Built for This: Strengthening Our Regional Family
The 2026 Community Building Conference in Detroit felt more like a massive family reunion than a formal meeting. From March 19–21, leaders from as far as Vancouver and Dallas packed into the Sheraton Detroit to tackle a big question: How do we keep our communities strong when the world feels so unpredictable?
Things kicked off Thursday with an intensive for the Community Building Team (CBT). David Williamson and Rosemary Thornton set the stage with their talk, "Helping Communities During Crises." Instead of doom and gloom, it was all about grounded hope—a reminder that even when things get rocky, our mission doesn't change. James Munk then took it from theory to reality with his "Crisis Roadmap" session, giving everyone practical steps to take back home.
After a heavy day of planning, we relaxed over a happy hour and dinner. Honestly, some of the best "community building" happened right there—sharing snacks, catching up, and trading old stories.
By Friday, the whole conference was buzzing. It was awesome hearing so many different accents in the hallways. Local groups like Work of Christ (Lansing) and Word of Life (Ann Arbor) mixed right in with folks from Beacon of Joy (Seattle) and Toronto's One with God and Jesus the Good Shepherd.
Joseph Mathias and Adrian Punzalan led us in some incredible worship times, bringing everyone together—whether you were from the Brotherhood of Hope, UCO, or the Bruderhof. Right in the middle of a busy schedule, Br. Rahl Bunsa helped us hit pause. His meditation, "Apart from me you can do nothing," was exactly what we needed to refocus on the heart of why we do this.
Attendees of the 2026 Community Building Conference in Detroit, Michigan. They came from across the North American Region to strengthen their communities through mutual blessing, support, encouragement, prayer, worship and wisdom.
The Heart of the Weekend
Saturday was all about connecting the dots. Between the main talks, we broke into smaller groups. Leaders, Missionary Coordinators, and Senior Woman Leaders got real about how these "Crisis Roadmaps" actually apply to the messy, beautiful reality of everyday community life.
The highlight of the weekend was definitely the Lord’s Day dinner. Stripping away the name tags and schedules to just share wine and bread together was a powerful reminder of what community is really about.
As we snapped our final group photos and packed our bags Saturday night, the vibe was clear: we were totally refueled. Detroit was a great host, but it was the people—and our shared vision—that gave us the fire to head back home and keep doing the work.
