The following terms reflect the culture of the Church of the Brethren, a denomination grounded on the principles of Anabaptism and founded through the Pietist efforts of Alexander Mack, in the summer of 1708 near the small German village of Schwarzenau. This resource is not an exhaustive compilation of all denominational terminology, for space precludes the incorporation of vast amounts of information, which might also be garnered from other Brethren works, such as the Brethren Encyclopedia, Brethren Bibliography, European Origin, Brethren in America, Ephrata Cloister, 19th Century Acculturation, Brethren Timeline, Brethren Groups, and Brethren Genealogy. We have also included a few Internet related terms because this technology is fast becoming a part of our denominational culture. You are encouraged to share your comments, suggestions, or corrections with the Web Administrator.

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General Board

    The Church of the Brethren administrative division is known as the General Board, and is directly responsible to the congregational delegate body at Annual Conference. It was established in 1947, to administer, institute, and coordinate the many program functions of denomination. The Board is composed of 20 individuals who are elected by the delegates of Annual Conference to serve designated terms, 6 ex-officio members, plus eight departments whose directors, coordinators, employees, and field staff are supervised by an Executive Director. There also is a Conference and Service Center in New Windsor, Maryland, and bureau offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland.

Administrative Departments:

Brethren Press - Publishing, communication, and interpretation
Brethren Witness - Coordinates social justice related issues
Congregational Life - Resource for districts and congregations
Finance & Centralized Resources - New Windsor / Brethren Historical Library
Funding - Encourages giving to General Board Programs
Global Missions - Supervises cultural ministries and disaster response
Ministry - Coordinates the preparation and education of leaders
Volunteer Service - Brethren Volunteer Service

www.brethren.org/genbd/

    In March of 1995 the General Board was given the news that significant budget shortfalls were expected for the foreseeable future. In wrestling with the implications of this news, the board discerned that the problem involved something deeper than finances. While the financial realities had brought our situation to our attention most forcefully, this deeper problem had more to do with vision and identity. The Board appointed a Vision Discernment Team and after receiving their report, established a Redesign Steering Committee.

    Over the past several months the committee has been working hard to sort out what can be done to restore momentum to the program and mission of the Church of the Brethren General Board. The committee has been listening to hundreds of people describe what is going on, what has happened in the past, and what their aspirations are for the church tomorrow. Here's what they found. (Submitted by Christopher Bowman, General Board Chairperson during Redesign)

Chronology of Events Redesign Steering Committee Members Explanation of the Input Process Survey 1: Summary of Responses Survey 2: Summary of Responses Survey 3: Summary of Responses Rationale for Proposed Changes Core Functions Statement Cross Option Recommendation Three Options for Staff Deployment Report of Vision Discernment Team Twenty Questions about the new design of the General Board

General Offices

See Brethren Press / General Offices / Elgin.

Global Mission

One of the eight administrative departments of the General Board.

Goals for the 90's

    The 1988 Annual Conference adopted this decade-long program for the 1990's, to focus specific attention on denominational witnessing.

Gospel Messenger

    A former appellation of the denominational monthly publication Messenger. The word 'gospel' was omitted in 1965, when the frequency of issue was changed from weekly to monthly. It was a period when the denomination was experiencing cultural shifts.

See also Brethren Press, Brethren Timeline.

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