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2026 General Assembly
Rev. Josh Patty
Regional Minister & President
This year, Disciples collectively are living into our new model of annual General Assemblies. The 2026 General Assembly will be hosted online, July 10-11. This will be a time of worship, learning, connecting, and a little business. You can learn more and register here.
My hope is that we are willing to embrace this together and see how we might utilize technology to gather more of our church together. Still, there are a lot of questions as we do this new thing.
What is the schedule?
The virtual exhibit hall opens at 2pm CT on Friday, July 10, with an opening orientation and education session at 4pm and worship at 5pm (concluding around 6:15). Worship begins Saturday, July 11 at 10am CT, followed by business and other things; a business and education session at 1pm and closing worship at 4pm (concluding around 5). There are two planned 1 hour breaks on Saturday, for meals and/or to visit the exhibit hall. Schedule Information
What is the cost? Why does it cost?
Registration is $30 per person. Compared to the expense of a multi-day event in a convention center, it’s significantly cheaper. It isn’t free, though, because there are still expenses for hosting such an event – costs of the online platform, speaker honoraria, etc. The hope is that lower costs and shorter time commitment will allow more people to participate and engage in our shared ministry.
How do I participate?
Anyone can register to attend the online General Assembly. You’ll definitely want to join worship services, which celebrate our Christian identity and encourage ways to serve in Jesus’ name. You can connect with our shared general ministries through the exhibit hall – learning what we’re doing and seeing where you might participate. And there is hope the learning sessions will invite small group conversations.
When you register, you can attend from wherever you’ll be on July 10-11, with some internet access. (The tech team says that if you can stream a movie, you shouldn’t have problems.) Participants will be emailed instructions to access the platform through a standard web browser.
Some people are interested in gathering together in small groups to share the experience. If your congregation would like to be a host site, or if you want to host a house party for a small group, you can learn more under the Local Gatherings section, including a link to register. If you have questions about this possibility, please contact me directly.
Delegates
Every congregation can elect up to 3 voting delegates to vote on business items. Ultimately, the hope is that delegates will serve three-year terms. (FYI - this mirrors our regional bylaws and I hope that your congregation feels like the same individuals can serve as General Assembly delegates and regional delegates, if you’d like.) If you want to begin a pattern of electing one delegate each year, you can stagger the term lengths now. Additionally, all Disciples clergy with standing are voting delegates.
In recent memory, most congregations elected delegates from those willing and able to attend the Assembly. Moving forward with online and hybrid Assemblies, we hope that people will serve for a period of time, developing a deeper connection between your congregation and our regional and general ministries. Here is some general information about congregational delegates, including details about how you share register delegates through ALEX. And here is a special booklet of information for people considering becoming delegates.
Will it be perfect?
I imagine there will be hiccups and surprises. My guess is that we will learn a great deal this year – and through General Assembly 2028 – and we’ll adapt how we do things.
I think the technology will work pretty well. I’m deeply grateful for the tech team that has spent over two years planning for this new thing – they’ve already prevented many technical challenges.
What we don’t know is this – how many people really will participate? By lowering cost and travel time, we might have much higher attendance. Then again, it might feel less of a special event, so fewer people intentionally participate. Disciples have always been deeply relational in our ministry; increasing opportunities for connecting and building relationships should strengthen and deepen our faith and service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBzTUApMWGY (video)
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