Annual Conference 2005 - Monday Features Page

INSIGHT SESSION PREVIEWS GATHER ’ROUND CURRICULUM
Over 50 Conference-goers attended an insight session introducing the new Gather ’Round curriculum, forthcoming in fall 2006. Building on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Anna Speicher, director and editor of the curriculum project, emphasized that a key goal of the curriculum is to strengthen the connection between church and home and give parents the resources they need to assist in their children’s faith formation. One way the curriculum will do this is by offering a unit specially designed for parents and others who care for children.

Curriculum units will be offered for six other age groups, from preschool through high school. Speicher added that a fairly recent decision has been made to add a youth unit to the curriculum, which will be available primarily as a downloadable resource.

Early childhood consultant Kathy Fry-Miller led attendees in an exercise helping them identify different learning styles, or intelligences, called out by particular types of activities.

Speicher, along with Brethren Press publisher Wendy McFadden, responded to questions from the group. Noting that there was not time in an hour to answer every question, Speicher encouraged participants to check out the curriculum website www.gatherround.org.

In conclusion, Julie Hostetter, a member of the Gather ’Round advisory group, led a song, “Peace Be with You,” composed by Mennonite singer/songwriter Bryan Moyer Suderman. This song will appear on the music CD that will accompany the first year of the curriculum.

BRETHREN JOURNAL ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF ‘BRETHREN LIFE AND THOUGHT’
Frank Ramirez entertained a Brethren Journal Association luncheon with a fast-paced musical revue of Brethren history, “Brethren, Lively and Thoughtful.” He included humorous tributes to many history makers and history writers in the church from the past 50 years.

In association business, managing editor Carol Gardner announced that all issues of “Brethren Life and Thought” are being digitized by the American Theological Library Association, making the whole collection available online to the journal’s subscribers.

Several people were honored for their contributions to the association’s work. David Eller was recognized for his service as editor of “Brethren Life and Thought” from 1997 to 2004; William Kostlevy for his work as book review editor 1999 to 2005; Robert Morris III for his service on the advisory board 1999 to 2005, including as secretary; and Mary Jane Button-Harrison for her work on the advisory board from 2000-04, most recently as president of the advisory board.

New officers to the advisory board were affirmed including Frank Ramirez as president; Ken Shaffer as secretery; Wallace Landis continuing for another term as a member of the board; and Tom Longenecker and Debbie Roberts beginning service as board members.

Gilbert Romero and band added musical spice to the Cross Cultural dinner.
Photo by Regina Roberts

CROSS CULTURAL DINNER HEARS FROM NEW MODERATOR-ELECT
The liveliest two hours of Annual Conference 2005 may well have been the Cross Cultural Ministries Dinner. From the moment the room began to fill, music boomed with high energy rock and roll, salsa, and jazz. Singing, shouting, clapping, and dancing in the aisles, the crowd was led by musicians Gilbert Romero, Jonathan Shively, Scott Duffy, Tara Hornbacker, Andrew Duffy, Rich Brode, and Thomas Dowdy, along with others.

Duane Grady, Congregational Life Team staff for the General Board who works with the Cross Cultural Ministries Team, announced that the annual Cross Cultural Consultation is being renamed “Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration.” Anyone from the denomination is invited, he said. It will be held May 4-7, 2006, at Lancaster, Pa. For more information, e-mail dgrady_gb@brethren.org.

Grady also announced the names of four new members of the Cross Cultural Ministries Team: Marisel Olivencia of Harrisburg, Pa.; Alice Martin-Adkins of Asheville, N.C.; Renel Exceus of Orlando, Fla.; Dennis Webb of Naperville, Ill.

Belita Mitchell, elected earlier in the day to serve as Annual Conference moderator in 2007, exulted with the gathering, “We serve a mighty God! God has been working in ways only God can work” to make the church “living and growing and dynamic,” she said. “We’re just beginning to see what God has in store for us.” She encouraged people to be in prayer, and to keep watching God in action, saying, “It’s going to be a marvelous ride!”

GLOBAL MINISTRIES DINNER CONSIDERS PEACE EVANGELISM
Those attending the Global Ministries Dinner were inspired by the music of singer/songwriter Gary Rand of McCormick Theological Seminary, and challenged by the address of Robert Johansen to consider what “Peace Evangelism in a Violent Age” could look like.

Johansen, co-founder of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a member of Crest Manor Church of the Brethren in South Bend, Ind., proposed a thesis that Brethren global mission in such a time as this should be a kind of peace evangelism. He listed five foundational beliefs for shaping such Brethren peace evangelism, and gave examples of previous mission work in which the Brethren had either done well or had made mistakes relating to those beliefs.

He challenged the church to make evangelism a part of all missions, but to make sure that the sharing of the Good News includes the full content of it. In other words, teach peace as a crucial part of Jesus’ message, and embody that in the church’s missions. This would entail not only a call to nonviolence, but to teach reconciliation, conflict transformation, and a universal acceptance of all people (versus tribalism), and to confront unjust structures in societies and governments, just as Jesus did.

A REPORT FROM THE WOMAEN’S CAUCUS LUNCHEON
The Womaen’s Caucus luncheon featured speaker Christen Pettit Miller, a chaplain at an intensive care unit in Fort Wayne, Ind. Her message was based on Hebrews 12:1-3.

Christen encouraged members of the Womaen’s Caucus to continue to rely on community for support, rely on solitude to reconnect with God, to speak their truth to those in power, and to stand up against injustices. She cited the words of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an early feminist and suffragist, to inspire hope in her audience. Stanton did not lose hope, even when dying 18 years before women were granted the right to vote, said Miller. She referred to the seeds she planted as “winter wheat,” something to be reaped by a later generation. Miller said that we “sow winter wheat” as a denomination each time we include women, gays, or lesbians in ministry and in our congregations, or use gender-inclusive language in our churches.

This year’s Friend of Caucus award was given to a congregation rather than an individual. Susan Stern Boyer accepted the honor on behalf of LaVerne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren, the only Brethren congregation that includes the Womaen’s Caucus in its budget. It also is the church that brought forth the issues of a denominational name change to Pacific Southwest District Conference in 2001, an issue that continues to be discussed throughout the Church of the Brethren, caucus leaders said.

A silent auction raised $345 for the caucus.

Members of the 2005 Annual Conference news team, a ministry of the General Board, contributed to this report: Regina Roberts, Jesse Reid, Hannah Edwards, and Sarah Kovacs, photographers; Kathleen Campanella, Karen Garrett, Jill Kline, Frank Ramirez, Frances Townsend, Sarah Leatherman Young, and Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, writers; Amy Heckert, technical support; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford and Becky Ullom, editors.

219th Annual Conference Peoria, Illinois July 2-6, 2005