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Did You Know?
May is a time for remembering.
This month, we celebrate the joys of motherhood on Mother's Day, commemorate the military on Armed Forces Day, and honor transitioned soldiers on Memorial Day. May is also a season of graduations and meaningful endings.
Possibly, you have personal reasons why May is significant – birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, changes, etc. It is good to take frequent moments to pause, breathe, reflect and rejoice.
Remembering is important. It helps to discover who we are, our ideals, our traditions, and our faiths. It enables one to learn from the past, forecast the future, and manage change. It contributes to forming and strengthening personal and social connections to friends, families, and cultures. Finally, it acknowledges an all-powerful, eternal God who loved us then, loves us now, and will ALWAYS love us.
Christ values remembering so much that it was one of his dying requests during a final dinner with His disciples:
Then Jesus took the bread and the wine and asked God the Father to bless it. He broke the bread into pieces, giving it to his disciples, and said, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19
I am not sure Jesus only wanted to be remembered once a week during a ten-minute ritual, but during every meal, every gathering, every celebration, every event.
Like Jesus, unforgettable people should forever have a perpetual place at each of our tables. All we have to do is REMEMBER.
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Support the Pentecost Offering!
For more than a year, many Disciples have stayed away from their places of worship to protect the health and safety of their communities.
How have new church leaders responded? By spreading the word about our denomination through DoorDash, meeting with folks online, and addressing returning citizens’ needs.
Chaplains, pastors, and others have answered the call to be the new church.
To support them and their efforts, contribute to the Pentecost Offering, collected in most congregations on May 16 and 23. The gifts are equally divided between Regions and New Church Ministry.
Give generously. Let’s all be the new church, together.
For Pentecost Offering resources, visit: http://disciplesmissionfund.org/special-offerings/pentecost.
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Discover New Ways of Communicating the Word of God
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Have you been searching for ways to show deeper levels of compassion to community members? Has living through multiple waves of the pandemic caused you to feel isolated and cut off?
If so, join us and My SupaNatural Life for a powerfully interactive webinar on May 22 at 5 p.m. EST on expanding communal care for those who are hard of hearing or deaf. - Learn American Sign Language as an individual or with a group
- Explore new technological advancements that are allowing us to communicate with even more people than ever before
- Identify ways to increase accessibility at home, at work, and in the world
- Experience a fun time engaging in creativity
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New Church Hacks Season 3 Begins June 9
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Why only do something new or better, when you can do both?!
New Church Hacks provides
practical (and sometimes peculiar) prompts for churches from start to
restart. This free webinar series is jam-packed with clever solutions to
tricky problems and empowers courageous leaders with the tools, tips
and how-tos to start, sustain and strengthen congregations.
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Let's Pray Together
The Water the Plants initiative was born out of New Church Ministry’s vision to support new church plants within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
This program gathers a team of dedicated supporters of new worship
expressions to prioritize the spiritual discipline of prayer. Based on 1
Corinthians 3:6, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has
been making it grow,” we will take a proactive approach to “watering”
DOC church “plants” with prayer.
Join the next Water the Plants Prayer Summit, scheduled for Saturday, June 5th at 1 p.m. EST.
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DCEF Offering Technology Grants and Loans
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Disciples
congregations have been forced to shut down in-person worship for nearly
a year or longer. Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF) is offering
funding for technology upgrades to help congregations pivot to a
stronger online presence moving forward.
This funding can come in the form of either a grant or loan to meet
the technology needs of congregations, including tangible equipment
purchases and upgrades to undergird the church’s ability to broadcast
worship services and connect with their members virtually. Matching
grants up to $5,000 are available to meet these needs. Loans are
available for projects that will have costs in excess of what can be
raised in a matching grant. For more information, please visit us online or call DCEF at 1-800-274-1883 to connect with the Building and Capital Services Advisor assigned to your zone.
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At Leadership Academy, New Church Ministry empowers leaders across the United States and Canada. This interactive learning experience features three track sessions.
- The Start Track (Pre-launch New Church)
is designed for leaders of church/projects that have not yet launched. Participants will discern their missional purpose,
develop their future stories, and prepare for launch.
- The Sustain Track (Post-launch New Church)
is geared for new church planters of recently launched places of
worship. Participants will develop strengthening
practices to grow and maintain sustainable ministry.
- New this year is the Multiply Track (Established Congregations),
which is for leaders of existing faith communities. Participants will explore methodologies in ministry innovation and
employ disciple-making principles to develop healthy collectives that
are not only growing and giving but going.
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Where We've Been
4/22, 29 | EDGE Sustainability Cohort
4/24 | Coaching Ministry Check-in
4/27 | Georgia Region New Church Team meeting
4/29 – 5/1 | International Pastors and Leaders Summit
4/30 – 5/3 | Tennessee Region visit
5/4, 5 | That Church Conference
5/7 – 5/10 | National Convocation Trip
5/11 | High Impact Residency Program for Church Planting - Why Plant Churches?
5/12 | PushPay Church Disrupt 2021
5/13 | Starting and Sustaining New Ministries Online Conference
5/13 – 5/16 | New and Renew Church Planting Conference
Where We're Going
5/15 | Armed Forces Day
5/16, 23 | Pentecost Offering Sunday
5/17 | International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia
5/22 | The New Wave Pentecost Series
5/24 | Victoria Day
5/28 | Amnesty International Day
5/31 | Memorial Day
6/5 | Water the Plants Prayer Summit
6/5 | Lexington Theological Seminary Workshop for Thriving Congregations
6/7 | Worship Innovators Conference
6/8 | High Impact Residency Program - Church Planting and Leading in a Digital Age
6/9 | New Church Hacks webinar - Restart, Reengage, Revision: Post-Pandemic Prep
What We're Thinking About
Terrell’s podcast interview with Future Christian on Being Innovative in Mainline Church
Microresistance as a Way to Respond to Microaggressions on Zoom and in Real Life | Faculty Focus
How to Talk About Indian-Themed Mascots - (suitupmaine.org)
Owl Labs
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