At its annual Leadership Academy, New Church Ministry gathers leaders all across regions in the United States and Canada. Our team invites pastors, church planters, chaplains, and others who are interested in becoming empowered to join us. You do not need to be a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to attend.

This event includes:

  • three separate 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 Start 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, innovate, and implement 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 – DisciplesNEXT overview
  • 4:00 – Track Sessions
    • Emerge
    • Converge
    • Multiply
  • 5:30 – Released for Dinner

Day 2

  • 8:30 – Contemplative Time
    • Prayer Labyrinth in Sanctuary
    • Coffee/Tea
  • 9:00 – NEXT Talk
    • Keynote speaker – Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray
  • 10:00 – Track Session
    • Intro of framework
  • 11:30 – Lunch Break
  • 1:00 – LEADLab (governance, finance, ministry)
  • 2:00 – LEADLab (same as before, smaller groups, more in-depth conversation)
  • 3:00 – Track Session
    • Become the Good News
  • 5:30 – Dinner

Day 3

  • 8:30 – Contemplative Practice
  • 9:00 – NEXT Talk
    • Rev. Brian Frederick Gray
  • 10:00 – Track Session
    • Share the Good News
  • 11:30 – Lunch Break
  • 1:00 – Track Session
    • From our Doorsteps to the Ends of the Earth
  • 2:30 – Released to Movement Lab
  • 3:00 – Meet w/Regional Movement
    • Independence Blvd CC 
    • Micah Ministry  

Day 4

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

Use the code EARLYBIRD when checking out to receive 15% off of either your in-person registration or your online registration. Please note that we are not registering as groups anymore, however we do encourage as many folks as possible from your team to attend.