Disciples of Christ

The ecumenical leader who talked me out of burning my ordination certificate

The night Rebecca and Luke Sumner met, they discussed church planting. They ended up planting a church together.

How should we Disciples make GA work going forward? I don't know the answer. I do know that we are obligated to one another only by our relationships.

I sometimes envy my colleagues whose denominations have already fought this issue out, voted and moved on. We Disciples don't work that way.

On Tuesday, the general assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) approved a resolution calling on the church in all its expressions to affirm the faith, baptism, and spiritual gifts of everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. This was timely, given the Defense of Marriage Act decision, though the resolution doesn’t specifically mention same-sex marriage. Nor does it mention ordination—the other hot-button issue around sexuality in the church—though it does affirm that neither sexual orientation nor gender identity is “grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church.” 

"Progressive Christians do a good job with issues like LGBT rights," says Dennis Sanders of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. "But we're less good at helping people become disciples of Jesus."

The more I learned about the Disciples, the more I felt this was the church for me. Then, inevitably, I found the skeleton in the Disciples’ closet.

I was ordained to the Disciples denomination. But I'm serving in a congregation of the UCC, and the plan is to be here for a good long while. So what to do about baptizing our children?