I am a CRC Minister of the Word. My calling church is River Terrace CRC, in East Lansing, MI. I work for Resonate Global Mission in East Africa, training pastors.
Mark that is a very helpful clarification. I definitely see where you are coming from, and where you as a group were trying to help by encouraging good listening and love for one another. That is very good. I'm grateful for that desire for unity, careful listening, empathy, care....
But let me say respectfully, that for many of us on the traditional side, your article does seem to take a position on the HSR report. You may not have thought so truly, so let me explain what I mean. Then you can let me know if I've understood you wrongly. At the beginning of your article, you infer or indirectly say that views of sexuality and marriage should be secondary issues, not primary ones, and not something people should be willing to die for. Many of us don't see these issues as secondary issues. Many of us are ready to sacrifice deeply for them.
Further you say - "With something as complex as human sexuality, we must begin with a humble admission that no matter how much we think we accurately judge the true meaning of Scripture, we only scratch the surface of understanding." Most of us on the traditional side would strongly disagree with such a statement, and the HSR would also disagree. As one of the commenters above pointed out, the authors of the HSR use the word "clearly" a lot. They do think the issues are clear, and you and your team who authored this article seem to not think so. Therefore, it certainly looks to me like the authors of this article do not agree with the HSR, and want longer term dialogue instead, because they don't see it as a clear issue, and so it certainly looks like, to me, that you are taking a stand on the HSR publicly. Do you see what I mean? Have I understood you rightly or wrongly?
The Pastoral Papers at the Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender (They are free to download. They are the best brief, pastoral, compassionate resources I've read yet on LGBT issues from a Christian perspective). https://www.centerforfaith.com/resources
King Leopold's Ghost (Incredibly depressing, but history that every North American should know about what happened in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rubber industry during colonial times).
The Coddling of the American mind (I think absolutely everyone should read this, incredibly important book for working through the arguments in the US today, but also shows clearly how to teach young people so that they are not afraid or offended at new ideas).
Church Discipline by Jonathan Leeman (Short book that is very helpful for thinking through this hard topic that the CRCNA has often neglected)
Power Encounters by David Powlison (About spiritual warfare and some of the common misconceptions)
Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill (About his life and experience as a Christian with same-sex attraction, but it's an important book in his insights about singleness, celibacy, and community life in the Church).
When Everything is Mission (Talks about mission drift, and why it's unhelpful to the church to classify any kind of humanitarian work or service as "mission", and how it's unhelpful to call all Christians "missionaries")
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman (Not the easiest read, but incredibly illuminating about how our culture has developed to the place it is now, especially in regards to views of sexuality and identity, written academically about history, not with an axe to grind)
Churchhill's Hellraisers (Very interesting WW2 book that reads like a novel)
The Great Escape (Very interesting history, gives the real background which is more amazing than what is shown in the popular movie).
The Testament by Grisham (Interesting novel that gets into mission work a bit)
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness (Tim Keller's 50 page book that I try to read every year because it hits home the truth of the Gospel that I so need to remember and keep in my heart).
For readers who are interested in listening to our radio recordings, our website recordings are not working at the moment, but we hope to have them fixed soon.
Eric, it is extremely important to be hospitable in our worship to people of different races and cultures. I see that is what you are trying to emphasize and I think that is really good. Please continue to encourage all of us in the CRC to do this. We need to be flexible, we need to be sacrificial, as we reach out to others, or accommodate the people already in our church communities.
But to me, it seems like you are confusing categories, "race" (skin color) versus "culture." What do you mean by "white culture" or "white cultural norms?" Are you talking about all white people in the world, or only white Americans? Are you saying that by virtue of having a certain skin color we can assume what a person's culture is, because cultures are always associated with that skin color? For my Ugandan friends that love time management and are more time-conscious than me, does that mean they have more white culture than me? For the Japanese that are more time-conscious than Americans, are they therefore more steeped in white culture than Americans? For all of my white American friends who are terrible at keeping time, have they absorbed some kind of other culture, are you suggesting that they have taken on black culture? I don't understand these categories you are using.
I say this gently and with love, but I think you should be more careful about using racial stereotypes. By saying that it is a "white" thing to be perfectionistic, it is almost like implying that it is a black thing (or non-white thing, person of color thing) to be whatever is the opposite of perfectionistic. I would imagine that many black people would find that painful and offensive. We should be very careful not to judge people by the color of their skin but instead by what they actually do, by their individual character and personality. And just as we shouldn't think that all black people in the world are exactly the same and have prejudice towards them, we shouldn't think that all white people in the world are exactly the same either.
I'm not taking issue with some of your proposals. I'm all for making those changes sometimes in our church services to be hospitable to people of other cultures and ethnicities. My church while I lived in Grand Rapids, Madison Square, did a great job of that by having different worship teams that utilized different musical styles and ways of leading worship, and even different languages.
Ahhh. Eric I didn't realize you are from Madison Square and leading in worship design. So you know exactly what I was talking about with diverse worship. You know better than me. That was one of my favorite things about the church when I was a part of it. I miss it greatly
Excellent article, was just thinking about this yesterday with my wife. We see a lot of missionaries who we admire, people who sacrifice their time and comfort to serve, but then we see them get burned out and go home. Many try to do too much, too fast, without taking time to settle in, go slow, learn, listen, set boundaries, and not try to solve every problem.
As a missionary, fundraising has been a wonderful way to connect to churches. For us, it thankfully has not been too challenging. But we are also not with RGM and have not needed to raise as much as RGM missionaries have to raise.
Being supported by God's people, by churches, is such a blessing. We are so grateful for their interest in our lives, for their faithful prayers for us, and for their generous financial support. It is amazing. And it is exciting knowing that they feel part of our ministry overseas. We are not forcing them to give. It is their privilege to give as a way for God to use them. Without this fundraising component, as was mentioned, they might not feel so connected. And we also might feel much less connected. It's hard to know because we have never done it any other way.
On the other hand, almost all of my missionary friends who are in one way or another connected to the CRC, or are with RGM, struggle a lot with the fundraising. It is a constant prayer item and a constant stress. Given how much stress there already is being a missionary and living in a new culture, this added stress is especially not nice. Even when they are meeting their fundraising requirements it can still be a constant stress and worry, wondering if they will lose one of their monthly supporters, wondering if they are thanking their supporting churches enough, etc.
It is interesting that Bernard noted that we just pay people who work as pastors or in the denominational offices. On the other hand, if they raised support, would anyone give? We could argue that their positions are just as important as those of missionaries. But why the difference? Not as exciting to partner with those people’s ministries? Just tradition? For myself, I don’t have any problem actually with missionaries raising support and those people being paid. I love the relationship we have with churches. But it does seem very unwise and unfair to put such a huge burden (100%) on missionaries who are already taking up other burdens, and no fundraising burden at all for others. I guess I would personally love the denomination to go back to funding missionaries like 50% of their need through ministry shares, and just encourage people to give more generously. Maybe the people in the denominational offices could also raise like 30% of their salary.
Part of the financial problem must be also that churches are not giving to ministry shares as much as they used to in the past. In addition to that, a lot of churches and individuals in North America today do not necessarily want to give money to church planters or missionaries. Evangelism has become something offensive. It’s easier to support let’s say, World Renew, the organization I am with, as they feed the hungry and help people to develop their communities. It’s harder for many people to support people who are going out and telling people that they are sinful, in danger of God’s judgment, and need to repent in order to be saved.
Also, I think there is one thing could help a lot, which has been noted in other articles and posts. It won’t solve all the problems but will go a long way. If our church culture changes, and churches start to support less missionaries and organizations, but instead support one or two missionaries with a huge financial amount, this will decrease the burden on missionaries, make their home services less stressful, and the relationships between missionaries and churches closer. We only have about 11 supporting churches, and it’s hard enough to keep up on the news from all of them. But some missionaries have double or triple that amount. The more churches you have supporting you, and the more missionaries a church supports, the more superficial the relationships.
Thank you for the article and for sharing this great resource. However, I think the links are broken. But I was able to find the website online still. Maybe the links just need to be tweaked.
Excellent article. I have the same thoughts. We of course need to share our faith with love and grace, but we also need to get over our fears and share the truth of the good news!
Posted in: Talking About Human Sexuality With Love
Mark that is a very helpful clarification. I definitely see where you are coming from, and where you as a group were trying to help by encouraging good listening and love for one another. That is very good. I'm grateful for that desire for unity, careful listening, empathy, care....
But let me say respectfully, that for many of us on the traditional side, your article does seem to take a position on the HSR report. You may not have thought so truly, so let me explain what I mean. Then you can let me know if I've understood you wrongly. At the beginning of your article, you infer or indirectly say that views of sexuality and marriage should be secondary issues, not primary ones, and not something people should be willing to die for. Many of us don't see these issues as secondary issues. Many of us are ready to sacrifice deeply for them.
Further you say - "With something as complex as human sexuality, we must begin with a humble admission that no matter how much we think we accurately judge the true meaning of Scripture, we only scratch the surface of understanding." Most of us on the traditional side would strongly disagree with such a statement, and the HSR would also disagree. As one of the commenters above pointed out, the authors of the HSR use the word "clearly" a lot. They do think the issues are clear, and you and your team who authored this article seem to not think so. Therefore, it certainly looks to me like the authors of this article do not agree with the HSR, and want longer term dialogue instead, because they don't see it as a clear issue, and so it certainly looks like, to me, that you are taking a stand on the HSR publicly. Do you see what I mean? Have I understood you rightly or wrongly?
Posted in: Best Books You Read in 2021
The Pastoral Papers at the Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender
(They are free to download. They are the best brief, pastoral, compassionate resources I've read yet on LGBT issues from a Christian perspective).
https://www.centerforfaith.com/resources
King Leopold's Ghost
(Incredibly depressing, but history that every North American should know about what happened in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rubber industry during colonial times).
The Coddling of the American mind
(I think absolutely everyone should read this, incredibly important book for working through the arguments in the US today, but also shows clearly how to teach young people so that they are not afraid or offended at new ideas).
Church Discipline by Jonathan Leeman
(Short book that is very helpful for thinking through this hard topic that the CRCNA has often neglected)
Power Encounters by David Powlison
(About spiritual warfare and some of the common misconceptions)
Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill
(About his life and experience as a Christian with same-sex attraction, but it's an important book in his insights about singleness, celibacy, and community life in the Church).
When Everything is Mission
(Talks about mission drift, and why it's unhelpful to the church to classify any kind of humanitarian work or service as "mission", and how it's unhelpful to call all Christians "missionaries")
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
(Not the easiest read, but incredibly illuminating about how our culture has developed to the place it is now, especially in regards to views of sexuality and identity, written academically about history, not with an axe to grind)
Churchhill's Hellraisers
(Very interesting WW2 book that reads like a novel)
The Great Escape
(Very interesting history, gives the real background which is more amazing than what is shown in the popular movie).
The Testament by Grisham
(Interesting novel that gets into mission work a bit)
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
(Tim Keller's 50 page book that I try to read every year because it hits home the truth of the Gospel that I so need to remember and keep in my heart).
Posted in: Ministry in Uganda: Teletherapy Is the New Normal
For readers who are interested in listening to our radio recordings, our website recordings are not working at the moment, but we hope to have them fixed soon.
Thank you for this article Stephen!
Posted in: The NBA Is Better at Lament Than We in the CRC Are
Eric, it is extremely important to be hospitable in our worship to people of different races and cultures. I see that is what you are trying to emphasize and I think that is really good. Please continue to encourage all of us in the CRC to do this. We need to be flexible, we need to be sacrificial, as we reach out to others, or accommodate the people already in our church communities.
But to me, it seems like you are confusing categories, "race" (skin color) versus "culture." What do you mean by "white culture" or "white cultural norms?" Are you talking about all white people in the world, or only white Americans? Are you saying that by virtue of having a certain skin color we can assume what a person's culture is, because cultures are always associated with that skin color? For my Ugandan friends that love time management and are more time-conscious than me, does that mean they have more white culture than me? For the Japanese that are more time-conscious than Americans, are they therefore more steeped in white culture than Americans? For all of my white American friends who are terrible at keeping time, have they absorbed some kind of other culture, are you suggesting that they have taken on black culture? I don't understand these categories you are using.
I say this gently and with love, but I think you should be more careful about using racial stereotypes. By saying that it is a "white" thing to be perfectionistic, it is almost like implying that it is a black thing (or non-white thing, person of color thing) to be whatever is the opposite of perfectionistic. I would imagine that many black people would find that painful and offensive. We should be very careful not to judge people by the color of their skin but instead by what they actually do, by their individual character and personality. And just as we shouldn't think that all black people in the world are exactly the same and have prejudice towards them, we shouldn't think that all white people in the world are exactly the same either.
I'm not taking issue with some of your proposals. I'm all for making those changes sometimes in our church services to be hospitable to people of other cultures and ethnicities. My church while I lived in Grand Rapids, Madison Square, did a great job of that by having different worship teams that utilized different musical styles and ways of leading worship, and even different languages.
Posted in: The NBA Is Better at Lament Than We in the CRC Are
Ahhh. Eric I didn't realize you are from Madison Square and leading in worship design. So you know exactly what I was talking about with diverse worship. You know better than me. That was one of my favorite things about the church when I was a part of it. I miss it greatly
Posted in: Avoiding Ministry Burnout: Establishing Personal Priorities in Missions
Excellent article, was just thinking about this yesterday with my wife. We see a lot of missionaries who we admire, people who sacrifice their time and comfort to serve, but then we see them get burned out and go home. Many try to do too much, too fast, without taking time to settle in, go slow, learn, listen, set boundaries, and not try to solve every problem.
Posted in: More Missionaries Please
As a missionary, fundraising has been a wonderful way to connect to churches. For us, it thankfully has not been too challenging. But we are also not with RGM and have not needed to raise as much as RGM missionaries have to raise.
Being supported by God's people, by churches, is such a blessing. We are so grateful for their interest in our lives, for their faithful prayers for us, and for their generous financial support. It is amazing. And it is exciting knowing that they feel part of our ministry overseas. We are not forcing them to give. It is their privilege to give as a way for God to use them. Without this fundraising component, as was mentioned, they might not feel so connected. And we also might feel much less connected. It's hard to know because we have never done it any other way.
On the other hand, almost all of my missionary friends who are in one way or another connected to the CRC, or are with RGM, struggle a lot with the fundraising. It is a constant prayer item and a constant stress. Given how much stress there already is being a missionary and living in a new culture, this added stress is especially not nice. Even when they are meeting their fundraising requirements it can still be a constant stress and worry, wondering if they will lose one of their monthly supporters, wondering if they are thanking their supporting churches enough, etc.
It is interesting that Bernard noted that we just pay people who work as pastors or in the denominational offices. On the other hand, if they raised support, would anyone give? We could argue that their positions are just as important as those of missionaries. But why the difference? Not as exciting to partner with those people’s ministries? Just tradition? For myself, I don’t have any problem actually with missionaries raising support and those people being paid. I love the relationship we have with churches. But it does seem very unwise and unfair to put such a huge burden (100%) on missionaries who are already taking up other burdens, and no fundraising burden at all for others. I guess I would personally love the denomination to go back to funding missionaries like 50% of their need through ministry shares, and just encourage people to give more generously. Maybe the people in the denominational offices could also raise like 30% of their salary.
Part of the financial problem must be also that churches are not giving to ministry shares as much as they used to in the past. In addition to that, a lot of churches and individuals in North America today do not necessarily want to give money to church planters or missionaries. Evangelism has become something offensive. It’s easier to support let’s say, World Renew, the organization I am with, as they feed the hungry and help people to develop their communities. It’s harder for many people to support people who are going out and telling people that they are sinful, in danger of God’s judgment, and need to repent in order to be saved.
Also, I think there is one thing could help a lot, which has been noted in other articles and posts. It won’t solve all the problems but will go a long way. If our church culture changes, and churches start to support less missionaries and organizations, but instead support one or two missionaries with a huge financial amount, this will decrease the burden on missionaries, make their home services less stressful, and the relationships between missionaries and churches closer. We only have about 11 supporting churches, and it’s hard enough to keep up on the news from all of them. But some missionaries have double or triple that amount. The more churches you have supporting you, and the more missionaries a church supports, the more superficial the relationships.
Posted in: Help Us Name the New Mission Agency!
I started the survey but didn't finish because I didn't like any of the choices, and it wouldn't let me continue when I had kept them all on dislike.
I second James Bosma's title of Christian Reformed Missions. Simple and clear. Or CRCNA Missions.
Posted in: Missions Tourism
Thank you for the article and for sharing this great resource. However, I think the links are broken. But I was able to find the website online still. Maybe the links just need to be tweaked.
Posted in: A Different Kind of Short-Term Missions Trip
Good post!
Posted in: Holy Boldness in the Book of Acts
Excellent article. I have the same thoughts. We of course need to share our faith with love and grace, but we also need to get over our fears and share the truth of the good news!
Posted in: Do I Sacrifice?
Thank you for the comment! I only saw it 3 years late :)