Standing Committee will hold Listening Session with Bridgewater Church of the Brethren

The Standing Committee of district delegates to Annual Conference will hold a Listening Session with Bridgewater (Va.) Church of the Brethren in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, July 1, at 7 p.m.

Standing Committee typically meets in advance of Annual Conference, which this year takes place July 2-6 in Greensboro at the Koury Convention Center (find more information about the Conference at www.brethren.org/ac).

The Listening Session will be open to the public. However, Standing Committee may choose to debrief in closed session following the open session.

Listening Sessions with Standing Committee

The Annual Conference officers are emphasizing that Listening Sessions with the district delegates are available on request, affording church members the opportunity to express concerns to the denomination. While the officers view the Listening Session Process as a helpful tool, they are not soliciting many requests given the time constraints during Annual Conference.

“Church members who hold deep concern about the church body or a particular issue may request a listening session with the Standing Committee,” says the Standing Committee Manual, which defines a Listening Session Process based on Matthew 18 “to work through issues of sin, controversy, and conflict by addressing our brothers and sisters directly, then with a small group of believers and then the wider church.”

Any Church of the Brethren member, group, or entity may request a Listening Session in writing to the Annual Conference officers, with sponsorship from a Standing Committee member, following the procedure outlined in the Standing Committee Manual. No more than 20 minutes will be allocated to each Listening Session, during which time Standing Committee members will simply listen to the concerns with no verbal responses. However, Standing Committee members may submit written questions of clarification to the moderator to ask the presenters. “Following up by members of Standing Committee, privately and in agape love, with the concerned is encouraged,” says the manual.

According to the manual, Listening Sessions are intended to:

Increase communication within the church structure on issues of controversy in hopes of strengthening relationships.
Better inform the Standing Committee of concerns and issues arising in the church.
Allow persons with concerns to be heard to help diffuse feelings of frustration.
Help carry out Standing Committee’s judicial function to “counsel on controversial issues….”

Listening Sessions are in keeping with a recent self-study done by Standing Committee, which concluded that the group should “give special emphasis to its role of resolving conflicts, of preserving the rights of minorities, and of protecting the privileges of diversity within the church’s dominant purpose of Christian unity” and “emphasize more its function of hearing appeals. The right of appeal, the availability of channels of communication, the extension of Christian charity to prevent, insofar as possible, the feelings of frustration and bitterness on the part of those who may be offended—these courtesies of Christian love should be extended freely to individuals, churches, and districts.”

Listening Sessions are not intended for making decisions or to circumvent the appeals or query processes, and nothing from a Listening Session will go to Annual Conference or to Standing Committee for action. The intent is simply “to allow a concern to be heard, giving opportunity for Standing Committee members to share counsel and to seek God’s guidance in prayer together with the individual or group who bring the concern.”

The Bridgewater Church request

The Bridgewater Church is located in Shenandoah District. The church’s request of Standing Committee said that the congregation “has struggled with an ongoing irreconcilable disagreement with the District. Most recently we proposed a query to our District Conference (November 2, 2024), asking Annual Conference ‘if there are measures that can relieve a congregation that holds its District in love, will not abandon its mission, suffers an irreconcilable disagreement with its District, is threatened with District sanction, and has exhausted attempts at reconciliation….’ It is our understanding that the Listening Session process would not result in action on the part of the Standing Committee or Annual Conference but would afford us the opportunity to express our concerns to the larger church.”

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