The Church of the Brethren’s Council of District Executives (CODE) held its winter meetings Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in Miami, Fla., combining business sessions with an intercultural continuing education experience that connected with local congregations.
CODE members representing most of the denomination’s 23 districts heard reports from the various church agencies and Annual Conference, received updates from the Deportation Defense Response Team (which was begun a year ago by four districts) and from the Annual Conference Review and Evaluation Committee, shared district happenings, and joined in prayer and worship and meals together.
Several individuals working with the Ministry Office on initiatives related to interim and transitional ministry initiatives, including a recent series of online roundtables, shared about their efforts. CODE also held a conversation with the Ministry Advisory Council on possible updates to the 2014 Ministerial Leadership paper and with the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee on potential revisions to denominational sabbath renewal guidelines.
Bethany Theological Seminary president Jeff Carter helped lead the group—during a combined session with the denomination’s Inter-Agency Forum (IAF)—in a discussion of “Creating a Culture of Calling.” Sharing around tables, those present discussed both how the church calls out individuals for ministry and also how the needs of ministry are changing in the current church and cultural landscape, with new gifts and types of training often needed.
Another combined session with IAF explored the “New Table” process being developed by CODE and the Annual Conference agencies with consultant Lon Swartzentruber to help the denomination find new ways of working together amid present realities. Further conversation on that effort will occur in the months ahead.
After the business meetings, CODE and several agency representatives spent time at Miami Haitian Church of the Brethren and other area Church of the Brethren congregations (Miami First, Tabernacle of the Restoration, and Unify Christian) to engage in an intercultural exchange. The time included a conversation with Church of the Brethren Intercultural Ministries director Founa Badet and Deportation Defense Response staff member Vildor Archange, a series of Bible studies on Acts 2 shared through the lenses of different cultures and languages, joining the Atlantic Southeast Multicultural Festival at Miami Haitian, and worship and meals at the various churches.
Prayers were raised for the impending end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants in the US that had been scheduled for Feb. 3, a move that was later stayed by a federal judge.
CODE will have a brief online check-in meeting in the spring and will next meet in person prior to Annual Conference on June 26-28 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
— This report was provided to Newsline by Walt Wiltschek, district executive minister of Illinois and Wisconsin District.
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