Church of the Brethren
300 E. Monument Street
Pleasant Hill, Ohio 45359

Nick Beam, pastor

Telephone 937-676-2281

Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.
Worship at 10:30 a.m.

A Message from Our Pastor

It’s that time of the year when Annual Conference rolls around again.  I must confess that I don’t always look forward to Annual Conference especially if I know there’s the possibility of contentious items coming up for discussion because we Brethren don’t behave very well when we disagree about things.  Unfortunately this has become more of the norm than the exception.

          I’m not the only one who feels this way, however.  As a result there has been a group of pastors from Southern Ohio, which I have been a part of, who have been meeting for the past year who have had the same thought.  Out of those meetings and the concern for the increasing negativity at Annual Conference we have a query that will be on the agenda this year asking how can Annual Conference be structured to better fulfill its Mission Statement which is: “Church of the Brethren Annual Conference exists to unite, strengthen and equip the Church of the Brethren to follow Jesus.”

          Annual Conference used to be the high point for many of the members and we pray that our query will be acted on to restore the conference once again to that status. 

          I am looking forward to Annual Conference this year with the anticipation that our query will cause the leadership to take a fresh look at how conference can be a place where we can gather to feel God’s Spirit moving in and among us, where we can celebrate what God is doing in our denomination and where we can love and accept one another despite our differences. 

          Please pray with me that this may be so. 

Shalom, 

Pastor Nick.