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The Church of the Brethren Gun Violence Prevention Action Team would love to see you at Annual Conference this year! Wear orange and join us.

As reported in the Brethren bits section of Newsline on March 21 (see www.brethren.org/news/2025/brethren-bits-68), President Trump sought to dismantle the US Institute of Peace (USIP) by removing its leadership and having personnel from a newly created federal office, called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), forcibly take over the institute’s headquarters on March 17. The fired USIP board members filed a lawsuit

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site clean-up of an empty lot adjacent to the driveway of the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., was completed last month.

At least 20 individuals came to Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren from seven other congregations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and northern Virginia, to sing, pray, share, and partner in our desire for peace and goodwill on earth.

The Richardson family’s desire for their son Powell to become a full member of the UMC led to a change in the Book of Discipline that paved the way for others with disabilities to join.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) will be held in Belém, Brazil from 10-21 November 2025. Rev. Romeu Martini, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, shared how climate change is affecting communities, and his expectations for COP30. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is celebrating the life and mourning the death of Walter Brueggemann, who passed away peacefully on 5 June at the age of 92.

[Episcopal News Service] The diocesan bishops of the six Episcopal dioceses in California issued a statement on June 10 responding to the federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and subsequent clashes between protesters and law enforcement, as well as the Trump administration’s decision to send soldiers to the area against the wishes of California leaders. The following is the text of the bishops’ letter. A Letter from the Episcopal Bishops in the State of California Beloved in Christ, Like all Californians, we are watching with great concern the events unfolding around immigration protests in Los Angeles. We are deeply concerned about the ICE raids and about the potential for violence arising from the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to the Los Angeles area. We are concerned that military deployments will escalate the confrontations unnecessarily, and worry that all of our regions in California may be subject to future deployments that heighten tensions rather than resolving them. Bishop John Harvey Taylor, the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles, has posted on social media this past weekend about what is happening in Los Angeles and his interpretation of the ways in which local officials, law enforcement, federal agencies, and protesters are all interacting. He expressed deep pain and anger as fourteen people in one single Episcopal congregation in that diocese were detained by ICE on Friday. Certainly, we as Episcopalians are shocked and saddened when any of our own are removed from our beloved community. In all six of our dioceses, people are concerned and fearful about the denial of due process for those detained and the potential for ICE raids targeting beloved community institutions and people working to support their families. People feel angry and threatened that the haven they sought in our communities is no longer safe. U.S. citizens and legal residents feel deep grief at losing beloved friends and family members. Children whose parents are deported face uncertain futures. In our churches, we strive to protect our members who are at risk. Our Baptismal Covenant asks us, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being (BCP p. 417)?” This question is a direct and ongoing call to us as persons who follow Christ to live out our calling opposed to injustice, to violence of any kind, and to stand up where human beings are not treated as we would treat a child of God. This question needs to be foremost in our thoughts as we consider our response to the situation in Los Angeles. In The Episcopal Church, we uphold a proud tradition of advocating for civil rights and supporting the vulnerable in our society. We stand for fierce love and for justice that leads to peace, as well as societal practices that preserve human dignity. With God’s help, we will speak and pray on behalf of all in this situation. Bishop Taylor has asked for our prayers for Los Angeles, and we invite all our dioceses to pray for the unfolding situation there as well as for peace and justice in all our communities. We ask that you join us in praying: “Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” (BCP p. 823). In Christ, The Rt. Rev. Lucinda Ashby Episcopal Bishop of El Camino Real The Rt. Rev. David Rice Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin The Rt. Rev. Austin K. Rios Episcopal Bishop of California The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook Episcopal Bishop of San Diego The Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles The Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair Episcopal Bishop of Northern California

Here's a summary of the major decisions, themes, and conversations at the RCA's 2025 General Synod in Tucson, Arizona, June 5-10.

The post General Synod 2025 News Summary appeared first on Reformed Church in America.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), in collaboration with the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa and the South African Council of Churches, is organizing from 12-16 June a conference and seminars inspired by the centenary of the 1925 Life and Work inaugural conference, which emphasized the church’s role in addressing social, political, and economic injustices.