GBOD | General Board of Discipleship

gbod@gbod.org
General Board of Discipleship
P.O. Box 340003
Nashville, TN 37203-0003
877-899-2780 : toll free

	Purpose
		The primary purpose [of the General Board of Discipleship] shall be to assist annual conferences, districts, and local churches of all membership sizes in their efforts to win persons to Jesus Christ as his disciples and to help these persons to grow in their understanding of God that they may respond in faith and love, to the end that they may know who they are and what their human situation means, increasingly identifying themselves as children of God and members of the Christian community, to live in the Spirit of God in every relationship, to fulfill their common discipleship in the world, and to abide in the Christian hope. (From paragraph 1101, The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.)
	Mission
		The mission of the General Board of Discipleship is to provide quality resources and services to help church leaders build systems that enable every congregation to fulfill its primary task of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
	History and Background
		Acting on the recommendations of the Structure Study Committee, the 1972 United Methodist General Conference established the General Board of Discipleship to serve in a number of areas of major importance to the local church. Among all the general agencies of The United Methodist Church, the General Board of Discipleship was the one given the major responsibility for the support of receiving, nurturing, caring, and sending ministries of congregations. The board has long provided resources in the areas of Christian education, worship, music, evangelism, new church development, stewardship, funding and financial management, lay leadership development, age-level (children, youth, adult) and family ministries, small-group ministries, ethnic local church concerns, devotional life, spiritual formation, and other areas related to the lives of people and the ministries of congregations. Staff of the General Board of Discipleship produce written and audiovisual resources to support the ministries of persons and congregations; and they provide training, education, and skill development seminars and workshops.
	Staff Organization
		More than 200 people make up the staff of the General Board of Discipleship. Staff members are skilled in writing, editing, teaching, and leading. A number are specialists in evangelism, worship, Christian education, music, stewardship, and in other areas. The staff of the board are organized in these major units: The Upper Room Division Discipleship Ministries Division Division on Ministries with Young People Administrative functions of the board are carried out by the Office of the General Secretary and General Administration, the Office of Financial Services, the Office of Human Resources, and Building Services. Within the board are three separate publishing operations: Teaching and Study Resources provides teacher and pupil materials for the church school. (These materials are available from Cokesbury at 1-800-672-1789) The Upper Room publishes devotional and Christian spiritual formation resources. Discipleship Resources publishes programmatic materials that relate to the work done by other units of the General Board of Discipleship.
	Affiliate Organizations
		Click here for the list of affilliate organizations for 2005-2008.