Last week, the boards of Christian Reformed Home Missions (HM) and Christian Reformed World Missions (WM) instructed their directors, under the supervision of CRC executive director Steven Timmermans, to explore the feasibility of bringing together the two ministries into one agency with both a local and global vision and mandate.
The agency directors have been asked to prepare a detailed plan of the steps required for such a significant structural change.
As the pace of globalization has increased, the distinction between the mission fields of the two agencies has been shrinking. Aware of this fact, the boards of both agencies had instructed their directors in September 2008 to collaborate on specific projects in areas of ministry where HM and WM could serve together without regard to geographic boundaries. A joint leadership team was formed to review collaborative efforts. Subsequent work was done under the supervision of the director of denominational ministries to accomplish the 2008 mandate.
Moses Chung, the director of Home Missions, and Gary Bekker, the director of World Missions, believe that this is the right time to unify the agencies. If both boards agree, the proposal will be submitted for approval to the CRC’s Board of Trustees when it meets in early May. From there it will be submitted to the churches for their reflection, input, and response before a decision is made by a subsequent synod.
—from a joint statement prepared by The Banner and CRC Communications