wfn.org | Leadership, planning anchor Administrative Committee agenda

["Wilma Shuffitt"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: February 4, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

99b-6

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Unanimous votes by the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) Administrative Committee supported reelection 
of the general minister and president and added a new executive to 
the staff team.  

	The committee, meeting here Jan. 31-Feb. 2, heartily endorsed 
forwarding General Minister and President Richard Hamm's name to the 
General Board. If approved by the General Board in July, Hamm's name 
will be sent to the General Assembly for a reelection vote in 
October. A two-thirds vote is required by both bodies. 

	The Administrative Committee elected Lois Artis Murray, Wake Forest, 
N.C., associate general minister and Church Finance Council 
president. She is a former assistant secretary for administration 
with the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural 
Resources in Raleigh. Since 1996, she and her spouse, the Rev. Samuel 
J. Murray, have been co-pastors of St. Andrews Christian Church, 
Dudley, N.C. Lois Murray begins the new assignment May 10.

	A certified public accountant, Murray was chief financial officer 
for a state agency whose annual budget exceeded $2 billion. In 
addition, she supervised seven regional offices, five administrative 
divisions and 16 program divisions, and was a senior member of N.C. 
Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.'s staff. 

	The new CFC president-elect holds a bachelor's degree from the 
Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a master's of 
business administration degree from the University of North Carolina, 
Greensboro. She is currently a student at Duke University Divinity 
School, Durham.

	Hamm, first elected to office in 1993, finishes his first six-year 
term during the Oct. 8-12 General Assembly in Cincinnati. During the 
term Hamm initiated discernment processes that promote churchwide 
education and dialogue as an alternative to divisive parliamentary 
debate and win-lose voting by the assembly over contentious issues. 
The initial discernment processes concerned racism and scriptural 
authority. He also helped the Indianapolis-based denomination 
identify strengthening congregations as a chief priority.  

	Churchwide planning also dominated the business agenda. The 
committee received a report detailing an initial meeting of the 
Mission Council, appointed by the General Board in July 1998.

	The Mission Council, which met in January, will facilitate a process 
that helps strengthen congregations for mission around six vital 
issues. Those issues, identified by the General Board in 1998, are: 
spiritual vitality and faith development; leadership development; 
inclusiveness, diversity and hospitality; evangelism and witness; 
justice, reconciliation and service; and worship.

	Unlike past attempts at program planning and coordination, the 
council will not engage in "top down methodology," said Hamm. The 
entire process will use more of a holistic approach. "The mission 
council decided that its job was to establish some tables around the 
life of the church where people could come together to talk about 
these vital issues and engage them," Hamm said.

	The council's presence manifests a shift by regions and general 
units from being "hubs of control" to being "hubs of communication," 
according to the GMP. General and regional partners will "overhear" 
conversations and planning about mission initiated by congregations.

	In addition, the planning council will make recommendations to the 
Commission on Mission Funding for grant requests from the mission 
imperatives fund. One percent, or approximately $200,000 from Basic 
Mission Finance receipts, is designated for the imperatives fund. 

	Having that resource available to church entities is exciting and 
will stimulate some work around these vital issues, according to 
Hamm. 

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