Harry Boessenkool

Thanks Doug for your expanded explanation regarding Pension Plans.

I was a sole bread winner for many years and have a defined benefit plan. I have had one small (1%) permanent raise in the last 14 years and three independent payments of about 1,000 dollars. My plan gives 60% of my pension to my spouse should I pass away. I am not complaining these are just the facts on my DB plan.

All this to say I do have some biases in favor of defined plans. Several years ago I was involved in a merger of two Christian schools and a big discussion arose around this topic. DC or DB? We hired Hewitt and Associates to help us thru the discussion. They had full access to the CSI pension plan (the Canada version). The committee of teachers and community reps decided in favor of the CSI plan after a full review and presentation by Hewitt.

As far as costs go I believe John B is not quite correct. If the CRC Canada Pension plan were to properly value income paid to Pastors the DB plan would probably need a lot more money to be fully funded.

This is why I would still like some feedback on the method in arriving at the average salary for Pensions for CRC Pastors in Canada. The fact that it leaves out the housing allowance is  major flaw. In Canada Clergy have a special deduction from income involving the value of their housing. In my view this has nothing to to with their income and is simply a CRA/Clergy issue. Given the hunt for cash by the (all) governments, this deduction may disappear in the nex few years. Best to fix this issue now. The cost of that fix to the DB pension fund would be enormous. I hope this one of the things that the Lily Foundation money will be used to research. And of course I recommend professionals like Hewitt or Mercer be consulted.

While they are at it they could probably also solve the salary scale issues that we so badly need across Canada to take the guess work out of Pastor's salaries.

I heard a piece on the radio recently that members of Defined Benefit plans should consider options of opting out of these plans. I wonder if Pastors in our churches could do that and the church would stop paying the ministry shares for that Pastor. Those funds would then be provided to the Pastor to create his own plan. The church could even double that. That process would lead to elimination of the DB plan in the CRC and weaken it significantly. Jerry Hoytema's comment should be a warning sign that our Minister's Pension Plan needs a serious review.

My favorite logo used in the CRCNA was the one used by Faith Alive. Now that this agency is no longer formally in play maybe their logo should go to this new agency.

I am still confused how the Back to God Ministries fits into this Global Missions mandate that was really initiated by the two Directors of the two missions agencies that are now supposedly one.

In general the "branding" of the CRCNA is a bit of a mixed bag with still some five to six logos in use. If you are going to spend money every time an agency folds or amalgamates to "rebrand" the outfit you should really come up with a CRCNA brand. But then we should first divest Calvin College and World Renew. 

Here is a quote from an article called Stories of Growth and Renewal:

"Because Gritter is the president of South Pointe’s board, though, he can choose the staff. “Who am I going to choose? I’m going to choose people that understand the vision of influence. We won’t run the after-school program as a Christian program, but we’ll staff it with Christians,” he said."

If you transfer that attitude to a church community you become a social club. The parable of the Sower in Luke provide four (or   five) definitions. There is an argument to be made from that parable that church attendance might decline.  

Great article Keith. The "rainbow" is also creeping into our CRC churches. Small flags on church signs and pins worn by members who support the Gay Pride parades. I think it is too late to reclaim the rainbow for Christian purposes. The church simple can not compete with the gay community regarding publicity. We are going to have to stay with the "cross" as the Christian symbol.

Governments can (and do) ban crosses but would never dare to ban a rainbow flag. Do we need an other symbol? I think not but there could be other thoughts about that.

Regarding announcement  (Oct 16, 2016) of combining OSJ with Race Relations.  With retirements and leaders leaving these Departments the church simply posts another job for a combined department leader, but leaving the functions in place.  This is a missed opportunity to privatize these two functions. For those willing to support lobbying governments they should be willing to put organizations in place to do that and fund them. The church can no longer afford this cost that should never have been in the church in the first place.

Where is the end point? Uncertainty is generally unhealthy. The story given to justify "holy uncertainty" is strange because the end point is acceptance of homosexual marriage. And then to have no comment on the mother's conclusion is taking a stand on the issue.

Seems to me you are writing with a forked pen.

A very healthy reminder for al participants in the upcoming Synod meetings! God bless the officers of Synod.