General Assembly of the Christian Church, (DOC)

Tracy, Bob, Susan, Chad and I will attend the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada July 8-12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This is a come-one-come-all gathering of any member of the CC(DOC) who wants to attend. Some will be voting representatives, such as all ministers and some members of congregations.

Here we do the work of the general church, which includes all 3,000 plus churches in covenant relationship with each other under the Disciples of Christ name.

We do vote on items, some which may qualify as controversial, which issues a statement about the stand of those attending the assembly, but not necessarily those in the pews.

Sometimes these resolutions are prophetic in nature, such as anti-racist resolutions in the late sixties and resolutions which called for peace during time of war.

We have voted on new hymnals, parliamentary procedures for the assembly and immigration.

The discussions are fascinating and the votes are rarely unanimous.

The General Assembly has deepened my appreciation for the whole church and opened my mind and heart to thinking in ways that I believe Jesus wants us to think and act.

There are organizations which set up booths to tell their story. Often we can speak to the heads of the agencies we hear about.

Worship is outstanding and the preaching is usually solid. We are opened to different worship styles and cultural expressions of the gospel.

We witness the inclusive nature of the whole church as we make every effort to involve church folks from different cultural traditions, men, women and youth.

I love the church of my youth and adulthood, which has been unafraid to tackle issues beyond our comfort zones and to express the love of God in Jesus Christ for all people.

Please pray for us as we represent you and continue to be the church we are meant to be in the world.

Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff