freres Haitians:
The church of contagious joy 7:22
Haiti: The waters of injustice 7:Cover
Dilling. Yvonne K. Haiti's freedom: What
it would take 7:21
SERRV helps Haitian artists again after
embargo lifted 12:10
Woolgrove. Margaret. Can we have hope
for Haiti? 3:15
Woolgrove, Margaret. Haiti: Ovenwhelmed
by injustice 7:17
Woolgrove, Margaret. La Gonave: Haiti
in microcosm 7:18
HALL, VON
In Touch 1:3
HANLEY, RICHARD M.
Staff Changes 1:7
HARE, BILL
In Touch 9:2
HARKINS, KATHY
In Touch 1:3
HATFIELD, TERRY
Staff Changes 3:8
HAYES, GUY
In Touch 10:3
HAYES, WILLIAM A.
Stewardship, Baltimore First establish
Hayes memorial 8:9
HEALTH CARE
Faus. Robert E. Bringing health care
ethics home 5/6:28
Letters 10:29
Thompson, Joel K The health care cure:
An ethical dilemma 5/6:26
HECKMAN, GALEN & JANET
In Touch 7:3
HEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL
An ark for today's world 10:21
Brethren prepare to 'fill the ark' for
Heifer Project 50th 9:6
From the Editor 10: Cover 2
Schrock, Jan West. 1 called Dan
West 'Dad' 10:19
Stewardship relationship forged with
Heifer Project 4:9
HEISEY, DENNIS H.
In Touch 11:3
HENDRICKS, JEAN LICHTY
In Touch 11:3
HERSHEY, S. JOAN
Native American paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
Staff Changes 4:10
Worship (Annual Conf.) 8:23
HESS, EARL
In Touch 12:2
HIPSKIND, GENE F.
SlaH Changes 7:7
HISPANIC BRETHREN
Bishop, Enc B. Hispanic leaders explore
new directions 5/6:11
HOFFER, JAN EISEMANN
In Touch 7:3
HOMOSEXUALITY
Letters 11:30
Opinions 9:36
Thomason, Kermon. Homosexuality
(Annual Conf,) 8:17
HOPKINS. JESSE
In Touch 12:2
HORNER, LLOYD
In Touch 12:2
HOSTETTER. EARL
Staff Changes 5/6:9
HOUSING
Wilding, Paula 8. Brethren housing
projects 9:27
Woolgrove, Margaret. A house that
was a sermon 11:16
HYMNAL
Close to Home 7:5
INDIA
Beery, Galen S. Wilbur B Stover:
India pioneer 10:10
From the General Secretary 10:24
Gibble, H, Lamar Brethren in India. 10:12
Worid Communion Sunday focuses on
India centennial 9:8
JEWELL, PAUL
In Touch 5/6:2
JIMINEZ, ROY P.
Staff Changes 5/6:9
JOHNS, LAURENCE
In Touch 9:2
JOYA
First Young Adult Travel Team to visit
Brethren congregations 1:8
Close to Home 9:4
Photo 8:13
JUBILEE
Eller, Phyllis, Jubilee: It's cool! 10:16
'Jubilee: God's Good News' 1:6
K
In Touch 10:
MOW, BAXTER
In Touch 9;
MURRAY, ANDY & TERRY
In Touch 10;
KAUFFMAN, HERMAN D.
Staff Changes 10:8
KELLER, DALE
In Touch 11:3
KETTERING, ROBERT
Staff Changes 2:9. 4:10. 9:7
KEYSER, JUDY
Deardorrf resigning treasurer post; Keyser
to succeed him 12:9
KING, MARTIN LUTHER JR.
Woolgrove, fvlargaret, Chicago Brethren
captured the dream 1:14
Lartia remembers 1:15
KIN5EL, GLENN & HELEN
In Touch 9:2
Three Brethren named as CWS disaster
consultants 3:8
KINSEY, JIM
StaH Changes 8:7
KIR AGO FE, KATHRYN
In Touch 10:3
KISSINGER, WARREN
In Touch 8:2
KLINE. JOEL D.
Wichita: Annual Conference
Preview 5/6:12
KOCH, CLYDIA
Staff Changes 8:7
KOREA
Training begins for leadership in South
Korea mission work 9:8
KRAYBILL, DONALD B.
In Touch 7:2
KULP, PHILIP M.
In Touch 10:3
LATIN AMERICA
Dilling, Yvonne K, An alternative to
'distorted development' 3:12
Radcliff, David. Honduras workcamps 9:25
LEADERSHIP
Editorial 5/6:48
From the General Secretary 7:16
Letters 8:34
Wilding, Paula. Ministerial Leadership
(Annual Conf,) 8:16
LEDDY, PETER J., SR.
Staff Changes 7:7
LININGER, MARGARET
In Touch 7:2
LONGENECKER. DAVID
Staff Changes 5/6:9
M
MACK, ALEXANDER
In Touch 5/6:5
MAJOR, SARAH
In Touch 2:3
MARDEN, PARKER
Bridgewater and Manchester announce
new presidents 3:6
MATSUBARA, MIYOKO
In Touch 11:2
MAY, MELANIE
In Touch 5/6:3
MEDEMA, KEN
Woolgrove, Margaret. Face Confusion
with love 11:12
MEDIA OUTREACH PROJECT
Consultants complete initial review of
the Brethren 7:8
General Board hires experts to discover
Brethren image 4:7
Royer, Howard, From the Communicorp
study of the church 12:6
Wilding, Paula S, General Board focuses
on Brethren 'identity lines' 12:6
MEMBERSHIP
1992 attendance for worship, church
school show increase 1:7
METZLER, JOHN D., SR.
Thomasson, Kermon. John D. Metzler Sr.
He went into all the worid 3:17
MtCHAELSEN, DONALD R.
Staff Changes 5/6:9
MILLER, DONALD
June consultation result of general
secretary's effort 9:7
Miller signs on to NCC letter to president
concerning violence 3:9
MOSER, INGRID
N
EUCE
try
EIRE.
m
so.
[ITSI
OETP'
m
CC',;
NAME CHANGE
Group announces frustration with
denomination name 1:
Letters 3:27, 7:28, 9:3 *"
Opinions 9:3 ^
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
Jan Schrock takes leave of absence to
lead urban project 9:
Miller signs on to NCC letter to president
concerning violence 3:
NCC General Board addresses violence,
installs president 1;
NCC General Board approves media
violence paper 1:
Worldwide 1:10, 5/6:10. 8:9, 9:10, 11:
NATIONAL OLDER ADULT CONFERENC
From the General Secretary 12:2 *^"-
NOAC II proves a success 11:
Newcomer, Hubert R. Applying
'Oil of Ol'Age' 5/6:3|»--
Robinson. Paul M, Growing old: Is
the best yet to be? 5/6:2
Thomasson, Kermon, NOAC II: Choosing
between lake and hills 12:1
NATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE
Claiming it' NYC "94 11:Cover. 1
Beavers, Anne. Happy feelings make
me cry 11:1
Brush, Jonathan. No angel appeared
by my bed 11:2
Burd, Kerry. Jr. Me a messenger
of Christ's word? 11:1
Kendall, Jeremy J My focus changed
to God 11:1
Shonk, Nathan. My future may be
in the church 11:2
Warren, Chris, I felt in my heart I
should go 11:2
Woolgrove, Margaret. Claiming it! 11:1
Woolgrove, Margaret, A house that
was a sermon 11:1
Woolgrove, Margaret, A real
peace bridge 11:1|
Woolgrove. Margaret. Face Confusion
with love 11:ltfet^.
Close to Home 9: :$'-'
Editorial 11:3(«CHK
From the General Secretary 11:21 ilfr,-:'
Replogle, Shawn, National Youth Confer-' E*JiG
ence. 'The most powerful event 4:1 1 <v.'--
Woolgrove, Margaret. 'The S^'.*
dependable one' 4:11^5:'
NATIVE AMERICANS ! EK(0
Bishop, Enc. Native Americans ) *■::[
(Annual Conf,) 8:V Kxi'
From the Editor 5/6:Cover la»C:i;
Keeler, George, Lybrook and its ' EfUGE
changing roles 5/6:2' ftc t
Native American paper heads Annual Et,
Conference business 2:'EEKB
Pazola, Ron, Sacred Ground: What jHO,;
Native Americans believe 5/6:l'8SH,T
Radcliff, David, A tribe of many la^Cf;
feathers 5/6:l'ffL0G
Sacred Ground 5/6:CoV£^'ti»T,
Thomasson. Kermon. Lyrook m
Chronology 5/6:2' W«l£
NEHER, KENNETH ^'^ i
Staff Changes 11: Prf-e,
NIELSON, NAN | OlAflC
In Touch 4:' Tcwft
NIGERIA DOLE,
Bishop, Eric B. Technical school in 'BC^^
Nigeria 9:2(BUk,
Close to Home 3: ' loj:''
From the General Secretary 8:3lT[LE,|
In Touch 9;' Ta^f
Nigeria church announces shake-up ItlQEFFi
in leadership 11:laiO,j
Woolgrove, Margaret. Treasure in an lffF,p^
earthen vessel 2:1 'nouw
Worldwide 5/6:1 ij
NOLEN, WILFRED
In Touch 1;
NORMAN. SHIRLEY I
Three Brethren named as CWS disaster t*4ft(s
consultants 3:
NOWAK, STANLEY
In Touch 1;
ON EARTH PEACE ASSEMBLY
OEPA annunces peace program
for grandparents 2;
>ALEGA, SULU
tjf^asketball player Killed at tournament in
11 California 5/6:
|>EACE
iVoolgrove, Margaret. 'A Daring and
Hopeful Vision' 3:10
barter, Jeff, A summer on the mountain
top 1:18
ingress, President opt to keep draft
registration system 8:7
ift<istoric Peace Cfiurcfies gather 2:8
D 'Icture: Youth Peace Travel Team 8:7
)EPA announces peace program
for grandparents 2:9
-.ttETRE, IRA & MARY
m 1 Touch 11:3
1 lERCE, LISA
n Touch .....2:3
>ITMAN. MARK D.
Staff Changes 11:8
ITTS, TYRONE
It lative American paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
lalVorship (Annual Conf.) 8:23
It OETRY
2inger, Luke. Impression 1:15
is owman, Carol Joy. Cups 4:20
lelman, Patricia Kennedy. Looking
toward Cfiristmas 12:12
ccf^ OLING, ED
ta t Touch 7:2
S«
lUESENBERRY, CASSIE
n I Touch
Q
ACISM
zinger, Luke. Impression 1:15
ditorial 1:32
aners 3:26. 5/6:45
i'CC, NCC look at racism as human
rights violation 9:9
i#Coolgrove, Margaret. Chicago Brethren
;■ I captured the dream 1:14
ASCHKA, CHRISTOPHER
"; 1 Touch 4:2
E-IMAGINING CONFERENCE
1', |roup announces frustration with
denomination name 1:9
etters 3:29
EDEKOPP, ORLANDO
edekopp serves as monitor for South
I African elections 4:10
:aff Changes 1:7
EFUGEES
shop, Eric B. Among the suffering
IS |oy 7:10
iElSH, BRENDA
aff Changes 12:9
EISH, TODD
aff Changes 8:7
;H ePLOGLE, SHAWN
;t. loolgrove, Margaret. 'The dependable
one" 4:12
HOADES, J. BENTON
fichita: Annual Conference
Preview 5/6:12
CHARDS, BOB
Touch 11:3
I'DDLE, TAMMY KRAUSE
laff Changes 5/6:9
llEMAN, T. WAYNE
Touch 12:3
JTTLE, KRISTI
I Touch 5/6:3
DDEFFER, JERRY
■f iaff Changes 7:7
JFF, PHYLLIS KINGERY
( ITouch 10:3
i: USSIA
bble, H. Lamar. Another 'heifer project'
|in the wilderness 3:13
JSSIAN ORTODOX
■ilnikowski, George. Remembering
|the exchange 7:14
1
kULS, ALBERT
Chita: Annual Conference
.Preview 5/6:12
t:HMID, JOE
Staff Changes 17
SCHROCK, JAN
Jan Schrock takes leave of absence to
lead urtian project 9-7
SEIDEL, CAROLYN YATES
In Touch 8:2
SEMBOWER, MAYNARD
In Touch 12:2
SERRANO, OLGA & MARIO
In Touch 2'3
SERRV
SERRV helps Haitian artists again after
embargo lifted 12:10
SEWELL. LAURA
In Touch 10:3
SHAMBERGER, CHAUNCEY
From the Editor 4:Cover 2
SHAW-MORGAN, JANICE
In Touch 12
SHUMAN, JESSICA
In Touch 2*3
SNAVELY. PAUL
In Touch 10:3
SNYDER. GRAYDON
Professor files law suit against Chicago
Theological Semrnary 5/6:7
Snyder files new suit against Chicago
Theological Seminary 10:7
SOLLENSERGER-MORPHEW, BETH
Staff Changes 12:9
SOUTH AFRICA
General Board spring action include
Hebron, South Africa 5/6:7
Redekopp serves as monitor for South
African elections 4:10
Woolgrove, Margaret. South Africa
(Annual Conf.) 8:14
Woridwide 10;9
SPEICHER, SARA
Staff Changes 7:7
SPONSELLER, KAY
In Touch 2:3
STAFFORD. BILL
In Touch 12:2
STANDING COMMITTEE
Initial Standing Committee ballot ready
for Wichita 3:8
STEWARDSHIP
Eberiy, Wayne J. Tithing: A response
to grace 5/6:29
Stewardship, Baltimore First establish
Hayes memorial 8:9
Stewardship relationship forged with
Heifer Project 4:9
Study analyzes 1992 Brethren
congregational giving 7:7
STOCKSDALE, PAUL
From the Editor 9:Cover 2
STONE, PHILLIP
Bridgewater and Manchester announce
new presidents. 3:6
STOVER, WILBUR B.
To India a century ago 10:Cover
Beery, Galen S Wilbur B. Stover:
India pioneer 10:10
STUDEBAKER, FLORENCE S.
In Touch 9:3
SUDAN
16 participants trained for
accompaniment in Sudan 5/6:8
Bishop, Eric B. Among the suffering
is joy 710
Brethren respond to SOS kit request for
southern Sudan 7:8
Letters 11:30
NSCC skeptical of cease fire called by
Sudan government 9:9
Program of accompaniment initiated in
southern Sudan 1:8
Southem Sudanese church bombed
dunng mass 3:7
Woolgrove. Margaret, Join us for a
journey 2:16
SUTTON, CHARLES & HELEN
In Touch 10:3
SWICK. MARK & JANE FLORA
In Touch 8:3
THEOLOGY
Ahlgrim. Ryan.Facing our last
enemy 4:16
Benedict. James, But why was he
resurrected? 3:19
Snell, Timothy, The church's confessional
choices 10:23
THOMASSON, KERMON
Editor receives awards from RPRC for
editorial writing 5/6:7
THOMPSON, JOEL K.
Joel K. Thompson of BBT loses life
In airiine crash 10:8
TIMMONS, LINDA
In Touch 22
TOMLONSON. JOHN
Staff Changes 5/6r9
TUBBS, JOHN
In Touch 1:2
u
URBAN MINISTRY
Urban ministries schedules peace
tour in Midwest 10:6
VIOLENCE
Bishop, Enc. Treat violence Jesus'
way (Annual Conf.) 8:16
From the General Secretary 3:22. 4:22
Miller signs on to NCC letter to president
concerning violence 3:9
NCC General Board approves media
violence paper 1;7
Violence a stepchild of apartheid
says WCC 4:8
w
..9:2
WAAS, DAVID
In Touch ,
WAGONER, JOHN
In Touch 9:2
WALSH, CONNIE
Woolgrove, Margaret, Can we have hope
for Haiti? 3:15
WEAVER, CLYDE E.
In Touch 4:3
WEDDLE. LEROY
In Touch 2:3
WELCH. ROSA PAGE
In Touch 2:3
WENGER, TODD
In Touch 5/6:3
WEST. DAN
From the Editor 10; Cover 2
Schrock. Jan West. I called Dan
West 'Dad' 10:19
WHITEHEAD, VIOLA
in Touch 4:2
WHITELOW, CARLYLE
In Touch 4:3
WRITTEN, DAVE
Woolgrove, Margaret. Treasure in an
earthen vessel 2:18
In Touch 3:5
WILDING, PAULA S.
From the Editor 3:Cover 2
WILLE, BOB & MARY
In Touch 9:2
WOOLGROVE, MARGARET
From the Editor 2:Cover 2
WORKCAMPS
In Touch 1:2
WORLD MINISTRIES
Bread for today and tomorrow 3:cover
Deeter, Joan. Bread for today and
tomorrow 3:1 1
WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
June consultation result of general
secretary's effort 9:7
Violence a stepchild of apartheid
says WCC 4:8
WCC, NCC look at racism as human
rights violation 9:9
Worldwide 1:10, 2:9, 3:9, 8:9
YATES. BRIAN
In Touch 10:2
YODER, TIM
In Touch 2:2
YOST, DWAYNE
In Touch 7:2
YOUNG ADULTS
First Young Adult Travel Team to visit
Brethren congregations 1:8
Woolgrove. Margaret, Spending Thanks-
giving building bridges 2:10
Youth and Young Adults to hold
16 workcamps in '95 10:8
YOUNG, ANDREW
In Touch 3:2
YOUNG, GALEN
In Touch 1:3
YOUTH
1994 holds many activities for Church
of the Brethren youth 4:8
Editorial 11:32
New magazine for Brethren youth
introduces at NYC 10:6
New youth curriculum planned for
tall 1995 8:6
Woolgrove, Margaret. Claiming it! .- 11 10
Youth and Young Adults to hold
16 workcamps in '95 10:8
ZIEGLER, EARL
Watching things grow 2:Cover
Fitzkee, Don. Earl Ziegler likes to watch
things grow 2:12
Native American paper heads Annual
Conference business 2:6
Prayer for renewal focus of gathering
in McPherson 4:7
Worship (Annual Conf.) 8:22
ZIEGLER, JESSE
In Touch 5/6:2
LICENSING/
ORDINATION
Alresman, Royden 8:39
Aronhalt, Mary Colleen 8:39
Baker, Sandra M 11:31
Baskln, Cari 8:39
Baynard, Wanda Joy 9:39
Beers, Kevin L 11:31
Bentzel, Paul Wilbert 9:39
Bidgood, Elizabeth 11:31
Bollinger, Glenn 8:39
Bowman, Nelson Lewis 9:39
Bowser, Paula 9:39
Brown, Joseph E 11:31
Brumbaugh. Alan 8:39
Buntaln, Arnold Paul 8:39
Button-Harrison, Mary Jane 3:31
Carlson, Melinda 4:31
Carroll, Michael A 11:31
Clapper, Darrell 2:31
Coppernoll. Sue 8:39
Cox, Norma 2:31
Custer, Joe 8:39
Davis, Grelchen 3:31
Dixon, Robert H 4:31
Driscoll, Brenda 8:39
Dunn, Kathy IMeufeld 9:39
Eichelberger, Todd Evans 2:31
Enders, Gregory 11:31
Fitzkee, Donald 8:39
Flannery, James Mark 9:39
Foster, Chris 8:39
Garcia, Milton 9:39
Gault, Mary Frances 8:39
Gaver, Joanne 9:39, 11:31
Gembarowski, Zachary John 8:39
Golden, Wilburt 3:31
Graham, Jeffrey 11:31
Grimes, David 8:39
Gross. Aaron V 11:31
Halverson. Dorothy Mingus 8:39
Hartman. Wayne Striebig 9:39
Hewitt, Nancy Marie 8:39
Holzman, John Albert 9:39
Hooks, Eric Lee 2:31
Hosteller, Bruce Alan 4:31
Houghton, Sally 8:39
Howard, Cortland David 8:39
Hubble, James 2:31
Hutton, Steve Joe 9:39
llyes, Charles L 4:31
Jensen, Kathleen 8:39
Johnson, Anthony 4:31, 8:39
Jones, Phillip Lynn 2:31
Kemerly, Thomas H 3:31
Kessier. Clinton. Jr 9:39
Ketterman, Curtis Garfield 8:39
Klinedinst, Stephen Lee 8:39
Knepper, Nancy Fike 2:31
Koehn, Elsie 2:31
Kuykendall, Renee Kristina 8:39
Lemmon, Cory 9:39
Lewis, Powell 11:31
Llndgren, Craig 9:39
Longwell, Eric 11:31
Malone, Sarah Quinter 8:39
Markey, Dale L 4:31
Mathls, Teny 11:31
Maxwell, David 8:39
McClelland, Golda P 3:31
McKlbben, Tammy 9:39
Messier, Bnan 8:39
Meyers, Leon Eugene 8:39
Miller, Norma 8:39
Miller, Tammy 8:39
Moreland, Brian Dale 8:39
Morris, Harriett Susanna ...8:39
Mumma, Emily Jean 2:31
Myers, Jacob 8:39
Naff. Robin Collins ll:3i
Nalley, Michelle 8:39
Pagan, Nelson Perez 2:31
Pagan, Zulma Rivera Cruz 2:31
Pfaftzg raff-El ler, Enten 9:39
Powell, Douglas Alfred 3:31
Queener, Richard L 2:31
Quesenberry, James Hebron 11:31
Qulnn, Jack 3;3i
Reed, Robert William 9:39
Relmer, Judy Mills 8:39
Rivera, Jorge 9:39
Rosenberger, Mary Sue 8:39
Schreiner, Sally 8:39
Scott, Manlyn Lerch 9:39
Shockey. Howard 11:31
Shuford, Robert 8:39
Smith. Sam 9:39
Smith, Terry Gale 8:39
Sousley, Kendra 11:31
Stauffer, Matthew Aaron 9:39
Stewart, William 8:39
Sutton. David Corliss 8:39
Thacker. Robert W 4:31
Thomas. Ricky Lane 9:39
Thompson, Margaret 3:31
Turley. Charies Eugene 9:39
Vaught. Terry Lynn 2:31
Walters. Benjamin Clark 8:39
Whalen. Steven D 3:31
Whetzel, Bobby 2:31
Wiley, James Allen 9:39
Woodard. Emma Jean 8:39
Wurzburger. Kenneth Douglas 11:31
PASTORAL
PLACEMENTS
Archer. Alice 2:31
Bailey. Daniel 2:31
Banks. Wilbert 8:39
Barragan, Jose Martin 2:31
Bartholomew, John 4:31
Betz, Russell 3:31
BInkley. Timothy 11:31
Black, David 2:31
Black, Larry 2:31
Blow, Albert 2:31
Bohannon, Ron 8:39
Borgmann, Kurt 11:31
Bowman, Christopher 11:31
Bowman, Dale 4:31
Branson, Merrill 2:31
Brown, Dennis 9:39
Brumbaugh, Lillian 2:31
Bunch. Christopher J 2:31
Burke, Robby, Jr 8:39
Carl, Edward 4:31
Carter, Jeffrey W 3:31
Cavaness, Ryan 2:31
Christine, Michael 3:31
Cory, Martha 8:39
Cosner, Randy 3:31
Cox, Raymer 9:39
Dean, Vernon 2:31
Derr, Horace 9:39
Eastis, David 8:39
Eberiy, Jim 8:39
Eberiy, Roger 8:39
Elmore, Kendal 9:39
Finney. Harriet 2:31
Rnney, Ronald 2:31
Fischer. Wilbur L 3:31
Foster. John 3:31
Galay. Ken 2:31
Gardner, Harry 9:39
Garrett, Dean 9:39
Gray, Daniel 9:39
Gresh. Ken 4:31
Grumbling, Wayne 9:39
Guilllams, William 9:39
Guzman, Fabricio 8:39
Hall, Richard 8:39
Han, Samuel 8:39
Hardenbrook, James 4:31
Harness, Leah 2:31
Hatfield. Terry 4:31
HIpskInd, Gene F 8:39
December 1994 Messenger 33
I
Holsey. John Paul 9:39
Hostetler, Marvin 9:39
Hubble, James 2:31
Hufaker, John L 11:31
Hughes. Robert 2:31
Huskins. James 8:39
llyes. Charles 2:31
Johnson, Jeffrey 11:31
Johnson, Roy .. 8:39
Jones, Douglas 3:31
Keiper. John 4:31
Keller. Kevin 4:31
Kemerly, Thomas R 3:31
Kessler, Clinton 9:39
Kipp, Judith 2:31
La Rue, Robin 9:39
Leddy. Peter J 8:39
Lemmon, Cory 11:31
Longanecker, Arlan 4:31
Ludwick, G Daniel 8:39
Mason. Kenneth 2:31
McClelland, George 9:39
McClendon, James 2:31
McKinney, David 2:31
Miller, David 4:31
Miller. Douglas 8:39
Mitchell, Vernon 8:39
Moreland. Brian 9:39
Morris, Robert 8:40
Mosorjak. Gary 3:31
Payne, Russell 4:31
Petry, Daniel 8:40
Petry. Joyce 3:31
Pfeiffer, Robert 3:31
Ouintrell, Gregory 4:31
Reeve. Catherine 8:40
Relninger. Linda 8:40
Riley, Bobby 8:40
Rogers, Clifford 2:31
Roller. Eddie J 8:40
Sadd. Tracy Wenger 9:39
Schmidt, John 2:31
Schneiders, Tony 2:31
Scholl, Emory 8:40
Scholz. James 8:40
Scott, Marilyn 8:40
Shaver. Byri 8:40
Shelton, Steven 2:31
Smith, Arthur 11:31
Snyder. George 9:39
Spencer, Robert 9:39
StauHer. Paul 9:39
Stovall. Eari 8:40
Thomas, Rodger J 2:31
Tinnean, LeRoy 8:40
Tinncan, Nancy 8:40
VIeck, Wayne 8:40
White. Paul W 3:31
WIebe, Ray 8:40
Wilczynski, Vince 11:31
Yocum, George 8:40
DEATHS
Akers, f^arget 10:31
Albright, Nannie 11:31
Altland. David 4:31
Altland, Larry 2:31
Amos, Earl 8:40
Amos, John 11:31
Anderson, Merie 1 :31
Anderson. Ted 2:31
Anderson, Vergie 2:31
Andress. Stella 3:31
Andrevt/s, Michelle 5/6:47
Angelo, Dominic 4:31
Angle, Jason 11:31
Ankerbrandl, Samuel 9:39
Arner, Myrtle 7:31
Arnett, Freda 8:40
Arnold, Levi 2:31. 3:31
Arnold, Robin 5/6:47
Ashby, Doris 11:31
Athey, Howard 3:31
Ault, Edwin 9:39
Ault, Mary 11:31
Aungst, Charles 8:40, 5/6:47
Ayers. Samuel 2:31
Babcock, Madaline 1:31
Bachman, Mana Anne 9:39
Bagshaw. Anna 7:31
Bailey. Berdie 11:31
Baker, Albert 11:31
Baker, James 7:31
Baker, Orpha 12:30
34 Messenger December 1994
Ballard. Maude 1:31
Ballard, Myrtle 1:31
Ballard, Ruth 9:39
Balmar, Hilda 10:31
Balmer, Allen 8:40
Bankus, Miriam 5/6:47
Barnhart, Emma 5/6:47
Bamhart, Janet 1:31
Barnhart, Robert 9:39
Bashor. Carolyn 4:31
Baugher, David 9:39
Baugher, Milton 1:31
Baughman, Nora 2:31
Baum. Golda 3:31
Beach, Howard 4:31
Beachley, Donovan 3:31
Beard. Edna 3:31
Beaumont, Esther 12:30
Beaver, Albert 8:40
Becker, George 12:30
Beckman, Gerald 1:31
Beeghly, Han^ 11:31
Beeghly, Herbert 8:40
Bell, Elsie 2:31
Belser, Florence 11:31
Bender, Dorothy 9:39
Bennett, Webster 1:31
Bense, Mildred 11:31
Bergdoll, Martha 10:31
Bestwtck. Ruth 2:31
Bicknese, Jennie 2:31
Birkenholtz, Dorothy 9:39
Bittlnger, Cecil 1:31
Bittinger, Ida 1:31
Bittner, Galey 8:40
Black. Ada Mae 8:40
Blackburn, Harry 9:39
Bleile. John 8.40
Blickenstaff, Harry 4:31
Blickenstaff, Margaret 12:30
Bloom, John 11:31
Blough, J Willard 2:31
Blough, Telford 1 :31
Blue, Loren 11:31
Bodkin, Lloyd 11:31
Boerner. Robert 5/6:47
Boettler, Gladys 5/6:47
Bohn, Ethel Grace 9:39
Bollen. Holland 1:31
Bollinger, Adam 11:31
Bollinger, Ira 12:30
Bolyard, Jacklyn 12:30
Bonham, Gwendolyn 9:39
Bonsack, Blanche 9:39
Book, Margaret 5/6:47. 8:40
Boone, Ralph 9:39
Booth. Ruth 12:30
Boots, Marion 1 :31
Borneman, Augusta 1:31
Bosserman, Quinter 1 :31
Bostetter, Martin 3:31
Botkin, Lloyd 11:31
Bower, Harry 5/6:47
Bowers, Hersel 8:40
Bowers, Ida Schildt 9:39
Bowers, Margaret 4:31
Bowman, Harold 12:30
Bowman. Merlyn 2:31, 3:31
Bowser, Ruth 8:40
Boyd, Eaton 2:31
Boyd, Henry 1:31
Boyd, Joann 9:39
Boyer, Meivin 1:31
Brandenberry, George 8:40
Brandt, Amos 7:31
Brandt, Ira 3:31
Brandt. Katie 5/6:47
Breneman, Floyd 11:31
Bretz, Martha 12:30
Bright, Clara 5/6:47
Briscoe, Nathan 9:9
Brooks, Florence 9;39
Brown, Joe 12:30
Brown, Susie 5/6:47
Brown. Trent 5/6:47
Brownsberger, Vema 9:39
Brubaker. Chester 3:31
Brubaker, Daniel 12:30
Brubaker. Harold 5/6:47
Brumbaugh. Robert 9:39
Brumbaugh, Ruth 5/6:47
Brunk, Homer 2:31
Buckles, William 9:39
Burkett, Jessie 3:31
Burkholder, Harry 3:31
Butts, Ruth 10:31
Caldwell, Mary Jane 2:31
Callahan, EIroe 3:31
Callihan. Clark 7:31
Caracote, Zola 1:31
Carlson, Andrew 2:31
Carpenter, Paul 8:40
Carter, Mary 10:31
Cary, Mable 9:39
Chambers, Erma 11:31
Chambers. Julia 3:31
Chapman, Floyd 1:31
Chfttick, Ethel 5/6:47
Christenson, Richard 2:31
Church. Ella Mae 10:31
Claar. Jesse 12:30
Clapper, Mary 11:31
Clark, James 8:40
Claycomb. Kathryn 1:31
Claypool, Mary 7:31
Cleaver, Charies 8:40
Clements, Paul 10:31
Cline. Dorothy 5/6:47
Cline, Paul 1:31
Cline, Wilda 1:31
Cllne, William 5/6:47
Clinebell, Nikki 10:31
Clinkenbeard, Thetma 9:39
Clough. Telford 1 :31
Clymer, Goulda 8:40
Coffman, Eva 5/6*47
Coiner, Esther 7:31
Cole, Viola 2:31
Collins, Ada 5/6:47
Collins, Mary 5/6:47
Conner, Charles 1:31
Cooper. Gae 11:31
Copenhaver, William 8:40
Copenheaver, Lucy 10:31
Corle, Fleda 8:40
Corle. Frank 8:40
Corner, Marie 10:31
Cory, Arlene 9:39
Cosnear, Myrtal 8:40
Cottrell, Evelyn 5/6:47
Craun, Menill 5/6:47
Cripe, Retha 10:31
Crist. Galen 8:40
Crossland, Victor 8:40
Crouse, Charles 8:40
Crouse. Esther 11:31
Crow. Kenneth 8:40
Crowe, Florence 12:30
Curry, A Stauffer 3:3
Curtis, Minnie 1:31
Daniels, Elva 11:31
Darkwood. Lloyd 9:39
Daughtry, Bertha 5/6:47
Davidson, Goldie 10:31
Davis, Elmer 8:40
Davis. Roy 3:31
Davis, Rozella 1 :31
Deaver, Mildred 1:31
DeBolt, Edgar 9:39
DeBolt. Geriad 9:39
Decker, Chariie 12:30
Deibert. Irene 3:31
Deisher, Elizabeth 9:39
Detrow, Everett 12:30
Dice. Charies 2:31
Diehl, Dorothy 8:40
Diehl, Evangeline 9:39
Diehl, Robert 5/6:47
Dierdorff, Richard 1 ;31
Dilling, Gertnjde 11:31
Ditterline, Mae 5/6:47
Domer, Beveriy 8:40
Domer, Harold 1:31
Dooms, John 2:31
Dorwart, Ray 9:39
Dotterer, Stanley 2:31. 8:40
Drabant Dariene 8:40
Dressier, Edna ..4:31
Dulaney, Arthur 8:40
Duncan, Fred 8:40
Dunham, Benny 1:31
Dupras, Iva 12:30
Dzurke, Michael ..3:31
Eagle, Donald 10:31
Eash, Wilbur 5/6:47
Eaton, Helen 2:31
Ebeisberger, John 9:39
Ebersole, Harold 11:31
Eckard, Lee 11:31
Eckblad, Florence 12:30
Edris. Paul 5/6:47
Eggleston, Tate 1 :31
Eichelberger, Paul 2:31, 3:31
Eikenberry, Arnold 9:39
Eiler, Ernest 1:31
Eisele, Albert 11:31
Eisele, Bertha 5/6:47
Eisenbise, Viola 5/6:47
Elsenhart, Vernon 3:31
Elicker, John 2:31
Eller, Fannie 5/6:47
Ellison, Can-oil 9:39
Elwell. Ancel 1:31
English. Raymond 8:40
Eshelman, Almeda 4:31
Eshleman, John 10:31
Espenshade. Charies 9:39
Eveland, Lucille 8:40
Fahmey. Joann 5/6:47
Fasnacht Harold 8:40
Fay, Eari 8:40
Feathers, Orpha 1:31. 8:40
Feathers, Sadie 8:40
Feathers, Warren 5/6:47, 8:40
Fennlnger, Milton 5/6:47
Fike. Dorothy 5/6.47
Fike, Sara 9:39
Filbrun, Virginia 11:31
FIrebaugh, Joe 5/6:47
Fiscus, Esther 4:31
Rsher. Lena 5/6:47
Flora. Bemadine 5/6:47
Flora, Bruce ll:3l
Flora. Eby 10:31
Flora. Sylvia 9:39
Flory. Elmer 8:40
Flory, Lueila 4:31
Flory, Ralph 4:31
Forbes, Le Roy 5/6:47
Forney, Hulda 5/6:47
Forney, Ruth 1:31
Foster, Charies 5/6:47
Foster, Harold 8:40. 10:31
Foter, Harry 1:31
Fouike, Grace 1:31
Fox, Ida 11:31
Frazee. Bette 11:31
Frederick, Gene 7:31
Frederick, Harvey 12:30
Freece, Rita 2:31
Freeman, Ellen 11:31
Frultt, Floyd 5/6:47
Frutz, Leona 11:31
Frye, Alice 11:31
Fuller. Violel 3:31
Funderburg, Gladys 3:31
Funderburg, Virginia 2:31
Furry, George 8:40
Fyack, Clarence 5/6:47
Gainer, Norma 1:31
Gallagher. Howard 5/6:47
Galle-Willfams, Opal 7:31
Garber, Daniel 1:31
Garber, Edith 12:30
Garber, Jacob 1:31
Gardner, Bernard 12:30
Garver, Joseph 8:40
Geeting, Estella 12:30
Gehr, Charies 8:40
Geiman, Robert 1:31
Gerhard, Nellie 8:40
Gerhard, Nellie 10:31
Getty. John 1:31
Gibbel, Harry 2:31
Glbble, Hanv 1:31
Gibble, George 8:40
Gibson, Alma 9:39
Gill, Herbert 4:31
GIndlesperger, Clarabelle 2:31
Ginger. Kenneth 2:31
Givler. Esther 5/6:47
Givler, Harold 9:39
Godfrey, Emmert 8:40
Godfrey, Mary 8:40
Good, Ira 11:31
Good, Virginia 10:31
Goon, Rowland 2:31
Gordon, Bonnie 2:31
Grady, Lois 8:40
Graham, Edith 11:31
Graybill. Bemice 12:30
GrayblM. Edna 5/6:47
Graybill. John 11:31
Graybill. Joseph 3:31
Green, Ethel 5/6:47
Greeting, Estella 5/6:47
Griep, Mable 9:39
Griffith, Eldo 11:31
Grove, Mary 3:31
Grow. Mary Lucille.... 9:39
Grubb, Mildred 9:39
Grubb. Sara 5/6:47
Crush, Thelma 10:31
Hagen. Helen 4:31
^
Q
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waqt
Iff.For
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Otfie-
tat 3'
toe '■
iKOH
..8:4 ^'
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Hall, Elmer 2:3
Hall, Irvin 8:4
Hall, Sadie 11:3
Hall. Sidney 8:4
Hall. Theodora 2:3;
Hall. Von t,:,
Halllgan, John 9:3j
Hallowell, Oriena 3:3
Hamilton. Lucille 3:3
Hamilton. Manlle 11:3
Hamilton, Wayne 5/6:4
Hamman, Ruth 7:3
Hancock, Mabel .
Harman, Catherine 5/6:4
Harman, Leona 11:31. 1:3
Hamley, Mary 2:3
Harper, Blanche 9:3*
Harrington, Charies 5/6:4
Harris. Chariotte 5/6:4
Harris, Lueila 2:3
Harrison, Rebecca 11:5
Harter. Harold 4:3
Hartman. Mary 9:3
Hartman, Raybum 11:3
Hartman, Russell 3:3
Hartzler. Jesse 9:39, 8:4 *"
Harvey. Lucy 5/6:4)5
Hawbaker. David 2:3
Hearn. Martha 8:*|F
Heaston, Fred 8:4
Heiland, Dorothy 11:3
Helsey, Andrew 2:3
Heisler, Dale 9:3
Helsel, Maude 11:3
Helsel, Nelson 3^1 *^^-
Helser. Cari 5/6:4 ^^■
Hemmerich, Ehel 9:3
Henderson, Etta .
Henly, Vera
Hensley, Sylbia ^sf*^-
Henson, Shannan 8:4 ^'^'
Herder. Richard 5/6:4 *< '-i'
Hershey, Clayton 3:3 ^-■'^
Hess, Abram 9:31 *■ L's
Hess, Herman 9:3 N" '
Hess, Pauline 1:3 ^ '^
Hess, Robert 12:3 ^■■
HIght. Vema 8:4' 1*8 ■
HIvely. Gerald 4:S^'liae'i
Hochstetler, Pauline 5/6:41^''^
Hochstetler, Viola 5/6:4* W ?=-
Hocking, Mary 5/6:4^ ^ '<■'
Hodges, Peari 9:3* W =" ;
Hodges, Ella Mae 3;3^irti"i:
Hoff, Mary 11:^
Hoffer, Ariin 5/6;^
Hoffman, May 1:3 * «*J
Hoffman, Roy 9:3^ ■ A;,
Hoke. Virginia 9:3l ■««, :
Hotderread, Andrew 5/6:4* «b.V
Holderread, Helen 9;3lttL£.
Holland, Marguerite 9:3* ■Strnia
Hollinger, Allen 4:31, 8:4*«).Crr
Hollinger, Robert 5/6:4* "son E
Holslnger, Elizabeth 9:3**81 u
Holt, Elbesl 3:3J«hBtrw
Hood. Leo 4:d i*iw
Hoover, Edith 12:3inEa;
Hoover, Ethel 5/6j«(Htt»t
Hoover, Hazel 8:4* * d
Hoover, Joe 9:3*<fcnh
Hoover, Lowell 1:3* taan, >,
Hoover, Raymond 11:3'*'Bft'.
Horn, Eva 5/6:4iil»Bn i,
Horner. Charies 5/6:4ilhan, ^
Horner, Harry 11:3J*ijn?
Homer, Kenton 11:3>'ijfil.j:-,
Hostetter. Kenneth 9:3* HM^.
Hottinger, Frances 9:3«**igef
Houck, Anna 8:4«>Bi, ;-
Howard, Buck 10;3'«nbefg
Howe. Anna 5/6:4* ttly 1,3
Huffman, Emery ^:^^i)^| v^.
Huffman, Lester 11:3Jkfcfar,B
Huffman, Naomi 8:4l^KB
Huffman, Sophia S/G-MiHUir,
Hughes, Margaret 9:3ilflay ;
Hunsfcker, Edith 11:3-h(«are
Hunter, Audrey 3:3'*»eji^;
Hurt, Grace 8:4f
Huston. Martha 3:3
Hutchinson, Roger 8:4'
•^sion,
Hyer, Robert 9:3* *b.
Ingram, Bertie 11:3
Irvln. Paul 5/6:
Jacobsen. Ruth 5t6At%
Jarboe. Norman 5/6:4' Bini
Jewell. Edward 2:3< >Ui] ^
■A' ■» i
(J Johnson, William 5/6:47
tl Jones, Harold 12:30
a Jones. LJllie 10:31
K Joy, Dorothy 3:31
iltenbaugh, Mary 2:31
impitch. Addah Belle 9:39
-_1 Cams, Dorothy 10:31
ijBCaufman, Dorsey 8:40
lit [Kaufman, Mary 3-31
■; kauffman, Hilda 1:31. 8:40
;( [Kauffman. Rudolph 12 30
i Keiser. Ruth 7:31. 840
. |Keith, John 1:31
a ^elth, Leonard 3:31
ij f<ellman, Eleanor 9:39
•t |<enney, Speed 1:31
i( Kensinger, Leon 7:31
i kerr, Florence 9:39
■1) jcessler, Clara 12:30
;; Kettering. Mable 5/6:47. 9:39
■i (eight, David 3:31
■: iCIthetner. Annie 8:40. 9:39
;t |<imble, Anna... 12:30
ii Kimmel, Evelyn 4:31
■■■■c [(indred, Marvel 5/6 47
;; <ing, Jennie 5/6:47
;i jting, Jenny 8.40
i( jCing, Violet 1:31
■) tlngery, Pauline 3:31
a CIntzel, Paul 5/6:47
i! CInzie, Genevieve 5/6:47
« Ilnzie. Paul 11:31
i) ^ipe, Lester 7:31
:;( ^Ipp. Ruth 1:31
a pracofe, Donald 11:31
ii pracofe, Galen 10:31
)! [ilracofe. Paul 11:31
I Eftchen. Alan 8:40
i| (Iline, Benjamin 8:40
^« :Hne, Earl 12:30
I, Elva 2:31
JIne, Lester 1:31
]ingler, Weldon 9:39
hc^. Kenneth 7:31
bogler, Jonas 3:31
_i nmer, Alda 1:31
reiser. Marie 12:30
roh, Peari 4:31
mil. Pauline 9:39
uhn. Richanj 9:39
ulp. Philip 10:3
urtz. Mabel 9:39
Bke. Mildred 12:30
im, Wallace 9:39
Bmbert, Doris 5/6:47
andls, Margaret 3:31
Laura 10:31
lugerman, Lloyd 12:30
'. Orion 5/6:47, 8:40
awson, Beulah 10:31
f) Basel, Lucille 1:31
y BChlitner, Evelyn 12:30
eckrone. Elmer 10:31
ee, Elizabeth 9:39
ee. Josephine 4:31
eftler, Carlos 1:31
ehman. Helen 9:39
ehman, Mable 2:31
Jhman, Mary 8:40
ehman. Milton 1:31
ehman, Nathan 8:40
ihman, Pauline 1:31
^ight. Jay 5/6:47
eininger. Esther 8:40
2lninger, Warren 12:30
3rew. Almeda . 5/6:47
auenberger. Pauline 7:31
chty, Iva 11:31
chty. Mae 11:31
chvar. Elda 4:31
ght. KB 11:31
ght, Marvm 10:31
ndsay, Bertha 3:31
ineweaver, Faith 11:31
neweaver, Gary 7:31
skey, Hilda 8:40
iskey. Perry 2:31
ivingston, Emma Grace 8:40
ohrer. John 5/6:47
jkey, Rosalie 8:40
>)ling, Neva 5/6:47
)ng. Dale 8:40, 9:39
)ng. Elizabeth 8:40
ing, Genevieve 1:31
ingnecker, Samuel 1 :31
)pp, Florence 8:40
orenz. Naomi 12:30
Ijucks, William... 10:31
Lozier, Harry 4;3i
Lutz. Miriam 8:40
Lynds, Gladys iiJ3i
Lynn, Delia 5/6^47
Lyon. Ruth 5/6:47
Maarschalk, Johnny 12:30
MacAdam, Esther 8:40
Madill. Paul 10:31
Maggarl. Elizabeth i:3i
Marker Edgar 331
Markley, James 8:40, 11 31
Marko, Emma 11:31
Marshall. Joyce 5/6:47
Martin, Edna 3:31
Martin, Edythe 9:39
Martin, Elizabeth io:3i
Martin, Erma 8:40
Martin. Furman 4:31
Martin, Louise 4:31
Martin, Magdalene 3:3i
Martin, Noah 9:39
Martin. Vera 10:31
Martzall. Alvin 8:40
Mason, David 8:40
Mattlx, Maxine 1:31
Mauzy, Elva 11:31
McClintock. Clarence i:3i
McCornick, Marjorie 12:30
McCoy, Mary 3:31
McCuIlen. William 1 :3i
McGill. Eva 1:31
McGlothlin. Charies 8:40
McKimmy, Ottamar 7:31
McKlnney, Theodore l:3i
McNally, Wilfred 5/6:47
McNett, Alice i:3i
McPheron. Eari 11:31
Meckley, Ada 5/6:47
Meeker, Roscoe 12:30
Meinert, Ralph 10:31
Meloy, Ernest 5/6:47
Mendorft. Mary i:3i
Meredith, Betty 5/6:47
Meredith. Richard ll:3l
Merkey. Ernest 4:31
Metzger. Edna 9:39
Metzler. Howard 12:30
Metzler. John 3:3i
Metzler, LC ....4:31
Meyer. Gladys 5/6:47
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Miller, Ada 4:31
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Miller, Gordon 11:31
Miller, Kent 12:30
Miller, Leander 12:30
Miller, Lillie 5/6:47
Miller. Lucy 5/6:47
Miller, Meda 12:30
Miller. Ray 7:31
Miller. Richard 3:31
Miller. William 5/6:47
Millhouse, Don 1:31
Minnich, Iva 4:31
MIshler, Rowina 7:31
Mlshier. Urelha 2:31
Moler, Jane 1:31
Mondorff, Mary 1:31
Moomaw, Edison 1:31
Moon, Iva 7:31
Moore, Harry 12:30
More, George 4:31
Morgan, Brent 1:31. 3:31
Morris, Harold 11:31
Morrison, Mildred 3:31
Mort, James 12:30
Mow, Baxter 9:39
Moyer, Bruce 11:31
Moyers, Vincent 12:30
Mulligan. William 9:39
Mullins, Tex 1:31
Munday, Dortha 8:40
Mundey, Eston 3:31
Myers, Frances 4:31
Naff, Mildred 8:40
NaH, Ruth 7:31
Nagle, Mary 1:31
Neff, Fern 8:40
Neff. Iva 1:31
Neideigh, Glenn 1:31
Nevin, Mary 5/6:47
Newcomer, Bemedette 1:31
Nickey, Fannie 2:31
Nicolas. Alfred 9:39
Nies, Joseph 5/6:47
Nissley, Roy 12:30
Nitchman, Marguerite 8:40
Noll, Adam 12:30
Noonkester, Eari 12:30
Nuckols, Herbert 5/6:47
Nuney, Lively 331
Ober, Jane 2:31
Ogden, Agnes i:3i
Ogden, Richard i:3i
Orr, Bryan 5/6:47
Orr, Lona i2:30
Osborne, David 3:31
Osborne, Virginia 5/6:47
Overholser, Louise 8:40
Overty, Clyde 12:30
Overly, Ruth i2:30
Painter, John 12:30
Parrett, Eva 12:30
Parrish, Roy 7:31
Parson, Robert 5/6:47
Patterson, Naomi 3:31
Paul, Wahneeta 8:40
Payne, Elhel 12:30
Payne, Jack 12:30
Pearson, Gladys 3:3i
Peffer. June 12:30
Petfly, James 10:31
Penny. Orville 3:31
Perez, Robert 12:30
Peters, Mary 3:31
Peterson, Alfred i:3i
Peterson, Mabel 2:31
Petre, Beulah 3:31
Petry, Lois 9:39
Pettlcofter, Amon 3:31
Plluger, Marjorie 3:31
Phares, Belva 8:40
Phillips, Marie 4:31
Piter, Irene 5/6:47
Pitsenbarger. Alice 7:31
Plum, Helen , i:3i
Poling. Arthur 12:30
Pommert, Stanley 3:31
Pope, Joanne 4:31
Pore, Verne 7:31
Powell. Esther 12:30
Powell, Ralph 1:31
Pryor, Devoda 1:31
Purseil, Arthur 3:31
Pyle, Kenneth 8:40
Racop, Shiriey 7:31
Rader, Roland 5/6:47
Reber. Christine 1:31
Reber, Helen 9:39
Reber, Ruth 12:30
Rebok. Helen 12:30
Rebuck, Glenn 12:30
Reeves, Bruce 7:31
Replogle, Ralph 10:31
Reynolds, Guy 1:31
Rhan, Almena 12:30
Rhoades, Evelyn 12:30
Rhoades, Floris 9:39
Rhodes, Leonard 7:31
Rice. Jeanette 12:30
Richards, Everett 12:30
flidinger. Ida 2:31
Riegel. Beulah 5/6:47
Rife. Alice 1 :31
Rife, Esther 3:31
RIgler, Thelma 2:31
Rimmer, Marge 1:31
Rinehart, Leona 8:40
Ring. Dorothy 8:40
Ripple, Mary 12:30
Ritchey, Delmer 1:31
Rltchey, Iva 12:30
Ritchie, Henrietta 12:30
Robbins. Ruth Irene 8:40
Robinson, Robert 5/6:47
Rogers, Charles 8:40, 9:39
Root, E.W 5/6:47
Roth, Agnes 5/6:47
Roth, Kenneth 5/6:47
Rowe, Robert 9:39
Hoyer, Cecil 12:30
Royer, Elsie 1:31
Royer. Freda 4:31
Royer, Laura 3:31
Hoyer, Lester 1:31
Ruby. Bertha 12:30
Pummel, Edith 3:31
Rush, Cloyd 1:31
Ruth, Birt 8:40
Ruthrauff, Herbert 9:39
Ryan, Larue 431
Sallade, Eari 2:31
Sampson, Charies 431
Samsel. Ethel i:3i
Sanborn. Irma 12:30
Saylor, Sandra 8:40. 9:39
Schatfer, Donald , 9:39
Schaller, Harold 9.39
Schenk, Ruby 8:40
Schieber, Raymond 12:30
Schlldt, Madeline 1 31
Schlegel, Robert 4:31, 5/6:47
Schrantz, Elizabeth 5/6:47
Schrock, June 5/6 47
Schwenk, Anna 5/6:47
Schwenk. L. Anna 9:39
Seese, Theda 3:3i
Sell, Susie 9:39
Sensebaugh, Ada 5/6:47
Sepesy, Andrew 3:31
Sexton, Albert 8:40
Shafer, Russell 9:39
Shafer, Wilbur 2:31
Shaffer, Donald 9:39
Shaffer, Ethel i0;3l
Shaffer, Harris 3;3i
Shank, Neva 4:31
Shank, Russell 5/6:47
Shaver, Joseph 10:31
Shaver, Lucille 5/6:47
Shaver. R Mae 9:39
Shawver, Nevm 5/6:47
Shearer, Ralph 5/6:47
Sheltabarger, Jsannetta 3:31
Shellenberger. David 2:31
Shenk, Sylva i:3i
Shilling, Raymond 8:40
Shilling, Richard 3:3i
Shlngler, Keller 8:40
Shively, Chalmer 8:40
Shively, Eva 8:40
Shockey, Virgie 2:31, 3:31
Shoenfelt, Janet 5/6:47, 840
Showalter. Bertha 12:30
Shrimplin, Idabelle 8:40
Shronk, Donald 2:31
Shroyer, Emma 2:31
Shull, Lloyd 12:30
Sibray. Loretta 9:39
Simmons, Bob 5/6:47
Simmons, Dora i:3i
Simpson, Fleta 2:31
Singer, Eva 939
Singer. Amy 12:30
Sink, Harden 840
Skidmore, Richard 10:31
Slabach, Lottie 5/6:47
Slabaugh, Lulu 9:39
Slater. Miriam 5/6:47
Sloan, Marjory 3:31
Slough, Cari 9:39
Smalley, Eva 2:31
Smeltzer. Mary 8:40
Smeltzer, Clyde 1:31
Smiley, Charles 5/6:47
Smith, Fred 12:30
Smith, iva 1:31
Smith. Mariin 8:40, 12:30
Smith. Rachel 3:31
Smith. Richard 1 :31
Smith, Ruth 8:40
Smith. Vera 5/6:47
Smyser. Willard 2:31
Snfder, Martha 12:30
Snowberger, Rhoda 3:31
Snowberger, Rosalie 1:31
Snyder, Hilda 9:39
Snyder, Victor 7:31
Solienberger, Jacob 5/6:47
Spangter. Audrey 3:31
Spaw, Etta 5/6:47
Stahl. Anna 1:31
Stambaugh. Mary 2:31
Stambaugh, Starting 1:31
Stanley. Beulah 3:31. 5/6:47
Starrett, Austin 8:40
Statler, Herren 3:31
Stauffer, John 8:40. 9:39
Steele, Randy 10:31
Steen, Elizabeth 8:40
Stephens, Letitia 8:40
Stevens, William 7:31
Stinebaugh, Esther 9:39
Stone, Opal 1:31
Stonesifer, Leah 8:40
Straka. Frank 1:31
Strapel, James 5/6:47
Strayer, Beula 9:39
Striebig. Raymond 3:31
Stuart, Viola 7:31
Studebaker, Mabel 5/6:47
Stultz, Ruth 8:40
Stump, Edith ..„. 5/6:47
Stutzman, Eliza i:3i
Summy. Vernon 8:40
Sutherland, Truett 5/6:47
Suttle, Bernard 2:31
Sutton, Charies 9:39
Swank. Letha 1:31
Swartz, Hilda 4;3i
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Swihart, Ross 9:39
Swinger. Hubert 2:31
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Waybright. Bob 5/6:47
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Weaver, Emmert 1:31
Weaver. Gladys 5/6:47
Weaver, Katharine .9:39
Weaver, Kenneth, Sr. 8:40
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Weaver, Vern Witt 8:40
Weber, Kenneth 2:31
Welch, Emie 5/6:47
Welch, Rosa Page 3:3
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Wetzel, Eari 2:31
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Whitacre, Howard 2:31
Whitaker, Paul 3:31
Whitmer, Paul 9:39
Whitmer, Rose 1 :31
Whitmoyer, Mamie 9:39
Wickersham, Eugene 5/6:47
Wiles, Leata 2:31
Wilfong. Clinton 1:31
Wilhelm. Myrtle 5/6:47
Williams, Ann 5/6:47
Wine. Mollie 5/6:47
Wingert, John 8:40
Winter, Amy 5/6:4
Wise. Martha 2:31
Withaar. Mildred 5/6:47
Wolf. Kelton 8:40
Woodhouse. Harlan 10:31
Working. Ruth 7:31
Wright. Irene 9:39
Yoder. Wave 8:40
Yopp, Cora 5/6:47
Younce, Fem 8:40
Younce. Patricia 9:39
Young, Velda 3:31
Ziegler, Dale 9:39
Ziegler, Rhoda 1:31
ZIgler, Donna 8:40
Zimmerman, Cari 1:31
Zuver, Martha 2:31
December 1994 Messenger 35
Will you buy a field this Christmas?
As I was casting about for editorial inspiration, I
kept returning to Pat Helman's Christmas poetry on
pages 12-13 of this issue. In fact, I suggest those
pages as alternative reading to this page.
One definition of poetry is "thoughts expressed in
a beautifiil way." "Looking Toward Christmas" fits
that definition well. Images of a bright vision, of
hearts illuminated with love, of hearts touched by
star-fire, of light in the deep woods: These are
offered by a gifted poet to those of us who may feel
we are walking in darkness this Christmas.
I have a story that I have told before in an
editorial, and used more than once in a sermon.
Trusting in the principle that a good story gains
luster by much use. I offer again what I call my
"Robert Bruce" story; Once in Nigeria, on a camp-
ing trip, I was caught in a bush fire. I found refiige
on a sandbar while a veritable firestorm broke
around me. When it was over, silence reigned over
the blackened river valley. There wasn't a green leaf
in sight — just smoke curls, ashes, soot, rocks, bare
soil, and shorn trees.
When the heat had dissipated, I took a walk to
survey the sadly transformed world. And there amid
what looked like the end of creation, I beheld a
wondrous sight: Across the space between two
blackened tree limbs, a tiny spider was serenely
weaving a silvery gossamer web!
I wondered what cleft in the rock had saved this
little creature from the fury of the holocaust. What
proportions did that raging fire take in that spider's
microscopic eyes? The fire surely ought to have
signaled the end of the world for the spider. Yet,
here an hour later, it was weaving a new web,
apparently confident in a divine promise of renewed
and continuing life.
At the NOAC II gathering reported in this issue
(page 15), I was blessed to hear again a favorite
professor from my seminary days teach about a
favorite Old Testament prophet of mine, Jeremiah. I
was led to read again the marvelous story of the
prophet of gloom and doom who was challenged by a
God who so loved his wayward people that he held
out to them a promise of covenant renewal even when
their world seemed to be dying. As I read the story
again, my little spider and its web came back to mind.
Jeremiah lived in the time when the Chaldean
army was about to destroy the kingdom of Judah and
take its people into captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah
saw the situafion as hopeless. The people of Judah
had turned their back on God and were sinning left
and right. Jeremiah couldn't talk them or scare them
into mending their ways. And the Chaldean army
literally was aj the gates of Jerusalem. It looked like
a lost cause, and Jeremiah was prophesying doom.
Then God did something that seemed crazy to
Jeremiah. With Jerusalem about to be desfroyed,
God said to Jeremiah, "Hush the gloom and doom
bit, and go buy a field."
Jeremiah said, ""What? That's the dumbest thing I
ever heard!"
Ignoring the outburst, God went on, "And.be sure
you get a sealed deed of purchase for the field.
You're going to need it. Have the deed witnessed
and put it in a safe place."
And Jeremiah asked, "Why? The king of Babylon
is beating down the gates of the city this very
minute. There's no future here. And you want me to
go out and buy a field?"
Then God got testy. He drew himself up and said
to Jeremiah, "Now therefore thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say,
'It is being given into the hand of the king of
Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pesti-
lence': See, I am going to gather them from all the
lands to which 1 drove them in my anger and my
wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them
back to this place, and I will settle them in safety.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God. I
will give them one heart and one way, that they may
fear me for all time, for their own good and the good
of their children after them. I will make an everlast-
ing covenant with them, never to draw back from
doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in
their hearts, so that they may not turn from me. I
will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant
them in this land in faithfiilness, with all my heart
and all my soul (Jer. 32: 36-41).
"The days are surely coming . . . when I will
fiilfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and
the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I
will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for
David; and he shall execute jusfice and righteous-
ness in the land" (Jer. 33: 14-15).
And Jeremiah said, "Oh!" And he rushed out and
bought a field.
We
36 Messenga^fcec^ber 1994
e, today, still worry and fret and despair like
Jeremiah. Does God have fields for us to buy? A
wonderful thing about Christmas is that, gloomy as
we may be by year's end, a light always shines in
our darkness. It is a light not of holiday glitter, but a
light renewed as we read again the reassuring words
of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, and of Luke.
To borrow from poet Helman, may that light be as
"a bright vision of Peace and Goodwill, illuminating
our hearts with love." Come, Lord Jesus. — K.T.
rioi\i4
wo Ilk
R Call to Hction
James B:14-18
What good is it my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? ...
The theme for the 1 994 National Youth Conference was "Come to the Edge, Claim the Call." This theme chal-
lenged us to have faith in God to push ourselves to our perceived limits and then be challenged to go one
step further It also calls us to claim the call that has been placed upon our lives to follow Jesus.
But are you ready to be challenged to go Beyond the Edge? Where is Beyond the Edge? Beyond the Edge
is putting your faith into action and putting deeds alongside faith, Beyond the Edge is reaching out to people
in need.and stepping out in faith to not only claim, but fulfill Christ's call to serve. These are all things that the
writer James calls us to do. We stepped to the edge in Colorado. Now go beyond the edge to serve others
at a wori<camp. Do you have what it takes? Of course you do! Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Everyone
can be great because everyone can serve.'' Fulfill your call at a 1 995 workcamp. Sign up for one of these
ixciting workcamps and experience life beyond the edge!
YOUNG ADULT
□ Belfast, Ireland . , , .
□ EL Salvador
SENIOR HIGH
□ Brooklyn, New York
June 1-11
June 3-13
June 18-25
□ Camp Colorado June 1 9-25
□ St. Croix, Virgin Islands . June 19-25
□ Westernport, MD July 3-9
□ Tidewater Virginia July 10-16
□ Lybrook, New Mexico . . July 1 7-23
□ Chicago, Illinois July 17-23
□ Castaner, Puerto Rico . . July 24-30
□ Orlando, Florida July 31 /Aug 6
□ Heifer Project, Arkansas . Aug. 7-13
□ Putney, Vermont Aug. 7-13
JUNIOR HIGH
□ Tidewater Virginia July 5-9
□ New Windsor, MD July 10-14
□ Richmond, VA July 26-30
□ Harrisburg, PA Aug. 2-6
□ Dayton, Ohio . , Aug. 9-13
For more workcamp information and registra-
tion forms call Wendi Hutchinson or Greg
Laszakovits, at (800) 323-8039 or write to:
Youth & Young Adult Ministries Office
Attention: 1995 Workcamp Coordinators
1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120.
Registration deadline Is May 1. 1995.
\
N
HUNGER
As Russia experiences drastic social change, the challenge is to supplant emergency food assistance
with long-range agricultural development. The Church of the Brethren is overseeing four such
projects, at Smolensk, the Wilderness of Anosini, Novosibirsk in Siberia, and Ryazan.
HECTARES
Thousands of hectares of tillable land, forest, and meadow have been returned by the government
to monastic communities and parishes. Orthodox and Baptist, for redevelopment. The goal
eventually is to revitalize the surrounding farm commmunities and sponsoring churches.
HAY
Development funds from the US and Europe are used to grow hay and grain, cultivate vegetables,
acquire drying and preserving equipment, renovate neglected buildings, expand storage facilities,
and purchase modem farm machinery. Demonstration plots and farms are being established.
& HERDS
The Russian agricultural projects are establishing dairy herd breeding and improvement programs.
One project is distributing animals to churches and individual farms. Another is exploring beef
production, all in an effort to return the communities to sustainable food productivity.
The Russia agricultural work is a $750,000 program of Church World Service, National Council
of Churches, and the Russian Orthodox and Baptist churches in Russia. H. Lamar Gibble is staff
overseer for the four projects, to which the Church of the Brethren has contributed $70,000.
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