"That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
—2 Corinthians 5:19-20 | ||||||
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Minute for Mission
Tales of the faithful
Global mission workers Carl and Roxane Hill share encouraging stories as they finish another semester at Kulp Bible College
We are winding down our semester with only a few weeks to go. Besides classes, we have been going out almost every Sunday to preach and greet at local churches.
Last week we were in Gima, Mubi, and there were reportedly 1,370 in attendance there. It was really one of our best Sundays. The message was strong and personal, and Joshua (our student translator) did his best job as well. We received compliments from a retired EYN (Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria) pastor and member of EYN’s board of trustees. Roxane is scheduled to preach the English service next week in Uba, EYN Kalamada, and Carl and Joshua will handle the message for the Hausa service.
We are trying to be good ambassadors and always extend greetings from Church of the Brethren USA to every church we visit.
We'd like to share a recent experience we had with a real-life 'Paul' here in Nigeria:
One of our best students, a very mild-mannered and soft-spoken man named Danjuma, was in a police altercation last week. He was arrested and taken to the local jail overnight. Since he is such a good student, we decided to pay the fine to get him out. That evening Danjuma came to visit us and thanked us for paying his fine. He said it was the oddest thing — he was not causing any problems but the police began harassing him and would not stop until they had arrested him. He was calm through the whole thing and even had a vision of being in a cell. The exciting thing was that while there he had a chance to witness to another person sharing the cell. That person was a Muslim, and God really spoke to him through Danjuma. Danjuma was not upset over the humiliation of being jailed overnight and was in fact praising God for the opportunity to witness. He had been concerned about payment of the fine, so it was a real blessing for us to be able to help him out.
Teaching music and learning community
Brethren Volunteer Service and program volunteers Chris and Jenna Horgan recently entered their second year of service in El Salvador. Jenna shares her reflections.
Chris and I have lived in Suchitoto, El Salvador for a year, volunteering with El Centro Arte para la Paz (the Arts Center for Peace).
People often talk about "reverse mission" — this idea that the ones going to volunteer are the ones who will truly be served. There is so much truth to that. I came to Suchitoto hoping to help people, and in the process I have been helped. I have experienced genuine love and gratitude from my students, co-workers, and new friends. They have been amazingly patient with my Spanish — I have hundreds of Spanish teachers!
We have both had moments of frustration and strong emotion. Living in a small town where the average temperature is 92 degrees means that everything comes out. Sometimes we have felt stuck in a bubble, running into the same people over and over again. If we dislike someone? Tough, they still live here. And if we are tired and we just want to go home? Tough, we still have to say hello to everyone we meet along the way to our house.
But isn’t that community? Through the good and the bad, you still say greet each other. You acknowledge one another. You look each other in the eye and say, "I see you."
Our work has been varied. I have ended up teaching a bit of everything at the Center for Peace: yoga, English, poetry, and basic computer skills. I provide music education for kindergarteners through fourth graders both in our small town and in a rural community, and I direct the center's choir.
It's an odd mix of jobs, but the thing that holds it all together is that I am leading programs to which the children and young adults would not otherwise have access. Music, poetry, yoga, computer skills — these are things that are not usually offered in schools or universities, especially not for free.
In the midst of personal struggles with work and language and frustration with the broader problems of socioeconomic injustice and gang violence, I find myself walking down a cobblestone street in El Salvador and thinking, "there is no place I would rather be."
Chris and I are not in El Salvador changing the world in the grand sense that many imagine when choosing to volunteer. We are living, learning, and serving alongside the people who have become our friends. We are grateful for your prayers, thoughts, and support as we continue to walk this journey and share God's love.
Christmas card ministry
This service opportunity to spread Christ's love and peace is a great holiday activity for individuals as well as Sunday School classes and other congregational groups.
The Death Row Support Project invites you to send Christmas cards to inmates and bring a ray of hope and humanity to the darkness of death row. Contact drsp@brethren.org for a list of names and addresses.
Brethren Volunteer Service invites you to share Christmas greetings and well wishes with volunteers whose commitment to service has placed them far away from loved ones in the holiday season. For a list of names and addresses, contact bvs@brethren.org.
Prayer requests
Pray for victims of natural disasters. Pray for comfort and healing for all those affected by Typhoon Haiyan and the recent tornadoes across the American Midwest.
Praise God for a generous grant to the Haiti Medical Program, which will provide a vehicle and allow for more mobile clinics. Pray for a smooth process of purchase and registration for the vehicle so that it may soon ease the transportation of needed supplies and services.
Pray for the 75 Nigerian Brethren families who lost their homes in recent violence. Give thanks for the Nigerian and American Brethren who have reached out to the victims.
To remember these and other prayer concerns, please print and distribute the December 2013 missions prayer guide.
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| "Minute for Mission" is published by Global Mission and Service, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; 800-323-8039 ext. 362;www.brethren.org/partners © Church of the Brethren Church of the Brethren is a non-profit religious and educational organization recognized by the Federal and State governments. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. Share this message with a friend |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Minute for Mission, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Whitestone and Operation Christmas Child 2013
The Whitestone church is once again joining with churches and service organizations across the globe in making Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child. The folks at Whitestone gathered around the tables in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday morning, November 17, and packed their boxes "full of gifts, prayers, and love." The result was 36 Christmas boxes--and countless smiles around the world.
eBrethren, November 21, 2013
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Deacon Update, November 2013
DEACON UPDATE
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 | Rethinking Hospitality |
November 2013
Last week my friend Amy and I met for lunch at a relatively new place in town. It’s the sort of restaurant where you order at the counter then your food is brought to the table (this place is pretty small, so the food is often delivered by the same person who took the order). Amy paid for her sandwich and salad, put the change in her wallet, then held out her hand to the woman behind the counter with these words: "I come here pretty often and I certainly recognize you, but I don’t know your name. I’m Amy." The surprised woman offered her own hand, as well as her name—Lola. When Lola brought our food and came back to check on us periodically, I noticed that Amy used her new friend’s name each time, making it clear that this relationship was one she was taking seriously. I can’t help but think that Lola, too, will remember Amy's name the next time she comes in.
We don't often see the kind of hospitality Amy modeled so well. We expect to receive hospitality in places like restaurants and department stores (and can sometimes be quick to complain when we don't), but how often do we offer it ourselves, especially to the extent that Amy did that day? In our busy-ness, how often do we simply not see the people who serve us, people behind counters, taking our tolls as we travel, handing us a cup of coffee through a drive-up window?
We shall be known by the manner of our living. What does the manner of your living, the way you treat those who serve you, say about you? How might you serve them, as Jesus called us to do?
I have a long way to go to catch up with Amy, let alone Jesus.
"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."
~~Hebrews 13:2 |
Church of the Brethren | 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgin, Illinois 60120
Brethren Disaster Response to Tornado Outbreak
Newsline
The Church of the Brethren e-mail news service |
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Nov. 20, 2013
Brethren Disaster Ministries responds to Illinois tornado outbreak
 By Jane Yount
Following an intense outbreak of thunderstorms and tornadoes that heavily impacted parts of Illinois and Indiana on Sunday, Nov. 17, Brethren Disaster Ministries is preparing to be involved as needed in those states.
Preliminary reports indicate some 91 tornadoes resulted in six fatalities and approximately 150 to 200 injuries. In Illinois, more than 1,000 residences sustained moderate to severe damage, with the heaviest damage in the towns of Washington and Minden. Indiana fared better with 26 counties reporting damage to about 56 dwellings and 2 schools.
Brethren Disaster Ministries is supporting Church World Service (CWS) efforts to provide disaster recovery training for communities hit by the tornadoes and material aid shipments such as Emergency Clean-up Buckets, Hygiene Kits, Baby Care Kits, School Kits, and CWS blankets. CWS responded to its first request for material goods by shipping 200 Clean-up Buckets to the American Red Cross Chicago Region for distribution in the Coal City area of Illinois. Illinois and Wisconsin District disaster coordinator reports
Rick Koch, the Illinois and Wisconsin District disaster coordinator, is representing Brethren Disaster Ministries on daily conference calls of Illinois VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster). He reports that VOAD member organizations are assessing where to send early responders.
“While Washington, Ill., was first in the news, many communities other than Washington have been hard hit,” Koch reports. “Coal City, Ill., also had deaths, and a trailer park was destroyed.”
Koch shared with the Illinois VOAD that Brethren Disaster Ministries stands ready to do long-term recovery work as the affected communities become ready.
In an e-mail message to Illinois and Wisconsin District churches he wrote, “First and foremost, please pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those injured and for those who have been displaced.... Some of our Brethren families have been affected directly as well.”
In an e-mail update today, Koch writes that “lists are being posted by the Red Cross on items needed. They vary, so find the one closest to your area,” he says, noting that churches in the district may begin to collect items. Three different collection sites are being opened in Illinois, at Coal City, in the community of Gillespie near Champaign, and in Washington. He recommends that interested congregations talk to their area Red Cross for more information about the need for volunteers.
“Also please do not forget to give financially to Brethren Disaster Ministries,” Koch urges. Giving to the Illinois tornado response may be done online at www.brethren.org/edf or by check to Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.
Brethren Disaster Ministries is in touch with churches
Zach Wolgemuth, associate director of Brethren Disaster Ministries, has spoken with Dana McNeil, pastor of Peoria (Ill.) Church of the Brethren, one of the closest churches to the worst affected areas in Illinois. McNeil said the church is planning to get involved in clean-up work and other recovery efforts.
Cliff Kindy, South/Central Indiana District disaster coordinator, has reached out to several congregations in Indiana including Kokomo, Lafayette, and Logansport. They reported fallen trees and loose shingles but were spared major damage. “I’m not sensing any urgency in this state,” Kindy said. “I think the warning systems were effective.” He too plans to be in touch with his state VOAD. -- Jane Yount is coordinator for Brethren Disaster Ministries. Find out more about the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries atwww.brethren.org/bdm . The program also recently announced a challenge to raise $500,000 for disaster response following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren, serves as editor of Newsline. The next regularly scheduled issue of Newsline is planned for Nov. 22.  |
| Newsline is produced by the news services of the Church of the Brethren. Contact the editor at cobnews@brethren.org. Newsline appears every other week, with special issues as needed. Stories may be reprinted if Newsline is cited as the source. Forward Newsline to a friend Subscribe to Newsline |
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