Rev. Thomas DeVries, General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America, brought greetings from his denomination to Synod 2012.
Rev. Tom DeVries, Reformed Church in America: “The CRC and RCA are cooperating in impoverished neighborhoods.”
Photo: Karen Huttenga
His presentation included a video that described a partnership called Kingdom Enterprise between the RCA and a Christian Reformed church in Wyoming (Mich.).
“I don’t think that either denomination, because of the needs of the city, can address the needs by themselves,” said a pastor in the video. “I would love [that] this would be a common desire to love this community one block at a time.”
In this poverty-stricken city, the RCA and CRC are partnering to develop six to eight new congregations. There are similar joint operations in three other locations across the United States.
“[This is] the beginning of something that God is at work doing among us, doing with us, doing through us, and I believe, to us,” said DeVries.
But DeVries still has a concern in the denominations’ relationship.
“I haven’t figured out that partnership on the basketball court of two of our finer educational institutions,” he quipped, referencing the rivalry between the denominations’ respective schools, Calvin College and Hope College.
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About the Author
Ryan Struyk was a former Banner news correspondent for classes Grand Rapids South and Thornapple Valley.
