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Leadership Summit Is Planned for Late March

At the invitation of the General Secretary, 25 to 30 Church of the Brethren members will convene on March 28-30 for a leadership summit in northern Virginia. Participants hold both formal and informal leadership positions within the Church of the Brethren. The purpose of the summit is to prayerfully examine the dynamics of leadership needed in the church today.

Reflections on Cuba, December 2011

Becky Ball-Miller, a member of the Church of the Brethren’s Mission and Ministry Board and CEO of Troyer Foods, Inc., an employee-owned company in Goshen, Ind., wrote the following reflection after she returned from an ecumenical delegation to Cuba.

Mission and Ministry Board Member Is Part of Ecumenical Visit to Cuba

A meeting of US church leaders with leaders of the Council of Churches of Cuba concluded in Havana on Dec. 2 with a joint declaration celebrating signs of greater unity between US and Cuban churches. Sixteen representatives of National Council of Churches (NCC) member communions including the Church of the Brethren were in Cuba from Nov. 28-Dec. 2 meeting with Cuban church and political leaders, including President Raúl Castro. Mission and Ministry Board member Becky Ball-Miller was the Brethren member on the delegation.

Brethren Statement Presented at Meeting on Torture

Church of the Brethren general secretary Stan Noffsinger was one of several officials of faith-based groups in a meeting with members of the Obama administration to discuss the issue of torture. The meeting yesterday, Dec. 13, in Washington, D.C., followed up on a letter to the administration from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) urging that the US sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

Assisi Event Calls for Peace as a Human Right

Among religious leaders on the stage with Pope Benedict XVI at the World Day of Peace in Assisi last week was Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren. The main message of the Oct. 27 event was that peace is a human right, Noffsinger said in an interview on his return from Italy.

Newsline for Nov. 2, 2011

News items include: 1) Assisi event calls for peace as a human right. 2) Brethren faculty report on conference at N. Korean university. 3) BBT goes green’ with e-mail publications, simplifies e-mail addresses. 4) Global Food Crisis Fund showcases projects for holiday giving. 5) Brethren Volunteer Service unit begins its work. 6) BBT co-sponsors financial and benefits seminar for congregations. 7) New Bible studies, Yearbook available from Brethren Press. 8) Brethren bits: Remembrance, personnel, college news, more.

Board Gives Provisional Approval to Ministerial Leadership Paper, Makes Haiti Earthquake Grant

In addition to its decision to cease operation of the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center (reported in Newsline on Sunday, Oct. 16), the Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board in its Fall meeting appointed LeAnn Wine as treasurer, and Ed Woolf as assistant treasurer; gave provisional approval to a revision of the denomination’s Ministerial Leadership Paper; and approved a $300,000 grant from the Emergency Disaster Fund to continue disaster relief and rebuilding in Haiti following the earthquake of 2010.

Board Gives Provisional Approval to Ministerial Leadership Paper, Makes Haiti Earthquake Grant

In addition to its decision to cease operation of the New Windsor (Md.) Conference Center (reported in Newsline on Sunday, Oct. 16), the Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board in its Fall meeting appointed LeAnn Wine as treasurer, and Ed Woolf as assistant treasurer; gave provisional approval to a revision of the denomination’s Ministerial Leadership Paper; and approved a $300,000 grant from the Emergency Disaster Fund to continue disaster relief and rebuilding in Haiti following the earthquake of 2010.

Newsline for Oct. 20, 2011

Articles include:
1. Board decides to cease operation of New Windsor Conference Center, gives provisional approval to Ministerial Leadership Paper, makes grant to Haiti earthquake response.
2. On Earth Peace releases statement of inclusion.
3. Religious leaders arrested in Rotunda in July have their day in court.
4. Peace Witness Ministries takes up food stamp challenge.
5. GFCF grants go to work in Honduras, Niger, Kenya, and Rwanda.
6. Tracy Stoddart Primozich to oversee admissions at seminary.
7. Workcamps are announced for 2012.
8. Brethren bits: Remembrance, personnel, jobs, anniversaries, more.

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