Anniversary Writing Contest for Youth is announced.The 300th Anniversary Committee is sponsoring an Anniversary Writing Contest for Youth, grades 6-12, on the theme, "Why will you continue to be part of the Church of the Brethren?"
"Are you passionate about your faith?" the committee asked Brethren youth in the announcement. "Do you have a deep appreciation for the Church of the Brethren? Do you enjoy thinking and writing? If so, we have an opportunity for you."
Entries are limited to one page in length and can be in the form of poetry, short stories, or essays. The following information should be on the entry: name, grade, congregation, and district. Contact information for the author should be submitted on a separate sheet of paper. The deadline for submissions is June 1. Entries will be exhibited at Annual Conference in Richmond, Va., in July, and some may be published in "Messenger" magazine. Entries will not be returned to participants.
Submissions should be sent to Lorele Yager either electronically at
loreleyager@aol.com or by mail to 425 Woodland Place, Churubusco, IN 46723.
Source: 3/27/2008 Newsline ExtraLabels: Annual Conference, Messenger
YOUTH PEACE TRAVEL TEAM 2008 IS ANNOUNCEDSamantha Carwile, Gabriel Dodd, Melisa Grandison, and John-Michael Pickens will make up this year’s Church of the Brethren Youth Peace Travel Team. The group will give peace programs at a variety of camps and conferences this summer.
Carwile is a student at Manchester College in North Manchester, Ind., majoring in peace studies and sociology, and is a member of Anderson (Ind.) Church of the Brethren. Dodd is a student at Bridgewater (Va.) College majoring in communications and peace studies, and is a member of Bethany Church of the Brethren in Farmington, Del. Grandison is a student at McPherson (Kan.) College studying elementary education and Spanish, and is a member of Quinter (Kan.) Church of the Brethren. Pickens is a student at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., currently studying in Thailand, and is a member of Mechanicsburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren.
This summer the team will travel to camps around the denomination, as well as to Annual Conference in Richmond, Va., and National Young Adult Conference in Estes Park, Colo. The Youth Peace Travel Team is an annual program sponsored by the Outdoor Ministries Association, On Earth Peace, and the Church of the Brethren General Board.
Labels: Youth Peace Travel Team
Spring Retreat - February 29 - March 2Twenty-one people from five congregations were part of this year's spring district youth retreat, held Feb. 29 to March 2 at the Decatur Church of the Brethren.
The 300th anniversary took center stage for this retreat, with the theme "300!: Remembering Our Brethren Heritage." Logan Condon from the General Board's Brethren Historical Library and Archives showed some of the changes from past to present with a Powerpoint presentation and stories from Brethren history.
James Gibble-Keenan, the district's Youth Heritage Team member, shared other glimpses from history in an afternoon session, and the Saturday evening worship featured vignettes of the early Brethren in Germany, Sarah Righter Major, and Ted Studebaker.
Our expert chef, Jewel McNary, again provided several good meals during the weekend, and Saturday afternoon was spent at the Decatur YMCA for swimming and other recreation.
Many thanks go to the Decatur church for hosting us so well, including a fellowship time after worship on Sunday, and to the advisors at nearby Cerro Gordo for setting up the use of the YMCA.
The fall retreat will be held during district conference, Nov. 7-9 in Peoria. Leadership will be provided by On Earth Peace.
Also, don't forget to register for youth camps at Camp Emmanuel and Camp Emmaus this summer!
Labels: Spring Retreat
Online Workcamp RegistrationRegistration for the 2008 workcamps offered by the Church of the Brethren General Board begins online early tomorrow morning, on Jan. 3 at 12:01 a.m. central time. To register go to
www.brethrenworkcamps.org. The workcamp program is part of the Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the General Board. Staff issued a reminder today of some things to remember when registering: individual congregations are asked to make up no more than a third of the participants of any one workcamp; although those registering will receive a confirmation e-mail, this may not guarantee a place in the workcamp because registration is not complete until the $100 non-refundable deposit is received; deposits are due within seven days of registration. “We at the workcamp office have been anxiously awaiting this day for months,” said the staff. “Thank you for your submissions, questions, recommendations, and all of the other things you do to help us prepare for the 2008 Workcamps.” The workcamp coordinators for 2008 are Sharon Flaten, Jerry O’Donnell, Jeanne Davies, and Steve Van Houten. Contact the program at 800-323-8039 or
cobworkcamps_gb@brethren.org.
Source: 1/02/2008 NewslineLabels: Workcamps
Regional Youth Conference Not to be Held in 2008The Regional Youth Conference (RYC), normally scheduled in April at Manchester College, will not be held in 2008 according to Dave McFadden, Manchester College Executive Vice President. Declining attendance at this event led organizers to ask how youth and congregations in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan might be better served.
During a meeting with youth pastors from Northern and South/Central Indiana districts, Steve Crain, Manchester College Campus Pastor, and Dave McFadden learned that the traditional late April date conflicts with end-of-year school activities for many youth. Also, the "mini-NYC" approach spreads leadership and participants too thinly.
McFadden says, "We know there will be disappointments with our decision but we hope this disappointment is a good sign that there is ongoing interest in a six district event. As the interests and schedules of youth change, we want to adapt creatively to those changes." McFadden relates other possibilities will be considered and a group will be charged with planning an event in the fall of 2008 or spring of 2009. Questions are welcomed and may be directed to Dave McFadden by email at
dfm@manchester.edu or by phone at 260-982-5050.
Labels: RYC
Junior High Winter Retreat: January 18-19From: Lisa Fike <
frptcob@juno. com>
I am sending this Email to you for advanced notice and will send more information to the churches.
Illinois Wisconsin District Jr. High Winter retreat will be January 18-19, 2008 starting at 7:00 on Friday and closing January 19 at 4:00pm. We will meet at First Church of the Brethren in Peoria .
Jr. High Youth grades 6-9 are welcome. Yes, I realize that 9th graders are in high school but I have had requests to include them especially for those who are not quite ready to go to the high school events.
This event begins AFTER supper time on Friday, so participants will need to have eaten before they arrive. We will ask everyone to bring snacks to share; a Brethren (snack) potluck.
We expect at least one adult, at the event, for every 6 youth. Please do not send youth without adult chaperons. If you are send both male and female youth send male and female chaperons. Adults will be asked to participate in all events.
There will be a nominal fee for participants to cover food and supplies. Mark your calendars. More information will be coming soon.
Labels: Junior High
Brethren workcamp ministry experiences successful expansion.An expansion of the workcamp ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board has been very successful, according to coordinator Steve Van Houten. This past summer, the ministry involved about 875 participants in a total of 37 workcamps that took place across the US and internationally.
"We really jumped into it this year," Van Houten said. The most workcamps held in previous years was in 2005, when 26 events involved about 650 people. Another aspect of the expansion was the number of workcamps offered for different age groups, from junior high through youth to young adults, to intergenerational events that also involved older adults. The workcamp ministry also offered "custom" workcamps for congregations that could send a large enough group to hold a workcamp by themselves (at regular workcamps only a third of participants can come from the same church). Also new this year was the widest variety of locations ever offered.
"It was a very positive year, from the youth who responded," Van Houten said, adding that, "the adult leadership that stepped up and came on board was wonderful."
New locations offered the opportunity to partner with Brethren camps, including Camp Mardela in Maryland and Camp Wilbur Stover in Idaho, and with Brethren Disaster Ministries at the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding sites in the Gulf coast. Other new locations included a home building site in an Appalachian area in southeastern Kentucky with Homes, Inc., which saw the largest single group this summer with 52 participants. Five workcamps were held in the Caribbean including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. Other international workcamps were held in Mexico and Guatemala.
The responses from those receiving the service of workcampers signaled success to Van Houten. "People are amazed that the youth workcampers will pay to come to work," he said. Community members always want to know why the youth are there, he said.
Van Houten described a conversation on St. Croix with a Muslim man who managed the lumberyard that supplied materials for the workcamp. "He scratched his head," Van Houten recalled. "He said, are these bad kids doing community service? I explained these are good kids who want to be here. He struggled to understand.... He said, your kids come here and do things for people who aren’t even neighbors, this is amazing."
At the end of the conversation, the manager insisted on giving Van Houten a hug, instead of a simple handshake, saying, "We are brothers."
Another unmistakeable sign of success for Van Houten came during a "custom" intergenerational workcamp held for Plymouth (Ind.) Church of the Brethren in Keyser, W.Va. Ages ranged from the teens to the mid-70s. "Those 26 people will always have a bond that they wouldn’t have otherwise," Van Houten said. He had asked the adults to take the role of mentors, to share their knowledge and skills with the youth, and encouraged the youth to be the ones actually doing most of the work. The youth responded with affirmation, he said, even expressing the wish that their grandparents and parents would spend that kind of time with them. "Work-wise we might not have gotten quite as much done," Van Houten said, "but I think in the end they all saw the benefit."
Van Houten has resigned as coordinator for the program as of the end of the year, to return to pastoral ministry. Jeanne Davies begins in mid-January as fulltime coordinator. Sharon Flaten and Jerry O'Donnell are working with the ministry as Brethren Volunteer Service workers.
The General Board will offer 26 workcamps next summer, 2008, on the theme "Strengthen My Hands" (Nehemiah 6:9). Locations will include the Brethren Disaster Ministries rebuilding projects on the Gulf coast; the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.; the Dominican Republic (co-sponsored by the Brethren Revival Fellowship); Roanoke, Va.; Richmond, Va.; Ashland, Ohio; Baltimore, Md.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Idaho; Broadway, Va.; Castaner, P.R.; Neon, Ky.; Kyle, S.D.; the eastern shore of Maryland; Keyser, W.Va.; Chicago, Ill.; St. Croix; Reynosa, Mexico; and North Fort Myers, Fla.
For a 2008 brochure contact
cobworkcamps_gb@brethren.org or 800-323-8039, or go to www.brethrenworkcamps.org for more information. Registration for the 2008 workcamps begins online at
www.brethrenworkcamps.org as of 12:01 a.m. (central time) on Jan. 3.
Source: 11/21/2007 NewslineLabels: Workcamps
Counter-Recruitment Networking CallOn Earth Peace has announced its next counter-recruitment networking call for those working against military recruitment, on Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. Pacific time/1 p.m. eastern time. The networking calls are for both new and experienced peacemakers to share experiences and receive support for their work resisting military recruitment and generating alternatives for youth. Each call offers opportunities for sharing, as well as a "strategy session," and spiritual and theological reflections on counter-recruitment. Find more information about the calls at
www.brethren.org/oepa/programs/peace-witness/counter-recruitment/NetworkingCalls.html. Reserve a place in the Dec. 13 call by e-mailing
mattguynn@earthlink.net.
Source: 11/21/2007 NewslineLabels: On Earth Peace
WCC Essay Contest: Making a Difference TogetherStudents of theology and young theologians are being invited by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to participate in an essay competition to mark the council's 60th anniversary. Participants are invited to address the theme, "Making a Difference Together--Prospects for Ecumenism in the 21st Century." The best six essays will be presented by their authors at an international consultation in Switzerland in late 2008. Other selected essays will be published by the WCC. Essays should be written in English, but will be judged for the quality of their contribution and not their language proficiency. With a length of 5,000-6,000 words, the essays should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. More details are at
www.oikoumene.org/contest. The deadline is Feb. 28, 2008.
Source: 11/21/2007 Newsline
Camp Alexander Mack: news Year's EveCamp Alexander Mack near Milford, Ind., is planning a New Year’s Eve event for the 300th anniversary. "Wouldn't it be great if 300 young people (who represent the next generation of the church) gathered together in one place to celebrate this milestone in our history by ushering in the New Year?" said an invitation from the camp. The event is being planned for 300 junior high and senior high youth. It will begin at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31, and conclude at 1 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2008. The theme is "Fan the Flame." Indoor and outdoor activities are planned including worship, an "Olympics," talent shows, and a Times Square-like countdown to the New Year with the dropping of a lighted ball at midnight followed by a hike to the "living cross" for devotions, and continuing on with activities throughout the night. The fee is $55 ($45 before Dec. 10). T-shirts cost $10. Contact the office at Camp Mack for brochures, 574-658-4831.
Source: 11/21/2007 Newsline
