Friday, July 01, 2016

Annual Conference names new leadership, Samuel Sarpiya chosen moderator-elect

In election results, Samuel Kefas Sarpiya was chosen as moderator-elect. He will serve alongside moderator Carol Scheppard at the 2017 Annual Conference, and will be moderator of the 2018 Conference.

Sarpiya, who was born in Nigeria, is pastor of Rockford (Ill.) Community Church of the Brethren and co-founder of the Center for Nonviolence and Conflict Transformation in Rockford. He has worked as a church planter and community organizer, and is passionate about the connection between peacemaking and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He received early training in the principles of Kingian nonviolence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and has drawn from Jesus’ teaching on nonviolence and peace in his work as a pastor. He has impacted the Rockford school systems, has done training for the Rockford police department’s command staff and management in nonviolent principles, and has partnered with Nigerian Brethren and Brethren in the United States in developing a mobile library for use among several camps hosting internally displaced persons across Nigeria. Previously, beginning in 1994, he worked with Urban Frontiers Mission and Youth with a Mission, serving as a missionary around the world. He is a graduate of the University of Jos, Nigeria, earning a degree in social work. He graduated from Bethany Theological Seminary with a master of divinity in conflict transformation. Currently he is a doctoral candidate in semiotics and future studies at George Fox University in Portland Ore.

--from Newsline