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.
Founa A. Badet, director of Intercultural Ministries for the Church of the Brethren, has scheduled the first “Intercultural Ministries Frontliners Training” for those interested in becoming personally involved and active in the work. Also newly announced is an online book club to study Churches, Cultures, and Leadership by Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez.
The Faithful Response Immigration Gathering on March 17-19 at Camp Christian in Marysville, Ohio, drew participation from the four sponsoring denominations and others involved in immigration ministries.
Intercultural Ministries Café: Faith & Culture Conversations—rooted in relationship, discipleship, and practical intercultural engagement—will be held once a month for the next few months.
Nine months ago, during our report to the delegates at Annual Conference, we challenged the congregations of the church to raise $100,000 to create a new Legal and Mutual Aid Fund to meet the needs of Church of the Brethren immigrants due to harsh immigration enforcement. On Easter weekend, we give thanks that compassionate individuals and churches within the denomination have donated more than a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) in the last nine months. Praise God!
The following remarks were given by Jenn Hosler of the pastoral team at Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren during an interfaith vigil in support of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case Noem v. Al Otro Lado. The Church of the Brethren joined the amicus brief for the case
The Supreme Court this week heard arguments in the case Noem v. Al Otro Lado in which the Church of the Brethren has joined an interfaith amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiffs. On Feb. 17, the Church of the Brethren joined with 30 other denominations and faith organizations in filing the amici curiae brief. The interfaith amicus brief was coordinated by the Kairos Center on Religion, Rights, and Justice.
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 first Black man and the first Black woman to serve as moderator of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference.
This is an update from Open Circle Church of the Brethren in Burnsville, Minn., following the Jan. 30 article titled “Open Circle Congregation Mobilizes to Support Minneapolis and Surrounding Communities”
The Church of the Brethren’s Inter-Agency Forum (IAF) met in Florida on Jan. 27 and has issued the following statement. The IAF includes officers of the denomination’s Annual Conference; the general secretary of the Church of the Brethren and the chair of the Mission and Ministry Board; representatives of the Council of District Executives; and executives and chairs of the boards of the three Annual Conference agencies: Bethany Theological Seminary, Eder Financial, and On Earth Peace.