For Black History Month 2026, Newsline is offering a feature for each week in February to celebrate our Black forebears in the Church of the Brethren. In this issue, we celebrate the faith and witness of John T. Lewis, whose extraordinary life included a close friendship with Mark Twain.
Herman Kauffman summed up his thoughts at the 175th anniversary celebration at Rock Run Church of the Brethren outside Goshen, Ind., by reciting an anonymous short poem about two passengers travelling westward in a covered wagon towards an unknown future: “One sat looking forward, And one sat looking back.”
Thursday’s workshop, “Finding hope through action: Caring for immigrants in our community and our call to embody love,” outlined precise preparation and action to be taken by congregations and individuals committed to welcoming and nurturing immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and many others in various categories.
We’ve all grown old together with Ken Medema and Ted Swartz over the decades, as they have performed at National Youth Conference, Annual Conference, National Older Adult Conference. And in their new program, which they call “Curious and Clueless,” they did what we all do when we begin to feel our age.
If you need to walk off a heavier lunch than usual, I recommend taking a walk around Lake Junaluska. It’s around two and a half miles, give or take. This time of year it’s not too hot, so it’s well worth your time–if you like roses, kids, and dogs.
A new book in the Covenant Bible Studies series from Brethren Press written by Frank Ramirez and titled Martha and Mary: Friends of Jesus will be published by Brethren Press in September.
One of the most astonishing stories told at the “Early Anabaptism in Global Perspective” conference, held recently at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College in recognition of the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement, was told by Japanese scholar Tomoji Odori.
Just in case you didn’t know, it’s possible to have too much cowbell–as anyone who loves the legendary Saturday Night Live cowbell sketch starring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken can tell you. (Google it). But that won’t be the case Thursday night at Annual Conference.
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.
After comparing the decline in membership across what he called the “Ecumenical Church” (often referred to as the mainline Protestant churches) to the rise in membership and political influence of the evangelical church over the past century, David Hollinger asked what he thought was a more important question: Which has had a stronger influence in American society?
