Innovative Congregational Program Touches Lives of Thousands
Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1993 [93131]
Joe Romano, Director of Media Relations at the University of the South.
For Ellen Campbell of Juneau, Alaska, a creative ministry has provided the answer to a search that began when she was a young girl. Although she was interested and active in the church all her life, Campbell said that she had always wanted to better know and love Jesus Christ. "I've been to church all my life," she said, "but my relationship with Jesus was always one based more on fear." Now, Campbell said, she has learned "to love him."
Campbell's new insight was the result of a program known as the Disciples of Christ in Community program (DOCC), a congregation-centered ministry created nearly two decades ago in a New Orleans parish that has brought a similar "life-changing experience" to thousands of people in 26 states.
The original intent of the program was to promote interaction among the members of the congregation at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans. The Rev. John Stone Jenkins, the rector who developed the program in 1975, began by inviting his parishioners to look at the Gospels, examine the life of Jesus on earth and relate that to their own lives.
From the outset, Jenkins' goal was to create a program that would enhance the spiritual life of his congregation. Each week, parishioners met in small groups. An opening lecture was followed by a discussion. People shared feelings, stories and experiences in coming to understand Christ's life. It also helped them to feel more a part of the congregation. Pleased with the early success of his work, Jenkins eventually added components offering New and Old Testament teachings and listening skills.
Over the years, Jenkins offered his growing program to other churches in the southeast. DOCC became so popular that the administrative demands outgrew Trinity Church. Following a year and a half of discussions and negotiations, Trinity Church gave the program to the Extension Center at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee in 1989. Today, the program continues to employ the model that Jenkins established.
Karen Keele, who directs the DOCC program in the Extension Center at Sewanee, said that one of the reasons the program has such an impact on individuals and churches is its ability to be tailored to the group using it. Guidelines are fairly relaxed, she said. "We recommend that they use our syllabus and adapt and adjust it to their needs. If you don't need a certain chapter, leave it out. Do this the way that suits you best. It's really their program," she said.
No matter how the program is altered, Keele said it always can help bring a congregation closer together. "People often experience a deeper spiritual life, develop a greater commitment to Jesus Christ and accept a challenge to exercise a ministry within the church and beyond."
Campbell remembers reading a one-sentence description of DOCC and thinking, "This is what I've been looking for." She said that she enjoyed the program so much that she repeated its first year program four times. "It (DOCC) so deals with our essence: love, forgiveness, grace and community. We have learned that God created us in love and that gives us worth. That is what gives us the significance that people struggle for. Being a part of the body of Jesus Christ is the biggest 'trip' of all," said Campbell. "DOCC has blessed my life greatly. I have come to know Jesus and that is what I always wanted."
The key to the program's success appears to be its use of small group discussions which provide a natural opportunity for parishioners to build community. The Rev. Harold Warren, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Wales, Florida, said that DOCC had a profound influence in his parish. "I was surprised how well it has been received. We are a traditional, conservative church with a history that doesn't include lots of small group participation.
"We had tried other programs, and they were all pretty short-lived and not very successful," Warren said. He said that 54 people completed the program the first year it was offered in his parish. He had expected something fewer than 15. The results, he said, were dramatic and widespread. "There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I could see the positive impact it had on our worship," said Warren. The program's second year, during which an advanced course was added, proved to be equally impressive in numbers of participants and continued to affect the life of the parish.
Warren said that the community building is a key part of the program. An increasing sense of loneliness and isolation among people today has created what he calls a desperate need for intimacy. "But people are often frightened by that. DOCC meets such a profound need that people are committed to it," he said.
Patricia Howe of St. Andrews-on-the-Sound Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, said that she first became acquainted with DOCC as a member of a parish search committee. The finalist for the church rectorship told the committee he would come if the parish would agree to do the DOCC program. They agreed and the results were "extremely successful," according to Howe.
"Members of the small groups really enjoyed each other, and because of that enthusiasm we had a very good year," Howe said. "I can't rave enough about the program. It builds community like nothing else I have ever seen," she added. Since that first year, Howe has continued to be involved with DOCC, even traveling to train facilitators in other parishes. "That is a marvelous experience of renewal," she said, "to go to different places and share the joy of the program."
At Trinity Church in Buffalo, New York, Peter Curtis said that working with DOCC helped make Christianity real for him. "It gives me an opportunity to make it an everyday experience -- more than something I just do on Sunday mornings. DOCC has been a very powerful healing experience. Both in personal and work relationships, it has provided assets that I would not have had and allowed some important healing in my life," said Curtis, who is a member of the church.
Since moving to Sewanee, the 21-week DOCC course has been revised and follow-up programs ranging from 15-30 weeks can be offered. Secondlevel programs explore the Book of Acts, the Old Testament, author Flannery O'Connor and the Parables of the Kingdom, C.S. Lewis and his conversion to Christianity, and "looking for life in the midst of death." Keele said the program has also spread to congregations outside of the Episcopal Church and has been modified for use in prison settings. The program also has been used successfully at parishes in the Caribbean.