EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

The Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) is holding its national conference Oct. 2-5 in Portland, Oregon, and the Church of the Brethren is partnering in the event. The denomination’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation office and the Part-Time Pastor, Full-Time Church program are offering assistance for ministers who would like to attend. Learn more at https://ccda.org/train-connect/ccda-national-conference/.

Plans are under way to offer an event for the Church of the Brethren’s Midwest region focusing on shared ministry teams and greater involvement of lay members in ministry in winter 2025. Watch for more details.

Registration is now live for the Ventures in Christian Discipleship 2024-2025 webinar series. CEUs are available. Upcoming courses include:

• Oct. 8 & 15: “Happiness in Hard Times: A View from the Psalms,” presented by Steve Reid, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Central, 0.4 CEU for both sessions.
• Nov. 19 & 26: “Understanding Your Grief to Find Hope and Healing,” presented by Chris Whitacre & Kathy Reid. 7-8:30 p.m. Central, 0.3 CEU for both sessions.
• Feb. 11 & 18: “Luke and Acts: Turning the World Upside Down,” presented by Chris Bucher & Bob Neff
• March 11: “Standing in Solidarity: A Conversation about Race and Allyship,” presented by Eleanor Hubbard
• April 5: “A Place for Everybody: Creating Communities of Belonging,” presented by Jeanne Davies

Suggested donation is $25 per course. Learn more and register online at www.mcpherson.edu/ventures.

Upcoming courses from the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership include “A Place of Refuge,” travel seminar to Atlanta, Jan. 7-15, led by Josh Brockway (registration deadline Nov. 1); “Worship,” online with Zoom sessions Jan. 15-March 11, led by Christy Waltersdorff (registration deadline Dec. 11); and “Church of the Brethren Polity,” online Feb. 12-April 8, led by Torin Eikler (registration deadline Jan. 8). Register and pay online at Brethren Academy Course Registration/Biannual TRIM Payment | Bethany Theological Seminary (bethanyseminary.edu).

 Upcoming Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center (SVMC) continuing education courses include “Autism and the Church,” led by Lisa Kruse, Tim Miller, David Crumrine, and Stan Dueck, Sept. 26, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Central, via Zoom, cost $45 (with 0.5 CEU’s); “Grief Literacy,” led by Julie Guistwite, Oct. 1, 12-3 p.m. Central, via Zoom, cost $35 (with 0.3 CEU’s); and “The Question of Leadership: Why It Matters,” led by Jeff Carter, Nov. 16, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Eastern in person at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College or via Zoom, cost $65 in person with lunch, $45 via Zoom. Course prices are $10 less without CEU’s. Register by visiting the SVMC course page or by contacting Karen Hodges at karenhodges@svmccob.org.

Lombard Mennonite Peace Center offers a variety of training sessions. It recently added several one-day online training events to the schedule, including “Restorative Conversations” Oct. 3, “Conflict Transformation Skills” Oct. 15, “Healthy Congregations” Nov. 7, and “Fractured Lives, Fractured Churches” Dec. 17. For details and registration information, go to www.lmpeacecenter.org/trainings.

2025 New Community Project Learning Tours: Go. Meet. Learn. Grow. Change yourself —and your world. These trips will take participants of all ages to: Nepal in mid- January; Rwanda/Congo in February; Borneo in mid-May; the Ecuadorian Amazon in early June; Lybrook, N.M. in late June; and Denali/Kenai Fjords National Parks in early August. For more information visit www.newcommunityproject.info/learning-tours or contact dradcliffncp@yahoo.com or 540-855-1199.

A Church of the Brethren L.E.A.D. (Listen – Equip – Adapt – Disciple) Conference is planned for Nov. 15-17, sponsored by the denomination’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation office. The event will be hosted at Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the Brethren with a scripture theme from 2 Timothy 2:2. Designed for congregational leaders such as pastors and church board members, the focus will be on raising the leadership skills of congregational leaders to help them be more effective in their local ministries. The event will be a mix of plenary and break-out sessions. Up to 0.8 CEU’s are available. Attendance will be capped at 250 participants. Keynote speaker is Rev. Dennis Robert Edwards from North Park Theological Seminary. To register or for more information, visit The L.E.A.D. Conference – Discipleship and Leadership Formation (brethren.org). Registration fee is $125. Congregations registering five or more people get a discount rate of $79 per person.

Designed particularly for ministers new to the Church of the Brethren denomination, Bethany Theological Seminary’s new certificate of achievement in ministry studies (CAMS) includes six courses that focus on Brethren history and theology, practical experience with the ordinances and preaching of the church, biblical interpretation, and peace studies. The certificate can be completed in two years or even one year, depending on course offerings. Five of the six courses can be completed at a distance. For more information go to https://bethanyseminary.edu.

Video recordings of online events sponsored by the Part-time Pastor, Full-time Church program of the Church of the Brethren’s Office of Ministry are available online at https://vimeo.com/ptpftcbrethren. Among them is a webinar with Jon Ritner, author of the book Positively Irritating: Embracing a Post-Christian World to Form a More Faithful and Innovative Church, hosted by Ryan Braught, church planter and pastor of Veritas Community, a Church of the Brethren congregation. For more information contact Tabitha H. Rudy, administrative assistant for Part-time Pastor, Full-time Church, at adminptpftc@brethren.org.