Tim Marcy and Paul Heidebrecht represented Milwaukee Mennonite Church at the Central District Conference Annual Meeting at Wheaton College in late June. The theme for this year's meeting was “For Such a Time as This,” and worship was led by people from several Mennonite churches in the Chicago area. In addition to warmly receiving our formal application to join the conference, other business items included:

• Approving a resolution on Iran calling on member churches to pray for peace, and calling on elected leaders to pursue diplomacy with Iran, refraining from military action.

• Breakout Sessions to generate responses to the question: What does it mean to be an Anabaptist Christian in our American culture?

For more details about the meeting, see a recent article in the Mennonite Weekly Review. Tim and Paul were also able to report on workshops they attended, and updates that were shared from a wide variety of Mennonite church agencies.

Next year's meeting will be held at First Mennonite Church in Sugarcreek, Ohio, from June 25 through 27. We anticipate being welcomed as full members in Central District Conference at that time.

People are suffering . . . how do we respond?

Saturday, August 2nd, at 6:30pm, Milwaukee Mennonite Church (meeting at Martin Luther Lutheran Church, 9235 West Bluemound Rd, Milwaukee)

How can we, in the United States and Canada, help to wage peace in war-torn Darfur and Southern Sudan? What can we do to quell the violence, promote reconciliation, and assist in local efforts to build a lasting peace in the region? One place to start is to learn about the challenges people in Sudan face every day as well as the hopes they have for the future.

Tammy Alexander, Legislative Assistant for International Affairs from the Washington DC Office of the Mennonite Central Committee (the relief, development, and peace agency of the Mennonite church), will present MCC's advocacy campaign for war-torn Sudan. Understand why Sudan continues to have civil conflicts, what peace-making efforts are underway, and what actions need to be taken today. Following the presentation will be an informal Q&A session on ways we can help, including other peace and legislative advocacy efforts of MCC's Washington Office.

All are welcome to attend this event, hosted by Milwaukee Mennonite Church, www.milwaukeemennonite.org.  A freewill collection will be taken for Sudan.

On Sunday, June 1, we celebrated our first parent-child dedication service, dedicating Levi Keiser, along with his parents Rebecca and Matthew...

... and Elizabeth Stolpe, along with her parents Rachel and David, to the ministry and purpose of God.

With the help of the other children, we formally welcomed Elizabeth and Levi into our congregation, accepting responsibility for their well-being, and committing ourselves to supporting their parents as they nurture them to grow in grace and truth.