The CRCNA Punches Above Its Weight

My apologies for the violent metaphor – but it makes a point.  Because we believe in the renewal of all things, the CRCNA has long had a vision of making a difference in the world. Not only through sharing the good news but sharing the good news in our political sphere, by feeding the hungry, by ensuring our deacons have the right tools. We’ve had a big vision beyond ourselves.

While this has been a hard season, we can step back and look at the bigger picture and know that for whatever season your church and this denomination has existed we have sprinkled light throughout the world. We’ve adapted to the needs of the world as we saw them – adding new ministries and closing others.

Working for the denomination, I’ve had a ringside seat to the ways God is using us and what a blessing that has been. Here are a few numbers I recently collected from staff:

• Canadian churches and sponsoring groups have welcomed and walked alongside over 11,500 refugees since 1979.

• In the last 25 years Calvin Seminary has had 2,860 graduates in a variety of degree programs.

• Diaconal Ministries Canada’s Operation Manna was from 1964 to 2019; we then rebranded it NewGround. 156 Grants were given out from 1964 to now. This includes personalized coaching and resourcing. 

• We’ve had over 650 people participate in Hearts Exchanged in only the last 4 years!  

• Our Urban Indigenous Ministries have existed since 1973 (we were committed to reconciliation before it was a buzzword).  If we lowball guesstimate that the three ministries have existed for 52 years (or 32,448 weeks) and we say that only five people visited each ministry each week then one ministry alone has served 162,240 people.  Imagine the stories of support and connection!  

It has been a joy to get to share some of these stories and statistics.  As many of us were able to experience through the Gather events – God is walking alongside us. Let's break bread with him and notice where he’s showing up.   

P.S. The Canadian Advancement team has been sharing stories around North America and the globe to help churches understand the far reaching impact they have.  Check out more information about the CRCNA Airlines presentation.