George, if I sounded like playing the race card, then I apologize. That was not my intent, but just the result of wondering aloud what could have happened. If you see my post as not helpful on this forum, please flag and remove it. Perfectly alright with me. Thanks for your caution. Well received.
Hi Randy, your statement "Instead of casting a vision of how the CRC is going to make disciples..." caught my attention - and am very grateful you wrote it. I'm also thankful for the issues already raised here about the report before Synod 2011 for diversity in the CRC leadership. I agree with you that instead of us struggling over a quota and various ways of monitoring/achieving/administering such, I believe it would be more God-honoring and church-edifying if we focused our passion, unity, and resources towards intentionally making disciples of Jesus Christ in both majority- and minority-culture congregations and communities. In a nutshell, if we had more maturing and reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ in the CRC, we would have a large pool of Christlike servant leaders who could ably and humbly fill leadership roles in the CRC. For about three years, our Lord used His limited time on earth and worked out the strategy for building His Church: teach, train, motivate, rebuke, challenge, and assure a small group of very ordinary people turned disciples/servant-leaders. When those men and women got to intimately know the Lord's heart and purpose, they followed and committed to serve Him and His Church. The Lord made sure that they were first transformed and shaped in His likeness before the systems and procedures of governance and administration were set up for a growing number of 1st century believers.
I won't be surprised if any 'person of color' including those who already had served in classical and denominational tasks would feel uneasy (perhaps even negatively) to know they're selected to a leadership role ONLY because a quota needs to be filled - and not because of his/her heart, knowledge, and competencies. If we had droves of discipled servant-leaders of all colors, gender, and ages in the CRC family, a quota or any other well-meaninged and well-thought ways of institutionalizing diversity in leadership positions would be unnecessary. I pray that Synod 2011 and all of us in our beloved CRC will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to agree and follow how the Lord Jesus discipled and commissioned His start-up servant-leaders. They were a small start-up ragtag group, clearly imperfect and rejects in the world's standards. We know this now: Jesus discipled them. Their spiritual and leadership depth, maturity, unity, sacrifice, and pure commitment to Christ's purpose should jolt all of us from ideas and processes that tend to move us away from the Lord's simple yet powerful command: "Go and make disciples of all nations..."
No Bev, that's my real name as originally given by my parents. Not a cover for someone else. -:)
Am 100% born and raised in the Philippines and a part product of your CRWM work in that country through Rev. Maas (now deceased) and Elois Vanderbilt. Settled now in SF Bay Area, ordained as Ministry Associate in the CRC, used to be a church planter through CRHM, now stated clerk of Classis Central CA and parttime staff of the CRC Leadership Exchange. There, those credentials are an open book. If there are questions whether I'm a cover for some white person of European ethnicity, anyone can verify with Rev. Larry Fryling at Christ's Community Church in Hayward, CA. Or, you can click my personal info and photo somewhere here on the Network. When I post (rarely) on the Network, I do it earnestly and with the intent to be of help in our online conversations.
Now before I sound dead serious, let me just say how a few of us (on this forum) are truly (and thankfully) looking at this diversity report with good concern and love for Christ's church in the CRC. Example: I just learned this afternoon there's a classis calling for a special meeting next week to decide on an overture asking Synod 2011 to hear their deep concerns around the diversity report. May our delegates be one in honoring the Lord Jesus and strengthening the body's leadership that had regrettably been shaken recently.
Let me end with a thought: I wish to see more of my Southeast Asian and Pacific Islands CRC pastor-friends engaged in discourses like these. I know they are also concerned with the issues CRC faces as a denomination, in addition to their more immediate needs as emerging immigrant congregations. Since many of them may not be engaged here, I'll try to be a voice for them. Did you know that there must be at least 60 such churches in the US and Canada? These very different Asian people groups worship our Triune God just like you do: Cambodians, Chinese, Filipinos, Hmong, Indians, Indonesians, Karen, Koreans, Pakistanis, Samoans, Thais, and Vietnamese (I may have missed others). Their voices are little heard in the discourse but like you, we've been called by the Lord and we're here among you. Still I hope for the day when they will actively speak up. May their voices be heard and acted upon... binationally, multi-culturally, in a spiritual body that does not do things simply in compliance witih quotas or any form of legalized representaiton.
Bev, I was referring to the sudden, unCRC-like resignations of Jerry and Sandy - about which many of us in the trenches don't know the real behind-the-scene reasons/issues. Could it be this 'people of color' issue is aggravating leadership & political dynamics in our spiritual church body? Whatever the issue/s are, it's still regrettable to see these resignations occur so swiftly and so un-spiritually. (not sure if that's a correct adverbial form for it -:)
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
George, if I sounded like playing the race card, then I apologize. That was not my intent, but just the result of wondering aloud what could have happened. If you see my post as not helpful on this forum, please flag and remove it. Perfectly alright with me. Thanks for your caution. Well received.
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
Hi Randy, your statement "Instead of casting a vision of how the CRC is going to make disciples..." caught my attention - and am very grateful you wrote it. I'm also thankful for the issues already raised here about the report before Synod 2011 for diversity in the CRC leadership. I agree with you that instead of us struggling over a quota and various ways of monitoring/achieving/administering such, I believe it would be more God-honoring and church-edifying if we focused our passion, unity, and resources towards intentionally making disciples of Jesus Christ in both majority- and minority-culture congregations and communities. In a nutshell, if we had more maturing and reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ in the CRC, we would have a large pool of Christlike servant leaders who could ably and humbly fill leadership roles in the CRC. For about three years, our Lord used His limited time on earth and worked out the strategy for building His Church: teach, train, motivate, rebuke, challenge, and assure a small group of very ordinary people turned disciples/servant-leaders. When those men and women got to intimately know the Lord's heart and purpose, they followed and committed to serve Him and His Church. The Lord made sure that they were first transformed and shaped in His likeness before the systems and procedures of governance and administration were set up for a growing number of 1st century believers.
I won't be surprised if any 'person of color' including those who already had served in classical and denominational tasks would feel uneasy (perhaps even negatively) to know they're selected to a leadership role ONLY because a quota needs to be filled - and not because of his/her heart, knowledge, and competencies. If we had droves of discipled servant-leaders of all colors, gender, and ages in the CRC family, a quota or any other well-meaninged and well-thought ways of institutionalizing diversity in leadership positions would be unnecessary. I pray that Synod 2011 and all of us in our beloved CRC will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to agree and follow how the Lord Jesus discipled and commissioned His start-up servant-leaders. They were a small start-up ragtag group, clearly imperfect and rejects in the world's standards. We know this now: Jesus discipled them. Their spiritual and leadership depth, maturity, unity, sacrifice, and pure commitment to Christ's purpose should jolt all of us from ideas and processes that tend to move us away from the Lord's simple yet powerful command: "Go and make disciples of all nations..."
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
No Bev, that's my real name as originally given by my parents. Not a cover for someone else. -:)
Am 100% born and raised in the Philippines and a part product of your CRWM work in that country through Rev. Maas (now deceased) and Elois Vanderbilt. Settled now in SF Bay Area, ordained as Ministry Associate in the CRC, used to be a church planter through CRHM, now stated clerk of Classis Central CA and parttime staff of the CRC Leadership Exchange. There, those credentials are an open book. If there are questions whether I'm a cover for some white person of European ethnicity, anyone can verify with Rev. Larry Fryling at Christ's Community Church in Hayward, CA. Or, you can click my personal info and photo somewhere here on the Network. When I post (rarely) on the Network, I do it earnestly and with the intent to be of help in our online conversations.
Now before I sound dead serious, let me just say how a few of us (on this forum) are truly (and thankfully) looking at this diversity report with good concern and love for Christ's church in the CRC. Example: I just learned this afternoon there's a classis calling for a special meeting next week to decide on an overture asking Synod 2011 to hear their deep concerns around the diversity report. May our delegates be one in honoring the Lord Jesus and strengthening the body's leadership that had regrettably been shaken recently.
Let me end with a thought: I wish to see more of my Southeast Asian and Pacific Islands CRC pastor-friends engaged in discourses like these. I know they are also concerned with the issues CRC faces as a denomination, in addition to their more immediate needs as emerging immigrant congregations. Since many of them may not be engaged here, I'll try to be a voice for them. Did you know that there must be at least 60 such churches in the US and Canada? These very different Asian people groups worship our Triune God just like you do: Cambodians, Chinese, Filipinos, Hmong, Indians, Indonesians, Karen, Koreans, Pakistanis, Samoans, Thais, and Vietnamese (I may have missed others). Their voices are little heard in the discourse but like you, we've been called by the Lord and we're here among you. Still I hope for the day when they will actively speak up. May their voices be heard and acted upon... binationally, multi-culturally, in a spiritual body that does not do things simply in compliance witih quotas or any form of legalized representaiton.
Posted in: People of Color in Leadership Positions
Bev, I was referring to the sudden, unCRC-like resignations of Jerry and Sandy - about which many of us in the trenches don't know the real behind-the-scene reasons/issues. Could it be this 'people of color' issue is aggravating leadership & political dynamics in our spiritual church body? Whatever the issue/s are, it's still regrettable to see these resignations occur so swiftly and so un-spiritually. (not sure if that's a correct adverbial form for it -:)