Faith Expeditions will tour the South, Guatemala, Nigeria, Iraq.

Faith Expeditions sponsored by the General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office and Global Mission Partnerships Office will take Brethren on a "Nonviolent Tour of the South" as well as to Guatemala, Nigeria, and Iraq.

The tour of the South will take place Sept. 2-5 led by Bernard LaFayette, Jr., director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island and a colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr. Participants will travel in the footsteps of King through Tuskegee, Montgomery, Selma, Hayneville, and Birmingham, Ala., and will visit the King Center Complex in Atlanta, the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, and the Edmund-Pettus Bridge in Selma. Cost is $290, excluding airfare. A $100 nonrefundable deposit is due Aug. 13.

An Oct. 28-Nov. 5 expedition to Guatemala will visit poor communities where grassroots development is taking place. Participants will learn about threats to God's people and creation, study the roots of poverty and injustice, and view environmental degradation as well as efforts to restore the earth. The expedition will be led by Tom Benevento, Latin American/Caribbean program volunteer for the General Board. Cost is $850.

The first quarter of 2005 is the tentative time period in which a Faith Expedition will be made to Nigeria. Participants will visit communities that make up Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and explore what peace and nonviolence mean for the Nigerian and US cultures. Cost is approximately $2,000.

A tentative date for a tour to Iraq will be Spring of 2005. The tour will visit the Al Khuraish school in Baghdad, rebuilt with funds from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund, and dialogue with people of different faiths and cultures on the search for peace and healing. The expedition will be hosted by the Middle East Council of Churches and may include visits to Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel and Palestine. Approximate cost is $1,800.

Requirements for participants in all Faith Expeditions are willingness to grow in faith, respect for other cultures, openness to adventure, and willingness to endure very basic living conditions. Scholarships are available for Brethren youth and young adults age 22 or younger. Contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office at 800-785-3246 or e-mail washington_office_gb@brethren.org.

Source: Newsline 8/06/2004
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