DENOMINATIONAL NEWS/NEWSLINE

Note: Some church members have received suspicious emails claiming to be from general secretary David Steele or other church leaders. These emails have come from a gmail.com account. Any emails from Church of the Brethren Inc. staff should come from @brethren.org email addresses. For other church leaders, please verify their address. Report and block any suspicious emails. The Church of the Brethren Inc. or other agency/district staff will never ask you to send them gift cards or cash for personal reasons. 

The Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board met in advance of Annual Conference in Greensboro, N.C., for its summer meeting. Presiding over the meeting on July 2 was chair Colin Scott, assisted by chair-elect Kathy Mack and general secretary David Steele. The board considered a budget parameter for Core Ministries for 2026 but declined to take action. The chair presented an executive committee recommendation to defer action citing the difficulties of financial reporting for 2024 following the data breach that the denominational ministries suffered last December. The board is expected to act on a budget parameter at its October meeting. The board called three members–Michaela Alphonse, Joel Gibbel, and Colby Patton–to serve on the executive committee in addition to Kathy Mack, who at the end of the 2025 Annual Conference took the chair position, and Josiah Ludwick, who has begun as chair-elect. 

Grants from the Brethren Faith in Action Fund (BFIA) have been announced, going to four Church of the Brethren congregations including Roanoke Central, Williamson Road, Amaranth, and Lynchburg. Formed with funds generated from sale of the upper campus of the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., the BFIA provides grants to outreach ministries of Church of the Brethren congregations and camps that honor and continue the center’s legacy of service while also addressing the dynamics of the present age. For more information and how to apply go to www.brethren.org/faith-in-action. 

Juniata College is celebrating 150 years since its founding as a Church of the Brethren-related institution. Located in Huntingdon, Pa., an article about the college’s history has been published by the Huntingdon Daily News at www.huntingdondailynews.com/news/local/college-celebrates-150-years/article_0b232953-6052-4392-84ba-2306d48b0776.html. The year-long celebration will feature a series of events including art exhibits, concerts, TEDx talks, the 116th Bailey Oratorical, and a culminating celebration next April. 

“Camp Mack is 100 years old!” said Gene Hollenberg, executive director of Camp Alexander Mack in Milford, Ind., greeting hundreds who braved hot weather to attend an evening worship service on Sunday, Aug. 10, in the camp’s Quinter-Miller Auditorium. The Camp Mack Centennial Worship Service was the capstone to a day that included games, music, food, and reunions, celebrating both the camp’s rich history and future. Some of the camp’s history was told in a 2005 video interview with the late Bill Eberly, and some through a skit, “The Cornfield that Grows People,” based on the children’s book written a quarter century ago by the late Phyllis Leininger and presented by Columbia City Church of the Brethren. 

On Sunday, Sept. 14, at 3 p.m. Eastern, the 55th annual Dunker Church Service will be held at the Dunker Church on the Antietam National Battlefield. Often noted as one of the most remarkable landmarks on this battlefield, the church has long stood for peace and love even during one of the most brutal confrontations of the Civil War. The afternoon will begin with a tribute to Edward Poling, who passed away in January 2025 and was a past chair of the Dunker Church Service Planning Committee. Steve Longenecker, emeritus professor of history at Bridgewater (Va.) College, will bring the message for the service, which also will include a traditional call to worship, hymns, sharing of scripture, special music, readings, and prayers. 

Rebecca Dali has become the first woman from Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) to be ordained into the ministry in the Church of the Brethren. The ordination service took place on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 17, at Panther Creek Church of the Brethren near Adel, Iowa, where Rebecca and Samuel Dali serve as pastors, with Northern Plains District executive minister Tim Button-Harrison officiating. 

The Church of the Brethren Intercultural Ministries Jubilee Celebration will take place Nov. 18-21 in Gotha, Fla., at Camp Ithiel: https://www.brethren.org/intercultural/#jubilee. Intercultural Ministries will also be holding several events at Annual Conference this summer. 

The L.E.A.D. Planning Team has scheduled the next in-person denominational L.E.A.D. Conference for May 1-3, 2026, again hosted by Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the Brethren. Between now and then, the team is planning quarterly virtual events as four free webinars focused on one of the four leadership components: Listen, Equip, Adapt, Disciple. The first webinar is scheduled for Thursday, June 19, at 6 p.m. Central Time featuring Dennis Edwards, the keynote speaker at the L.E.A.D. Conference held last fall, presenting material on listening as a leadership skill from his book Humility Illuminated. Others will follow on Oct. 16, Jan. 15, and March 19. CEU’s are available for clergy. For more information and to register go to www.brethren.org/thirdthursday.