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Did you know that you can support church renewal in your region, classis, city, even in your own church? By giving a gift to the Specialized Transitional Minister (STM) program of the Christian Reformed Church, you are supporting church renewal at its foundation.
The STM program started in the late 1990’s, and it has been a blessing to many Christian Reformed Church congregations over the last thirty years. The program is designed for churches that are going through a time of transition, specifically after a church has recently parted ways with a pastor they have had for many years or the church has experienced a time of conflict or pain. An STM serves at a church like this for 9-24 months, working with the council to ensure that the church can be a healthy place for the next pastor to do ministry.
One of our STMs, Rev. Dale Slings, recently served at a church that had parted ways with its pastor after a time of relationship tensions. Dale was able to lead the church council to see itself more clearly, and to understand that healthy spiritual leadership requires unique skills and practices. After spending time developing new skills and put them into practice the council then felt a desire to reconcile with its former pastor. It was able to move on from there into a much higher level of leadership for the congregation. In fact, their next pastor reports arriving at the church to find a healthy leadership culture in place, and has expressed deep gratitude for Dale's work.
There are many more stories like this, your support of the STM ministry of the Christian Reformed Church helps to renew churches! If you'd like to support the work of Specialized Transitional Ministers visit https://www.crcna.org/pcr/donate
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