The Board of General Superintendents announced that the theme for the Church of the Nazarene’s General Assembly and Conventions next summer will be “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith.”

The event will be held June 21-30 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

“After a lot of prayerful discussion, we wanted to emphasize both the oneness of our global church and the diversity of our church,” said David A. Busic, chair of the BGS. “While we celebrate our diversity, we know that what unifies us is greater than our differences.

“There’s a difference between unity and uniformity. Uniformity is everybody has to be alike and act alike. For us, that’s not the best expression of the church as a body. The church is unified — with all of our differences — around one Lord.”

During each of the event’s five corporate worship services, the general superintendents will focus on the first five “one” phrases in Ephesians 4:4-6, the verses upon which the assembly’s theme is based: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

“Underlying all of those ‘ones,’ one Lord is what holds it all together,” Busic said. “There is no ‘one body’ without one Lord and there is no ‘one spirit’ without one Lord. One Lord defines the unifying core of who we are as Nazarenes.”

Unlike the themes of past assemblies, “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Faith, One Lord” will not continue after General Assembly as a quadrennial theme.

“We didn’t want anything to conflict with the ongoing mission of the church, to make Christlike disciples in the nations,” Busic said.

This will be the sixth time Indianapolis has hosted the event. Most recently, the Hoosier State hosted the 2013, 2005, and 2001 assemblies.

General Assembly is the "supreme doctrine-formulating, lawmaking, and elective authority of the Church of the Nazarene" (Manual, 300). The Assembly, conventions (Nazarene Missions International, Nazarene Youth International, and Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International), and additional activities bring Nazarenes from every world region together for a time of business, celebration, and worship.