Mother’s Day Gratitude Project

“In honor of a woman you know and love, and in solidarity with mothers around the world.”

Global Women’s Project announces the 2^nd annual Mother’s Day Gratitude Project. Rather than buying more material gifts for your loved one, express your gratitude with a gift that helps other women around the world. Your donation allows us to fund projects focused on women’s health, education, and employment. In return, your chosen recipient will receive a card indicating that a gift has been made in her honor.

To participate, send a donation to:

Global Women’s Project
Church of the Brethren General Offices
1451 Dundee Ave.Elgin, IL 60120

Remember to include your name(s) and recipient’s name and address. You may also make memorial donations. These will be honored on a special page on the website.

Gratitude cards will be mailed in time for Mother’s Day.

Global Women’s Project seeks to raise awareness of the poverty, oppression and injustice suffered by women around the world; to recognize how our overconsumption and misuse of resources contributes to that suffering; to change our way of living; and to support self-help community projects that are led by, empower, and benefit women.

Additional information can be found at http://www.brethren.org/genbd/witness/gwp.htm

300^th Anniversary Study Guides

 Don’t forget that study guides related to our 300^th anniversary theme are available in both youth and adult versions. The theme Scripture covers John 12:24-26a, and related passages. They can be found on the website in the resources section, or currently reached from the home page, or by tapping on:  http://www.churchofthebrethrenanniversary.org/guide.html

Anniversary Curriculum: Piecing Together the Brethren Way

My heart in the Lord, my hand in yours,
My mind in gear and my feet in a bowl.
The colors of my life sewn together with love
And a little of the river still running in my soul.

Andy and Terry Murray captured the essence of our faith and our hope for the children of our denomination in River Still Running, the theme song they wrote for Piecing Together the Brethren Way, a heritage and identity curriculum developed in honor of our 300^th anniversary.
Our faith is like a quilt. Each prayer we say, each person we encounter, each Scripture passage we study, each experience we have, each song we sing is like a patch added to a quilt, making it ever stronger and more beautiful.
Our corporate faith is also like a quilt. The pattern of the Brethren quilt has been enriched through the years by faith filled people, experiences, and principles. It is important that we help our children add these patches to the pattern of faith they are stitching together.

Piecing Together the Brethren Way is a curriculum resource developed by Brethren for Brethren to help children, kindergarten through grade 5, add uniquely Brethren patches to their quilt of faith: Believers Church; Seeking the Mind of Christ; Counting the Cost of Discipleship; Believers Baptism; Worship; Love Feast; Reconciliation, Forgiveness, and Church Discipline; Nonconformity and Simple Living; Peace and Nonresistance; Peace and Justice; Mission; Service; Health and Wholeness; and Call and Vocation. Children will gain an understanding of the historical and theological foundations of these marks and will integrate these marks into their own walk with Christ. One unique feature is the inclusion in each lesson of a section called Youth Connection in which the writers suggest ways to engage youth in exploring the topic

The curriculum includes: A CD-Rom containing introductory material, lesson plans for fourteen sessions, take-home “discussion quilts” for each lesson, quilt block patterns to create a class quilt representing the concepts covered, and three original children’s books. It also includes a music CD featuring River Still Running and eight other well-loved heritage songs by Andy and Terry Murray as well as three tracks featuring the words and music of Ted Studebaker.

Selected sessions of the curriculum can also be chosen for Sunday school, an after school program, summer day camp, Vacation Bible school, or a once-a-month intergenerational program. It is available through Brethren Press for $49.95 plus shipping.

A sample lesson can be found on our website: www.churchofthebrethrenanniversary.org under Resources/Curriculum.