The four recommendations brought by the Breaking Down Barriers study committee (known at this Conference as unfinished business item two), were adopted by the delegate body.
Eight recommendations from the study committee on Calling Denominational Leadership (known at this Conference as unfinished business item three), were adopted by the delegate body on Saturday, July 5, 2025, including one amendment.
The delegate body received the final report of the Standing with People of Color Coordinating Committee, following a study/action process begun by the 2022 Annual Conference.
There were many languages spoken around the tables at the Global Mission Dinner held during Annual Conference, as international guests from several countries joined Sharon Brugger Norton, the new executive director of Global Mission for the Church of the Brethren, under the umbrella of Rev. 21:1-5, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
The Saturday evening concert during Annual Conference typically rewards Conferencegoers for their hard work all week, and indeed the several hundred who stayed after worship enjoyed what director McMillan called, “a traditional choir concert with religious, Christ-based, music.”
You may have thought you walked into a youth and young adult gathering with a lot of adult chaperones. Or you may have thought you were in a community center classroom. Why were a roomful of younger-leaning people sitting in swivel chairs bolted to desks watching a flickering projector beam litanies and hymn lyrics on the screen?
All three of the Annual Conference agencies–Eder Financial, Bethany Theological Seminary, and On Earth Peace–have been going through a process of negotiating covenants with Standing Committee. The process culminates with the formal renewing of agency status with the denomination.
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.
