USA > Ohio > Church of the Brethren in southern Ohio > Part 31
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On October 7, 1933, she sailed for Nigeria, and was located at Lassa, a station without medical help. Here she supervised the hospital, did minor operations and skin grafting, cared for obstetrical cases, taught hygiene classes in the villages, and visited the leper colony twice each week to get reports and check the work of the dispensers. Later she was moved to Garkida, where she supervised the nurses, assisted with operations in the hospital and dispensary, and supervised the care and feeding of babies born to leprous mothers in the leper colony.
In September of 1934, because of ill-health, Dorothy re- turned to the States. She resides at present in Covington.
IVAN L. AND MARY FLORA EIKENBERRY Nigeria, 1945-
Ivan Leon Eikenberry was born January 11, 1913, on a farm near Greenville, Ohio, the oldest of three sons born to T. S. and Beulah Minnich Eikenberry. He came by a rich inheritance of Christian living, having parents, grandparents, and forebears who were pillars in the church. Under such godly influences, it was but natural that he should enter the church early in life.
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As he was growing up he met many of the outstanding leaders in the church; this privilege helped guide Ivan's life to missionary service. He was active in the youth work of the district, and was director of the Youth Serves project. As a leader he inspired confidence and love for the church.
Ivan Eikenberry and Wife
In 1939 he married Mary E. Flora, daughter of Elder J. C. and Elizabeth Garver Flora. Mary was born in New Windsor, Maryland, on June 13, 1915, and came from an ancestry of distinguished church leaders. Mary came with her parents to Southern Ohio when she was very small; they located near West Charleston, where she spent her childhood and youth. She entered the church at an early age while her father was serving as pastor of the West Charleston church.
Both Ivan and Mary are graduates of Manchester College. Later, while teaching, Ivan continued his studies at Witten- berg College, where he received his M.A. degree. Before and after their marriage both were youth leaders. These experiences were steppingstones to the greater service which the Lord laid on their hearts. Urging youth to a committed
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life, soon they could no longer withstand the continuous urgency which God laid upon their hearts to serve in Nigeria.
At the Annual Conference at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in June 1944, this couple presented themselves for dedication for service in the foreign field. They were commissioned for Nigeria and sailed for that field on January 4, 1945-Ivan, Mary, and two-year-old Melody. They have been serving in preaching, teaching, and developing a training center for young Christians who are to become evangelists and teachers and thus build indigenous churches.
Ivan and Mary now have one daughter and three sons. At the age of six years, the children leave home to go three hundred fifty miles away to attend school at Jos, returning home twice a year for vacation.
This brief sketch would be incomplete without due recognition being given to the young people of Southern Ohio, who have given their support to the Eikenberrys since their appointment to Nigeria, and who are constantly remem- bering them in their prayers.
5. SUMMARY
In these brief historical sketches of our missionaries, it was possible to catch only a glimpse of the valiant service they rendered to the cause of missions by planting the cross as a great spiritual beacon light to those in darkness. If all were written in books concerning their vast contribution to Christianity and their sacrifices for the love of Christ, "the world could not contain them."
Cutting their moorings from comparative security they have gone courageously into unknown parts of the world, because they felt the call of their Master. The future belongs not to the skeptic, but to those of daring faith in the unseen, in the miracle of love and Christly service.
The churches which have stood back of these spiritual warriors are co-heirs of the eternal inheritance through Christ our Lord.
As the finger of God has moved through the beam of a Star and touches men and women here and there to give themselves to preach the Gospel in distant areas, so may the same finger of God touch others of our sons and daughters in the days to come. The Southern District of Ohio should rejoice in the loyal devotion of its Christian youth.
"Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious,
Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way;
Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious;
And all thou spendest Jesus will repay."
PART FIVE Southern Ohio Centennial Observance
"IN UNBROKEN LINE"
Lois Teach Paul
As their part of the one hundredth district meeting observance, the CBYF of Southern Ohio commissioned a pageant to be presented on Saturday night of the observance week. The cabinet, acting on the advice of the District Program Committee, appointed a trio of district women to write and produce the pageant for them. The three, who had had considerable experience in this area, were Lois Teach Paul, who served as chairman and wrote the pageant, Virginia Royer, who directed it and along with Mrs. Paul and Joy Helstern Dull produced it, and Inez Goughnour Long, who suggested some of the dramatic development. Members of the CBYF cabinet assumed specific production responsibilities and others were asked also to serve in that capacity. All together, more than one hundred fifty persons participated in the production. A unique plan was developed to acquire and train the acting groups for the pageant: those persons in three congregations who were interested in participating were rehearsed by assistant directors in their own localities previous to the regular rehearsals. These were the groups that served as the pantomimists for the entire production. The musical background that set the mood, bridged the scenes, and climaxed the performance was furnished by the one-hundred- twenty-voice Southern Ohio Chorale Society under the direction of Perry Huffaker. Brethren music and selections from the Messiah were included in the production. Organists were Shirley King and Madonna Wine Goss.
The format of the pageant itself was a conversation, and simultaneous illustrative pantomime action, between the Voice of the Past, the Voice of the Present, and a speaking choir representing the future generations in quest of a challenge to existence. The history of the Church of the Brethren from its inception until the present development
One Hundredth District Meeting
of the
Church of the Brethren
Presents
An Historical Pageant
"In Unbroken Line" by Lois Teach Paul
to be held at the
SALEM HOMECOMING and CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of the
Produced and Directed by Virginia Royer. lois Paul and Joy Helstern Dull
November 6, 1954
Kenneth G. Long, Moderator Foster M, Buttinger, Asst. Mod. Ellas G. Guthrie, Reading Clerk Roy B. Teach, Secretary
The Southern Ohio District CBYF
Southern District of Ohio 1854 - 1954
Salem Church and West Milton H. S. Auditorium November 4, 5, 6, 7, 1954
Commemorating Southern Ohio's 100th Recorded District Meeting
BUILDING OF THE FIRST CHURCH
Program
7 30 pm. West Milton High School Auditorium
Printed Programs of Three Historic Occasions
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PART FIVE: CENTENNIAL
in the Southern Ohio district was offered to the future as an example of the better world that the church offers to those in search of fulfillment. Performed on a six-stage arrangement, the action was very effectively presented by the acting groups who numbered around a hundred persons.
Scene 1 represented the world in a conflict of ideology at the time of the Reformation, and the emerging of men of vision who led in the formation of new Protestant thought. These included Alexander Mack and his original group.
The second scene showed the first group of Brethren to sail for Penn's lands in America under the leadership of Peter Becker, and their leave-taking of their families and friends. This scene was made especially appealing by the participation of several German exchange students who led the group in the Lord's Prayer in German.
The first love feast and the subsequent first missionary journey were shown in Scene 3. Scene 4 told of Alexander Mack's arrival in America, and his meeting with Peter Becker. It also marked Mack's death.
Scene 5 was enacted by a group of children representing the first Sunday school inaugurated by the Brethren, which preceded the Raikes school by some forty years. It also in- troduced Christopher Saur, Sr., to the pageant as the publisher of early church and secular German literature. He was perhaps the most powerful German figure in Colonial America. This scene also marked the first schism in the American church, that of the Seventh Day Baptists under Conrad Beissel.
Several of the early church leaders of stature were in- troduced in Scene 6. They included John Naas, Martin Urner, Sr., Christopher Saur, Jr., and Alexander Mack, Jr. The scene ended marked with the violence done Christopher Saur, Jr.
The second part of the pageant was introduced in Scene 7 as the westward movement of the Brethren following their persecution was shown. In this scene the first church in Southern Ohio, Stonelick, was established and Ohio's first minister-Elder John Countryman-was introduced. Scene 8 continued the same action with the enactment of the arrival of settlers in the Miami Valley by Conestoga wagon train and other overland travel. Here Elders Jacob Miller, David
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Bowman, and George Hoke are introduced. Scene 9 pictures the duties of such backwoods preachers.
Recounted in Scene 10 is one of the most interesting stories of the early Brethren here, the work of Elder Philip Younce and his wife. This scene depicts one of the early examples of Brethren sharing when they visited the Indian settlement during the second Treaty of Greenville and made friends with them through sharing food with them.
The prelude to the Industrial Revolution and the resulting conflict of ideology that caused the schism of the late nine- teenth century mark Scene 11. Scene 12 represents that conflict and division.
At this point the pageant accentuates the turning point of the church by being subdivided at 1851. In the several years that followed, the familistic form of life gave way to urban living as the migration to the city began and further western migration took the church to the Pacific coast. English became the common language, and public schooling was accepted.
In Scene 13 Elder Peter Nead is honored as the moderator of the first district meeting.
The Brethren's rich musical heritage is depicted in Scene 14 as Conrad Beissel is represented leading a small group of singers in some of Beissel's original music, and later as the congregation sings one of the hymns of William Beery.
Scene 15 introduces one of the church's greatest men, Henry Kurtz, and his concept and leadership in the literary development of this period. The unifying factor of the publications he started dare not be underestimated as a vitaliz- ing force and guide in the church's new concept of its position as part of the greater body of Christ. Elder Kurtz's connection with the growth of the educational movement is also shown, marking the Brethren college's beginning at New Vienna, Ohio, a few years before the Civil War. James Quinter's place in that development is noted too, as well as that of later educators. The beginning of the vacation Bible school move- ment was marked at its beginning in Poplar Grove.
A second type of action is introduced in Scene 16 when on the large plywood plaque of the world that had been placed center stage during the entire action is superimposed,
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piece by piece, a second plaque representing the church, the body of Christ, the world of the spirit. Each department of the district work is represented by a plaque piece and is placed, each joining the other, by the chairman of the de- partment mentioned in each subsequent scene, until the second plaque is completed, covering the first.
In scenes 18 and 21, mission work is described and those missionaries that Southern Ohio has produced answer the roll call or are represented by a young person. Scenes 19 and 20 describe the development of Brethren Service.
The evolution of the Brethren concept of stewardship to its present level is marked by Scene 22.
One of the most significant of recent church developments is shown in Scene 23 as the role of district executive secretary, with his helpfulness to the district's pastors, is enacted.
The district functions that are most closely connected to the home itself are represented by their directors in Scene 24. They are Men's and Women's Work, family life, and leadership training.
The very large part of the Brethren philosophy that is the church's present witness for peace was presented in its broader sense in Scene 25. It showed this peculiar contribution the Brethren have to make to the Protestant picture.
The origin of the Youth Serves movement was brought out in Scene 26, as was also the work of the intermediate department. A sober evaluation of our present weaknesses and shortcomings brings the pageant up short to the realization of the job that is to be done, and questions our attitudes toward it. The district's growing concern for evangelism is presented and with it the final challenge of the circle plaque that had been growing to completion during these scenes. As the last piece is placed, there comes the realization that the church is the body of Christ, and that we, as members thereof, are building, or neglecting to build that body, for an outline of Christ has been painted on the plaque in fluorescent paint. At this point, an infra-red light is shown on the plaque and it glows with a fluorescent blue glow as the choir, through music, leads the audience in a prayer of dedication of ourselves and our church, that we may truly be the "body of Christ."
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