Middlebury Church of the Brethren is a modestly sized congregation located in Middlebury, Indiana,…read morea small community within Elkhart County. The church is a member of the Church of the Brethren denomination, a historic peace denomination (think Quakers, Mennonites). While it's a modestly sized denomination both in Indiana and overall, it's actually of a decent-size in Northern Indiana and Elkhart County has multiple Church of the Brethren congregations.
Middlebury is pastored by Janet Shaver and has been for approximately 3-4 years. A good majority of the denomination's pastors are either graduates of Richmond, Indiana's Bethany Theological Seminary, a Church of the Brethren seminary located on the grounds of Earlham College, though certainly not all. The denomination does lean toward emphasizing graduate education for its pastors though not every congregation, especially rural congregations, follows this recommendation.
Middlebury is largely representative of the overall Church of the Brethren denomination - it's a unique mix of both conservative and progressive Christians and the denomination overall continues to be challenged by progressive issues including LGBTQ inclusion. Middlebury does proclaim itself to be an inclusive congregation and this is included in its weekly print bulletin. As is evident, however, the Church of the Brethren does openly ordain women (there is a more conservative branch of Church of the Brethren, Brethren Revival Fellowship, that would prefer this not be the case).
Middlebury has accessible parking and a modest inclined entryway. For the most part, I found their church to be wheelchair friendly. I have been a guest preacher at Middlebury and was able to access its altar area via a backstage ramp area that is kept free of clutter and is ADA compliant.
The church has a daycare ministry that is run out of its building - they also rent space to a local pentecostal fellowship, though Church of the Brethren worship services do not lean toward the pentecostal style of worship. The Sunday morning services are live-streamed. Sunday School occurs after the worship service. Middlebury includes a play area in the sanctuary - it is in the back - while it's not a "staffed" area, it is set up in a way that children are encouraged to be within the faith community and parents can be with them while still being part of the service.
While I'm aware that at one point Middlebury did have some internal politicizing, I found the congregation to be warm, welcoming, and quite inclusive. They went out of their way to be accessible. I spoke during the main worship service and during a young adult Sunday School class.
If you are looking for a peace-oriented church with a more traditional style of worship service in the Elkhart County area, I'd certainly consider visiting Middlebury Church of the Brethren.
