Church Revitalization and Development Team, Jan. 18, 9 a.m.

  Council of District Executives meetings, Melbourne, Fla., Jan. 24-29

  Leadership Team mini-retreat, Oglesby, Ill., Feb. 2, 2-5 p.m.

  Gifts Discernment and Call Committee, Feb. 4, 7:15 p.m.

  Powerhouse regional youth conference, Camp Mack, Milford, Ind., Feb. 7-9

  Denominational Clergywomen’s Retreat, Feb. 10-13, Winter Park, Fla.

  Program & Arrangements Committee, Feb. 13, 7 p.m.

  “Changing Mindsets for Ministry” online workshop, Feb. 22, 9-11 a.m.

  Potluck Experience 2025, Peoria Church of the Brethren, March 29

  Christian Citizenship Seminar, Washington, D.C., April 5 – 9, 2025

  District Clergy Gathering and CEU event, Bishop Lane Retreat Center, Rockford, May 1-2

  National Youth Sunday, May 4

  Young Adult Conference, Brethren Woods Camp and Retreat Center, May 23 – 25

  National Junior High Conference, Juniata College, June 20–22

  Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, July 2-6, Greensboro, N.C.

 [all meetings via Zoom unless otherwise noted]

 

January Newsletter

Rachel Johnson and Anna Schweitzer will coordinate National Youth Conference (NYC) 2026.They will work with the 2025-2026 National Youth Cabinet this year to begin planning for NYC. Johnson, from Quarryville, Pa., is currently serving in Brethren Volunteer Service as the 2025 assistant coordinator for FaithX. Schweitzer, from Southern Ohio, is currently a freshman at Indiana University where she is studying Exercise Science. Anna will be serving part time as assistant NYC coordinator while she continues her college coursework. She completed a term in BVS this past summer.

National Youth Conference 2026 will take place July 18-23, 2026, with a return to the site that the conference used in 1990 and prior years: the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colo. More information will come in the months ahead.

Christian Citizenship Seminar is planned for April 5-9, 2025, giving high school students a chance to explore the relationship between their faith and a particular social justice issue, culminating in legislative visits on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Find out more at www.brethren.org/yya/ccs.

National Youth Sunday on May 4, 2025, will be an opportunity for congregations to empower senior high youth to plan and lead worship. Resources will be posted in 2025 at www.brethren.org/yya/national-youth-sunday.

Young Adult Conference is planned for May 23-25, 2025, at Brethren Woods near Keezletown, Va. The annual event offers people ages 18-35 a chance to enjoy fellowship, worship, recreation, Bible study, service projects, and more. See www.brethren.org/yya/yac.

National Junior High Conference takes place June 20-22, 2025, at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. Come join other junior high youth and adult advisors for a weekend packed with powerful worship, fun workshops, music, recreation, and more. Details are at www.brethren.org/yya/njhc.

Registration for Church of the Brethren FaithX short-term service trips opened on Jan. 8 at www.brethren.org/faithx. The 2025 theme is “Living with Purpose.” The trips challenge participants to become more aware of themselves, their communities, and their world by serving alongside others following Christ’s example.

This coming year, FaithX participants will have the opportunity to serve in a variety of ministry and non-profit settings, live and worship in community, explore a new place, examine their values and beliefs, and have too much fun! A summary of the 2025 trip locations, with descriptions and pricing information, is at www.brethren.org/faithx/schedule.

The summer offerings include two junior high trips, four joint junior high/senior high trips, two senior high trips, one family experience July 25-27 at Camp Mardela in Maryland, and two adult trips (including an international venture to Uganda). Also available is an older adult trip, March 2-7 to Camp Ithiel in Gotha, Fla., near Orlando. Registration for that trip closes Feb. 1.

Join us for Powerhouse 2025! It is Feb. 7-9 at Camp Mack. Start time will be 7pm on Friday, Feb. 7. Cost is more this year. It will be $160 per person (both youth and advisors). Ask your churches for help with costs. If you need additional help on top of that, let Val Kline or Lucas Kauffman know.

Our speaker this year will be Walt Wiltschek! More information will be released shortly on the DYSCO Facebook page. 

Registration Info Here

 The 2025 Denominational Clergywomen’s Retreat, an every-five-years event sponsored by the Church of the Brethren Ministry office, will take place Feb. 10-13 at San Pedro Spiritual Development Center in Winter Park, Fla., near Orlando. The theme, drawn from Ephesians 5:2, is “Love the World Like Jesus: with Courage, Care, and Healing.” The keynote speaker will be Meghan Larissa Good, author and lead pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix. Early bird registration is $325 for double occupancy, $450 for single. Cindy Weber (York Center) is among the planning team members. Registration for the event is now open at www.brethren.org/ministryoffice. The district's Church Revitalization and Development Team has some partial scholarships available to assist with registration and travel for those in need. To make a confidential request for scholarship aid, please contact district executive Walt Wiltschek or the district office.

LA fires: Pacific Southwest District executive minister Russ Matteson recently asked for prayers for the Conexión Pasadena congregation, the closest Church of the Brethren congregation to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. The parsonage, where pastors Juan Pablo Plaza and Adriana Rios and their family had been living, was destroyed in the Eaton Fire on Jan. 7. At last report, the church building and another parsonage the congregation owns were still standing. Many members of that congregation and others in the area have had to evacuate their homes. The denomination has nine congregations in the greater LA area. Prayers were requested for all of them, as well as first responders and others working in the crisis.

At its district board meeting this past weekend, Pacific Southwest created an emergency fund to support Brethren affected by the fires, contributing $2,500 from district funds to begin the response. Donations can be mailed to the Pacific Southwest District office at PO Box 760, Glendora, CA 91740 or at https://www.pswdcob.org/donate/. Note that gifts are for fire relief. Donations for the broader relief effort can also be send to Brethren Disaster Ministries’ Emergency Disaster Fund at https://www.brethren.org/bdm/edf/.

Early on Jan. 1, a truck was driven into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people and injuring 35 others. Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) sent a Critical Response Childcare team on Jan. 5 to provide a calm presence for the children of victims or children of families of the victims. Critical Response Childcare teams are trained above and beyond the typical CDS volunteers, prepared to serve following mass casualty events. Since 1997, CDS’s Critical Response Childcare teams have responded to several mass shootings including in Orlando and Las Vegas, and more recently in Uvalde and Lewiston.

The church is also supporting collections of disaster relief kits by Church World Service (CWS), many of which are warehoused and shipped by the denomination’s Material Resources staff at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Most needed right now are Clean-Up Buckets, and also Hygiene Kits and Period Packs. Find out how to assemble these kits at https://cwskits.org/assemble-kits. Staff are encouraging people who put together CWS kits to take them to a CWS “depot”; find locations at https://cwskits.org/ship-kits. To make a monetary donation for hurricane relief, go to www.brethren.org/givehurricaneresponse or send via mail, through checks made out to the Emergency Disaster Fund with “hurricane response” in the notation line. Mail to: Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin IL 60120. For more tips for how to help, visit www.brethren.org/news/2024/how-you-can-help. 

 

Brethren Disaster Ministries has updated its website with information for its second project response, which will mark a return to projects in Dawson Springs, Kentucky. The area was struck by a strong tornado in 2021. It joins another BDM rebuilding site in Letcher County, Ky. Information is at: https://www.brethren.org/bdm/rebuild/schedules/.

We’re in the quieter winter season now, but stay up to date on what’s happening at our district camps! Visit www.campem.com for Camp Emmanuel news and www.campemmaus.org for Camp Emmaus news

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for a special online workshop that will take place Saturday, Feb. 22, 9-11 a.m. Central, looking at "Changing Mindsets for Ministry." Our keynote leader will be Jeff MacDonald, a pastor and journalist from Massachusetts and author of Part-Time Is Plenty.

The workshop will look at changing models of congregational leadership, including shared ministry teams, greater involvement of lay leaders in the church's ministry, and helping church members re-conceptualize how they envision ministry and what constitutes a "successful" or vital church, among other topics. This free workshop is open to all and will take place on Zoom; the link will be sent out by late January.

Our district is offering this partnership with many of the surrounding Midwest/Plains districts, and with support from the denomination's Ministry Office. Clergy can receive 0.2 CEU’s. A flier was sent to the district list; contact the district office if you need a copy. Save the date and spread the word and we consider how we move forward in ministry together!

Want a nourishing feast for the body, mind, and soul? The district’s Potluck Experience Team is busy preparing for the next Potluck Experience event—an every-other-year district gathering that includes worship, workshops, good fellowship and, yes, a delicious potluck meal.

The 2025 edition will take place Saturday, March 29 at Peoria First Church of the Brethren around the theme “Are You Being Called?” Morning worship, a keynote panel and a variety of workshops around the theme are being planned. Clothing and household items for Peoria’s Mountain Mission project will also be collected as a service offering. The event will begin with worship at 9:30 a.m. (with registration and a continental breakfast beginning at 8:30) and wrap up with a closing circle around 3:30 p.m.

Potluck Experience team members this year are Leonard Matheny, Pat Ball, Christy Waltersdorff, and Pam Boughton. Watch for a full schedule and more information in the weeks ahead!

The 2025 district clergy gathering will take place May 1-2 at Bishop Lane Retreat Center near Rockford. Stan Dueck, director of Organizational Leadership for the Church of the Brethren, will be our keynote leader. All licensed and ordained ministers are encouraged to attend. Stan, who lives in Denver, Pa., has been working for the denomination for more than 25 years and does extensive coaching and consulting. He will be talking and leading conversation about the changing landscape of the church. The event will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, and conclude by 4 p.m. the following day. Cost and other details are still being finalized. Continuing education credits (CEU’s) will be available. Cost and schedule details will be available soon.

he 2025 Church of the Brethren Annual Conference will take place Wednesday, July 2, to Sunday, July 6, at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. Registration and hotel reservations will open to the public on March 5. The Annual Conference office has announced the following registration fee schedule:

For advance registration (March 5-June 10): Delegates $350; Non-delegate adult, full conference, $175; Non-delegate adult, daily rate, $60; Post-high school to age 21, full conference, $50; Post-high school to age 21, daily rate, $20; Current high school student or younger, free; Active BVSer, free.

For on-site registration (opens July 1): Delegates $425; Non-delegate adult, full conference, $210; Non-delegate adult, daily rate, $75; Post-high school to age 21, full conference, $50; Post-high school to age 21, daily rate, $20; Current high school student or younger, free; Active BVSer, free. Note there is an additional fee for age-group activities.

Registration for virtual participation (non-delegate only): Adult (until June 10), full conference, $195 or daily rate, $75. Group/institutional registration, $500; Post-high school to age 21, full conference, $75.

For lodging, the Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons is connected to the Koury Convention Center, making it extremely convenient for guests. The Annual Conference room rate is $120 plus tax (12.75%) totaling $135.30 per night. Parking is complimentary. The Sheraton Hotel provides complimentary shuttle transportation to and from Piedmont Triad International Airport from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. In room Wi-Fi is complimentary for all hotel guests.

The planning team for the next National Older Adult Conference (NOAC), to be held Sept. 1-5, 2025, at Lake Junaluska, N.C., has announced the theme for the event: “Alive in the Spirit!”

The theme scripture is Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (NRSVue).

The planning team includes Heidi Berkenbosch, Deanna Brown, Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, Leonard Matheny (Peoria First), Don Mitchell, Karlene Tyler, and coordinator Christy Waltersdorff (York Center). Debbie Noffsinger (Highland Avenue) designed the NOAC 2025 logo. Registration information and other details will be coming out soon.

 

The 2025 conference will take place Nov. 7-8, 2025, at The Chateau Hotel & Conference Center in Bloomington.

Moderator Bill Williams (Yellow Creek) introduced the 2025 theme, "Are You Being Called?", noting the importance of communication in our lives and our faith. 

 

• Official IL/WI Channel
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There is a Speakers List for the Illinois/Wisconsin District. Persons included in this document have accepted the invitation to be available to preach during worship services or for other special events as indicated. Hopefully you will find this tool useful and valuable when the need arises for inviting a guest speaker.

The speakers on this list are all credentialed ministers, either licensed or ordained. We would like to expand the list to include more credentialed ministers as well as interested laity. If your name is absent from the list and you have interest in serving as a guest speaker, please inform the district office. We would also welcome the names of persons you might suggest for inclusion on the list.

Since this is a new venture, it is likely we may need to provide more information than is included. Your input as to how the list can be improved would be welcomed.

Please share with the District Office any questions, comments, or concerns you may have.

Grants available through the district include the following:

1. Mission and Mortar: Sustaining and developing ministry (mission) within congregations, as well as maintaining property (mortar), is sometimes hindered because of inadequate financial resources. The Illinois/Wisconsin District, whose mission is to support the growth and development of member congregations, realizes that this dilemma exists and desires to financially support congregations that are in good standing with the district and have specific needs. More information can be found here.

2. Being Jesus in the Neighborhood: Congregations can apply for $100 in seed money to start a new outreach project or initiative in their local communities, or to expand an existing one. These should be projects that intentionally engage with the neighborhood immediately around the congregation, or for those in rural locations, with the town or area around the church. Each congregation receiving a grant will be asked to share a little about their project at district conference. More information can be found here.

3. Emerging Missions Fund: To facilitate the growth and establishment of new faith communities, this grant is available for church and ministry planting initiatives. New church and ministry plants are encouraged to apply by contacting the district office and/or the CRDT.

All ordained ministers, licensed ministers, and congregations need to keep the District Office informed of changes in contact information. Changes include: phone number, cell phone number, email address, mailing address, and congregational email or website. Please email Peggy Moylan, peg.district@gmail.com, or call 630-644-4259 with your updates. Your effort will save valuable staff time trying to track down these changes. Other information to share: changes in key leadership positions at the church or the death or serious illnesses of minister, retired ministers, or spouses. Help us serve better!

Do not wait to begin to log your Continuing Education Units. The 2025 Five-year Ordination Review process for ALL ordained ministers will launch in 2024. Ordained ministers are required to produce verification of 5 CEU credits for this five-year period. It is your responsibility to secure certificates, letters or verifying documentation regarding CEU credit. Retired clergy are exempt from this requirement with the exception of those retired clergy actively involved in Interim Ministry.

CEU Notation: The district does not grant CEU credit for personal study and/or self-designed experiences you have had and/or books you have read. It is the minister's responsibility to secure a CEU certificate, Letter of Verification, and/or authentication document for completed training, seminars or workshops, or learning experiences offered by the presenting organization. This verification should always state the number of hours of the training - 10 hours of training equals 1.0 CEU credits. Please take personal initiative to become a life-long learner and increasingly effective minister of the Gospel.

The Gifts Discernment and Call Committee seeks your help. We are commissioned to call active, informed, and committed members of congregations or fellowships from within our District to positions of service. These persons, both pastors and lay members, are to be called from all parts of the District and to represent the diversity among us. Our committee's knowledge of members eligible and capable to serve is limited. Therefore, we make this appeal for assistance.