A theme statement by moderator Dava Hensley for the 2025 Annual Conference

One of the core values of the Annual Conference is to continue building loving relationships with one another despite any differences we have. Love is having a hard time in our world and in the church community today. We are called to love and respect others even in the divisive times we find ourselves. At times, agape love, a love embodied by God’s love for all humankind in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection seems impossible. Theologian and Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, shares, “if we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another’s happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for all of us, then we can achieve fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.”

God works in mysterious ways. Since July of 2023, at the end of our Annual Conference in Cincinnati, I have prayed and read scripture. I spent time in silence and being intentionally quiet, and for those who know me, that is not easy. Years ago, it became my main discipline as a Bethany Theological Seminary student. For the entire year that followed, I spent time discerning what I believe God would have me lift up in our year together. What is it that God might want us together to focus on in the Church of the Brethren? Before the start of Annual Conference in Cincinnati and a couple of days before the ballot was presented, I had an encounter with a stranger that blew me away, and folks that is not easy to do. A fellow Christian informed me if I loved everybody, I would not, could not, should not get their support. I was taken by surprise. Just the statement, “I love everyone” could be interpreted as a threat, an agenda, or taking a particular side of an issue. It made me sad. I only responded that I prayed that all of us allow the Holy Spirit to guide our decision, and as willing and available servants of God, each have been called to love God and love our neighbors in whatever capacity. As I walked away, I said to myself, “Really, God? What are you preparing me for next?”

As the call of moderator-elect was realized, the ominous task of choosing scripture and a logo for 2025 began. Throughout the year, I thought I had found just the right one and then an e-mail, a Facebook post, or a letter would appear, and I thought to myself, that is not the right one. Yet time and time again, the word “love” kept appearing. Then, came the words in Galatians 5:6b and it reads, “For the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (NRSV). Do we really understand true love, agape love? This leads me to 1 Corinthians 13 as the supportive scripture. A chapter used frequently for weddings and even funerals, but Apostle Paul wrote in response to a divided church in Corinth. Paul declared love as the greatest power in the church community and they are lacking a lot of it. The Corinthian church is not even close to a love fest. The members were divided and yet their diversity generated both benefits and challenges. It was Paul’s call to action. Apostle Paul describes this “work of love” in positive and negative terms. On the positive, love is patient, kind, and selfless. What love does not include:  love is not self-seeking, short-tempered, and offensive. In other words, love does not hurt people! This agape love has feet to carry the Gospel, and is a tool-in-hand, serving kind of love like Jesus in the Neighborhood. Apostle Paul’s love language unifies.

Designed by Debbie Noffsinger, our logo begins with the cross, reminding us of Jesus Christ’s ultimate love for us in his death on the cross and his resurrection. The middle of the cross reminds us of the Holy Spirit of God that dwells in us and in the heart as we live out examples of our faith working through love, feeling welcomed and worthy as we love and serve God and love and serve all our neighbors. It is my prayer for our dear Church of the Brethren, that we continue to learn more about God’s love and sacrifice for us and our mission to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all parts of the world in love.

The opportunity to register online to participate in-person at the 2025 Annual Conference in Greensboro, N.C. ends on Monday, June 10. (In-person participants who miss this deadline can register onsite at a higher cost.) Non-delegates who wish to participate virtually can register online until June 27. Learn more about Annual Conference or register today at www.brethren.org/ac.

(Read this issue of eBrethren.)

A theme statement by moderator Madalyn Metzger for the 2024 Annual Conference

In today’s society, we spend a lot of time wondering if we’re worthy. And, whether we admit it or not, we spend a lot of time assessing others based on our own standards. We do this, because we’ve set up so many “rules” for ourselves since before we can remember—rules that have been influenced by our families, neighbors, teachers, and experiences. These rules are how we make sense of the world. They help us interpret and navigate our complex social constructs.

But, when taken to the extreme, they also can limit our understanding of the infinite worth of every human being. They can painfully and disruptively fracture our relationships. And they can run contrary to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Since the early 18th century beginnings of the Brethren movement, we’ve been a faith family that has chosen another way of living: the way of Christ. We are people called to live and experience our faith together in service to (and with) God and each other. And, every person in our faith community shares in the spiritual direction of the church. All of our spiritual gifts are needed if we are to function together as a healthy Body of Christ. Each of us is called to extend and receive Christ’s love.

In his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul introduces Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchreae, and tells the Roman Christians to “Welcome her in the Lord in a way that is worthy of God’s people.” As the one and only mention of Phoebe in the Bible, we don’t know much about her. We don’t know if she was a prominent church leader and ordained deacon, or if she was Paul’s informal helper and supporter. We don’t know what she looked like, if she was married, how she earned a living, or what her political views were.

But we do know that Paul viewed Phoebe as a valued sibling in Christ and an integral part of the Body, and he encouraged the Christians in Rome to welcome and build an authentic relationship with her as a child of God.

Like Phoebe, each of us brings our own unique abilities, experiences, and perspectives to this community. And it is through our willingness to share our faith journeys with one another—and to receive one another in the fullness of each person’s being—that we can experience and see God’s vision for us more fully and, therefore, be transformed together by God’s Spirit.

Let’s explore our call to live together in community, abide in Christ and one another, and re-envision how we extend Christ’s love to each other and ourselves in ways that are worthy of God’s people.

The opportunity to register online to participate in the 2024 Annual Conference in-person ends on Monday, June 10. (In-person participants who miss this deadline can register onsite at a higher cost.) Non-delegates who wish to participate virtually can continue to register online after June 10, but at a higher cost. Learn more about Annual Conference or register today at www.brethren.org/ac2024.

(Read this issue of eBrethren.)

By Rhonda Pittman Gingrich, director of Annual Conference

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” ~Ephesians 5:1-2

The 2023 Annual Conference theme is “Living God’s Love.” As Tim McElwee, the 2023 Annual Conference moderator, has shared:
 “We are made in the image of God and our calling is to love like God loves. We know how God loves through the life and teachings of Jesus and through the love we share with and receive from each other. We know how God loves because though we are sinners and none of us could be worthy of God’s love, nevertheless God loves us fully and unconditionally. And we know how God loves because Jesus, the descent of God into our world and into our lives, loved inclusively, without limits, and extravagantly.”

Building on the work of the 2022 Annual Conference, Moderator Tim McElwee invites us to continue to apply our denomination’s vision statement by sharing Jesus with each other, living in harmony, embracing one another as Christ embraces us, and sharing God’s gift of inclusive love. The daily themes for this year’s Annual Conference will be:  Living God’s Love (Tuesday), Bearing the Fruit of God’s Love (Wednesday), Responding in Love to the Needs of Others (Thursday), Seeing and Loving Like God (Friday), and Loving the Least in the Family of God (Saturday).

Our hope for this year’s gathering is to continue reconnecting after COVID by:  renewing old friendships and forming new ones; being inspired and challenged to grow in faith to become more innovative, adaptable, and fearless disciples; building bridges across the political polarization of secular society in order to be the body of Christ together; returning home better equipped to minister with our neighbors; and, overall, living into the Annual Conference mission statement “to unite, strengthen, and equip the Church of the Brethren to follow Jesus.”

Annual Conference in Cincinnati will provide several unique opportunities:  Tours to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center; a revitalized exhibit hall with performances on a coffeehouse stage, a silent auction, a game night, and ice cream, in addition to informative exhibits; a Public Witness for Gun Violence Prevention; and an opportunity to support our Witness to the Host City project Found House.

We look forward to connecting with you—in-person or virtually—for Annual Conference in Cincinnati!

The opportunity to register in advance to participate in the 2023 Annual Conference in-person ends this Saturday, June 10. (In-person participants who miss this deadline can register onsite at a higher cost.) Non-delegates can register to participate virtually through June 27 after which registration for virtual participation will close. Learn more about Annual Conference or register today at www.brethren.org/ac2023.

(Read this issue of eBrethren..)

A message from David Sollenberger, moderator of the 235^th Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren

As we anticipate meeting in person for the first time in three years for our Annual Conference, we recognize that we come from varied places, circumstances, and experiences. One common denominator, however, is a belief in the power that prayer affords us as we seek God’s leading and direction for this time together.

Pentecost Sunday, this year on June 5, is celebrated by many Christians as the “birthday” of the Church. We take time on that day and in the weeks that follow to remember the special gift of the Holy Spirit coming to those faithful apostles that were gathered, after the ascension of our Lord, in prayer and expectation.

It was the power of that Spirit that transformed a small, discouraged, and disorganized group of followers into a courageous movement of disciples that took the Gospel, in a few decades, to nearly all of the known world. More than 2,000 years later, we remember the exhilaration and might of that moment as part of our own “birth” story.

This is an invitation to pray through this season of Pentecost in preparation and expectation for the gathering of the Brethren in Omaha this summer, July 10-14. I ask that you join me in this opportunity to remember and pray for Annual Conference—in your family and in your congregation.

Pray that we might be open to, and guided by, the Spirit in our worship, our study, and our deliberations. Pray that we will be given the grace to treat each other as brothers and sisters in Christ in the best tradition of the Church of the Brethren. Pray for safe travels for those that give of their time and talent by serving the church at Annual Conference. Pray that each person who gathers in Omaha will experience a renewed anointing of the Spirit that will give energy and courage in abundance for moving Christ’s church into a confident future.

Thank you for considering these thoughts and this request. Thank you most graciously for all you do on behalf of our Lord and his Church.

Online registration for Annual Conference closes this Friday, June 10. Register today to participate in-person or online at www.brethren.org/ac.

(Read this issue of eBrethren.)