General Assembly News - Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

We’re a movement whose time has come!An Identity Initiative was launched at theGeneral Assembly in Orlando, a joint projectbetween the Council on Christian Unity andCommunication Ministries. Foundational to thework is the identity statement.We are Disciples of Christ, a movement forwholeness in a fragmented world. As membersof the one body of Christ, we welcome all tothe Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.Explaining the Disciple identity takes effort at severallevels. A summary of Disciple attributes is available onthe “Who We Are/Our Identity” page on disciples.orgunder the “summary” tab.First, the people within our faith communities need tohave an understanding of the shared traits of themovement. For this, the Council on Christian Unity hasdeveloped videos and accompanying study guides.Focusing on the identity statement, the words movement,wholeness, table and welcome are lifted up as centralconcepts for the Disciples way of working in the world.Videos are available online under “Who We Are/OurIdentity” on disciples.org with study guides under the“teaching” tab.In addition, pastors can share these basic traits in theirsermons, liturgies and other communications to helpmembers become more comfortable with the conceptsand language. Many congregations choose to use thepreamble to The Design as a way of connecting withDisciple theology during worship. Some use the identitystatement in various forms. Pastors might consider asermon series based on the principles behind the identitystatement as well or studies based on movement,wholeness, table and welcome. Those materials are listedon the “Our Identity” page under the “preaching” tab.Once our members have a grasp of our distinctive mixof attributes, we need ways to make these clear as weconnect with those who have not discovered thecommunity we find so meaningful. Invitation fromindividuals is proven to be the single most effective wayto connect a new person to the community, but thereare also other ways to help support our members tomake the “ask.” Materials to help with promotingthrough advertising are listed under the “telling tactics”tab.CHRISTIAN CHURCH DISCIPLES OF CHRIST | JULY 13-17, 2013 5