More than 6,000 Disciples were encouraged to embrace God’s plan of creation, where the world is one of abundance, not scarcity, and where there is more than enough for all. These were part of the comments made by General Minister and President Sharon Watkins Friday evening during her sermon at the 2009 General Assembly. Watkins challenged Disciples to extend a circle of care to all God’s children.

“The world that God created is so abundant, in fact, that the project of humanity is to help bring that proliferating abundance under control,” said Watkins. “But are we as Disciples going to pursue scarcity or abundance; the economists’ words or God’s?”

Watkins talked about the needs of baby Henock, a young child she and eight other Disciples from the Indiana Region met in a tiny village in the Congo last year. The Congo, where Disciples missionaries first visited almost 100 years ago, has been devastated by civil war and exploitation of its natural resources by wealthier nations. The result is widespread poverty.  

“This poverty may be accepted in the world of economics, but not in the world of Genesis,” Watkins preached.

Henock is our child too, she said, for many reasons, but most importantly because of Jesus’ prayer with his Disciples in John 17: 20-23 – a prayer that we might all be one. It is in church, she said, that we practice a way of life that makes all the world, including the people on the Congo River and baby Henock, whose family is counted among the Disciples Community of Congo – a part of our circle of care.

“We are many but one, diverse but divided.” said Watkins. “There are more than enough resources in the world to feed every child, educate every child, and provide health care for all,” she declared. “We have to care about the Henocks whom we have never seen and we have to care about the youth whom we see each day.”

She challenged Disciples to think about their patterns of their lives that create over-consumption, in ways that impact both those near to us and those in communities around the world. 

At her sermon’s conclusion she issued a “Call to Commitment,” asking that those in attendance think of one way that they can help extend the circle of care.  People were asked to write their thoughts on paper hands they had received while entering the Assembly hall– hands like the healing leaves of the Assembly logo.

She suggested that Disciples consider commit to such things as praying daily for the lives of children around the world; learning the names of the children in their neighborhoods and getting to know them; tithing the price of cell phone bills as an over and above offering to Disciples Mission Fund; calling Congress to encourage the passage of universal health care; and minimizing energy use by turn up thermostats in the summer and down in the winter.

 “I invite you to dedicate yourselves tonight to one new way of extending your circle of care to include all God’s children,” she said.

Watkins also prayed for the youth of the Church during the Friday service. The Assembly Youth Choir, under the direction of Andra Moran, also performed.

By: Wanda Bryant Wills