A multi-million Naira Technological Centre was dedicated and commissioned by Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) president Joel S. Billi on Monday, Jan. 8, in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. In his address at the occasion, the president stated that the facility would not be standing today if it were not for the tremendous financial support received from brothers and sisters in America.
Roxanne Aguirre begins Jan. 16 as part-time coordinator of Spanish-language ministry training programs at the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership. She will work from her home in central California. The academy is a ministry training partnership of Bethany Theological Seminary and the Church of the Brethren.
The next course offering from the “Ventures in Christian Discipleship” program at McPherson (Kan.) College will be “Congregation in Mission.” Congregational life provides settings for persons in community to flourish in their faith. What are the dynamics to allow this to happen? What are the impediments that get in the way of this flourishing? These and other questions can be a spring board for drawing us into a lively discussion.
Plans are being finalized for the Sixth Brethren World Assembly, to be held Aug. 9-12, 2018, in Winona Lake, Ind. This gathering happens every five years for Brethren groups descended from Alexander Mack in 1708, and is sponsored by the Brethren Encyclopedia Project, Inc.
There is still time to register for a special continuing education travel course: “A Place of Refuge: Ministry in an Urban Context” on Jan. 2-12, 2018, in Atlanta, Ga. An immersive urban experience with a focus on the ministries of care, this travel seminar is an educational partnership between Bethany Theological Seminary, the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren, and City of Refuge ministries in Atlanta.
The Church of the Brethren Workcamp Ministry has released the 2018 workcamp dates and locations. This programming for next summer will offer 10 locations for service, focusing on junior high opportunities because it will be a National Youth Conference year.
Mission Alive 2018, a conference sponsored by the Global Mission and Service program of the Church of Brethren, will take place April 6-8 at Frederick (Md.) Church of the Brethren. The theme is “A Gathering of God’s People…a Global Church of the Brethren,” seeking inspiration from Revelation 7:9.
After everything that has happened this summer, it can be hard to believe that just four years ago, we gathered to talk about intercultural ministries as the wider nation was marking the second term of the first Black president and an era often described as “post-racial.”
The Springs Academy for the Saints is the newest addition to the Springs Academy and is designed for laity. Its format is similar to the Springs Academy for Pastors, introduced in 2013. The Springs Academy for the Saints enables laity to discover their gifts and train for ministry as saints, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:12, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.”
Church of the Brethren Newsline August 5, 2017 The Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center on the campus of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College announces three upcoming continuing education events: “Go and Do Likewise: The Practices of Christology,” “Enriching the Lives of Older Adults,” and “Science, Theology, and the Church Today–Ministry with Youth and Young Adults.” Registration forms are available at www.etown.edu/programs/svmc/continuing-education or
