Many call A. Dale Fiers the most significant figure in the Christian 
Church (Disciples of Christ) of the twentieth century. Raised in a 
devout family—his mother was ordained—in Kankakee, Illinois, and 
West Palm Beach, Florida, Fiers went on to have major impact not 
only on his denomination but on American Protestantism in general, 
particularly its approach to such social issues as missionary work 
and civil rights.

    Fiers served as executive secretary of the International Convention
of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), president of the United
Christian Missionary Society, administrative secretary of the
Commission on Restructure, and was the first general minister and
president of the church. 

    Restructure was the process by which thousands of scattered 
Disciples congregations became an expression of one Church. This 
1960s development towers over the landscape of Disciples history 
like a great mountain range, and Fiers looms over the era as its 
central figure. 

    In this biography, commissioned by the Disciples of Christ 
Historical Society, D. Duane Cummins crafts a picture of a 
remarkable church leader and chronicles the way a significant 
religious body dealt with the ambivalences of its own existence, 
how missionary work developed into less paternalistic relationships, 
how a church struggled between attempts to minister on the local 
scene and throughout the world.

    Fiers, now in his nineties, lives in Florida and remains active in 
Disciples affairs. 

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D. DUANE CUMMINS currently serves as interim president of Brite 
Divinity School at TCU and visiting scholar in history at Johns 
Hopkins University.