You can only be yourself with people you trust fully and completely. An environment of absolute trust enveloped a group of pastors and laypeople, allowing them to talk openly about their own faith, ask questions about the faith of others, and learn where faith overlaps during the second meeting of the Disciples Leadership Institute.

Created to bring together younger leaders from both new and established congregations, DLI arose from a HELM goal to help the church learn from the hundreds of new congregations under formation within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and help those congregations establish full fellowship with established congregations. The group is intentionally diverse: Of the 27 participants, half were from new congregations, and half were also non-Anglo.

Participants in DLI’s first gathering last year, also held in Menlo Park, Calif., had no idea what to expect. This year, DLI gathered 20 participants from the 2006 event and added seven first-timers. The community flourished from the moment the first participants arrived. The trust and confidentiality fostered by the group led to wide-ranging conversations about different views on faith and theology, as well as the way we choose to live our own lives.

“I felt an atmosphere of openness which allowed each of us to be vulnerable and uncomfortable,” said Eli Rolón, a layperson from Iglesia del Pueblo in Hammond, Ind. “Yet it allowed us to grow closer to God and to each other.”

Chesla Nickelson, a member of Light of the World Christian Church in Indianapolis and a student at Christian Theological Seminary, compared the experience to the strength Moses received when the people of Israel prayed for him. “The developed relations were the most helpful for me. They have challenged me, enlightened me, and urged me to continue in this journey while giving me strength,” Nickelson said. “I have learned there are people taking this journey with me whose spirits I will carry into my ministry.”

DLI also inspires participants to explore new forms of worship. “Taize, lectio divina, and so many other ideals and lessons – it’s been so inspiring,” said Suhee Oyungerel, a member of First Mongolia Christian Church in Oakland, Calif. “But I’ll also take home the true behavior of Disciples for others and the Holy Spirit’s joy working differently in each of us.”

So far, DLI has been supported by grants from the Oreon Scott Foundation and the Shumaker Family Foundation. However, that funding expires at the end of 2007.

“We intend that DLI will continue and flourish,” says HELM President Dennis Landon. “Participants have said they will do what they can to keep DLI and its vision alive and growing, and we will look for agencies and individuals who want to help the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to be both a diverse and united church.”

A steering committee will help map out DLI’s next steps, but the fruits of its labor are already growing. In September, First Christian Church in Jefferson City, Mo., will host a revival featuring three DLI participants from different congregations.

“By creating a network of pastors, I knew exactly who to turn to last year when my home church asked me who should preach the revival,” said Joe Blosser. “While Jose (Morales) and Matt (Rosine) and I had only recently met at the first DLI event, there was no doubt in my mind that these two needed to lead the revival – that my home community needed to hear their voices.”