Highlights from Sunday, July 30

The second day of the 2023 General Assembly kicked off with worship across the greater Louisville area, a special worship hosted by Obra Hispana, a worship experience at Cane Ridge hosted by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society and a Service Service hosted by Local Missions and Week of Compassion in the Exhibit Hall where a team build a home frame.

The afternoon featured over 23 workshop opportunities for adults including The Church Has Left the Building led by Disciples Church Extension Fund and Equipping Disciples to Confront Christian Nationalism led by a cohort of congregational leaders. While adults engaged in learning and dialogue around practical ministry and spiritual formation topics, the youth did a mental health workshop. Later, youth and children were captivated by a magic show presented by magician Ron Diamond.

Worship gathered in the evening to hear the preaching of Rev. Yolanda Norton reflect on the Genesis theme text. She was joined by Dr. Eric Smith who gave additional Biblical insight to the theme language of kindom. In her sermon, Rev. Norton shared “Some of us are so afraid that God will come and get us that we don’t find the relief when he comes up on us.” The worship team closed worship with a moving rendition of Livin’ on a Prayer.

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Service Service in the Exhibit Hall

Day two of the 2023 General Assembly saw the expansion of the community being built at the gathering. While many attendees joined local congregations in worship, other attendees participated in the Service Service, hosted by the Local Missions team (a part of the Local Arrangements committee of the Region of Kentucky) in collaboration with Week of Compassion and Help Build Hope. Hosted in the Exhibit Hall of the Kentucky International Convention Center, over 70 Disciples of all ages began the Service Service with prayer and liturgy. Leah Eubanks of First Christian Church, Paducah, Kentucky, offered the message and communion meditation for attendees of the build.

Attendees then transitioned to building the frame of a home that will be transported after the General Assembly to western Kentucky, where a family impacted by the 2021 tornado will receive housing upon completion. Associate Director of Domestic Disaster Response of Week of Compassion, Rev. Caroline Hamilton-Arnold said of the build, “with such a significant need across Kentucky, a state with such strong Disciples presence, Week of Compassion was excited to provide a hands-on experience to connect assembly attendees to the ongoing work of recovery. We were encouraged to see the breadth of the church involved, across a diversity of age, ability, experience, and background.”

Week of Compassion is the relief, refugee and sustainable development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). If you are an attendee on site you are invited to help load the framed panels from Sunday’s build onto a truck on Tuesday, August 1 at 4pm.

Business at the General Assembly

We regret that the adoption by the assembly of GA-2341 Calling the Church to Oppose Christian Nationalism was excluded from our business update from Saturday, June 30.

The Committee on Reference and Counsel has received an emergency resolution which will be brought to the General Assembly at Monday’s business session. The resolution, GA-2352, can be found in the app as an attachment in Monday afternoon’s business session and at on the General Assembly website. A limited number of print copies will be available at the registration desk for those who purchased dockets.

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