At its annual Leadership Academy, New Church Ministry gathers leaders all across regions in the United States and Canada for learning, growing, and community building. Our team invites undergraduate and seminary students, individuals contemplating ministry, those feeling “stuck” or isolated in ministry, and clergy ready for a new way to do ministry in a changing world to join us. You do not need to be a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to attend.

Registration is now closed.

To equip Disciples movement initiators, Leadership Academy will foster contemplative action, prophetic advocacy, and faith-rooted organizing in our leaders. These three core competencies are promoted by DisciplesNEXT, a new framework that 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.

Leadership Academy also includes:

  • Three track sessions that allow participants to learn alongside fellow peers currently at the same stage in starting a place of worship
    • Emerge Track – for core teams who have yet to launch a community of faith
    • Discerners Track – created to allow those who have ever considered what it would take to start a church to audit the Emerge Track at a discounted rate. This option is ideal for those in undergraduate institutions who may feel the call to ministry, for our seminarians who are discerning what path God may be taking them down, or even our ecumenical partners who may want to imagine how their ministries might be shaped by this training. Use the code DISCERN when checking out to receive 50% off the registration fee.
    • Converge Track – for teams that have recently started a faith community, and
    • Multiply Track – for leaders of established congregations
  • NEXT Talk facilitated by a keynote speaker who will address missional transformation inclusive of every stage of leadership and congregational vitality, and
  • LEADLabs (Learn.Explore.Actuate.Discover.Laboratories) designed to help participants imagine, ideate, and innovate missional concepts through interactive, practical workshops.

The 2023 Leadership Academy is scheduled to take place from Tuesday, October 24 to Friday, October 27 and will be a hybrid event, with the in-person portion taking place in Kansas City, MO.

Schedule

Day 1

  • 2:00 – Registration 
  • 2:30 – Opening Session and Worship
    • Introductions, housekeeping, etc.
  • 3:00 – Coaching overview
  • 4:00 – Track Sessions
    • Emerge
    • Converge
    • Multiply
  • 5:30 – Released for Dinner
  • 8:00 – Mixer

Day 2

  • 8:30 – Contemplative Time
    • Prayer Labyrinth in Sanctuary
    • Coffee/Tea
  • 9:00 – NEXT Talk
    • Keynote speaker – Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray
  • 10:00 – Intro of DisciplesNEXT’s three core competencies, MissionInsite report
  • 10:30 – Track Sessions meet with coaches
  • 11:30 – Lunch Break
  • 1:00 – Free time
  • 2:00 – Workshops
    • Marketing LEADLab
  • 4:00 – Overview of “Become the Good News” (contemplative action, community health assessment)
  • 4:30 – Track Sessions
  • 5:30 – Dinner

Day 3

  • 8:30 – Contemplative Practice
  • 9:00 – NEXT Talk
    • Rev. Brian Frederick Gray
  • 10:00 – Overview of “Share the Good News” (prophetic advocacy, power mapping)
  • 10:30 – Track Sessions
  • 11:30 – Lunch Break
  • 1:00 – Overview of “From our Doorsteps to the Ends of the Earth” (faith-rooted organizing)
  • 1:30 – Track Sessions
  • 2:30 – Released to Movement Lab
  • 3:00 – Meet with Regional Movement (Independence Boulevard Christian Church)
    • Micah Ministry  
    • Care Beyond the Boulevard
    • Ryogoku School

Day 4

  • 9:00 – Closing Worship and Commissioning
  • 10:30 – Check Out