Events
2025 Annual Meeting | Saturday, October 4, 2025
12:00 p.m.| Grantham Brethren in Christ Church | 421 Grantham Rd., Mechanicsburg PA 17055
$25 per person | REGISTER by Monday, September 15, 2025
Appropriately, this year’s Annual Meeting is being held during Homecoming Weekend at Messiah University, next door to the church. The program this year will celebrate the release of the new biography of E. Morris and Leone Sider, who were central figures in the Brethren in Christ Church and at Messiah University, and honor their lives.
Devin Manzullo-Thomas has written what former Historical Society president Emerson Lesher calls “a wonderfully insightful biography of the dean of Brethren in Christ history and biography, E. Morris Sider.” Entitled Storyteller: The Life and Ministry of E. Morris Sider, the book “captures how Sider more than anyone gave of his expertise, time, energy, and financial resources to ensure that current and future generations would understand and appreciate the theology, values, practices, and people of the Brethren in Christ movement in North America.”
A catered meal will be served at the Grantham Church, including the tradition of homemade pies for dessert. Following the program honoring Morris’s life as a storyteller, copies of the book will be available. Members of the Society will receive a complimentary copy, and additional copies will be available for sale. Members not attending the Annual Meeting can look forward to receiving their copies sometime later. Also, everyone is invited to the open house being held during Messiah University’s Homecoming at the Brethren in Christ Historical Library and Archives in the basement of Murray Library on campus.
Please REGISTER here by Monday, September 15, 2025:
2025 Heritage Service | CANCELLED June 1, 2025
We received word from Ringgold Meeting House that their area has suffered severe weather within the last few weeks. This has led to damage to the Meeting House, as well as a shortage of construction crews available to make repairs.
In light of not knowing when repairs will happen, we cancelled the 2025 Heritage Service that was to be held on Sunday, June 1st. We look forward to gathering in the fall at Grantham Brethren in Christ Church for our Annual Meeting.
2023 Annual Meeting | September 30, 2023
Seventy Years of the Brethren in Christ in Japan
The 2023 Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at the Grantham Brethren in Christ Church. The focus of the meeting was on the Brethren in Christ Church in Japan which celebrates its seventieth anniversary this year. Former missionaries to Japan Dan Deyhle, Ray Hock, and Ruth Zook participated in a panel discussion about their time in Japan. We also heard greetings by audio from the church in Japan. In addition, John Yeatts, Historical Society president, presented his annual report.
2023 Heritage Service | June 4, 2023
The Annual Heritage Service was held on Sunday, June 4, 2023, at the Ringgold Meeting House. It was a joint service with the Old Order River Brethren, the United Zion Church, and the Brethren in Christ Church U.S. These churches are the three related groups in the United States that grew out of the original formation of the River Brethren in south central Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. Each group led the worshippers in song, and a representative from each group described three deeply held values or beliefs and one desire for their ongoing ministry as a church family.
The Old Order River Brethren presenter was Chris Brode. He spoke led a song in the Old Order style. Representing the United Zion was Rev. Ethan Levengood, songleader, and Rev. John Leisey spoke. Dr. John Yeatts spoke for the Brethren in Christ U.S. and David Perry led the singing.
You can watch the entire service here.
2021 Annual Meeting | October 2, 2021
About 100 people attended the 2021 annual dinner and meeting Saturday, October 2, 2021 at the Grantham Brethren in Christ Church, where E. Morris Sider’s new book was released.
With the intriguing title of Brown Sugar Sandwiches and Other Stories, the book features Sider’s memories from his life. During the program, Society president Ken Hoke moderated a panel of Society members who asked Sider questions about his book, giving him an opportunity to share “behind the scenes” about his writing process and some stories he chose not to include in the book.
All members of the Society will receive a free copy of the book, and additional copies are available for sale for $10 each plus postage. Email the Society for a copy.
If you missed the meeting, you can listen to the audio.
2021 Heritage Service | June 6, 2021
Two congregations tell stories of how they responded during the COVID-19 pandemic by serving others in their communities. Watch the video.