Experience "Disciples of Christ in Community"
"Disciples of Christ in Community" helps congregations create true communities of disciples focused on following Jesus. "DoCC" is a congregational-based Christian formation program for adults that builds community while encouraging individual spiritual growth. Nationally, more than 25,000 people have completed the program. By focusing on the small group work, partipants discover and experience the transforming presence of Christ in themselves and in one another. At St Marks, "Disciples of Christ in Community" consists of 18 sessions (see Schedule), consisting of three parts each week. The first part is a community meal, in which we begin to connect with one other on a personal level. This is followed by a theological presentation led by our clergy. These two parts lead up to and prepare us for the real heart of the session: an in-dept conversation in small groups led by members of the congregation trained to facilitate the discussions. The "Disciples of Christ in Community" journey depends to a great extent on the quality of the small-group experience, and small groups depend on the regular attendance of participants. Potential participants who know that they will have to miss more than two sessions should wait to take the course in another session. Download a registration form for our next cycle from here. If you have questions about participating in DoCC, contact Rick+. The national DoCC program charges us a $50 fee for each partipant. However, if you would like to partipate in DoCC, but the $50 fee is a hardship, please let Rick+ know. Because St Marks will benefit in the long run by your participation, we'll fund the fee for any one for whom the fee would be a hardship.Why Offer Disciples of Christ in Community? Our Clergy and Vestry, along with our Membership and Spiritual Formation committees, are committed to consider ways to deepen our experience of community together. Our present programs, including EfM, house groups, foyers groups, Bible studies, book clubs, and ministry teams all contribute to our experience of community. However, these connect only a small number of us together, and we need many more additional opportunities. In addition, many of our leaders and participants would like an opportunity to learn some of the skills and concepts that could help their existing groups deepen spiritually, and become even more effective at building community.Just as importantly, we need new opportunities for new members to find their way into the heart of our congregation. This is indeed what we mean by "the Episcopal Church welcomes you" -- the opportunity not only to worship with us, but to become intimately and fully part of us. "Disciples of Christ in Community" is an approach for building spiritual community while encouraging individual spiritual growth through small groups. It was developed especially for and by Episcopalians, is well-tested, and has a great track record. Because it is unlike anything else we're presently offering, it will appeal to some of our members who are not presently engaged in other programs. While some of our other programs tend to be more socially focused, or more intellectually focused, or more outreach focused, this particular programs intentionally focuses on individual spiritual growth while building community. We will not be alone in this journey, but will experience mutual support from several other parishes in our region who will launch "Disciples of Christ in Community" in their own congregations. We will train together and share resources with these other parishes, thus increasing our probability of building a strong, effective, and exciting program together. What's Our Plan? In the summer of 2007, five St Markers participated in a weekend of leadership training, led by the National Cathedral, in preparation for launching our first cycle of DoCC. Those who completed the training became our first presenter and facilitators. That fall, we gathered our first group of partipants in October, and "felt our way through the fog" together. During that first cycle, these dozen participants, facilitators, and presenter learned together how the system worked. We experimented, tested, and probed both the program and our spiritual lives together, working out the bugs. We may have learned more from our mistakes than our successes, yet we experienced the spiritual power of building together a community of disciples -- and found that this approach was even better than we had expected. As we completed this first cycle in the spring, some of our participants decided to take training to become presenters and facilitators for future cycles, and began to pray about encouraging additional parishioners to gather with us this fall. You are invited to participate in our 2008-2009 cycle on September 17 (see Schedule). We will meet together 18 times, concluding in mid-February. Download a registration form for our next cycle from here. If you have questions about participating in DoCC, contact Rick+.
But what if I'm ALREADY in a small group? One question that is often asked is this: Q. But I like the current small group I'm part of -- why displace that with DoCC? A. We do not intend to displace any existing groups with DoCC. (It is impossible to deepen and expand the spiritual life and community of the congregation by replacing, displacing, or subtracting anything that is currently working for us.) Rather, we hope to enhance the existing groups and and add to them. We will effectively deepend and expand the spiritual life and community of the church by adding new possibilities and new options to what we already have. House groups, Bible studies, Cursillo groups, and other small groups are all important parts of the life and community of St Marks. We want those to continue, and encourage members of those groups to continue in them. "Disciples of Christ in Community" is only the newest addition to our growing lists of options -- in our never-ending quest to include everyone at St Marks in some way of deepening their connections both to God and to the church. Leaders of our existing groups should find that participating in a cycle of DoCC will enhance their leadership skills. Even more importantly, existing groups could decide to participate together in a cycle of DoCC, and should discover that this training experience greatly adds to the depth of the spiritual community they have already been creating all along.If you and /or your group are interested in participating -- either as an individual or as a group, contact Rick+ How Can I Become a leader in the DoCC program? First, participate in one or more cycles at St Marks. You can experience Disciples of Christ in Community as often as you wish. Next, contact Rick+ to discuss whether you might become a presenter or facilitator. The training fee for leaders is $100. If you would make a good Disciples of Christ in Community leader, but the $100 fee is a hardship, please let Rick+ know. Because we need good leaders, we'll fund the fee for potential leaders for whom this would be a hardship. |