For almost 90 years, Forward Movement has been supporting followers of Jesus in their daily walk with Christ. It began like this.
Back in 1934, the Episcopal Church was struggling with debt, with decline, and with irrelevance. Unsure of how to solve the problems, the triennial legislative assembly (General Convention) of the Episcopal Church formed a group called the Forward Movement commission.
They first met several months after the Convention. At that meeting, amidst much prayer, the first leader of Forward Movement had an epiphany. He is reported to have said something like this:
“If we want the Episcopal Church to be strong, we need strong congregations. And if we want strong congregations, we need them to be filled not with habitual Christians, but with disciples.”
As they tried to figure out how to turn “habitual Christians” into disciples, they realized that daily prayer and study was an important practice.
So beginning in Lent of 1935, Forward Movement published a little pamphlet called “The Disciple’s Way” with daily scripture and a brief reflection. It was so successful that later that year, Forward Movement began to publish Forward Day by Day, in the fall of 1935. The appeal of Forward Day by Day came from its accessible and inviting way to encourage disciples to read a bit of scripture, reflect on that scripture, and pray briefly every day.
Since 1935, Forward Movement has continued this work. Our aim is to support ordinary Christians in their everyday journeys as followers of Jesus. Over decades, we’ve come to believe that regular scripture engagement, daily prayer, and weekly worship are foundational.
Today Forward Movement still publishes Forward Day by Day. Each quarter, we distribute more than 200,000 printed copies in Spanish and English. This daily devotional is also offered as an ebook, a podcast, and a smartphone app.
We also publish books about the Christian faith, and about the Episcopal Church in particular. We provide online resources for individual and congregations. We offer video education. We organize conferences.
If you’re not sure where to start, check out our app (iOS or Android) or our free prayer website prayer.forwardmovement.org, where you can savor daily scripture readings and Forward Day by Day. Our app and our prayer website are free.
We also invite you to explore our whole website to learn more. Listen to our podcasts, learn about online video classes, discover how your church can change its conversation to discipleship, or find books for yourself or your book group.
And of course, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We love to hear from readers and friends.
If you are inspired by our story and our work, we invite you to make a financial gift to support our ministry of equipping disciples of Jesus Christ.
God bless you on your journey.