220th Annual Conference Des Moines, Iowa July 1-5, 2006

Index	Theme	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Wrap Up

Standing Committee members worked in small groups on some of the questions from the study guide for Together: Conversations on Being a Church. - photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford

Past Annual Conference moderator Jim Hardenbrook presented a report from the Annual Conference Council. - photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford

Wil Nolen, president of Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT), spoke to Standing Committee concerning a query urging divestment from Caterpillar Corporation. - photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford

ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO RECEIVE ANSWER TO QUERY ON ‘CLARIFICATION OF CONFUSION’

Issues of sexuality and ministry in the denomination resurfaced during Standing Committee meetings in Des Moines, Iowa, as the Annual Conference Council reported on a letter it sent to Michigan District earlier this year. The Standing Committee of district delegates decided today to pass the answer on to Annual Conference as part of its report, and to include a verbal explanation of the process used to deal with the query.

The letter gives the council’s answers to questions posed in a 2003 query from Michigan requesting clarification of Annual Conference statements on issues of sexuality and the licensing and ordination of ministers.

Standing Committee meets each year before the Annual Conference. The group began meeting Wednesday afternoon, June 28, and continues through tomorrow morning, July 1. The Annual Conference Council reports to Standing Committee, and acts as its executive committee.

Past moderator Jim Hardenbrook read the letter to Standing Committee during his report as chair of the Annual Conference Council. He also read a response that has been received from Michigan District. Following his presentation, Standing Committee members requested copies of the letter in writing, and requested time to discuss the council’s action.

The concerns of the query had been referred to the council by Annual Conference in 2003. A first response from the council came in August 2003, stating that, “No one known to be engaging in homosexual practices will be licensed or ordained in the Church of the Brethren,” but adding that, “specific structural and theological issues will be answered later.”

Since then, Hardenbrook said, the council’s response also has included visits of council members to Michigan District, other meetings with district leaders, work on the issues in other settings including by staff of the General Board’s Ministry Office and the Council of District Executives, and a listening session at the 2004 Annual Conference.

The Standing Committee discussion ranged over a variety of issues including whether the letter should be shared at all with the Annual Conference delegates. "The query came from Michigan, but Michigan isn’t the only district that holds these concerns,” said John Willoughby, Michigan representative to Standing Committee. “I’m confused by the fact that we’d handle this one differently, other than the fact that we just want this to go away,” he said later in the discussion. “I think that the Annual Conference as a whole needs to hear the answer.”

Annual Conference did not request a report back from the council when it referred the query in 2003, according to Annual Conference secretary Fred Swartz. Many Standing Committee delegates expressed the understanding that the council’s answers close the issue.

Other issues raised in the Standing Committee discussion included the unusual nature of the response to this query, that it is the first query to be referred for an answer to the Annual Conference Council, whether the council’s answer is subject to approval by Annual Conference, whether the answer should be treated as an unfinished item of business, whether Standing Committee should give a verbal report to the Conference delegates or include the letter as a written document in the delegate packets, and whether Standing Committee would include the Michigan District response in its report.

Some spoke of the newness of the Annual Conference Council itself, which as Hardenbrook told the Standing Committee, has only been in existence for five years. The role of the council is still being clarified, said 2006 Annual Conference moderator Ronald Beachley. “This is new territory,” Beachley said, adding that the council was not sure how to report on its action. As the first query to be referred to the council, “the answer to this query has been different from the beginning,” said Hardenbrook.

STANDING COMMITTEE MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS ON NEW BUSINESS

Recommendations to the Annual Conference on how to deal with items of new business have been made by Standing Committee. The recommendations will be presented to the Conference in business sessions beginning Sunday afternoon, July 2.

Standing Committee recommended that a query titled, “Resolution: Divestment from Companies Selling Products Used as Weapons in Israel and Palestine,” be respectfully returned, adding affirmation of the concern of the resolution. The recommendation urged “agencies and individuals to review their own investments to give faithful witness to Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace.”

The query originated in Fremont (Calif.) Fellowship in Christ and Pacific Southwest District and asked Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) in particular to divest from Caterpillar Corporation “and any other company that sells products that are used routinely as weapons of destruction or death in Israel and Palestine.” Moderator Beachley reported that since the time the query was received, BBT fund managers have sold off BBT’s Caterpillar stock, simply as a financial decision unrelated to the query. The sale was reported to BBT after the decision was made, Beachley reported.

Standing Committee discussion included whether the query is moot given BBT’s divestment of Caterpillar stock, concern to encourage Brethren agencies and individuals to examine their investments, and the effectiveness of divestment as opposed to stockholder resolutions in effecting change. Committee members also asked questions about the nature of the socially responsible investment (SRI) guidelines of the Church of the Brethren and BBT, and expressed concern not to tell BBT how to make investment decisions.

“It’s virtually impossible to find a company that would be totally clean in every area,” BBT president Wil Nolen told the committee. “We were not planning to divest at this point,” if the investment managers had not sold the shares, Nolen said. “We’d much rather use the shares as an opening to speak with the company.”

In other business, the direction of the document, Revisions to the Articles of Organization of Brethren Benefit Trust, was affirmed after a sentence was removed by the BBT board. Some Standing Committee members had expressed unease with the sentence’s introduction of a new ability for BBT to seek funding sources beyond fees, including donations from individuals. That was perceived to open the agency to possible conflicts of interest and violations of privacy, as BBT may have access to donor lists of other Brethren agencies that use its services. Yesterday the business item was tabled overnight to give the BBT board time to respond with a revised sentence. This morning, BBT responded with the offer to remove the sentence in its entirety.

Standing Committee recommended approval of the concern of the query, “Call to Stewardship Education.” It also recommended that the query be referred to the General Board, and that the board be encouraged “to continue and broaden its stewardship education efforts as permitted by available resources.” The query from Mid-Atlantic District requested “additional guidance, resources, and instruction for deepening our understanding of the stewardship of time, talent, and financial resources.”

“A Call to Reduce Global Poverty and Hunger,” from the Church of the Brethren General Board, received a recommendation for adoption from Standing Committee. The resolution calls the Church of the Brethren to help reduce global poverty and hunger by recommitting to the teachings of Jesus, revisiting the 2000 Annual Conference statement on “Caring for the Poor,” and endorsing the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Standing Committee recommended adoption of the “Commitment of Accessibility and Inclusion Resolution,” from the Association of Brethren Caregivers (ABC) and its Disabilities Ministries. The resolution urges “each congregation, agency, institution, facility, and gathering of the Church of the Brethren to make a new commitment to enable all people to participate fully in all ministries.”

The Standing Committee agenda also included a number of reports including a report from the Annual Conference Council and interim reports from the Brethren Medical Plan Study Committee, the Intercultural Study Committee, the 300th Anniversary Committee, and the Review and Evaluation Study Committee; elections for sub-committees; a consultation with the executives and leaders of the five agencies reportable to Annual Conference (the General Board, Association of Brethren Caregivers, Brethren Benefit Trust, Bethany Theological Seminary, and On Earth Peace); time for short conversations modeled on the denominational study process “Together: Conversations on Being the Church”; sharing from districts; an envisioning session; and counsel with the moderator.

Members of the 2006 Annual Conference news team, a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board, contributed to the Annual Conference web pages: Jake Blouch, Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, Kathleen Campanella, Eddie Edmonds, Karen Garrett, Clara Glover, Amy Heckert, Keith Hollenberg, Jill Kline, Sarah Kovacs, Frank Ramirez, Jesse Reid, Regina Roberts, Frances Townsend, and Becky Ullom.