Annual Conference 2005 - Sunday Business Page

Nick Kauffman and Jeff Bach shared about the Brethren witness as a peace church. Kauffman went on to issue a strong call to the church to continue peacemaker formation with young people.
Photo by Regina Roberts

Delegates look over new business items.
Photo by Regina Roberts

ALIVE ’05–MAKING GLAD THE CITY OF GOD
An hour-long multimedia presentation was given during the afternoon business session, “a thumbnail sketch of what God is doing through the work of this denomination,” said moderator Jim Hardenbrook in introduction.

Titled “Alive ’05–Making Glad the City of God,” the presentation featured personal testimonies and video clips of a variety of ministries by Brethren individuals, congregations, and the denomination, interspersed with music. In our time, “who speaks of gladness?” asked narrator Dena Gilbert. “The Bible does,” she asserted. A phrase from Psalm 46 punctuated the presentation: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”

Stories of personal and communal transformation included that of Felix Lohitai, a peace studies student at Manchester College, who was formerly a soldier in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in southern Sudan; Mary Smeltzer’s work in Japanese internment camps during World War II; Richard Propes’ wheelchair “Tenderness Tour” on behalf of abused children; a young conscientious objector’s participation in this year’s Christian Citizenship Seminar; the work of the Global Food Crisis Fund in Guatemala; and the responses of Brethren congregations to the tsunami; among many other stories. The adult choir of Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren in Elgin, Ill., sang Beethoven’s “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” as a finale. The congregation sang “Amen” in response.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE DAY’S BUSINESS
Moderator Jim Hardenbrook opened this year’s business by asking for a reading from the gospels, to continue the emphasis on gospel reading that he has encouraged throughout his year as moderator. His son, Joe, read the gospel at the beginning of the afternoon session.

Jim Hardenbrook, moderator, presides over business sessions with diligence and good humor.
Photo by Regina Roberts

The delegate body welcomed seven new fellowships and three new congregations. The fellowships are La Casa Del Amigo in Arecibo, P.R.; Lirio de Los Valles, Lebanon, Pa.; New Beginnings, Manheim, Pa.; Maranatha Multicultural, Lancaster, Pa.; Trinity, Shippensburg, Pa.; Jesu Cristo El Camino, Hendersonville, N.C.; and New Creation, Morrisville, Pa. New congregations are Mountain View in McGaheysville, Va.; Living Faith, Concord, N.C.; and Knight’s Chapel, Barboursville, Va.

The delegate body adopted a new business item, “New Mandate for the Review and Evaluation Committee,” following a Standing Committee recommendation. In short the recommendation was that the mandate of this year’s regularly scheduled review and evaluation of the denomination’s ministries be expanded to include total denominational structure and program, including all agencies reportable to Annual Conference. In previous such reviews, only the work of the General Board was reviewed as the program agency of the Conference. One amendment was made to clarify that the committee will serve for only two years. This regularly scheduled review takes place every 10 years. A five-member committee will be elected with the Conference ballot on Monday morning, July 4, and will bring a report to Annual Conference in 2007.

Bethany Theological Seminary gave a special presentation to celebrate the school’s centennial, along with its annual report. Steve Reid, academic dean and professor, shared part of the report.
Photo by Regina Roberts

Bethany Theological Seminary gave a special presentation to celebrate the school’s centennial, along with its annual report. A slide show and readings reviewed the history of the seminary, structured around the tenures of its presidents, followed by video clips and stories of the ministries of alumnae and a listing of some of the “nameless servants” who have had an impact on the school over the years. “Bethany has lived on the trusted work of servants whose names are little known or not remembered,” said president Eugene F. Roop. Academic dean Stephen Reid reported that more than 2,000 people have studied at Bethany since 1905.

The following two trustees, elected by the Bethany board, were confirmed by the delegate body: Elaine L. Gibbel, of Lititz, Pa.; and J. Paul Wampler, of Manassas, Va.

The congregation was invited to sing “Pilgrimage of Faith,” a centennial hymn introduced on Saturday, July 1, by a choir of Bethany alumnae. Bethany professor emerita Nancy Faus Mullen directed this first congregational singing of the hymn by alumni Steve Engle and Frank Ramirez.

The anthem closes with the following verse:

“Bread and cup bind us together,
Towel and Testament our creed;
When we bend the knee as servant,
Home is where the Spirit leads.

“German stream, Virginia valley,
Soaring mountain, tropic cove;
On this pilgrimage of faith
Called to serve the Lord of Love.”

Members of the 2005 Annual Conference news team, a ministry of the General Board, contributed to this report: Regina Roberts, Jesse Reid, Hannah Edwards, and Sarah Kovacs, photographers; Kathleen Campanella, Karen Garrett, Jill Kline, Frank Ramirez, Frances Townsend, Sarah Leatherman Young, and Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, writers; Amy Heckert, technical support; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford and Becky Ullom, editors.

219th Annual Conference Peoria, Illinois July 2-6, 2005