By Rebecca Bowman Woods, DisciplesWorld news editor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (5/8/08) — Barring any visa troubles, some 3,000 Christians from Stone-Campbell churches in at least 28 countries are expected to be in Nashville, Tenn., for the 2008 World Convention, the gathering of the Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches / Churches of Christ (sometimes called “independent”) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

World Convention is the name for both the ongoing fellowship of Stone-Campbell churches and the actual event, held every four years. The July 30-Aug. 3 convention in Nashville is the first time in 16 years that it is being held in the United States.

Jeff Weston, of the Australian Churches of Christ, became the World Convention’s general secretary in 2004, when the convention was held in Brighton, England. In an interview with DisciplesWorld, he talked about the upcoming World Convention – one that organizers hope will interest a younger crowd.

Past World Conventions were “seen as sort of a gray-haired time,” Weston said. To remedy that, organizers developed a full, separate program for youth, and another for children.

 Virzola Law, associate pastor at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis will speak at the youth convention. Nashville singer-songwriter Andra Moran, a member of Nashville’s Vine Street Christian Church, will lead worship.

World Convention is also extending its reach by offering six different styles of worship each morning. Weston said those include a Spanish-language service, an African service, non-instrumental worship, a “typical Disciples service,” a contemporary service in the style popular in the independent megachurches, and for the youth and young-at-heart, “a loud, rock and roll service.”

For those who prefer hands-on outreach and service, there are options including local service projects in schools and neighborhoods. The youth will build two house frames to be transported south for a Hurricane Katrina relief project. On a larger scale, Week of Compassion and aid agencies affiliated with the Churches of Christ and the Christian Churches / Churches of Christ are working together for the first time on a long-term project in South Vietnam.

Inclusiveness is a feature of this World Convention, Weston explained. Cynthia Hale, founding pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Decatur, Ga., will deliver the sermon during the first evening’s worship service. One of the daily Bible Study leaders is Rhonda Lowry, assistant professor at the Churches of Christ-affiliated Lipscomb University and the wife of L. Randolph Lowry, university president. Women have traditionally not participated in public roles such as teaching and preaching in churches in the other Stone-Campbell streams.

While the convention is aiming to draw in women and people of different racial-ethnic backgrounds, more Christians in Stone-Campbell churches in places like Asia and Africa are seeking out those with common roots and learning about their heritage.

Founded in 1930, World Convention will install its first African president, B.J. Mpofu, of Zimbabwe, during the closing worship service. The service will also kick off the bicentennial celebration of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, one of the foundational Stone-Campbell Movement documents.

The divisions between the three Stone-Campbell streams are not so prevalent in other countries, Weston said. While some of the churches planted by missionaries adopted the practices of their founders, such as not allowing musical instruments or limiting women’s participation, some are now leaving behind inherited practices and developing their own identities.

For example, Weston and Robert Welsh, president of the Disciples’ Council on Christian Unity, attended a Church of Christ worship service in a suburb of Nairobi last November. The church musicians used an electronic keyboard in the service, and people stood and danced.

That wouldn’t have happened five years ago, Weston said.

“More churches are saying, ‘It’s time we became who we are,’” he said.