Christian Church(Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
96-35
May 13, 1996
NASHVILLE (DNS) -- A congregation of more than 60 people,
representing the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Churches of
Christ, and the (independent) Christian Churches, recently participated
in the installation of the Rev. Peter M. Morgan as president of the
Disciples of Christ Historical Society. The Disciples and the other two
groups share historical ties to the 19th century founders of the
Stone-Campbell movement.
Morgan came to the Historical Society from the Disciples' Homeland
Ministries, where he was an associate for worship and renewal. He
succeeds the Rev. James M. Seale, who retired at the end of 1995
following 12 years of service.
"Peter is a person who is deeply rooted in the spiritual disciplines,"
said the Rev. Richard L. Hamm, Disciples general minister and president.
"Above all else the church needs spiritually disciplined leadership as
it moves into the future. He is a person who does all that he does with
excellence and he recognizes the importance of congregational vitality."
The Rev. Richard L. Harrison, Jr., president, Lexington (Ky.) Theological
Seminary, offered a sermon celebrating the diversity of ministry
opportunities found in the church. "There is, to be honest, a sense in
which those whose ministry takes them to some place other than the
pulpit are seen as something other than real' ministers. But this is
certainly not right, and certainly not the understanding of the Apostle
Paul," commented Harrison.
"And so here tonight, celebrating the gifts of one of God's servants,
one whose life has been marked by service, by love of worship and
the richness of the Christian heritage, we celebrate, inaugurate,
install and ceremonially lift up as one of God's true ministers, our brother
Peter Morgan."
Morgan was presented with the signs of the office by the Rev. Dan
Moseley, senior minister, Vine Street Christian Church, Nashville. The
new president received a key "to keep the doors open to all people,"
a Bible, that "all your actions may be founded on the word of God,"
a pulpit robe, "to continue your teaching and preaching the word of
God," and a medallion, "symbolizing your ministry to all God's people."
"Beneath the signs of the office," said Morgan, "you have a simple
servant, a simple deacon, still trying to be faithful to the ministry
accepted at baptism."
In his comments to the congregation, Morgan offered, "The church will
be only as good as its memory. We are a community at the Historical
Society that is in the memory business. In remembering we go back
and dip into the well of past experience and we bring it forward to live
today, to flow today, so that the church and Christian people may be
nurtured and refreshed."
"The Historical Society has always been a place where people from
all the [Stone-Campbell] traditions can come together...[Morgan] is
very intentional in his own thinking and in his spirituality to make this
place more useful in that way," commented Douglas A. Foster,
representing the Churches of Christ and (independent) Christian
Churches. He is director of the Center of Restoration Studies and
associate professor of church history, Abilene Christian University.
Others participating in the service were Debra B. Hull, chair, board
of trustees; the Rev. Glen J. Stewart, Tennessee regional minister;
and the Rev. Douglas N. Lofton, senior minister, Woodmont Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), Nashville. Also taking part were May
Reed, staff, Historical Society; Robert H. Edwards, immediate past
chair, board of trustees; and Lynne Morgan, musician and spouse
of the new president.
Following the service, Hamm stated, "I look for Peter to continue the
fine management that the society has enjoyed under Jim Seale's
leadership. I look for Peter to help the Historical Society to take
advantage of the opportunities afforded by the electronic revolution, both
in terms of the acquisition and storage of historical materials and
accessibility to those resources. I also look for Peter to be pro-active
in resourcing congregational life and mission."
In an interview with The Disciple magazine, Morgan challenged church
members to personally engage in the memory business. "I encourage
people as they look through materials that are around them all
the time -- Sunday School materials, Discipliana, The Disciple and the
Chalice Hymnal -- to cultivate a sense that they are in a great communion
of saints.
"We are in a great company of the people of God that richly bless us if
we let them be present to us. But the Historical Society is also in the
future business. If we're in the communion of saints, that means we
have to love tomorrow, [which] means we will preserve and leave the
story of today to enrich the people of tomorrow, as those who cared
about being in this great drama of God in the past left the evidence
of their part of the drama to enrich us."
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