“The Mission First! pilot showed us the power of connection and the analysis gave us clarity about action,” said Moderator Sue Morris. “Not only did we learn about the great work being done across the life of the Church, but we also learned that there is a craving for connection.” Beginning with an idea in […]
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Before Rev. Bentley Stewart was a church planter, he was a hospital chaplain. In that ministry, he regularly worked with people with no interest in religious conversations. Stewart would press on, developing relationships with patients and families. He felt it was his job to “bear witness to a God of love and redemption who meets […]
Read moreby Rev. Alan Dicken When I was in Ferguson, there was a righteous anger that charged the hot August night air with energy. When I was in Charlottesville the day after the protests and the death of Heather Heyer, there was a sadness that hung in the chapel that I was in. There was a […]
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“We need connection,” said General Minister and President Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens. “We need connection to God, to who we are as Disciples, and to our community.” Hord Owens laid out her vision for the Church to renew its connection to God with an emphasis on the foundation of Biblical literacy. “We just don’t know […]
Read moreEven though the Iowa winter did not want to let go, the General Board meeting was full of signs of spring and resurrection. The general ministries and regions shared their verbal reports in detail with small groups and the highlights were shared with the whole board in a joy-infused session. Included in those notes were: […]
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General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens offered these remarks at the Washington DC kickoff of 40 Days of Advocacy by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on Monday, May 14. I am the Rev. Terri Hord Owens, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the […]
Read more“Not only does Scripture call us to care for the poor, the Poor People’s Campaign is calling the nation to stand WITH those impacted by poverty,” says General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens. “We must transform our society according to the call of Scripture, and in obedience to Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor […]
Read more“The comments by Attorney General Sessions at the border yesterday, which conflated the actions of Central American parents–who are openly presenting themselves to seek safety and protection for their families–with efforts to “smuggle children over the border” illegally were unnecessarily punitive. They were a harsh misrepresentation of international and US asylum laws that guarantee persons […]
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For church planter Rev. Rachel Woehler, the call to form a new kind of church came from the Lord’s Supper. “In summer 2011, I got a metaphorical burr in my saddle,” Woehler said. “Almost suddenly my ear became attuned to certain words: feast, meal, table, and fellowship. I was especially aware of these words when […]
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Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. In a project that has spanned over 25 years of cultural and technological changes, the Oldtimers’ Grapevine has, in many ways, remained unchanged. This newsletter, published three times a year and sent to nearly 1,000 subscribers, still exists in only one form – print. […]
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