How To Participate
The Covenant Project is exploring changes in how we gather and how we make decisions as church so that more people are included in shaping the priorities of the church.
Over the course of the summer and early fall of 2022 the church – congregational pastors, chaplains, elders, church boards, regional boards and congregation members – are invited participate in digital town hall meetings.
The Covenant Project is an initiative of the Governance Committee at the direction of the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Read an overview of the project.
Key Areas
Two key areas of change being discussed include:
- Moving the General Assembly to a three-year cycle, including a hybrid meeting to include both in person and online attendance.
- Transitioning the General Board to a reduced size to become a working board that meets more frequently than once a year. It would consist of board members mostly at-large and selected by the nominating committee for essential skills and experience while reflecting the diversity of the church.
Digital Town Hall Meetings
The Covenant Project town hall meetings aim to provide education around proposed changes, foster conversation and create opportunities for feedback. Town halls will last an hour and consist of a 30-minute presentation by Rev. Terri Hord Owens and other members of the governance committee, followed by Q&A. They are being held July through September 2022.
Message from Your Regional Minister
I am writing to explain a bit about where the General Church is and hopes to go with us. In 2019, under the direction of the Governance Committee, they developed a plan called “The Covenant Project to strengthen the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): to be more connected, to be in deeper conversation, and to reaffirm our covenantal relationship with one another and God.
The first step was the development of the Covenant Curriculum, a small group resource for congregations to explore their identity as covenantal partners in the wider church. If you have not seen this curriculum, please look at it. And, please think about utilizing this curriculum this fall. I hope that after many of our Oklahoma congregations complete the study and conversations, that we can somehow have a recognition and service of covenant as we do this ministry together.
The second step is happening now. It is called “The Covenant Project”, and it is a process to review “the Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)” to explore how the church’s structures and practices might shift to better serve the church. Part of this project is to engage members of all our congregations with “town hall” meetings for feedback and insight. We now have the capacity to do this online so that many of us across all regions can learn and participate. This will give the Governance Committee and the General Board an opportunity to review the proposed changes at the 2023 General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky. This will also give us the opportunity to know what all this is about BEFORE we get to General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky.
Michael Davison and I will be attending a Town Hall Meeting ourselves, and we hope you will not only join us, but that you will invite your church leadership to join you so that we can all participate and learn and grow together.
Peace & God’s Grace,
Pamela Holt, Regional Minister
