Brethren join religious coalition to reconstruct churches on Gulf coast.

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office has joined a religious coalition focused on reconstructing churches in New Orleans and other areas of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, called "Churches Supporting Churches." The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

Brethren Witness/Washington Office director Phil Jones has been a part of a planning and strategy group for the project since its inception in Oct. 2005, and has visited New Orleans several times for meetings about the project.

"It is time for the Church of the Brethren to once again step forward and lead in offering to the Gulf region churches a voice of deep understanding and hope," Jones said. "The injustices of poverty, race, and social discrimination must be addressed as part of the whole picture of restoration for the people of this region."

The decision to join the coalition was prompted by mounting concern about the ability of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to move back to New Orleans in the near future, said a release from the office. The coalition behind "Churches Supporting Churches" represents historic African-American churches, mainline Protestant denominations, and historic peace churches including the Progressive National Baptist Convention, American Friends Service Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Presbyterian Church USA, and the Mennonite Church. The coalition also has a connection with the National Council of Churches.

The project hopes to help re-establish community life in New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf by helping rebuild Black churches, focusing on helping raise the necessary funds to repair, rebuild, and re-open as many churches as possible.

The coalition is convened by C.T. Vivian, a civil rights activist. "Only the united church, people in local congregations in partnership with white and African-American churches in other areas of the US, as well as all people of faith, can make a difference and help a just response emerge from the tragic nature of Katrina’s devastation," Vivian said. "This region of the United States has survived the very worst of our nation’s history of racism, ignorance, poverty, and neglect. We must help rebuild Black churches in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast region so that they can be agents for the constructive redevelopment and rebuilding of their communities, as well as for the lives of the people in their congregations."

The Brethren "have done well in service," Jones said, complimenting the church on its work following the hurricanes. He added a challenge, however, to move beyond traditional emergency response. "Childcare, clean up, and home rebuilding projects have been established and will continue with the same strength that has always been that of Brethren in emergency disaster response," he said. "Let us take the next necessary step and partner with congregations pledging our support through pastoral care, church repair and rebuilding, and program support."

Brethren responded to similar issues following the burning of African-American churches in the area of Orangeburg, S.C., in the early 1990s, Jones said. "It is our hope that in the next few months Brethren congregations will step forward to partner with one or more of the congregations of New Orleans. The tired and embattled pastors and congregations of the Gulf region would embrace such an outpouring of love, support, and concern."

For more information about how to become a partner congregation in "Churches Supporting Churches," contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office at 800-785-3246.

Source: 8/2/2006 Newsline
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