Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Ruthann Knechel Johansen (left) observes discussion in Standing Committee, where she was introduced as the new president of Bethany Theological Seminary.

Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Standing Committee member Roma Jo Thompson from Pacific Southwest District takes notes during a consultation with leaders of the Annual Conference agencies and the Council of District Executives.

Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford A panel of leaders of the Annual Conference agencies and the district executives gave a presentation to Standing Committee, including (from left) Gene Roop, outgoing president of Bethany Seminary; Kathy Reid, executive director of the Association of Brethren Caregivers; Wil Nolen, president of Brethren Benefit Trust; James Miller of the Council of District Executives; Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General Board; and Bob Gross, executive director of On Earth Peace.

Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford The Standing Committee was led by moderator Belita Mitchell (left), assisted by moderator-elect James Beckwith (right), and secretary Fred Swartz.

New president of Bethany Seminary addresses the Standing Committee
A consultation between the Standing Committee of district delegates and leaders of the council of district executives, and the five Conference related agencies--the General Board, Association of Brethren Caregivers, Brethren Benefit Trust, Bethany Theological Seminary, and On Earth Peace--offered a venue for the introduction of Ruthann Knechel Johansen as the new president of the seminary.

Outgoing president Eugene Roop made the introduction of Johansen, after sharing his remarks with the Standing Committee, and then the two traded places at the head table.

“I want Bethany to provide an environment and to be a resource faithful to Christ,” Johansen said. She shared three central tasks that Bethany carries out for the denomination, that she characterized as important for every member and segment of the church: “to remember, to understand, and to be transformed.”

She invited all people in the church to come to Bethany, either to visit or to study, saying, “let it be a place of genuine conversation.” Send students, she urged the district delegates, “whether they are going to be pastors or chemists or poets.” Bethany welcomes students “who want to sojourn for a time in a community of Christ’s love,” she said.

In addition, the new seminary president issued a call for the Church of the Brethren to leave internal conflict behind. “Let us recommit ourselves to making peace in our own house,” she said.

Standing Committee makes recommendations on new business
The Standing Committee of district delegates met June 27-30. One of the committee’s primary responsibilities is to make recommendations to the delegate body about how to handle new items of business coming to the Conference. The group also discusses unfinished business items, receives reports, consults with the leaders of the five Annual Conference agencies and the district executives, and spends time in envisioning, among other business.

In what might be called a “state of the church” report, moderator Belita Mitchell reviewed her travels throughout the Church of the Brethren. “Although many districts are facing financial strain, there are many signs of hope and new life,” she said. Ministry training programs, emphases on youth, and spiritual formation were signs of hope, she said.

She also found that many districts are looking at how to become more interculturally inclusive. “Now we’re beginning to risk and explore,” she said, adding that some churches that were at the point of extinction are finding new life by connecting with people who are different from themselves.

“All in all we have some obstacles and struggles, but also some hope,” she said. “We are standing on the brink of a breakthrough...for God to do new things in our midst.”

A report from the Annual Conference Council highlighted financial difficulties facing the Conference. Executive director Lerry Fogle presented statistics on declining Conference attendance for the last several years: attendance of delegates has decreased to 792 in 2006, from 934 in 2003; attendance of nondelegates slid to 2,211 in 2006 from 3,215 in 2004. Fogle linked the Conference’s budget deficit to these decreases. He forecast the total Conference budget deficit at the close of this year to come to about $99,000, a cumulative that includes a deficit of $33,923 for 2006. Fogle assured the Standing Committee that the problem does not lie in excessive expenses. The Annual Conference Council also is taking proactive measures to begin addressing the problem, including postponing a decision on a location for the 2012 Conference until after this Conference closes, and the creation of a marketing team for the Conference.

In addressing new business, the Standing Committee recommended accepting the query on Child Abuse Prevention and referring it to the Association of Brethren Caregivers.

Standing Committee recommended accepting the concerns of a query about the Annual Conference schedule, and recommended passing it on to the Annual Conference staff, Program and Arrangements Committee, and the Annual Conference Council, “in recognition of the fact that the Annual Conference officers and committees are already working on this issue.” The query echoed concerns heard elsewhere in the committee’s deliberations about the decrease in Conference attendance and the financial shortfall.

A query calling for an update to Annual Conference polity regarding the rotation of Conference locations around the country over a 12-year period, received a recommendation for acceptance. The change in rotation schedule would hold the Conference more often in the east and midwest, which are areas considered more likely to gain a better attendance as population centers for Brethren.

The Standing Committee recommended adoption of the new business item calling for the Church of the Brethren to join the new ecumenical group, Christian Churches Together, during its session on envisioning. The business item provided the group with a “practice” session for envisioning how to do church business using the “formal consensus” process. The formal consensus model is currently used by the On Earth Peace board, and the envisioning session was led for the Standing Committee by On Earth Peace executive director Bob Gross and staff member Annie Clark, with Carol Mason of Congregational Life Teams.

The new business item, Query on Reverse Membership Trend, was continued into the morning on Saturday, June 30. (A report will appear on the “Business” page for June 30.)

Suggested revisions of a document on Unfunded Mandates were brought by the Annual Conference Council, following a suggestion from the Conference’s Program Feasibility Committee. Instead of mandating a feasibility study of all new and unfinished business involving agency programs, the revisions would allow examination of business items on a case by case basis, and Standing Committee would recommend if a feasibility study is needed. The suggested revisions also includes streamlining of the document. An amendment allowed Standing Committee to elect its own representative to the Program Feasibility Committee. Standing Committee approved the revisions and passed the document on to the 2008 Annual Conference.

Elected as Church of the Brethren representatives to the National Council of Churches were Elizabeth Bidgood-Enders, Illana Naylor, and J.D. Glick.

An announcement from the Annual Conference officers informed the committee of a change in the dates for the 2009 Annual Conference to be held in San Diego, Calif. The new dates are June 27-July 1, the dates printed in the Conference booklet of July 4-8 are no longer correct.

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