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Discussion Groups
Church of the Brethren
    Our denomination loves to fellowship, exchanging opinions and points of view in the vast arena of ideas. The technologies of cyberspace afford the Church of the Brethren an opportunity for large scale discussion as never before. Instead of being localized to private discussions on the front steps of a church or convention hall, we can receive messages from an entire group anywhere in the world. Truly, we are living in historic times. Brethren are taking advantage of several methods of communication through this emerging technology: chat rooms (immediate response), listservers (restricted to subscribers), newsgroups (open to anyone), and online services (restricted to members). Read the following introduction to these each of these technologies, then meet new people and learn more about the Church of the Brethren.


LISTSERV

    Listserv is an abbreviation of List Server. It is a communications software package that resides on a file server and distributes e-mail to a list (serves the list) of people who generally have similar interests. For example, one person will send a message to the server, and it will then forward a copy of that message to everyone on the list. The process is so transparent that members sometimes forget that their initial e-mail is really communicating with a single computer, and not the group at large. For this reason, members often forget the predefined instructions that the server is expecting. Instructions which allow them to subscribe, unsubscribe, and make additional requests. ListServ originated on BITNET and is now growing in popularity the Internet.

    The Church of the Brethren enjoys the benefits of several independently administered list servers. Mike Willoughby operates two general-topic discussion lists: COB-L - for adult oriented topics and COB-YYA - for youth and young adult themes. Joe Bosserman moderates a topic dedicated list at ROOTSWEB - operated for research and the exchange of history & genealogical information, and Bob Gross moderates MOL-L for the Ministry of Reconciliation of OEPA.


COB-L & COB-YYA

Protocols & Procedures - These mailing lists are administered by Mike Willoughby and the server is located at Bridgewater College. Online since November of 1995, these two groups are for the discussion of general topics relating to life in the Church of the Brethren. The COB-L list is open to everyone and covers a very wide range of topics, but is generally populated by adults and mature issues. COB-YYA was created primarily for Youth and Young Adults, but it is also open to anyone or topical issue. Because of the cyclical nature of college semesters and the transfers of students from between institutions, active participation on COB-YYA is also cyclical. This latter group usually experiences high traffic following National Youth and Young Adult Conferences because attendees want to continue friendships. Both lists are set to accept text only messages. HTML content is automatically refused.

To Subscribe
    Send a message to: listserv@bridgewater.edu
    Leave the subject line blank!
    Place in the message body for COB-L: SUBSCRIBE COB-L YOUR NAME
    After subscription notification, send regular mail to cob-l@bridgewater.edu
    Place in the message body for COB-YYA: SUBSCRIBE COB-YYA YOUR NAME
    After subscription notification, send regular mail to cob-yya@bridgewater.edu


HISTORY & GENEALOGY

Protocols & Procedures - This list is administered by several moderators for the discussion of history and genealogical research. Created on May 9, 1996, messages are also received by several BBSs (computer bulletin boards) located in various states. The term Brethren as used here alludes to all persons and places that now, or in the past, have any type of connection to the church groups known as: Church of the Brethren; German Baptist; Tunkers; Dunkers; Grace Brethren; and other church groups that descend from the movement started by Alexander Mack in 1708 at Schwarzenau, Germany. This conference is for the discussion of Brethren History and Genealogy, and reasonable care should be taken not to complicate discussions with such things as computer software or personal interest stories. The list is owned and operated by the Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists.

To Subscribe


MOR-L

Ministry of Reconciliation is a part of the On Earth Peace Assembly ~ Church of the Brethren agency that sponsors activities, dialogue, and workshops to highten awareness of our responsibility to promote peaceful existence as taught by Jesus Christ. You can also learn more about the programs of Ministry of Reconciliation at MoR. Also learn more about peace, reconciliation training, advocating justice, and non-violence initiatives of On Earth Peace Assembly at OEPA.

To Subscribe
    Send a message to: listserv@bridgewater.edu
    Leave the subject line blank.
    Place in the message body: SUBSCRIBE COB-MOR Your Name
    After subscription notification, send regular mail to cob-mor@bridgewater.edu


Yahoo Groups (formerly eGroups)

...acquired the very popular eGroups in August, 2000. This a nice place to start your own discussion group without the necessity of purchasing list server software and then enduring the trouble of finding a host server that will give you the traffic to operate your list. eGroups takes care of all the hassles. Just follow the necessary procedures to register your group and you can have a list server discussion group all of your own. A nice thing about Yahoo Groups is that all threads are posted on web pages so that both members and visitors can read the discussions. However, only members can login and post to your list. Before joining a Yahoo Group, please take the time to read the Terms of Service.

Church Of the Brethren Evangelical Network (COBEN) - Phil Reynolds, Moderator
Mission Statement: “Church of the Brethren Evangelical Network exists to provide a forum among evangelical Church of the Brethren leaders and laypersons for mutual support, encouragement, and the exchange of ideas in a positive manner within the context of our love and concern for the Church. This egroup exists to provide the forum for exchange of ideas, encouragement and mutual support among evangelical leaders. It is a forum to provide nurture, support and networking among the Brethren who are able to endorse our core values.”
For more information: http://www.coben.org
Post message: coben@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: coben-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: coben-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: coben-owner@yahoogroups.com
Church of the Brethren - Craig Alan Myers, Moderator
Mission Statement: “This list is for people who are members or people who are interested in the Church of the Brethren. Discussion of issues within the church, history, doctrine, or anything related to COB is welcome. Especially, we are interested in things that has set the Church of the Brethren apart for so many years and in promoting conservative, traditional Brethren beliefs. KEYWORDS: anabaptist, COB, Church of the Brethren, brethren, love feast, peace doctrine, headcovering, German Baptist, dunkers, plain dress.”
Post message: ChurchoftheBrethren@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: ChurchoftheBrethren-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: ChurchoftheBrethren-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: ChurchoftheBrethren-owner@yahoogroups.com
COBWEBNET - Gary Arnold, Moderator
Mission Statement: “As a service to Church of the Brethren Webmasters around the country, or those thinking about starting a web site for their church, an e-mail discussion group has been started for Church of the Brethren Webmasters and those interested in working on COB web pages. The purpose of the COBWEBNET discussion group is to share ideas and techniques for creating and maintaining web pages for our churches as well as offering an arena for critiquing web sites and offering suggestions for improvement.”
Homepage: http://www.creeksideconnected.com/
Post message: cobwebnet@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: cobwebnet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: cobwebnet-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: cobwebnet-owner@yahoogroups.com
German Baptist Brethren GBB - Roger Hartline, Carmelita Skiles, Moderator
Mission Statement: “A group dedicated to the values of the German Baptist Brethren Church. Values such as nonresistance, nonconformity, nonswearing, nonlawing, etc. This is NOT a place to champion liberal or revisionist ideas. Anything that would have been forbidden by the Annual Meeting up to and inclusive of the 1881 AM of the GBB is forbidden here.”
Post message: GBB@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: GBB-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: GBB-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: GBB-owner@yahoogroups.com

Non-Brethren Lists
Anabaptist / Grebel

This list was started by Thomas Roche, a student who is working on his PhD at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in Classics: Ancient History, writing a dissertation on the ancient Christian Montanist sect. This is a very conservative group that forcefully expresses their disdain for modernism. Regular participants come from a wide range of faith backgrounds, surprisingly a high humber of ex-Catholics, and both sides of the Calvin / Arminian framework. The discussions are lively, spirited, and more frequent than some other discussion groups.

Thomas Roche describes himself as:

    “I am a conservative baptist, calvinistic in soteriology - like the earliest of the Swiss Brethren anabaptists, including the martyr Conrad Grebel, for whom I have named this list-- and decidedly free-church in ecclesiology. Thus, I am to use this list as a forum for discussing all relevant topics of interest to conservative (ana)baptists, but most especially history, church history, culture, and polity, as well as theology, but all in the context of using the list as a vehicle for sweet christian fellowship as well.

To Subscribe To UNsubscribe
    Send a message to: listname-unsubscribe@onelist.com

MennoLink

Protocols & Procedures - There are several Mennonite list groups that you can subscribe to, but the method appears to be the same for each one. Just substitute the group's name when contacting the list server. To post a message to one of the MennoLink discussion groups, send to group-name@MennoLink.org. For example, to send to the menno.edu.bluftton group, use the address menno.edu.bluftton@MennoLink.org. See the posting page for more details and information about sending to multiple groups.

Helpful Pages: To Subscribe
    Send a message to: server@MennoLink.org
    Leave the subject line blank.
    Place in the body: subscribe menno.group-name ~ For example, menno.edu.bluftton
    Multiple subscription requests may be sent in one message, but no more than one request per line.
Additional List Server Resources
NEWSGROUPS

USENET: Inter-Brethren


UseNet is a world-wide distributed e-mail discussion system which carries the Brethren newsgroup alt.religion.christian.anabaptist.brethren.This one was started by Wayne Sutton of Miami First COB. UseNet consists of a set of 'newsgroups' with names that are classified hierarchically by subject. Articles or messages are posted to these newsgroups by people on computers with the appropriate software, and then broadcast to other interconnected computers systems via a wide variety of networks. Some newsgroups are moderated, which means that before articles are posted, they are first evaluated by a moderator before appearing in the group. Because the Inter-Brethren newsgroup is in the 'alt' branch of the Usenet hierarchy, it is unmoderated which means that posts go directly to the newsgroup without being filtered or reviewed by anyone.

    The biggest advantage of a Usenet newsgroup over a list server is that the newsgroup is a virtually free resource, and especially true of unmoderated groups. In other words, you're not required to join. You can jump in and out of newsgroups as you please. Also, because Usenet is arranged in a logical hierarchy, a newsgroup has much more visiblity than a list server. Religious seekers who may never have heard of the Brethren or of Anabaptism are able to stumble across the group because it is found under the 'alt.religion' branch of the hierarchy -- a branch that religious seekers are likely to explore.

Additional Newsgroup Resources

“Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

Colossians 3:23