by Ken Sampson
edited by Bob Terwilliger, spring 2023
I serve on the ad hoc Committee for Church Transfers in Orange Classis. In these troublesome times, we see longstanding RCA churches leaving the denomination. What distinctions contribute to who we are as members of the Reformed Church in America? Some would point to worship, liturgy, and credal heritage. Others may examine our unique history both in North America and within global missions.
Drawn in part from I. John Hesselink’s On Being Reformed, these reflections express five broad characteristics of our Reformed Church in America’s approach to the world. Along with my Orange Classis colleagues Ann Akers and Jim O’Connell, we’ve offered them to classis out of concern for the unity of the church.
Additionally, I’ve asked myself the question, “How was I embraced by and enfolded into this rich heritage of being a Minister of Word and Sacrament within the Reformed Church in America?” I’m not Dutch. My home church, the Upland Bible Church, was affiliated with the Independent Fundamental Churches of America. I did not attend an RCA college or seminary.
Yet, for 11.5 of my 12 years of grade-through-high school, my parents sent my brother and me to Southern California’s Ontario Christian School, supported exclusively by RCA and CRC congregations. And, David and Birdie Boyce, parents of my wife, Kate, were longtime RCA pastors, serving with churches in New York and doing pioneering urban ministry at Newtown Reformed Church in Queens. So, these musings incorporate individuals and experiences, from education and Army Chaplaincy, that have been used by the providential hand of God, to empower our calling since my RCA ordination in 1978 while at Southern Normal School in Brewton, Alabama. Hopefully they may promote dialogue within the In Touch retirement community and suggest directions we retirees can appreciate and advocate for within broader denomination discussions.
- Grand, Justice-Seeking World and Life My fifth-grade friends Rick Ligtenberg, Bill Verhoeven, Terry Van Hofwegen, and I loved our teacher, Rheta (Bangma) Dragt. Young and energetic, she could hit a softball farther than any of us. I still am inspired by memories of her seemingly effortless speed in gliding around the bases. She served as God’s agent, communicating the truth of the Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 1, that “we belonged…” Miss Bangma was wholehearted. Now, at 85 years of age, she periodically calls. Just to hear her Friesian Dutch brogue enlivens me still. What she modeled for us was a way of experiencing God’s wonder-filled world; she instilled an inclusive, zest-filled sense of purpose to look for goodness around us, things that God takes delight in (whether of Christian faith or not), and to seek to join in. This appreciation of common grace in education, research, and scholarship, as well as the RCA’s majestic heritage of cultural impact in learning, government, missions, and justice, are deeply embedded traits we can salute and proclaim.
- Covenant Community—Interpretation of Scripture. Ron Smith, a Westmont College graduate, Fuller and Western Theological Seminaries graduate, and RCA minister, was my high school baseball and six-man football coach. Ron also taught our Bible courses. From Church History, I absorbed an appreciation of the breadth and diversity of the body of Christ. But it was Reformed Doctrine that affirmed the life of the mind and an appreciation of extensive, enriching, theological, and biblical scholarship. Working through Reformed Doctrine class sessions on the days of creation brought impassioned, sometimes unruly defenses, of literal 24-hour days from dear classmates. For me, it was Mr. Smith’s introduction of the book The Christian View of Science and Scripture by Bernard Ramm that expanded my world and inspired theological imagination. We could interpret Scripture in community, with humility, and in charitable appreciation for other Christians who differed in belief. Our freedom in Christ allows for a sweeping, though not always easy, appreciation of other interpretive points of view.
- Covenant Community—Unity and Loyalty. Early on in Army chaplaincy, ministry focused on the tactical/local level. The longer I stayed in as chaplain, the greater the span of leadership responsibilities Our RCA endorsing agent (liaison for chaplaincy between the church and the Armed Forces) for many of my critical years was the Rev. Al Poppen. Though Al never served in the military, I’ve learned much from his dialogue, insights, and mutually beneficial exchanges with the most strategic of Army leaders. He personifies the heritage, spirit, and ethos of the best within our Reformed Church in America. And, in the often all-consuming nature of Armed Forces ministry, his example, presence, and communication helped keep my ordination vows faithful and true. The sturdiness of the RCA has been hammered out over the centuries, a denominational robustness that emphasizes relationships and allows for a “give in the fabric.” We celebrate the difficult middle way, a moral and ethical space within which to disagree, and we celebrate eloquence of word and speech. These gifts and many others were made known to me through Al. His letters, reread now, continue to ennoble me by demonstrating a steadfastness to our shared tradition and the “In Unity There is Strength” persona.
- Marks of the Church—Word, Sacraments, and Order (Discipline). The RCA chaplains have sustained and supported my ordination vow identity over the past 41 years. The towering RCA leader for this body of assorted military and civilian chaplains has been Ellen Ratmeyer. Under her guidance and gracious yet firm hand, we chaplains experienced classis-like care. With Ellen’s masterful direction, we focused on relationship building, annually processed where we were personally and spiritually, appreciated an ordered, collegial, decision-making framework, and strengthened old friendships and establishing new ones with colleagues. Then, through appointed and elected chaplain group leadership, we became acculturated into the Reformed Church in America’s unique, humble-though-powerful witness within Christ’s global church. There exists corporate and individual evangelism dimensions. Civil rights and social and economic equality can create a climate of freedom to believe in Christ. Celebration of the dignity, growth, joy, and respect for all humankind can take place because we are bearers of the image of God. And we are to extend God’s grace to as many of God’s children as we can, listening to their stories and concerns and seeing their faces. These are all aspects of our appointed mission as a denomination that I welcomed and now hold dear.
- Gratitude and Grace-Filled Doctrine with a Purpose. There’s a special emphasis within the Reformed Church in America on empathy and collegiality with those who may differ yet are united with An exemplar of this grace is RCA chaplain Rear Admiral David White, Chief of Navy Chaplains from 1991-1994. The Military Chaplains Association, chartered by Congress in 1952, grants the David E. White Leadership Award each year in honor of his abilities to partner, unite, and expand collectively the impact of disparate Armed Forces helping organizations. Chaplain White’s respected presence still dignifies our annual chaplain gatherings.
The Reformed Church in America’s founding partnerships with the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches, as well as our union with Formula of Agreement church denominations (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church [U.S.A.], and United Church of Christ), are efforts that have expanded and broadened our collective witness. These are not relationships to be tolerated benignly. Rather, the durable impact with which God’s presence has empowered our small denomination through these partnerships has, decade-after-decade, contributed to an ecumenical, global influence that is far beyond our numerical makeup.
So, in the midst of awaiting updates from the restructuring team, what does the future look like for us retirees? Many of us will continue to maintain active ordination status with our classes. We pray for and join in prayer with our General Synod leadership. We’ll engage with others in our churches, realizing that embedding the unique world and life view of our historic church cannot be taught in one-or-two evening classes.
Rather, it is appropriated, rooted, and refreshed week-in and week-out through encounter, worship, sacrament, fellowship, sharing, and intentional education design. And, many of us will continue to enjoy, embrace, applaud, and champion these denominational distinctives and heritage, propelling us into an uncertain, though God-guided future.
Communications from our General Synod headquarters may wish to focus more on these unique distinctives, rather than assuming they arise spontaneously over time within members and church plants. Sometimes it seems RCA corporate communications read like mission challenges from rank-and-file evangelical circles. Yes, they are biblically based in tone and content and have an aspirational energy that often motivates and excites. Yet the price seems too high when unity, relinquishment of unique identity/witness, and depth of world and life view recede into the background.
During my first deployment to Afghanistan (July to September 2002), our Task Force was made up of a variety of US military forces—Active Duty Army conventional and Special Operations soldiers, Navy sailors, Marines, airmen— and Canadian, Polish, and Romanian forces. I was energized by the shared purpose we experienced, and we intentionally set aside differences in culture and branch makeup to focus on the mission. It was then I adopted the saying from U.S. Vietnam Prisoners of War, “Unity Over Self.” This remains my email tag line since those days.
Today, I pray that the Reformed Church in America may emerge from these difficult times tempered and resurgent; that a vision of the unique, longstanding, RCA history/world and life view animates us all; and that we too may embrace the motto displayed so prominently on our crest, “In Unity There is Strength.”
Ken received his BA from Westmont College and his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He taught at Southern Normal School in Brewton, Alabama, before serving as a chaplain in the US Army. Ken and his wife live in Cornwall on Hudson, New York. ksampson4@verizon.net
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