The Fall issue of the Disciples' Advocate is now available online as a PDF on the Disciples Home Missions website. "Hands On" is the theme for this issue. In the red column at the left you will see under "In This Issue" just a sampling of what is included in this issue.  

Rev. Ron Degges

Back in 2009, the Disciples Home Missions Board of Directors at the request of the Public Relations and Development Committee, voted to change the DHM Logo 

from this:         To this:

 
What was once a completely bordered logo with a thick black wall became a lined, open bordered logo with a hand bearing the chalice facing out to the world. For seven years now, this logo has represented more than just institutional maintenance. It represents a Disciples institution and General Ministry with a heart for hands on mission.

Mission is nothing new for those of us who call ourselves Disciples. Mission has been at the heart of our movement ever since its beginning. The second Great Awakening was a call to action and mission that grew out of a rekindled relationship with Jesus. Throughout our history our devotion to Jesus and to mission have been so intertwined, that you cannot have one without the other.

So now you have it: Mission First is not for our church alone, but with our hand wide open and directed out to the world God's love without fail. A mission that is primarily centered on the love of God and God's son, Jesus, for all creation. A love that cannot be boxed or bordered, only shared liberally with all.

While I was in the Middle East with a coalition of denominational executives from the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I took a picture of a wall and border that has grown over the past to separate Palestinians and Israelis from one another, blocking people from going home, and maintaining a fifty-year-old state of occupation.

The words on that wall are words that may very well be directed to all churches and faith communities, and every government: " . . . Tear down this wall!" Let's be about knocking down those barriers that separate us from one another as we provide hands on mission to a hurting world.