{"id":23265,"date":"2024-02-07T17:45:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T17:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=23265"},"modified":"2024-03-25T15:12:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:12:31","slug":"withdrawal-of-p-r-congregations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2024\/withdrawal-of-p-r-congregations\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of the Brethren grieves withdrawal of Puerto Rican congregations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the Church of the Brethren Leadership Team<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With deep sadness, the Church of the Brethren Leadership Team acknowledges news received of the withdrawal of all six congregations in the Puerto Rico District from the Church of the Brethren, as of Oct. 26, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Puerto Rican congregations\u2019 decisions, which were affirmed by the Puerto Rico District board, came following contacts and visits by leaders of the Covenant Brethren Church\u2014and each of the six congregations have since joined the Covenant Brethren Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur decision was made after all six of our churches and their respective pastors were praying, engaging in dialogue with their leadership, and fasting for 40 days as a District,\u201d the Puerto Rico district leadership stated in a letter to the Church of the Brethren Leadership Team. \u201cWe have understood that after observing the direction, position, and vision of [the Church of the Brethren] with respect to many of the biblical standards, our conservative principles and values have confirmed our final decision to disaffiliate from the denomination.\u201d [translated from Spanish]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the decision to disaffiliate, district executive minister Jos\u00e9 Calleja Otero had submitted his resignation on Oct. 6, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denominational leadership express sorrow and raise questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to the Puerto Rico District board, the Church of the Brethren Leadership Team\u2014consisting of David Steele, General Secretary; Madalyn Metzger, Annual Conference Moderator; Dava Hensley, Annual Conference Moderator-Elect; David Shumate, Annual Conference Secretary; Torin Eikler, Council of District Executives representative; and Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, Annual Conference director (ex-officio)\u2014expressed profound sadness for the absence of shared dialogue with Puerto Rico District leadership during their deliberations and discernment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter many years of walking together in ministry partnership, we lament our exclusion from your time of dialog, praying, and fasting\u2026. Even after [expressing a willingness to travel to Puerto Rico to] address questions and concerns,\u201d the Leadership Team stated. \u201cWe are not all of one mind in the denomination, but as Brethren we are called to continual study and discernment of scripture together, to pray together, and trust together that the Holy Spirit will lead us to a shared understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite our differences, we are unified in Christ and called to continue working at this together,\u201d the Leadership Team letter continued. \u201cSeparating and dividing may seem like the way forward, but the way of Jesus is one of love and reconciliation\u2014which is not an easy thing in today\u2019s culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to expressing sorrow, the Leadership Team communicated to the Puerto Rico District board that, according to denominational polity, congregations may choose to withdraw from the denomination\u2014but entire districts do not. Additionally, individual congregational withdrawals must be approved by the district conference. Church of the Brethren leadership efforts are underway to work through questions and complications related to polity and property by means of an in-person visit of denominational representatives to Puerto Rico in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church of the Brethren history in Puerto Rico<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Church of the Brethren\u2019s history on the Caribbean island dates back to 1942, when the Brethren Service Commission partnered with the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration to establish a Civilian Public Service camp in the town of Casta\u00f1er, located within Puerto Rico\u2019s mountainous countryside. At the time, Casta\u00f1er\u2014and much of the island\u2019s interior, rural areas\u2014experienced severe shortages of doctors and medical services, and the Church of the Brethren collaborated with the Casta\u00f1er community and government on medical and agricultural projects, including the construction of a 33-bed hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The island\u2019s first Church of the Brethren congregation\u2014Casta\u00f1er, Iglesia de Los Hermanos\u2014was established in 1948. Several more congregations, fellowships, and church plants emerged in the following decades, and the Puerto Rico District was formally confirmed as the denomination\u2019s 24th district in January 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time for grief and hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The withdrawal of the six Puerto Rican congregations\u2014as well as other churches across the denomination\u2014brings heartache to many in the Church of the Brethren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe mourn the loss of any of our members and congregations,\u201d said David Steele. \u201cThere is very real grief and pain when saying good-bye to those we\u2019ve had relationships with and who have walked alongside us on our shared faith journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this grief related to separations and schisms isn\u2019t new to Brethren, neither is our history of seeking healing and wholeness through collective prayer, worship, and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we grieve and honor feelings of loss or lamentation, we also can hold onto our hope and the expectation of things yet unseen,\u201d said Madalyn Metzger. \u201cThat hope includes our openness to the Holy Spirit\u2019s movement, and our anticipation of God\u2019s transforming future for ourselves, each other, and our denomination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Written by the Church of the Brethren Leadership Team, with assistance from Nancy Sollenberger Heishman, director, Office of Ministry, and Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director, News Services.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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