August 2008

Members of the African delegation were just one of the groups providing special music on the deck of the guest church facility following the evening meal Sunday. A short time of singing and worship closed out the day, with a two-hour bus ride back to Bad Homburg. Tomorrow at the CHARIS gathering is primarily a […]

Dr. Francois Ngoumape, from the Central African Republic, was one of the program personnel who led in prayer at the 2008 Brethren World Assembly worship service this Sunday morning in Schwarzenau, Germany. At his left is French Grace Brethren pastor Florent Varak, who translated Ngoumape’s prayer from the French. More than 600 Brethren from many

Lloyd Hazzard, from the Grace Brethren Church in Sunnyside, Washington, made friends with some of the Schwarzenau fire department personnel providing services to the Brethren World Assembly, and in response the Germans gave him a German uniform jacket and hat. Back home in Sunnyside, Hazzard is a deputy fire chief, and he brought with him

Rainer Ehmann, Charis partner in Germany with Grace Brethren International Missions, was one of the translators for the afternoon session Sunday. At his left is Dennis Slabaugh, who translated the newly-published book on the Schwarzenau Brethren by the keynote speaker Marcus Meier. The afternoon service was in German, so all those who spoke English only

David Guiles, executive director of Grace Brethren International Missions, had the opportunity in the Sunday afternoon program of the Brethren World Assembly to introduce the 40 internationals who were attending as part of the CHARIS gatherings. At Guiles’ left is a translator, as the service was in German. ————————- David Guiles, directeur exécutif des Missions

The 2008 Brethren World Assembly ended this Sunday evening with a gathering by the Eder River in Schwarzenau, near the scenic stone bridge which is the characteristic landmark of the little village. Many hundreds of Brethren from all six groups gathered to hear some hymns sung by the Old Order German Baptist Brethren, and to

After an hour’s bus ride from the hotel in Marburg, Germany, the Brethren Heritage Tour’s first stop in the little village of Schwarzenau was at the Alexander Mack Museum, high atop the hill above the river in a section called “village of the huts” where Mack and the poorer people of the village lived. Alexander

Margaret Zook (left) of Sacramento, California, and JoAnn Cron (right) of Greenville, South Carolina, took a moment to be photographed with Alexander Mack. Mack (actually an impersonator from Harrisonburg, Virginia) gave a very informative and insightful first-person lecture on the founder of the Brethren movement.

At the Alexander Mack Schule (school) the tour group spent quite some time learning a timeline of Brethren history, seeing a video on the impact of Brethren Service Volunteers after World War II, and learning the beliefs of the early Brethren. Here Dr. David Plaster, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church in Worthington, Ohio, gives

The first day of the Brethren World Assembly concluded with a mass choir concert in the Riding Hall. The featured choir was the choir from McPherson College in Kansas, a Church of the Brethren school, but several local German choirs performed, as well. In this concluding number, all singers from all choirs joined together in