Ontario Pastor Named New Canadian Ministries Director

Pastor, husband, father, environmental scientist—now Darren Roorda can add to that list Canadian Ministries Director of the Christian Reformed Church.

In recommending Roorda to the denomination’s Board of Trustees, the search committee noted that Roorda has a passion for ministry and partnership with the local church and also an ability to cultivate and nurture a shared vision for the mission of the denomination, especially in the Canadian context.

Roorda’s appointment comes at a time when the Canada Corporation half of the board is taking an increased role in determining how denominational ministries in Canada are carried out. He was a member of the Board of Trustees and Canada Corporation and resigned his seat to accept the nomination. 

“I love the fact that our church is binational,” Roorda told the Board of Trustees (BOT) in an interview. “We have a long history of one side of the border helping and assisting and learning from the other side. [I’m also] open to the idea of strengthening the capacity of the Canadian CRC for a little more independence and what that might look like. How we do ministry and mission always needs contextualization.”

Roorda said that even though his new role is an administrative position, he sees it as a pastoral role. “I want to be a pastoral person who listens well when I present to classes and work with churches,” he told the BOT. “It is a posture that is needed now within the local church.”

Roorda is currently a senior pastor at Community CRC in Kitchener, Ontario. Before that he served at Bellevue (Wash.) CRC. He came to ordained ministry after initially working as an environmental scientist.

Roorda, 45, and his wife, Beverley, have three daughters.

Roorda’s appointment must be ratified by Synod 2014, the annual leadership meeting of the CRC.

“I sense the clear call of God to this position,” Roorda said. “I promise to be faithful to it, whether it means pain and hardship or delight and joy.”