DRI: Discipleship Resource International

About Us

Purpose of the DRI website

The purpose of this DRI website is to support the work of DRI partners and affiliates by providing DRI publishing teams with shared access to start-up help, training materials, downloadabe content for publication, relevant information on DRI partners and their publishing plans, and links to other publishing support.

The DRI website also gives Central Conference leaders a way to explore DRI, the benefits of entering into a working partnership, and a point of connection with the Director.

Accessing the resource portal

The website is open to anyone who wants to survey the contents and learn more about DRI. Access to the resource files in the portal, however, requires password permission. Upon entering into a partnership with DRI, new publishing teams receive password permission to access the files and make use of them within reasonable conditions. DRI teams are permitted not only to download from the portal, but also agree to contribute the resources they develop that we agree may enrich the pool for everyone. For more information, click Resources, About the Resources, or Search.

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Origin

Created in 2009, DRI a response of the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) to the "sustainable resourcing initiative" of the 2008 General Conference. The intent is to address the debilitating gap that exists between those parts of the UMC with and without reasonable access to resources for Christian formation and leadership development suitable to the United Methodist heritage.

DRI is an expression of Discipleship Resources, which is a long-standing publishing arm of GBOD.

Goals

DRI wants to help leaders in as many Central Conferences as possible to expand their access to the key resources for learning and leading in the church. The intent is not to provide the resources for Central Conferences; that would be infinitely unaffordable and disempowering. The intent is to assist Central Conferences leaders committed to create the internal means by which to make the resources they need more available, affordable and appropriate to the churches in their contexts.

Method

Where invited and when called for, DRI works hand-in-hand with leaders in Central Conferences (at Conference, Episcopal Area, or Central Conference levels) to form, equip, and seed publishing teams. Those publishing teams then lead small-scale publishing operations in service to the church's mission in their areas.

DRI adds capacity to local teams in a variety of ways that are unique to each situation. Those include direction in building publishing plans, team training, a pool of content resources from which to draw and adapt, seed money, ongoing support and consultation, mediation with vendors and publishers, and access to a global resource-sharing network of partners on the same journey toward sustainable church publishing.

DRI Connection

DRI links a growing number of publishing teams and related Christian publishing initiatives in various parts of the world. Through the DRI connection, DRI publishing teams in Central Conferences accross a continent or around the world enjoy the benefits that come from resource sharing and peer learning with one another.