“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”  ~  Ephesians 3: 20-21

I feel like I should call this “General Assembly Reporting”  – Part II. Last month, I talked about the resolutions for General Assembly, one of them being changes to The Design. (The Christian Church (DOC) equivalent to a Constitution.) I want to walk through this just a little, because it does affect our congregation.

BACKGROUND: Following several years of work by the Governance Committee of the General Board, along with opportunities for conversation across the church, the General Assembly meeting in Louisville, Kentucky in July 2023, adopted GA-2343, making significant changes to the Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. In fall 2023, the Moderator of the General Assembly appointed an Implementation Team, as called for in GA-2343, to work toward enacting these changes. Part of their work including reviewing the Design for any additional amendments that needed to be made in support of the changes called for in GA-2343. The proposed amendments to the Design include: • Clarification of the activities and meetings of the General Assembly • Changes to the membership of the General Board • Minor changes in wording and formatting to ensure consistency throughout the  document.

First, much of the language that was changed included simple words like “the” and “through”. Much of the wording change was from “representative” to “delegate” or “participant.” Those words more accurately describe who is attending General Assembly, and who can vote.

The parts which affect the local congregations most is under THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Membership and Participation. Item 39a Voting from congregations: “Each congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) shall be entitled to have three (3) voting delegates. These voting delegates from congregations shall be in addition to persons holding standing in the Order of Ministry.” (The last part means the pastor, who has their own voting privileges.)

Item 40 which states: “Voting members of the General Assembly, who are representatives delegates from congregations and regions, shall serve a three-year term of three (3) years with one (1) representative delegate being selected by the congregation and/or region each year. Terms begin January 1st of each year. No person shall have more than one (1) vote in the General Assembly, and no person shall vote in absentia or by proxy. Congregations and regions may name alternates to replace voting representatives delegates who are unable to attend.”

And finally, under MEETINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: “The General Assembly will meet at least one time every calendar year for an Annual Meeting, set by the General Board, of which the first two will be held digitally. These meetings will be held digitally. Every third year the Annual Meeting will be known as the Triennial Meeting and will regularly be a meeting to be held both in-person and digitally. The Triennial Meeting in-person meeting will be held at a time and place fixed by the General Board. Participants (voting and nonvoting) can attend the business sessions of the Triennial Meeting in person meeting digitally or in-person.”

Basically, each church now gets three voting delegates instead of two, and GA will move to meeting face to face once every three years, meeting online once a year for the two years in between.

How does this affect us? First, I want to say that I have not been good at encouraging participation in the wider church. And now that we have two denominations, it gets even more difficult. But what I am realizing is that if we are going to be who we say we are, and consider our roots to be in two different denominations, then we should probably understand the inner workings of these denominations. When people look for churches, especially the younger people, many of them do their due diligence into who the church they are looking at is and what they believe. That being said, it is time for us to stretch ourselves into the wider churches.

The United Church of Christ calls delegates for the Conferences, not individual churches, and the clergy with standing do not get a vote, unless they are representing the Conference. But there are other ways to participate in the wider church. I serve on the Eastern Iowa Association Advisory Council, and we need people. There are many Boards and Committees within the Association and the Iowa Conference which need people to fill.

For the Christian Church (DOC), we are now allowed these three delegates, each one serving a three year term, but one person stepping off each year. That way, each person would attend two virtual General Assembly gatherings, and one face to face gathering.

I know it is difficult to get people to sit on our Board, or run a committee here at our local setting. Every church has this issue. And yes, this is more.

But here’s the thing: stretching ourselves is part of stepping out and growing into our faith. By sitting on these boards and committees, or being a delegate to General Assembly (or General Synod, if you want!) you get to take part in a whole new level of ministry. We are all part of the Body of Christ, and it takes many people to make things happen. But even more, we are all called by God to love our neighbor, to serve one another, and to create God’s kingdom here on earth. We can’t do that alone. It takes many hands and feet. Will you be one of them?

Always Peace,  

Pastor Heidi