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Date: July 22, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
July 22, 2005
 
CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN DELEGATES DO DENOMINATIONAL HOUSEKEEPING
 
July 22, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- The Church of the Brethren Annual Conference  
made changes in its polity and the polity of the Church of the Brethren
General  
Board, among other business transacted in Peoria, Ill., in early July.
 
The relatively minor changes bring polity documents into conformity with  
current practice. The delegates added an item to a list of purposes and  
functions of the General Board, to "provide leadership in prophetic social 
policy 
development for the denomination."
 
A "New Mandate for the Review and Evaluation Committee" expands this  
regularly scheduled review of the denomination's ministries, which occurs
every  10 
years. The mandate was revised to include total denominational structure and 

program in light of a multiple agency structure put in place since the last 
such  review. A five-member committee was elected.
 
The Doing Church Business Study Committee and the Intercultural Study  
Committee brought interim reports. Each committee received an extension of
one  year 
for further study.
 
The Cross Cultural Ministries Team gave a brief report called for by the  
Caring for the Poor decision of the 2000 Annual Conference, which asked for
an  
update in 2005. The delegate body agreed to a suggestion for a more complete 

report to come in 2006.
 
New church leaders were chosen by the Conference, as well. Election results  
follow, listed by position, followed by appointments affirmed or approved:  
MODERATOR-ELECT: Belita D. (Brewington) Mitchell; ANNUAL CONFERENCE COUNCIL: 

James F. Myer; PROGRAM AND ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE: Kristi A. Kellerman;
PASTORAL 
 COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS ADVISORY COMMITTEE: David Shoup; REVIEW AND 
EVALUATION  COMMITTEE: Michaela Camps, Rebecca Baile Crouse, Craig L. Gandy,
Paul 
Hoffman,  James Edward Martinez; ASSOCIATION OF BRETHREN CAREGIVERS (ABC):
Brian 
S. Black,  Heather L. Neff; BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY TRUSTEE--MINISTRY: 
John David  Bowman; LAITY: Ted Flory; BRETHREN BENEFIT TRUST (BBT): Carol Ann

Jackson  Greenwood; ON EARTH PEACE: Sarah Quinter Malone; COMMITTEE ON 
INTERCHURCH  RELATIONS: Ilexene Alphonse. Appointments affirmed or approved
include: 
Allegra  Hess, John Katonah, and Dan McRoberts to the ABC board; Elaine L. 
Gibbel and J.  Paul Wampler to the Bethany board; Gail Morgan Habecker to the
BBT 
board; Ken  Edwards and Debbie Roberts to the On Earth Peace board; and 
district nominees  Bruce Holderreed (Idaho) and Ramona Pence (Shenandoah),
and 
at-large nominees  Marian Thornton and Kate Spire to the General Board.
 
Among reports received by the delegates, Bethany Theological Seminary gave  a

special report focused on its centennial celebration. The main campus of the 

seminary is located in Richmond, Ind. A slide show and readings reviewed the 

history of the seminary, structured around the tenures of its presidents,  
followed by stories of the ministries of its alumni. Some of the "nameless  
servants" who have had an impact on the school were recognized. "Bethany has 

lived on the trusted work of servants whose names are little known or not  
remembered," said president Eugene Roop. Academic dean Stephen Reid reported 
that 
more than 2,000 people have studied at Bethany since 1905. 
 
In other Conference events celebrating the centennial, an alumni choir sang  
a new hymn commissioned for the event: "A Pilgrimage of Faith," by Steve
Engle 
 and Frank Ramirez. Two new books were introduced as well: "The Bethany 
Seminary  Centennial History," and "Bethany Daze" by Fred Swartz giving
anecdotes 
of life  at the seminary (order from Brethren Press, 800-441-3712).
 
A multimedia report, "Alive '05--Making Glad the City of God," opened the  
Conference business sessions with what the moderator called "a thumbnail
sketch	
of what God is doing through the work of this denomination." The presentation

 featured testimonies of a variety of ministries of Brethren individuals,  
congregations, and the denomination, interspersed with music. Psalm 46	
punctuated the presentation: "There is a river whose streams make glad the
city  of 
God." Stories of personal and communal transformation included that of Felix 

Lohitai, peace studies student at Manchester College who was formerly a
soldier  
in the Sudan People's Liberation Army; Richard Propes' wheelchair tours on  
behalf of abused children; Nick Kauffman's experience as a young
conscientious  
objector; and the responses of the Brethren to the tsunami, among many	
others.
 
The delegate body received a report of a recent trip to Sudan by Annual  
Conference moderator Jim Hardenbrook and Brethren Witness/Washington Office  
director Phil Jones. The two were part of a small delegation of interfaith 
leaders 
from the US that visited the capital city of Khartoum, and a camp of  
refugees fleeing violence in Darfur. The visit included a meeting with the 
president 
of Sudan. "There is a deep hope for peace throughout Sudan,"  Hardenbrook 
said. "I don't think this was true six month ago, a year ago. There  is a
window 
of opportunity there."
 
Other reports were give by the Association of Brethren Caregivers, Brethren  
Benefit Trust, the General Board, On Earth Peace, those working on TOGETHER: 

Conversations on Being the Church, the 300th Anniversary Committee, the  
Committee on Interchurch Relations, the National and World Councils of
Churches,  
the Standing Committee, and a report on a new inter-agency Outreach Planning 

Packet available free to congregations titled, "As One Church." In the
Program  
and Arrangement Committee's report it was announced that the 2010 Annual  
Conference will be held in Pittsburgh, Pa., July 3-7. In the report from the 

Pastoral Compensation and Benefits Advisory Committee, the delegates approved
a  
2.8 percent pastoral scale increase. Delegates also took time for stories of 
how  the Brethren are a living peace church.
 
The body welcomed new Church of the Brethren congregations and fellowships:  
La Casa Del Amigo, Arecibo, P.R.; Lirio de Los Valles, Lebanon, Pa., New  
Beginnings, Manheim, Pa.; Maranatha Multicultural, Lancaster, Pa.; Trinity,  
Shippensburg, Pa.; Jesu Cristo El Camino, Hendersonville, N.C.; New Creation,
 
Morrisville, Pa.; Mountain View, McGaheysville, Va.; Living Faith, Concord, 
N.C.; 
Knight's Chapel, Barboursville, Va.
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
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 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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