In November 2000, Church Extension (now Disciples Church Extension Fund or DCEF) invited regional partners, a handful of planters, and other partners to attend the New Church Summit in Indianapolis, IN. At this event, the goal of planting 1,000 congregations by 2020 was adopted, and partners were challenged by church planting experts to think about church planting in a new way.
Last summer, we celebrated not only achieving that goal, but exceeding it. To date, 1,049 faith communities have been formed or have affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada with about a third of these being racially or ethnically diverse.
And now our ministry, alongside DCEF, general and regional ministers, seminary and new church team leaders, church planters, and representatives from various demographic and church planting initiatives, are planning for the future yet again.
From August 19th to the 21st, 2020, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) convened a three-day virtual New Church Summit, hosted by Pastor Terrell L McTyer, Minister of New Church Strategies with New Church Ministry (NCM), and Erick D. ‘Rick’ Reisinger, President of DCEF. The Summit featured General Minister and President Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens, DISRUPTION: Repurposing The Church To Redeem the Community author Mark DeYmaz, spoken-word artist Yaw Kyeremating, Mosaix Global Network facilitator Dr. Rodney Cooper, Peter Wernett of MissionInsite by ACS Technologies, and NCM Associate Minister Rev. Dr. Jose Martinez. Workshop topics included cultural intelligence, competitive analysis, best practices, strategy prioritization, setting tactical gatherings, and possible next steps. Attendees also broke up into smaller discussion groups to develop and present pitches.
In this video, Pastor Terrell L McTyer gives his closing remarks at the 2020 New Church Summit and shares the Multiply Movement, a vision to make one million new disciples in a decade.