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Disciples Home Missions Updates




November 9, 2014

In This Issue
*From the President
*Christian Edcuation
*Family & Children's Ministries
*Disciples Women
*Black Ministers Retreat
*Disciples Peace Fellowship
*Refugee & Immigration Ministries

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From the President

If you look back over your years on this earth you cannot help but come to the same conclusion a recent pollster did: Change is the most enduring value. The old Greek, Heraclitus, probably said it best: "You cannot step in the same river twice." Not only has the river flowed on, you have, too.

 

Listen to what the pollster writes:

 

". . . values are on a zig zag, wavering course in America. The characteristic shows up in rapid changes in people's assessment of some aspects of life.

 

Religion was found on the upswing - considered 'very important' by 69% of adults, up 10 percentage points from a year before. Regard for money as 'very important' also rose 10 points to 40 percent.

 

People's values change with alarming rapidity these days. Americans are in a period of emotional flux. They are seeking just the right balance of right ideas, experiences, values and goods to arrive at a pleasing harmony of their internal and external realities.

                 

Sixty-five percent of adults believe 'the world is out of control these days.'"

 

I surmise the same would be true for our brethren to the north in Canada. We are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, are we not? All of us have experienced a sense of rootlessness between as well as within generations. If we have lived in an Age of Information, an age that has inundated  us with information of all types, for the last 30 or so years, we are living into an Age of Intelligence. The gathering of information is not as important as what we do with the information we have. How do we interpret it? How do we separate the garbage from the pearls? How do we fashion a better life for all the world's people?

 

One thing is crystal clear to me: we cannot cope with these momentous changes without forging relationships and collaborative partnerships, not just in word but action. A former church member, Gloria Goble, told a mid-week Bible Study group about a guest that came to her parents farm in Kansas and told her father what a wonderful farm God had provided him. A statement to which her father quickly replied: "You should have seen this place when God farmed it alone."

 

The point is that we cannot deal with such rapid change alone. We need one another. This is why ecumenical and interfaith involvement is in our Disciples DNA.  People from difference religions, ethnicities, races, and languages can learn to bond together for purposes greater than any one individual or group alone.

 

George Eliot interprets the words of Stradivarius, maker of violins. Here is what Eliot writes:

 

"When master holds

 'Twix chin and hand a violin of mine,

He will be glad that Stradivari lived,

Made violins and made them of the best.

. . . for while God gives them skill,

I give them instruments to play upon,

God choosing me to help Him . . .

If my hand slacked

I should rob God - Since He is fullest good -

Leaving a blank instead of violins . . .

He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins

without Antonio."

 

It takes each of us working together, Stradivarius and God, to accomplish those things that will breathe new life into this generation and those that follow. Congregations, fellowship groups, ecumenical and interfaith partners - carry your banners high. Remain open and diverse. Cherish your diversity. Leap over walls that seem too high to scale. Hold one another's hands in partnership with the One who holds you in divine hands. And do not wait for great strength before setting out on your way, for immobility will weaken you further. Do not wait to see clearly before starting. Walk toward the light. Do it now.

 

Together-ly yours,

 

 


Christian Education

Advent Resources Coming Soon!

Be on the lookout for the 2014 Advent Resource Packet which will be available on the Disciples Home Missions' website as a free download. This year the resource will be posted weekly. The first week will be posted around November 25, 2014. Check for the download here


Family & Children Ministries

Preparing for Advent

Looking for Advent resources? We offer LOTS of suggestions for activities at home and at church in our latest newsletter. Check it out here.

 

We'll also be adding new pins on Pinterest daily throughout November and December! See our board for Advent & Christmas or for Alternative Christmas Gifts.

 

Family Friendly Opportunities at General Assembly 2015

Disciples Home Missions is hosting a special family friendly luncheon

on July 19, 2015 at General Assembly. We'd love the opportunity to get to know you and share with you the current work and ministry of DHM. Purchase tickets when you submit your GA registration. (Children 12 and under are free.)

 

Upcoming Interdenominational Events

Here's where some of the great conversations will be happening on 21st century Christianity and Faith Formation:

 

 

Christianity21: January 22-24, 2015 in Phoenix

 

21 speakers deliver 21 big ideas in 21 minutes each

 

Progressive Youth Ministry:  

March 19-21 in Chicago
(Disciples leaders will have a gathering as a part of this event. Details to come.)

 

Faith Forward 2015: April 20-23, 2015 in Chicago

Bringing together children's and youth ministry leaders for collaboration, resourcing, and inspiration toward innovative theology and practice.

Disciples Women

Just Women

 

Spring 2015 Bible Study pre-orders are now being accepted.
Orders received BEFORE February 1, 2015, will be shipped FREE. "Women of the New Testament: Finding their Voices" is being written by Rev. Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, Rev. Daphne Gascot Arias, and Rev. Dr. Cathy Myers Wirt. This is the second year for the study to be written in its entirely by Disciples women scholars. The Spring Bible study sold-out in 2014.

Black Ministers Retreat

Black Ministers Retreat 2015 Registration Open

Save the date for Black Ministers Retreat, March 3-5, 2015 in Montgomery, Alabama! Join us as we explore this year's theme, Time for a Shift: Transforming a New Generation of Disciples, through transformative worship, fellowship, and educational workshops. This year's events and location will also coincide with local celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the historic Montgomery to Selma March. It will be an experience not to be missed!

 

41st Annual Black Ministers Retreat

March 3-5, 2015

First Christian Church - Montgomery, Alabama

Register now!


Disciples Peace Fellowship
Disciples Peace Fellowship Peace Sunday Resources for 2014
Meditation and Liturgical Resources for the traditional Peace Sunday in Advent or any time Peace and Justice Resources would be helpful for Disciples' congregations and ministries. Further resources, and DPF Summer Intern meditations, go to our website: DPFweb.org


Refugee & Immigration
Prayer of a New Citizen

Written by Sophia Hlen Rahlan, First Christian Church, Charlotte, N.C.

 

Dear Father in Heaven,
Thank you for bringing my family to the U.S.A. so we can live in freedom in this country. Thank you...Read More!


Be sure to look for the latest issue of the Disciples Advocate online.

 

Also, check out the Disciples Home Missions Web site

for more congregational resources.

 

Rev. Ron Degges 

President

Disciples Home Missions
Phone: (317) 713-2684