General Conference 2008 Later this week, just over 600 Brethren in Christ delegates and pastors will check in at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel in Richland Hills, Ontario, for the 120th General Conference. We are also hopeful that many more from our churches will participate in General Conference via the Internet, checking out the daily blog entries created by Kristine Frey, editor of In Part magazine, and Devin Thomas, communications intern, or taking part in the evening worship services and the Christian/Muslim dialogue on Saturday afternoon by logging on to our live video stream. We encourage you to take advantage of these resources to help guide your prayers on behalf of General Conference.

Pray for Zimbabwe

Brethren in Christ churches across North America are urged to blanket Zimbabwe in 24/7 prayer as the people of that beleaguered nation work and wait for change. Please pass this word along to your congregation, and then let us know that you are praying:

We praise God that Danisa Ndlovu, bishop of the Zimbabwe church, can be with us for General Conference, and we look forward to a powerful message of Jesus worshipped in a time of trouble when Bishop Ndlovu speaks on Sunday evening. Despite the extreme difficulties of everyday life in Zimbabwe, Brethren in Christ churches joyfully look beyond themselves, reaching out to orphans and widows and other hurting people. Bishop Ndlovu notes, "The church's peace position-non-resistance in response to violence-and its message of holiness as lived and demonstrated in all our affairs of life have gained the denomination respect in these trying times."

The Zimbabwe BIC Church is one focus of the three offerings that will be received at General Conference. The other emphases are the Brethren in Christ Church in Cuba and the International Brethren in Christ Association (IBICA). You can participate in the General Conference offerings by sending a gift to BIC World Hunger Fund.

Speaking of Peace: a Muslim/Christian dialogue

The theme for General Conference-Jesus Worshipped in the Nations-reminds us that by our sustained and fruitful partnership in life and mission, we are contributing to the glorious scene in Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out with a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'

We hope and pray that as individual worshippers invest themselves in proclaiming our shared message and advancing our common mission-in local congregations and beyond-that our whole church family will become a cohesive, adaptive, and outward-focused company of Christ-followers. We are called to earnestly worship and obey God and to cross boundaries to other communities, cultures, and countries to reach lost people for Christ.

In the strength of Jesus, who is worshipped in the nations, let's go for it!

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Don McNiven and Warren Hoffman
General Church Leaders

Contact Information:
Email: bic@messiah.edu
Phone: 717.697.2634
Fax: 717.796.4781

Web: www.bic-church.org

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