Our History - staging.sunhouse.digital

The work and mission of DDHI is achieved through the Disciples Foundation, Inc., our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since its founding in 1927 to support a professorship in the School of Religion at Vanderbilt University, the Disciples Foundation has focused on the education of Disciples students for ministry. In the wake of the Great Depression and a split from the Church of Christ, the Disciples Foundation worked with local church leaders to recruit and provide scholarships and ministry placements for students.

By 1942, in partnership with the Tennessee Christian Missionary Society (TCMS),the precursor to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tennessee, we secured our first house, located on Grand Avenue, only steps from our current home. The first floor was used as office space for the TCMS. The second floor had four furnished apartments for married couples, and rooms for visitors and short-term residents. The third floor had nine rooms for 15 single students. The basement was used as a fellowship hall and kitchen able to feed 80 people. Furnishings in the rooms and apartments were paid for by different churches and individuals across the state. In the first floor lounge, an original oil portrait of Alexander Cambell hung over the fireplace as a symbol of its ties to the Disciples tradition.

In 1951, Dr. Herman Norton, a 1949 B.D. graduate of Vanderbilt, was appointed to the Vanderbilt faculty and in April of that year he was installed at the Director of the Disciples House. The same year, the Board of Higher Education voted to accept Vanderbilt School of Religion as a theological institution approved to train Disciples ministers. Students responded in increasing numbers, “crowding the Disciples House out of usefulness.” As Vanderbilt Divinity School’s student body grew during the 1950s, so did the House, leading Norton to fundraise $35,000 to build a new, multi-purpose space on Adelicia Street completed in May of 1958, which still serves as our physical space. By the mid-sixties, the current House was no longer adequate for the increasing number of students and a third floor was added to the house with an additional investment of $67,000.

When the new house was dedicated on April 15, 1959, Rev. George Mayhew, first Dean of the Disciples Foundation, proclaimed: “We dedicate this house to the love of God and to Christian service to our common humanity.” Our vision, while focused on DOC students training for congregational ministry, always had a wide scope that encompassed church and community life well beyond the boundaries of a denomination. DOC historian and DDH alumna Rachel Leigh Nance writes of our witness, “Like a web, the people and events in the history of the Disciples Divinity House touch all that surrounds.”

1927

Founded

Founded in the wake of the Great Depression in cooperation with local church leaders, the "Disciples of Christ, Vanderbilt Foundation" was focused on recruiting, providing scholarships and ministry placements for educating students "for the general welfare of society." The special purpose was the support of a "chair or professorship in the school of religion of Vanderbilt University."

1941

1st House

With help from the Tennessee Christian Missionary Society, we secured our first house, an apartment building for students and office for Tennessee Christian Church leadership, located on Grand Avenue, just steps away from our current location.

1950

New Name

"Disciples Foundation, Inc."

1951

New Dean

Dr. Herman Norton - Dean (until 1986)

April 15, 1959

New Dean

New House: 1917 Adelicia Street

Rev. George Mayhew, first Dean of the Disciples Foundation, proclaimed:

"We dedicate this house to the love of God and to Christian service to our common humanity."

1986

New Dean

Dr. Rick Harrison - Dean (until 1993)

1994

Our Current Charter

The corporation is a public benefit corporation organized to support the general welfare of society. Its special purposes shall include the following: recruitment of graduate ministerial students from colleges and churches of the Disciples of Christ; supervision of student work with Tennessee churches in cooperation with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tennessee: employment of a person qualified and acceptable for teaching courses in the Vanderbilt Divinity School who also shall serve as Dean of the Disciples House and be responsible to the corporation for the development of the program for the Disciples House; and, operation of a center for Disciple students attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

1995

New Dean