USA > Pennsylvania > Change and challenge: a history of the Church of the Brethren in the southern district of Pennsylvania, 1940-1972 > Part 19
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In 1948, some of these Peace Caravan youth spoke their desires at the Colorado Springs Conference.98 The church heard and took action: "The Church of the Brethren takes the position that members cannot consistently accept any service within the military forces or under military supervision. We commend to them instead a construc- tive alternative service under the direction of the church or some other civilian agency. We recognize our obligation to provide facili- ties for such services for those who wish it."
By autumn of the same year, Brethren Volunteer Service was begun in a trail-blazing venture which has since provided unique experiences in peace-making for many youth and adults. The program has also produced quality leadership for many districts and local congregations. By the close of 1951, 318 young people became involved from the churches of the brotherhood.99 After twenty years of service the program was exam- ined. The report showed 2700 persons had served in some way in the program. By 1970, the number had increased to 2,913 youth and adults.
Brethren Volunteer Service had tried to advance the cause of peace in the world by a new life-style. In a flexible, mobile program, workers
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have moved from place to place and from continent to continent, wherever there has been insistent need. The range of services has been broad, covering more than a hundred types of ministries. Volunteers have served in migrant camps, Indian reservations, overseas village rehabilitation proj- ects, refugee relief endeavors, homes for the aged and city ghetto proj- ects.100 Most Brethren Volunteer workers have become acutely aware of material and social needs of people around the world. They have also discovered what the church can do when people decide to act on a problem.
Nearly every congregation of the Southern District can boast of individuals who have served through the Brethren Volunteer Service program. Ministries at home and abroad have challenged young people to dedicated labors. Galen Heck- man served as a B.V.S. worker in Trikala, Greece with the Greek Orthodox Church. Jacob Miller Jr. worked with the Sioux Indians in the area of Rapid City, South Dakota through the Community Service Center. Marvin Gibble spent his B.V.S. years at the Flat Creek Mission in Creek- ville, Kentucky. B.V.S. worker Phil West taught English in the Warsaw College of Agriculture in Poland. Earl Dibert and Merrin Godfrey were workers in Nigeria in British West Africa. David Fitz worked Earl Dibert as a staff assistant and as a teacher at the New Windsor Brethren Service Center. Gregory Bachman was assigned to the Brethren Volunteer Services Of- fices at Elgin, Illinois. George Kohr and John Minnich have also seen service through this unique ministry.
These and many others have returned to the district to provide new perspectives and leadership to church programs. One B.V.Ser observed in 1968:
"The influence of the program of the Church of the Brethren undobutedly has been great. But the greatest changes, I am con- vinced, have taken place within the B.V. Sers themselves."
In 1951, the Annual Conference expanded the program to include adults. The minimum age was eighteen years, but there were no top limits. Adults have volunteered and have served in meaningful positions as houseparents, business managers, builders, engineers, architects, teachers, nurses and doctors. In most instances, both youth and adults have served with a bare minimum allowance.
Some churches of the district witnessed a nation-wide C.B.S. docu- mentary on January 14, 1968 under the title, "Witness For Peace". This was an account of the training which is given to Brethren Volunteer Ser- vice workers at New Windsor, Maryland. The film tried to impress the audience and viewers with the fact that there are positive ways to witness for peace without resorting to sit-in demonstrations, draft-card burnings or violence. The presentation portrayed the Brethren Volunteer Service program as a positive alternative to the draft. Don Snider, director of the program, was frequently highlighted throughout the presentation.101
When the 1948 conscription law was orginally enacted, all conscien- tious objectors were deferred from military duties. There was widespread opposition to the act and some wording of the act created difficulties for the conscientious objector. An objector was obligated to prove he held his
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views "by reason of religious training and belief". More than 400 local draft boards in the nation were instructed to rule against those who based their objections on "political, sociological or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code". This law provided an extremely narrow view of con- scientious objection. No conscientious objectors were placed in work camps or in noncombatant positions under the act as it was originally framed. In March, 1952, the nation had 5,000 conscientious objectors waiting assign- ment. The period from 1948 until 1951 was one of serious study concern- ing the nature of the work which would be permitted to an objector.
When the United States became involved in the Korean conflict, the Congress amended the Selective Service Act to require of conscientious objectors "civilian work contributing to the maintenance of the national health, safety or interest". The nature of this work was defined in 1952. A. Stauffer Curry reported for the N.S.B.R.O. how the government had notified federal, state and local agencies, hospitals and private nonprofit agencies that conscientious objectors were available for service. Many went to work in mental hospitals, T. B. sanatoria, general hospitals and selected church service agencies in lieu of military duties.
The Alternative Service program of the Church of the Brethren was opened to all applicants regardless of denominational affiliations. Ac- cording to a 1952 interpretation, twenty-four months of service were re- quired under the alternative plan. Under the same law, churches were relieved of the responsibility for providing financial support for the ob- jector. From 1951 until 1968, more than 22,000 men in the nation were involved in Alternative Service work from all denominations. In 1968 alone, there were 6,215 persons in the program in the nation.102 A re- port of 1971 indicated that 27,209 conscientious objectors had performed Alternative Service in the national interests since World War II.
With the nation's involvement in the Korean War, each congregation of the brotherhood was encouraged to appoint a draft counselor for youth. 103 In order to give guidance to the program throughout the brotherhood, Ora Huston was appointed to serve as Peace Counselor to ministers and to youth. In 1960, 1963 and 1964, Ora Huston visited the Southern District, counseling youth concerning the draft and its options. He helped to build conviction in individual church members to keep them from being swayed by the changing political climate or the uncertain inter- national situation. Ora Huston once observed: "The first business of the peace counselor is to develop peace convictions which lead to right ac- tions".104 In order to aid youth in their decisions, he produced numerous pieces of literature to be used in study sessions.
In spite of the concessions which the government made to the con- sciences of young men, some felt the church was not doing enough to make a peace witness to the young. Many ministers did not feel it was their responsibility to enlist conscientious objectors. These ministers made themselves available for personal and group counseling sessions. On oc- casions, the issue of Alternative Service was discussed in Sunday School classes or in youth groups. The District Social Education and Action Commission advised that an occasional "peace session" was not sufficient to imbue people with peace convictions. Ministers were encouraged to become more active in making known to their youth the options under the Selective Service Act.
The District Witness Commission notified congregations of the avail- ability of some people who had served in Alternative Service work. In 1965, John Krape, Merrin Godfrey, John Williams, David Lehigh and Wendell Sweitzer were listed as available for counseling and guidance.
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Merlin G. Shull was appointed in 1968 to act on behalf of the Witness Commission as a draft counselor. His background in the convictions of the denomination and his own experience in Brethren Service work abroad, qualified him to give guidance to young men who confronted the draft. A draft counselor was needed because the Selective Service Act was filled with technical pitfalls about which the uninformed would not be aware. Merlin Shull has continued to refresh his understanding of these technicalities by attending Peace Seminars and Draft Workshops. In 1970, he met more than eighty youth of the district in a conference at the Ridge Church. Ron Hanft, Director of Alternative Service at New Windsor, also met with the youth to give them guidance.
Other wars have had protests against recruitment and conscription. The war in Vietnam has generated an unusual volume of protests. This may be attributed to some unique features of the war itself. First, it runs contrary to long-held convictions that the United States should never engage in a land war on the Asian continent. Secondly, the war has raised moral concerns about waging wars of aggression in a foreign land. For this kind of act our own nation condemned enemies in World War II more than a quarter of a century earlier. These factors, in addi- tion to the waste of personality and resources in a world of increasing poverty, have created strong outcries.
Late in 1967, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. and Dr. Benjamin Spock, along with others, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to coun- sel young people to violate draft laws. These men conducted public dem- onstrations in which they encouraged draft resistance and the turning in of draft cards. These cards were then transported in bulk to the Justice Department building in Washington, D.C. Similar draft card gestures followed at other locations in the nation. A tangent action involved some Church of the Brethren youth, one of whom became a pastor in the Southern District. Four young men forwarded their draft cards to their local draft boards. 105
James N. Poling, in returning his draft card (January 28, 1969), pro- tested America's involvement in the Vietnam War and expressed his iden- tification with other individuals who were then challenging the govern- ment's policies. He later expressed his views:
"I continue to believe that war is one of the most serious prob- lems facing man in this century, and the United States government is a major antagonist in causing war. I believe the Church of the Brethren has a special revelation of God's will on the question of war and peace. We need to be more outspoken and courageous in our witness in this area."106
The witness of James N. Poling was a protest witness. After several months of correspondence with his draft board at Hagerstown, Maryland, he altered his position from noncooperation to cooperation. On May 25, 1968, he received a new classification.
In March, 1970, Dale W. Brown appeared before the General Brother- hood Board meeting with eight young men who asked to have their draft cards received for forwarding to the Justice Department. The board voted to receive the draft board items and recognized the actions of the young people as "consistent with the Brethren peace witness".107
The past thirty years has witnessed some clear gains in the fight for the rights of conscience in America. For one thing, a number of peace fellowships and voluntary organizations have compelled the churches and the government to take a new look at their positions. The church has become aware of the injustices in the administration of the Selective Service System. These injustices have fostered disrespect for the law and have led to a widening of the generation gap. The church itself,
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aware of the inequities in the use of conscientious objectors in work of national importance, have moved out in search of more challenging minis- tries in which conscientious objectors may acceptably serve.108
Again, there have been some clear gains for the conscientious objector position. Moving from World War II, during which some hastily-contrived measures were adopted, the church moved into the Vietnam era in which public criticism grew intense. The church has gained in respect among the young where it has been free to speak against injustices. It has gained in respect where it has dared to speak on behalf of the civil liberties of the conscientious objector.
For its own part, the state has moved from a position of recognizing the sectarian conscientious objector to the broader interpretation which acknowledges objections to military service as not requiring an orthodox belief in a personal God. The President of the United States signed a new draft law on September 28, 1971. This law officially recognized young men are entitled to some "procedural rights" when they confront the Selective Service System.109 At the same time, the conscientious ob- jector status in America has been rather deeply identified with religious pacifism. Slowly the position of conscientious objector in America is beginning to match the British system which has recognized nonreligious and nonpacifist conscientious objectors since World War II.
Thirdly, there has been an increasing cooperation between the denomi- nations in the face of the military system in the nation. Churches are realizing civilizations do not travel on the powder cart, as Ruskin once suggested, but that modern war can involve all nations in a nuclear wasteland. War protests and peace marches have multiplied. Conscience now speaks to conscience across national lines on behalf of peace. Churches have now come to a greater agreement on the sinfulness of war.111 Larger and stronger denominations are turning to positions preserved for so many years by the Historic Peace Churches.
PROMOTING BRETHREN SERVICE
Robert E. Mohler, Executive Secretary of the Council of Men's Work, once observed:
"Nothing before in all of our church's history has so thrilled our people and caused others to look to us as a great Christian group as has Brethren Service".112
A note in the Chicago Daily News in 1947 commented on the program: "The Church of the Brethren is more interested in other people than they are in themselves."113 This program of the denomination has been the fulfillment of a heritage, the unique expression of the mission of the church for this age. It has been one of the means by which the Christian faith has become practical and relevant.
The previous sections of this chapter have shown a few ministries in which the people of the Southern District have been involved. No area of human interest and need has been slighted as the church has tried to give expression to its heritage. Medical and counseling services; domestic ministries in forestry, hookworm control and soil conservation; relief and rehabilitation ministries; cultural exchange programs and spiri- tual ministries have been rendered as the occasion required. The breadth of the church's concern would have amazed our forefathers.
Emergency ministries have become rather common. Laverne Worley, a member of the Hanover Church, discovered how the demands of an emergency can alter one's life very swiftly. Skolpje, Yugoslavia, a town of 230,000 persons, was severely shaken by an earthquake on July 26, 1963. The large clock on the railroad station stopped at 5:17 A.M. when
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the disaster destroyed nearly four-fifths of the town. More than 1,100 persons were killed and 3,350 others were injured. Nearly 1,200 persons were made invalid for life. The damage to this city in southern Yugo- slavia was so extensive that special markings were devised to mark houses. Those with red stripes showed the houses which were beyond repair. Those with yellow stripes might possibly be repaired. Those with green stripes were structurally sound and could be used. Very few houses had green markings.
Money and material assistance were rushed to Skolpje from all parts of the world in 1963. The World Council of Churches called upon the Church of the Brethren and the Mennonites to confront the housing crisis in this Communist country. Three Brethren and three Mennonites were hurriedly sent overseas to manage the construction of new housing. Among those who were sent was Laverne Worley who had wide experience in the building trades. With only the briefest notice, he and the others were sent to oversee the construction of 125 prefabricated houses which were purchased in Austria. The church agencies and the men were eager to undertake the work since this represented a break-through to a Com- munist country where the church had not been permitted to go before. The Americans were approached to oversee the work because prefabri- cated construction was new to the people of Yugoslavia. There were some concerns the Communists might place the houses on a railroad siding and neglect the work of reconstruction.
Bro. Worley said of his experience abroad:
"We spent some weekends working under hardships. After a while, when they learned that we were working without pay, the Yugoslavians took to us wholeheartedly and we soon made friends with everyone. Our work became pleasant and it became an experi- ence some of us will never forget. . We have had many letters from these friends over the years and we all have the hope that somehow we will meet again. They almost always beg for letters and pictures of our family; and they hunt far and wide for someone who can read English when they receive our letters . . . Down to earth contacts can have an impact no one can measure. Some time I hope to visit the Skolpje area to chat with people who live in the homes we helped to build.114
One of the finest promotions for Brethren Service has been the per- sonal touch rendered by people who have crossed the iron and bamboo curtains to minister in the name of Christ. Far more meaningful than words is the direct ministry offered by one person to another or by one group to another. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27).
Helen Marie Tritt (Mrs. John Mischitz), formerly of the Carlisle Church, spent time in Germany and in Austria as a Brethren Volunteer worker. She spent three months in a refugee orthopedic hospital near Kassel, Germany, where conditions were quite simple and nearly primitive. Here, in 1951, in the period of reconstruction following World War II, she learned how to make a fire in a little coal stove in her bedroom. In this community, Mrs. Mischitz worked with a pastor, a social worker and a teacher in ministering to people of a refugee camp.115
Mrs. Mischitz prepared herself for service in the nursing and medical field in the Philadelphia area. She took graduate and postgraduate courses in the Jefferson Hospital. From 1952 to 1954, she served as the Brethren Service Director of Health Program for Refugees in Upper Austria.
The Brethren Service cultural program has also had its impact upon the Southern District. Most notable and successful has been the Student Exchange Program. People who met Paul Herzog in the home of the Mark Roths (1950-1951) or Dieter Phillip in the home of the Glenn
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Norrises (1954-1955), or who spoke with Christen Ericsson (1962) at the York First Church can witness to the value of the program. Waldemar Ostrowski resided with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Boyer in Adams County while he worked for the C. H. Musselman Company. Many young people of the district saw the slides taken by Rebecca Eller, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Raymond Eller, and heard her relate her experiences of life in Germany (1961-1962) as part of an exchange program.
In the early spring of 1949, the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Branch of the American Occupation Government in Germany requested the Brethren Service Commission to arrange for an Exchange Program. This request came as a result of a report which M. R. Zigler made to a session of UNESCO in Paris.116 The hope was to involve German and Polish youth in an exchange for a year. In this manner, these young people could learn home-making and agricultural techniques in America.
In 1949, ninety German youth came to America to live for a year in the homes of foster parents. The first contingent of fifty youths was met by W. Harold Row as they arrived from Bremmerhaven, Germany. The group was taken on a sight-seeing tour of New York City and they were greeted at the United Nations by Andrew W. Cordier.117 These youth were then taken to New Windsor, Maryland. In the first year of exchange, the youth entered sixteen states of the nation. They attended services of the Church of the Brethren, lived with Brethren families and discovered the Brethren style of life.
The Brethren Service Committee reported the plan was highly success- ful. By 1950, a second group of several hundred high school youth en- tered the states. As this program became known, other organizations began to share in the support and the sponsorship of the exchange. Such organizations as the American Farm Bureau, the National Grange, the American Field Service, and the National Catholic Welfare Conference cooperated with the Brethren Service Committee. By 1956, the placement of youth in homes was delegated to interdenominational groups. During the eight years in which the Brethren conducted the exchanges, 703 per- sons had been placed in American homes.
Much of the success of the Brethren Service program has rested on the fact that it is a practical expression of the Christian faith. Some people felt the name "Brethren Service" should not be overstressed. Levi K. Ziegler commented on this in 1945:
"Maybe we have overstressed the word 'Brethren' in 'Brethren Service' . . . Back in the days when the church belonged to rescue famine sufferers in China, we called our service famine relief. Fur- ther back, in the days of S. N. McCann and his associates, the church did not call the saving of a large number of India sufferers Brethren Service. It was all Christian Service."118
In recent years the denomination has change the name of its com- missions. The World Ministries Commission has become responsible for the world outreach program of the denomination. This change of name is the acknowledgment that the church is reaching far beyond the bounds of its own congregations. Brethren have joined with many other peoples, and others have joined with the Brethren, to promote the interests of the Christian Church around the world.
One of the prominent illustrations of this fact is the work of Rosa Welch Page. A member of the Disciples of Christ denomination, she has worked frequently with the Church of the Brethren. As early as the 1940s this noted vocalist and teacher of music worked with church camps in the Church of the Brethren. She has also become a "singing ambassa- dor of good-will" around the world. One can never forget her eloquent rendition of, "There Is A Balm In Gilead To Make The Nations Whole"
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at the Annual Conferences. She has served as a volunteer worker in the Nigerian mission field (1962-1964) under the direction of the Church of the Brethren. Rosa Welch Page was in the Southern District and offered to the Brethren of this area her witness to the fine work which the church is conducting at home and abroad (1964).
Brethren Service has been extremely significant for the life of the denomination during the past three decades. It has turned the church's energies away from self-interest to participation in society. It has demon- strated in countless fashions the extent of care by the church for people and it has shown it can minister in imaginative ways to the needs of the world. Through Brethren Service, the denomination has enlarged its ministry of reconciliation by confronting a multitude of human and social problems. The program has awakened the church to the fact that the Christian Church is the one institution in our world which has the interest of the whole world at heart.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN CONCERN FOR SOCIAL ACTION
In 1964 a reader of The Gospel Messenger claimed that in the past twenty-five to thirty years the Church of the Brethren has become "one of the strongest social action churches in the Protestant denomination".1 The reader was not convinced that this was in the best interests of the denomination since, in its involvements with social action, it would tend to forget other aspects of its ministry.
Brethren have not generally agreed on how much stress this phase of the Christian ministry must receive. It is true social action represents the "deacon" function of the denomination as it expresses itself in healing, reconciling and counseling ministries to the community and the world. Brethren Service itself is very properly regarded as a form of social action. To feed a hungry person may be purely a secular act. To do it in the name and in the spirit of Christ is to convert it into a Christian deed. In many ways, this kind of social action has been an inherent part of our Brethren heritage.
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