By Brian Nixon
Ice and fire. No, not the epic Game of Thrones saga but the very real elements some endured to gather for the Western Plains District Leadership Training in Great Bend, Kan. Some drove through smoke-stained skies, navigating around wildfires sweeping the panhandles of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Others descended from snow-laced mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, leaving behind peaks brushed white with winter’s final breath. Still others traced the open plains, guided by long highways and longer prayers, until they arrived at the Heartland Center for Spirituality.
Thursday evening unfolded with warmth and laughter. On the fourth-floor lobby, stories of ministry and life flowed freely—testimonies of struggle, faith, heartbreak, and hope. It felt less like a conference and more like family reunion. By morning, we rose early—not merely to attend sessions, but to begin a shared journey.
Joshua Brockway of the Discipleship and Leadership Formation staff led the teaching, grounding us in thoughtful reflection and courageous conversation. He offered guidance at the outset: “Dialogue is not debate. A debate is a contest with a winner and loser. Debaters do not listen to understand, but rather to find flaws in the other person’s arguments.” He reminded us that the early Brethren gathered around scripture with questions about the text and about themselves. Their shared quest to understand and follow Jesus was framed not by winning arguments, but by talking—and listening—together.
Over the next day and a half, we were invited to zoom out and see the sweeping arc of church history, to examine our own assumptions about Brethren life and thought, to wrestle with sobering statistics facing congregations across the country, and to sit quietly in spiritual direction.
We asked what it means to be Brethren—Pietistic and Anabaptist—in the 21st century. What do we bring to the table? What does faithfulness look like now? We called out, created sticky notes with our thoughts, and cared for one another.
The lectures were rich. The discussions were honest. But what struck me most happened after the sessions.
On Friday evening, many gathered around a television to watch the Olympics—diverse opinions and personalities united by a shared excitement. We cheered as Alysa Liu captured gold. It was community.
Downstairs, the Dominican sisters hosted a coffeehouse outreach. There, I watched Brethren members share space and song with the Roman Catholic community, led in worship by an Evangelical musician.
Under one roof, different traditions, one Lord. Unity in diversity. Fire and ice. Opposites—yet somehow essential to one another.
Perhaps that is a living picture of the Church of the Brethren in this moment of history. We hold differing convictions, perspectives, and passions. And yet, under the guidance of Christ and the movement of the Holy Spirit, we gather. We listen. We sing. We pray.
So it is with us. The Church of the Brethren does not need uniformity; it needs conformity to Christ, seeking his harmony and concord. We need the full range of voices—strong and soft, cautious and bold—to create something beautiful together.
Ice tempers fire. Fire melts ice. Both shape the landscape.
— Brian Nixon is a writer, artist, musician, educator, and minister in Albuquerque, N.M., and a former minister in the Church of the Brethren. He is a frequent contributor to Messenger magazine.
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