When Fifth Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Cleveland, Ohio called Rev. E. Regis Bunch to serve as Transitional Pastor, its community of faith stood at a crossroads. “The congregation knew they were experiencing a deep decline, but they didn’t have consensus...
Gwinwood Retreat Center, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) camp in the Northern Lights Region, sits at the edge of Hicks Lake in Lacey, WA. On a good day, you can see Mt. Rainier in the distance. But on July 4, 2023, the only thing Gwinwood’s neighbors across...
When Rev. Dr. Richard Hamm, then-General Minister and President, and other church leaders dreamed up the 2020 Vision, none of them imagined the global pandemic that 2020 would bring. However, the 2020 Vision – with its prescription for new churches, revitalized...
When the new pastor of Memorial Christian Church walked by the “for sale” sign in the front yard in 2020, she expected a short, sad tenure with this small church in Peoria, Ill. Of course, that was before there were bouncy castles in the sanctuary. Although the...
Iconic North American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s “church of the future” proved a fitting setting to introduce DisciplesNEXT, a new framework for New Church Ministry (NCM) in a pandemic-informed ministry context. More than 50 clergy and laity gathered for...
