On Friday, July 5, six panelists presented a hybrid equipping session titled Strangers No More: Ministry with Immigrants, Refugees, and Other Newcomers. They shared about their experiences with welcoming ministries, what their congregations have done for newcomers to the United States, and what advice they have for communities hoping to start engaging in this ministry.
Correction, 200 people at the gun violence vigil make the news, registration and attendance and offering numbers, Silent Auction and Quilt Auction results, volunteers build 300 beds for children, and more.
Annual Conference bits and pieces including final registration numbers, offering and attendance figures, final quilt auction outcome, and more.
The third to fifth grade children’s group at Annual Conference, led by Angi and Scott Harney of Elkhart, Ind., on Friday, July 5, delivered 103 blankets to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids.
The Calling Denominational Leadership Study Committee, created in response to a 2022 query, presented an interim report to this year’s Annual Conference. The original query was brought by the Nominating Committee of Standing Committee, which is the group responsible for the ballot to be voted on at Annual Conference by the delegate body.
The featured speaker at Thursday evening’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation Dinner paused a second, as if taking special enjoyment from his introduction as executive director of the Christian Community Development Association. “That was my first time being introduced as Dr. Lorenzo Watson,” he said.
The Annual Conference approved two recommendations brought by the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee today, Saturday, July 6: revisions to the pastor’s Housing Equity Fund, and the annual cost of living adjustment to the minimum cash salary table for pastors.
The 2024 Annual Conference today, Saturday, July 6, acted on “Query: A New Model of Denominational Structure,” which was brought by Miami (Fla.) Haitian Church of the Brethren and Atlantic Southeast District.
Today, Saturday, July 6, the delegate body of Annual Conference amended and adopted a mandate for the work of the next Review and Evaluation Committee and approved an extension of the committee’s term of service from two years to up to four years.
–– Registration as of 4:45 p.m. Friday, July 5: 410 delegates, 1,022 nondelegates both in-person and virtual (45 people attended virtually), for a total of 1,432 participants. –– Worship attendance in-person on Friday evening: 935. — The worship offering for the Core Ministries of the Church of the Brethren, with a focus on the Discipleship
