The Standing Committee of district delegates to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference held meetings from Thursday evening, June 25, through Saturday afternoon, June 27, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Annual Conference moderator Don Fitzkee presided, assisted by moderator-elect Dennis Beckner and Conference secretary David Shumate.
The business agenda for the 2026 Church of the Brethren Annual Conference has been announced. Along with numerous reports and the ballot, the delegate body will receive an interim report from the Review and Evaluation Committee and will consider four items of new business: resolutions on weapons transfer and care for immigrants and refugees, polity adjustments for licensed and commissioned ministers, and the yet-to-be-announced recommended COLA for the pastoral scale.
Standing Committee has approved two documents related to Eder Financial’s transition of services to Everence Association Inc. The decision endorses Everence as the Church of the Brethren’s preferred provider for a number of services that are being transferred by Eder to Everence. These services include employee retirement, organizational investing, and possibly other financial or insurance services.
The Annual Conference organizers have announced the preachers for the five daily worship services to be held during the Conference. Each worship service will focus on a theme and symbol from the Church of the Brethren’s biblical heritage. Speakers will be asked to reexamine and reappropriate historic Brethren themes for our time.
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost amidst tongues of fire and miracles of speaking and hearing, the people were amazed and perplexed. Peter explained to them that the words of the prophet Joel were being fulfilled.
Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren is hosting an outdoor “Evening of Stories & Songs” to benefit ministry to refugees and other immigrants on Saturday, Aug. 9, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The church is located at 1601 Sunset Ave., Lancaster, Pa.
I used to be a cross country runner (emphasis on “used to be”). Cross country always has been a fairly simple sport with the object to run far and run fast, or at least faster than members of other teams. During my years of running, the training was also simple: we were supposed to log a certain number of miles each week of the summer (emphasis on “supposed to”), adding up to hundreds of miles before the season even began. The way to train for long races, it seemed, was to run even longer in practice.
Chiques Church of the Brethren in Manheim, Pa., will host a presentation by Nigerian Brethren leader Musa Mambula on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. Mambula is a writer, educator, and current National Spiritual Advisor for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). He will speak about the persecution of Christians by Boko Haram terrorists in northern Nigeria and the church’s response. The evening will conclude with a time of prayer.