Proclaim Christ as Lord
“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” (Romans 12:5).
Quotes of the day:
— Tim Harvey, giving the Sunday morning sermon.
“Look around at the marginalized and outcast people in your communities…and inspire the transformation that will come if we live out the gospel of Christ…. Sisters and brothers, it is a great day to be a follower of Jesus, and it is a great day to be Brethren.”
“We pray that your Spirit may rest heavily on these men as they seek out your purpose for this church and lead us.”
— Donita Keister, moderator of the 2019 Annual Conference, leading a prayer of consecration during the laying-on-of-hands service for the 2020 moderator Paul Munday and moderator-elect David Sollenberger.
“Next July we will affirm a compelling vision for our denomination.”
— Paul Mundey after his consecration as moderator for the 2020 Annual Conference.
“Sometimes we are light by serving,
— A litany written by the late Phil and Louie Rieman, found in “The Hymnal Supplement” as number 1117, used as the closing benediction for this Annual Conference.
sometimes by seeing another’s light,
but God’s call is to all of us,
wherever we are,
whatever our station in life,
to be lights to the nations.
Shine on!”
Theme is announced for 2020
“God’s Adventurous Future ” will be the theme for the Annual Conference to be held in Grand Rapids, Mich., next July 1-5, announced 2020 moderator Paul Mundey. Inspired by the scripture text from Revelation 21:1, Mundey said, “Based on the word of God, I declare that new creation is possible!”
He told the congregation at the close of the last worship gathering of this year’s Conference that “the world urgently if not desperately needs another way of living in Jesus. Sin is ravaging human life…ending up with incredible despair. It is easy to just give up or leave or abandon our faith or even our denomination.” However, he urged the Brethren to “stay the course! And keep your eyes on Jesus. I believe God can lead us forward.”
Offering supports ‘Calling the Called’ workshops
The Sunday morning offering in Greensboro was received for “Calling the Called” workshops sponsored by the Office of Ministry. The office is challenging each of the 24 districts in the Church of the Brethren to hold a workshop within the coming year as an opportunity for people to discern their calling to ministry.
“Imagine if every district held a yearly event with the result of hundreds of persons being newly called to ministry across the wider church?” said the call to giving on the back of the Sunday bulletin. “The hope is that God’s Spirit will anoint women and men of all ages, all cultures, with beautifully varied gifts, at any stage in life to say ‘yes’ to following Jesus into the holy work of ministry in their communities.”
Virlina District was held up as a model of a district who already is offering workshops on an annual basis. The $6,799.56 received in the offering will help promote such events across the denomination.
By the numbers:
$6,799.56 was received in the Sunday morning offering for “Calling the Called” workshops to be held in districts across the denomination, sponsored by the Office of Ministry.
$7, 595 was raised for hunger relief at the Association for the Arts Quilt Auction.
165 pints were collected by the Annual Conference Blood Drive in onsite donations.
2,155 final total registration number for the 2019 Conference included 677 delegates and 1,478 nondelegates.
For more onsite coverage of Annual Conference go to www.brethren.org/ac/2019/coverage . #cobac19
Coverage of Annual Conference 2019 is made possible through the work of news team volunteers and communications staff: Frank Ramirez, Conference Journal editor; photographers Glenn Riegel, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, and Laura Brown; writer Frances Townsend; Press Room office manager Alane Riegel; website staff Jan Fischer Bachman and Russ Otto; director of News Service Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford. Contact cobnews@brethren.org .