Chiques Church of the Brethren, located near Manheim, Pa., kicked off its 150th anniversary celebration on Sunday, April 15, with a morning worship service that incorporated practices from earlier years. Men and women sat on separate sides of the sanctuary. Ministers and deacons, dressed in plain white shirts, were seated facing toward the congregation, in order of their call to lifetime office.
A vision for a global Church of the Brethren was a point of discussion and focus for Mission Alive 2018, a conference for mission-minded church members from across the United States and around the world. The conference was organized by the Global Mission and Service office working with the Mission Advisory Committee, and hosted by Frederick (Md.) Church of the Brethren on April 6-8.
The Global Food Initiative of the Church of the Brethren has given a number of grants in the first few months of 2018 to support community gardening efforts, agriculture initiatives, and other work to support food security in a variety of areas across the globe. Grants have been given to projects in the United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Spain. For more information go to www.brethren.org/gfi.
Dan McFadden has resigned as director of Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) effective Nov. 2. He began his work with the Church of the Brethren on Dec. 1, 1995. He has worked out of the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., for more than 22 years.
NEWS
1) April 4 events mark 50 years since death of Martin Luther King Jr.
2) Compelling Vision Process Team to begin its work
3) ‘Mission Advancement’ is new name for denomination’s Donor Relations
4) EYN celebrates its 95th anniversary
5) Brethren bits
Brethren bits for April 7, 2018
President Joel S. Billi of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) has said EYN will remain one until Christ returns, and warns any attempt to divide the denomination. He said this in a message at EYN’s 95th Anniversary during Sunday service at Kulp Bible College Chapel on March 18. March 17 is the date of the anniversary and considered “Founder’s Day” by the Nigerian church.
The office of Donor Relations is delighted to announce a new team name, the office of Mission Advancement. This new name better clarifies the intentional focus to cultivate passion to advance the mission of the Church of the Brethren. The team is working to provide ways for passionate supporters to offer each gift as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (from Philippians 4:18) to sustain and support the ministry of the larger church.
The Church of the Brethren was represented at the “A.C.T.–Awaken, Confront, Transform–to End Racism” rally in Washington, D.C., on April 4 by Gimbiya Kettering, director of Intercultural Ministries. Also in attendance were Tori Bateman of the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy and the denomination’s representative to the United Nations, Doris Abdullah, along with other church members from various parts of the country.
The nine people who will make up the Compelling Vision Process Team have been named. The team’s first meeting will be April 17-19 at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill.