ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2024

The 2024 Church of the Brethren Annual Conference took place July 3-7 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Madalyn Metzger, who grew up in the Springfield First congregation, served as moderator, with the theme “Welcome and Worthy.”

In her opening remarks, Metzger said: “It’s easy for us to focus on the differences in front of us, in this moment. But struggles over differences and divisions are not new. In fact, the Apostle Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Corinthians and other parts of the early church show us that Christians have wrestled with conflict for over two millennia. But, yet, God’s Spirit continued to work through this increasingly diverse group of Christ-followers, just as the Spirit is working in us today.”

A total of 1,450 people attended the Conference, and more than a dozen of ourdistrict congregations were represented as delegates considered a variety ofbusiness items and joined other Conference participants in a series of rich worshipservices, age-group activities, equipping sessions, and other events.

Highlights included welcoming one new congregation, one new fellowship, and fivenew projects to the denomination; the calling of Don Fitzkee of Manheim, Pa., asmoderator-elect, along with other people called to various roles of service; collecting more than $47,000 in offerings for the work of the denomination and twolocal witness projects in Grand Rapids, along with another $8,000-plus indonations and $10,000-plus from the silent auction; and the final AnnualConference quilt auction, which raised $8,200 for hunger relief.

Delegates approved the mandate and a longer-than-usual term of service for theReview and Evaluation Committee, which is called once a decade to evaluate thework of the church and make recommendations. The committee will have until2029 to do its task. A query on denominational structure was referred to the Reviewand Evaluation Committee. A study committee on “Breaking Down Barriers” wasgiven another year to complete its work, interim agency covenants were updated,and other ongoing committees gave status reports.

A two-page print Wrap Up in pdf format is free to download and copy for use in congregations and districts: www.brethren.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/AC2024-WrapUp.pdf .