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Did You Know: LIFE OF A MISSIONARY COUPLE IN NIGERIA—Dick and Ann Burger

Richard and Ann Burger were appointed to the Nigerian mission field in 1944, arriving there in time for the New Year in 1945.  Richard (Dick) was born in Waterloo, Iowa in 1920. As a child he attended Fairview church of the Brethren near Unionville, IA.   Ann Witmore Burger was born in Rich Hill, Missouri in 1924, and attended Happy Hill Brethren congregation in Bates County, MO.  They met at McPherson College.  Ann completed her college experience in Chicago while Dick attended Bethany Seminary in Elgin, IL.

Dick’s path to ministry was greatly influenced by his parents, his pastor Orlando Ogden, Camp Pine Lake experiences with Desmond Bittinger, Dad Kahl from Virginia, a Christian Church missionary to the Belgian Congo who spoke at the Christian Church in Udell, and other Brethren   missionaries who spoke at Fairview Church of the Brethren.  Dick began speaking at Fairview under the direction of pastor Orlando Ogden.  Dick led many junior high and youth camp experiences and spoke at Sheldon, IA at the youth conference for the District of Northern Iowa.  

Dad Kahl used an illustration to demonstrate his concern for youth learning about the simple life.  He asked for a woman volunteer to let him use her purse.  He dumped the contents on the table for all to see; then he taught us how to thrive in a world where the economy has tanked.  That was in a time when the Brethren still believed in the ‘simple life’.  I was impressed by two things then and I embraced them into my lifestyle.  1) Live on your income and 2) save a little something.  I accepted these teachings as essentials into my manner of living.”

Dick was also greatly influenced by his sister Melba; she took jobs as soon as she was able, then saved money for college to become a teacher.  She attended McPherson College one year, then encouraged Dick to attend a camp for young adults at Camp Pine Lake and McPherson College.  During college, Dick decided to become a missionary.  Melba and her husband from Waterloo City church also became missionaries in Nigeria for one term and lived close to Dick. Melba is still living in the Washington D.C. area and is 98 years old.  Wayne taught at a university in that area before his death.

Dick was in high school when Nigerian missionary Desmond Bittinger  came to Fairview to speak at the Southern Iowa District’s youth conference; the event heightened his interest in becoming a missionary and he explored the possibility of becoming one.  During his junior year at McPherson College, Dr. Bitttinger was his teacher.  Dick believed he could belong to the Fairview community  AND become a rural missionary to Nigeria.  Dick had noted that in Nigeria, many were moving away from the rural areas to seek work in cities—just like Southern Iowa.

After their marriage in August 1943 and return to seminary and college, Dick and Ann’s commitment to become missionaries flourished.   In 1944 they were officially appointed to the Nigeria mission; they began to prepare.  The mission board at Elgin gave us an allowance of $1400 to equip them for the first three year term.  In the summer of 1944, Dick bought a bench saw, making and packing 42 boxes in his parents’ basement to ship to Nigeria which were shipped on the Rock Island railroad from nearby Unionville, IA.

The Church of the Brethren General Office, their parents, families, and home congregations were very supportive, especially Dick’s father and mother, John and Rose Burger.  They provided a stable home that was always available, not only for us but also for other members of the family.  Dick’s dad, John Burger provided Dick with his first Model A Ford for his senior year at McPherson so he could pastor the Nickerson, KS church.  When Dick and Ann were married, John also bought the couple a 1939 Ford car.  Following the model of Free Ministry which his pastor Orlando Ogden had followed, Dick accepted no pay for his leadership to camps and youth conferences, asking the Northern District only for gas money to travel to Sheldon, IA.

Dick took every opportunity to be self-supporting—plowing 40 acres during a spring break so his father and he could share the crop proceeds, and raising sheep in his father’s barn during a one year furlough.  Since Dick was traveling to speak to other churches about missions, Ann cared for the sheep while he was gone.  Dick accepted no pay from speaking; the checks he received he took to Elgin and gave to Spencer Minnick for further missionary work.  Offered a jeep, Dick declined telling a large church that he intended to do it on his own.  He researched the cost and talked to a local dealer who said he could travel to Chicago factory, buy the jeep cheaper, and take a training course on how to repair it.  Dick bought the pickup jeep and $900 worth of parts and a good metal box that fit across the front of the bed for storage for about one-half of the cost.  He designed a good rack with windows and a sturdy top.  He was assisted in building it by  local carpenter Jess Tarrence, a member of Fairview church.  Dick supplied most of the money;  Dick’s father John Burger and Harry Shenk provided money to pay the remaining funds that Dick needed.

Because of Ann’s severe sinus infection, they were forced to return to the states before the end of their first term.   They returned to the mission in the winter of 1949 and lived at Chibok until the building season; they were assigned the building of the new station at Shafa.  Dick lived inside a grass mat room and Ann lived in the guest house, cooking on a steel barrel top placed on 3 stones.  Ann was expecting their second baby boy.  Dick rode the hundred mile trip from Chibok on his good horse to look at Shafa and the plat of the site for the Shafa station.  It was late in the building season; Dick was to build the residence, a shop, a wash house, a small dispensary, three African type compounds for staff, and a large building which would be used for school and church, a house for two horses, and a pig pen.  He also was to develop a rainy season and a dry season garden, clear the site of the abundant large rocks and make a road to the site.  In addition, he was to provide a source for water; all had to be done before the rainy season began in May.  At Shafa, Dick lived in his grass mat house and Ann remained at Garkida in the guest house.  They were only together on weekends.

To provide the water, Dick sought permission to order a ‘Hydraulic Ram’ from England, a European invention; he read the instruction book, and installed it in a small running creek.  The ‘Ram’ would supply water; Dick would not need a day laborer to carry water.  He planned to use the telescope on his rifle on a wooden level to help in operation.  After some contention about the proposal, the mission headquarters provided the money.

After hearing about the project, Dr. Bosler contributed unneeded cast iron for steel pipe from the leper colony; Dr. Studebaker brought a 2 ½ gallon drum of copper sulfate.  Dick drug the creek with porous cloth to kill the snails and make water safe from Schistosomiasis.  He also made a sand filter about 5’ by 10’ by 1’ deep that all the water flowing to the Ram had to run through.   After many hours of planning and studying, Dick turned the water into the Ram.  It swirled and growled and settled down to regular throbbing.  Not sure what it was supposed to sound like, Dick walked 600’ up the hill and climbed to the top of the storage tank.  Relieved to see a stream of fresh water about the size of a pencil running into the tank, Dick got a lawn sprinkler and mounted  six steel barrels on a stand about 20’ above to make a beautiful dry season garden that was watered at no cost.

Every day at the mission station was busy.  There was always something to do.  I had a good spotted horse that was gaited like a Tennessee walker who carried me thousands of miles to the villages where I held classes of religious instruction and little schools teaching literacy.  I would be away from home several days.

Ann managed a dispensary and an elementary school.  There was gardening to do as well as canning and processing.  I had pigs which we butchered, curing the meat, smoking it and/or canning it.  There were always medical emergencies, some very serious.  I took several of these 25 miles in my Jeep to Garkida where there was a hospital and doctors.  We set a few bones, delivered a few babies, and doctored a few that had been wounded by wild animals.  There was the work of the church to oversee as a pastor.

One day a mature man, a young man, an old grandmother and a new born baby arrived.  The mother had died and left a small orphan.  They heard that the mission would raise such orphans.  They had no way to raise a new born baby.  When seeing the situation, Ann came to the rescue.  She had her own new baby.  Ann went into the house and got a cup of warm milk and did something that I didn’t know could be done.  She taught the new baby to drink from a cup.  She asked the man if they had a grandmother that could raise and care for the baby if she provided fresh milk every morning and every evening.  She would have to come to the get the sterile tin cans and jar of milk twice a day.  It was beautiful to see how the baby thrived.  

In a few weeks another orphan was brought much like the first and then another.  Ann raised six such orphans.  The canned milk was expensive.  It occurred to me I should have a few cows.  I looked for cows that were in sound health.  Most of the cows being sold locally were unwell.  Where could I find good cows?  

One day I was traveling on my horse north and west toward Biu and came upon a huge herd of good cows.   In a few days I drove to see the chief of Biu and told him my need.  He was friendly and negotiated well.  I returned a few days later with my nearly new 12 gauge shotgun I didn’t need  and traded it and two boxes of shells for seven cows.  I hired a herder and we went to the big herd and picked out the cows and drove them home.

When I began to teach my men how I wanted to handle and manage the herd, they were horrified.  I wanted to wean the calves and milk the cows as we do here.  The men insisted that the cows couldn’t be milked without the calf tied to the cow’s front leg or they would dry up.  African cows were so maternal they would not give their milk without the calf.  I told them I had to find out which ones were maternal for I didn’t want them as it would be two years between calves if calves weren’t weaned.  I had taken a bucket and nipple to feed the calves.  Sure enough one cow wouldn’t milk without her calf.  I sold her and I was fortunate all the other cows did.  In the next year they all had nice calves.  Before long I had a nice herd.

Due to Ann’s tragic sinus infection we had to return home.  I made arrangements with the government vet department to care for my cows.  Ivan Eikenberry heard about it and thought the mission school should have first choice on my cows.  To avoid a disagreement, I gave in and had the cows driven up there.  I did not look over the facilities for keeping them.   We were home nearly three years.  Ivan wrote after a year and half and asked what I wanted to do with them.  He had agreed to keep them one year.   He thought that the church had bought them and that I should give them to him. I sent Wagini Mwada a letter and had him drive the cows back to Shafa.  I also sent a letter to Ivan informing him of my action.

When I got back to Shafa, I realized the cows had a skin disease and there were no calves.  I treated them with some medicine brought from home, DDT and salve.    The reason there were no calves was lack of secure fences; the leopards had killed five calves over time.

We visited a Christian family after the arrival of their second baby; the father had no work.  I asked the man to work for me.  He asked what kind of work; I told him with a pick and shovel; he said he couldn’t because they weren’t eating well because they were short on food.

Here I was, a farmer, and one who preached that God loves them.  It pained me that here a mission that represented many agricultural people had done nothing to teach them better ways to farm.  We had been strong in literacy, education, and medicine but virtually nothing in rural living.  If I approached the mission administration, I knew they did not have money available.  Shafa was located on a rocky mountain plateau land resource that couldn’t be farmed with anything but hand hoes.  Still there were some good acres of good soil and river bottom soil; it was a place to begin.  We didn’t ask for financial help; we would do it ourselves; we needed plows and chains to pull a plow.  I sold a good horse, 4 saddles, a high powered rifle and provided some money from our Iowa farm.  We broke 7 teams of oxen to pull plows.  First, throwing them down and castrating the, punching a small hole through their nose so we could thread a small rope through the hole and between their horns and ears to control them.  We taught them to pull logs to break them to pull a plow which I didn’t have.  I asked my dad to take the mole board off his old antique walking plow and send it to me. I made a heavy wooden beam with handles on it to control it while the oxen pulled.  

Unfortunately, our six year old boy lost an eye and we had to return home to receive proper for him so we never got to develop our agricultural program, but some of the younger missionaries did.  A group of young men, Irven Stern and Gerald Nehr, joined the mission staff, finding plans for an agricultural center. Finding no support in the mission headquarters, the plan seemed doomed.  When Irven Stern went home, he went to visit over lunch with Norman Baugher, head of the denomination in Elgin.  While he talked, Norman just listened and gave no clue what he was thinking.  When lunch was over, the missionary stood to go and observed, “Well, I guess we can’t do anything about the proposal for the rural center.”    Immediately Norman expressed his thoughts.  “That sounds like a pretty good idea to me.  I don’t know why it can’t be done.”  So the agricultural program became very significant in the mission.  It became not only a rural development center but the Kulp Bible School for the training of rural pastors.  

The mission in Nigeria was launched by pioneer missionaries Stover Kulp and Albert Helser.  After a disagreement, Mr. Helser left the mission.  Just as disagreements happened in the early church and God continued the work despite those, the most import lesson to learn is that even in a contentious environment the church of Jesus, our Lord, was planted and has thrived all over the world.  

Recalling these events and writing about them has been a formidable job for a 95 year old man!  I’ve enjoyed sharing my memories.  

Richard ‘Dick’ Burger, 2016

Message from the Moderator: May 2016

Our Story, Our Song: Christ

Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, Moderator8c93bb6a-6edc-47bc-b654-39fc99d982d9

Throughout the Biblical Story, God repeatedly reminds the people to remember the Story. As God’s people, it is important for us to remember and tell God’s Story and to sing the songs of our faith—in good times and in bad times—so we don’t forget who we are and whose we are. When we forget who we are and whose we are, when we fail to remember and tell God’s Story and to sing the songs of our faith, we run the risk of allowing our identity and lives to be shaped by the prevailing stories of society. God’s Story must not simply be remembered (recited and heard), it must be re-membered (pieced together and retold ways that connect intimately with our lives), understood, and embodied.

So as we continue to move through this year, I invite you to join me in an ongoing exploration of the overarching Story of God and God’s people—a story that continues to unfold through us today. To provide structure for this journey of remembrance and reflection, I am drawing on The Story of God, The Story of Us: Getting Lost and Found in the Bible by Sean Gladding.

So grab your hymnal and your Bible and join me in exploring the Story that reminds us who we are, whose we are, and who we are called to be and become.

Sing: O Come, O Come, Immanuel (Hymnal: A Worship Book, 172)

Read: Matthew 1-20; Mark 1-10; Luke 1-18; and John 1-11

As we pick up our story this month, the Israelites are watching and hoping for the long-awaited Messiah. They have returned from exile, but for all intents and purposes are still living in bondage under the rule of foreign governments. Under the leadership of Nehemiah they rebuilt the Temple, but it barely hints at the glory of Solomon’s Temple. Even more importantly, God’s visible presence is missing. And so they wait. They wait for God’s return to the Temple. They wait for God’s forgiveness. They wait for a new exodus from their suffering. They wait for a renewal of the covenant. They wait.

In the midst of this longing a baby was born. Jesus. A vulnerable baby, born in humble surroundings to parents who led unremarkable lives except for their openness to God’s revelation and their determination to respond to God’s call with thankful obedience. God had returned to dwell among the people.  And yet, while recognized by the visiting Magi and even King Herod, this miraculous arrival of the long-awaited Messiah went unnoticed by his own people—with the exception of a few people on the margins of society: his young mother (who in responding to God’s call found herself an unwed, pregnant teenager); a group of lowly shepherds; the elderly, “righteous and devout” Simeon who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he “would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:25-35); and the elderly, long-widowed prophetess Anna who fasted and prayed at the Temple day and night (Luke 2:35-38). This was to be the pattern throughout Jesus’ life: overlooked, rejected, even despised by many of the very people who longed for a Messiah, even as he touched the lives of many others in transformative ways, including both the most marginalized within Jewish society and Gentiles viewed with disdain by the Jewish people.

With the exception of just two other childhood episodes (the family’s flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath and a trip to the Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of the Passover) the Gospels leave much to be imagined about the intervening years between Jesus’ birth and the start of his public ministry.  However, it is probably safe to assume that Jesus grew up in a practicing Jewish household, nurtured by parents who maintained traditional roles, surrounded by younger siblings, and trained in the trade of carpentry by working side by side with his father. A seemingly mundane and ordinary life—and yet perhaps it was just this life that prepared him to connect with real people leading ordinary lives when he launched his ministry.

His cousin John was called to lay the groundwork and prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. The word of God did not come to the religious authorities, the word of God came to John “in the wilderness” where God so often met and continues to meet God’s people (Luke 3:2). “John, like the prophets before him, warned the people not to presume on their privilege as descendants of Abraham but instead to be faithful to the covenant Abraham made with God” (Gladding, 162). John piqued the interest of and aroused expectation in the people. Some even wondered if he was the Messiah. However, John was clear in his message: “I’m baptizing you in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out” (Gladding, 162).

It was onto this stage that Jesus emerged to begin his public ministry, coming to John to be baptized. In that act he not only identified with the people who, in submitting to baptism, were admitting their human faults and failings and answering a call to greater faithfulness. Just as David was anointed by God’s prophet Samuel to lead the people, through baptism, Jesus was anointed by God’s prophet John to lead the people. As he emerged from the water, the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove (the animal offered as a sacrifice by the poor) and a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).

Following his baptism, Jesus did not immediately begin his public ministry. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he spent forty days and faced three trials that echoed the trials Israel, God’s firstborn son, faced during their forty years in the wilderness following the exodus. Where the Israelites failed in trusting God when faced with hunger and demanded manna, Jesus resisted the temptation to satisfy his hunger with bread alone, choosing God’s will instead. Where the Israelites continually tested God’s power, Jesus resisted the temptation the prove God’s power by jumping from the pinnacle of the Temple. Where the Israelites gave into the temptation of idolatry and failed to worship God alone, Jesus resisted the temptation to worship Satan in exchange for establishing dominion over the whole earth. Over and over again, when faced with trials and temptations, Jesus remained faithful to God.

When he returned from the wilderness, Jesus returned to his home in Galilee to begin his ministry. As he proclaimed the good news of God’s kingdom in word and deed—teaching in the synagogues, changing water into wine, preaching on the hillside, feeding the hungry, telling stories by the seaside, healing the sick, cleansing the temple, and delivering the demon-possessed—his reputation and influence as a rabbi grew.

He called twelve ordinary men from varying walks of life to follow him, learn from him, and be his disciples. In a striking parallel, just as God had once dwelt in the Temple among the twelve tribes of Israel, God was once again intimately present in the midst of the people represented by the twelve disciples.

Jesus came to deliver the Israelites from their present bondage, but throughout his ministry, he consistently reminded the Jewish authorities—through his words and his actions—that God’s covenant with the Israelites was meant to bless all people, not just Israel. God’s sought (and continues to seek) the restoration, reconciliation, and redemption of the whole world. The Jewish authorities and many of the Jewish people, including his own disciples, didn’t seem to understand this and often questioned his choices.

Where some saw categories, Jesus saw people with hopes and dreams, struggles and hurts. He looked into the eyes of the people he met and touched them—literally and figuratively.  This was huge.  It was the practice of the Jewish people to isolate those who were unclean because of disease or sin.  To touch them put one’s purity at risk.  But without concern for his own purity or cleanliness Jesus touched them and in so doing, didn’t just restore their physical, emotional, and spiritual health, but restored their relational health. How beautiful it is to be noticed, to be touched when recognition and loving touch have been withheld. Jesus’ actions serve as a reminder that the spiritual journey, while intensely personal, is also always relational.

Because he consistently reached out and touched the lost and the least, the marginalized and the oppressed, the sinners and the foreigners, is it any surprise that “outsiders”—like the Samaritan woman at the well—often recognized Jesus as the Messiah before the Jewish people who had been watching and waiting for “the Anointed One”?  Because he was not the Messiah they had expected and because he often confronted religious authority and societal conventions in bold ways, transforming lives and relationships, was it any wonder that the Jewish authorities felt threatened by him?

Are we as slow to recognize God’s incarnational presence in our midst as some of those who surrounded Jesus? What are the trials and temptations that trip us up and prevent us from living as faithful disciples? Who are the people around us who cry out to be noticed, to be touched?

Jesus said he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. When one of the Pharisees asked him, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The law is love. Jesus was love incarnate. How has your life been transformed by Christ, God’s love incarnate? How are we called to embody God’s love for a hurting world in the time and place that we live?

As Jackie Deshannon wrote, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some but for everyone.” The world is still in need of reconciliation, restoration, and redemption. O come, o come, Immanuel. We are still in need of a Messiah to guide us as we seek to partner with God in building God’s kingdom. O come, O come, Immanuel into our hearts and into our lives.

Sing: Tú, Has Venido a la Orilla/Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore (Hymnal: A Worship Book, 229)

District News & Announcements – April 2016

District News & Announcements

April 2016

 “District News and Announcements” is a monthly e-newsletter for members and friends of the Church of the Brethren in the Northern Plains District.  District Leaders, Commissions, Committees, and those doing special ministries share information on programs and activities.  Local churches share news and invitations.  Send submissions by April 24th for inclusion in next month’s newsletter to Hannah Button-Harrison, Interim Director of Communications, communications@nplains.org.
Get a printable version of the newsletter here.

In this issue

  1. Christina Singh Accepts Call from Freeport, IL COB
  2. A Thank You to the District from Christina and Alfred Singh
  3. In Our Prayers: Families of Dale Smalley and Mary Jo Flory-Steury
  4. Message from the Moderator
  5. Did You Know: Paul Miller – Camp Pine Lake’s Greatest Visionary
  6. Get Ready for the District Conference Auction!
  7. District Conference Announcements
  8. Camp Pine Lake Newsletter
  9. Submit Photos for a Congregational Collage 
  10. Ventures Announcement
  11. Leadership Development Musings
  12. District Histories Now Available Online
  13. Holiness in our Midst
  14. Can You Identify This Church?
Quick info

Calendar of Events | District Staff & Leadership Contacts | Documents & Resources

Banner photo: Love Feast at Iowa River Church of the Brethren; photo by Diana Lovett. Send in your photos for future newsletters!  Email communications@nplains.org.

Holiness in our Midst: Session 43

Holiness in our Midst

SESSION XLIII: ON ARTWORKS

Do you have a favorite piece of art? On the surface, mine is nothing that would be hung in the Louvre. It is a simple print of a cute grey kitten poking its head out of an enamel coffeepot. Blue background, rustic Western setting, barn board framing. But there is a story and a powerful message behind “The Cat in the Coffeepot”; I recall both each time I view it.

On a weekday evening in the late Seventies, I was having supper at Bon Ton, a Hungarian restaurant at State and Elm in downtown Chicago, with my good friend Ann-Helen Anderson. I even remember what I was eating. She did not talk shop, although we both worked at The Quaker Oats Company and co-led a weekly noon hour Bible study. She was worn out from spending every spare hour caring for her aging mother and having no life of her own. And she needed to vent. I had finished my shish kabobs on lemon parsley rice and was starting on my dessert of French pastries, and she was still speaking of her mother as a burden. I turned to her with sudden inspiration and said: Have you ever thought of being grateful that you have a mother? (She knew the story of mother dying when I was seven.) She grew quiet…and began brainstorming ways she could make her mother’s last days one of grace and beauty…

Fast forward ten years. Ann-Helen and I had lost touch. She was leaving Chicago to spend a year on a mission assignment in Alaska. Her mother has passed away and she was selling and giving away a lifetime of accumulations. Would I like to choose an item? I look at thousands of items and my eye fell on “The Cat in the Coffeepot.” Ann-Helen told me that it rightfully belonged to me. The picture was a gift from her mother to thank her for all of their quality time together: drinking morning coffee, traveling together, telling stories. Ann-Helen said she had gone home from our supper and began showing daily gratitude and loving care for her mother in every possible way until she passed away.

The picture traveled with me in 1988 when I moved back to our family farm in Iowa to care for my aging grandmother Bessie and my grandparents’ lifelong companion Sadie. I put it away in a closet.

After a year of missing Chicago and growing tired and weary of living a life removed from the beat of downtown Chicago, I was just going through the motions of being present to my family. The day came when caregiving was becoming too much of a burden for me; I was more than ready to resume my exciting free-wheeling life. I did my duties, but without a joyful presence. One day, when I was secretly beginning to pack my things, I came across “The Cat in the Coffeepot.” A thought, almost like a voice, came into my head: Have you ever thought of being grateful that you have a grandmother?” Ann-Helen’s story had become my story. I renewed my efforts at small daily kindnesses and stayed the caregiving course for both my grandmother and her companion.

Now, whenever I see this piece of art, I am reminded to be very attentive to my words and actions in the company of others (and to the devastating effects of the deliberate absence of kind words and actions), because they may have profound unseen consequences down through the years.

AFTERWORD: As I was writing this, I was doing laundry in my apartment building. My neighbor’s clothes were in the dryer when mine were finished. I went ahead and folded them. Just received a note:

“Thank you for folding our clothes! That’s an unexpected kindness. Have a good weekend!”

        #10 Debra

STORY CIRCLE PROMPT: What is your favorite piece of art? Is there a story behind it?

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

  1. Read the above reflection.
  1.   Consider writing in your journal on the following topic: What piece of art that I created holds special meaning?

FOR GROUP STUDY:

  1.   Read aloud Session XLIII.   
  2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.

Camp Pine Lake Newsletter: March 2016

 

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This summer’s camp season is quickly approaching and we need your help to get the word out about camp! Please inform those you know in your church and community about how wonderful camp is. At Camp Pine Lake we have something to offer every age group from Biblical lessons, crafts, canoeing, water games, swimming, service learning, outdoor activities, and much more.  Those that are interested in attending camp are encouraged to bring a friend even if that friend is not a member of the Church of the Brethren.

This summer’s camp program theme is based on finding courage in the various communities we are a part of, being “fearless in faith”. In this program campers will encounter biblical leaders who used the communities given to them by God to stand up to mistrust, enemies, injustice, and fear itself.  These biblical lessons will engage campers in critical thinking while deepening their own personal relationship with God.  These teachings I anticipate will last well beyond camp and develop campers into leaders and vehicles of change in their own communities

Click the following link to register online:
http://camppinelake.com/campsandprograms/webformregistration.html

2016 Camp Schedule

Primary Overnight
Start: Friday, June 17, 4 p.m.
End: Saturday, June 18, 4 p.m.
Grades completed: K-2 with an adult
Fees: $40/camper

Day Camp
Start:Monday, June 20, 2016
End: Friday, June 24, 2016
Time: 9am – 4pm daily
Grades completed: 3-6
Fees: No cost to campers
Location: Stover Memorial Church of the Brethren, 4100 6th Ave, Des Moines, IA 50313

Senior Youth
Start: Monday, July 11, 10 a.m.
End: Saturday, July 16, following a family lunch at 12 p.m.
Grades completed: 9-12
Fees: $200

Junior Youth
Start: Monday, July 18, 10 a.m.
End: Saturday, July 23, following a family lunch at 12 p.m.
Grades completed: 6-8
Fees: $200

Middler
Start: Sunday, July 24, 3 p.m.
End: Thursday, July 28, following a family dinner at 5 p.m.
Grades completed: 3-5
Fees: $180

All Ages
Start: Sept 3, 10 a.m.
End: Sept 5, 10 a.m.
Freewill Offering

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April Events

Pastors’ Professional Growth Event
Starts: Sunday, April 10th 2016 at 5pm
Ends: Tuesday, April 12th at 11am
All Ministers (Ordained, Licensed, Lay, Cluster) in the Northern Plains District are invited to a time of retreat and refreshment April 10th-12th 2016 at Camp Pine Lake. This event, being planned by the Minister’s Professional Growth Committee, will include time for worship, study, rest, recreation, and fellowship.
For more information click here
Camp Clean-up Day
Starts: Saturday, April 23rd 2016 at 8am
Ends: Saturday, April 23rd 2016 after lunch
Followed by a Camp Board Meeting
All are welcome to come help get the camp ready for the 2016 camping season!  For more information about this event please contact Matt Kuecker our Property Manager.

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Summer Kitchen Staff Needed

Camp is still in need of kitchen staff this summer! Those interested in applying must complete the summer staff application.  All applications can be submitted via email at camppinelake@heartofiowa.net or mailed to Camp Pine Lake, 23008 W Ave., Eldora, IA 50627.

If you have any questions about the position please email Jacque Parker at camppinelake@heartofiowa.net.

District Conference Announcements: April 2016

DC BannerThis Is Our Story, This Is Our Song: Looking Ahead to District Conference

Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, Moderator

A Special Invitation
When we gather for District Conference, August 5-7, 2016, we will be gathering for our 150th recorded “big meeting.” This is a significant milestone. I would like to extend a special invitation to each of our congregations, fellowships, and projects, to send delegates and representatives to District Conference to celebrate this milestone, to strengthen the bonds of fellowship, and to share in the work of the church in the Northern Plains District. We are each—individually and as congregations—members of the body of Christ, and the body is not complete when some are missing.

To mark the milestone, strengthen the bonds of fellowship, and embody God’s Story and Song by serving together as Christ’s hands and feet in this time and place, everyone is invited to participate in several special activities before and during District Conference.

Special Opportunities for Fellowship at District Conference
When we gather for our 150th recorded District Conference, August 5-7, 2016, we will gather to do the work of the church and to worship our God together, but we will also enjoy times of fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This fellowship is an important component of our time together, strengthening the bonds of unity. Not only will we break bread together, sharing fellowship around the meal tables, but both Friday and Saturday evenings there will be special times of fellowship. On Friday evening, conference-goers are invited to support our youth as they host their annual ice cream social, sharing conversation with old and new friends while engaging in a favorite Brethren pastime—eating ice cream. On Saturday evening, after a festival of story and song celebrating the ongoing ministry of God’s people in the Northern Plains District, we will celebrate our 150th anniversary with cake and another opportunity to share in casual conversations with one another.

150 Random Acts of Kindness
In the months leading up to District Conference, the District Conference Planning Committee also wants to remind congregations of the challenge to collectively engage in 150 random acts of kindness—or to put it another way, 150 acts of ministry—within your surrounding communities. We are celebrating a significant milestone in our life together, but we don’t want to focus solely on the past. As God’s people we are part of a continuing story. What better way to celebrate that than to actually embody our identity as a “sent people” and to reach out in service to those in need. As you engage in your random acts of kindness, take pictures of your efforts. Send your pictures and stories to Hannah Button-Harrison communications@nplains.org for publication in the district newsletter and possibly on the website AND bring a copy of your pictures to District Conference for inclusion in a collage that will celebrate the ways we are still engaged in vital ministry in the upper Midwest.

Symbols of Congregational Ministry
The District Conference Planning Committee also invites each congregation to bring something that represents your congregational story to District Conference. The Northern Plains District is comprised of its congregations; without the congregations there wouldn’t be a district. We are not sure if we will use these items as part of the worship center or as part of a different display, but we know we want to create a visual representation of the congregations that make up our district. The possibilities are endless. The item you choose to bring might be an historical artifact, it might be a piece of art, it might be a symbol of a long-time and continuous ministry in which you are engaged, it might be a symbol of new vitality. Hopefully the selection of the item won’t be a unilateral decision made by the pastor or a small committee, but a decision made by the congregation as you reflect together about your story and the ways your story intersects with God’s story.

Moderator Visits
Just a reminder, as a transplant to this district I now call home, I have a strong desire to visit as many congregations as possible between now and District Conference. During those visits, I want to talk about the importance of remembering and faithfully living into God’s Story—in word, song, and action—and I want to listen to the ways in which your own stories have intersected with God’s Story. To schedule a visit, please contact me at 612-239-6214 or rpgingrich@yahoo.com

Did You Know: Paul Miller – Camp Pine Lake’s Greatest Visionary

Paul Miller – Camp Pine Lake’s Greatest Visionary

by Gordon Hoffert

640_Friendship_Lodge_EastNo name is more closely connected with Camp Pine Lake’s Friendship Lodge than Paul Miller. To Paul, Friendship Lodge was more than just a multi-purpose building, it represented a crowning achievement in the mission to which he had dedicated his ministry: to train and empower young people as servant leaders in the Church of the Brethren. Its construction and completion is due to the herculean efforts of this one man and the countless brigades of volunteers he inspired.

Paul grew to adulthood in the 1930’s, a member of the South Waterloo Church of the Brethren. His generation was the first to benefit fully from the denomination’s growing emphasis on district camping and youth ministry. The earliest effort to organize youth activities outside of Sunday Schools began with the Christian Workers Society in 1903. Its aim was to promote growth in fellowship and leadership skills. The Northern Plains District (then called the Tri-District) fell in step with this movement. A district camping program began in 1921. During these early years of camping, the Brotherhood would send out some of its top leaders to mentor and inspire the campers. In 1932, the camping program moved to its present location, the Meeker YMCA camp, but was owned by the Y until the district purchased it in 1954.

In the early 1930’s a Brethren Young People’s Department was organized by the Brotherhood and Paul became its district president. Paul also participated in the “Hilltop Retreats,” a movement begun by Dan West to train leaders by gathering together selected district youth. Paul belonged to this group, which strove for “disciplined fellowship.” Their mission was to develop “effective leaders for young people’s work in the Church of the Brethren – effective because they are essentially healthy mentally and physically; free to give what they have, and growing into greater effectiveness.”

Paul’s first career choice was to become a high school ag teacher. He attended Iowa State University for one year, but then experienced a call to ministry. It occurred during an event he was attending at Camp Pine Lake. In the stillness of the evening he went for a walk around the lake. He stopped for a moment and felt God’s presence moving him in a new direction, into a vocation as a pastor. He transferred that fall to McPherson college and from there went to Bethany Seminary. He and his wife, Ellen, spent most of their years in ministry serving churches in this district.

Paul maintained his active involvement in the district’s camping program throughout the 1940’s and 50’s. The purchase of Camp Pine Lake in 1954 was accompanied by a host of challenges. The original buildings were falling into disrepair. First and foremost was the need for new cabins and shower facilities. These were constructed on the 10 acres of land that bordered the original camp. Then, in the early 1960’s it was time to build a lodge that could serve as the focal point for nourishing and building up the Body of Christ.

Paul managed to complete the project for around $20,000.00, an unthinkable amount until one factors in the boundless energy and irrepressible optimism of its director. The plans were drafted for free because Paul had the temerity to ask a non-Brethren neighbor, an architect, to donate them. He became a master scavenger as buildings were demolished in the path of the new interstate highway corridor.

Paul would make a weekly drive up to the camp from the Panther Creek Church with a group of volunteers in tow, among them Earl Deardorf, the camp manager at that time. After a week’s work, Paul returned to Panther to squeeze in his pastoral duties and prepare for Sunday. Then it was back up to camp the following week. Youth camps proved a fertile field for volunteer recruitment. For his drive in pushing the project forward, Paul earned a nickname lifted from pages of scripture. He was called “Pharaoh.” With so much unskilled labor at work, shortcuts sometimes became the order of the day. One worker suggested, “You can’t find a square corner in the building.” But the construction, though not perfect, was sturdy and Friendship Lodge has served as an anchor for the camping program for over 50 years.

It’s coming up on a century now since the movements in the Church of the Brethren – the Christian Workers Society, Brethren Young People’s Department, and Hilltop Retreats – inspired young people like Paul Miller to view camping as integral to the future health of the church. The culmination of Paul’s vision, Friendship Lodge, now provides a space for each new generation to discover a call that Paul heard on a quiet night just a short walk away.

Sources:
Judy Miller Woodruff (Paul’s daughter)
History of the Northern Plains Church of the Brethren: 1844-1977

 

Message from the Moderator: April 2016

Our Story, Our Song: Crown and Conceit

Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, Moderator8c93bb6a-6edc-47bc-b654-39fc99d982d9

Throughout the Biblical Story, God repeatedly reminds the people to remember the Story. As God’s people, it is important for us to remember and tell God’s Story and to sing the songs of our faith—in good times and in bad times—so we don’t forget who we are and whose we are. When we forget who we are and whose we are, when we fail to remember and tell God’s Story and to sing the songs of our faith, we run the risk of allowing our identity and lives to be shaped by the prevailing stories of society. God’s Story must not simply be remembered (recited and heard), it must be re-membered (pieced together and retold ways that connect intimately with our lives), understood, and embodied.

So as we continue to move through this year, I invite you to join me in an ongoing exploration of the overarching Story of God and God’s people—a story that continues to unfold through us today. To provide structure for this journey of remembrance and reflection, I am drawing on God’s Story, Our Story: Getting Lost and Found in the Bible by Sean Gladding. So grab your hymnal and your Bible and join me in exploring the Story that reminds us who we are, whose we are, and who we are called to be and become.

Sing: Let the whole creation cry (Hymnal: A Worship Book, 51)

Read: 2 Samuel 7-8; 11-12; 1 Kings 1-3; 6; 9:1-9; 11-12; 2 Kings 21-25; Isaiah 1; 51-52; Jeremiah 1-2; Ezekiel 7; 34-37; Micah 4-7

We pick up our story this month during what was arguably the Golden Era for the Israelites.  David—who along with his son Solomon are remembered as the greatest kings in Israelite history—continues to rule over the Israelite people. Under David’s leadership, the conquest of Canaan was finally completed and the kingdom is united.

David chose Jerusalem as the political capital of the united kingdom because of its geographic location between the northern and southern regions. But David wasn’t satisfied with building a political capital; he also wanted to make Jerusalem the religious capital of the kingdom, proudly leading the procession as the ark of the covenant was carried into the city. After building a lavish palace for himself, David determined that God should not dwell in the simple tent that still housed the ark; he wanted to build a temple. But speaking through the prophet Nathan, God declined: “Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever…(say) ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’” (2 Samuel 7:7) And yet, God once again responded to a need to meet the people where they were and promised David that his offspring would continue to rule after his death and that his son would ultimately be allowed to build the temple that David so wanted to build.

While David is remembered as one of Israel’s greatest kings, he was not without his faults. It might be easy to think of David’s affair with Bathsheba as a personal sin. However, all sin is social in nature because at its heart, sin is breaking relationship—with God, with another human being, or with the created world. The social consequences of David’s sin serve as a stark reminder that when we sin, we do not hurt only ourselves, we also hurt those around us. David never again experienced the genuine peace and unity he had fought so hard to secure. For the remainder of his rule, the Israelites experienced conflict—internal and external. Even the transfer of power to Solomon was contested.

Eventually, however, the rule of Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, was firmly established. In an act of selflessness and humility, Solomon asked God for one thing when he assumed the throne: wisdom to govern. “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this” (1 Kings 3:10). So not only did God give Solomon great wisdom, God also gave Solomon what he had not asked for: riches and honor. Solomon became known throughout the world for his wisdom and under his rule, the Israelites experienced forty years of peace in the midst of both political and economic prosperity.

In the fourth year of his reign, Solomon began to build the Temple—a project that took seven years to complete. Make no mistake, the Temple was a magnificent and extravagant structure. A fitting dwelling for God, the King of Kings, the Ruler of Heaven and Earth? Perhaps. But I can’t help but wonder what was lost in building the Temple and redefining religious practices around the Temple.

Our God created the heavens and the earth. Can anything we build to “house” God ever be as resplendent as the cathedral of nature which God built? Why do we feel the need to “house” God? Why do we even want to try to confine God—who presence and activity is so expansive God chose to self-identify only as “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14)—to a “house”? When God dwelt in the Tabernacle, God moved and dwelt among the people, leading them with the Cloud of Presence. But unlike tents which are portable, Temples (and Cathedrals and church buildings) are stationary. “What is lost when we can no longer pull up stakes and move where God leads us? Do we shape a building only to discover it begins to shape us? Do we become more invested in the building than the God the building is for?” (Gladding, 127) Do we use our resources to sustain a structure rather than to undergird God’s mission? I think these are still important questions with which we must wrestle.

Further, we cannot ignore the manner in which Solomon built the Temple and other structures designed to centralize and fortify his authority (a palace, a wall around the city, the fortification of cities strategic to national security, garrisons, and huge storage complexes). Solomon completed all of these massive building projects through conscription. The remaining original occupants of the land were enslaved and the Israelite people themselves, who had cried out to God and were delivered from slavery, although not considered slaves, were required to leave their families, their land, and their livelihoods to work on Solomon’s projects one month out of every three. There is disturbing irony in the fact that Solomon relied on forced labor to build a Temple for the God who promised salvation and deliverance from slavery in all its forms. The seeds of conceit were planted.

When the Temple was complete, God once again appeared to Solomon, pledging presence, prosperity, and peace for all Israelites, and continued authority for the house of David, if only they will keep God’s commandments. But with the renewal of the covenant came an explicit warning: “If you turn aside from following me…but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples” (1 Kings 9:6-7).

Unfortunately, Solomon, despite his great wisdom, did not heed God’s warning. Remember the conditions God laid out for the kings of Israel: in addition to remaining faithful to their God, they were not to build up a standing army, not to enter into covenant treaties with other nations through marriage (which related directly to faithfulness to God since these foreign wives often maintained their faith in other gods and brought with them their own religious practices), and they were not to amass wealth. Solomon defied all of these conditions: he bartered his wisdom for wealth (1 Kings 10:23-25); he built up a fleet of ships and chariots and built garrisons to house the army that protected his wealth; and married many foreign women who eventually turned his heart to other gods (1 Kings 11:1-4).

While the Israelites were not immediately overpowered and cast into exile, with Solomon’s death the era of peace and prosperity came to an end. When Solomon’s son, Rehoboam came to power, the people rebelled against the heavy burden of conscripted service under his father. But Rehoboam turned a deaf ear to their pleas for deliverance, setting the stage for internal conflict and subsequently the end of a united kingdom. As God had promised, David’s house continued to rule over the tribe of Judah, but ten of the remaining tribes pledged their allegiance to Jeroboam. A long succession of kings followed, each seeming to stray farther from God’s commandments than his father before him. But even then, God did not abandon the people. “God sent prophet after prophet—Elijah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah—to call the people back to covenant faithfulness (Gladding, 141). Recalling the words of George Bernard Shaw, the prophets both saw things as they were and asked why and dreamed things that never were and asked why not, and eloquently articulated these God-given visions. But to no avail. In their conceit, the people broke every commandment, thinking that because God’s presence dwelled among them in the Temple, nothing could happen to them. Eventually, both parts of the divided kingdom fell and the people were carried away into exile.

We are not immune to such conceit. Are we guilt of becoming so comfortable with an economics of affluence that the suffering of those around us—suffering we may have even inadvertently helped create—goes unnoticed? Are we guilty of adopting a politics of oppression which ignores or even silences the cries of the marginal? Are we guilt of creating a “static religion in which God has no other business than to maintain our standard of living, and whose prophets we try to silence when they speak words we do not want to hear”? (Gladding 131)

Amidst an unending barrage of fear-based election year political rhetoric, worldwide unrest rooted in experiences of injustice, and deep theological divides in the church, it can feel as if we are experiencing exile, living in a dry and barren land, wondering where God is in all of this. But just as the exiled Israelites held onto hope, we too must hold onto hope—hope rooted in the story of our God. God’s Story—Our Story—is a story of a God of unconditional love and grace, a story of a God who promised, and promises, to remain faithful to the covenant even when we are not, a God who seeks to deliver the whole world from that which enslaves, and a God who has consistently called God’s people to partner in that mission—all of which is embodied in the Resurrection.

This month, as we embrace the promise of the resurrection—in the coming of spring and as we move more fully into the liturgical season of Easter—may we take the time to honestly identify and confess our own conceit, may we embrace the hope that God remains present and faithful within us and among us, and may we renew our covenant with our God, faithfully seeking to inspire hope in others.

Sing: Lift every voice and sing (Hymnal: A Worship Book, 579)

District News & Announcements – March 2016

District News & Announcements

March 2016

 “District News and Announcements” is a monthly e-newsletter for members and friends of the Church of the Brethren in the Northern Plains District.  District Leaders, Commissions, Committees, and those doing special ministries share information on programs and activities.  Local churches share news and invitations.  Send submissions by March 25th for inclusion in next month’s newsletter to Hannah Button-Harrison, Interim Director of Communications, communications@nplains.org.

Pastor’s Professional Growth Event

Laura Leighton-Harris, TRiM Coordinator

Hello Everyone!

Just a reminder about our upcoming Pastors Event at Camp Pine Lake in April. The camp staff & I have gotten the registration form up and running.  Please click here to register.  One change with our schedule, Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, this year’s District Conference Moderator, has asked for some time of story sharing as a district so this will take place Monday from 4:15-5pm so we invite you to come and share stories. Also, there will not be any kitchen staff on duty yet and the plan is to have continental breakfast and the other meals catered in, so taking that into account it was realized we would need to raise the cost to cover catering in those meals. In year’s past, the registration cost was $55; this year the cost will be $65. Scholarships are available for those who do not have access to professional growth funds from their congregations. You may pay when you arrive.

I have 2 persons set to do opening worship so just need 2 persons for closing worship. If you would like to do this, please email me.

Starts: Sunday, April 10th 2016 at 5pm
Ends: Tuesday, April 12th at 11am

All Ministers (Ordained, Licensed, Lay, Cluster) in the Northern Plains District are invited to a time of retreat and refreshment April 10th-12th 2016 at Camp Pine Lake. This event, being planned by the Minister’s Professional Growth Committee, will include time for worship, study, rest, recreation, and fellowship.

Leadership will be provided by David Radcliffe: David Radcliff is director of the New Community Project, a faith-based nonprofit organization focused on care for creation, peace through justice and experiential learning. David is ordained in the Church of the Brethren and holds an MDiv and DMin (Peace Studies) from Bethany Seminary. He served as a pastor for 10 years, then as Director of Brethren Witness for the General Board for 15 years before joining with others to launch NCP in 2003. He leads Learning Tours to Africa, Asia, the Arctic and the Amazon; speaks in dozens of schools, colleges, and congregations every year; teaches classes for adult learners at Elizabethtown College and Bethany Seminary; and enjoys gardening, camping, photography, writing and cooking–and has given up his car for a bicycle. Born in Blue Ridge, VA, he now lives in Peoria, AZ.

David’s overall theme will be:
Tell me the stories of Jesus
Session foci:
Give me something I can feel (creative arts in worship and witness)
Full gospel preaching (how do we speak on controversial issues?)
If we build it… (the new community, that is)
The Bible Bridge (making Bible study relevant)
Banish Bashful Brethren (evangelism and revitalization)

Ministers in the Church of the Brethren are called to continual spiritual and professional growth. This event is designed to support that endeavor. Participants in the full event will receive .6 CEUS in Preaching and Worship.

A tentative schedule can be found below. Weather permitting we hope to have a campfire on Sunday and Monday evenings. If you play guitar, ukulele or banjo, bring your instrument along to help accompany some singing around the fire.

Please save the date and plan to join with your brothers and sisters in ministry for this time of Sabbath renewal.

TENTATIVE RETREAT SCHEDULE
Sunday 
5:00-6:00 – Arrive/Settle In/Light Supper
6:00-6:30 – Opening Worship
6:30-7:30 – Group Building (Laura Leighton Harris)
7:45-8:45 – Plenary w/ David Radcliffe
9:00-10:00 – Campfire and Conversation /Q & A with David
Monday
8:00-8:30 – Breakfast
8:45-9:15 – Q& A with David
9:30-11:00 – Plenary w/ David
11:15-12:00 – Free Time or Coaching/Listening Sessions or Discussion about Prof. Growth
12:00-1:00 – Lunch
1:00-2:30 – Free Time/Sabbath Rest
2:30-4:00 – Plenary w/ David
4:15-5:00 – Story sharing with Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, DC Moderator
5:00-6:00 – Dinner
6:00-7:00 – Plenary w/ David
7:00-7:15 – Q & A with David
7:30-8:30-  Ministry Sharing
8:45-9:45 – Campfire and Conversation
Tuesday 
8:00-8:30 – Breakfast
8:30-9:00 – Pack and Clean-up
9:00-10:00 – Plenary w/ David
10:00-11:00 – Closing Worship