The Annual Conference Program and Arrangements Committee for next year’s annual meeting of the Church of the Brethren has announced dates, location, registration fees, hotel sites, and more information for the 2023 Conference.
Beginning on Sept. 26 and concluding on Oct. 22, members of the Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee will offer an introductory workshop on five different occasions to introduce the new pastoral compensation tools recently approved by the Annual Conference. The workshop is open to all and will be particularly helpful to church board chairs, pastors, and treasurers.
Please do your part to nominate people for next year’s Annual Conference ballot. You can help shape the future of the Church of the Brethren! As you pray about this, who comes to mind–whom is the Lord prompting you to nominate for leadership in this Body of Christ?
Some 1,150 Church of the Brethren members from across the country were in Omaha, Neb., last week to celebrate the denomination’s Annual Conference. One of the worship offerings was received for Girls Inc. of Omaha, as the “Witness to the Host City.”
A review of the final day of Annual Conference 2022
A review of business and events at Annual Conference in Omaha
On Wednesday afternoon, a group of nine Brethren young adults carpooled to Tri-Faith, a spacious campus home to Temple Israel, Countryside Community Church, and American Muslim Institute. The three independent religious communities are all connected by a circular walkway known as Abraham’s Bridge, surrounded by native plants and near a community garden and orchard tended by all three groups. It’s the only place of its kind in the world.
The one unfinished business item coming to the 2022 Annual Conference was adopted on Wednesday, July 13. The item, “Update to Polity Regarding Annual Conference Agencies” (unfinished business 1) was brought by the denomination’s Leadership Team, which includes the Conference officers, the general secretary, a representative of the Council of District Executives, and the Conference director as ex-officio staff.
Annual Conference celebrated the service of Chris Douglas, who retired as Conference director last year, and James Beckwith, who is completing 10 years as Conference secretary, with presentations during the Tuesday afternoon business session. A reception followed.
The delegate body on Tuesday, July 12, took action on “Query: Standing with People of Color” (new business item 2) from Southern Ohio and Kentucky District, which asks, “How can the Church of the Brethren stand with People of Color to offer sanctuary from violence and dismantle systems of oppression and racial inequity in our congregations, neighborhoods, and throughout the nation?”
