Circuit Writer » DisciplesWorld

Mourning the Loss of a Denominational Treasure

Clint — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:51:22 +0000

Here’s my first column of the New Year for The Tahlequah Christian, newsletter of First Christian Church in Tahlequah, OK.

Normally the New Year presents itself as a time for happiness and hope. However, this week I write to you with a profound sense of sadness. Throughout all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday, I failed to notice a news announcement on the Disciples of Christ website that our denominational magazine, DisciplesWorld, is discontinuing its publication. After eight years of award-winning journalism, commentary, and opinion, our last denominational magazine has decided to close its doors due to declining subscriptions and financial support.

While I know this is a financial decision that had to be made, my heart sinks at the loss we’re about to experience as a denomination. Our 200 year history as a movement was driven by journals and magazines. Historian W.E. Garrison commented that, “The Disciples of Christ do not have bishops; they have editors,” and Alexander Campbell was arguably our greatest editor. Writing almost a billion published words in his lifetime while shipping out over 46,000 volumes of books and journals from his own press, Campbell helped shaped the history of our movement and influenced the course of Christianity from his home in Bethany, West Virginia, to the far shores of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

DisciplesWorld Magazine lived as the most recent incarnation of our movement’s history of journals, and in the absence of any clear successor, may sadly be the last in a line that echoes back to the founders of our movement. Although I wonder if its absence will be immediately felt, I am saddened by what I know to be the loss of an excellent source for understanding the pulse of our denomination and its people. We as a church are poorer for its loss.

Yours on the journey,

Clint

P.S. – I want to join with our General Minister and President in encouraging everyone to pray for Verity Jones and the staff of DisciplesWorld as they work through this time of transition from one chapter in their careers to the next. May the grace of God encourage them as they finalize the business of the magazine and move on toward the new horizons of their calling.

Pastoral Letter from General Minister and President Sharon Watkins

Clint — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:41:24 +0000

The following is a letter from Rev. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President on the announcement by the board of DisciplesWorld Magazine that it will be suspending publication and dissolving the magazine. The letter may be found at Disciples.org by clicking here.

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December 2009

Dear Church,

In this season of expectant joy, I write to express profound sadness. As you may be aware, DisciplesWorld Magazine is ceasing its operations. From the Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger to DisciplesWorld, our church has been served for almost 200 years by print publications. From our earliest days forward, we have been blessed by theological reflection, editorial insight and news of the church through our journals. Since 2002, DisciplesWorld has raised critical issues, given us a place to express concerns of the church, and challenged us to be better Disciples with a more passionate witness. All those involved with the magazine have served the church valiantly.

During this time of transition, I would ask three things of you. First, please hold Publisher and Editor Verity Jones, the staff of DisciplesWorld, and its Board of Directors in your prayers. As these faithful servants move through this time of transition, they deserve the ardent prayers of the church.

Second, I ask your prayers and patience for a period of discernment to discover sustainable alternatives to the journals that have served us so well. DisciplesWorld’s closing makes it clear that maintaining a print journal is not financially feasible, and yet our church needs mechanisms for communication beyond the more narrowly focused publications provided by our various ministries. Certainly digital communication is part of the answer. However, as we seek to serve seven generations of the church, we know that digital technology enhances access for some and prohibits access for others. I will be working with colleagues across the life of the church to carefully and prayerfully find alternatives to meet our communication needs.

Finally, I invite us all to focus on the very themes of Advent during this season of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Surely when we are most challenged, and most ready to welcome God into our lives, is when God accomplishes some of God’s best work!

This very week I will be in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Standing in the midst of this sacred but broken land, I will be remembering that God has come into the world to save the world. It’s up to us, through all our challenges, to witness to God’s saving love. May the blessings of God, the peace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit be with you in this season.

Shalom,

Sharon E. Watkins

General Minister and President

DisciplesWorld magazine, website to cease publishing; non-profit to dissolve

Clint — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:29:07 +0000

It is with a profound sense of sadness that I repost this article from DisciplesWorld.com, the website for the independent magazine of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Normally, I would post a stub and link to the remainder of the article, but due to the fact that the dissolution of DisciplesWorld will ultimately lead to the closing of this website, I’m risking the copyright laws and reprinting the entire article. You can read it in its original publication here.

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Editor’s note: Updated 12/30/09 with information about the January/February issue.

INDIANAPOLIS (12/16/09) — We are sad to announce that DisciplesWorld, the award-winning journal of news, opinion, and mission for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), will cease publication after almost eight years. We no longer have sufficient resources to publish due to declining subscription and advertising revenue and charitable gifts. The non-profit entity that publishes the magazine — DisciplesWorld, Inc. — is also dissolving. To read the press release, click here, or read on for more information.

We’ve made a valiant effort. Gifted by a special grant in 2009 to formulate new strategies for sustainability, DisciplesWorld chose to move forward rather than just hold the course through the recession, knowing our survival depended on it. We refocused and trimmed down the magazine; launched new digital initiatives, including The Intersection; and began building a new website that would have provided more news, a better digital DisciplesWorld, and a venue for selling additional products.

But the dramatic downturn of two areas in which we operate — print journalism and denominational life — have proven too powerful for DisciplesWorld to escape.

Like print publications everywhere, DisciplesWorld has seen its primary sources of income decline rapidly. Over the last 12 months, paid circulation has dropped 9 percent; that is after falling 21 percent the previous year. The annual fund declined 19 percent in 2008 and 2009, and advertising income slid downward, as well. Eliminating staff positions, lowering salaries, and reducing magazine frequency and pages did not close the gap.

What happens now? By unanimous action of its board of directors, DisciplesWorld, Inc., is dissolving and winding down. The corporation is liquidating assets to attempt to meet obligations to creditors. Any donations received will be used to pay those obligations.

Subscriptions. Our last issue will be the January/February 2010 issue, which will be mailed on January 26. Subcribers should receive it the following week. We thank our current subscribers for their support, and we regret that at this time we are not able to refund unfulfilled subscriptions.

Non-subscribers can purchase a single copy of the final issue using the order form on our website. A digital edition will be available for purchase through Scribd.com.

Gifts. We invite you to consider making a financial gift to DisciplesWorld in gratitude for the publication. Gifts will help us close with integrity.

Just Women magazine. The closing of DisciplesWorld will not affect publication of Just Women, which will continue to be published by International Disciples Women’s Ministries (IDWM). Subscribers can expect the Winter 2010 and future issues to be delivered on schedule. Adonna Bowman, executive director of the Office of Disciples Women and secretary/treasurer of IDWM said, “We anticipate a smooth transition, and while we grieve the loss of DisciplesWorld, we embrace the opportunity for Disciples Women to publish their own resource.” To subscribe to Just Women, click here. To contact Just Women, please call the Office of Disciples Women at 1-888-346-2631.

DisciplesWorld website. DisciplesWorld.com will remain live during the wind down. Web visitors can read past news articles. Those with current active subscriptions to the magazine can continue to access premium content through their login, including back issues and study guides. However, because of the dissolution and wind down, customer service will be limited. We regret that we will not be able to help you navigate the site, remember user names and passwords, or establish an online account.

Inventory. While available, back copies of magazines, “We are Disciples,” and the DVD “Browsing the Bible” can still be ordered. Click here for ordering information.

Scribd.com. Digital versions of published articles and back issues of the magazine will be available for purchase beginning Jan. 15 through Scribd.com.

Contact and updates. You can contact DisciplesWorld at info@disciplesworld.com while our website and web domain are active. Our forwarding address is DisciplesWorld, Inc., P.O. Box 747, Plainfield, IN 46168.

Updates on the wind down will also be posted on this website. You may wish to check back here before trying to contact us through other venues.

The Intersection. The Intersection, the community site and social network launched by DisciplesWorld in July 2009, will remain live through the end of 2009 and possibly longer. For more information, visit http://faithmeetslife.org.

DisciplesWorld was launched in 2002 by James Suggs and Robert Friedly, who served as publisher and editor, respectively, of The Disciple, following the closing of that magazine. Friedly and Suggs hired Sherri Wood Emmons as managing editor. Verity A. Jones was hired as editor and publisher and Rebecca Bowman Woods as news editor in 2003.

DisciplesWorld won numerous awards from the Associated Church Press, a trade association for religious publications. Following its first year, DisciplesWorld received second place in the Acorn Award category for best new publication. In 2006, 2007, and 2008, the magazine placed second in the “Best in Class” category for denominational magazines. In 2008, it won the top award for editorial courage for the January/February 2008 issue on the ordination of gays and lesbians.

The magazine’s subject matter included controversial issues, such as war, gun control, and immigration. In November of 2008, the editors devoted an entire issue to the survivors of the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana, 30 years after the tragedy.

We thank you for eight great years.

Rebecca Woods, director of digital media and marketing
Sherri Emmons, managing editor
Verity Jones, publisher and editor