Discipleship Ministries Board Celebrates Growth, Collaboration, and Ninety Years of The Upper Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2025 – Nashville, TN
The Board of Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church met in early fall 2025 to celebrate the ongoing work of equipping world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ and to look ahead to new opportunities for ministry and growth. The meeting focused on the denomination’s renewed vision to form disciples who love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously.
“Our work continues to evolve with the needs of the church,” said Rev. Jeff Campbell, General Secretary of Discipleship Ministries. “We see hopeful signs of vitality across every area of ministry, from congregational resourcing to global discipleship partnerships. God is doing something deeply connective across this denomination.”
Celebrating Ninety Years of The Upper Room
This year marks a milestone for The Upper Room. The ecumenical ministry of daily spiritual practice has reached readers in more than one hundred countries and in thirty-four languages. With more than 8,500 active donors and expanding digital engagement, The Upper Room continues to foster daily practices of prayer and reflection.
The agency invites churches and leaders to share the story of this global ministry by watching and sharing The Upper Room’s ninetieth anniversary video at upperroom.org/90.
Highlights from the Fall Board Meeting
- Worship and Formation Reach: Discipleship Ministries worship resources now serve more than ten million visitors annually, with 2.2 million active users engaging regularly through the agency’s online worship materials, including the Revised Common Lectionary and Special Sundays calendars.
- Global Discipleship Expansion: Ongoing partnerships in Africa, the Philippines, and Latin America continue to create contextualized discipleship systems and leadership training.
- Leadership Development: More than 4,000 participants have joined The Prayer Partner Project, while new learning cohorts explore faithful use of emerging technologies like AI in ministry.
- Financial Stewardship and Infrastructure: The agency reported strong fiscal health, clean audits, and the completion of new systems for donor management and financial transparency.
- Looking Ahead: The next board meeting will convene March 11–13, 2026, in Puerto Rico, with the goal of learning about contextualized ministries and continued & focus on collaboration, global connection, and leadership formation.
A Shared Mission
As one of thirteen international agencies of The United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries connects local church, district, and conference leaders with resourcing, training, consulting, and networking to support spiritual formation, church vitality, and new ministry development.
“For more than 45 forty-five years, our mission has been to help leaders fulfill the church’s shared dream of making world-changing disciples,” Campbell said. “We do this work together — through prayer, creativity, and deep hope for what God is doing next.”
The mission of Discipleship Ministries is to support annual conference and local church leaders in their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries is located at 1908 Grand Avenue in Nashville, Tennessee.
For more information, visit www.UMCdiscipleship.org.