When a Denomination Forgets Its Own Renewal
TL;DR:
At GA 2025, the DOC passed resolutions on justice, governance, and global witness—but nothing on revival or evangelism. Dennis Sanders and I share why our resolution on prayer and renewal never made it to the floor, and why, as Ben Crosby reminds us, “for a church to be a voice for justice, it must first exist.”
Every two years,1 the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) gathers in General Assembly to worship, reconnect, and vote on resolutions that speak to who we are as a church. These resolutions shape our public witness, our denominational identity, and in some ways, our sense of what matters most. But looking at this year’s docket, I can’t help but wonder: are we spending our energy on the right things, especially for a denomination with fewer than 200,000 active participants?
At the 2025 General Assembly, delegates passed a full slate of resolutions. Among them were:
GA-2512 – Concerning Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Congregations Receiving a Silver Chalice Designation
GA-2513 – Resolution Concerning Disability Justice and Inclusion in all Ministries
GA-2514 – Commitment to the Thursdays in Black Campaign: A Global Movement For A World Without Gender-Based Violence
GA-2515 – Opposing Project 2025 and Other Policies That Are Inconsistent With Our Commitment to Justice, Mercy, and Compassion
GA-2516 – Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the DPF Peace Intern Program and the 90th Anniversary of the Disciples Peace Fellowship, inviting renewed commitment to peace and justice
GA-2517 – Amendments to The Design (church governance document)
GA-2518 – Changes to the Special Rules of Procedure for the General Assembly
GA-2520 – Calling the Church to Affirm the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of our Canadian Siblings
Emergency resolutions included:
GA-2568 – Concerning the Moral Crisis of Federal Budget Priorities in the 2025 Reconciliation Bill
GA-2570 – Responding to Federal Attacks on Immigrants, Migrants, and Refugees
GA-2571 – Affirmation of the World Council of Churches
It’s a weighty list, covering inclusion, justice, governance, and global witness. But you may notice what’s missing: nothing about new church, evangelism, or revival.
That’s what Dennis Sanders and I hoped to change. We drafted a resolution calling the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to prayer and renewal:
“BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly … calls upon all congregations, regions, and general ministries to commit themselves to regular prayer for revival … [and] to develop or renew intentional practices of evangelism.”
That resolution never made it to the floor.
And here’s what makes me pause: among the co-sponsors of the Project 2025 resolution was New Church Ministry. Important as that statement was, I can’t help but ask—shouldn’t the office charged with starting new churches be focused on that urgent task? For a denomination with fewer than 200,000 active participants, don’t we have bigger issues than passing yet another political resolution?
As Ben Crosby has said of the Episcopal Church, “for a church to be a voice for justice, it must first exist.” The same is true for us. If the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) continues its decline toward non-existence, we won’t be a voice for justice or inclusion at all.
In this episode of the podcast, Dennis and I talk about that reality—the absence of revival language in our Assembly, the failure of our resolution, and the deeper question of whether our denomination still has the will to exist for the sake of the gospel and the world.
The Illusion of Stability: Why the Future of the Mainline Church Is Worse Than You Think
A few years back, I was in another major US city for a non-church-related work conference. Since my wife had come with me, we were doing some sightseeing during some free time I had. Being the church nerd that I am, I decided I wanted to go see the big Disciples church in the city. Lovingly, my wife obliged, and since it was a relatively short Uber ride…
Soon to be every three years, or perhaps not at all, who knows…
As a Presbyterian I get it. However, first of all, I have lost all hope of Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly has having much effect on anything. But more to your point, our whole Reformation tradition starting with Luther is concerned first with a fund-raising issue (Indulgences) which became a doctrinal and then political crisis. We only got to prayer and liturgy as an afterthought once the blood and smoke had cleared. This contrasts with previous reform movements in the church which often began over spiritual or liturgical renewal (Benedict and Bernard being the most obvious). I am wondering if we should just start from the ground up with renewing our own and then others' devotional life. (My own practice of the Jesus Prayer would be my starting point.) But too often I have found that the energy spent in getting synods or GA to do something was misspent, and nothing much happened anyway even if it won a vote. But praying together and inviting people to join us might bear more fruit.
As an Episcopalian, this is how I felt about so many of the resolutions proposed at General Convention last year. There were sooooooooo many proposed resolutions about Israel/Gaza, and many about inclusion of marginalized groups... but about evangelism, or revival, or reform, or solving our priest shortage, or actually figuring out what's wrong with us? :chirp: :chirp: :chirp:
So yeah, let's elect a new Presiding Bishop, since Curry was at the end of his term, but what is Rowe really doing? :le sigh: