Jonathan Wilson

annmpea,

Thanks for posting your question in our forums. We posted your question on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/crcna/posts/114495095288350

Perhaps it will generate some responses also.

Thank you for sharing this Karl.  Blessings.

Anton, It is not appropriate to for Network users to be snarky to one another. I am sorry if you have expeirenced that on The Nettwork. One of our comment guidelines states that comments should be "friendly and polite in tone and language, even when you strongly disagree."   If you find a comment that you think is in violation of our comment policy please click the "flag for review" link below the comment. This will notifiy us of the comment and we will make ajudgement if the comment should be removed. Thank you Anton for participating on The Network and I do hope you find it useful towards your ministry needs. Jonathan WilsonNetwork Community and Content Manager

Thanks Shane for this post.  The Network is a community and we love hearing from everyone. So if you are logged in and you have an idea send to Shane don't hesitate.

You can also send us your blog ideas for any of our Network guides via our Blog Ideas Form. 

A recent comment posted in this discussion forum was removed because of racially offensive content.

Here is the comment that was posted (as a reply to another comment) on Wed, 09/11/2013 at 8:03pm EST.

"the reason why the CRC was "successful" in the past is very simple, and it has more to do with anthropology and sociology than with faith and religion: racial solidarity"

I have am not Dutch,  have no ties with the CRC, and never heard of the CRC until I was over 50 years old and moved 10 blocks from [my church]. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into 20 years ago when i joined the CRC, an ethnic local church dominated by maybe 4  or 5 families.  Still very glad that I did.

I suspect that if the CRC had remained an ethnic Dutch church then the CRC would be much smaller but debt free. OK, at least in much better financial shape.  I think it was opening the doors to outsiders, particularly ethnic minorities that caused the financial problems -  that and the CRC doesn't seem very good at investing large sums of money. 

These types of comments are not acceptable on The Network and fall far short of our desire for conversations on The Network to be polite, courteous and Christ-like.

We would like to see some good come from this incident. Over in our Racial Reconciliation forum, a new topic has been posted that invites discussion of this incident. To participate in this learning opportunity this comment has generated visit this discussion topic in the Racial Reconciliation and Anti-Racism discussion forum.

- Jonathan Wilson (Network Community & Content Manager)

Wendy and all,

We've posted this question on the CRCNA Facebook page also.  You can read the responses here:

https://www.facebook.com/crcna/posts/10151759709830362

Shirley,

There has been an article about the flooding posted on The Banner website. You can read it here:

Massive Flooding Impacts Christian Reformed Churches in Southern Alberta

Andrea, I was recently reminded of the what you shared in this post.  Thank you again for your reflection on what Christ has done for us.

To John and Norman,

First, I want to thank the both of you for your participation in this discussion. I also appreciate the respectful way the two of you have expressed your opinions even though you may have different viewpoints.  As I have watched this forum over the past week or so I feel it has turned more and more into a direct dialogue between the two parties. Therefore, I as the community manager for The Network I would like to suggest continuing your discussion via e-mail.

By default every Network member has a personal contact form in which direct messages can be sent.  You can use the form to contact each other directly and If you both agree then you can exchange e-mail addresses. Then you can continue any specific topic points between the two of you. You can find the personal contact form by clicking on a Network user’s name to get to their profile and then click on the ‘Contact’ tab to send a message. 

Some may have benefited from reading your direct responses to one another but this latest dialogue on specifics points may be a tangent that may veer away from the original topic proposed by John.

August,

My understanding is that 90%+ of the announcements to pastors and churches go via email. I'm not sure about this one in particular or the reason it was sent via postal mail. But the vast majority is sent electronically.

Great question Richard.  At my church whenever there was a planned time to have pictures taken; there was a general announcement made to let people know that there would be a photographer taking photos.  I hope others chime in with their experiences at their church.

Josh,

Did you have a specific blog post titled "bow ties are cool"? If so share the link, I'd like to read it.