Through Thick and Thin: Devotions for Ash Wednesday Through Easter, written by Beth Sollenberger, is the 2024 Lenten devotional from Brethren Press. This year, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14. The daily devotions continue through Easter Sunday, March 31.
Church of the Brethren membership in the United States in 2022 was 81,345, according to the statistical report in the 2023 Church of the Brethren Yearbook, published by Brethren Press. The 2023 edition–published late last year–includes the 2022 statistical report and the 2023 directory for the denomination.
Shana Peachey Boshart has been hired as the new program facilitator for the Shine Curriculum, a partnership between Brethren Press and MennoMedia. This grant-funded, fulltime position was created to facilitate the development of the Everywhere Faith program, a new faith practice resource. Shine was awarded a grant of $1,250,000 in August 2023 from Lilly Endowment Inc.
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.
Our next series of seasonal devotionals from Brethren Press are offered for Advent 2023 and Lent 2024. These paperback, pocket-sized books are suitable for individual use and for churches to give to their members: “All Things New” by Kevin Kessler (Advent 2023), “Through Thick and Thin” by Beth Sollenberger (Lent 2024)
A new book titled A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace: Global Mennonite Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Nonviolence, edited by Fernando Enns, Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip, and Andrés Pacheco-Lozano, is related to the emergence of the new Global Anabaptist Peace Network.
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.
Jennifer Keeney Scarr shares dramatic retellings of Bible stories at the July 6, 2023 Brethren Press/Messenger dinner.
Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADN) has published “Believing and Belonging: An Accessible Anabaptist Membership Curriculum” for youth and adults with intellectual disabilities.
At this year’s Associated Church Press convention, the Church of the Brethren’s Messenger magazine won four awards including the James Solheim Award for Editorial Courage, Award of Excellence, for “If Only that Were True” by Gimbiya Kettering, published in the Sept. 2022 issue.
