The 2021 Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren will be held online June 30 to July 4–the first-ever fully online annual meeting.
Do you wonder about what is going on in mission work these days? Ever since the Mission Alive Conference of 2012, it has been the goal of the Global Mission office to have a network of mission advocates who want to answer this question for you.
NEWS
1) National Council of Churches laments mass shooting in Boulder, calls for gun violence to end
2) COVID emergency grants for church workers are extended again
3) Manchester University launches two nursing programs
4) Bridgewater College announces the Bonnie Forrer and John Harvey Rhodes School of Arts and Humanities
UPCOMING EVENTS
5) National Youth Sunday invites youth to lead in worship, theme acknowledges their pandemic struggle
6) Gather with the Dunker Punks for a virtual love feast
7) Pacific Southwest District offers online love feast
RESOURCES
8) Church of the Brethren Yearbook new web page has downloadable resources
9) New Vacation Bible School curriculum invites children to ‘Come to the Table’
REFLECTION
10) Taking nature Black
11) Brethren bits: Messenger online archive, new help for funeral costs from COVID-19, letters to the President support refugees, Material Resources shipments, young adult newsletter, Justice for Black Farmers Act, Good Friday Tenebrae Service, and more
In this issue: Messenger online archive, new help for funeral costs from COVID-19, letters to the President support refugees, Material Resources shipments, latest issue of young adult newsletter, action alert on the Justice for Black Farmers Act, Good Friday Tenebrae Service of Shadows, and more news by, for, an about Brethren.
The Church of the Brethren’s Pacific Southwest District is offering an online love feast service on Maundy Thursday, April 1, beginning at 6:30 p.m. (Pacific time). Those from around the denomination are welcome to join with others on the district’s YouTube channel as it premiers, or view it later as the service will remain on YouTube through Easter Sunday.
With Holy Week around the corner, the Dunker Punks team is finalizing another Virtual Love Feast service for the beloved community.
National Youth Sunday is in early May and provides congregations the chance to experience and celebrate the faith and creativity of their youth within the context of worship. In other words, it’s a chance for youth to “take over” worship from the adults, offering their own perspectives and leadership in many forms.
“When you eat with Jesus, anything can happen!” said an announcement of the new “Come to the Table” Vacation Bible School from Shine, the Sunday school curriculum jointly produced by Brethren Press and MennoMedia.
The Church of the Brethren Yearbook is now offering resources that may be downloaded and printed from a new web page at www.brethren.org/yearbook. The Yearbook is published annually by Brethren Press. It includes statistics as reported by congregations and districts and a denominational directory of districts, congregations, ministers, and more.
When the pandemic hit the US in full force in March 2020, it quickly became apparent to some that financial pressures were impacting a group of pastors and church, district, and camp employees. Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) was one entity that quickly realized the need.
