Shine: Living in God’s Light, a Bible-based Sunday school curriculum published jointly by MennoMedia and Brethren Press, is launching two important surveys this spring—one for congregations and one for families.
Hesston (Kan.) College is using the beloved storybook Bible from the Shine curriculum, The Peace Table, as a textbook in its Biblical Literature class. Introduction to Biblical Literature is a required course for all Hesston College students.
The temperature on the thermometer read two degrees below zero as hundreds of Anabaptists of all persuasions (and garb) gathered for worship the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind. It was 500 years to the day after a small group of believers met in a private home in Zurich to study scripture together and perform baptisms, an event considered the beginning of the Anabaptist movement.
The Bible has sustained Anabaptist faith for 500 years–and now a new Anabaptist Community Bible invites Church of the Brethren members and others who are part of the Anabaptist movement to read scripture with fresh eyes and discover how key Anabaptist themes are woven throughout the Bible.
The October offering from the Ventures in Christian Discipleship program at McPherson (Kan.) College will be “Happiness in Hard Times: A View from the Psalms” to be presented by Stephen Reid, vice provost for Faculty Diversity and Belonging at Baylor University in Texas. The course will be held online in two sessions, Tuesdays, Oct. 8 and 15, both at 6:30-8:30 p.m. (central time).
Expertly designed using the Common English Bible translation, the Anabaptist Community Bible will connect you more deeply to the biblical story, the Anabaptist story, and your own story. More than 7,200 marginal notes alongside the biblical text feature commentary from Anabaptist scholars, historical notes from the tradition, and the insights of nearly 600 Bible study groups.
During the early hours of a recent morning, I was awakened by the sound of bombs exploding some distance away. Across the border from us, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are frequent skirmishes between rebels and the government forces. It is not uncommon for us to hear gunfire and explosions. There is no imminent danger to us here, but knowing that others are facing death and destruction is disconcerting to say the least.
The Shine curriculum’s Vacation Bible School for 2024 is titled “Seekers in Sneakers: Discover Jesus!” and is available for purchase through Brethren Press. The boxed set includes the basics needed to offer a VBS session this coming summer.
A grant of $1,250,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. will support the development of Shine: Living in God’s Light. MennoMedia received the grant on behalf of Shine, a joint publication of MennoMedia and Brethren Press. The grant is part of Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, which aims to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children.
Brethren Press is sharing information about three new and upcoming books: A Year of Living Differently, which is being published to mark the 75th year of Brethren Volunteer Service; The Peace Table, a new storybook Bible from the Shine curriculum jointly produced by Brethren Press and MennoMedia; and Luke and Acts: Turning the World Upside Down by Church of the Brethren biblical scholars Christina Bucher and Robert W. Neff.
