More than 7,000 people from the United States and Canada are expected to gather for the 2007 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly from Saturday through Wednesday at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The theme is Share the Feast, based on the account of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of 5,000 people in the Gospel of Matthew .
Sharon Watkins, the denomination’s general minister and president, said she will share good news with clergy and lay representatives in her State of the Church address: that the denomination of more than 700,000 members is ahead of schedule on its goal of starting 1,000 new congregations by 2020.
The assembly will also consider nonbinding resolutions about contemporary issues such as the war in Iraq, tobacco use and healthcare.
In the early 1980s, the Indianapolis-based denomination had about 1 million members. But a plummet in membership prompted an effort to start new congregations in 2001. Already, 503 new churches have been established, many of them serving minorities and ethnically diverse congregations, she said.
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Disciples of Christ set to converge on Fort Worth
More than 7,000 people from the United States and Canada are expected to gather for the 2007 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly from Saturday through Wednesday at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The theme is Share the Feast, based on the account of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of 5,000 people in the Gospel of Matthew .
Sharon Watkins, the denomination’s general minister and president, said she will share good news with clergy and lay representatives in her State of the Church address: that the denomination of more than 700,000 members is ahead of schedule on its goal of starting 1,000 new congregations by 2020.
The assembly will also consider nonbinding resolutions about contemporary issues such as the war in Iraq, tobacco use and healthcare.
In the early 1980s, the Indianapolis-based denomination had about 1 million members. But a plummet in membership prompted an effort to start new congregations in 2001. Already, 503 new churches have been established, many of them serving minorities and ethnically diverse congregations, she said.
Read it all.