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.
Each year in April, Earth Month and Poetry Month coincide. In each regular issue of Newsline this April, we celebrate God’s good creation and poetry with a special feature. This week we feature some of the biblical poetry that celebrates the creation, preceded by a note from the Earth Day issue of Rooted, the newsletter of the Brethren Creation Care Network
The Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding and Policy has signed on to an interfaith letter opposing the proposal for a $1.5 trillion budget for the Pentagon. On Friday, April 3, the White House issued the Presidential Budget Request that included the $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for Fiscal Year 2027.
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.
Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele and Office of Peacebuilding and Policy director Nathan Hosler are urging the United States and Israel to cease their military actions against Iran and are calling on Iran to end its retaliatory strikes against surrounding countries where the US has military bases.
On Feb. 17, the Church of the Brethren joined with 30 other denominations and faith organizations in filing an amici curiae brief in the Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in Noem v. Al Otro Lado, No. 25-5. The case is challenging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to prevent individuals from filing for asylum at ports of entry.
On Thursday, Feb. 5, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., will hear opening oral arguments in an appeal for injunctive relief in the “sensitive locations” lawsuit, “Mennonite Church USA et al., v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.” The Church of the Brethren is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Is your congregation looking for a meaningful way to live out creation care and environmental justice in your community? Creation Justice Ministries is seeking congregational partners. Creation Justice Ministries is a partner organization of the Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding and Policy.
The following immigration changes along with increasingly harmful rhetoric from this administration affect many of our fellow Church of the Brethren members, neighbors, friends, and family members. These sweeping decisions create uncertainty, feelings of rejection and confusion, and an increased fear of detention and deportation in a period of waiting.