29 Aug Recap of the 2023 US National Conference

Over 500 people attended the 2023 US National Conference, held July 11-14 at the Grand Wayne Center in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind. They gathered around the theme “Come Together,” with a focus on unity.

Some comments from the evaluations:

The Come Together theme was very fitting. Our UB community is family, and conference is much like a reunion we always look forward to.

Worship was real, evening sessions were good, and the workshops really spoke to me.

I felt the spirit of the living God falling fresh on me.

Every aspect was designed to bring us together. In a time of chaos in the world, I needed the assurance that we are unified in Christ. Thank you for designing a place for us to enjoy each other’s company and lift each other’s burdens together.

Keynote Speakers

There were four main services—Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, and a concluding service on Friday morning.

Each message was Spirit led. The content prompted conversations with our team and allowed us to evaluate ourselves and the church we serve.

I really enjoyed hearing messages that spoke to our hearts with clear direction from the Lord. And worship was AMAZING!

Dr. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals since 2020, spoke the first two nights. As of 2023, the United Brethren Church has been a member denomination of the NAE for 70 years.

Dr. Kim, the son of immigrants, has been a pastor in Massachusetts and Virginia for nearly 20 years, and regularly teaches in seminaries. As NAE president, he frequently addresses evangelical concerns with elected officials and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets.

Dr Walter Kim provided excellent cultural context for being American and reaching a diverse community.

Walter Kim was sharp and thoughtful. He could speak competently and cogently into today’s cultural issues.

UB missions was the focus of the Thursday night service. UB Global executive director Frank Yang, along with associate director Steve Fish, joined to present the evening message.

I’m grateful for the UB Global guys and how they pointed our churches to unreached people groups.

UB Global’s evening was challenging, passionate, and inspiring.

Steve and Frank shared a compelling message of reaching the lost.

On Friday morning, Bishop Todd Fetters gave a stirring message from Philippians 2:1-18. He focused on three commands—LOVE (each other and the church), LIVE like Jesus, and LIGHT the world.

Said one person, “Bishop, thank you for being bold and reminding us of community and how important it is, and that we need to put aside our personal issues and differences!”

Music and Production

Nathan Hann and his team from King Street UB church in Chambersburg, Pa., led worship in each service, as well as in the business session. Nathan previously led worship during the 2017 national conference in Lancaster, Pa.

Nate, Alyssa, and the King Street team were excellent! Loved the authenticity they brought. Never once did it feel like a show or a performance. Instead, it felt like we were truly united in worship led by humble leaders.

Sam Delagrange, production manager at Emmanuel UB church in Fort Wayne, and his team at Reliance I/O took care of everything on the production side—the stage setup, lighting, sound, video, projection, and more.

Wednesday: Business Session

The US National Conference meets every two years, and is the highest governing body for United Brethren churches in the United States. One day is always devoted to business. This year, that day was Wednesday, July 12, 2023.

There were 254 voting members—140 clergy, 114 laypersons. The voting members represented 104 different United Brethren churches in the United States. In addition, there were ten clergy with advisory status. Every church can send at least one lay delegate, with more depending on average attendance. UB ministers who are ordained, or who hold a Specialized Ministry or National Conference license, and are employed by a United Brethren church, also qualify as voting delegates.

The delegates enjoyed breakfast together, and by 8:30 were seated and ready to start. The business session began with a time of worship led by Nathan Hann and his team, and a recitation of the United Brethren Confession of Faith.

Executive Leadership Team

Each national conference elects four members of the Executive Leadership Team, which meets twice a year to handle business between sessions of the national conference. There are 12 members—the bishop, six laypersons, and six clergy. Each National Conference elects two clergy and two laypersons to four-year terms. They join the four members who are in the middle of their four-year terms, and together, they appoint another four persons to two-year terms. It all comes out to three persons from each region (East, Central, North, and West), with an even split between laity and clergy.

The four persons elected are all first-timers to the ELT:

• Central District, clergy: Tim Sherman, senior pastor of Bethel UB church (Elmore, Ohio).
• North District, clergy: Josh Good, senior pastor of Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.).
• East District, laity: Maria Alonso-Tomlinson (International UB church, Allentown, Pa.).
• West District, laity: Michelle Harris (Anchor Community Church, Fort Wayne, Ind.).

Those persons will serve four-year terms. By the end of August they, along with the four continuing members, had appointed four additional persons who will serve two-year terms. The four appointees are all veteran members of the ELT. They are:

• Central District, clergy: Michael Elkins, senior pastor of New Hope Community Church (Bryan, Ohio).
• North District, lay: Joni Michaud, Pleasant Valley UB (Lake Odessa, Mich.).
• East District, lay: Dale Perry, Mount Pleasant UB (Chambersburg, Pa.).
• West District, clergy: Victor Mojica, Clearview UB (Goshen, Ind.).

You can see the entire 2023-2025 ELT here.

Human Reproduction Task Force

The 2017 US National Conference passed six proposals from the Task Force on Human Sexuality, which was established in 2015 by the Executive Leadership Team. Bishop Todd Fetters then began considering the right time to do something similar on the issue of human reproduction. Our statements on Abortion, Family Planning, and Genetic Engineering hadn’t been revised since the 1980s. Bishop Fetters decided, “It was time for us to revisit these statements in light of the enormous scientific advancements that have occurred since the 1980s, and to find our voice for a new generation.”

In March 2022, the ELT appointed six persons to a Task Force on Human Reproduction. Bishop Fetters emphasized, as he had done with the 2017 task force, that there was no desire or appetite to liberalize our positions. In outlining the scope of the HRTF’s work, he directed them to the statements in the Discipline on Abortion, Family Planning, and Genetic Engineering. They took it from there.

The Task Force members brought expertise from a variety of perspectives—legal, family, adoption, therapeutic services, the pastorate, personal experience, Bible/theology, UB missions, and higher education.

• Joni Michaud, chairperson, is a member of Pleasant Valley UB church in Lake Odessa, Mich., a Huntington University graduate, and a practicing lawyer.
• Dr. Kent Eilers is a theology professor at Huntington University.
• Dr. Jody Bowser was senior pastor of King Street UB church in Chambersburg, Pa.; at the end of April 2023, he accepted a pastorate in another denomination.
• Mark Vincenti, an ordained UB minister from Emmanuel UB church in Fort Wayne, Ind., is the campus pastor at Huntington University.
• Kim Fish is a licensed UB minister, licensed social worker, adoptive parent, and individual/family therapist with a private practice in Fort Wayne, Ind. She grew up in the UB church as a preacher’s kid, graduated from Huntington University, and married a UB minister—Steve Fish, now associate director of UB Global.
• Christopher Little V is a UB church planter in Harrisburg, Pa. He and his wife are adoptive parents.

Joni Michaud and Mark Vincenti had also served on the Task Force on Human Sexuality.

The HRTF submitted their proposals to the Executive Leadership Team in April 2023. The proposals were embedded in a longer “white paper” which helped explain and give context to the proposals. Chairperson Joni Michaud then presented the proposals to the National Conference preview meetings held in Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and online.

The HRTF report stated, “While issues like abortion remain hotly contested in the wider culture, the general United Brethren position and scriptural basis for it are long-settled and well-established. In looking at the subjects of family planning, abortion and genetic engineering, the primary focus of the task force was to propose revised language for the Discipline that would be both consistent with scripture and would remain relevant as science and technology continue to develop over time. This was particularly significant for the section on genetic engineering, which identifies procedures that are no longer in use and does not account for many developments in the field that have occurred during the last 35 years.”

During the business meeting, Joni presented the seven statements which the HRTF was proposing to include in the United Brethren Discipline. All seven were adopted as presented. Six of the statements raised no discussion. The “Abortion” statement took more time, with four proposed amendments and a number of people speaking. However, each amendment in turn was voted down by a clear voice vote. There seemed to be little appetite for changing what the task force had written.

So, we now have new statements on:

• The Beginning of Life
• Family Planning
• Adoption and Foster Care
• Infertility
• Assisted Reproduction
• Abortion
• Human Reproduction and the Responsibility of the Church

Two of the statements, “Abortion” and “Family Planning,” are revisions of existing statements. The other five are entirely new.

You can read the seven HRTF proposals, or the entire HRTF White Paper.

Other Discipline Revision Proposals

In addition, the delegates considered 22 other proposed revisions to the Discipline. Most were minor or editorial—little more than housecleaning, bringing the Discipline into line with actual practice, or correcting inaccuracies.

The delegates moved through them quickly, passing 21 of the revisions without discussion. They deleted proposal 34-4c, which would have revised the liturgy format used for receiving new members into the church. But that was the only change.

You can read those proposals here.

All of these changes, along with the seven statements from the HRTF, have now been incorporated into the UB Discipline.

The 2023-2025 Discipline can be downloaded here.

Winsome and Wise

On Wednesday afternoon, as part of the business session, incoming Communications director Brian Biedenbach did a conversational interview with Dr. Walter Kim, the conference’s keynote speaker.

Dr. Kim, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, addressed the NAE’s “winsome and wise” approach to public engagement, among other things.

Overall, things moved along faster than expected, and the meeting adjourned around 3:00 in the afternoon, an hour earlier than scheduled. Nobody minded that.

UB Global Escape Room

UB Global’s Escape Room was a big hit at the 2021 National Conference, so they did it again. This time, they recreated two versions of the UB mission office—from the 1800s, and from the present. The Escape Room kept busy throughout the conference.

Ordination of Seven Persons

On July 14, six men and one woman were ordained during the closing service on Friday morning. This is always a highlight of National Conference. It’s inspiring to see men and women ordained as United Brethren ministers—“elders,” we call them.

Ordination is the culmination of years of education, examination, and faithful ministry experience. Some persons choose to be ordained in their local church, among the people who know them best. Others wait to be ordained at National Conference—six in 2011, four in 2013, six in 2015, nine in 2017 (our 250th anniversary conference), four in 2019, and one in 2021 (our “post-Covid” conference).

Bishop Fetters conducted this year’s ordinations, as he has done since 2017. Candidates select two persons, usually other ordained UB ministers, who have had a meaningful role in their life. These two persons join the bishop in the “laying on of hands.” Scripture is read, prayer is offered, and timeless words are spoken—the same words heard by hundreds of men and women ordained throughout our history.

As the candidate (and spouse, if attending) kneel, the bishop and others lay hands on the person’s head, and the bishop says: “Take authority to execute the office of an elder in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The candidate then stands and is handed a Bible by the bishop, who says, “Take authority to preach the Word of God and to administer the ordinances in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.”

The seven persons ordained on July 14 were:

• Brad North, senior pastor since 2018 of South Scipio UB church (Harlan, Ind.).
• Jerald Jones, senior pastor since 2018 of McCallum UB church (Delton, Mich.).
• Jennifer Smith, women’s pastor since 2016 at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
• Aaron deNeui, senior pastor since 2018 of Philomath UB church (Philomath, Oregon).
• Sam Ward, worship pastor since 2000 at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
• Rick Tawney, church planter and pastor of First UB church (Columbus, Ohio). He started Renew of Columbus in 2019, and in 2022 also became pastor of First UB.
• Eric Griffon, worship pastor since 2017 at Fowlerville UB church (Fowlerville, Mich.).

I love seeing the newly ordained ministers being sent out! May God be with them and grant them fruit in the harvest field.

Church Planting

Over the past two years, 2021-2023, the Lord has directed the United Brethren Church toward starting churches in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both plants have taken root and are making an impact in their communities, which are very different.

Through our partnership with Stadia, National Ministries director Mike Dittman and Andy Sikora, associate director of Church Planting, linked up with Nate Sams to start Known Church in Surprise, Ariz. (not far from the Huntington University campus in Peoria).

Bishop Todd Fetters and Andy flew out to Arizona to meet with Nate in January 2022. Bishop Fetters recalls, “Nate took us around the area, and it was neat to see the Peoria/Surprise region through his eyes and heart. Nate and his team met every Sunday in March at an elementary school in Surprise. Then, on April 3, 2022, Known Church held its public launch at the school. They had 65 people for that first service, and are now seeing about 50 people each Sunday.”

Nate said the church is currently in transition. The school where they had been meeting lacks air-conditioning, which is not something you want to be without during summers in Arizona—and particularly not this summer, with unusually extreme heat. So they are looking for a new place, and waiting for God to provide.

We also have new churches underway in Brookville, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; Commerce, Mich.; and Harrisburg, Pa. When it comes to methodology, Bishop Fetters says, “Our team has an ‘all of the above’ approach to church planting.”

Andy Sikora introduced the Sams family during the July 14 service which concluded the US National Conference. He led in a time of prayer for the Sams family and Known Church.

Recognizing 45 Years of Service

On Wednesday night, after the evening service, Steve Dennie was recognized for his 45 years of service to the denomination, 1978-2023. He is retiring at the end of August 2023. Steve was a senior at Huntington University when he was hired as assistant editor at the UB National Office. He became editor of the United Brethren magazine in 1982, and in 1993 his role was centralized under the title Communications Director.

Bishop Fetters offered words of appreciation to Steve, and then presented two framed pictures which included the covers of ten books Steve has written.

Randy Neuman, associate director of library services and director of the United Brethren Historical Center at Huntington University, wrote an article about Steve’s tenure at the national office. You can read it here.

Watch the Four Main Services

Videos of the four main services from the 2023 US National Conference have been posted online. You can now view each entire service, or just the message part.

View the videos here.

You’ll also find three other resources:

• The “In Memoriam” video about UB ministers and missionaries who passed away during the previous two years.
• A “Remember Your Baptism” video used during the opening service.
• A playlist of the songs used by the worship team throughout the conference.

My first NC was in 2017. Being new to the denomination, I only knew the people from my church. With every conference I have attended, I have felt more and more like a part of the team. This year felt like a family reunion.

I’m continually thankful for and blessed by the spirit of unity within our denomination. Over the past decade, we’ve dealt with some difficult issues but they have not divided us. I am thankful to be a part of a denomination that stands firm in what matters and stays united despite our non-essential differences. I’m excited to see what God has in store for the UBiC!

18 Jun 640 Now Registered for National Conference

We’re a month away from the start of the US National Conference. Registration is now up to around 640! There’s still time to register. Go here for complete information.

Thursday Morning Business Session

Various reports have been posted in PDF format on the UB website, so delegates can read and download them. These include the proposals for revising the Discipline, reports from denominational officials, and the Nominating Committee report.

Workshops

Three rounds of workshops will be held on Friday morning from 9:00 to noon. Each workshop will be 45 minutes long. The workshops are now listed on the UB.org website.

12 May National Conference Reports

A few reports for the 2017 US National Conference are starting to appear on the United Brethren website.

The Human Sexuality Task Force

The Human Sexuality Task Force has finalized its proposals. Their white paper (report 22), which explains the proposals, has been posted on the Reports page, with links to download the report in PDF format or to view it online. A related PDF document (report 23) includes the entire “Family Standards” chapter of the Discipline, so you can see their proposals in the context of all of our other statements on family-related issues.

If you are attending one of the upcoming Regional Meetings (which start May 15 in Michigan and May 17 in Willshire, Ohio), it is recommended that you download and read the report beforehand. It will be the central topic of the meeting.

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee has finalized its report, with the nominations for both bishop and members of the Executive Leadership Team. The Discipline requires that the ballot for bishop be published 60 days prior to National Conference. The ballot for Executive Leadership Team members must be posted 30 days beforehand. From the Reports page, you can read their report online or download a PDF copy of it.

07 Aug Remarks from the New Bishop

On July 16, 2015, the members of the 2015 US National Conference chose Todd Fetters as the next bishop–actually, “interim bishop,” since he would be completing the unexpired term of Bishop Phil Whipple. He would assume office on August 7, 2015.

After the vote was taken, Todd Fetters made the following remarks (with slight editing) to the conference.

I’m not an alliterator when I do messages. I’m just not big on it. It’s a lot of work to come up with points that all have the same letter. And yet, I’m going to do it right here, right now.

Let me just say, the events that you in executive session have heard and that we walked through—they are heart-breaking. I want to speak on behalf of the national office. It’s been a heart-rending, heart-challenging season for us. And yet, I think as you’ve looked at the national staff just in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen that they came to work, and they came to help, and they came to serve the church. I’m grateful for their ability to process challenging, difficult, heart-rending decisions and still come to do this, knowing that our calling is to Jesus Christ and to His Church, and to help all of us point in that direction of our Lord and Savior. So would you just thank our national office staff.

[Applause.]

We have had the opportunity to say it to Bishop Phil and to Sandy, that we love them and enjoyed working with them, and we have enjoyed working for our bishop. We will be continuing to pray for them, and we will continue to serve in the vein that he has led us to this point.So the first H is heart-breaking.

Let me follow that up by saying I am humbled by this body’s confidence in me. I walk into the office every day and go down a long hallway on purpose. The hallway into the office from the back door is a whole long line of bishops’ pictures. Usually I’m troubled by the fact that most of them are cockeyed, and I sort of tilt them back into place. Whether that’s a message from the Lord or not, I don’t know.

But as a kid growing up in the United Brethren church, and not far from headquarters, those are the people I knew as bishop. Those have always been individuals that I was taught to respect, and whom I learned to respect. I’m humbled to follow in that line for these two years.

When I think in terms of our church, I think in terms of the modern era. One of the key parts of our modern era is when we went to one bishop, and that was Bishop Ray Seilhamer in 1993. He served us with a vision for two things—healthy churches, and church planting. A big part of that was endowing for church planting. So he got us in mind for healthy churches and planting churches. His illustration was a two-winged plane—which, by the way, is the only kind of plane I would want to fly.

And then following Bishop Seilhamer was Bishop Paul Hirschy, who has given us leadership in transition to who we are. Between 2001 and 2005, we processed whether or not we wanted to be United Brethren, and we cinched it down. We are United Brethren. That’s who we are going to be. That’s what we want to be. So we said in 2005, this is who we are.

At that national conference, we had a sea change in our structure, our organization. Ron Ramsey was handed the baton to make sense out of something we just sort of threw up in the air to some degree and said, “Make this work.” And we’ve been making this work.

The other thing that Bishop Ramsey brought to the table was a renewed commitment to the Great Commission as our commission. Growing healthy churches was a big part of where we were going. And so, again, when you make a big decision to say this is who we are and this is what we are going to be about as the United Brethren Church, we had the right leader at that moment to say, “Simplistically, it’s about the Gospel—about getting people to hear the Gospel and to yield their lives to him.”

And so in the succession in this modern era, we got to that point where we said, “We are United Brethren, and we are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Great Commission. That’s what we are called to do.”

Then the baton was handed off to Bishop Phil Whipple. For the last six years, in a volatile culture when it comes to Christianity, he helped us cinch down what we are all about in upholding that one name once more—that we are All for Christ. That’s what we are about. Unashamedly, All for Christ. I look forward to keeping that theme, and the themes that got us to that point, as we move forward.

So I’m heart-broken in the circumstances we are in. I’m humbled by your trust. And I’m hopeful that we will work together in collaboration for the great and glorious Gospel that is ours, given to us by Jesus Christ.

Thank you, folks. It’s been my privilege to serve with our staff and with our bishop and with you. I look forward to what the Lord wants to do in the United Brethren church during the next two years.

07 Aug On the Floor in Choosing a New Bishop

Steve Dennie, Director of Communications

The business meeting of the US National Conference lasted throughout the morning and afternoon of Thursday, July 16. Several major proposals were on the docket. But the issue foremost in people’s hearts and minds was the resignation of Bishop Phil Whipple, which had occurred just one week before on July 8. What happened? And where would we go from here?

This issue was scheduled early in the business meeting—in fact, the first item of business after the preliminaries. The end result was the appointment of a new bishop.

The business session began with a hot breakfast for all delegates, sponsored by Logos Bible Software. There was some singing, then a brief presentation from Logos about the latest version of their software.

Around 9:30, the business session began. These persons served as officers:

• Chairman: Todd Fetters, director of National Ministries.
• Assistant chairman: Bishop Emeritus Paul Hirschy.
• Recording secretary: Rocky Spear, pastor of Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.).
• Parliamentarian: Craig Burkholder, pastor of Hudson UB church (Hudson, Ind.).

Into Executive Session

After approving the Rules & Procedures to govern the meeting, Todd Fetters turned the chair over to Paul Hirschy to process approval of the Executive Leadership Team minutes from the past two years—four regular meetings, plus a variety of decisions handled through online voting.

Jason Garwood, pastor of Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.), asked if there would be some explanation of the resignation of Bishop Whipple. It was, indeed, the appropriate time for that.

Two members of the 2013-2015 ELT came forward. Darwin Dunten, pastor of Findlay First UB (Findlay, Ohio), moved that the conference go into executive session, with only delegates and advisory members present. All other persons were asked to leave the room, and they did. Then Gary Dilley, pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.), read a letter on behalf of the ELT about the circumstances surrounding the bishop’s resignation. There were questions and responses. Nothing was recorded in the minutes.

Bishop Hirschy closed the executive session at 10:30 with prayer. After a break, the delegates reconvened at 10:45. They quickly approved the work of the ELT.

Interim Bishop

Discussion continued about where to go from here. Eventually, this motion was made by Steve Fish, Teaching Pastor at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.):

“I move the United Brethren National Conference affirm the ELT’s decision to appoint Todd Fetters as the Interim Bishop, and that this body determine that time-frame to begin on August 7, 2015, until the meeting of the next United Brethren National Conference in 2017.”

So, Todd Fetters would essentially serve the remainder of Bishop Whipple’s unexpired term, starting August 7 and continuing until a bishop was formally elected at the 2017 US National Conference.

There was discussion about what title to use—“interim bishop,” or something else. The Discipline mentioned appointing an “acting bishop.” Jim Bolich, senior pastor of Prince Street UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.), made a motion to drop “interim” and just use “bishop.” A number of people voted for this amendment, but it lost on a much stronger voice vote.

Todd Fetters was asked to comment on what title he preferred. He said he felt ambivalent. He understood that regardless of what title was used, it would carry the same weight. He also recognized that he would be serving an interim term, not an elected term. Later in the meeting, he said, “To have an asterisk by my title–that’s fine. I’m happy to serve in that capacity. I’m okay with it, because it’s a great reminder of who I have to be. I’m all right with that, and I want you to be all right with that.”

Dan Paternoster (layperson, Fowlerville, Mich.) said “interim” didn’t make the position smaller, but identified the position while reserving the term “bishop” for persons elected to that position.

At 11:05, a vote was taken on Steve Fish’s motion, which remained in its original form after several attempted amendments. It passed with only one dissent.

We had a new bishop.

Bishop Ramsey’s Prayer

Paul Hirschy asked Bishop Emeritus Ron Ramsey to come to the podium and pray for Todd Fetters. As he stood at the podium, with Todd seated at the table behind him, Bishop Ramsey said, “If I’m going to pray for Todd, I’d like to have my hand on him.” There was laughter and applause throughout the room. Todd then came to the podium and stood beside Bishop Ramsey, who placed his right hand on Todd’s shoulder and prayed:

Eternal God and Father, we have come to a point in our national conference, in our denomination, that probably nobody has enjoyed. But we also thank you for your sovereignty in bringing to us the skills and capabilities to take care of the position, and to serve the church in a wonderful way. I thank you for Todd. I thank you for his life, I thank you for his witness, I thank you for his testimony, and most of all I thank you for the consistent way he has walked in the way of the Lord and the way of the Word. And I pray that as he assumes this new position, that those things will not change.

Help him, Lord, to face the discouraging things without destroying him. Help him to accept the victories and wins without getting a big head. But Lord, I just pray you would be with him and strengthen and empower him for this awesome responsibility. Thank you for the years I’ve known him; I’ve known him to be honest and true and faithful. I pray that your Spirit would be upon him to continue moving him and directing him in that kind of fashion. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Bishop Ramsey then told the conference, “Let me just say one thing. I think the denomination, for the next two years, will be in very capable hands.”

10 Feb Registration Open for 2015 US National Conference

Registration is now open for the 2015 US National Conference. You can register online, or call the National Office. Complete information can be found at UB2015.org–schedule, lodging, area attractions, tracks for children and youth, and much more.

July 15-18, 2015
Grand Rapids, Mich.

You’re invited to join hundreds of United Brethren from churches across the country for this family-oriented conference. Meet your leaders, pastors, missionaries, and other dedicated laypersons. Get a better understanding of the broader church of which you’re a part. The attendance at national conference typically runs around 900–lots and lots of people from all over.

A business meeting will be held Thursday morning. The US National Conference is our highest decision-making body. Each church can send at least 1 lay delegate, with more eligible depending on the church’s attendance. The United Brethren Discipline explains all of that. Basically, it’s one delegate for the first 150 attendance, and another delegate for each additional 100 people.

In addition, all actively-serving ordained, national conference, and specialized ministers have a vote.

Others things to know:

• The conference will be held at ResLife Church, a very large church on the south side of Grand Rapids.
• Nine nearby hotels have given us a special conference rate.
• Numerous restaurants are located nearby, including one inside the church itself.
• There’s a huge two-level mall right across the street, and a Cabelas around the corner.

Inspiring worship services. Workshops. Plenty of free time. Great music. Tracks for women, youth, and children. Worship. Learn. Laugh. Be inspired. And return home with great ideas for moving your church forward.

31 Jul Watchcare Membership Comes to an End

Steve Dennie, Director of Communications

The 2013 US National Conference, during its business meeting on June 27, eliminated the “Watchcare” membership category. There’s a good chance you know nothing about Watchcare.

The Watchcare membership category is (was) for children ages 9 and under. But that’s not how it started. Historically, Watchcare was for persons of any age who were nonChristians, but were “seeking” to become Christians. They just hadn’t taken that step yet, for whatever reason.

Todd Fetters, as part of a Task Force on Membership that reported to the 2001 National Conference, researched the role of Watchcare membership in the UB church. He wrote the following:

In our contemporary culture, we have seen a rebirth of a classic term— seeker. The “seeker” is one who demonstrates a desire to know God through a process of careful discovery. The United Brethren Church has a deep historical connection with this term.

Watchcare membership was established early in the history of the United Brethren in Christ Church for the essential purpose of encouraging the “spiritually awakened” person in his or her pursuit to know God through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible and lived through the Church. The existence of such a category itself reveals that the class/society/church was committed to the work of the Gospel, while recognizing that it was also responsible to encourage the nonbeliever at whatever level of enlightenment he/she was….

For nearly 75 years, the term “watch-care” was used to refer only to those unbelieving adults who showed evidences of moving toward faith in Christ. Later, it included children who showed evidences of moving toward Christ. In both situations, members were required to continue pursuing knowledge of the Bible that would lead them to salvation and thus make them eligible for “full membership.”

This membership category seemed to serve the best interests of the church and the seeker. In the interest of the seeker, he/she could “belong” and receive the support and instruction of the church. By not allowing this member to vote, the interests of the church were served in that the true mind of Christ would be discerned by those persons who professed themselves to be “Christian”—according to their belief and surrender in Jesus Christ.

Apparently, using Watchcare as a place for unbelieving adults ran its course, so it was changed to focus exclusively on young children. But now, that, too, seems to have run its course. Very few churches still use it.

There was some discussion on the conference floor, mainly from persons wanting to retain the category. When it came to a voice vote, it seemed close enough to do a standing count. But the result was not close: 207 in favor of the proposal, 73 opposed. So Watchcare membership, as a denominational category of membership, is no more.

09 Jul The New, Slimmed-Down Personnel Team

Steve Dennie (right), Director of Communications

During the recent US National Conference, the delegates approved a significant change to the local church Personnel Relations Team. The new statement says:

“Each church shall have a Personnel Relations Team. Its primary responsibility is to cooperate with the stationing committee in securing a new senior pastor when the need arises. The local board will determine the constituency of the Personnel Relations Team.

“Depending on its structure, a church may give the Personnel Relations Team responsibilities in related areas, such as the work and support of the senior pastor.”

So, what’s that all about? Let me explain.

Denominationally, we give churches the freedom to operate as they see fit, with as few restrictions as possible. During the past 20+ years, we have continually revised the Discipline (our manual of operations, sort of) to give churches additional flexibility in administering their own affairs. It’s become somewhat of a core value. And churches have appreciated it. We’re down to just three requirements for local churches:

1. A local board (the highest governing body).
2. Lay delegates (needed only every two years for National Conference).
3. A Personnel Relations Team.

The Discipline previously stated a number of duties for the Personnel Relations Team, including:

• Job descriptions for employed personnel.
• The pastor’s salary and benefits.
• Serve as a “conferring and counseling” committee to the pastor and other employed personnel.
• Cooperate with the stationing committee in securing a new pastor.

Many churches prefer to divide some of those duties among different administrative entities—an elder board, finance committee, etc. Some larger churches employ a business manager or executive pastor who handles some of those issues. Is it really necessary to mandate this major administrative group, with these specific duties, for all churches?

No. From a denominational standpoint, we need a Personnel team for just one situation—finding a new senior pastor. A local church group must work through that process alongside the bishop and cluster leader. It doesn’t need to be a permanent group. A Personnel team could be formed when a pastoral transition occurs, and then disbanded.

All of those other responsibilities we heap on the Personnel team—that’s the church’s business. If the church wants to assign other responsibilities to a permanent Personnel team, they can. But it’s not necessary. Their choice.

So, the new statement adopted by the National Conference follows our philosophy of giving churches freedom and flexibility. Technically, a local church doesn’t need to have a Personnel Team except when a pastoral change occurs. We don’t even state who, or how many people, should be on the Personnel team. Let the church decide.

The National Conference approved the change without discussion. Passed right through.

06 Jul RIP: The Local Conference

Steve Dennie (right), Director of Communications

The US National Conference, meeting on June 27, eliminated the local conference, the highest governing body of each church. Which is probably news to you. I’m guessing you haven’t heard of such an entity being part of your church’s organizational structure. More to the point, even though “highest governing body” sounds important, axing it will probably not change anything about how your church operates.

The local conference seems to have outlived its usefulness and was ready for the organizational scrapheap. And yet, the local conference has played an important role throughout UB history, so it’s worth explaining what exactly just went bye-bye.

Every church has a local board (often called “administrative board”) which meets regularly to oversee the affairs of the church. However, technically, the highest governing body of each church has been the local conference, which consists of:

• The board of administration.
• Plus the bishop.
• Plus the cluster leader (or conference superintendent in earlier times).
• Plus all persons in that church who hold a ministerial license.

The bishop, superintendent, or cluster leader chaired local conferences.

Before we did away with annual conferences in 2005, the conference superintendent typically met with each church’s local conference once a year (it was actually four times a year further back, if you can believe that; we called it the quarterly conference). Practices probably differed from conference to conference, but the way I saw it operate is: we would hold our regular board meeting, adjourn, and then the conference superintendent would convene the local conference with pretty much the same group of people. The local conference could grant and renew local church ministerial licenses, handle church trials and appeals, and disband a church. It was a step above the administrative board, which handled most church business.

The local conference became somewhat superfluous in 2005 when we killed off the annual conferences. Plus, it didn’t fit very well into modern organizational structures. (The church’s highest governing body is chaired by somebody who isn’t even part of the church? Really?) Licensing now occurs throughout the year, and the regular local board can handle just fine all issues previously assigned to the local conference. We don’t need this uber group.

Besides, the local conference as we’ve known it created a conflict in large churches with many licensed ministers on staff. Since all of those ministers are voting members of the local conference, they can potentially outnumber the laypersons on the board, making the pastoral staff the major “power” block. This also puts staff in a position of authority regarding the senior pastor, to whom they are accountable. Not a good situation, from an organizational standpoint.

The National Conference readily agreed. They approved, without discussion, the proposal to discontinue the local conference. So now, the local board is the church’s highest governing body, period. No other local church group can trump their decisions.

And yet….

One element of the local conference involved calling a special meeting with the bishop if matters arose which, it was felt, required the bishop’s involvement. It seemed wise to keep this option available. So, in another proposal, we added a provision by which this can still happen. It, too, passed without comment. It says:

“A special meeting of the local board may be requested by the bishop, the cluster leader, the senior pastor, or upon a written request from the local board. The bishop will determine whether or not to actually call a special meeting. The bishop or his designee shall chair special meetings of the local board.”

A “special meeting” is not a business meeting, but has a specific purpose—probably to deal with a problem of some kind. The local board is still the decision-making body of the church.

A special meeting can be requested of the bishop, but not demanded just by putting in the request. As the wording states, the bishop will decide whether or not to actually call a special meeting. It may be that the bishop feels the problem can be better solved in other ways, so the proposal gives him that flexibility. For instance, if two persons are in conflict, maybe the bishop will opt to get together with the two of them and hash things out. No sense using a bazooka when a BB gun might do the trick.

So, the local conference is gone, and we’ve cleaned up the local church organizational structure. But churches still have an avenue for requesting the bishop’s intervention.