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 life and groundbreaking ministry of Samuel Weir, the first ordained Black Brethren elder and preacher.
The Atlantic Northeast District Ministry Commission will host “Better with Less,” a three-hour online workshop designed to help congregations thrive without fulltime clergy. The event will be held Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Eastern time) via Zoom.
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 life and groundbreaking ministry of Martha (Mattie) Cunningham Dolby.
“Love Feast: Past, Present, and Future” led by Denise Kettering-Lane will be held on Friday, March 13, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Eastern time) at Cross Keys Village in New Oxford, Pa. This free event sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center (SVMC) is in-person only. Continuing education credit is available for the fee of $10.
The Southern Pennsylvania District of the Church of the Brethren has called Traci Rabenstein to serve as district executive minister starting April 6. She resides in Enola, Pa., from where she will serve in this fulltime role.
As I visit congregations, people often ask me what commonalities are present in thriving churches. The three markers I have learned to name are ancient wisdom rearticulated: orientation around spiritual practices (Love of God), healthy internal relationships (Love of one another), and taking the literal needs of actual neighbors seriously (Love of neighbor). The integration of these three markers is what we are calling Being the Body of Christ.
How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going: Leading in a Liminal Season by Susan Beaumont is the book chosen for an upcoming online book discussion sponsored by the Church of the Brethren Ministry Office and the Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church program.
The February offering from Ventures in Christian Discipleship will be “The Ecology of Vitality: Mutuality in Pastoral and Congregational Well-Being.” Presented by John Fillmore, pastor of Nampa (Idaho) Church of the Brethren and district executive minister of the Church of the Brethren’s Idaho/Western Montana District, the course will be held online on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (central time).
A third round-table discussion sponsored by the Ministry Office of the Church of the Brethren will focus on the questions of placement surrounding interim/transitional ministry, including lifting up the resources and guidance that districts are able to supply.
Greg Davidson Laszakovits will begin on Jan. 1, 2026, as interim district executive minister for the Church of the Brethren’s Northern Plains District. He lives in Elizabethtown, Pa., and will serve half-time in a hybrid working style that will involve traveling to the district as needed.