The unseen details of ministry

Joe Detrick
Joe Detrick at a booth for the Church of the Brethren,
at a district conference in 2016.

Photo courtesy of Joe Detrick

The unseen details of ministry
By Joe Detrick, interim director for the Office of Ministry 

Many years ago, our eldest son went through a phase of intense curiosity. Daddy, where does rain come from? Mommy, what makes the flowers grow? Where does food come from? We appreciated his inquisitive nature because it provided an opportunity to explore questions and creatively educate our children about life.Another opportunity was singing our family table grace, Back of the Bread. The song goes, Back of the bread is the flour, and back of the flour is the mill, and back of the mill is the wind and the rain, and God’s good will. This old camp song serves as a reminder of the work behind the scenes or the unseen back story in many important areas of life.

When I think about the broad scope of the work of the Office of Ministry, I am reminded of the exciting back story of calling, forming, credentialing, placing, and sustaining ministerial leadership to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11). One part of this back story is working in collaboration with ministry-related committees like the Ministry Advisory Council, the Ministers’ Association Officers, the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee, the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, and the Council of District Executives. There also is much that happens behind the scenes when a district search committee navigates the transition and search process, and discerns new leadership for their particular district.

There is an extensive and robust back story to the calling, training, and sending of women and men into various ministry adventures. This past year, 44 individuals were ordained, 3 individuals were commissioned, 6 individuals were commissioned with ordination in another denomination for term of service, 33 individuals were licensed to the ministry, and 3 individuals were received through transfer of ordination from other denominations.

There is an exciting back story working in partnership with the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, a ministry training partnership of the Church of the Brethren and Bethany Theological Seminary. An important growing edge of the Brethren Academy continues to be its Spanish-language ministry training program (SeBAH-CoB).

These behind the scene stories are merely a glimpse of a much wider scope of engagement for the Office of Ministry that occurs regularly. It has been exciting and enjoyable to work with our dedicated national staff. Everyone is committed to their work on behalf of the Church of the Brethren, love what they do, and have deep commitment of faith. All of our work is possible only with your financial support.

Signs along the roads near construction projects say, “Your tax dollars at work.” When men and women in your congregation are called to serve the wider church family in ministry or when churches search for new ministers, it is your generous giving to denominational ministries that helps sustain vital support systems for the larger church family. In other words, Your dollars at work.

The next time you sit down to the family dinner table, and consider the unseen details of life like in the old camp song, Back of the Bread,” remember the back of the Ministry Office is the sending, the training, and the calling of ministers, and that our denominational staff are always providing support for the wider church family. Thank you for supporting the important work of the Office of Ministry and the Church of the Brethren.

Learn more about the work of the Office of Ministry at www.brethren.org/ministryoffice.  Support this and all of the ministries of the Church of the Brethren at www.brethren.org/give

June Disaster Projects

In June, the Disaster Response Ministry of EYN was busy.

Food Distributions

They delivered food to 400 families in some of the hardest hit districts. A pastor in the area shared, “Last week, EYN headquarters gave us fertilizer and seed which we distributed to our members, today they brought us food items, this gives us joy! Truly, our main problem here is that we are prevented from farming, so no food and people are suffering.”

 

Rescued Mom and baby

After being rescued, a family held captive for several years was relocated to one of our newly built villages. The family consists of a mother and four children (ages 17, 8, 6, and 4 months.)

In addition, medical help was brought to a camp in Maiduguri where there are over 500 children under the age of 5.

Soybeans were planted as part of the special project designed to produce income along the value chain.

 

 

Solar panels were installed at Yola camp providing free water for them.

Please continue to pray for the EYN Disaster Ministry as it helps its people in many ways!

A passion to serve

Paige Butzlaff (left) and fellow volunteers of
BVS unit 313 serving during orientation.
Photos by BVS Staff

By Paige Butzlaff

Since high school I knew I would join Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS). Little did I know that it would shape me for the rest of my life. But what I’ve come to discover throughout this whole experience, from switching projects, from being hospitalized due to depression, from continuously doubting my capabilities to complete assignments, and to even doubting my own faith, I’ve come out stronger and more steadfast in the direction I want to steer my life. I’ve developed passions for things that make my heart sing. I’ve grown farther and yet closer to my faith than ever before. I knew BVS would be somewhat like college, where one leaves home and everything they ever knew to embark on a journey of discovering who they are and what they were put on earth to accomplish, and that’s why I wanted to join BVS.

When I was seven years old I wrote in my diary that I wanted to help “poor, needy and sick people.” I didn’t know it at that time, but that’s when I found my calling in life. I now know that I’m passionate about not just helping others, but serving them. Helping implies that someone is helpless, but serving implies that you are encouraging someone to find their own strength, not denying that they can take care of themselves. Helping puts the helper on a pedestal. But serving puts you right there with the person you are serving, so your humanity meshes with their humanity. Rarely do we get the chance to recognize our own humanity, let alone acknowledge others, and empathize with them, especially in the culture we’ve been born and raised in.

BVS has helped me be the person I want to be. I’m serving others in a capacity that I never thought I’d be doing, but it’s worked and I’m grateful for the opportunity. What’s allowed me to discover more about who I am as an individual and where I’ll leave my mark in this world is not only my work at the General Offices, but the everyday occurrences between places I visit and people I meet. I’ve learned so much about myself by attending Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren, and I’ve met some incredible people there. My housemates at the BVS house in Elgin are inspiring people, and although we don’t always see eye to eye on issues, they have been super supportive of my journey and I have learned a lot about them as well. Who knows what’s in store for me after BVS, but I’ll always have this experience to look back on and thank God for providing me with this incredible opportunity.

Paige Butzlaff recently finished serving through Brethren Volunteer Service as a volunteer in Congregational Life Ministries. Learn more about the life-changing ministries of the Church of the Brethren at www.brethren.org, or support them today at www.brethren.org/give . 

(Read this issue of eBrethren)

Stories from Michika

 These stories were provided by Center for Caring Empowerment and Peace Initiative (CCEPI), a non-profit organization run by Dr. Rebecca Dali. Her organization operates 3 Skills Acquisition Centers in Northeast Nigeria. These centers have been a wonderful way to begin rebuilding lives.

Ladi – When Michika was invaded by Boko Haram militants, I and  my entire family ran to the mountain to hide. We were there on the mountain for several days before even the mountain became insecure because the Boko Haram Militants were coming up and hunting for our men. After some days, we decided to leave the mountain and head for Dlaka village. It was on our way to Dlaka that we fell into the hands of the enemies we so much dreaded. They instantly seized my husband and other men who were in the group. They gave my husband and the other men a choice to either renounce Christianity and convert to Islam, or face death. My husband and the other men refused and so they paid with their lives. We spent many months moving from one place to the other in search of food, shelter and security. Finally we returned to Michika when everything had died down. That was when we started another life all together.

Monday – The past few years of my life have been very uneasy for me as a teenager. I lost my father as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in Michika. I was 13 years old when all of this happened. I have also tasted hardship even at that very tender age, during the course of our plight trying to escape the Boko Haram militants. I tasted hunger, sickness, cold and saw some of the most horrific sights ever in my entire life. The experiences of my past are things I don’t ever want to experience ever again in my life. I am 17 years old now and I am learning to forsake my past and move on with my life. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by CCEPI to acquire skills so that I can have a better future.

Awa – I am a double orphan, having first lost my mother long before the Boko Haram Insurgency; and my father who was killed by the advancing Boko Haram insurgents. When the Boko Haram started approaching Michika, I and other people fled to Kwapale and settled there. While we were there, there was so much hardship and I barely ate more than once in a day. As a result, I started prostituting around with soldiers who offered me money and slept with me. That was how I was able to manage my life for a very long time. One day, a certain woman approached me and admonished me concerning my way of life. The woman encouraged me to abandon prostitution and find a legitimate way of earning a living. I felt encouraged because the woman understood my situation and did not judge me, rather she gave me a listening ear and showed me that there was hope.  One day, while in church I heard the advertisement about CCEPI and what it does. I developed interest and applied into the sewing department. While attending my classes and also selling Kunu (Gruel), I got into a relationship and eventually got married. Today, I am a committed student of the sewing department of CCEPI’s livelihood centre in Michika. I have learnt a lot and still learning. CCEPI has helped me to find a new meaning for my life. I am happily married and also involved in petty trading. I have moved on from my past and now believe that there is hope for the future. To God be the Glory.

Fadi – I am a widow and a mother of 7. My husband was killed on the 26th day of February, 2014 by Boko Haram militants who invaded Michika and shattered our lives and livelihood. The death of my husband meant I had to take care of our 7 children all by myself. It has not been easy for me but I have been trying my best with God’s help. I am now a student in CCEPI’s livelihood centre Michika, where I am acquiring new skills and learning to live again. I have come to learn that everything happens for a reason and I have decided to concentrate on raising my children, rather than entertaining regrets and bitterness for the past.