The Review and Evaluation Committee is organized anew every 10 years to review and evaluate the organization and structures of the Church of the Brethren denomination. The first five recommendations in the report the committee is bringing to the 2017 Annual Conference relate directly to that mandate. (The report is at www.brethren.org/ac/2017/business/UB-2-Review-and-Evaluation.pdf .)
In pre-Annual Conference meetings, Standing Committee made recommendations on two items of new business coming to the Conference from On Earth Peace. One of the functions of the Standing Committee of district delegates is to recommend action on new business items to the full delegate body.
A review of the first day of the 2017 Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, held in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Standing Committee of district delegates has begun its work ahead of the 2017 Annual Conference. Standing Committee meetings began Sunday evening, June 25, in Grand Rapids, Mich., and continue through Wednesday morning, June 28. The meetings are presided over by Annual Conference moderator Carol Scheppard, with moderator-elect Samuel Sarpiya and Conference secretary James Beckwith.
UPDATES FROM GLOBAL MISSION AND SERVICE
1) Brethren compound in South Sudan is looted by security forces
2) Linda and Robert Shank to stay in the US for the summer
NEWS
1) Stop the violence, end the famine
2) The denomination’s spiritual directors hold annual retreat
3) Brethren join Heifer for earthquake reconstruction in Nepal
4) Global Mission worker carries out ministry of presence in Vietnam
5) EYN loses five church members in Boko Haram attack
6) Brethren bits
In this issue: Job openings, church anniversaries, news from districts, new Springs Academy for laity, opposition to proposed federal budget cuts, a new Brethren hymn for Father’s Day, Chibok schoolgirls graduate from high school in the United States, and more.
Five members of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) were killed in a recent Boko Haram attack in Adamawa State. Reporting the incident happened in a no-network area of Adamawa State, EYN district church secretary Mildlu Rev. Bitrus Kabu said Wakara Village was attacked from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, June 8.
Each May, spiritual directors from throughout the Church of the Brethren meet for an annual retreat and continuing education. Shepherd’s Spring Outdoor Ministry and Retreat Center in Sharpsburg, Md., provides a beautiful and quiet setting for this event, which includes opportunities for worship, prayer, silence, creative expression, peer supervision, and keynote presentations.
It now seems undeniable that famines in our global world are directly related to war and violence. A famine is usually the intersection of deep political, racial, or social injustices compounding food insecurity, malnutrition, and drought found in at-risk communities. If we mix in war and uncontained violence, humanitarian response actors can’t respond and the crisis is elevated to a famine.
