Cooperatively and responsively, leaders have been resetting the direction of the Christian Reformed Church. That was the report to Synod 2016 from Kathy Vandergrift, president of the Board of Trustees.
“The six years I served on the board of trustees have been a time of significant change,” said Vandergrift.
“I am confident that the changes position the CRCNA well for the [future],” she said. “Structure, culture, leadership, ministry priorities—all have been reviewed.”
After years of transition, all three top leadership positions in the CRC were in place this year, she reminded synod. These three—Steve Timmermans, Colin Watson, and Darren Roorda—are working as a team, and those who work under their leadership are “overwhelmingly positive” in their evaluations, she said. “Some said team leadership would not work, that we need a boss, or a pope, but team leadership is working. And it makes us more resilient in a rapidly changing context.”
“We heard from churches that we need a stronger focus on working with the local church,” she said. An example of how this is happening “is the move to make published resources freely available through electronic means so every member of every church can find what we need in our situation or particular work.”
The Board of Trustees is also aiming for collaboration between agencies, she added. “We are opening up silos within the organizations, a need that the board heard over and over again. We are taking a positive rather than begrudging approach to our two-nations character.”
“The way we work together and the way we govern ourselves are part of our witness,” she concluded.
Synod 2016 is meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., from June 10-17. For continuous Banner coverage, please follow The Banner Magazine on Facebook or @crcbanner on Twitter. You can find more tweeting by following hashtag #crcsynod. News stories will be posted at thebanner.org several times daily. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are by Karen Huttenga.
About the Author
Roxanne VanFarowe is a freelance writer who claims both Canadian and American citizenship and grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. She is a member of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina.
