In 2025, the US National Conference landed on a new definition of a local congregation. Our Discipline now states that, “A congregation is a gathered expression of people of the global community that embodies the life of Christ in the world” (¶401.1). 

We believe this change offers United Brethren churches, regardless of size, the “freedom to pursue the expression of ministry and worship that will enable them to fulfill God’s call upon them” (Discipline, ¶401.2). This year, we want to help churches navigate this change by providing a series of resources on Strong Church Formation.

The first of these resources is a set of workshops titled, Growing in Maturity, designed to shift our focus from metrics as the key measure for a strong church, to maturity characterized by spiritual vitality, relational connectedness and missional engagement. The key question we will ask in this series is not “How can we grow bigger as a church,” but rather “How can Christ grow bigger in me/us?” 

These workshops will be hosted regionally and open to all of our pastors, church leaders, national conference delegates and anyone else who is interested in attending. 

We have three workshops scheduled so far with additional dates and locations (more to the east) coming in the summer and fall. Workshops will be held on the following Saturdays from 9:00 am to approximately 3:00 pm, with lunch included.

• May 16, 2026 at Fowlerville United Brethren Church (Fowlerville, MI)
• May 30, 2026 at Living Grace Community Church (Fort Wayne, IN)
• June 13, 2026 at Mainstreet Church (Walbridge, OH)

More details on each of these events will be available soon, but for now, mark your calendar for the Strong Church Formation: Growing in Maturity Workshop closest to you. 

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The Summit is a great opportunity to get away to relax and refuel after a busy season of ministry. It also provides a space for associate staff to connect with their counterparts from other UB churches to share ideas and encourage one another. 

The dates for the 2026 Ministry Leader Summit are April 27-May 1. More information will be available soon.

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The conversation will be live at the Church of the United Brethren in Christ Facebook page. Head there now to follow the page so you don’t miss the notification when the conversation begins.

Join us live in the comments during the conversation. We would love to hear from you and take a couple of questions during the stream.

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As a follow up to those discussions, we are launching three catalysts for pastors and church leaders who are ready to take the next steps toward multiplication in one of three areas — reproducing disciples, reproducing leaders and reproducing churches.

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There is good news! We will post the videos and share links so you can view them and share them with your congregation. But with that good news come a little bit of bad news. We do not yet have possession of those videos. As soon as we recieve the content from our production team, we will be sure to post them.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from the conference. Thank you for your patience.

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The reports for the business session have also been posted on the conference webpage and are available for download. If you are serving as a ministerial or lay delegate for the conference, please take a moment to download those documents and read through them before you arrive. We will be adding a few additional documents in the coming days as well, so be sure to visit that page a couple of times this week to ensure you have everything you need to prepare for the conference business session.

Please note, hard copies of these documents will not be provided on site at conference. If you prefer a hard copy, you will need to print it before you leave home.

The countdown is on… We’ll see you soon!

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Workshops

We have recently updated the list of available workshops, along with descriptions for the majority of them, on the conference website. Stop by for a visit to see what is being offered and start planning your workshop track. The list will continue to be updated

Promotional Materials

Are you still in the process of inviting delegates? Are you local and have people interested in attending the evening worship services? There is a new link on the conference website to download a few promotional materials that can be used during worship services, as announcement slides, or social media posts. That link is available now and will be active through conference but we’ve included it here as well to save you the trouble.

The post National Conference Updates first appeared on UBCentral.

This week you will find two new updates:

• The business session is now available in the list of menu options. While there is not much yet to share, you will find information related to how many lay delegates your church can send as voting members of the conference.
• You can now register for the golf outing. The outing will take place on Thursday, July 17, with a shotgun start at 1:00 pm. The cost is $60 per golfer. Visit the event registration page for more details.

There are a few more updates coming soon:

• We are preparing to launch an online, print-on-demand store where you will be able to purchase 2025 National Conference apparel and other United Brethren gear, and have it shipped directly to your home.
• For those interested in the UB Youth Camp (for high school students and youth leaders) or the middle school day away (both hosted by Huntington University), keep an eye out for a Frequently Asked Questions link on the Student Events page.

One final update the you will not find on that site:

• We have over 100 people registered for National Conference already and we hope you can join us. Registration is open until June 30, but why wait? Register now!

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Let’s Move is a call to action. It is a call to multiply disciples, multiply leaders, and mulitply churches. Rob Wegner, Movement System Director for NewThing, one of our strategic partners, will be our keynote speaker and will help cast that vision and offer some practical tools and resources to help us move.

The conference website will be live early in January. Registration for this event, which will open soon after the website goes live, will be $100 for adults (18+) and $50 for children (17 and under). Childcare will be provided for children up through 5th grade.

Keep an on ub.org for more information.

Huntington University is hosting several events that same week for our middle school and high school students. Middle school students will have the opportunity to participate in a one-day getaway on campus to catch a glimpse of high school camp (more on that in a moment) and life at the university. High school students are invited to attend the four day UB Youth Camp taking place the same days as national conference where they will focus on mind (asking good questions about the fatih), mission, mental health, and marketplace readiness. Registration for these events hosted by Huntinton University is separate from the national conference registration and is currently open. You can find that here.

Students attending the UB Youth Camp do not need to register through the national conference website.

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We caught up with a few of them and asked why they value the summit. Here’s what they had to say:

Keynote speaker Dr. Terry Linhart, a professor at Bethel University and author of “The Self-Aware Leader,” offered valuable insights on leadership. He encouraged ministry leaders to always do the hard work of caring for themselves and nurturing their own inner lives in order to be effective leaders in the ministries to which they have been called. His message resonated with attendees, prompting much reflection and discussion.

Key Learnings and Takeaways

The Ministry Leader Summit provided a valuable space for ministry associates to connect, share experiences, and develop their leadership skills. We spoke with some attendees about their biggest takeaways from this year’s summit:

We want to say a big thank you to Bobby Culler (Mount Pleasant Church) and Craig Mickey (Emmanuel Community Church) for putting together the plans for this year’s summit, and to Cathy Reich (UB National Office) for helping make it all happen.

This event happens every other year and is available for any and all associate staff serving in United Brethren churches throughout the country. The pastor and spouse summits are coming this fall for all senior and solo pastors and their spouses. More information on those events can be found here.

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