For our regional ministries in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada whose New Church teams or commissions need resources, we hope that these documents help you begin to develop processes to shepherd the lives of your emerging faith communities from just an idea to a fully chartered congregation.
If you are an individual who wants to start a new place of worship or affiliate it with the denomination, reach out to your region.
If you have documents that you would like to contribute to this page, or know of something that should be included in this list, please send an email to Associate Executive Minister of Administration for New Church Ministry Rev. Wesley King at wking@newchurchministry.org.
- Checklist for New Churches
- Barnabas Churches – To provide encouragement and experiences of unity to communities of faith in their early stages of formation and to help prevent feelings of isolation, while at the same time giving the support church the opportunity to learn and adopt the missional methods of the new churches.
- Church Covenant – The covenant that is shared between Region and Congregation exists in two parts: Church Covenant Part 1 – Congregational Covenantal Affirmations; and Church Covenant Part 2 – Regional Covenantal Affirmations: Congregational Rights and Regional Responsibilities. As with any covenantal relationship, one is incomplete without the other. The elements are gathered together here come from both “The Design” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and from the experience of lived out covenantal relationship here in “Region.” They serve as a summary of the relationship between the congregation and the Region.
- Covenant Ceremony*
- New Church Chartering Recognition Liturgy*
- Sample Budget
We thank the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Arizona and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky for supplying some of the template documents in this section.
*Please check your downloads folder and turn off ad blockers to receive the covenant documents.