The Chief has spoken

Today we have had the opportunity to hear from the "chiefs" of our General Synod.  Let me share some of my personal favorite highlights:

Carol Bechtel, our General Synod President delivered an eloquent, yet hard hitting call for us to remember the "glue that holds us together."   Our missional identity needs to be a variation of the "tune" of our heritage.  Carol demonstrated this by playing the tune "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and then a variation of it (I wonder how that will make it into the minutes!).  As a professor, she rightly called us to remembering and re-examining worship, infant baptism, and current practices surrounding the commissioned pastorate (educational requirements and the tie to the office of elder as particular concerns that seem to be interpreted very loosely by some).

A nugget I take away from Carol's address is her family ritual of saying goodbye/sending out her kids by tracing the sign of the cross on their forehead to remind them of their baptism.  This is a reminder of both "who they are, and to whom they belong."

Chief Carol gets a "You Go Girl!"

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, our General Secretary, also gave his report today.  He spoke about the excitement of the great work that is taking place in our denomination and the significant progress of multiplication and revitalization.  He then framed the rest of his address in a call to discipleship.  He noted some of the tough questions the denomination faces as well as economic struggles.  He also re-inforced the denomination's pledge to a multiracial future, noting the "providencial" timing of the question to accept the Belhar as a confession at the same time we have made this commitment. 

He did also address what has happened over this past year , including with the Office of Women....  My favorite quote is, "We must be as passionate in our commitment to empower the ministries of women as we are passionate in our commitment to live into a multiracial future freed from racism.  It is crucial for the goals of OUR Call, and for all the future ministry and mission of the RCA, that we discover the best and most effective ways to fully support the gifts and minsitry of women, and that we agree on how we as a church will fund this work."

Another nugget I will take away from Wes' report was his Reggie McNeal reference and "visitation questions."  Higher levels of activity do not drive spiritual growth.... which is another great quote!  Finding this to be true, Reggie McNeal helped a church refocus through visitation teams that asked every member five questions:  What do you enjoy doing?  Where do you see God active in your life?  Where would you like to see God working in your life in the next six to twelve months?  How would you like to invest in the lives of other people?  How can we pray for you?

My congregation is starting an Appreciative Inquiry process as we embrace being a "Church on the Grow."  The questions we will ask are quite similar and I will pass these along to our leadership team.

Chief Wesley gets a "Well said, oh wise one!"

The Business of Building Relationships

I too am disappointed with the decision not to meet as a General Synod next year.  I think about the very few number of elder delegates from our churches that are able to come and the length of time it takes in some classes to get back around to a particular church in a rotation as it already is and do not like the year of not meeting...  especially given the "GREAT" savings of a whole $1.

At one point, it was interpreted as though the "business" slated for next year's General Synod was not sufficient to warrant a meeting.  I find this highly ironic in a denomination that so greatly values relationships.  

As an "A" type personality, I find myself getting caught up in my "to do" lists, multi-tasking, and seeking to continually be as efficient as possible.  However, I have also learned the great value of relationships.  In many ways, my clergy network shows this to me.  As pastors, too often we rarely take time for social gatherings and then later face the consequences of feeling lonely, isolated, disconnected, and in need of a safe outlet.  With the great push for pastors to be in networks and to continue to be a relational synod, our value of building relationships needs to be noted as just as important as "business." 

Ode to the clerks

One of the hats I wear in a classis where we all wear several is as classis clerk.  Every year I have the opportunity to gather with the rest of the clerks of the denomination before General Synod begins for our clerks' conference.  As a microcosm of the denomination, the clerks are an excellent example of how we can work together, play together, and truly care for one another; all while disagreeing on "the issues."  We don't ask people's stance when they become a clerk, all are accepted into the group with the recognition that "we are in this together" and how can we best support one another.  We share from our different contexts and the different crazy scenarios that we each have faced.  We laugh, we joke, we tease, but we all care deeply for the RCA and our relationships with each other allows us to see beyond what each might think on any one issue as a divisive factor between us...

I say this with the recognition of the clerk's role.  We are the ones who know about and often pick up the pieces of all the bad decisions, "aggregious and scandalous behavior," and the otherwise under-belly of the denomination.  If we, with full knowledge of "the worst" circumstances in our denomination can still love the denomination, it seems this should offer some measure of hope and a model for the rest of the denomination.   

Decently and in good order, get those reports in, and don't mess with Clifford! (the clerk mascot)

The Gathering of Synod

One of the beauties of General Synod is the gathering of synod itself... We all come from far and wide, bringing with us the specific contexts in which we have and continue to serve as a part of what has shaped and formed us as individuals.  As we gather, we listen to each other, and in the best instances, while we listen to each other, we hear a little bit of the reality of serving in another context.  While it seems context is most easily defined by geography, other contributing factors include experiences, and relationships.  I look forward to learning and hearing the context of my fellow delegates and hope anyone reading will also join with me in deep listening with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Wondering about my context?  I am a child of West Michigan, Byron Center to be exact.  I grew up in Woodhaven Reformed Church.  I went to Hope College to be a doctor, and as I felt the call to ministry interpreted that to mean I would become a medical missionary (it wasn't okay for me as a female to be a pastor).  With a group of other now RCA pastors, I became involved in the Youth ministry at First Reformed Church of Zeeland.  I became a member of First Reformed Church of Zeeland.  As I continued to feel a strong call to ministry, I began to realize this call was to the pastorate and shifted gears from med school applications to seminary applications.  I married my best friend, Mike, who shared my passion for God and calling to ministry.  We feel strongly that God has brought us together as a team.  We started seminary together at Western.  Still sensing a strong call to mission and wanting to experience more diversity than our West Michigan upbringings, we transferred to Fuller Theological Seminary.  Wanting to be fully involved in the life of the church during seminary, we wound up serving as "pastors" at Faith Reformed Church of Norwalk in Norwalk, CA.  We lived in an apartment in Bellflower, about 1.5 miles from the church, in the middle of the concrete jungle on the southside of LA.  We jokingly called it the "upper class ghetto" as it was not a very safe neighborhood, (the road that ran alongside our apartment complex had been shut down for drug trafficking just before we arrived) but we never had any problems.  We did the LA commute up to Pasadena.  For a season we even did a horrific triangle from Bellflower, to Pasadena, over to Pomona and back to Bellflower when we were full time students, pastoring the church, and were CPE residents at Pomona Valley Hospital....  Our time in southern California taught me a lot about many things.  I learned more about Dutch culture in Southern CA than I had my entire life in West Michigan, including my time in Holland.  I learned a lot about the denomination, including many inaccurate perceptions and assumptions about geography.  I also experienced valuable ministry with a small loving congregation struggling with their age, context, race, and what it meant to "be church."

The RCA search process is not kind to women.  Mike and I struggled to find where God was leading us as a couple as well as individually.  I have many stories I could share about this phase in our life and the obvious gender discrimination, but will fast forward for the time being.  Equipped with Cross-cultural M.Div.'s from Fuller in hand, we questioned whether God was calling us overseas.  We explored and very nearly began serving in Canada.  It seemed like a perfect fit for our studies, passions, and experiences!  Even though we met many wonderful people and wanted it to work, we felt God telling us we could not accept the call.  Instead, we ended up, of all places in the world, in a small rural village in the "mountain" of upstate New York.   

Diversity?  Very nearly none racially (which we very much miss), but lots of ideological and socio-economic.  Urban?  NO!  Cross-cultural Ministry?  YES!!!  Time and time again God has affirmed to us that even though we are not overseas, even though we are no longer in the midst of the concrete jungle, we are still very much on the mission field.  Where I live, the churches have been around since the 1600 and early 1700s.  The church is a historic institution and the area likes history, however, liking history does not always mean embracing the living history.  For most, church is one of many many local "social club" options.  Kiwana's, the Masonic Lodge, Rotary, the American Legion are all alive and well... and the list goes on and on...  Of course many of these organizations do wonderful things, that is not my point, my point is that church often is equated as one of them instead of faith as the central part of life and being and reason for any social organization's existence.  Many claim they are members of local churches and will even say "that is my church" even though they haven't entered the doors in years.  Serving a living God who informs and transforms our lives in the present is a constant mission and message of gospel hope for the region, which has also economically struggled for 50 or more years (not solely the last few, like other regions).  Ministry in Schoharie is alive and well.

As one who started out in West Michigan, has lived in Southern CA, visited Canada, and now lives in NY; I love the gathering of Synod.  I love to see who is on the delegate roster and always look forward to seeing many that I otherwise would have no opportunity.  I also again want to call us to truly listen to each other and each other's contexts.  I have met people in every region that both exemplify (usually very few) and BREAK (usually the majority) nearly any and every regional stereotype I have heard.... so as we begin to gather, may the Holy Spirit open our ears to truly hearing.