How DisciplesNEXT is the future of New Church

Join us for a candid conversation between host Rev. Dr. Jose Martinez, Minister of New Church Strategies, and guest Belinda R. King, Disciples Church Extension Fund President. In this IMPACT webinar, we’ll discuss how the new DisciplesNEXT framework is the future of New Church Ministry and how both entities can help move the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada in this direction.

When the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) reached the two-decade goal of “starting 1,000 churches in 1,000 different ways,” we might have relished celebrating our achievements. But 2020 was also marked by a racial reckoning, a climate crisis, and a global pandemic. Meanwhile, the work of the 2020 Vision was far from complete. So, New Church Ministry began shaping a framework for the future, informed by the crises of the day, yet based on Disciples fundamentals: our identity, vision, and mission.^[1]

DisciplesNEXT — which draws upon our core identity as a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world” — strives to counter the church’s historic tendency to colonize as a means of growth. Instead, DisciplesNEXT offers a methodology to train leaders as movement initiators that foster faithful communities; communities that exhibit the marks of the faithful church: true community, deep Christian spirituality, and a passion for justice.

While this movement will, naturally, take many forms, New Church Ministry aims to approach today’s challenges by equipping leaders to live into the Disciples Mission: “To be and to share the good news of Jesus Christ, witnessing, loving, and serving from our doorsteps ‘to the ends of the Earth’.”

To equip Disciples movement initiators DisciplesNEXT will foster three core competencies in our leaders: Contemplative Action, Prophetic Advocacy and Faith-Rooted Organizing.

^[1]Disciples Mission, Vision, and Confession