History

History of CDMI

At the beginning of the 18th Century the Great Awakening spread over Europe and America. This spiritual revival continued into the 19th century. Many Bible Societies sprang up, and the distribution of the Word of God was great. This created an environment here in the United States and Europe of personal inquiry into many doctrinal topics that had been previously hidden. Concurrently, a plurality of Bible helps such as concordances, dictionaries, and histories arose. An expectation and joy of coming to a clearer appreciation of the character and plan of God led many in personal and group Bible studies to arrive at conclusions that inspired a revival in the Christian community; especially regarding the soon-expected second coming of Christ.

One of these groups developed around the leadership of Charles T. Russell, a lay preacher and Bible student, who devoted his life and considerable fortune to promulgating his teachings. A prolific writer, he developed an organization that was world-wide in scope, but after his death in 1916 became both fixed in thought and restricted in freedoms. A number of Christians left this organization early, in 1909, or in the ensuing years upon his death, for greater liberty in Christ. Two of the groups formed in 1909 became known as the New Covenant Fellowship and the New Covenant Believers; not that their members chose these names, but from designations by others who used it as a description to differentiate them from other groups. Similarly, the first Christians were known as followers of “The Way” (Acts 9:2) because they pointed to Jesus as the way to reconciliation and fellowship with God.

In 1928 a group of separated brethren in the Hartford, Connecticut area formed a congregation and were known as the New Creation Fellowship. Gaetano Boccaccio was one of their elders and in 1940, he began to publish The New Creation magazine regularly. This ministry expanded to publishing tracts and booklets as well as the magazine, which is now distributed world-wide. It was given the name of Christian Millennial Fellowship (CMF). With the death of its founder in 1996, the work was continued under the oversight of Elmer Weeks of Port Murray, New Jersey, USA.

In the fall of 2011 CMF became Christian Discipling Ministries International (CDMI) to better reflect our mission work of building up fellow Christians to maturity in Christ, and new management worked on the transition to this new emphasis while Elmer Weeks continued as editor of The New Creation magazine. He was succeeded by Jim Sochacki in 2016, who was succeeded by Robert Whittaker in 2019, and then Gordon Coulson of Langley B.C., Canada, in January of 2026. There are now many free Christian congregations in foreign countries that have embraced its message and are actively spreading the good news.

CDMI is supported by the generosity of donors from around the world. All its publications are offered free of charge. The CDMI staff members are volunteers who donate their time and energy to the Lord. CDMI cooperates freely with all independent free Christian congregations and any who desire growth in their walk with God by providing them with booklets, tracts, the New Creation magazine, Bible courses, and opportunities to join Zoom-based Bible study groups.