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Any journey must begin with an assessment of where one has been. The following is a brief historical sketch of the development and ministries of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The African
American Convention movement was established as early as 1830 in
"free" states
The American
Christian Missionary Society supported African American evangelists
and employed Preston Taylor as "National Evangelist" during
the closing decade of the 19th century. The ACMS asked the Christian
Women's Board of Mission to take over the work in 1900. The Two calls went out in 1917 to organize a National Convention -- Preston Taylor sent out a call from Nashville, Tennessee in September, and William Alphin sent out a call in October in connection with the International Convention of the Christian Churches which was being held in Kansas City. The people rallied to the call of Preston Taylor and in September, 1917 the National Christian Missionary Convention was formed. Anna R. Atwater of the CWBM, Robert M. Hopkins of the ACMS, Stephen J. Corey of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society and J.B. Lehman of the CWBM were present at the organizing meeting. A delegation from the newly-formed NCMC was present at the October 1917 meeting of the International Convention which voted approval of the NCMC as an auxiliary of the International Convention. The 1942 NCMC Constitution stated its purpose as follows:
After eight
years as the National Field Worker, R.H. Peoples resigned in 1943
with a challenge to the NCMC which he later articulated as the president
of NCMC in 1955 as "Proposed Plans The merger was finalized in 1960 and called upon the ministries of the whole church to serve the whole church. Three former NCMC staff persons became staff of UCMS. They held positions in evangelism, Christian education and Christian Women's Fellowship. Concern was expressed that "Jim Crowism" of the former NCMC staff not be operational through calling upon all of the UCMS staff to serve the whole church. R.H. Peoples' vision of merging the National Christian Missionary Convention with the International Convention of Disciples of Christ and the United Christian Missionary Society continued in the development of the "Design for Renewal and Growth" in 1962. This design was the result of the work of the most creative African American Disciples' minds and clearly focused on the need for one church serving all of the church. In 1969 the International Convention of Christian Churches adopted "Principles for Merger of the National Christian Missionary Convention and the International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)" that formalized this 26 years of visioning and strategy. The opening paragraphs of the resolution state the strategy as well:
The National Convocation was called into being as a result of the adoption and implementation of these principles and stated its purpose in its "Articles of Operation" as follows:
Developmental Timeline
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as
the secular adjunct of African American congregations as a means
of coordinating opposition to slavery, forced relocation of free
African Americans to Africa and a multitude of social ills. The
development of collective strategies to effect the well-being of
"freed" African Americans after the close of the Civil
War (1865) was so great that most of the present organized work
of the African American congregations within the Christian Church
(Disciple of Christ) was developed by that first generation of former
slaves.
CWBM continued that support through the next two decades.
On July 1, 1914 the CWBM employed Rosa Brown to minister among the
women and on October 1, 1914 the Bible School Department of the
ACMS employed P.H. Moss to serve the bible schools. 
for
Merging the National Christian Missionary Convention with the International
Convention of Disciples of Christ and the United Christian Missionary
Society." The basic concept developed was the merging of the
services and work of the NCMC with the International Convention
and the UCMS.