The Mission and Ministry Board brought their recent resolution for adoption by the delegate body. Titled “Walking Together: Immigration, Peacemaking, Conscience, and Supporting our Neighbors,” it reiterates that “care for immigrants and refugees is an essential part of the Christian and Church of the Brethren ethic of service and peacemaking.”
Angelo Mante was a graduate student in Atlanta when he received a predawn phone call on Sept. 13, 2016. It changed everything. He received the news that his first cousin Nick had been violently killed in Fort Wayne.
Eder Financial had big news for the delegates this year as they described the background of the decision and the process for moving employee retirement and organizational investing services to Everence Financial.
Two adjustments to the 2014 Ministry Leadership paper that governs credentialing of ministerial leaders in the Church of the Brethren were approved by the delegate body on Monday, June 29. One pertains to licensed ministers and the other to commissioned ministers. As a change of polity, this item of business required and received a two-thirds majority to pass.
There were many programs available for Annual Conference attendees as part of Tuesday morning’s “Imagine! A Morning of Sparking, Stirring, and Serving.” One of the most natural for Brethren was service projects.
Amy Gall Ritchie of Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., South Central Indiana District, has been elected to the position of moderator-elect of Annual Conference. She will serve as moderator in 2028.
One new church plant and one new fellowship were welcomed into the Church of the Brethren denomination during the opening business session of the 2026 Annual Conference on Monday, June 29.
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.
It was already a timely topic when it was scheduled as one of the Equipping Sessions at the 2026 Annual Conference—but the events of the past few days led “Loving Our Immigrant Neighbors: Legal Updates, Ally Resources, and US Militarism” to be a standing-room-only session, with the seats filled and many people leaning on walls and sitting on the floor.
The Brethren Disaster Ministries and Child Disaster Services breakfast at Annual Conference always has the feel of a reunion, looking backwards, and a planning committee, looking forward. This year was no different as the past and future were celebrated.
