Updated covenant agreements for three Annual Conference agencies came before the delegates this year. In 2022, Annual Conference approved the Update Regarding Polity for Annual Conference Agencies. Part of this new polity required establishment of covenant agreements between Standing Committee and any organizations wishing to be Annual Conference agencies.
The Bethany Theological Seminary Luncheon during Annual Conference was held on Friday, July 4. Following a delicious meal in a comfortably filled large room we learned:
After a day of challenging business–challenging both in themes and understanding of process–90 people gathered for the Womaen’s Caucus dinner to explore how collective trauma impacts the Church of the Brethren. Singing the African-American spiritual “There Is More Love” grounded the gathering in God’s healing presence.
Agape love in the Bible and the love found in Church of the Brethren communities of faith has more to do with how we act towards and with each other than it has to do with any “second-hand emotion,” as confirmed by Dan Ulrich and Denise Kettering-Lane, faculty members at Bethany Theological Seminary. The two spoke at an equipping session on Friday evening at the Annual Conference.
Erica Leeds, director of Camp Carmel in North Carolina, received the Staff Member/Camp Director of the Year Award from the Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA) at an annual breakfast event Friday morning at Annual Conference.
“Growing up in a small country I always wanted to try new things,” said Lieketseng “Keke” Phooko, who hails from Lesotho, a country entirely surrounded by South Africa. “I always wanted to be outside of my home country to practice English.” Phooko has been able to do these things, and so much more, working for Brethren Disaster Ministries.
The “Query: Concerns about Current Practices Related to Matters of Sexuality,” after an energetic discussion by the delegate body, was referred to the Review and Evaluation Committee.
Are Brethren Anabaptist? Are Brethren Pietist? Are we both? Are these questions important for Brethren in 2025? Those are some questions Denise Kettering-Lane answered during an equipping session sponsored by Bethany Theological Seminary.
Onsite coordinator is not a thankless job, but it can be invisible. Each year’s coordinators are listed in the Annual Conference booklet, and their work is celebrated by the Annual Conference director, and receives applause. But it is an essential and largely invisible task!
Conferencegoers who traveled to the old Woolworth’s building in Greensboro, N.C., which now houses the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, visited the original lunch counter where the Civil Rights movement’s lunch counter sit ins began.
