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NORTH CENTRAL REGION
Empowering Brethren churches to Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples in Ohio
Grants Available for North Central Brethren Churches
Grants are now available to support North Central Region Brethren Churches to support your mission and work. Please click the button below to read or download the guidelines for grants to support church renewal and leadership as well as congregational assistance grants.
The church renewal grant and the leadership development grant have specific time periods during which proposals need to be submitted. The congregational assistance grant has no such guidelines, as we want congregations to reach out whenever they are in need. Please read these guidelines and email northcentral@brethrenchurch.org if you have any questions or with any proposals you may have.
THE RESILIENT LEADER
MAY 16-17, 2025 | ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
The events and challenges of the last few years have put a substantial strain on leaders, whether they serve in a ministry setting or a professional workplace. The coming years seem to promise that our communities will experience more division, more tension, and more challenges. Amid such turmoil, our communities require resilient leaders.
We believe the Brethren tradition rooted in Jesus Christ's example provides the most compelling model for Christian leadership in the 21st century. To develop resilience in leadership, we must first understand who God made us to be at our core.
STORIES FROM THE REGION
Hey everybody! It's been a couple years since ChristCore Brethren Church went on hiatus, and I wanted to share a brief but exciting update. I've felt the Lord stirring in my heart over the past year to try starting it again. ChristCore went on hiatus and we downshifted heavily after Alexander Stillion, one of our members, passed away in a motorcycle accident. Quite honestly, I was depressed and didn't want to keep doing this plant without my friend. During this time, Terry Hofecker and Josh Coffee, pastors of Agora Church in Columbus, Ohio, were gracious and gave Micaela and I a "landing place" while ChristCore paused. Now, we sense the Lord is calling us to pilot the ship once again, and I am excited to both share and ask for your prayer support as we relaunch ChristCore! We held our first new gathering on Friday, March 2 and hosted 7 adults and 2 kids (OTHER than Micaela, myself, and our kids). During our time, we had a Bible study on part of Matthew 5, lyric discussion of the Christian Metalcore song “Immortal” by War of Ages, and shared prayer requests and praises and prayed with each other. Thank you for your prayer support!!! Praise the Lord! Paul Lattimer Pastor, ChristCore Brethren Church 
Brethren Academy 2024 took place November 8-10, and Ashland, OH was graced with the presence of 16 high school-aged, up-and-coming leaders of The Brethren Church! The weekend was full of teaching, fellowship, and communion with the Lord and the Body of Christ. The future of The Brethren Church looks brighter with these students in it! This year marked the last of a 3-year rotation of Brethren Academy themes. The first year of the theme rotation, students learn about their identity in Christ and their identity as members of The Brethren Church. In the second year, they learn about their God-given calling and how they are able to live that out in a uniquely Brethren way wherever they find themselves in life. This year, as the third year of this rotation, students learned what it means to have a Kingdom Witness and why it's important to share it with others. Students learned from Executive Board member and pastor of Gretna Brethren Church, Rob Starnes, and even had the opportunity to practice sharing their Kingdom Witness with the group. Students were led by mentors who walked alongside them, through the weekend, and helped process what the Lord was teaching them. These mentors included Brianna Freel, Chyann Mackey, Shelby Morris, Lydia Smith, Amanda Carriere, and Sarah and David Miller. Patrick Sprague also led students in worship. This is the second year Patrick has led worship and set the tone for the weekend in this meaningful way. Sara Moore, Ryan Smith, and Lydia McCullough also planned and orchestrated the weekend. Thank you, mentors and leaders, for being an integral part of Brethren Academy! On Saturday, students had the opportunity to learn what a Kingdom Witness looks like in unique contexts. They visited the Ashland Public Library and heard from their Community Engagement Manager, Lindsay Brandon-Smith, about how she can share her Kingdom Witness through her day-to-day work as a public library employee. Then, students were joined by a panel of speakers with different backgrounds and understandings of what sharing their Kingdom Witness can look like. Students learned that even though their Kingdom Witness may be different from others, it is still powerful to share because it might be the exact message someone else needs to hear to learn about God. Thank you to our panelists: Cory Smith, Ron Waters, Tony Basham, Louis Mancha, Sadie Vanderzyden, and Amber LeMaster! To end our time, students joined Park Street Brethren Church for their Sunday morning service and heard a timely message from Pastor Nate Bebout about the promises of God’s New Covenant in times of tension. Then, students were joined by local Brethren, Steven Cole, Dale Stoffer, and Alex Hill, to name just a few, who heard highlights from the weekend and prayed over the students as they prepared to return home, equipped with the confidence to share their Kingdom Witness with their friends and family. It was a beautiful time in which The Brethren Church's current and future leaders could gather and support one another. Thank you to all who participated in this beautiful, impactful weekend! The Lord is certainly raising up the future leaders of The Brethren Church, and we are so excited to see what He does in the lives of these students in the months and years to come! Starting in 2025, Brethren Academy will be fully funded by The Brethren Church. At General Conference 2025, our offering will go toward funding Brethren Academy so we can continue the work of raising young leaders for many years to come. Please consider donating to this worthy cause! Lydia McCullough Executive Assistant The Brethren Church
Over 40 people from the North Central Region met Saturday, October 19, 2024, for their annual regional gathering. They represented nine of the region’s congregations. Gretna Brethren Church, Bellefontaine, Ohio, hosted the event. Jack Radcliffe, Radial Church lead staff and adjunct professor at Malone University, presented two training sessions: “Starting [Small] Kingdom Works” and “Mission and Discipleship in the Rhythms of Everyday Life.” He shared principles to help churches and individuals shift their focus toward their communities and answer the question, “What is our posture toward the world today?” In the first session he addressed leading congregations through a transformational process in their relationship with their communities. He used examples from his experience of helping a traditional church transition into a network of house churches. He emphasized, however, that the principles can be used in any model of church organization and size. In his second session, Radcliffe focused on how we, individually and in small missional groups, can implement engagement in mission that enhances our personal growth in discipleship. He also involved participants in table discussions on the principles he had shared and how they might implement them in their own lives and churches. Drew Meziere, Regional Resource Coordinator, served as the MC. Cory Smith (Smoky Row) and Amber LeMaster (Five Stones/Garber) led the group in worship. Reports on regional activities were shared by Sarah Wells (Park Street), Regional Leadership Team chair; Cory Smith (Smoky Row) and Ken Van Duyne (Park Street), Camp Bethany; and Lynn Mercer (West Alexandria), regional golf outing. The morning’s activities concluded with a catered box lunch and fellowship. Ron Waters Donor Care Team The Brethren Church
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SUPPORT CAMP BETHANY
Looking for a to bless God's Kingdom? Consider supporting the ministry at Camp Bethany.
LIVING AND LOVING LIKE JESUS THROUGHOUT OHIO
The North Central Region connects local congregations to local congregations throughout Ohio. Through clusters of geographically-near churches and communities, we're earnestly seeking to live and love like Jesus.
