On Sept. 15, 2021, three representatives of the Covenant Brethren Church, Grover Duling, Craig Howard and Randy Cosner, met with representatives of Brothers Valley Church of the Brethren in response to their inquiry for more information on CBC. All those present were friendly and helpful and there was a true spirit of brotherhood in the room. The church is a beautiful country church with a wonderful Brethren history. It is their desire to stay connected to their Brethren roots and that is one of the things that CBC offers churches desiring to leave the Church of the Brethren.
The meeting was opened in prayer by the board chair, then Grover began the presentation telling the history of CBC’s beginning and development. The church is trying to decide its future while at the same time seeking a pastor. The history, positions and organizational structure of the denomination was explained. Then the floor was opened for questions.
One person wondered why we still wanted to have the word Brethren in our name as that associated us with a group that is so swiftly moving away from God’s word. It was explained that Brethren is a collection of beliefs. A way that the scripture is interpreted to include the distinctive doctrines of the Brethren movement. It is not the Church of the Brethren.
The question was also asked if it was necessary to include the word Covenant in the name of the church. We said that no, it was not required but if you just called your church ___________ Brethren Church and a person moving into the area or a person was searching for a church they may go online to do a search for the word Brethren because Covenant is not in the name. What may come up first is another Brethren denomination, and when they look into what that stands for, they may decide they are not interested in your church, not knowing what you really stand for as a CBC Church.
The evening ended with some light refreshments and fellowship. All in all it was a very good evening. On the way home we received a call from Craig Alan Myers who had also been at another church to make a presentation. It too was received well, so in the one night two more churches explored the possibility of joining the Covenant Brethren denomination.
