International guests to be welcomed at the 2014 Annual Conference

A number of international guests are to be welcomed at this year’s Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, which takes places July 2-6 in Columbus, Ohio. Guests are expected from Nigeria, Brazil, and India. Global Mission and Service workers also will be attending from Nigeria, South Sudan, Haiti, and Honduras.

• Rebecca Dali will be attending from Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). She is the wife of EYN president Samuel Dante Dali, and founder of a nonprofit organization that is aiding those affected by the violence in northeastern Nigeria, CCEPI, the Center for Compassion, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives.

• Also hoping to attend from EYN are several members of the BEST group of Nigerian Brethren business people: Apagu Ali Abbas, Njidda M. Gadzama, Dauda Madubu, Saratu Dauda Madubu, Esther Mangzha. Some of the BEST group’s attendance may depend on whether they receive visas to enter the United States in time for the Conference.

• Darryl Sankey will be at Annual Conference from the First District Church of the Brethren in India, accompanied by two Indian youth who also will attend this year’s National Youth Conference in Colorado later in July: Darryl’s son Hiren Sankey, and Supreet Makwan. 

• Attending from the Church of North India (CNI) are the Rt. Rev. Silvans S. Christian, Bishop of Gujarat; and Rev. Sanjivkumar Sunderlal Christian, Presbyter in charge of the CNI Church at Valsad.

•  Alexandre Goncalves and his wife Gislaine Reginaldo of Igreja da Irmandade-Brasil (the Church of the Brethren in Brazil). Alexandre is currently pursuing a master of divinity degree at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., and has served as a pastor in Brazil.

Global Mission and Service workers also will be attending Annual Conference including:

• Carol Smith, who is serving in Abuja, Nigeria;

• Carl and Roxane Hill, who recently completed a term of service as teachers at Kulp Bible College in Nigeria;

• Athanasus Ungang, who is serving with the Church of the Brethren mission in South Sudan;

• Ilexene and Kayla Alphonse, who are mission workers in Haiti serving at the guesthouse and headquarters of the Haitian Church of the Brethren near Port-au-Prince.

Also at Conference will be Chet and Lizzeth Thomas, who serve with Proyecto Aldea Global (Project Global Village) in Honduras.

Source: 6/25/2014 Newsline