Church of the Brethren General Board March 8-11, 2003, Meeting Report

The unanimous call of a new general secretary for the denomination's primary ministry and administrative arm highlighted a meeting otherwise often clouded by uncertainty and concerns forthe future as the General Board met at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., March 8-11.

Stanley J. Noffsinger, who has overseen the work of the Brethren Service Center since June 1999, will begin his new role in July. He will succeed Judy Mills Reimer, who is retiring after leading the agency for the past five years. Noffsinger, who called it "an incredible discernment process," was the only candidate brought to the board by its search committee.

"I'd love to take my jacket off and my tie off and roll up my sleeves, because we have a lot of difficult work to do," Noffsinger said to a packed room. He said the church was "at a crossroads" and called all Brethren to join in the hard work as the board embarks "on a venture of faith."

Noffsinger, a member of Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren, will maintain his residency in Maryland, with dual offices of the general secretary in both New Windsor and at the agency's General Offices in Elgin, Ill., which will continue to serve as denominational headquarters. (For more details on Noffsinger and his call to the position, go to www.brethren.org/genbd/newsline/2003/mar1003.htm.)

Earlier, the board wrapped up the current work on its evolving comprehensive plan, asking for particular attention to congregational giving patterns, the need for cooperation and creativity in the denomination's agency structure, and building a greater sense of Christian and Brethren identity in the church. "We're in some new water here," board chair Warren Eshbach of Thomasville, Pa., said. "This isn't planning as usual. . . . This is new territory."

The priority on funding came as the board heard of a $700,000-plus deficit for the agency in 2002, a reduction of $384,000 in the budget parameter for 2003 (mainly through staff reductions) approved earlier via mail ballot, and ongoing future financial challenges amid flat or decreasing donations and rising expenses. Assistant treasurer Dennis Kingery noted that "long-term problems still exist."

A large crowd of visitors attended an afternoon session, many of them speaking to the recently announced decision to merge the Brethren Witness office and the Church of the Brethren Washington (D.C.) Office into one position based in Washington. Reimer emphasized that Faith Expeditions, the Global Food Crisis Fund, and other key peace and witness efforts will continue.

Board members acted on an item related to the denomination's peace witness, joining the On Earth Peace board in affirming a "Call for a Living Peace Church" that will now go to this summer's Annual Conference. One board member said the call moves the denomination from being just a "historic peace church" and into thinking about what that means today.

The board's Anti-Racism Training (ART) team led the board, staff, and visitors through an exploration of racism issues and the meaning of "white privilege" during two sessions. "God created us as a family," team member Barbara Cuffie of the Dundalk (Md.) Church of the Brethren said. "We just have to learn to live like one."

In other action, the board called Vickie Whitacre Samland of Littleton, Colo., as its board-appointed at-large member, to be affirmed by Annual Conference; engaged in dialog about the denomination's name; heard an update on talks with church groups in India and a business item on India relations currently on the table at Annual Conference; took part in a World Day of Prayer worship service and other worship times; visited in area congregations Sunday morning; and heard uplifting stories and updates from other General Board programs and ministry partners.

The board's Executive Committee, in its March 7 meeting prior to the gathering of the full board, named Doris Faus of the Chiques congregation (Manheim, Pa.) as General Board representative to the Germantown Trust and approved a $30,000 grant to famine-plagued North Korea from the board's Global Food Crisis Fund.

© 2008 Church of the Brethren General Board