2018 Cincinnati, Ohio 232nd
2018 Logo

The 232nd Annual Conference (July 4 - July 8) of the Church of the Brethren was held in Duke Energy Convention Center, located at 525 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. A spacious Elm Street Entrance leads to a 48,500 square-foot lobby complimented by a Mural Wall. The conference center features three levels to suit the most complex requirements of an event planner. First Floor accommodations include Exhibit Hall A (92,350 sq ft), Exhibit Hall B (60,190 sq ft), and Exhibit Hall C (42,780 sq ft), with a combined space of 195,320 sq ft and 19 foot ceilings. Second Floor offerings include 30 meeting rooms plus skywalks to adjacent hotels. Third Floor ballrooms will accommodate the superior meal events, providing an enterprise kitchen with multiple service corridors, pre-function lobbies, and even a press room. Ballrooms C & D were host to the Brethren Revival Fellowship dinner, the largest meal event of Annual Conference. Serving as the anchor hotel this year was the Millennium which is the largest hotel in the downtown area. Most of its 872 guest rooms offer impressive views of the city and especially from the rooftop pool and sun deck. It also provides flexible event space for conferences, meetings, weddings, in addition to a fitness center, business center, bistro restaurant, on-site car rental, valet parking, complimentary Wi-Fi connections, and express checkout by phone.

POINTS OF INTEREST:

Biblical enthusiasts enjoyed the Ark Encounter, a Christian theme park operated by Answers in Genesis just 39 miles south of Cincinnati at Exit 154 off Interstate 75. Centerpiece of interest is a full size replica of Noah’s Ark, with a length of 510 feet, width of 85 feet, and 51 feet high. Be prepared for the time it may require to see everything. There are hundreds of stalls, booths, videos, cages, theaters, models, and food courts. Even if you know your Bible and the Flood story, you could still spend days trying to enjoy the full experience. If you don't pause very long at any one place, you can enjoy most of it in about 4 - 6 hours.

Cincinnati is home to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at 50 East Freedom Way. Tensions were heightened during the Civil War period. Slavery was not allowed in the state of Ohio, but just across the Ohio River to the south was the border state of Kentucky which permitted slavery. Many Cincinnati businesses had ties to slaveholders across the river. There were frequent confrontations between abolitionists and slaveholders, especially since many free blacks settled in the city after fleeing from southern states. Visitors will encounter many interpretative displays and presentations of all aspects of slavery. Freedom Center joins other United States “museums of conscience” such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington D.C.), the National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis), and the Museum of Tolerance (Los Angeles).

HISTORICAL NOTES:

Annual Conference has now been held in the State of Ohio twenty-one times and now four times in Cincinnati: 2018, 1996, 1987, and 1972. In 1790, the city (then more of a settlement) was named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the retired Roman consul who was entreated from his farm to save the Republic by Senators who promised him unchecked authority. He saved the city of Rome from plunder by the Sabines from one direction and the Aequi from another. He humiliated both foes with incredible wisdom and iron-fisted resolve. Rome welcomed their hero with a gigantic celebration, but after enjoying the unquestioned power of a dictator for only sixteen days, he relinquished that power and returned to his farm and family. Cincinnatus is regarded as the virtuous politician who truly serves the people by completing his term and then leaving office to go back home, instead of the modern career-minded politicians who feathers their nests with exemptions, privileges, favors, pensions, and most of all - tenure.

SPECIAL NOTES:

INSIGHT SESSIONS:

EXHIBITS:

OFFICERS & LEADERSHIP:

DELEGATE BODY:

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

  1. Recommends to the Mission and Ministry Board that Article V., Section 1 of the Bylaws of the Church of the Brethren be amended to include further responsibility for ensuring the implementation of denominational vision, as follows:

    • Assume responsibility for how denominational vision shall be implemented, giving consideration to emphasizing a unified vision among denomination, districts, and congregations.

  2. Recommends to the Mission and Ministry Board that the functions of the Leadership Team as described in Article V., Section 1 of the Bylaws of the Church of the Brethren be amended as follows:

    • General oversight for Annual Conference and its budget, in consultation with the Annual Conference Program and Arrangements Committee, the Conference Director, and the Corporation Treasurer.

    • Employ the Conference director and provide for his or her periodic evaluation.

  3. Recommends to the Mission and Ministry Board that the membership of the Leadership Team as described in Article V., Section 2 of the Bylaws of the Church of the Brethren be amended with the addition of a District Executive. The District Executive would be recommended by the Council of District Executives and affirmed by Annual Conference, serving a three-year term.
  1. Recommends to the Mission and Ministry Board that the duties of the Leadership Team as described in Section III.C.2. of the Manual of Organization and Polity be amended as follows:
    Coordinate a gathering of denominational leadership every three to five years. The Leadership Gathering would potentially include representatives from denominational and agency staff and board members, Annual Conference-elected leadership, and district leadership. The purpose of the Leadership Gathering is to focus on matters of shared vision and ministry collaboration in the Church of the Brethren.

NEW BUSINESS:

OTHER BUSINESS:

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

WORSHIP:

SERMONS:

ATTENDANCE:

Annual Conference 10 Year Attendance

“They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them,
should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders (about this question).”
Acts 15:2