Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- July 13, 2007 Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
MITCHELL IS FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO LEAD THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN ANNUAL CONFERENCE
(July 13, 2007) Elgin, IL -- Belita D. Mitchell, pastor of First Church of the Brethren in Harrisburg, Pa., has broken ground as the first African- American woman to lead the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. She served as moderator of the conference held in Cleveland, Ohio, from June 30-July 4. The Annual Conference moderator serves in the highest elected position in the Church of the Brethren.
Mitchell presided over a delegate body of more than 800 representatives of congregations and districts across the US and Puerto Rico, and led the conference through a lengthy and complex business agenda. The five days of meetings also included daily worship services, a wide variety of activities for spiritual growth, and Christian fellowship.
A leading item of business was the difficult decision to phase out Church of the Brethren health insurance coverage for active ministers in the denomination. The insurance plan administered by Brethren Benefit Trust was declared to be in a "death spiral" of decreased membership, erosion of a good spread of risk, and increased health care costs and premiums.
In other key business, the conference approved a recommendation that the Church of the Brethren become a full participant in Christian Churches Together, adopted recommendations engaging the denomination in intentional steps to become intercultural, and approved merging some denominational agencies under one board.
The conference also recommended actions to be taken by congregations, districts, and church agencies to reverse a trend of declining membership.
"Jesus never intended the church to fail," Mitchell told the conference when she preached for the Sunday morning service. "I don't believe declining membership is a part of his mission plan."
Mitchell and her spouse of 35 years, Don Mitchell, live in Mechanicsburg, Pa. She is a second-career ministerial leader, following a 30-year career in professional sales with a Fortune 100 company. Her first pastorate was at Imperial Heights Church of the Brethren in Los Angeles, Calif. Her ministry training was completed through the Training in Ministry program of the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, and included coursework at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts almost 130,000 members across the US and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.
# # #
For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
********************************************************** To receive Church of the Brethren news via an e-mail list serv, go to http://listserver.emountain.net/mailman/listinfo/newsline