News

The Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board appointed a committee to consider recommendations related to the future of Annual Conference. The task emerged from the “Breaking Down Barriers—Increasing Access to Denominational Events” study completed in 2025.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of the event that kicked off the revolution, we might ask, what do we Brethren think about the Declaration of Independence? … And what would our forebears say about what we’ve become?” asked Denise Kettering-Lane at her standing-room-only equipping session titled “Dunkers and the Declaration of Independence: Then and Now.”

The following call to worship was shared during the closing worship service of the 2026 Conference on Thursday morning, July 2, with leadership from Gail Heisel. And it has a back story.

The delegate body of the 2026 Annual Conference on Wednesday afternoon, July 1, adopted a “Resolution on Weapons Transfer” with a solid majority vote. The paper cites Matthew 5:44b-45, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…,” to call the Church of the Brethren to “examine and respond to the impacts of the arms industry.”

For some time, the Church of the Brethren has undertaken a periodic review every decade to evaluate the denomination’s organizational structures and procedures, with a committee assigned to bring recommendations to Annual Conference for possible changes. This decade’s Review and Evaluation Committee, elected in 2025, presented its first interim report.