In 2023, synod instructed the Office of General Secretary to come up with a “plan to arrest and reverse the trend of [membership] decline and bring about a positive trend of membership growth to our denomination.” What a daunting task with serious ramifications!
As general secretary, I wasn’t sure how to begin. But through discussions with various classes and congregational leaders, the Holy Spirit prompted us all in the same direction: to bring together church members and leaders from all of the classes in the CRCNA to witness how God is already working to renew our congregations. And that’s just what we’ve been doing. We’ve developed an initiative called “Gather." in which a series of 10 such gatherings will take place in 2024 and early 2025, and each event so far has testified to God’s amazing work in our Christian Reformed congregations. While it might be easier for us to focus our attention on the challenges our churches are facing, as well as differences of opinion that some of us have, when we pause to reflect on our shared mission and callings, we can see God doing amazing things—and that gives us hope for renewal and for strengthening relationships.
Whether it's feeding the homeless, welcoming the newcomer, sharing food at a community garden, or witnessing through Bible studies and more, our congregations are bustling with the work of the Holy Spirit and having real impacts on the people and communities around them. If your classis has not yet been invited to Gather, I encourage you to visit Gather to learn more. When the series of 10 events has concluded, we will be collecting our shared learnings and developing a report to bring to the congregations.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you to join me in giving thanks to God for all his good work. I also want to share the following report with you as another opportunity to pause and give thanks for what God is doing with and through the Christian Reformed Church. I hope that as you read these pages you will be reminded that we serve an amazing God who is able to use our humble efforts for his glory.
Rev. Zachary King, Ph.D. General Secretary
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