NEWS
2) Paradise Church of the Brethren lost in fire
3) Children’s Disaster Services continues Camp Fire response
4) Yearbook Office announces changes for collecting congregational information
UPCOMING EVENTS
5) Children’s Disaster Services offers volunteer training workshops in early 2019
RESOURCES
6) Advent resources are available from Brethren Press
7) Brethren bits: Compelling Vision conversations, nominations sought for 2019 ballot, disaster volunteer needed in Puerto Rico, CCS registration opens soon, Global Mission prayer request, Bethany podcasts, chuch anniversaries, and more
Quote of the week:
“Advent is a season for waiting.... Waiting is active rather than passive. We nurture our attentiveness to signs of God’s presence and activity in the world and bear witness to God’s promises in word and deed. Such waiting requires the patience to be present in the moment, trusting that God will reveal things previously unknown to us.”
— Rhonda Pittman Gingrich in the introduction to “Wait and Hope,” the 2018 Advent devotional from Brethren Press. Price for regular print size is $3.50. Order at www.brethrenpress.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488 or call 800-441-3712.
1) Global Mission visit to Nigeria strengthens relationships, finds hope in EYN’s continuing ministry despite crisis
(L to R) Global Mission and Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer, EYN Vice President Anthony Ndamsai, and EYN President Joel Billi
A visit with Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) by Global Mission and Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer and News Services director Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford took place Nov. 1-19.
The two Church of the Brethren staff were welcomed with generous hospitality by the Nigerian Brethren, led by EYN president Joel Billi, vice president Anthony Ndamsai, and general secretary Daniel Mbaya. EYN staff liaison Markus Gamache hosted the visit and provided logistics.
Wittmeyer’s goal for the trip was to strengthen the Church of the Brethren relationship with EYN and bring encouragement to Nigerian Brethren as the country’s crisis continues. Violent attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and violence by extremist Fulani herdsmen continue in the northeast and central belts of Nigeria.
A photo album of the trip is at www.bluemelon.com/churchofthebrethren/globalmissiontriptonigeria-november2018. More in-depth reporting and interviews with EYN leaders will appear in Messenger, the Church of the Brethren magazine. To subscribe contact your congregation’s Messenger representative or go to www.brethren.org/messenger/subscribe.html.
A church committed to ministry
The trip included several days spent at the EYN headquarters in Kwarhi, with side trips to nearby sites of importance to the Brethren including Garkida—former headquarters of the Church of the Brethren Mission. Wittmeyer and Brumbaugh-Cayford also visited ten EYN congregations around the northeast of the country, four camps for displaced people, and several schools. Brumbaugh-Cayford had an opportunity to attend part of the annual meeting of the EYN Female Theologians Association.
EYN Female Theologians meeting
EYN’s top leadership and staff in the areas of education, community development, agriculture, health care, disaster relief, women’s ministry, communications, micro-finance, and more made time for meetings with the American visitors. Conversations revealed a commitment by the Nigerian church to continue and renew ministries that have been threatened by the crisis. Only four years previously, EYN staff had fled Kwarhi when Boko Haram overran the area and occupied the church headquarters, and the future of many church ministries had been in jeopardy.
EYN President Joel Billi presides over the autonomy celebration of EYN Gurku Church
However, EYN is now experiencing growth in several areas: the number of congregations and districts, attendance at congregations--many of which have been rebuilding churches that were destroyed in the violence, and new facilities in Kwarhi. For example, EYN celebrated the “autonomy” or full congregational status of a new congregation at the Gurku Interfaith Relocation Camp. The camp was founded by Gamache, and the celebration happened to be scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 18, the last day of the trip. Wittmeyer was asked to preach.
A tour of the newly re-named Kulp Theological Seminary (formerly Kulp Bible College) by provost Dauda Gava highlighted the school’s certification as a seminary through its relationship with the University of Jos. A visit to the library found boxes of books donated by the American Brethren being prepared for cataloging.
EYN president Billi led a tour of a new office building under construction at the EYN headquarters, designed to adjoin and connect with the large conference center on campus. A new banquet hall also is being built. The new buildings will greatly increase and improve office facilities for EYN staff, and will allow EYN to host a large ecumenical conference of Nigerian churches in January.
In Jos, the visit included time with Brethren Volunteer Service worker Judy Minnich Stout. She is placed with EYN to work on preparing Nigerian Brethren to improve their English skills for participating in Bethany Seminary classes at the EYN Tech Center.
Although the ministries and departments of EYN are returning to normal or even growing, four of EYN’s districts are still not functional because of the violence and displacement of church members. This is even as EYN celebrated the start of a new district in Lagos, the largest Nigerian city located in the south of the country.
Markus Gamache presents a gift of Bibles and hymnals from a workcamp group to EYN #1 Michika.
Many Nigerian Brethren are still displaced and unable to return to communities such as Gwoza and Bama, where attacks occurred while Wittmeyer and Brumbaugh-Cayford were in the country. During a visit to EYN #1 Maiduguri, still the largest EYN congregation counting some 3,500 members despite its history of twice being destroyed and rebuilt, pastor Joseph Tizhe Kwaha told about violent attacks on nearby villages. He shared his grief about the killing of a church member just two weeks previously. The city is protected by Nigerian military and an air force base, but Boko Haram attacks continue in the countryside all around. Kwaha, who led a tour of the nearby IDP camp that is supported by the church, spoke of the difficulties for a congregation and displaced community that cannot safely go out of the city to farm.
Pastors, retired ministers, and other community leaders spent time with the visitors in various towns and at the IDP camps, telling the stories of their communities and the efforts to return and rebuild in places where violence has taken a large toll. During an afternoon in Michika, the visitors toured a couple of EYN congregations that have been rebuilding. All of the Christian churches in Michika were destroyed when Boko Haram took the area in 2014. EYN Watu has rebuilt its church, but EYN #1 Michika is still working to construct a very large new building, and has received help from workcamp groups from the US. During the visit to EYN #1 Michika, Gamache presented two boxes of Bibles and hymnals in Hausa and English donated by the workcamp group.
The trip culminated with an invitation to meet with US ambassador W. Stuart Symington. EYN president Billi, general secretary Mbaya, staff liaison Gamache, Wittmeyer, and Brumbaugh-Cayford took part in the meeting on the last afternoon of the trip. The event was considered an important opening for new connections between EYN and the US diplomatic community in Nigeria.
Students at Education Must Continue Initiative School in Lassa welcome guests with a song
2) Paradise Church of the Brethren lost in fire
Paradise Church of the Brethren, California (before)
Paradise Church of the Brethren, completely destroyed by the Camp Fire in November 2018.
A report from Pacific Southwest District and district executive Russ Matteson
The Camp Fire in Butte County in northern California overran the town of Paradise and other smaller communities on Thursday, Nov. 8. Lost in the fire were all of the buildings on the property of Paradise Church of the Brethren, which includes the main church facility and sanctuary, the parsonage, a youth building, and two rental cottages.
What is left of the Paradise Church of the Brethren youth building after the Camp Fire.
All persons who were a part of the congregation did get out of Paradise safely and are now living with relatives in other parts of northern California. The congregation’s membership was very small, as was the case with the Rock Fellowship, which had been renting space from the church and sharing in worship and ministry for the last many years.
In the face of this devastation the congregation has let the district know that they will not continue in ministry.
Rains over the Thanksgiving weekend helped firefighters reach 100 percent containment and extinguish the Camp Fire. Joel Price, district Stewards Chair, and district executive Russ Matteson visited pastor Melvin Campbell and his wife, Jane, on Nov. 28. As is the case with so many of those displaced, they are trying to figure out what steps to take next. At this time, residents are still not being allowed back into Paradise to see if anything can be salvaged from homes that have been destroyed.
There is a need to provide support in spiritual and material ways to the Brethren who were affected by the fire. People have lost their homes and their possessions because the fire moved so quickly that there was no time to grab much before evacuating. The district is receiving donations to provide direct support to help with the needs of the pastor and members of the Paradise congregation as they seek to recover. Checks can be sent to:
Paradise Church of the Brethren parsonage after the Camp Fire. The pastor and his wife were able to evacuate but left their home and belongings behind.
Pacific Southwest District of the Church of the Brethren
P.O. Box 219
La Verne, CA 91750
Please note “Paradise Fire.”
Mail donations to support the Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) response and Brethren Disaster Ministries plans for a long-term recovery response to the Camp Fire to:
Emergency Disaster Fund
Church of the Brethren
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120.
Please note “Camp Fire Response.”
Continue to hold these church members in your prayers as they move forward and seek healing and answers. We encourage you to remember all those affected by this fire, and other wildfires, in your prayers. Also, keep in your prayers the first responders who continue to fight fires, ensure safety, search for the missing and deceased, and so much more.
3) Children’s Disaster Services continues Camp Fire response
Children play at the Disaster Recovery Center in Chico, California
