Renewing Discipleship 2027 Will Equip Churches for Prayer, Scripture and Mission

Forward Movement's Renewing Discipleship conference will take place January 12-14, 2027, at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main Street in Houston, Texas. The Episcopal Church ministry published its registration announcement on October 6, 2026, and describes the gathering as a practical invitation to reorient Christian life toward Jesus rather than reduce discipleship to a list of religious tasks. The program is built around keynotes, workshops, shared prayer, Scripture study, worship and peer conversation. Presenters include Bishop Suffragan Jeff Fisher; Forward Movement leaders Taylor Devine, Robert Hendrickson, Scott Gunn and Melody Shobe; parish leaders Miguel Escobar, Ryan Hawthorne and Joseph Yoo; and Perry Mullins of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Workshops listed on the official event page address discipleship and families, baptism, belonging, congregational practice and the witness of Jesus in the Gospels. The working schedule begins Tuesday afternoon with an opening panel asking what discipleship is, followed by a first workshop block, evening prayer, dinner and Compline. Wednesday includes morning prayer, plenaries on prayer and Scripture, multiple workshop blocks and peer-group gatherings. Thursday concludes with a plenary on the church and Holy Eucharist. The conference is sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Registration after October 20 is listed at $245, with a $95 rate for seminarians; programming, one lunch, one dinner, snacks and coffee are included, while travel and lodging are separate. The official page also advises that Palmer Memorial has no on-site parking and recommends nearby garages, hotels and Houston's MetroRail. That practical detail matters for participants planning a national trip to a busy medical-center and museum-district location.

The conference is especially relevant for churches that want discipleship to become a shared congregational culture rather than a program handled by one staff member. Its intended audience includes clergy, lay formation leaders, parents, caregivers, seminarians, small-group leaders and others who help people follow Jesus across different ages and stages of life. The theme places spiritual practices inside grace: Christians pray, study Scripture, worship and serve not to earn God's favor but in response to the grace given in Jesus Christ. That emphasis can help leaders avoid two common extremes. One is reducing formation to information, where people learn content without developing habits of prayer, repentance, belonging and witness. The other is pursuing spiritual experience without sustained attention to Scripture, the church and accountable community. Renewing Discipleship brings those dimensions together. A participant could use the conference to evaluate a congregation's pathway from welcome to belonging, strengthen baptismal preparation, support families in everyday formation, build more intentional prayer practices or connect preaching and teaching more clearly to the person and message of Jesus. The schedule also provides time to practice the disciplines being discussed, which makes the gathering more than a lecture series. Churches sending a team may gain the greatest benefit by identifying one formation challenge before traveling, attending different workshops, and reserving time afterward to translate what they learned into a small, measurable next step. The practical promise of the event is straightforward: participants should return renewed in their own journey as disciples and better equipped to make disciples in their communities. For leaders facing fatigue or fragmented ministry, three days centered on prayer, Scripture, sacramental worship and peer encouragement can provide both spiritual refreshment and church-ready tools.