300th anniversary bits and pieces.

• "Honoring a Legacy, Embracing a Future: Three Hundred Years of Brethren Heritage" is sponsored by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. This academic conference on Oct. 11-13, 2007, is designed for scholars, pastors, leaders, and others in various forms of ministry. It will feature plenary speakers and more than two dozen papers related to Brethren history and contemporary issues. On Saturday evening, Oct. 13, following the conference, Young Center director Jeff Bach will lead and interpret a special love feast celebration. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Young Center at 717-361-1470. Registration for the conference will begin after July 1 at www.etown.edu/YoungCenter.aspx?topic=Brethren+Conference.
  
  
• Atlantic Northeast and Southern Pennsylvania Districts are planning a joint 300th anniversary launch event at Sight and Sound Theatres in Strasburg, Pa., on Sept. 23, 2007. Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren General Board, is scheduled as keynote speaker.
  
  
• The 300th Anniversary District Committee of Northern Indiana District has been hard at work to come up with local and district celebrations, according to the district newsletter. Every church is encouraged to have a congregational celebration during the year 2008 to commemorate the anniversary, and in April 2008, there will be a 300th Anniversary District Celebration. The committee also plans to have an exhibit at District Conference, where the 300th anniversary calendars will be available for purchase, and the committee will help provide an insight session. A Northern Indiana District Quilt also will be made for the anniversary, and the committee will send fabric to every congregation for participation in this unique historical project.
  
  
• Middle Pennsylvania District plans to combine its 2008 District Conference and Heritage Fair into one weekend of a “big tent” style meeting on Sept 26-28, 2008, at Camp Blue Diamond. “The Coordinating Team (formerly the District Board), along with the District Conference Program and Arrangements Committee and the Heritage Fair Committee are all very excited about this combined event in 2008 as a way of celebrating the 300th anniversary,” reported the district newsletter.
  
  
• The first major 300th anniversary event in Virlina District will be a "Mother Congregations" bus tour on Oct. 20, 2007. The tour will begin at Daleville Church of the Brethren, then proceed via the Daleville Academy to the Peters Creek, Germantown Brick, Fraternity (N.C.), Topeco, and Spruce Run (W.Va.) congregations. “Travel time on the 54-passenger tour bus through the splendor of fall foliage will be brightened by the stories and insights of David Shumate, our district executive,” reported the district newsletter. The district's Historical and 300th Anniversary Committee developed the tour with the assistance of host churches and Abbott Trailways bus company. Cost will be $33.33 to cover the bus and a bag lunch prepared by Fraternity hosts. Participants will pay individually for a buffet supper. Tickets are available on a "first come, first served" basis until Sept. 1, contact Sandra Bolton, 1917 Roanoke Rd., Daleville, VA 24083.
  
  
• On April 5, 2008, the Elizabethtown (Pa.) College Concert Choir plans to present a concert of Pietist, Anabaptist, and Brethren hymns from 300 years of Brethren heritage. This event also will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. For more information go to www.etown.edu/youngctr or call 717-361-1470.
  
  
• The Brethren Church is making plans for a tour to Switzerland, Germany, and Holland in late July and early August 2008, to visit sites of historic importance to the Brethren movement. For more information Contact Dale Stoffer at 419-289-5985 or dstoffer@ashland.edu.

Source: 06/06/2007 Newsline Extra