Engage: Global Mission Gathering
Sunday, September 20, 2026, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Lancaster Church of the Brethren
Guest speakers: Joel Peña, Eric Ramirez, Rebecca Dali
Free and open to all!
The Global Mission office primarily works with autonomous Brethren bodies in various countries around the world through mutual encouragement, sharing resources, and supporting each other’s efforts.
Global Mission ministries include:
- Global Food Initiative
- Global Church of the Brethren Communion
- South Sudan: This mission project sponsored by the Mission and Ministry Board has one full-time Global Mission staff person and several local staff working in the areas of agriculture, reconciliation, trauma healing, prison ministry, and evangelism. Five churches have been planted.
Global Mission partners with existing partners and emerging churches and projects in seven broad areas:
- community development
- agricultural development (through Global Food Initiative)
- women and children’s empowerment
- theological education & leadership development
- peacebuilding
- strategic economic empowerment
- church planting and development
Stay connected
Global mission prayer updates primarily share prayer requests received from the global Church of the Brethren and our partners around the world. See the most recent prayer update here.
Global Mission News
- Global Mission Dinner hears from EYN president Daniel Mbaya
Norton as executive director of Global Mission for the Church of the Brethren introduced the international guests who were present. She then introduced the evening’s speaker and guest of honor Daniel Mbaya, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), “the largest Anabaptist communion in the world.”
- Retinopathy of Prematurity Project aids premature infants and their families in Vietnam
With the proper therapies, and in some cases surgeries and other medical intervention, infants born prematurely have every chance of growing up to their full potential. But in places like Vietnam, premature infants born in rural areas may have no access to top-flight medical care.
- International guests attend Annual Conference
International guests received a warm welcome from the 2026 Annual Conference. On Monday morning, June 29, during the opening business session Global Mission executive Sharon Brugger Norton introduced the guests from the stage. She noted that this might have been the first time that Annual Conference has welcomed international guests from Vietnam.
- Global Church of the Brethren Communion meets in Spain
Attending the Global Church of the Brethren Communion gathering on Spain’s northern coast in April was one of the greatest joys thus far in my role as executive director of Global Mission for the Church of the Brethren. After many meetings on Zoom with the delegates and alternates, it was a joyous occasion to see all of our plans coming together—and for some of us, to meet in person for the first time.
- Discovering joys, challenges, and God at work with the churches in the Dominican Republic
A powerful and eye-opening trip to the Dominican Republic in February and March inspired me to share both the joys and challenges we encountered there, along with glimpses of how God is at work through his people.
- Global Mission executive visits Church of the Brethren in Burundi, meets with church leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo
Church of the Brethren Global Mission executive Sharon Brugger Norton visited the Church of the Brethren in Burundi in late March and early April. The Church of the Brethren in Burundi is the newest member of the Global Church of the Brethren Communion.