20 Feb A New Sign–and New Identity–for the National Office

On February 19, a new sign was installed outside the national office in Huntington, Ind. It incorporates the new United Brethren logo unveiled at national conference last summer. The sign has already been getting rave reviews. (As you can see, we still have plenty of snow on the ground.)

The original sign (top) dates back to the 1970s. It was replaced in 2008 with the Healthy Ministry Resources sign. That year, the national office went through a branding process, and adopted the name “Healthy Ministry Resources” to refer specifically to the national office. That name never really caught on and is being phased out. Most people simply refer to the national office as, well, the national office. So we’ll go with that.

Although the name of the office building has changed, it’s mission remains the same: “to effectively resource pastors and congregations of the US National Conference to fulfill the Great Commission.” That was central to the idea behind Healthy Ministry Resources, and it will continue to be the focus of the national office.

The national office handles all cooperative ministries of the US National Conference. Here are some of the services under that umbrella.

• The Office of the Bishop.
• Global Ministries (the United Brethren missions entity).
• Church planting.
• The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team, which handles ministerial licensing, ordination, and stationing.
• Oversight of cluster groups.
• The biennial US National Conference.
• Church Resources, which ships Sunday school literature and other materials to several hundred churches every quarter.
• Communications services (websites, newsletters, print materials, etc.).
• Pension services for UB ministers.
• The women’s and youth ministry teams.
• The Higher Education Leadership Team, which oversees Huntington University.
• Overseeing various UB events (US National Conference, workshops, training events, etc.).
• Other leadership teams, study committees, and groups which may arise as needed.