March 11-13, 2000, Meeting Report
Church of the Brethren General BoardMarch 11-13, 2000, Meeting Report |
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In the Monday morning devotions of the spring General Board meetings (March 11-13), board member R. Jan Thompson spoke on the topic "Like a Well-Watered Garden," from Isaiah 58:6-11. "A beautiful garden doesn't just happen," Thompson said. "It takes work."
That work, he said, includes preparing the soil, planting the seeds, pulling weeds, chasing away insects, watering, and finally sharing the produce.
The board engaged in just that sort of garden-tending over three days of worship, prayer, discernment, listening, and action. Working under the One Great Hour of Sharing theme, "Gifts of Living Water," and again using the Worshipful Work model of doing business, the board's activities included the following:
The board voted to realign some areas of the design implemented a few years ago. The General Board's Leadership Team will now consist of five members plus the executive director, rather than the previous eight plus the executive director. Sitting on the Leadership Team will be Brethren Press, Brethren Service Center, Centralized Resources/Treasurer, Congregational Life Ministries, and Global Mission Partnerships.
Brethren Service Center is a new addition to the Leadership Team, encompassing most New Windsor, Md., operations, including Emergency Response/Service Ministries and the New Windsor Conference Center. The Brethren Witness office and Brethren Volunteer Service will now be included in Global Mission Partnerships; the Ministry office will be included in Congregational Life Ministries; and the Funding office will be included with Centralized Resources/Treasurer.
No jobs were cut or changes in compensation made as a result of the realignment, which preserved all existing ministry areas. Board chair Mary Jo Flory-Steury said the structural changes were a matter of "function and concept" and sought to create "the best way of organizing ourselves for ministry together."
Stated goals of the plan included seeking to improve the communication and efficiency of the Leadership Team, working to coordinate the activities of the various offices, and giving a stronger voice to the Brethren Service Center.
Finance and funding staff reported a robust ending for 1999, with strong income over expense for the year, healthy reserve funds, and a very strong year for bequests. Total net worth of the General Programs of the General Board stood at more than $2.5 million at the end of 1999, and all but one self-funding unit showed income over expense. Funding staff cautioned the need for continued intentional work at broader congregational and individual participation, however.
After discussion, the board adopted a vision statement for its work: "Of God, for God, with God." Executive director Judy Mills Reimer called it a way to "stay focused on what the church has asked us to be." Marty Barlow, Wendy McFadden, Don Parker, Howard Royer, and Christy Waltersdorff served on the committee that drafted the vision statement.
The board also received three-year "benchmark" goals from each General Board ministry area to guide work from 2000-2002 with thanks for the staff's hard work in putting them together.
The General Board approved:
A request from the Committee on Interchurch Relations to have the General Board ask Annual Conference to join the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010). Several board members expressed a need for this material to be made available and approachable for congregations to actively respond.
A resolution seeking greater ethnic inclusion in church leadership. It also decided to spend time in its fall meeting developing a process for inclusion of ethnic persons on the General Board. The full resolution will be available on the General Board section of the www.brethren.org web site.
Continued exploration of renewed mission in Brazil, with a recommendation and budget projections to be brought to the board no later than its March 2001 meeting. Global Mission Partnerships director Merv Keeney reported that a delegation visiting Brazil this past fall was "pleasantly surprised and excited" by the possibilities they saw there, including strong indigenous leadership.
A Mission and Ministries Planning Council request to join Eastern Mennonite Missions in sponsoring the three-year placement of Grace Mishler of the Union Center Church of the Brethren (Nappanee, Ind.) in Vietnam. Mishler will be establishing a social work program at Ho Chi Minh City University, and hopes were also expressed that this new relationship would work at healing between the US and Vietnam through the church.
A stream of ministry-area updates provided information on successful efforts in racial awareness and J2K; the Mission and Ministries Planning Council and an Emerging Global Mission Fund for new mission work; joy in the Dominican Republic and plans for Jerry and Becky Crouse to speak at an Annual Conference dinner; prayer needs in response to the violence in Nigeria; sharing of both pain in a meeting with Church of North India officials and celebration of a delegation that visited "separated" Brethren in India; and happenings in new church development, Worshipful Work, the Washington Office, and other items.
The Executive Committee appointed Donald F. Durnbaugh of Huntingdon, Pa., to a four-year term on the Brethren Historical Committee beginning July 1, and J. Kenneth Kreider to a three-year term on the Germantown Trust Committee as General Board representative.
The board also heard sharing from Bethany Theological Seminary and a group of Bethany students who came to experience the General Board meetings (including a vanload who arrived late after being caught in a snowstorm in Indiana); from Annual Conference moderator Emily Mumma, who filled the room with fuzzy yarn "balls of love" to embody the theme of this year's Conference, and projected a heavy agenda for the Kansas City meeting; from Brethren Benefit Trust; from American Baptist Churches observer Sara Osgood; and from the Inter-Agency Forum.
A Saturday evening banquet again lifted up ministry through the General Board, as eight people or groups shared stories amid singing and laughter. Gilbert Romero, Greg Laszakovits, and Phill Carlos Archbold provided leadership for energetic worship experiences during the weekend, several others led devotional times, and hymns and prayer filled the business agenda through the discernment model of Worshipful Work. Two worship centers of flowing fountains and abundant plants, prepared by Howard Royer, Beth Sollenberger Morphew, and Dave Ingold, interpreted the theme and provided focal points.
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