Cleveland, Ohio
1. The 221st Annual Conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio, June 30-July 4, 2007, under the theme, “Proclaim the Power of God.”
2. Much of the business time was spent on deciding internal organizational and structural matters, and very few business decisions had to do with actual faith issues.
3. It was decided to combine again the General Board and the Association of Brethren Caregivers into one entity. These two boards had operated separately for several years. The Annual Conference Council will also be phased out, and its work is supposed to be carried on by the new structure. Sometimes it seems like we continually go in circles.
4. The Doing Church Business report was received only as resource and study information, and the recommendations are to be viewed as possible options for future use in Annual Conferences only as Annual Conference Officers deem appropriate. This report had stretched over two years and was overwhelming in its suggestions for having an altogether different format when conducting Annual Conference. Some of its ideas may be used in the future but none of them are mandated.
5. The Brethren Medical Plan is to be phased out. This has been on a collision course for some time, and with rising health care costs and fewer participants, the Plan is no longer going to be offered. This is a hardship for those who now are up in years and need to find other health insurance coverage.
6. Annual Conference approved a report that encourages the church to become inter-cultural. For all the years I’ve been going to Annual Conference, and have listened to many speeches and resolutions encouraging members to be more open to people of other races and cultures, it remains a stubborn fact that we have not been very successful in opening our church doors to the many ethnic groups that live around us.
7. A new query asked for the Church of the Brethren to halt its decline in membership to the point of extinction. A lengthy answer was given by Standing Committee which is designed to encourage all levels of the church to give more serious attention to church growth. Reporting on such activities will be facilitated.
8. Along with declining membership there have been several years of lower attendance at Annual Conference. Although attendance was up slightly this year, it becomes more difficult to make financial ends meet with fewer registrants. This year a total of 3,578 persons were registered. It was decided to locate more future Annual Conferences in the eastern areas where more Brethren live—as a way of improving attendance.
9. The Conference delegates also decided to join Christian Churches Together, a relatively new ecumenical structure. This is not a program organization, but a place where denominational leaders meet to share perspectives. It has a broader group of participants than the present NCC and WCC groups do, and includes Roman Catholic and Pentecostal representatives.
10. The pro-homosexual voices were more subdued at this Annual Conference. Most of their activities were confined to a hotel that was away from the actual location of Annual Conference. Some of the business may have contained some of their thinking, but it was appreciated that open confrontation was not in evidence.
11. The BRF Committee will likely try and reserve more space in the future for some of our Annual Conference events. This is because more people seem to want to attend the BRF planned activities. This year we had not reserved enough space for some of the meal events.
12. We felt the preaching at this year’s conference was on a higher level than has often been the case. For this we are grateful.
13. Of course, next year is the “biggie!” It will be celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the founding of the Church of the Brethren. A much larger attendance than normal is expected in 2008. Why not make plans to come to Richmond, Virginia, July 12-16, 2008?
–James F. Myer
