Wish you could have attended more equipping sessions during Annual Conference? Recordings of the hybrid equipping sessions are still available to registered attendees on the Eventsquid platform (links are provided to those who registered for the Conference).
Following are resources for those wanting to report back from Annual Conference or to review and learn more about the 2024 annual meeting of the Church of the Brethren, which took place in Grand Rapids, Mich., on July 3-7.
Expertly designed using the Common English Bible translation, the Anabaptist Community Bible will connect you more deeply to the biblical story, the Anabaptist story, and your own story. More than 7,200 marginal notes alongside the biblical text feature commentary from Anabaptist scholars, historical notes from the tradition, and the insights of nearly 600 Bible study groups.
The FaithX office has shared commissioning resources for the 2024 FaithX season. These resources are available to be used by congregations for the sending out of their FaithX participants.
As part of developing our 2024 Earth Day Resource: “Plastic Jesus, Real Faith in a Synthetic World,” we commissioned six artists to gather in retreat and to collaboratively create songs for use in worship that reflect on caring for God’s creation in the face of the plastic pollution crisis. Sarah Macias was their host at Sister Grove Farm.
Plastic first started being created on a global scale in the 1950s. Since then, annual plastic production has exploded to an estimated 460 million tons as of 2019. While plastic has many beneficial uses, single-use plastics have become a real environmental threat.
The National Youth Cabinet met Feb. 2-4, 2024, to discern the theme for National Youth Sunday. The cabinet selected Jeremiah 29:11 as their focus scripture, with the theme “Your life; God’s direction.”
On Sunday, Nov. 5, Church of the Brethren congregations around the country will celebrate the leadership of their junior high youth in worship. The National Junior High Sunday theme is “Worried and Distracted,” from the story of Jesus’ visit with Martha and Mary.
The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) has shared the following Juneteenth responsive reading by Leslie Copeland-Tune, COO of the NCC. It was first used at an NCC chapel service held at the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., on June 10, 2019:
National Youth Sunday is in early May and provides congregations the chance to experience and celebrate the faith and creativity of their youth within the context of worship. In other words, it’s a chance for youth to “take over” worship from the adults, offering their own perspectives and leadership in many forms.
