August 2008

Debbie Hocking (second from left, in white blouse) welcomed the Brethren Heritage Tour to the Chateau St. Albain this afternoon in France. She and her husband, Jay (who is currently in the U.S. for his brother’s wedding) are hosts at the Chateau, along with a group of young staff people. After a delicious dinner, the […]

CHARIS 2008, the worldwide gathering of Grace Brethren leadership from about 17 countries, closed Friday night with a threefold communion service led by Edouardo Coria (pictured) of Argentina, who has been a pastor for 45 years. In an emotional ending, the group sang together, worshiped together, and then walked up to the nearby marketplace to

A barbecue with grilled steaks and bratwursts on the patio provided good food and fellowship Thursday evening at the CHARIS gathering in Bad Homburg, Germany. The youth hostel there has provided an excellent venue for the meetings of the assembled worldwide leadership of Grace Brethren churches, numbering about 55 delegates and support people in total.

A table tennis interlude provides a nice break from the intensity of the sessions of CHARIS, the worldwide gathering of Grace Brethren church leaders, meeting at a youth hostel in Bad Homburg, a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany, this week. CHARIS officially ends with a Friday evening session. Playing table tennis here are, from left, Steve

Following the regional presentation from Africa on Thursday evening, the African pastors present sang a special song for the CHARIS delegates, led by Samuel Dadje of Chad (left) and Francois Ngoumape (right) of the Central African Republic. Although four pastors and leaders were able to come from Chad, the visas of other delegates from the

Nathan Bryant, of GB Canada, led off the Friday morning regional reports with a description of what God has been doing through Grace Brethren churches in Canada. He explained that the first church-planting efforts entered the Toronto area about a decade ago, and now there is a strong mothering church there, a second church-plant in

The United States delegation was the last country to present an overview of its work. Robert Wagner (left) from Calvert County, Maryland, reported on churches and work in the eastern U.S. Steve Kern (center) of the Wooster, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church, reported on church-planting and other ministries in the central U.S., and Bob Combs (right),

The young translators working the CHARIS meetings in Germany are being referred to as the “Magic Crew” because they enable conversation in general sessions, in coffee breaks, at meals, and anytime they see individuals standing together who are hampered by language capabilities to converse. Making the magic happen are (from left) Phillip Klawitter, Jon Guiles,

At a break in the action of the CHARIS Grace Brethren worldwide leadership meeting now underway in a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany, several of the Latin America leaders posed for a photo. From left are GBIM’s Latin America director Steve Bailey, church planter from Chile Juan Saez, and missionary to Argentina Nate Dunlevy. ———————— Pendant

The Holism Task Force, led by Jorge Nunez of Argentina, is working to craft a declaration for the future on ministries such as Business as Mission, Micro-Enterprise, and more. The background for the task force was a worldwide study of about 22 holism ministries which was compiled and written by Mike McCaman. ——————– L’atelier des