Church of the Brethren

On Friday, July 3, while many were beginning their Independence Day celebrations, two Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) volunteers were aiding the Kerrville, Texas, community in a very different commemoration.

Two pastors were ordained for pastoral ministry in the Mangateen IDP [Internally Displaced Person] camp in June: Daniel Mawer and Paul Makuar. Mawer was trained in the Presbyterian tradition but due to conflicts in the leadership of the Presbyterian Church in South Sudan, he asked if he could join the Church of the Brethren.

The National Youth Conference office is excited to announce all of our speakers for NYC 2026! For some 10 weeks in advance of NYC, a speaker was announced on NYC social media pages as part of a series titled “Speaker Saturday.” Read below to find out a bit about each of our speakers.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of the event that kicked off the revolution, we might ask, what do we Brethren think about the Declaration of Independence? … And what would our forebears say about what we’ve become?” asked Denise Kettering-Lane at her standing-room-only equipping session titled “Dunkers and the Declaration of Independence: Then and Now.”

The following call to worship was shared during the closing worship service of the 2026 Conference on Thursday morning, July 2, with leadership from Gail Heisel. And it has a back story.

The delegate body of the 2026 Annual Conference on Wednesday afternoon, July 1, adopted a “Resolution on Weapons Transfer” with a solid majority vote. The paper cites Matthew 5:44b-45, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…,” to call the Church of the Brethren to “examine and respond to the impacts of the arms industry.”

For some time, the Church of the Brethren has undertaken a periodic review every decade to evaluate the denomination’s organizational structures and procedures, with a committee assigned to bring recommendations to Annual Conference for possible changes. This decade’s Review and Evaluation Committee, elected in 2025, presented its first interim report.

Norton as executive director of Global Mission for the Church of the Brethren introduced the international guests who were present. She then introduced the evening’s speaker and guest of honor Daniel Mbaya, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), “the largest Anabaptist communion in the world.”

It’s a story of ignorance, prejudice, nativism, and ill will, and a mean-spirited law aimed at us Dunkers and all the “plain people,” with consequences that continue to be felt in our day. And it was appropriate that a story involving an Elizabethtown (Pa.) College founding professor, Elizabeth Myer, should be shared by Steve Nolt, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies on Elizabethtown’s campus.

With the proper therapies, and in some cases surgeries and other medical intervention, infants born prematurely have every chance of growing up to their full potential. But in places like Vietnam, premature infants born in rural areas may have no access to top-flight medical care.

The Mission and Ministry Board brought their recent resolution for adoption by the delegate body. Titled “Walking Together: Immigration, Peacemaking, Conscience, and Supporting our Neighbors,” it reiterates that “care for immigrants and refugees is an essential part of the Christian and Church of the Brethren ethic of service and peacemaking.”

Angelo Mante was a graduate student in Atlanta when he received a predawn phone call on Sept. 13, 2016. It changed everything. He received the news that his first cousin Nick had been violently killed in Fort Wayne.

Eder Financial had big news for the delegates this year as they described the background of the decision and the process for moving employee retirement and organizational investing services to Everence Financial.

Two adjustments to the 2014 Ministry Leadership paper that governs credentialing of ministerial leaders in the Church of the Brethren were approved by the delegate body on Monday, June 29. One pertains to licensed ministers and the other to commissioned ministers. As a change of polity, this item of business required and received a two-thirds majority to pass.

There were many programs available for Annual Conference attendees as part of Tuesday morning’s “Imagine! A Morning of Sparking, Stirring, and Serving.” One of the most natural for Brethren was service projects.

Amy Gall Ritchie of Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., South Central Indiana District, has been elected to the position of moderator-elect of Annual Conference. She will serve as moderator in 2028.

One new church plant and one new fellowship were welcomed into the Church of the Brethren denomination during the opening business session of the 2026 Annual Conference on Monday, June 29.

International guests received a warm welcome from the 2026 Annual Conference. On Monday morning, June 29, during the opening business session Global Mission executive Sharon Brugger Norton introduced the guests from the stage. She noted that this might have been the first time that Annual Conference has welcomed international guests from Vietnam.

It was already a timely topic when it was scheduled as one of the Equipping Sessions at the 2026 Annual Conference—but the events of the past few days led “Loving Our Immigrant Neighbors: Legal Updates, Ally Resources, and US Militarism” to be a standing-room-only session, with the seats filled and many people leaning on walls and sitting on the floor.

The Brethren Disaster Ministries and Child Disaster Services breakfast at Annual Conference always has the feel of a reunion, looking backwards, and a planning committee, looking forward. This year was no different as the past and future were celebrated.