Newsline: Brethren and Disciples leaders explore partnerships in mission

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl 
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Brethren and Disciples leaders explore partnerships in mission

(April 20, 2012) Elgin, IL --Leaders of the Church of the Brethren and the 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are meeting together to learn about each 
other's traditions, find commonalities of theology and practice, and look for 
possibilities opportunities for collaborative work and mission in the future.

The leaders met on Feb. 9 at the Disciples Center in Indianapolis and March 21 
at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill.
Participants in both sessions were Sharon Watkins, general minister and 
president of the Disciples of Christ; Stanley Noffsinger, general secretary of 
the Church of the Brethren; Robert Welsh, president of the Council on Christian 
Unity for the Disciples; and Mary Jo Flory-Steury, associate general secretary 
of the Church of the Brethren. Other Brethren and Disciples national/general 
staff leadership also participated in the conversations on congregational life, 
women's ministry, new church planting, and global mission.

"The spirit I sense between us...isn't about our two churches; it is about the 
one Church and the one Church's mission," commented Welsh during the March 21 
meeting.

The Brethren and the Disciples already collaborate ecumenically through 
organizations like the National Council of Churches and Church World Service, 
and participate together in ministries of global missions and disaster response.

The leaders from the two communions agreed to pursue several collaborative 
ventures, including: having representatives at major meetings and assemblies in 
each other's life; exploring greater opportunities for service and hands-on 
mission together; looking to each other as primary partners in a shared 
commitment to peacemaking and justice; and resourcing one another in the areas 
of new church establishment and congregational transformation.

The Indianapolis visit was marked by a time of sharing the history and 
background of the Disciples of Christ, an overview of the structure and major 
program areas in the life of the church, a tour of the Disciples Center, and a 
chapel service that was open to all Disciples Center staff during which Watkins 
presided at a celebration of Holy Communion.

The visit in Elgin included a chapel service led by the Church of the 
Brethren's Congregational Life Ministries, and employees who work at the 
Brethren offices also attended. The service invited the Disciples leaders to 
join in ordinances that are central to the Brethren tradition of Love Feast: a 
time of spiritual self-examination, footwashing, and a service of communion.

Washing each other's feet, especially as Easter approaches, is a hallmark of 
Brethren life, while celebrating communion at a common Table has special 
meaning for the Disciples' tradition. Watkins and Flory-Steury washed each 
other's feet, while Noffsinger and Welsh also shared in the ordinance. The 
whole congregation then shared in receiving communion together.

"It has been wonderful to explore points our traditions have in common. 
Especially meaningful was to share in the ordinance of feetwashing together," 
said Noffsinger.

"I'm just really delighted with this initiative," said Watkins at the close of 
the visit to the Brethren offices. "There is a sense in which ecumenical 
efforts move well when there is a connection made, individual to individual."

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 celebrated its 
300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 members across the United 
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, 
Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

(Cherilyn Williams of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) communications 
staff contributed to this joint release.)

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org