General RCA News Feed

Mark Putnam will become president of Central College in Pella, Iowa, in July, following the June retirement of current president David Roe.

"We are pleased to welcome Central College's 21st president Dr. Mark Putnam to the Central College family," says David Wesselink, chair of the college's board of trustees. "He has an outstanding set of capabilities that will help Central College build on the very successful legacy of Dr. David Roe. Mark brings the very best combination of background, experience, and skills to meet the future needs of Central College."

Putnam is senior vice president for executive affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also held administrative posts at Connecticut College and at Alliance Theological Seminary. Putnam earned his master's degree and doctorate from Columbia University, and his bachelor's from Nyack College.

"Central's momentum has the college superbly positioned to capitalize on the prospects that lie ahead of us," Putnam says. "I see at Central a desire to become ever more effective and have an ever more profound impact on the students who will shape the future of our society."

By Wes Granberg-Michaelson

I've just returned from the Global Christian Forum (GCF) committee meeting in London. This committee is made up of 22 people who believe deeply in the calling to Christian unity.

The vision that has guided the GCF is simple yet compelling: to create a place of fellowship that brings together all the main streams of Christianity in the world in order to strengthen our common witness and mission. Those who have followed its progress will remember the historic gathering in Limuru, Kenya, two years ago; this gathering seemingly brought together the widest range of Christian leaders from around the globe in modern times. John Ornee, the RCA's 2007 General Synod president, and I were two of the 225 people who came together in Limuru. A book about that gathering, Revisioning Christian Unity, was recently published.

I've been captivated by the vision of the GCF for the past decade, and I've been close to its process from the beginning. For the past three to four years I've served as the official representative from the World Council of Churches to the Global Christian Forum committee. This is the ecumenical initiative that I am most passionate about; I believe it holds incredible promise for the future. I'm trying more and more to focus the time I spend as the chief ecumenical officer of the RCA (about 20 percent of my time) on work to strengthen the mission of the GCF.

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Hosting a free fair helps one church serve its community and embody the gospel. "Basically, it's an outreach to the community to represent the gospel, which in a nutshell is that we are saved freely," says Mark Hofstra, pastor at First Reformed Church in Decatur, Michigan. "It really zeroes in on the passage where Jesus says, 'Freely you have received; freely give.'"

Hofstra first got the idea from a church planter and mentioned it once in a sermon. "Some years later, one of our members, Elaine Mroczek, said, 'We've got to do that. We'll provide food and take care of the advertising.' Before you know it, we were having our first free fair last year."

• Read more of this story.
• Read more stories about RCA churches in the Church Life news feed.

The combination of hard times and a location between two economically opposite communities has led Faith Reformed in Midland Park, New Jersey, to begin a ministry that bridges the gap between those communities.

A New Jersey veterans housing project proposed by the non-profit Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation is one step closer to being built. The local zoning board approved the corporation's plans to convert a closed Episcopal church into an 11-unit housing complex for veterans.

Lighthouses of Oxford Valley--a developing network of house churches in Pennsylvania--partners with an urban ministry in Philadelphia to bring hope to people who live in a core city neighborhood plagued by poverty, blight, drug and alcohol addiction, and homelessness.

Ocean Community Church of Manahawkin, New Jersey, is one of 11 area congregations and a day care that partner with the nonprofit organization Family Promise of Southern Ocean County to meet homeless families' immediate needs for shelter and meals.

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by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

I was ordained as a minister of Word and sacrament in the RCA by the Classis of Holland in 1984 as a specialized minister. My wife, Karin, and I had begun the New Creation Institute in Missoula, Montana, and we were also working as consultants to the U.S. Board supporting the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India, the fruit of historic RCA mission. I transferred my classis membership to the Classis of Cascades, nearest to where our ministry was taking place, and have remained a member ever since, including the six years that I lived in Geneva, Switzerland.

Denominational staff may maintain their membership in their original classis since their ministry takes place throughout North America, and for some, beyond North America. Regular attendance at my classis has been difficult, and sometimes I've thought of transferring, but I'm glad I haven't. The connections that have remained are meaningful. When I boarded the plane from Boise to Seattle with delegates from Twin Falls, we were also joined by Tom Katsma from Valley Life Community Church (RCA) in Boise. Some years ago, I attended the service when this congregation was officially organized as part of the RCA.

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by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

Here's how I define the missional church: A missional church places its commitment to join in God's mission in the world at the heart of its life and identity. During my time with the Classis of Cascades, which included a visit to Twin Falls Reformed Church in Idaho, I kept returning to this definition, which challenges both larger and smaller congregations.

Twin Falls, Idaho, is in an RCA "fly over zone." It's not really on the way to someplace else, and you have to have a reason to go there. So Twin Falls Reformed Church can easily seem to be off the RCA's radar. The community of about 35,000 is next to a dramatic canyon formed by the Snake River, the first of several surprises I encountered there.

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Illustrator Joel Schoon Tanis has created another set of Advent bulletins for children. They're available to download and print for free use in your congregation. Advent e-cards, featuring the bulletin covers, are also available to send to friends and family.

• Access the bulletins.
• Send an e-card.

Also available for Advent are:

• Daily devotions by members of Hope Church
• Hymns by RCA missionary David Alexander
• Material for the Jesse Tree
• Much, much more

In 1998, the General Synod adopted a report entitled "Bringing Racism to Light for a Decade Freed from Racism." General Synod named the years 2000-2010 as the RCA's Decade Freed from Racism. We are now nine years into that initiative.

This progress report serves two purposes: to update RCA leaders and members on progress made so far during the Decade Freed from Racism, and to encourage RCA assemblies and institutions to continue their efforts to become racism-free.

• Read the report.

The November issue of Perspectives Journal features two articles on the health (or lack thereof) of the Reformed Church in America. The Mournful Sounds of Implosion by Don Luidens is countered by Using Historic Strength to Make New Glue by Brad Lewis.

Also included are pieces by Jennifer L. Holberg, Susan A. Sytsma Bratt, Susanna Childress, and Evelyn Diephouse.

• Take a look at the issue.

by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

Dakota Classis is being redesigned around its missional purpose. Similar efforts are underway elsewhere, including throughout the Synod of the Heartland. My visit provided an opportunity to see firsthand how this is working. For those in the RCA concerned about how our structures support (or don't support) the missional engagement of our congregations, I think there are lessons to be learned from what it going on in places like this.

The process here in Dakota has been going on for some time. Like several other classes in the region, the constitution and bylaws of the classis were examined and revised to reflect more clearly the mission and vision of the RCA, and the role of the classis in that calling. The committee structure was changed to reflect our commitments to church multiplication, congregational revitalization, and leadership.

• Read more.
  

An Oscar-winning filmmaker can speak to Hope College students about his craft--but not gay rights, college leaders say.

Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for original screenplay for Milk, has been in the Holland, Michigan, area directing a new film. Students requested a screening of the acclaimed film--a biopic of Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay men elected to public office--followed by a forum discussion about sexuality. Black also was invited by the college's English Department to speak to a screenwriting class.

But leaders at the college, which is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, nixed the roundtable discussion, determining that the classroom was the best setting for offering positive academic experiences.

The college has a Board of Trustees-approved policy regarding homosexuality which is consistent with the Reformed Church in America position. Both the college and the RCA are committed to on-going dialogue. 

• Read more.

by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

I'm intrigued by the reactions of young RCA pastors like Steve Hayes and Dan Ebbens to being in ministry in rural South Dakota. Dan was raised on the south side of Chicago, and Steve grew up in a suburb in Ohio. Rural America was not in their backgrounds, but they seem to love it here. Steve told me that when he and his wife arrived at their parsonage a few months ago, the cupboards were stocked with food. When they opened their new freezer, it was stocked with meat--local and delicious. He and his wife were overwhelmed. "It's just the way they do things here," he told me.

Dan, Steve, Rod, and I sat in the living room of Lloyd and Margie Van Genderen. Both Lloyd and Margie were baptized at Aurora Reformed Church, and Lloyd has been farming here for 50 years. On August 8, a devastating hail storm with ferocious wind and hail larger than baseballs sliced through a swath of land that included the Van Genderen farm. Lloyd's corn crop--the most promising harvest in memory--was totally destroyed. We drove out to see what was left of his soybeans--hardly anything. And the hail took out the windows and siding on the west side of their home. Builders were repairing it as we visited.

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During the Christmas Eve service at Trinity Reformed Church in Fulton, Illinois, everyone stood quietly, holding candles and singing "Silent Night."

"Then a visitor hollered out, 'One more time!'" says pastor Tom Merchant. He adds that if anyone was offended, they didn't show it. "I was proud that our folks really reached out to the guys who had joined us for that service and made them feel welcome," he says.

The "guys" Merchant refers to were ex-offenders, former prisoners that Trinity has embraced through a program called Mighty-X-Men. "Fulton has 3,900 people and three RCA churches, two Christian Reformed churches, and a Presbyterian church," says Merchant. "There are eight RCA churches within 12 miles. If we're going to grow it's going to be with people who look different from us."

• Read more.

Reflections on Our Walk, previously known as "Words from Wes", will now be distributed a few times a month. A full archive is located here.

by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

Harrison, South Dakota, provides a striking metaphor for the tangled century-and-a-half-long relationship between the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church. History matters. In 1882 First Reformed Church was established in Harrison by Dutch immigrants who had ventured west from Orange City, Iowa. This was the first RCA congregation in the Dakota region. Shortly thereafter, Harrison Christian Reformed Church was established about 150 yards to the south. Stories are told about early pastors instructing the children of their congregations not to relate to those from the "other" church.

In 1905, a railroad was built through the town of Corsica a few miles away, rather than Harrison, drawing commerce there. (Today, a sign near Corsica boasts that the town has "65 businesses," which take persistence to count.) Today Harrison is a collection of about 15 homes and no commercial enterprises in the middle of farmland, with the RCA church on the north and the CRC church on the south. On the clear day when we drove there, we saw the two steeples on the horizon, with trees and a few houses in between, surrounded by corn, soybeans, and some sheep.

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by Wes Granberg-Michaelson

As my plane was landing in Omaha, I overheard two voices talking about how this year’s corn harvest could be great, but there's so much rain that it’s been impossible to get a combine onto the fields to harvest it. In addition, the moisture content of the corn is way too high, about 30 percent--it needs to be more like 15 percent in order to get a reasonable price. I was already learning about the rural economy and the context for rural ministry. That's why I came to visit RCA rural churches in South Dakota.

Rod Veldhuizen, pastor of Riverview Reformed Church in Yankton, South Dakota, is my host. He asked me once at a General Synod if I would ever visit the remote, rural churches in South Dakota, and I told him I'd love to. He even invited me to go pheasant hunting. Although it's the season, my love of the outdoors has never migrated from a fly rod to a shotgun.

• Read more.
  

General Synod 2009 declared that the work of the Dialogue on Homosexuality process was not done and affirmed the value of continued dialogue and discernment within the church regarding the issue of homosexuality.

Updated resources, including the full Dialogue Resources Manual, are now available for use by congregations and classes.

In addition, the General Synod office has set aside a small fund (the remaining funds from gifts to support the three-year dialogue) to provide matching funds to sponsors of the dialogue. The funds are meant to assist with a fee ($100/session) and travel expenses for a dialogue facilitator.

• Learn more.

Young Children and Worship, the curriculum for the popular Children and Worship program, is now available in Japanese.

The hands-on program, which uses wooden figures and other materials to tell stories, is used throughout the U.S. and Canada and is expanding in Japan, South Africa, and Mexico.

"As my husband and I prepared to be missionaries to Japan, I had the privilege to receive the training to be a Children and Worship trainer," says Nozomi Brownell, who ministers in Japan with her husband, Nathan. "Since we got to Japan in the spring of 2007, I have been working to bring this program forward."

More than 200 people in Japan have been trained in the program since 2004, and last year Brownell helped to open Japan's first Children and Worship training center, located at a youth outreach facility in the city of Yokohama.

Young Children and Worship was written by Sonja Stewart and Jerome Berryman and is also available in English, Spanish, and Afrikaans.

On September 24 to 26, 2009, a group of 33 Reformed Church in America women and men met in Grand Rapids. Michigan, to pray, think, and dream about the possibilities for a new incarnation of the RCA's Office for Women. The meeting was hosted on behalf of the General Synod Council by GSC moderator Carol Bechtel and RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson and facilitated by Ann McKnight, a member of Hope Church in Holland, Michigan.

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This month's newsletter focuses on giving thanks. As followers of Christ, how can we be continually thankful--especially when we are going through difficult times in our lives?

I can't help but be thankful for the ways you have all blessed me with your prayers and encouraging words throughout my journey with cancer. I know without a doubt that God has worked through your prayers in so many ways. I am not alone; my brothers and sisters in Christ surround me. You are beautiful to me, and I am so thankful to God for each of you.

Look for the praise moments throughout your day and give thanks to God, who supplied them. When you gather for worship, share in thanksgiving, offering praise and celebration to God. Sing the hymn "Give Thanks" with gusto, knowing the truth of the words.

• Read more.

By Stacey Midge

"For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." --Isaiah 55:12

The city of Schenectady is a lot greener this summer, thanks to the Missioners Garden Project of First Reformed Church. Church members, residents and staff of the YWCA, a Girl Scout troop, and community residents have come together with rakes and spades to create spaces that are both beautiful and literally fruitful.

"Contemporary spiritual people are looking for a faith that expresses itself in action," says Bill Levering, senior pastor at First Reformed. He says the garden project is only one of many opportunities for church members to live out their faith in tangible ways, both locally and globally. The congregation also organizes groups of volunteers throughout the year to serve in local agencies, holds annual mission trips for youth, and will be sending a group of church members to South Africa in October to serve and build relationships with a hospice and orphanage the congregation supports financially.

• Read more.

A group of leaders from the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) recently joined RCA missionaries Marlin and Sally Vis for a week-long pilgrimage and educational tour of the Holy Land including visits to historic and sacred sites in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank.

Rev. Jerry Dykstra, executive director of the CRC, and Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the RCA, were part of this leadership group and saw this as an opportunity for the two denominations to come together and experience first-hand the challenges that Christian leaders face in this part of the world.

• Read more of this article.
• Read reflections from the trip by Wes Granberg-Michaelson: Walking Paths of Suffering, Pools of Healing, Signs of Hope, The Significance of Insignificant Places, True Religion
• Join in a pilgrimage with Marlin and Sally Vis
• Stand in Solidarity with Christians in the Middle East on a Peacemaking Trip

The General Synod Council (GSC), meeting October 16-18, 2009, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, focused much of its time on the future of the RCA. GSC serves the General Synod and assemblies of the RCA as the program agent for mission and ministry and as the General Synod's executive committee.

The General Synod Commissions on Christian Unity, History, Christian Action, Theology, Christian Education and Discipleship, Race and Ethnicity, Church Order, and Christian Worship and representatives from the Commission on Nominations also met at this time, a practice begun several years ago to encourage collaboration among commissions and between the commissions and GSC.

On Friday and Saturday mornings, GSC and the commission members met to review the ongoing classes' discussions and the upcoming classes' votes regarding the ratification of the Belhar Confession as a fourth standard of unity for the RCA.

GSC members and commissioners also engaged in an extensive discussion that concluded with clear encouragement to GSC to combine a future General Synod meeting with a missional/experiential event similar to Mission 2000 as well as to consider how an event might be one part of a church-wide discernment process (through the work of all its assemblies) regarding the future of its call to mission and ministry in its North American context.

The cooperation and interaction between the RCA commissions and GSC continues to be a valuable community-building element of the fall meetings.

• Read more.

By Tim Meendering

Our church, Fourth Reformed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is 134 years old. It could have easily died of natural causes in its urban setting, but God intervened to revitalize this congregation through an intense focus on community transformation. One shoot that has emerged from this focus is New City Neighbors, a two-year-old nonprofit ministry that develops partnerships with neighbors, churches, and ministries so that a variety of community ministries will be increasingly effective, expanded, and developed.

• Read more of Fourth Reformed's story.
• Watch a video about Fourth Reformed's revitalization.

The October issue of Perspectives Journal, guest edited by Arika Theule-Van Dam, features pieces by a host of young women including Kate Kooyman, Jill Carattini, Dustyn Elizabeth Keepers, Amanda Munroe, Allison Backous, and Elizabeth Ann Brown Hardeman.

• See the full contents

A new video tells the story of Fourth Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and their revitalization journey.

• Watch Becoming Home.
• To order a copy of this video (in DVD format), please contact Joann Koning (jkoning@rca.org).

When the youth group from New Hope Reformed Church in Powell, Ohio, traveled to Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, New York, for a service project in July, they thought they knew what to expect. The youth group had been to Old First four years earlier to help out with painting, replastering, and refinishing work. They expected to do more physical work at the church this summer.

They didn't expect to meet Joe and Lacey.

When they arrived in Brooklyn, Daniel Meeter, pastor of Old First, asked the group if they would be open to letting two homeless men who'd been attending Old First stay at the church with them.

"For me personally that was a big leap of faith," says Bob Cline, New Hope's youth pastor. "Growing up in rural Ohio, we haven't had many experiences around homeless people."

• Read more.

Being in Galilee grounds the story of Jesus, and unlocks my imagination. It makes a difference, at least to me, to see the hills, rocks, water, pathways, and places where the Word became flesh. On top of mount Arbel, we looked out across the Sea of Galilee, and to the villages on its northwestern shore--Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Korazin--where so much of Jesus' ministry was concentrated. I thought of all that occurred in this small area that has echoed and been retold for centuries in every corner of the globe. Place matters. The concrete becomes universal.

The appearance of Jesus, after the resurrection, to the disciples on the beach, when they were fishing, is one of my favorite stories in all of Scripture. Our group sat by the rocky shore of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Capernaum, and read that account from John, which ends with Jesus' question and words to Peter, three times--"Do you love me?" "Feed my sheep." Then we had time just to walk, pray, and reflect. Those words felt real.

• Read more.

We've all heard sermons--some of us have preached them--about the irony of Jesus being born in a humble stable. But being here in Bethlehem, especially after having been in Jerusalem, creates fresh insights. Bethlehem was a small village, and of little significance compared to Jerusalem, the center of religious, cultural, and economic life. The "stable," which was probably a cave in the lower level of a house, meant that the Word became flesh in an uncomfortable place in a marginal village. Jesus and his family owned neither the place where he was born nor the tomb where his body was laid.

The Church of the Nativity is a composite of Orthodox and Catholic churches built over the site thought to be the place of Jesus' birth. After visiting there, we went to see part of Bethlehem's present realities, the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. It's one of those refugee camps first established in 1948 for Palestinians who were driven from their villages and lands when the state of Israel was established. Names of those villages inscribed on olive wood hang from the ceiling of the social room where we met. Today the camp is a collection of crowded cinder-block homes in a labyrinth of narrow walkways. Unemployment is 75 percent. Walking through a narrow passageway, our host explained that when there are any difficulties from an individual in the camp, the Israelis will cut off the municipal flow of water to all of the 15,000 or so residents. I mentioned that such actions--punishing a population for the actions of a few individuals--are against international law, and he replied, "For us, there is no international law. It all is only words." Considering the illegal occupation that has continued for over four decades, there was little I could say in return. But I did think this: If Jesus was born in Bethlehem today, it would probably be in a refugee camp like this.

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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), in cooperation with the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church in North America, will sponsor a delegation to Palestine and Israel in April 2010.

Members of the RCA/CRC delegation will meet with Palestinian and Israeli human rights representatives and peace workers in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. They will visit Palestinian families whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by expanding Israeli settlements. They will experience CPT's work alongside Israeli and Palestinian partners firsthand and will challenge the structural violence of the occupation through nonviolent public witness.

CPT places short-term peacemaking delegations in crisis settings around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers; it has had a continuous presence in the West Bank since 1995. Initiated by Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers, CPT today enjoys broad ecumenical participation. Its ministry of biblically-based and spiritually-centered peacemaking emphasizes creative public witness, nonviolent direct action, and protection of human rights.

• Read more.
• Learn more. (PDF)
• Read Words from Wes, as Wes Granberg-Michaelson shares stories and reflections from his current trip to the Holy Land.

The pools of Bethsaida, which we read about in John 5, were close to the entrance of the temple. The lame, blind, sick, and disabled gathered there because they were not allowed into the temple. They waited for healing when the water was stirred. This is where Jesus went on his way to the temple, healing one of those who were kept outside the doors of this religious gathering. And this is where we began our day, reflecting on our prayers for healing, and wondering how well our churches look to those who remain on our margins, outside our doors.

Walking through the Old City and beyond, we made our way to a church thought to be where Caiaphas, the high priest, lived and first questioned Jesus when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing the geographical setting for the events of Good Friday and Easter allows the imagination to shape a picture of that time, rooting it in concrete reality. For me at least, it has changed how I will reflect on Holy Week.

• Read more.
  

Wes Granberg-Michaelson is currently accompanying RCA missionaries Marlin and Sally Vis on a journey through Israel/Palestine. Others on the trip include General Synod president James Seawood, General Synod vice president Don Poest, and Jerry Dykstra, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

He continues to post reflections and observations on his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/wgranberg-michaelson. Today he shares about the competing faiths in Jerusalem and how they share space with one another.

When First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, needed a source of capital to help fund major repairs and renovations, the church took a nontraditional route--they asked for government assistance.

"We have three buildings on the National and State Registers of Historic Places: our education building, the church, and the adjacent sexton's house," says Hartmut Kramer-Mills, who copastors First Reformed with his wife, Susan. Because of the historic status of their buildings, First Reformed was eligible to apply for historic preservation grants.

Last year, the church received a $50,000 planning grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust, followed by a $487,797 grant from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund. Both grants are matched funds, meaning that First Reformed must also raise funds on its own.

• Read more.

Earl James, RCA Coordinator of Multiracial Initiatives and Social Justice, created a collection of stories, principles, and strategies to help congregations launch church-based community ministries that make a difference, called Church-Based Community Ministry.

Many church leaders want to see their congregations find fresh, transformational ways to have an impact in their community.

To a large extent, the stories emerged from Earl's experience as a congregational and community leader involved in church-based community outreach. All are about launching effective, creative, church-based ministry.

• Church-Based Community Ministry.
  

Wes Granberg-Michaelson is currently accompanying RCA missionaries Marlin and Sally Vis on a journey through Israel/Palestine. Others on the trip include General Synod president James Seawood, General Synod vice president Don Poest, and Jerry Dykstra, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

These are Wes's reflections from one day in Jerusalem.

The sun was just breaking the horizon as we walked through Herod's Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem. It was 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, and we were headed for the Via Dolorosa to walk the Stations of the Cross, following the way where it is thought that Jesus carried the cross from Pilate's palace to Golgotha. A liturgy prepared by a Palestinian Christian provided moving prayers that we recited at each of the 15 stations while those living among the shops and church buildings along these crowded, narrow streets were still barely awake.

• Read more.

Dear Intercessors,

God's timing always amazes me. It shows me that God is truly in control of all things at all times. Perhaps you have a difficult issue or choice that you have to pray through. Look back on how God has prepared you for this time. Do you see God's fingerprints on your life as it has led up to this moment? I do.

On September 11, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I heard this news after the theme of this newsletter was chosen; after I decided to lead a Bible study on Max Lucado's new book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear; after I received a phone call from a prayer warrior who told me God put me on his heart with the message to stand strong and lean into the Lord; and after I was notified that I was matched with a coach (who is truly a godsend). I am going to have some tough decisions to make in the upcoming weeks, but even when it feels like chaos, I know that things are in order and in control by God who loves me truly.

• Read more.
  

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia's island of Sumatra on September 30, striking near the provincial capital, Padang, a city of 900,000 people. A day later, a second earthquake struck. The quakes measured 7.6 and 6.8 on the Richter scale.

The United Nations estimates that more than one thousand people have perished in the quake. The number is expected to rise in coming days as the rubble is cleared and a more accurate count of those missing is compiled. Overworked rescuers continue to frantically search through the rubble of schools and other buildings.

Reformed Church World Service is responding to this crisis with its partner, Church World Service, which has permanent staff in Padang. CWS responded immediately, sending two truckloads of relief items from its warehouse to the affected area. Early distribution included plastic mats, tarpaulins, family tents, relief kits, baby care kits, and a warehouse-sized tent.

How You Can Help

• Pray for the people of Sumatra, Indonesia, especially for those who have lost loved ones or their homes. Pray also for Church World Service staff in Indonesia and for the many rescue workers who are working at the edge of exhaustion.

• Give to provide food, temporary shelter, and medical supplies that will be so desperately needed in the coming days. Send contributions, designated "Indonesia Earthquake 2009" to Reformed Church in America, P.O. Box 19381, Newark, NJ 07195-1938 or, in Canada, to Regional Synod of Canada, 201 Paradise Road N., Hamilton, ON L8S 3T3. To donate by credit card, click the "Make a Donation" button, or call the RCA Michigan Regional Center at (800) 968-3943.
• Read more.

The RCA's denominational communication strategy is evolving in response to instructions from General Synod.

RCA members are invited to take part in a survey about communication preferences and priorities. Results from the survey will be key in developing a combined print publication that includes elements from the Church Herald and RCA Today. Take the survey online.

Several aspects of the Church Herald have been continued online though the magazine published its last issue in September:

• Read RCA church news at www.rca.org/churchlife.
• Read religious news from around the world at www.rca.org/globalnews.
• Check out classifieds at www.rca.org/classifieds.

Post a story about your church--whether baptisms, professions of faith, a big anniversary, or something else--by emailing churchlife@rca.org. Post a free classified ad by emailing classifieds@rca.org.

The fall issue of RCA Today details more of the upcoming changes; the magazine is now available online at www.rcatoday.org.

Connecting People and Resources. Via Helpline, Jane Schuyler researches and recommends resources in order to direct congregations to printed materials, DVDs, websites, programs, and people that meet their needs. 

• For more current Helpline entries, check out the Helpline news feed  
• Find out more about news feeds.
• See a full list of all the RCA's news feeds.

Have a question? Email helpline@rca.org--We have answers!

This originally appeared on Earl's Musings on Diversity and Justice blog.

As you may know, I serve on the RCA's Belhar Implementation Team. Our mandate is to assist the church in its discussions on the Belhar. We speak with many leaders from all classes. They describe for us how ready they believe members of their classis are for discussion on the Belhar, and we try to provide them with resources to equip members of their classis for upcoming Belhar discussions.

Below are five topics around which we commonly receive questions. With this blog post, I am not trying to persuade readers to vote for or against the Belhar--I want to provide additional information and perspectives that might enrich the upcoming discussions.

• Read more. 
  

The fall issue of RCA Today magazine is now online! Check it out at www.rcatoday.org.

In this issue:

• A California church paints to jump-start neighborhood renewal
• A road trip works toward racial reconciliation
• A pastor reflects on a week spent volunteering in West Africa
• An update on denominational communication
• And more

Nine denominations banded together for a "building blitz" this spring, fixing up 12 hurricane-stricken homes in Little Woods, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.

The homes were damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. "We were amazed at the extent of the damage to the New Orleans area, even three to four years after the hurricanes," says Louise Schumann, who organized a group of volunteers from her church, Bethany Reformed in Redlands, California. "We were blessed to be able to assist in the limited way that we could."

Schumann was one of 33 volunteers from four RCA churches to join the rebuilding effort, which spanned four weeks in April and May. The RCA also contributed funds for the project.

The team from Bethany Reformed worked the last week of the four-week build. "There were between 100 and 200 volunteers from various churches for the week, and the same number of volunteers had been working for each of the previous three weeks," Schumann says. Most of the week, the volunteers were divided into teams to work at various houses, but the whole group got together three times: to pray for the project, to visit a completed home and present the keys to the displaced family as they moved back in, and to celebrate with homeowners the progress that had been made over the four-week build.

• Read more.

A new batch of resources is now available online. These resources are mailed to churches to support them in mission and ministry. Highlights from this mailing include:

• Belhar worship resources
• At Home with the Word booklet
• Christmas gift ideas
• Creation Care grant information

Read more about the September/October mailing.

On September 15, 2009, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the 2008 ruling of the San Francisco Superior Court that the Classis of Central California, as an assembly within the Reformed Church in America (RCA), had the authority to supersede the consistory of Miraloma Community Church, an RCA congregation, on grounds authorized by the Book of Church Order, and to appoint interim trustees to manage the church and its operations. This came after the former consistory of Miraloma had attempted to disaffiliate from the RCA in 2007.

Both the RCA and the classis have a long history of supporting Miraloma, a congregation that previously had supported church-wide mission and provided leaders for service to higher assemblies. Since its inception, the church has been an integral part of the classis. After the consistory hired lawyers and attempted to disaffiliate from the classis and RCA and retain all financial and real estate assets, the classis initiated litigation.

Both the trial court's ruling in 2008 and the Court of Appeal's recent opinion affirmed that the classis followed the Book of Church Order and implemented supersession appropriately. The language of the appeals court decision is favorable to the RCA and to all denominations with polities like the RCA's.

• Read more.

An update on Women's Ministries and the Consultation on the Future of Women's Ministry is now available from Ken Eriks and Tim Byrnes.

Worship facilities in the United States spend more than $3 billion annually on energy costs. Improving the energy efficiency of America's houses of worship by just 10 percent would save nearly 2 billion kilowatt-hours of energy each year, preventing more than one million tons of greenhouse gas emissions and representing a cost savings of about $315 million in a year.

The Environmental Protection Agency's energy tracking tool, Portfolio Manager, now allows churches to track energy use and related gas emissions, set targets for investment priorities, and verify efficiency improvements.

Learn more about Portfolio Manager and EnergyStar for congregations.

The 2009 General Synod commended several occasional liturgies to RCA congregations for their use. A communion liturgy, Formula of Agreement liturgy, Lima Eucharistic Liturgy, and Church Union Liturgy are all included in PDF and RTF format.

• Occasional liturgies.
• Other liturgies and orders of worship.
  

The Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church recently began a partnership to work closely together in the area of disability concerns.

"The mutual purpose of these two ministries in working together will be, individually and in partnership, to help CRC and RCA churches to become hospitable, inclusive, and healthy communities," says their ministry agreement.

Through this partnership, both denominations also see the opportunity for churches to reach outside their walls as well. "Intentionality is the key since people with disabilities often feel on the margins of society and church," noted the Rev. Mark Stephenson, director of the CRC's Disability Concerns office.

Joining Stephenson in this partnership from the RCA is the Rev. Terry DeYoung. DeYoung, who recently accepted the position of coordinator for disability concerns for the RCA, will be responsible for coordination of disability concerns within the denomination while working closely with regional synods, classes, and individual congregations.

• Read more.

On Sunday, September 13, at Upper Ridgewood Community Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey, we celebrated Doug Fromm's 25 years of ministry there as well as his 45 years of ministry in the Reformed Church in America. Former members of the church came from around the country for a dinner on Saturday evening. Sunday morning the sanctuary was bursting as Doug delivered his last sermon, entitled "A Final Word." He urged those present never to take the Christian faith for granted in a culture that wants to trivialize religious practice. His successor, Nolan Palsma, was also present, and he and Doug presided together over communion. As the congregation came forward, members received the bread from Doug and the wine from Nolan. I've never seen a pastoral transition quite like this one.

• Read more.

"We are thirsty!" a man cries, crying for his whole Orma village. It is a cry that is repeated in villages throughout drought ridden Kenya.

Each day Kenyans walk for miles to reach clean water. Women and girls make the long trip constantly, carrying heavy jugs on their heads or backs so their parched families--and the sheep and goats which provide their nourishment--can survive.

Can you imagine life in Kenya? No faucets or hoses, no spigots or sprinklers or hand-pumps, and little rain. No easy access to water. Clean water. A resource all God's children need to survive. We can help bring clean water to the people of Kenya by helping them dig wells.

• Learn more.
• Donate now.

Did you know that you can receive missionaries' Dear Friends letters via email? By choosing to receive these letters electronically, you are helping RCA Global Mission to be a good steward of the gifts it receives.

Dear Friends letters are a great way to stay up-to-date with various RCA mission projects. They often provide specific prayer requests and praises to help you support RCA missionaries in prayer.

To subscribe to a missionary's Dear Friends letters, go to www.rca.org and select "Missionary Information" from the drop-down box under "Mission." This will bring you to a list of RCA mission personnel. Click on the name of the missionary whose letters you'd like to receive, then click on "Receive missionary's letters electronically."

Dear Intercessors,

Each one of us suffers from bouts of anxiety or sadness at one time or another, but there are many who struggle continuously with the debilitating prisons of depression or anxiety. God desires to free us from these struggles. I don't have all the answers on how to become free from emotional stress, but I do know that prayer is the key to healing and freedom.

So how do we pray for those who suffer emotionally?

• Read more. 
  

The world has changed dramatically since the early days of the modern missionary movement. Today over 70 percent of all Christians live in the southern hemisphere. North America is increasingly a secular society and increasingly a mission field in need of the good news of the gospel. Nonetheless, though strategies and tools may change, the mission principles that have served the Reformed Church in America's mission program so well over the past 150 years continue to do so today.

• Read the principles and the stories that show them at work.
  

When RCA missionaries first set foot in Chiapas, Mexico, many tribal people had never heard the gospel. Today, the church there is thriving and sending out missionaries of its own. In this brief video, Vern and Carla Sterk look back on 40 years of mission service in Chiapas.

Ministry in Chiapas Comes Full Circle from Vimeo.

• See more Global Mission videos in their online resource section
  

Earl James, the coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice, periodically writes notes regarding social justice issues. Three new notes are now available:

• Helping People Climb Out of Poverty: A Critical Question for Church-Based Community Outreach
• Restorers: A Ministry of Long-Term, Sustainable Change
• In, To, or With: Three Ways Congregations Align with Their Communities

You can also read Earl's blog, Musings on Diversity and Justice.

• Subscribe to the blog's news feed 
• What is a news feed?

Would $500 help your congregation do more to care for God’s creation?

How would your church use $500 to benefit the environment and your community? What are you doing now to model good environmental stewardship? What else do you dream of doing? Do you want to restore an environment that’s damaged? Educate your congregation? Find more ways to cut energy usage?

We’ll award $500 to one RCA church that presents ideas for using the grant money that are creative, inspiring, and easy for other churches to put into practice. In addition, we’ll use the stories and ideas you send in to inspire other congregations to duplicate your efforts.

• Find out more about the Caring for Creation grant
• Apply for the grant today!

The RCA Mission Volunteer Program offers hundreds of ways for people to serve in North America, and around the world. Are you interested in volunteering? Check out the Current Volunteer Opportunities brochure (can also be used as a bulletin insert).

• Current Volunteer Opportunities (PDF).

Wes hoped that this reflection would appear in the final issue of the Church Herald, which was released last week. Since it did not, he wants to share the message through other communication tools. This reflection will also be printed in the fall 2009 issue of RCA Today.

During a family birthday party near Lake Michigan, I walked to the beach and ran into a woman in the RCA who lives in the same retirement complex as my in-laws. "I always read the Church Herald from cover to cover," she told me. "What am I going to do now?"

I'm sure that's a question many of you are asking.

Change is difficult, and few places are witnessing the dynamics of technological change more dramatically than the publishing world. Magazines and even leading newspapers struggle to stay viable, and many have closed. Meanwhile, a whole new world of electronic communication and social networking has exploded, changing everything from buying books to electing presidents.

The Reformed Church in America is navigating these rapid currents of change as we explore effective and open means of communication for our future.

• Read more.
  

The World Council of Churches, an ecumenical body of which the RCA is a member, elected its seventh general secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit, on August 27.

"This task I really feel is the call of God. I feel that we have a lot to do together," says Tveit, a Norwegian theologian and pastor.

"Olav's presentation to the Central Committee cast a vision of joy and hope for the future of the WCC, and he was warmly received as general secretary elect," says Gretchen Schoon Tanis, who represents the RCA on the WCC's Central Committee.

"The election of Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit is an encouragement for future ecumenical work around the world," says RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson. "Olav will bring fresh vision and energy to this calling. He'll work to strengthen the witness and relationships of the WCC's member churches as well as reaching out to those who are not part of this fellowship. I've had the opportunity to know and work with Olav Tveit. He listens carefully, and he cares deeply, longing for churches to fulfill our Lord’s vision in John 17--that 'we may be one so that the world will believe.'"

Since 2002, Tveit has served as general secretary of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations. He is a member of the WCC Faith and Order Plenary Commission and the board of directors and executive committee of the Christian Council of Norway.

Tveit will replace outgoing general secretary Samuel Kobia, who has held the post since 2004. Kobia is from the Methodist Church in Kenya.

The World Council of Churches includes 349 denominations from Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions, representing 560 million Christians in 110 countries.

A conference commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage to New York will feature speakers from the Netherlands and the U.S. and will include sessions in both Michigan and New Jersey.

"The Colonial Clergy Conference: Dutch Traditions and American Realities" is sponsored by the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey; the Collegiate Church of New York; the Van Raalte Institute in Holland, Michigan; the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands; and the Reformed Church in America Archives.

The conference begins in Holland, Michigan, at Hope College's Haworth Center on September 27 and 28. It continues on October 24 at First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

For a list of speakers, additional event details, and registration information, visit www.nbts.edu/clergyconference. Registration fees are $20 to $25.

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding the Belhar Confession is now updated. Find out the role confessions play in the life of the RCA, why the Belhar is so important, and what the Belhar would look like in the RCA if it's adopted.

• Belhar Confession FAQ

This article addresses a significant policy change for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a Formula of Agreement partner of the RCA. In the future, world religious news will be available in a new section of our website.

At its biennial Assembly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a paper on human sexuality and voted to allow people in monogamous same-sex relationships to serve as leaders of the church.

The assembly met August 17-23 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"The assembly adopted 676-338--precisely two-thirds of those voting--"Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," the ELCA's tenth social statement, with minor editorial amendments," says Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the denomination. "The social statement addresses marriage, same-gender relationships, families, protecting children, friendships, commitment, social responsibility, and moral discernment.

"Regarding same-gender committed relationships, the social statement says that this church is not in agreement and recognizes the different perspectives which are present among us."

The assembly also adopted resolutions related to homosexuality and its ministry policies. "The actions direct that changes be made to churchwide policy documents to make it possible for those in committed same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA," Hanson says. The decision makes it possible for a congregation that desires to call a gay or lesbian clergy member as pastor to do so; not all congregations agree with the decision or will be putting it into practice.

The actual resolutions read:

RESOLVED, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships.

RESOLVED, that the ELCA commit itself for people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders in the church.

A further resolution agreed to respect differing viewpoints on the subject and granted congregations flexibility in applying the new policy.

Previously, the ELCA allowed people who are gay and lesbian to serve in ordained ministry if they remained celibate.

In a letter to ecumenical partners, including the RCA, Hanson wrote, "I invite you into important, thoughtful, prayerful conversation about what all of this means for our life in mission together."

• Read the ELCA's paper, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust"

Back in April, more than 1,000 people spent four days in Washington, D.C. immersed in social justice issues. They lobbied their congressional representatives, attended workshops, and listened to plenary speakers. It was all part of the Mobilization to End Poverty, an event that was hosted by Sojourners, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the biblical call to social justice.

Eight individuals from the RCA attended the Mobilization to End Poverty, with financial support from the office of Social Justice and from the Social Justice Stimulus Team.

• Read some reflections about the Mobilization to End Poverty.
  

One member of Lakeview Community Church in Rochester, New York, has made two special contributions to the church building. "Lakeview Community Church has been blessed by the God-given talents and dedication of Dave Schuth. He is our own special Bezalel," says Don Barry, a member of Lakeview's greater consistory, citing Exodus 31.

In the early 1960s, Lakeview Community began a remodeling project: building a new sanctuary, narthex, and pastor's study; replacing the heating system; and converting the old sanctuary into Sunday school rooms. The building committee faced severe financial and design challenges, causing many delays in the project. Committee meetings were frequent and lengthy.

The interior design of the sanctuary was always the last item on the meeting agenda, so discussion was generally skipped in favor of adjournment. Frustrated with the lack of attention given to the sanctuary, Schuth, who served as chairman of the interior decoration subcommittee, finally asked the committee if he might make a cross for the sanctuary. The committee gave him permission, and Schuth set to work. He hewed the large oak cross by hand.

In 2009, another committee was formed, this time to upgrade the landscaping at the front of the church. The committee was asked to consider placing a piece of art near the doorway, and someone suggested using the Reformed Church in America logo. Schuth was asked to consider the idea. A few months later, he had created an outline of the logo using lengths of steel rod, which was then mounted on the wall of the church near the front door. "True to form, Dave proceeded with creativity and skill to produce yet another tribute to his God," says Barry.

In June, the church held an outdoor service to dedicate the new landscaping along with Schuth's steel silhouette of the RCA logo.

The 2009 Minutes of General Synod and the Book of Church Order are now available online.

• Access the Minutes
• Access the Book of Church Order

Each summer, Project Timothy helps connect RCA high schoolers with mission opportunities across North America and abroad. This year, participants traveled to Hollywood, California; Brooklyn, New York; Houston, Texas; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Tokyo, Japan. They served in a variety of ways, including disaster relief, children's ministry, painting and other restoration work, and serving in soup kitchens.

Project Timothy 2009 began on July 9 with an orientation at Providence Christian College in Ontario, California. Students spent July 12 to 20 at their various mission sites, and then returned to Ontario for a two-day debriefing.

Through Project Timothy, students learn more about themselves, teamwork, their faith, and their place in the church.

• Read what this year's participants had to say.

Twenty innocent men in Chiapas, Mexico, have been pardoned by the Mexican Supreme Court and were released from prison on August 12.

Supporters of RCA mission work in Chiapas have long prayed for the release of these prisoners, who were arrested in 1998. They were implicated in the Acteal massacre, when an attack on Zapatista gunmen also killed 45 innocent people, including many women and children. Eighty-three men were convicted; during more than 11 years in prison, five of them have confessed and named four others. The remaining 78 men have pleaded innocence.

RCA missionaries have visited the men in jail, advocated for their release, and helped to support their families in their absence.

Al and Sue Schreuder, RCA missionaries in Chiapas, report that the men are now staying in a hotel and will likely be relocated instead of being allowed to return home. “The released prisoners met with government officials all day in Tuxtla. The result of the meeting is that they are to remain in the hotel for 15 days; they will be housed and fed at government expense. During the intervening time, the government will try to find a place to resettle the released prisoners, so that they will not return to their home villages. This is to avoid confrontations, potential violence, and to assure that peace will be kept in Chenalho.”

An additional 37 men were to have been released within the next week, but that release is now pending another review.

• Read more.

Typhoon Morakot, which dumped 118 inches of rain on the worst-hit areas of Taiwan on August 7 and 8, has caused massive flooding and mudslides throughout the island nation.

Landslides destroyed bridges, roads, train tracks, and phone lines, severely hampering rescue efforts. More than 7,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 31,000 people have been evacuated from villages hit by flooding or mudslides. Officials expect the death toll to exceed 500.

RCA missionary Judy Estell, who teaches at Yu-Shan Theological College and Seminary in Hualien, Taiwan, reports, "Sixteen of our students' homes have suffered damage, many very serious. So far, we have not heard of any deaths in our immediate student body but know that our board chairman's church and village were hit very hard. In fact, no word has been heard from that area yet."

"Even though the eye of the storm hit us here in Hualien, we thank the Lord that we were spared the damage that all the rain brought to the southern part of the island."

Reformed Church World Service will continue to be in contact with its partner in Taiwan, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) as well as with ecumenical partners including Church World Service and will assess the need and capacity for assistance as more information becomes available.

The August/September issue of Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought features an essay on happiness and religion by David Myers; fiction by Thom Fiet; book recommendations from a host of people including Max Stackhouse, Richard Mouw, and Karin Granberg-Michaelson; and much more.

• Take a look at the entire contents.

Dr. Colleen Aalsburg Wiessner died of a heart attack August 5 while vacationing. She was 55 years old. Colleen’s husband is the Rev. Dr. Charles Wiessner, pastor of the First Reformed Church of Cary in Cary, North Carolina. They have two adult sons.

She served faithfully on the RCA Council for Christian Education for many years. Many of us have used the creative resources she produced--most often collaboratively while she mentored others. Hand in Hand: Helping Children Celebrate Diversity (just revised by Faith Alive), Benjamin Brody’s Backyard Bag, Singing Mountains and Clapping Trees, some quarters of LiFE curriculum, and Fabric of Faith (and many others with Phyllis Vos Wezeman), are just a small representation of her abundant creativity.

Many have already noted how truly gifted and creative Colleen was. Some recall an innovative planning process she led at the RCA Council of Christian Education. Some remember working with Colleen as one of the original Children and Worship trainers. Others think of more projects she gave to passionately: Walk With Me curriculum (summer quarter on Joseph); an intergenerational project for a new church start; a workshop at APCE; and much more.

A hymn text and tune by Colleen can be found here: www.hymnary.org/person/Wiessner_CA

A memorial service will take place on August 16 at First Reformed Church of Cary in North Carolina. Condolences may be made online at memorialwebsites.legacy.com/colleenaalsburgwiessner.

Alan and Sue Schreuder, who have served as RCA missionaries with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico since 1980, tell of many reasons to praise God for the growth of leaders in the church in Chiapas.

• Read the details.
• Learn more about the Schreuders or make a financial gift to support their ministry at www.rca.org/schreuder.

Retreating from the routine has always been a gift for me. Even the simple act of going out for a cup of coffee with a friend--maybe even Jesus--takes me away on an adventure of sorts. The getaway helps me refuel and refocus.

Retreating can be done in a myriad of ways, usually for the purpose of reconnecting and centering our relationship with God. Distractions can unbalance our lives quickly. We may wonder if we have kept God at the center of our lives. Have we been listening to God's voice for guidance and encouragement?

• Read more.
  

The Annville Institute in Annville, Kentucky, is celebrating its centennial this year. In 1909, RCA pastor William A. Worthington started the Annville Institute to provide an education for children and teens who otherwise would not have received one. At that time public education was virtually non-existent in Appalachia.

The school closed in 1978, but the RCA continued to serve in the Annville community through Jackson County Ministries (JCM). Today, JCM staff continue to work to meet physical and spiritual needs in the region.

• Read more of this story.
• Learn more about Frank and Darlene Van Hoeve.

Rachel Bruce was in shock after visiting some of her students' MySpace pages. "Her sweet little street urchins from her Kid's Corner club were posting unbelievable stuff in their personal profiles," says Barry Bruce, Rachel's father.

He has ministered for more than twenty years with the people of Hawaiian Gardens, a small city in Los Angeles County that is notorious for gang activity, but even he was taken aback.

• Read more of this story.

Earl James, the RCA's coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice, is writing a blog where he will reflect on issues of diversity and justice.

• Musings on Diversity and Justice, a blog by Earl James
  
• Subscribe to the blog's news feed 
• What is a news feed?

The periodic resource mailing to churches has been duplicated online. It contains information on numerous resources to support congregations in their mission and ministries.

Included in this mailing is information on APCE's next educational conference; a heads-up on the changes in distribution of the synod Minutes, Book of Church Order, and Directory; fliers on disability ministries, peacemaking in Kenya, and pilgrimages to the Holy Land; and much more.

• Access the resource mailing.

Also now available online is a new resource, The Top 10 Questions about God and How to Respond to Them. New believers, and some who are not so new, often have lots of questions about Christianity. The Top 10 Questions about God provides biblical answers to some of their most-asked questions. Designed to engage heads, hearts, and hands and feet in transformational learning, it's appropriate to use in mentoring relationships, new-member classes, and small group settings.

• Download The Top 10 Questions. (PDF)

by Pedro J. Windsor, pastor of La Capilla del Barrio in Chicago, Illinois

La Capilla del Barrio (The Neighborhood Chapel), in partnership with the Alliance of Local Service Organizations (ALSO), has been on the front lines of the CeaseFire Campaign to end the shootings and killings in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park areas of Chicago. For the past three years, La Capilla has headed up community mobilization efforts for CeaseFire. When there is a shooting or killing in the area, La Capilla mobilizes a community response by leading a prayer vigil at the very site where the shooting occurred. I believe that the value of the prayer vigils and marches is to confront the "powers and principalities" of violence that plague our community.

As part of La Capilla's efforts to seek the peace of the city (Jeremiah 29:7), the families of La Capilla sponsor an annual family retreat and invite 11 to 15 gang enforcers--the shooters--each year. When we first thought of this project, our first question was, "Where can we hold it?" The King's Camp came to mind; it seemed like the best place to host the event.

• Read more.

A new feature to rca.org is an online chat that you can use to connect with the website staff with a quick question. You can find this feature in the Share & Connect area of the right hand sidebar.

If the website staff is online, you can interact with us directly. If we're not online, post your question anyway and we'll get back to you as soon as we're able. You can email webservant@rca.org or helpline@rca.org if you'd prefer email. You can also reach us by phone at 800-968-3943.

• Question? Chat with us

"We have learned that the recognition of shared suffering is a powerful tool in bringing people together," say RCA missionaries Marlin and Sally Vis.

Until recently the Vises lived and served in Israel/Palestine, and they now organize and lead trips there for RCA members. On one of these trips, the Vises introduced the travelers to Rami, a Jewish man whose fourteen-year-old daughter was killed by suicide bombers. Rami has connected with a Muslim man named Ibrahim whose eight-year-old son was run over by a car driven by a Jewish settler living illegally in the West Bank.

"The settler didn't slow down, didn't stop to help, was never arrested or charged with this hit-and-run, very possibly intentional, killing," says Marlin Vis. "Now Rami and Ibrahim travel together to speak, as brothers, of the need for Jews and Palestinians to stop killing one another.

• Read more of this story.
• Read Marlin and Sally Vises’ blog at marlinsallyvis.typepad.com
• Visit their RCA webpage: www.rca.org/vis.
• Learn more about Christ in Context, their pilgrimage experience to the Holy Land.

About twenty RCA volunteers who traveled to Niger earlier this year weren't able to get as much done as they'd planned on building a guesthouse for the Evangelical Church of the Republic of Niger (EERN). But their trip was a great success in other ways.

"When I was there a year ago, Chako [an EERN leader] asked what our volunteers intended to do," says RCA missionary Bruce Hawley. Hawley serves as a liaison between mission partners and the work groups who come to serve. "I responded we were going to do what the EERN asked us to do."

• Read more of this story
• Read more about the Hawleys
• Read more about Niger

The minutes and supporting documents for the General Synod Council's post-synod meeting are now available on the GSC page of the website or directly here (they're all PDFs):

• Minutes
• Appendix A
• Appendix B

I often get asked that question. As an answer, here's what this last week looked like. It was a fairly typical week for me, if there is such a thing. Here's my week at a glance:

Monday, July 6
I had lunch with Peter Borgdorff, the former executive director of the Christian Reformed Church, who has continued working on ecumenical efforts for the CRC, including the Belhar Confession. He's also currently serving as president of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, which is merging with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches. All this will happen next June at a world assembly to be held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids--about 1,000 people from Reformed and Presbyterian denominations from around the world will gather at the college. Peter is playing a key role in the planning; RCA staff colleagues are also assisting.

Peter and I had a lot to cover, including the next steps around the Belhar and preparations for the WCRC Assembly. He's become a great friend over these past years.

The afternoon was mostly absorbed by a conference call planning the RCA's consultation in September on the future work of our Office for Women.

• Read more.
  

Everyone is affected by the downturn in the economy in some way. How can we as Christians keep one another encouraged through prayer?

God is still in control, and he tells us to pray about the things that trouble us, but we still need to remember to praise God through this economic storm. God is the one who calms the storm. Unfortunately, we don't hear very much in the media about how God is calming the economic storm in peoples' lives, but it is happening.

I am sure you know of someone--perhaps many people--who are affected by the economy. How can we as individuals or as a church be praying for them? This issue will give you some ideas on how to pray people through these tough economic times. 

• Read more.
  

The RCA Mission Volunteer Program offers hundreds of ways for people to serve in North America and around the world.

Are you interested in volunteering? Check out the Current Volunteer Opportunities brochure (can also be used as a bulletin insert).

• Current Volunteer Opportunities.

Central College has launched a search for its next president, and their Board of Trustees is encouraging expressions of interest in this opportunity for engaged academic leadership.

The search is in response to Dr. David Roes' decision to retire from the presidency at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year. Dr. Roes' impressive 12-year tenure will offer the next president a platform of accomplishment from which to engage the entire college community in focusing on Central's future.

• Read more of this story.
• Learn more from Central College.

On Friday, June 19, Western Theological Seminary suffered significant flooding when a major storm driven by 60 mph winds settled over west Michigan, deluging the area with over 8 inches of rain within a few hours.

The garden level of the DeWitt Theological Center caught the brunt of the flooding with over three feet of standing water. As if the devastation itself wasn't enough, the seminary was greatly disheartened to learn that the damage is not covered by their insurance, with early clean-up and repair estimates suggesting it will cost roughly $300,000 to get the seminary back to full operation.

• Read more of this story.
• Donate now to the relief effort.

This article and photo appeared in the Grand Rapids Press on June 29. It was written by Juanita Westaby and is reprinted here with permission.

The best thing about the bakery isn't the chocolate peanut butter bars Christian Smith is crafting. "It's getting to do something rather than sit around all day," the Creston-area 12-year-old said. "It's being around the other kids in the neighborhood and having something to do in the summer."

The kids at Breaktime are entrepreneurs who spend mornings in a hot kitchen. Afternoons are spent waiting on customers at the Breaktime Bakery, at Fourth Reformed Church, 1225 Union St. NE. They also clean and mop the kitchen and take inventory.

At the end of the summer, they will head to the Wisconsin Dells with the proceeds.

The seven boys and five girls do not aspire to be bakers or own a restaurant. Yet in the past couple of years, when the nonprofit organization New City Neighbors put out the word to sign up for Breaktime Bakery, the 12 slots were gone in 10 days.

• Read more.
  

Lew Scudder writes from Cyprus:

What a complicated business language is. There’s grammar, rhetoric, word choice and God knows what all. In an ever more verbose world, leave aside the writer’s genius creatively to invent something that truly stands out against the cacophony. But as a wannabe decent translator, I’ve often been confronted by, of all things, the often tiny preposition. In every language under heaven (or every one that I’ve encountered or heard reported about thus far) the preposition is the linchpin of meaning and sense.

Read where this leads in Lew's latest Morning Land Meditation:

• Access the PDF

A new highlighted Caring for Creation resource features Rebecca Barnes-Davies, author of studies "What Would Jesus Drive?" and "Global Climate Change: Facts and Solutions" discusses some simple steps we can all take—as individuals and within our communities and congregations—to help ensure the survival of God’s creation. Her new book, 50 Ways to Help Save the Earth: How You and Your Church Can Make a Difference, is now available from Westminster John Knox Press.

• Caring for Creation 
• Click here to listen to a recent interview with the author.

Three new calls to worship are now posted in the Belhar Study Center. Written by E.J. Emerson, pastor of Reformed Church of Keyport in Keyport, New Jersey, the calls to worship include the the three themes of the Belhar Confession: unity, reconciliation, and justice.

• Belhar Calls to Worship
• Worship resources for the Belhar Confession: creeds, hymns, litanies, etc.
• Belhar Study Center
  

"We like to think of ourselves as a mission center on Manhattan Island," says Charlie Morris, senior pastor of Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Manhattan, New York. "We are shifting to become a place where people come to fill others with Christ's blessing instead of focusing on filling themselves."

Fort Washington emphasizes connecting with and serving the community--it was the first element of a five-year strategic plan adopted several years ago.

• Read more of this story.
• See more stories about multiracial ministry.
• Learn more about the RCA's Multiracial Future Freed from Racism.

"Fission, Fusion, or Fizzle" was a discipleship event for youth pastors held at Camp Geneva in spring 2009. The title emerged when the RCA youth discipleship team gathered to discern how the RCA as a denomination can best equip and support youth pastors as they seek to nurture young disciples.

Many youth pastors either feel like their work is fizzling--struggling--or feel that there is fission in their ministry, meaning things are ready to blow up. The team hoped to focus the event on creating fusion in ministry. In science, fusion is the process by which the nuclei of two lighter atoms join together to form a heavier nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy in the process. Fusion in ministry causes the ministry to grow and gain momentum.

This event provided opportunities, training, and direction for youth pastors as they seek to grow healthy, strong youth groups that work together and appreciate the unique gifts God has given to every participant.

Around 30 youth pastors attended the event, representing every regional synod in the RCA. They shared stories, worshiped, discerned the future of youth ministry in the RCA, and created action steps to guide the work of the youth discipleship team.

• Read more.
• Discipleship Youth Ministry.

Wes has been traveling in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria with a delegation from the Global Christian Forum; below are some reflections he has posted on Facebook.

Monday, June 22
How Many Christians Are There in Egypt?
The answer surprised me--between 8 and 10 million. It reminded me again of the relative ignorance of many U.S. Christians to the realities, history, and challenges of their Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

Here's another question--what's the population of Cairo? I got various answers, mostly between 11 and 16 million, making it the largest city in Africa. Part of the difficulty is that it's hard to define Cairo's boundaries. In addition, it is estimated that 3 to 4 million people commute into the city from outside Cairo every day to work. Can you imagine that?

• Read more.
  

A video shown at General Synod 2009, Waters From The Same Rock, is now available online. The video chronicles the journey of Horace G. Underwood and New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

• Watch the video (scroll to the bottom).

Each of the 16 cell groups that make up Lighthouses of Oxford Valley, a network of house churches in Penndel, Pennsylvania, looks a little bit different. Most meet once a week, each with a distinct focus.

"We realize that the body has a lot of different gifts--mission, ministry, study, teaching," says Heidi Butterworth, one of the pastors at Lighthouses. "Each group tries to focus on whatever the passion of that group is. For example, a group of 20-somethings was meeting at Panera Bread, and they got into missions--now they take up nothing but mission projects. Another group feels called to prayer. Another group is a Bible study for new Christians, focused on development of the basics. There is a group focused on worship and worship music."

• Read more.
• Find out more about the Church Growth Fund.
  

The Multiracial Ministries area has several new features including an overview of the Worship on the Edge Conference, an essay on "Understanding Multiracial Images and Power," and a book review of The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church.

Earl James has also written an essay entitled "Finding Your Place with The Belhar Confession" which is now available through the Belhar Study Center page.

At its General Synod last week, the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) voted to propose to its 2012 synod the adoption of the Belhar Confession as a fourth confession of the church.

"The General Synod of the RCA has taken a historic, inspiring action in adopting the Belhar Confession," says RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson. "By doing so, we declare to the world the power of the gospel to bring racial reconciliation and justice.

"It is all the more encouraging to see the Christian Reformed Church, at its General Synod, also affirm the Belhar Confession. Together, we are striving to express what it means in today's world to confess that 'Jesus is Lord.'"

Granberg-Michaelson addressed the CRC General Synod about being missional and Reformed on the same day the synod voted on the confession.

CRC congregations now have three additional years to thoroughly study the confession, a statement of faith that was written in South Africa in the 1980s to affirm the truth of the gospel in the face of apartheid, before voting on whether to adopt it.

Before the vote was taken, many delegates asked questions about or expressed discomfort with the Belhar, according to a CRC press release. But in the end, the vote was overwhelming: the recommendation to propose adoption of the confession passed 127-40.

• Belhar Study Center.
  

The past week has been very full! The General Synod Office is absorbing the work of the 2009 General Synod. We had a staff gathering on Monday, June 15, in Grand Rapids to debrief about synod and welcome Laura DeVries, the RCA's new director of development. On Tuesday, June 16, we had a thank-you luncheon for Mary Clark in New York, and then we reported and shared about synod with New York staff.

On Wednesday I met with the general synod of the Christian Reformed Church in North America in Chicago, Illinois. I was asked to present what it means to be missional and Reformed, exploring how structures like the classis can function in ways that empower congregations for missional engagement.

• Read more.
  

The June/July issue of Perspectives Journal pays tribute to John Calvin on the 500th anniversary of his birth and includes essays and reviews by I. John Hesselink, James D. Bratt, Scott Hoezee, Roy Anker--and John Calvin himself.

• Read the issue online.

Spiritual direction is a series of conversations between two people in an effort to guide or "companion" a participant into a deeper and more intentional and intuitive relationship with the Lord. A spiritual director usually has been specially trained by one of many training institutes around the world and may represent one or many religious traditions.

• Read more in the Transformational Discipleship section.
  

Prayers of repentance are some of the hardest prayers to pray, but they are also some of the most powerful. When a person realizes that he or she has committed a sin, he or she has a choice to make. "Will I turn away from this sin, or will I continue in it?" Repentance is the decision to turn away from the sin and not go back to it.

Prayers of repentance are necessary because without them there will be no change in the life of the person who is sinning. Of course, there are times that people do fall back into sin after repenting, but it's the identification and recognition of the sin in that person's life that makes a difference. The person knows without a doubt that what he or she has done is sin. Often we find ourselves in what we think of as gray areas. We think, "This may or may not be sin. Everyone's doing it. Nobody cares." That's not true. Someone does care--his name is Jesus. The price he paid for our sin was his life. His life is worth our repentance.

• Read more.

During General Synod last week, Wes Granberg-Michaelson wrote some daily reflections in the form of notes on Facebook. If you're friends with Wes on Facebook you can see the notes in their entirety (click on the "Notes" tab on his profile). You can find his page at facebook.com/wgranbergmichaelson and further interact with Wes there (and request to be his friend if you're not already).

Wednesday, June 3
Each year when General Synod arrives, the rest of the world recedes. All my attention, from early waking moments until late evenings, is focused on the dynamics, deliberations, and decisions of the synod. I lose track of everything else going on in the world. I don't even follow Cubs' scores.

In one way, that's as it should be. This annual gathering has some lasting effects on the life of the RCA.

Thursday, June 4
So General Synod has officially begun. It's an awesome feeling to see those who have gathered from all across North America and beyond. At breakfast with the RCA chaplains and stated clerks, I met four representatives of the newly formed Iglesia Reformada Dominicana, or Dominican Reformed Church. That's such a dramatic and compelling story in itself. And chaplain Kim Donahue joined us at our table. She had just returned from a tour in Iraq. Encounters like this, multiplied in the hundreds, will happen all week.

• Read more.
  

Several videos and a song from this year's General Synod are now available online.

The video includes the reports of the president and general secretary, as well as the address by Barbara Williams-Skinner.

The audio is "The Rose of Sharon," by Lorraine Nelson Wolf, commissioned for the 30th anniversary of the ordination of women as ministers of Word and sacrament.

Read a summary of the actions taken by the 2009 General Synod.

Don Poest, pastor of Brunswick Reformed Church in Brunswick, Ohio, has been voted the next General Synod vice president.

"This is pretty humbling," Poest said. "I don't have any agenda, because I didn't come here planning on this happening.

"What I believe I can bring to you is experience--experience out of a church like First Reformed Zeeland, where my rootedness is, where my foundation is, and where interesting enough, on Sunday when I went there to worship, I listened to Scott Van Oostendorp preach an excellent sermon. He said the purposes of God will always lead you closer into the presence of God. I will accept that this is the purpose of God and I believe it will lead me closer into the presence of God.

"What I also bring is the experience of 31 years serving a church that's not Dutch, and where many people do not even know that we belong to the Reformed Church in America. In many respects we're on the fringes. More and more, as we start new churches and revive churches, churches are on the fringe. But the fringe is also where ministry happens.

"My goal would be to use the gifts that God has given me, to listen to both segments of the church--the ones on the fringe and the ones that have been rooted in the faith for so long and are foundational to what we have done."

Poest was escorted to the platform by his son, Christopher Poest, and by church members Phil Carroll and Jay Carroll.

Poest has been pastor at Brunswick Reformed Church in Brunswick, Ohio, for the past 31 years. He is a graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary.

After 24 years of considering the Belhar Confession, the RCA's General Synod voted this morning to adopt it as a Standard of Unity.

The Belhar Confession joins the RCA's historic standards, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession.

The decision, which stipulates an addition to the Book of Church Order, must be ratified by two-thirds of the RCA's 46 classes. The classes will report their votes to the next General Synod.

• Read more of this article
• Read the Confession of Belhar
• Visit the Belhar Center to learn more

James Seawood, pastor of Brighton Heights Reformed Church in Staten Island, New York, has been voted president-elect of the General Synod.

When the voting results were announced, Seawood was escorted to the platform by his wife, Emra Seawood, and his mother, Martha V. Seawood. Seawood began his acceptance speech by reading Colossians 3:1-17.

Seawood indicated that as synod president, he will emphasize reading the Bible and making things right with regard to racism. "I plan to go and visit and see and find out what's going on, and bring back recommendations," Seawood said. "If some wrongs have been done, we're going to get it straight. We have a responsibility to God to do right."

Seawood also commented on how the church lives out its ideals. "We do a beautiful job of writing up what we would like to see done, but there's a gap between what we have written and what actually happens in our local congregations," he said. "That must not be allowed to continue."

Seawood was supported by members of his church who traveled 14 hours by bus to witness his election. He is the second black person to be elected General Synod president.

Barbara Williams-Skinner addressed the General Synod Saturday evening, talking about being reconciled with not only God but each other.

Using her own life story as an example, she called the delegates to prayer and reconciliation.

"Reconciliation is the gap between rebellious people and a holy and righteous God being closed once and for all," she said. "Only at the foot of the cross are we connected."

Springing from the book of Ephesians, she called on the RCA to pray to vision itself as a whole family with a common father, for Christ to strengthen our hearts through the Spirit, and to wrap our minds around this awesome power of God's love.

"We are Christ's ambassadors. We have one foot planted in the kingdom of heaven and another planted on earth, and we are representing heaven on earth," she said. "There ought to be a moment when we show up that people see love--and mercy and compassion. The only way God knows that we love him is to love one another."

• Read more.
  

As a supplement to the President's report of the Rev. Dr. Carol Bechtel, an overview of baptism, baptism resources, and significant reports on baptism to the General Synod is now available.

• Read more. 
  

In his report to the General Synod, general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson emphasized the need for people across the RCA to hear and respond to the call of discipleship.

"Because conversion drives much of the growth of our new churches, we see the striking need for the call to deep discipleship," he said. He added that when it comes to making disciples, existing congregations experience many of the same needs as new congregations.

"The church must be a place where we are challenged, equipped, and empowered to live as disciples," he said.

Granberg-Michaelson noted that 188 new emerging RCA ministries and congregations are reaching over 13,000 people, including many of various racial and ethnic backgrounds.

In light of the Belhar Confession coming before synod, Granberg-Michaelson summarized the work the RCA has undertaken to work for racial reconciliation over the past decades. This year's synod will vote on whether to add the Belhar to the RCA's historic confessions.

"Your decision on the Belhar Confession will be the most important and historically significant one you will make at this General Synod," he said. "Through the Belhar, we have the opportunity to add a new dimension to our standards of unity, to confess to the world our belief that unity, reconciliation, and justice are at the heart of the gospel message."

• Read more.
  
• Read the full report. (PDF)
  

In opening remarks to General Synod delegates, General Synod president Carol Bechtel asked, "What is the glue that holds us together?"

"It's a question we seem to be working our way through," she said. "It's a question of identity."

Bechtel said her visits around the world over the past year have broadened her understanding of the RCA's identity in terms of its role in the broader Reformed family. In light of this synod's focus on the Belhar Confession she chose to visit Northern Ireland, Hungary, Croatia, Kenya, and South Africa--all countries where people have had significant experience with reconciliation, one of the Belhar's central themes. "There seems to be a growing consensus that the Belhar is a faithful and helpful expression of Reformed faith--and a growing edge of our identity," she said.

• Read more.
  

All Things New: A Fable of Renewal, a creative way to explore the importance of deep, meaningful relationships in helping Christian leaders grow and become effective in all areas of their lives.

• Read All Things New: A Fable of Renewal before watching/reading Cal's Afterword, unless you like to see the last pages of a story first! Download a free electronic copy or purchase a printed copy.
• Watch Cal's video presentation (or download the Afterword) to find out what has happened in his life and the lives of Tony, Juan, Rex, and Curt since they decided to keep meeting regularly for fellowship, accountability, and spiritual renewal.
• Use the Study Guide to reflect more deeply on the events and issues in each chapter of All Things New.
• Check out additional resources.

General Synod 2009 will take place June 4-9 in Holland, Michigan. Whether you're nearby or far away, you can stay up-to-date on the latest synod happenings through these means: news features on the RCA homepage, through our RSS Feed, and on our Facebook page; blogs on the RCA and Church Herald websites; a toll free number with daily updates (800-968-6063); up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter; video and images on the RCA website; and other online resources.

• Read more.

Three synod orientation videos are now available online. These will be shown during delegates' on-campus registration process, but are a great primer on how General Synod works. 

• Orientation videos.

Barbara Williams-Skinner will be a guest speaker at General Synod, offering a keynote address on June 6. General Synod is being held June 4-9 in Holland, Michigan.

Williams-Skinner is co-founder and president of the Skinner Leadership Institute, which provides leadership development and reconciliation training for people of all backgrounds and faiths. The institute's aim is to produce leaders who are technically and morally excellent.

She will speak on the RCA's new focus on a multiracial future freed from racism.

Williams-Skinner will take the floor following a celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the decision to ordain women to the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament in the RCA. The evening's activities begin at 7:00 p.m. in the DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College. The public is invited.

Williams-Skinner has previously served as executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., and on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, Volunteers of America, the National Political Congress of Black Women, and Evangelicals for Social Action. She is currently a board member for the Christian Community Development Association, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Community Empowerment Equity Partnership.

Williams-Skinner has published numerous articles and a leadership training workbook.

A new Reformed denomination has launched in the Dominican Republic with the help of the RCA.

Iglesia Reformada Dominicana (IRD), or the Dominican Reformed Church, seeks to unite independent churches from the Dominican Republic's 32 provinces into a denomination grounded in Scripture and the historic confessions of the Reformed tradition.

It officially organized on Saturday with the formation of its General Synod. The launch also included ordaining 21 pastors, commissioning 14 church planters, and baptizing 25 people, mostly children.

• Read more.

The current global economic crisis is slamming much of the world with a Katrina-like impact. Tens of millions of people around the world have seen the very foundations of their already fragile economic lives crumble beneath the aftershocks of escalating prices and diminished buying power.

Read how Reformed Church World Service, through your support, is making a difference around the world.

• Access the webpage.
• Read the RCWS Update as a PDF.

General Synod 2009 will vote on whether to make 2007's provisional acceptance of the Belhar Confession permanent. General Synod is meeting in Holland, Michigan, June 4-9.

If adopted, the Belhar will join the RCA's Standards of Unity: the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession.

The RCA has been studying the confession since 1985, when the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa (URCSA) asked the RCA to consider it. The Commission on Theology affirmed the confession, and the Commission on Christian Unity has continued to educate the denomination about Belhar, encouraging ongoing engagement with the confession. General Synod provisionally adopted the confession in 2007 for a two-year period of study and discernment.

If synod adopts the confession, it will be sent to classes for a final vote. A two-thirds majority is required to ratify the synod's decision.

• Read more of this article.
• Visit the Belhar Study Center.
• See more on General Synod.

What does the phrase "multiracial future freed from racism" mean to you?

Think about your personal experiences. Also consider your frustrations and hopes. What is your experience? What do you imagine is likely regarding this phrase? What would you like your, your family's, your church's or religious organization's, and/or your community's legacy be regarding your/its multi-racial future freed from racism?

Please email your thoughts to Earl James at ejames@rca.org. Your responses will be compiled and shared at a later date. If you wish to remain anonymous in the compilation, please indicate that in your response.

Here is an opportunity for you and your church to become involved in praying for your leaders. General Synod will be meeting on the campus of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, from June 4 to 9, 2009.

There are several ways that you and your church can be involved:

• On-site volunteer. If you will be in Holland during General Synod, you are invited to join the prayer team in lifting up praises and requests. For more information, please contact Kathy Bruins at kbruins@ameritech.net.
• The prayer banner. Individuals or churches can sign up to pray for General Synod during specific time slots. The names of those who sign up will be displayed on a banner that encircles the plenary area, where the delegates meet during synod. There are plenty of spots still
  available, you can sign up here.
  
• Pre-General Synod prayer. If you and your church would like to pray for General Synod in the upcoming weeks, please contact Kathy Bruins at kbruins@ameritech.net for a prayer guide.

For up-to-date General Synod information, visit rca.org/synod

Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the first African-American woman ordained by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1974, delivered the commencement address during the 223rd Commencement of New Brunswick Theological Seminary on May 16.

The Rev. Dr. Gregg A. Mast, president of the Seminary, presided over the ceremonies and awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees to Dr. Sam-whan Kim, pastor of Myungsung Presbyterian Church in Seoul, Korea, and to RCA pastor Dr. Robert White, past president of the seminary from 1985-1992.

Five students received the M.A. degree, 29 received the M.Div. degree, and five received the D.Min. degree. In addition, seven completed the Certificate Program in Theological Studies.

New Brunswick Theological Seminary, founded in 1784, is the first seminary in North America. It is a teaching institution of the Reformed Church in America, and awards the M.A., M.Div., and D.Min. degrees to a diverse student body representing 22 different denominations.

The resource packet being mailed to churches for May/June 2009 is now available online. It includes information on The RCA: The Church We Are, volunteer opportunities, Giving magazine, and a leadership training event.

• Access the resource mailing.

The May issue of Perspectives Journal is now online and features essays by J. Todd Billings, John P. Tiemstra, Daniel Meeter, and Roy Anker; poetry by Debra Rienstra and Marjorie Gray; a review by Jessica Bratt; a meditation by Mary Hulst; and a smattering of Calvin paraphernalia.

• View the issue.

Central College in Pella, Iowa, celebrated its baccalaureate on Saturday, May 16, where RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson delivered the message.

Granberg-Michaelson spoke to the graduates about making the journey from head to heart. "Now you face the question of what you will do with what you know. And your answer will hinge not on the facts that are in your head, but on the dispositions that are in your heart. Simply having accurate information doesn't ensure that right actions and wise behavior will follow," he said.

• Read more of this story.
• Read the full baccalaureate address.

Western Theological Seminary granted degrees to 44 graduates at its 133rd commencement service held Monday evening, May 11, in the Dimnent Memorial Chapel on the campus of Hope College. The seminary awarded 36 Master of Divinity (M.Div.), five Master of Theology (Th.M.), one Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree, and two Certificates in Urban Pastoral Ministry (CUPM).

Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean addressed the graduates on the subject, “Finding the Answers as We Go” based on Luke 24:13-35. Dr. Dean is Associate Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary and is widely considered a leading expert in youth ministry.

Robert Abel, a distance-learning master of divinity graduate from Kohler, WI, and Kenita Harris, a master of divinity graduate from Detroit, addressed the audience on behalf of their class. Thaweesak Chatmontree of Bangkok,Thailand spoke on behalf of the master of theology graduates. Scott Christiansen of Omaha, NE spoke to the audience about pursuing a doctor of ministry degree, which he received that night.

The liturgy for the event was written by graduates Kenita Harris, Demissew Kassaye, Amy Nyland, and Marcus Roskamp, under the guidance of Dr. Robert Van Voorst.

The Multiracial Ministries area of the website has several new features this month:

• Essay: Understanding Segregation: Reinterpreting Segregation and American Culture
• Book Review: Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church
• News: Church Merger Brings Revitalization

The revitalization team compiled a list of field-tested resources to assist leaders of existing churches in the process of revitalization. Check out the resource list here.

Pastors and other leaders who have successfully used revitalization resources and tools that are not named in this list to submit them for posting. To contribute your resource(s), please email Joann Koning.

At the General Synod of 1978, elder Russell Fong from Sacramento, California, challenged the Reformed Church in America to initiate and strengthen ministry with Asian-Americans. At the time there were about half a dozen Asian-Americans congregations affiliated with the denomination. Fong's challenge led to the establishment of the Council for Pacific and Asian-American Ministries (CPAAM). Its first gathering was held 30 years ago; last Friday and Saturday, CPAAM celebrated this milestone during their annual consultation at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

• Read more.

The Belhar Confession is now available in Chinese (PDF). It's posted in the online Belhar Study Center, joining the Korean and Spanish translations already available on www.rca.org/belhar.

Laura De Vries has been named the RCA’s new director of development. She will be responsible for designing, coordinating, and managing a comprehensive fundraising strategy for securing financial gifts and grants in support of the mission and vision of the RCA. De Vries will begin her new position on June 1.

De Vries is currently national director of advancement for Kids Hope USA. She has also served as associate director of advancement for Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and as director of advancement for the Linfield Foundation in Temecula, California. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Azusa Pacific University and extensive training in fundraising, marketing, and planned giving.

“I have a deep love for the RCA and the mission and ministry of our denomination,” De Vries says. “I’m thrilled and humbled by this opportunity and my prayer is that I can support the work of the church through my efforts.”

The General Synod Council (GSC) of the Reformed Church in America met for its spring meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March.

The agenda included a number of items that will be brought to this summer's meeting of the General Synod, as well as progress reports on fulfilling the ends established by the General Synod in its 10-year goal, Our Call.

The summary, minutes (PDF), and appendix are posted on the GSC page. 

Written by Steve DeYoung, the RCA associate for diaconal ministries, this Caring for Creation blog will focus on questions surrounding the environment and what our role is as Christians.

Steve writes, "If you've come here for answers on creation care, you may not find them. I've never liked answers. They're so…final. Questions, on the other hand, are motivating. They keep your interest and beg you to find answers. So I tend to ask more questions than I answer. It keeps me excited about exploring God's world and its mysteries."

• Caring for Creation blog.
• Find out more about RSS feeds.

In the early morning hours of April 6 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked the Abruzzo region of Italy, claiming 298 lives. As the dust cleared, over 60,000 people found their homes either totally destroyed or uninhabitable. Temporary tent cities have sprung up throughout the region.

The RCA's partner, the Waldensian Church in Italy, has been actively engaged in providing assistance to those impacted by the earthquake since day one. Often identified as "the oldest Protestant church in the world," the Waldensian church's roots go back to the eleventh century. Though a small church of about 30,000 people, it has a strong diaconal program of outreach and support to the community through hospitals, home care agencies, and orphanages.

According to Maria Bonefede, moderator of the church, the Waldensians launched a relief program immediately following the quake in Abruzzo that included: Collecting money to assist the population in need, contacting government authorities to offer assistance and expertise, and mobilizing Waldensian congregations in the Abruzzo area that were not affected by the earthquake to actively assist in the relief program.

• Read more.
• Donate now.

The spring issue of RCA Today magazine is now online: www.rcatoday.org. In this issue refugees connect with a Nebraska congregation, local tumult presents challenges for a Pennsylvania church, a house becomes a hub for ministry, and more.

The Reformed Church in America is committed to church planting through best practice means that come to us through field experience and the Book of Church Order. While the BCO gives both classes and local churches the ability to plant churches, this document holds that the model of churches planting churches is the most effective and efficient means of new church development. The classis should play a supporting and resourcing role in multiplication. To that end, the following are recommendations for the formation and function of an effective classis church multiplication team (CCMT).

• Read more.
  

Have you ever experienced battle? Perhaps it was a fight at school when
you were young, fighting in a war for your country, or a strong
disagreement with a family member. Battle is not fun--it hurts--but
there are times when fighting seems to be the only option available.

At times we may feel that there is too much tragedy,
devastation, and evil in the world for our prayers to make a
difference. But they do.

• Read more.
  

On April 28, people from all over the RCA gathered at Western Theological Seminary (WTS) in Holland, Michigan, for an advocacy forum on women in leadership.

The day-long forum was designed to facilitate honest dialogue and focused on the history of women in the RCA, the biblical foundations for women in ministry, and the experiences and future of women in RCA leadership. The forum was sponsored by Journey, WTS's center for continuing education.

• Read more.

RCA general secretary Wes
Granberg-Michaelson, along with synod executives and staff personnel, participated in Sankofa, a three-and-one-half day pilgrimage that
looks back into pivotal moments in the history of our nation’s civil
rights struggle in order to look forward into the RCA’s multiracial
future.

Each person participating in Sankofa is partnered
with another participant of the opposite race as they journey by bus
into the southern United States.

• Read about the second part of Sankofa here.
  
• To read Wes' reflections on the first part of Sankofa, click here.
  
• For another perspective on Sankofa, check out the Synod of the Heartland's blog, featuring posts from John Sikkink and Gary Ross.

RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson, along with synod executives and staff personnel, are participating in Sankofa, a three-and-one-half day pilgrimage that looks back into pivotal moments in the history of our nation’s civil rights struggle in order to look forward into the RCA’s multiracial future.

Each person participating in Sankofa is partnered with another participant of the opposite race as they journey by bus into the southern United States.

• Read Wes' account here. (You can also check out pictures on Wes' Facebook page.)
  
• Read reflections from the Synod of the Heartland (John Sikkink and Gary Ross).

This week, volunteers from the RCA joined eight other Church World Service member denominations in a blitz rebuilding project in New Orleans East, a section of the city's Ninth Ward.

The four-week effort brings together more than 500 volunteers from 10 CWS partner agencies to focus on rebuilding the upper 9th Ward neighborhood. In all, 12 families will be able to return home following the project.

CWS is documenting the volunteers' work, including those from the RCA. 

• Read more.

To read an article from the Times-Picayune newspaper about this CWS project click here.

The workbook for the 2009 General Synod is now available online. It contains all the reports and recommendations for this year's synod, to be held in Holland, Michigan, June 4-9.

Delegates to this year's synod are being given the choice of receiving the workbook either printed or electronically. All delegates may access their electronic version online, as well. (The only difference between the public and delegate versions of the workbook is in the delegate list, with the former being stripped of mailing addresses to protect from spamming/junk mail.)

The May issue of Mission Today is now posted online as a PDF. Mission Today spotlights RCA Global Mission in their work around the world.

• Mission Today
• Information page

Click here to view previous issues of Mission Today

On the Equipping pages in the Multiply section of the website, you can find a sample organizational service for new church starts. Use it as a guide as you plan the first service as an officially organized RCA church. 

• Read more.
  

Jon Nelson, an Iowa pastor, recently offered people at his church an opportunity to study the Belhar Confession.

"In our denomination, we've talked a lot about reconciliation and justice, but the Belhar obviously puts it on another level of importance," says Nelson. "Belhar helps as something that our denomination is seeking to make a standard."

Nelson, who is associate pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa, says that while the people who attend Trinity are predominately Caucasian, in recent years a number of Hispanic immigrants have moved to northwest Iowa, where the church is located, to work.

The congregation wants to discover ways to relate to these newcomers and meet their needs. So far, efforts to engage the Hispanic community have included an English as a Second Language class, a bilingual knitting group, a weekly Bible study in Spanish, and simultaneous translation of Sunday worship services.

• Read more of this story.
• Learn more about the Belhar Confession.

The River, a multisite RCA church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, names racial reconciliation as one of its six stated values.

"A church can have thousands of things to value," says lead pastor Rob Link. "Each church has to hone in, focus on a few. We focused on racial reconciliation because we believe it's the vision of God himself. It's what Jesus said in Matthew 28--go into all the nations. That means all people groups, all types of groups. John recorded in Revelation about every nation, tongue, and tribe gathering before God. We see the opposite of that in many places today--Hispanic churches, black churches, white churches. We would love to see some mutuality, a place where there is a shared fellowship."

But, Link says, "In terms of actually being multiracial, we're not even close to being where we want to be."

• Read more.

The 2009 Osterhaven Lecture Series at Western Theological Seminary, led by Dirkie Smit, professor of systematic theology and ethics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, reflected on the importance of, and yet the changing and often contested nature of, justice in the Reformed faith and tradition.

The first lecture (Amor Iustitiae--Loving Justice) dealt with the central place of compassionate justice in the Belhar Confession along with the confession's roots in the struggle of Reformed Christians in South Africa against apartheid.

• Read more and listen to the lectures.

Lew Scudder writes:

In February Nancy and I went on a trip to Oman with my cousin, Lois, and her husband David Dickason to help Dave research a study on Lowey’s parents, Wells and Beth Thoms who, from 1939 until 1970, served in that magnificent country on the eastern heel of the Arabian Peninsula. From the 9th century onward it has been a rather unique corner of the Muslim world and may yet raise a real beacon of hope for all the rest. In a modest way, to be sure, the Thoms legacy has contributed to the role Oman now plays in encouraging Islamic tolerance and openness to global culture.

• Read more (PDF)

Earth Day (Wednesday, April 22) and Earth Day Sunday (April 19) are great ways to think green, but why not make it last longer than just one day? Our newly revamped Caring for Creation area has resources that focus on the relationship between God and creation, as well as resources for Earth Day.

If Caring for Creation piques your interest, click here and sign up to receive quarterly emails on issues surrounding our care for God's earth. We'll alert you to interesting stories and new resources to help you and your church in caring for and celebrating creation.

The Multiracial Ministries area of the RCA website is half way through a monthly series on Managing Change with short essays and a discussion board.

This month's essay is on Understanding Identity, Race, and Ethnicity:

"For better or worse, ethnicity plays a vital role in how we make everyday decisions, especially social ones, whether they concern schools, churches, or my favorite Sunday after-church activity, dining out."

• Read more.

The April issue of Perspectives Journal is now available online and features a continuation of the Atonement discussion begun in February, a reflection on 40 years of the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, a pair of reviews, and more.

• Take a look.

Thanks to a loan from the Church Growth Fund (CGF), East Hills
Community Church in Riverside, California,
now has its own building, and its opportunities
for community ministry have expanded
along with its square footage. Pastor Craig
Gilbert estimates that the 500-member
church has grown about 20 percent since
the dedication of the new building.

• Read more of this story.
• Learn more about the CGF.

Men of Faith, the men's ministry at Faith Church in Dyer, Indiana, has gained a new dimension over the last five months: online networking.

Keith Conklin, a 32-year-old product manager, had been attending the group's weekly Bible studies for several months without getting to know very many of the men in the group, which changed from week to week. He couldn't even recall all their names. One day he came across a social networking website and had an idea. "I thought, Wow! That'd be an interesting idea for our men's group," he says. After checking with church leadership, Conklin set up a private online network for Men of Faith.

• Read more.

What a great opportunity we have as intercessors to join in God's work
as we pray for our countries and our communities. We live in a broken
world, but not a world without hope.

With all the needs there are to pray for, it's sometimes difficult to
know where to start. I suggest that you start where God leads you. Look
for the prayer prompts that you can see, hear, smell, or touch, and
then let the Spirit lead you from there. This is your call to prayer,
made just for you to intercede. As we join together to cover our world
in prayer, let's give praise to the one who made it all possible.

• Read more.

This three-week study is intended to draw on the richness and centering power of baptism and to empower the church to begin to see baptism as singular and ongoing. Available are a Leader's Guide and a Participant's Guide
(both PDF).

In response to General Synod 2008 R-48 and R-49, a list of suggested resources dealing with pornography are now available.

• Check out the resources.
• Read more about the RCA's position on pornography.

In order to assist leaders of existing churches in the process of revitalization, the staff compiled a list of field-tested resources.

We invite pastors and other leaders who have successfully used
revitalization resources and tools that are not named in this list to
submit them for posting. To contribute your resource(s), please email Joann Koning.

• Read the resource list.
• Revitalization in the RCA.

The General Synod Council (GSC) of the Reformed Church in America met
for its spring meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last week.

The agenda included a number of items that will be brought to
this summer's meeting of the General Synod, as well as progress reports
on fulfilling the ends established by the General Synod in its 10-year
goal, Our Call.

• Read more.

In the mid-1950s, the main employer and landlord in Sheridan, Ark., was a lumber mill. Faced with the prospect of integration, it began forcing black families out of town.

But the small African-American schoolhouse remained. That's where the Rev. James Seawood went to school. Seawood is the vice president of General Synod.

"As a child, I would climb up on the lumber stack and look over at the white school," Seawood says. It was a "huge school with a band, football team, everything that you could imagine. And on our side, here we were with our two-room school, outdoor toilets and two teachers."

• Read or listen to the full story at NPR.org

Resources mailed out to RCA congregations are available online. These include information on the Opening Doors discipleship program, VBS resources and mission projects to support, the Church Herald website, a new book on bioethics, volunteer opportunities this summer, and what the RCA's Communication and Production Services people can do for you.

• Take a look at this information.
• See what's been sent previously.

Reformed communities and denominations around the world, including the
RCA, are celebrating the five-hundredth anniversary of
the birth of John Calvin in 2009 and to honor and remember his
contribution to history in general and the church in particular.

• Check out the Calvin at 500 resources.
• See a list of resource suggestions on John Calvin.
• Don't see your favorite John Calvin resource listed? (We know you have one!) Let us know!

A delegation of representatives from the Reformed Church in America traveled to Kenya and South Africa in February.

"It was such a profound experience," says General Synod president Carol Bechtel, who organized the trip. Bechtel was joined by Harold Delhagen from the Commission on Christian Unity, Ina Montoya and Mark Kellar from the Commission on Race and Ethnicity, and Earl James, coordinator for multiracial initiatives and social justice.

In Kenya, the group participated in an extended conversation with leaders from Reformed denominations in Kenya, including the Presbyterian Church in East Africa and the Africa Inland Church, both RCA mission partners.

"The way I framed the trip was looking at the Belhar in context," says Bechtel. "What happens when you look at the themes of the Belhar Confession in other contexts, including our own?"

• Read more of this story.
• Learn more about the Belhar Confession.

Middlebush Reformed Church is in central New Jersey, not far from New
Brunswick. It has its roots in Dutch settlers who migrated from
Manhattan Island seeking more tillable land. Churches followed the
migration of their people, and in 1834 a Reformed church was
established in Middlebush.

Anniversaries of congregations like Middlebush are deeply meaningful.
Members feel a tangible connection through time and generations to a
historic faithfulness to the gospel that is both humbling and
reassuring. Every congregation—even our newest church start—is the
fruit of faithfulness that stretches back, through others, into the
mysterious history of God’s grace. It’s good to celebrate that.

• Read more.

RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson spoke on "Redeeming the Earth" at a Grand Rapids, Michigan, event earlier this month. The lecture was part of a year-long series sponsored by the Micah Center, a grassroots social justice movement among people of faith in West Michigan, to promote awareness of and stimulate action around justice matters in the local and broader community.

"The Bible casts a light on what our relationship with the earth should be and how our sin affects that relationship," he said. "It is saying something clearly that we've often missed."

Granberg-Michaelson stressed that the Bible portrays God's relationship with humanity, but also with all of creation, and that means it is imperative for Christians to repair a relationship that has been fragmented after years of environmental abuse and neglect.

During his talk, Granberg-Michaelson encouraged advocacy. "The consciousness around environmental care has increasingly become bipartisan," he said, making the political climate receptive to change.

The evening concluded with a discussion about the environment and climate change and how they impact the poor.

A new Multiracial Strategy Coalition will guide the RCA toward living out a "multiracial future freed from racism," which was added to Our Call as a sixth emphasis at General Synod 2008.

The coalition will provide strategic discussion, reflection, and recommendations on RCA multiracial goals pertaining to growth, communication, and leadership development in ways that integrate with Our Call.

• Read more about the first coalition meeting.
• Read about the Five-Fold Multi-Dimensional Test.
• Read reflections from Wes Granberg-Michaelson on the coalition meeting.

The RCA Mission Volunteer
Program offers hundreds of ways for people to
serve in North America, and around the world. Are you interested in
volunteering? Check out the Current Volunteer Opportunities brochure
(can also be used as a bulletin insert). Volunteers are needed in
Honduras, New Orleans, Hungary, Kentucky, Iowa and the Gulf Coast. Plus check out information on a Mission Team Leadership Training event.

• Current Volunteer Opportunities.

In Recession, Church Multiplies Money For Needy

Fair Haven Ministries, a church in recession-battered Michigan, is trying to juggle a drop in offerings with an escalating need to help people in the community.

So it created its own stimulus package by drawing inspiration from a New Testament parable in which faithful servants took money given by their master, invested it and brought back more.

• Visit the NPR website to read more or listen to the story.

Church planters create a catalytic environment. So the day I spent with the RCA’s Church Multiplication Team
(CMT) last week was filled with energy, vision, focused analysis, and
spiritual passion. The excitement is contagious, even when the
questions and obstacles are challenging. But it’s clearer than ever
that church multiplication in the RCA has become a movement rather than
a program, and this is changing the face of our future.

• Read more.

The March issue of Perspectives Journal is now available online. This issue features two essays: "Truth, Reconciliation, and Human Rights: A Reflection on South Africa's Transition to Multiracial Democracy" and "Engaging Eleanor Rigby: A Christian Alternative to Lonely Listening," a pair of reviews, poetry, and more.

• See the issue here.

I am committed to praying for President Obama every day. I truly believe that my prayers are making a difference.

Then I think about the other leaders in our countries, our communities, our churches, and more. They also need our prayers, for they are all in important positions that affect the daily lives of the people they lead.

How can we build up our prayer muscles to persevere in praying for our leaders? The articles in this issue of the HOPE Prayerline will explore ways to do that.

• Read more.

A few new Global Mission resources are now available in Spanish. You can see a full listing of our Spanish resources on the Spanish page (there's also a button on the right side of the website that will take you there, along with Korean and Chinese translations). 

• Discipulando todas las naciones
• ¿Qué hacen los misioneros?
• Conozca nuestros compañeros de misión en las Américas

First Reformed Church of Scotia in Scotia, New York, was filled to capacity this past Sunday for the commissioning of Harold Delhagen as Albany Synod's new executive. The line of people who processed into the sanctuary at the beginning of the service stretched outside the church doors and onto the sidewalk--the bell choir, choral choir, members of the Classis of Rochester, consistory members from Pultneyville Reformed Church where Harold Delhagen last served as pastor, and others who participated in the service. Fortunately for those of us standing outside, the weather cooperated.

• Read more.

Why do we care about Christians in the Middle East?

We care for Middle Eastern Christians because we realize that at its roots Christianity is a Middle Eastern religion and that we are the spiritual descendants of Middle Eastern Christians. We also know that what happens in their region impacts our economy and our security.

Put another way, we care about Christians in the Middle East not only because the Bible and the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds and Jesus himself came from the Middle East but also because what happens in that part of the world affects us profoundly.

In recent years, RCA Global Mission has worked to strengthen its partnership with Middle East Christians and is working to provide RCA members and others with resources that will help each of us understand and respond faithfully to the challenges and opportunities that this region--the cradle of our faith--provides.

• Learn more.

The United States must never again engage in torture. Torture is immoral, illegal and
counterproductive. It causes profound and lasting harm, especially to its victims but also to its
perpetrators. It contradicts our nation’s deepest values and corrupts the moral fabric of our
society.

We call for an impartial, nonpartisan, and independent Commission of Inquiry. Its purpose
should be to gather all the facts and make recommendations. It should ascertain the extent to
which our interrogation practices have constituted torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment". Understanding the causes, nature and scope of U.S.-sponsored torture is essential for
preventing it in the future and eliminating it from our system without loopholes. U.S. law will
determine the extent of any criminal culpability.

• Read the full document (PDF)

Susan Vincent Cox felt called to ministry in college, but chose to pursue a combined study program at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and Rutgers University that earned her a master's degree in theology and in social work. "My sophomore year in college I wanted to go into ministry, but that was the year women were just starting to be ordained," she says. "People were saying that it was very difficult as a woman to get ordained then. I also felt a strong interest in psychology and counseling. I decided to go that route at that point. A couple of months after I graduated I decided to go to Rutgers [to pursue social work]."

• Read more.

This article first appeared in the winter 2009 issue of In Focus, an e-magazine from New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

While attending Yonsei University in Korea in the mid-70s, M.Div. student James J. Kim became a Christian and developed a deep gratitude to Yonsei founder Dr. Horace G. Underwood.

Mr. Kim answered a call to ministry and enrolled at New Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS) as a part-time student in 2000. He hopes to complete his studies next year and his call appears to be here in New Brunswick.

In January of 2008 James and his wife, the Rev. Ruth K. Paik, attended a meeting of the Korean student society KOSAN at the seminary, where they met the Rev. Dr. Richard Kang. Dr. Kang recommended they attend Second Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In April, a new pastor, the Rev. Douglas S. Shepler, began ministry at Second Reformed. He had a vision for a multicultural ministry at the church and encouraged James and Ruth to begin a Korean service there.

• Read more.

If you have the enviable task of taking minutes for a meeting at your church, classis, or regional synod, check out a list of guidelines for taking meeting minutes in our Consistory Center. Yes, Robert's Rules of Order as well as The Book of Church Order have been consulted.

• Read more.

The RCA's Communication and Productions Services (CAPS) has a new section on the website. CAPS includes writers, editors, graphic artists, print production staff, and web designers--and their services are available to churches and other non-profit corporations. Learn how CAPS can help your communication needs and also get free tips and suggestions through this link:

• www.rca.org/caps

CAPS can also be found in the Resources menu under Production Services.

The audited financial reports for the 2008 fiscal year are now available online. They cover the RCA's General Synod Council, RCA Fund, Investment Program, Church Growth Fund, and the Board of Benefits Services (insurance and retirement).

Check them out here: www.rca.org/finance

Several new items are posted in the Multiracial Ministries area of the website. Check out a book review, a story about how merging two churches was a catalyst for revitalization, and find out more about the history of education and social justice.

• Book review: Peppermint-Filled Pinatas
  
• Multiracial story: Church Merger Brings Revitalization 
  
• Understanding the History of Education and Social Justice 
  
• Multiracial Ministries main page
  

In this land of plenty, this world of affluence--the predominantly Christian West--why is Lazarus still waiting at the gate? A group of concerned church leaders asked this question, among others, at a recent conference on poverty and wealth. Why are people poor? Does wealth have a color? Can stewardship alleviate poverty? There are over 2,000 biblical texts on social justice. Why, then, is Lazarus still waiting at the gate, longing to be noticed? How can you and I invite him and people like him into the kingdom where they belong?

• Read more of this report in the Social Justice area.

The RCA Mission Volunteer
Program offers hundreds of ways for people to
serve in North America, and around the world. Are you interested in
volunteering? Check out the Current Volunteer Opportunities brochure
(can also be used as a bulletin insert). Volunteers are needed in
Honduras, New Orleans, Hungary, Kentucky, Iowa and the Gulf Coast.

• Current Volunteer Opportunities.

The February issue of Perspectives Journal is now available online. This issue features a discussion of the Atonement, an essay on church windows, a pair of book reviews, and more.

• See the issue here.

If you serve as a chaplain in the RCA, there's a new homepage for you--full of events, updates, contact info and even a blog. You can find it at rca.org/chaplains. You must be logged in to access these pages.

If you're not a chaplain, the pages will not be accessible. If you are a chaplain, logged in, and STILL can't access it, drop a line to Shani Baker. It's a database issue that we can get ironed out shortly.

You can read more about our chaplains on the Ministry Services page.

Middle Collegiate Church in New York City is hosting the Worship on the Edge conference April 25-28, 2009. This leadership conference is appropriate for denominational executives, clergy, staff teams, and lay leaders. Learn to create transformational worship, manage change, and create a vision to live out your multicultural future.

For more information:

• Visit the RCA website's Multiracial Ministries: Workshops and Events page
• Go to worship.eventbrite.com (which includes online registration)

Environmental issues are a concern in our society and in our church circles. Check out our new Caring for Creation pages to find resources that deal with issues like faith, climate change, food, recycling, water, and energy use.

Is your church doing anything to help care for our creation? Drop us an email and let us know!

• Read more on Caring for Creation.
  

In his monthly notes, social justice coordinator Earl James shares his thoughts about human trafficking as well as some facts and action points. For example, did you know that nearly all states and provinces of the U.S and Canada are both sources
of human trafficking and destinations of trafficked persons from all
over the world? Numbers of people trafficked each year range from
15,000 to 50,000.

• Read Earl's thoughts on human trafficking.
• Read more on human trafficking and how to actively oppose this injustice and care for the victims.
  

   

With Lent fast approaching, check out the resources available to assist you in planning for Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Included are worship resources, congregational activities and resources, family resources and some reading material.

• Click here for Lent, Easter, and Pentecost resources.
• Click here for a complete list of seasonal worship resources.
  

   

I spent Friday in Washington, D.C., with a great group of Christian
leaders. We discussed how we can best have an impact with the Obama
administration around issues of shared concern in the Christian
community.

The timing of Friday's gathering was providential because on Thursday
President Obama signed an executive order establishing the new White
House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. This
executive order continues and reshapes the Office of Faith-Based
Initiatives begun by President George W. Bush. Joshua DuBois, the
director of this new office, and Mara Vanderslice, who will also work
with the initiative, came and met with our group on Friday.

• Read more.

A lack of funding for women's ministries will lead to a reexamination of the ways in which women's roles within the church can best be supported.

Due to the depletion of funds, the position of coordinator for women's ministries can no longer be funded as of the end of this fiscal year, September 30, 2009.

RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson said he and other leaders want to emphasize the importance of, and their commitment to, enhancing the role of women within the Reformed Church in America.

• Read more.

Project Timothy allows young people to explore and experience hands-on ministry. Teams of roughly seven students and one adult leader travel to sites across North America and around the world to learn more about themselves, teamwork, their faith, and their place in the church.

Opportunities for Project Timothy 2009 are now available online. Check them out -- application deadline is April 15.

On Wednesday, RCA general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson announced measures the denomination is taking to ensure that the Reformed Church in America remains financially healthy in light of the current economic crisis.

"As we looked at our 2009 budget and current economic indicators, it became clear that we needed to reduce expenses to ensure a balanced budget," Granberg-Michaelson said. He added that staff committed to doing so while at the same time ensuring that the RCA reaches the Our Call-related goals and priorities established for 2009.

• Read more.

The winter issue of RCA Today magazine is now online! Check it out at www.rcatoday.org.

In this issue:

• Water brings life in the desert
• An inner-city church becomes a vital community presence
• Belhar Confession FAQs
• A look at 2008 progress in revitalization, leadership, multiplication, discipleship, and mission
• And much more!
  

Lewis R. Scudder, Jr. writes periodic essays from his home in Apaisia Village, Cyprus. He was particularly productive in January and has three essays available from that month (all PDFs):

• Myth...God Help Us!
• The Soil of Everyman
• In With the New!

And his February essay, Waiting, is now also available.

This month we begin a new series in the Multiracial Ministries area on Managing Change involving short essays and a bulletin board for posting. The goal is to facilitate online discussion and challenge assumptions in the spirit of unity and love.

• This month's essay: Understanding Coalition Building and Social Justice

When Within Reach Ministries needed to find a
new worship space, the church's leadership
realized that about half of its congregation
was driving 10 or 15 miles to its location in
downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, from the
neighboring city of Parchment. After some
searching, the church purchased a vacant
building in Parchment with the help of a
$90,000 loan from the Church Growth Fund.

"People from our congregation
don't live in downtown
Kalamazoo," says Lon
Bouma, one of Within
Reach's pastors. "When we
moved into Parchment, the
general consensus was,
'This is our neighborhood!
We're going to worship
and be centered in the
place where we live, and
that makes a difference to us. We can minister
in our neighborhood. I can walk around my
neighborhood and invite my neighbor to worship.
That matters to me.'"

The church relocated to Parchment in March
2007, and Bouma says it's been a remarkable
journey. "It has been a tremendous blessing.
There are people who live in the neighborhood
who come to worship. That didn't happen
when we were downtown. There are
more new people who come in the doors of
this building; it seems like 10 times the
amount of new people come."

• Read more of this story.
• Read more stories in the Church Growth Fund's 2008 Annual Report (PDF)

Being alone with God to talk is a precious and empowering time.
Although you don't have to go to a certain place to pray in order to
have a rich experience, sometimes being in a place designated for the
purpose of prayer can be beneficial by helping to keep focus on
communication with God.

Many churches have a special area designated as a prayer room. This
month's articles will be talking about how to most effectively use that
area, as well as other ideas about prayer rooms.

• Read more.

Representatives from Reformed Churches around the world will come to Grand Rapids, Michigan, next year to participate in the first ever General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). The WCRC is being formed at the June 2010 "uniting General Council" as the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council join together.

The new communion will represent 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide.

The uniting General Council will be held June 18-28, 2010, on the campus of Calvin College. The event is being hosted by the Christian Reformed Church in North America, a member denomination in both ecumenical groups, with assistance from the RCA and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), both members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

• Read more.

From the RCA's Youth Ministry Team:

We've promoted Youth Sunday in RCA churches
for decades. We have provided a variety of
resources and ideas to encourage churches to
allow young people to take center stage one
Sunday a year and lead their congregation in a
worship service. Why would we suggest that
youth Sunday be banned?

Our suggestion rises out of our response to an
extensive research project called the Exemplar
Youth Ministry Study. This excellent body of
research, with results just released in 2008, traces
the history of youth ministry in American
churches and analyzes the implications of the
trends.

• Read more.

J. Todd Billings, assistant professor of Reformed theology at Western Theological Seminary (WTS), has received a 2009 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise.

Given to only 12 scholars each year, this prestigious international award recognizes, in the words of BBC News, "the most promising young theologians in the world" on the basis of their doctoral dissertations or first books related to God and spirituality.

• Read more.

"We like to call our fellowship 'Calvary on Eighth,' because it grounds
us in our community, on the main street of Holland," says Blaine
Newhouse, pastor of Calvary Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. "Our
neighborhood is diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, and economics.

Calvary decided it should be reaching out to the neighborhood, which
had a racial and economic makeup very different from the church's
membership. "Initially we had to wrestle with what kind of church we
wanted to be, and what defines success from God's perspective," says
Newhouse. "We decided that it's about trying to share the good news
with those who don't know it. How are we going to connect to these
people?"

• Read more.
• Visit the Multiracial Ministries page.
  

The HOPE Prayer Team invites RCA members to join together in a time of
fasting and prayer each Friday during the month of February. We hope
that you will pray with us for God's guidance as we seek direction for
the team and for its leadership.

Participate in this time of prayer and fasting in whatever way you feel
led. You can choose to fast for one meal or for the whole day. Set aside
a half hour or a whole afternoon and let the Spirit guide your prayers
as you ask for discernment on behalf of the HOPE Team.

We invite you to model the process of discernment through prayer with
us. Prayer has great power in the decision-making process! Are you
willing to pray with us for this vital ministry?

Last month, RCA leaders met with representatives of 35 congregations from the Dominican Republic to work out a partnership agreement with the newly-formed Dominican Reformed Church (Iglesia Reformada Dominicana, or IRD). As a result of radio broadcasts in the Dominican Republic by RCA pastor Andres Serrano, pastors and leaders of several Pentecostal groups were attracted to Reformed theology and life perspectives, and in 2007 they joined together to form the IRD. The RCA and IRD plan to collaborate closely in the areas of leadership training, polity, structure, theology, and discipleship. They will also continue to fully explore what it means to be Reformed and missional.

• Read more about Wes Granberg-Michaelson's recent trip to the Dominican Republic.
• Read background information about the IRD from Bruce Menning, the director of RCA Global Mission.

Every other month, resource packets are compiled and mailed to congregations to assist in
the mission and ministry efforts. The packets are duplicated online
digitally. The January/February resource packet includes volunteer opportunities, contemporary worship songs, IT information, Church World Service, disabilities and youth resources.

• Read more of the January/February resource packet.
• Archive of past resource packets.

From a letter sent by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture:

We hope you've heard the good news that today President Obama signed the executive order we have been seeking -- an executive order that ends the CIA abuse of detainees, closes U.S. secret prisons, and provides the International Committee of the Red Cross with access to U.S.-held detainees. We have stopped our "count-up" clock -- the clock marking the hours that had passed until an executive order halting U.S.-sponsored torture was signed.

Together, we can build on today's victory and ensure that our grandchildren will be able to say, "Our nation once engaged in torture, but we don't do that anymore." May it be so.

• Read more.

My time at the Inauguration continues to be full of surprises. We left the house this morning at 6:00 a.m. My son, J.K.; my sister-in-law, Linda Popovich; and my executive coordinator, Jessica Bratt, all had tickets for the National Prayer Service. They wanted to be at the front of the line in order to get good seats. The doors didn't open until 7:30, and the introductory music started at 9:30. It was colder today than yesterday, so they were freezing while waiting in line, but they were among the first to go through security and be admitted to the cathedral.

I gathered with the other service participants at 8:00 a.m. We rehearsed our parts again--this is a highly and precisely choreographed worship service. It needs to be when you have 3,000 people in the Washington National Cathedral. When we finished reviewing each of our parts in the service, Joshua DuBois, the director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign and the transition, casually mentioned that it had been arranged for all the participants to meet with Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill, and President Obama and Michelle. To say the least, we were stunned. Nothing had been said about this previously--perhaps to keep President Obama's schedule private, or maybe it had just been planned. In any event, we all proceeded to the lower level of the Cathedral, which is filled with chapels and reception areas. A place for an individual photo with each of us and the Bidens and Obamas had been set up as well.

Read more.

When Christian Churches Together was first organized, participants welcomed the surprising and
joyful experience of overcoming religious stereotypes and theological
barriers to deepen our bonds with one another in Christ. But then we
also asked--what is this for? How will God use us in our outreach,
mission, and witness in the world? What issues or concerns might we be
called to address with a common voice?

It was the Evangelical/Pentecostal family that first suggested we
address the issue of poverty. We worked hard for two years, with a
committee headed by evangelical author Ron Sider, to see if we could
agree on a common understanding and approach--as Christians from across
a broad spectrum--to confronting and overcoming poverty. And we reached
agreement in 2007 in a statement which, I think, church historians will
note as a remarkable breakthrough.

Together, we named ongoing poverty in the United States, which affects
37 million people (including 1 out of 5 children), as a "moral
failure." It's attention to the Bible that grounds our concern. Some
2,000 verses in the Bible speak about the poor and about money, but for
so long, so many in the church have found ways of not noticing, or
taking seriously, what these words say so clearly about God's
compassionate embrace of those who find themselves on the vulnerable
margins of society.

• Read more, including the visit with President-Elect Obama's transition team.
  

In remembrance of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Dr. Ron Sider of Evangelicals For Social Action provides "God, the Poor and Us: Forty Biblical Reminders," 40 biblical texts that highlight God's special concern for poor people.

• Read more (PDF).
• RCA Multiracial Ministries.

Dr. Sider presented this at the annual Christian Churches Together gathering this week.

• Read more about CCT and their push to end poverty.
  

Each year RCA congregations submit information on their membership, including worship attendance, baptisms, and giving. The statistical reports now available online can provide one sort of picture of the life of a congregation over a certain timeframe.

• Take a look.

During its four-day annual meeting this week, representatives from Christian Churches Together (CCT) continued to discern how to work together in confronting domestic poverty and promoting evangelism, and advocated that concern to the new presidential administration.

Meeting with President-elect Barack Obama's domestic policy team on Thursday, January 15, CCT discussed reducing poverty and urged Obama to put poor people first when designing an economic stimulus package.

• Read more.

On the occasion of President Obama's inauguration, Perspectives Journal has gathered a variety of voices for comment. This is a historic landmark by almost everyone's estimation, an event that merits reflection from the church. The voices are diverse. Many are very self-disclosive, even emotional. Hope is the thread that runs through them all, even as the weight of realism presses in.

• Read more.

Wes Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the RCA, will deliver the closing prayer and benediction at the conclusion of the inauguration activities for Barack Obama. The National Prayer Service in Washington National Cathedral will be on Wednesday morning, January 21.

The service will bring together dignitaries and Americans of diverse faiths to celebrate the previous day's inauguration through prayer, readings, and musical performances. The National Prayer Service, according to the inaugural committee, is a tradition dating back to the nation's first president, George Washington.

• Read more.

The Diaconal Ministries Resource page is now up-to-date with new resources (including Deacons and Elders: Called to Serve) as well as Spanish, Korean, and Chinese translations of the popular Ministry of the Deacon booklet. There are also documents deacons might find useful: a sample benevolence policy, financial and accounting policy, and deacon in charge document.

• Read more.
• Consistory Center.

Church World Service, a partner with the RCA to eradicate hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice around the world, reports that three CWS-supported delivery trucks laden with emergency food and medical supplies have arrived at a Gaza checkpoint for delivery.

• Read more, including how you can help 
• Prayer for Peace in Gaza

The vision for church multiplication is growing! Within the RCA, new
church start pastors are banding together and sharing a common dream:
to see churches multiply, to reach the "fields...ripe for harvesting"
(John 4:35) with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The pastors' vision includes a four-part strategy for multiplying churches and leaders in order to incite a movement:

• Emerging Leaders
• Evaluating
• Expanding
• Empowering
• Equipping

In addition, Prayer and Spiritual Empowerment is the foundation of the multiplication movement, with the Church Multiplication Team providing vision and resources.

• See the main site here.
• Our Call: 400 New Churches by 2014
  

Many people in New Orleans are still living in temporary housing three years after their homes were damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The RCA is joining eight other Church World Service member denominations in a building blitz project in New Orleans East, a section of the city's Ninth Ward. The heart of this rebuilding project is bringing hope to the community.

The goal of the four-week construction project is to rehabilitate and finish 12 homes. All of these homes are ready to be finished, but their owners do not have the money to complete them. The projected cost for finishing these homes is $350,000; Church World Service and the nine participating member denominations, including the RCA, will be contributing funds to complete the project.

• Read more.

A conversation on a golf course is what led Westwood Church in Omaha, Nebraska, to start thinking about getting involved in church planting.

Seven or eight years ago now, John Sikkink, executive for the Regional Synod of the Heartland, was golfing with Westwood pastor Scott Christiansen. "He first asked me if Westwood would be interested in planting a church, and I was really resistant," Christiansen says.

"We had just gone through a hard time and had lost quite a few families. So we had just kind of started to rebuild again. We were in the middle of a building project where we put an addition on to our current facility. It just didn't seem like a good time to talk about it."

But, Christiansen says, the Holy Spirit wouldn't let him stop thinking about it. He ran the idea past a number of key advisors in the congregation. If any of them said no, he told himself, he'd drop it. They didn't.

• Read more.

RCA Women's Ministries' Sister Share provides a
way for women to make a commitment to share with their sisters around
the world. Poverty, hunger,
human trafficking, and violence affect countless women and children all
over the world.

Sister Share is a way to make a difference in the lives of countless women and children. And now you can help support ministry to victims of modern-day slavery.

• Read more.
• Donate to Sister Share.

I've been privileged to witness a group of congregations joining together on the beautiful island that contains the Dominican Republic to form the Dominican Reformed Church (Iglesia Reformada Dominicana, or IRD). It's a story that began five years ago when RCA pastors Andres Serrano and Brigido Cabrera, together with Ken Bradsell and other RCA staff, met with a group of pastors in the Dominican Republic who shared their enthusiasm for the Reformed faith. From his base in southern California, Andres established a Christian radio station, then built a transmitter in the Dominican Republic through which his broadcasts reach 80 percent of the island. The radio station's preaching, teaching, and call-in programs include the sharing of the Heidelberg Catechism.

• Read more.

This year, remember Dr. King by including a study of the effects of environmental racism into your church community. Click here to download Environmental Racism: An Ecumenical Study Guide, a resource from the Eco-Justice Program.

• Read more about the RCA's Multiracial Ministries.
  

The RCA Mission Volunteer Program offers hundreds of ways for people to
serve in North America, and around the world. Are you interested in
volunteering? Check out the Current Volunteer Opportunities brochure (can also be used as a bulletin insert). Volunteers are needed in Honduras, New Orleans, Hungary, Kentucky, Iowa and the Gulf Coast.

• Current Volunteer Opportunities.
  

   

Earl James, the RCA
coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice, sent
out an update containing many exciting and faith-filled opportunities
for multiracial initiatives in the new year. Topics include the Belhar Confession and our Multiracial Future Freed From Racism, among others.

• Read more. 
  

   

Reformed Church World Service coordinator David Dethmers announced that the RCA will join eight other Church World Service member
denominations in a blitz rebuilding project in New Orleans East, a
section of the city's Ninth Ward, from April 20 to May 16, 2009. RCWS
will provide a $15,000 grant to support the project; the RCA Mission
Volunteer Program will recruit and coordinate RCA volunteer workers.

• Read more.
  

   

Earl James, the RCA coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice, just sent out an update containing many exciting and faith-filled opportunities for the new year. An excerpt:

As I have done in past letters, I will begin by presenting the core
values that guide my work in our denomination. Those values are:

1. Scripturally Grounded

2. Collaboratively Strong

3. Racially and Ethnically Equitable

The following is a summary of various social justice initiatives and
ministries in which the RCA is involved. As you read, please keep these
actions, initiatives, and projects in your prayers. Ask for God's
continuing grace and blessing to flow to and through all the people
engaged in these ministries.

• Read more.
  

   

Two new online videos are available for your viewing pleasure. A full listing of our video collection is listed here.

• Revolution Church: A Church Multiplication Story
• Jackson County Ministries: Your Partner in Appalachia
  

The HOPE Prayerline newsletter for January is now available. You can subscribe to this newsletter as an RSS feed. (What is an RSS feed?) An excerpt: 

Are there areas in which you would like to see change in your life? If
one of those areas is your prayer life, we are here to help you. The
many writers and prayer people who contribute to this newsletter are
ready to share their thoughts and experiences with you. Perhaps you
will have something to share with us in 2009!

• Read more.

Numerous special Sundays and liturgical seasons are celebrated in the RCA. 
Suggestions and resources to celebrate these days are posted on the seasonal worship page, with the following new additions:

• Day of Prayer for Crops and Industry (Wednesday, March 11)
• Mother's Day (Sunday, May 10)
• Rural Life Sunday (Sunday, May 10)
  
• Women in Ministry Sunday (Sunday, May 17)

After ten days of rocket fire and bombing between Israel and Hamas and
three days of ground combat inside Gaza, over 530 Palestinians have
been killed, at least a quarter of them civilians, according to the
United Nations. Four Israelis have been killed by rockets
and mortar shells fired into Israel and one Israeli soldier has been
killed since the Israeli ground invasion began. Forty-eight Israeli
soldiers have been wounded.

As the number of casualties has grown, so have calls for a cease fire,
both by governments around the world and by church leaders. In a letter
to President Bush and key congressional leaders, RCA general secretary
Wesley Granberg-Michaelson urged our national leadership to press for
an immediate cease fire, calling for Hamas to end rocket and mortar
fire on southern Israel and for Israel to halt the attacks on Gaza.
"There can be no military solution to this conflict," said
Granberg-Michaelson. "Only a political solution will bring a durable
peace to both Palestinians and Israelis."

Meanwhile, 1.5 million Palestinians have been living under a blockade
of essential resources and services for 18 months, and have in recent
days seen even their very fragile infrastructure decimated. Lack of
food and especially essential medicines is significantly increasing the
loss of Palestinian lives. Reformed Church World Service is working
with partners in the Middle East, as well as with Church World Service
and ACT International, to respond to the needs of those who are
suffering as a result of this conflict.

• Read more, including how you can help.
• Prayer for Peace in Gaza

For five or six years now, I've been attending the Renaissance Weekend
celebration in Charleston, South Carolina, over New Year's. People in
leadership roles from a variety of fields--including journalism,
politics, economics, science, business, education, medicine, and
religion--are invited together for three days of serious off-the-record discussion around important issues of our time. Most attendees
are placed on several panels in their area of interest, and are free to
attend any number of other discussions covering a vast and fascinating
range of topics. As an example, some of these discussions were
entitled, "Why the New Gold Rush Is Green," "How Can the 'Sandwich
Generation' Juggle Its Roles?" and "What JFK Would Say to Barack."

• Read more.
  

From Wes Granberg-Michaelson

O God of peace,

your unbounded grace comes new and fresh every morning

and buoys us up in the evening no matter how tired we might become.

Open our eyes and ears to see your hand at work

even in the noonday sun of human passions and hates

as the nations war against each other.

• Read more.
  

   

Reformed communities and denominations around the world, including the RCA, are making plans to celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin in 2009 and to honor and remember his contribution to history in general and the church in particular.

We've got a page dedicated to anniversary resources and have just added two new links to it:

• Princeton Theological Seminary is coordinating a reading of Calvin's Institututes through the year.
• The Banner has a lighthearted article covering the basics of John Calvin.

More resources will be added as they become available throughout the year. And please feel free to share any you stumble across!

Bruce Menning, who directs Global Mission for the RCA, wrote
this story for his granddaughter, Grace. This year for Christmas he and
his wife, Vicky, will give a goat in her name to a family in Africa.

On a cool day in December, Joanie Balonie and her grandpa went to
Meijer Gardens. They wanted to pet the goat. Joanie wanted to ride in
the cart that the goat pulled around the barnyard.

When they got to the pet barn they had a wonderful surprise. The momma
goat had a new baby, born the night before! Baby goats are called kids.
The kid was playful. The kid ran out of the stall and into a dark
corner of the barn. Joanie ran after the kid. For a while Joanie rubbed
the kid's head and scratched her ears. Then they walked toward the
light in the barn.

• Read more of this story.

Please consider helping continue a critical nutritional, medical, and
educational program that benefits the neediest children in Bluefields,
Nicaragua.

Through your year-end gift of support for the Healthy Child program you
can make a difference in the lives of hundreds of at-risk children. You
will be providing them with food and medical attention, as well as
providing living water to many who thirst for it.

For the past five years RCA missionary Bernardeth Kelly-Bent has been working with the neediest of needy children and their families
in Bluefields, a city on the east coast of Nicaragua. People come there
looking for employment and a better life. Unfortunately, odds that they
will find work are low, and many are forced to pick through the local
garbage dump to feed their families.

• Read more.
  

The Classis of New York has scheduled a one-day Dialogue on Homosexuality event for Saturday, January 31, 2009. This will be a somewhat compressed edition of the four-session RCA Dialogue on Homosexuality being conducted across the denomination.

The Rev. Terry Troia is making local arrangements in New York City for the event. Dr. John Stapert, Coordinator of the Dialogue program will facilitate this one-day session, along with other members of the Dialogue Steering Committee.

As we approach Christmas and the end of the year, I want to share a
little bit about three gatherings this month that have been highlights
for me.

In early December staff executives responsible for all the various
areas of our work met in an RCA church in Grand Rapids to share
together about future directions. Each one prepared reflections on how
their area contributed to Our Call and his or her view of the area's
strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats
facing them in the future. It was a very full day, but it was a day
where we listened and learned so much from one another. When I drove
home through the snow that evening, I was so grateful for the
incredible commitment and caliber of our staff colleagues. The work for
Our Call is grounded in the creativity, wisdom, and spiritual
conviction of our staff, and the sense of shared purpose we feel is a
rich gift.

• Read more.

More resources have been added to the annotated resource list on Caring for Creation. Find some great ways to go green and raise awareness about our planet here.

• Caring for Creation resource list.
  

Old
Wing Mission is the latest release in the RCA's Historical Series. The book includes the entire diary and reminiscences of Arvilla Powers
Smith and the portion of George Smith's voluminous memoranda and
diaries pertaining to the Old Wing Mission (1838-1849) located in the
Black Lake watershed of Lake Michigan.

The
Smith diaries reflect the sustaining role their Christian faith played
and the new communities forming as Euro-Americans and Indians met and
mediated their cultural differences.

• Purchase from Faith Alive Christian Resources.
• Read more on the RCA Historical Series.