On Tuesday, leaders from two of the Christian Reformed Church’s minority-culture ministry networks shared some of their history and milestones with Synod 2024. Over the traditional midweek synod banquet, hosted at the Prince Conference Center, delegates and guests heard from Jose Rayas, of the Consejo Latino, and from Edward Yoon, of the Korean Ministers’ Association.
Rayas, Classis Arizona, described Consejo Latino, which was formed following Synod 2012, as an organization centered on connecting “the needs of the (Hispanic) ethnic community with the gospel mission of the denomination.”
The organization currently focuses on offering training to Hispanic church leaders. It also maintains connections with Reformed churches in Latin America, has helped churches—such as those in Venezuela—to come into fellowship with the CRCNA, and it is happy to offer advice to churches looking at starting ministries to Hispanics.
“The Consejo Latino is at your service,” said Rayas.
Rayas invited young adult representative Samantha Sebastia, who he called part of the next generation of Latino leadership, to address synod following his remarks. Sebastia said she was grateful for the organization that has helped Latino CRC churches “adhere to Reformed theology.”
Earlier, Synod 2024 voted to recognize the work of Consejo Latino and encourage Resonate Global Mission to work with Consejo with regards to reporting to synod in 2025. Some delegates and others present expressed concern about Consejo Latino reporting through Resonate. Kevin DeRaaf, Resonate’s director, suggested that “the appropriate response would be to send this to the Office of General Secretary for discernment,” since Consejo Latino works with many CRCNA agencies, not just Resonate.
At the banquet, Yoon, stated clerk of Classis Hanmi who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., presented on the Korean Ministers’ Association. The group, formed in April 2024, replaced what was known as the Korean Council, birthed in 1984. Yoon said about 60 Korean churches belong to one of two Korean classes or nearby English-speaking classes.
CRCNA staff and leaders closed the banquet with a blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 in eight languages: Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Navajo, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and English.
Synod 2024 is meeting June 14-20 at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Find daily coverage from The Banner news team at thebanner.org/synod. Visit crcna.org/synod for the synod schedule, webcast, recordings, photos, committee reports, and liveblog. Synod is the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church.