Day 6: Red Letter Christians
Red Letter Christians
PO Box 7131
St. Davids, PA 19087
Dear Red Letter Christians,
My name is Emmett Eldred. I am one of many youth and young adults within the Church of the Brethren who belong to an active, passionate movement to better reflect the love and teachings of Jesus in our everyday lives. I am writing to you as part of a series of over 1000 letters that I will write over the next year about the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN), the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria.
The EYN are an incredible group of people whose inspiring story is beyond worthy of your and your readers’ attention. I’m sure you remember the 276 schoolgirls from northern Nigeria who were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Few people realize that about three-fourths of those girls belong to the EYN. In fact, few have suffered from the violence in Nigeria as severely as the EYN.
What makes the EYN’s story so inspiring, though, isn’t just their suffering, but the courageous, faithful way that they’ve responded to their suffering. The Church of the Brethren, including the EYN, is a historic peace church. Though they face innumerable hardship, the EYN has remained resolute in their convictions of peace and christ-like love for their enemies.
Despite facing such great fear, hatred, and division, the EYN continue to respond with even greater courage, love, and community. They recognize that they are to be a beacon of Christ’s love in a world darkened by violence. They understand that they are called to be leaders in restoring community, dialogue, and dignity to all the people of Nigeria, even though this requires great, christ-like sacrifice.
These people fill me with hope, and I am never going to stop advocating for them.
I hope that you will feature the EYN’s story on your website. I will write the article myself if I have to. I truly believe that this is a story that your readers need to hear. For one thing, I think that this story is incredibly inspiring and moving. But it goes even deeper than that — it is provocative and challenging. Your readers will ask themselves a question that I continue to struggle with: If I were a member of the EYN, would my faithfulness be so great?
With thanks and the love of Christ,
Emmett Eldred
Carnegie Mellon University
SMC# 2046
Pittsburgh, PA 15289
eeldred@andrew.cmu.edu
814-502-8349
Dunker Punks 