Local and regional experiences will help shape the dialogue toward full communion
Is your Disciples congregation working closely with a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation? Has your region developed a partnership with a presbytery? Have you shared worship, pastoral leadership, facilities, or a ministry serving your neighbors?
Disciples Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry (CUIM) invites you to share these experiences as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) prepare for bilateral dialogue toward full communion. We welcome stories of fruitful collaboration, relationships still developing, and partnerships that have encountered barriers.
Share your story through our submission form
A brief account is welcome. You do not need to prepare a formal case study.
Learning from Local Relationships
One case study from Michigan illustrates both the possibilities and the challenges of ministry together. A Disciples congregation and neighboring Presbyterian congregations developed a partnership through shared worship, friendships, and service to people experiencing homelessness. Over time, those relationships made possible a deeper sharing of pastoral ministry.
When a Presbyterian congregation’s pastor was deployed for military service, a retired Disciples minister provided extended pastoral coverage. The minister preached and offered pastoral care, but under the arrangements governing that service, was not authorized to preside at the Lord’s Supper. The congregation therefore had to make separate arrangements for Communion.
This experience reveals a relationship sustained by trust and a shared commitment to the congregation’s life. It also raises practical questions about how our churches recognize and authorize ministry across denominational boundaries. Experiences differ among local settings, making it important to understand both the pathways that have supported cooperation and the obstacles that remain.
Why Enter This Conversation Now?
Our congregations and communities are already giving us reasons to deepen this relationship. Wherever Disciples and Presbyterians worship and serve together, they discover gifts they can share and responsibilities they can carry together. Some partnerships have also reached a point where taking the next step requires greater clarity about ministry, sacraments, and accountability.
These experiences deserve the attention of the wider churches. Gathering them now will help the dialogue address questions arising from the everyday life of congregations, regions, and presbyteries. They can show where existing arrangements work well, where uncertainty creates difficulty, and what a fuller relationship might make possible.
There is now an opportunity to undertake this work through a formal church-to-church conversation. In June 2026, the PC(USA)’s 227th General Assembly authorized bilateral dialogue toward full communion, following the Disciples CUIM Board’s approval in 2025. As preparations move toward the beginning of dialogue in 2027, local and regional stories can help ground the conversation in the ministry our churches already share.
What Is Full Communion?
Full communion is a covenant relationship in which churches recognize one another as authentic expressions of the one Church of Jesus Christ while retaining their distinct identities, traditions, and governance.
Such a relationship typically includes mutual recognition of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and ordained ministry; agreed procedures for the orderly exchange of ministers; and commitments to shared worship, mission, and continuing mutual accountability.
The dialogue will explore what these commitments could mean for Disciples and Presbyterians. Any future agreement would require approval through each church’s processes, along with clear provisions for putting it into practice. Ministerial service across denominational boundaries would continue to involve appropriate authorization and oversight.
Being Church Together for the World God Loves
Theological reflection is essential to this work. Our understandings of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, ministry, and the church shape how we worship and serve. The dialogue will require careful listening, honest engagement with differences, and a willingness to learn from one another.
These conversations also invite us to consider how we are called to be church together in the United States today. How might a deeper relationship strengthen our service to our neighbors? How might we share pastoral gifts more faithfully, sustain ministries in our communities, and bear a common witness to reconciliation?
John 3:16 directs our attention to God’s love for the world. In John 17:21, Jesus prays that his followers may be one so that the world may believe. Together, these passages connect the unity of the church with its calling to make God’s love visible. Our pursuit of fuller communion serves that calling.
In a divided society, our churches have an opportunity to practice relationships marked by trust, mutual responsibility, and reconciliation across differences. The experience of local congregations can help us discern how that calling takes practical form.
Tell Us About Your Experience
We invite pastors, congregational members and leaders, regional ministers, and presbytery leaders to contribute. Your story might describe:
- Shared worship, prayer, or congregational programs.
- Joint service, community partnerships, or public witness.
- Shared facilities, staff, or other resources.
- Pastoral ministry across denominational boundaries.
- Relationships between a Disciples region and a presbytery.
- Barriers that prevented a partnership from developing further,
and what might help address them.
Tell us how the relationship began, what you have done together, what you have learned, and what you hope might become possible. Accounts of difficulty and unfinished efforts are valuable alongside stories of success.
Submit your story of ministry together
Your experience will help the dialogue attend to the life of our churches and the communities we are called to serve.