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Good News for Denominations

August 1, 2014
Caregivers who attended meeting in Grand Rapids. Dr. Steve Timmermans is on the left.

Caregivers who attended meeting in Grand Rapids. Dr. Steve Timmermans is on the left.

A group of pastoral caregivers from different denominations gathered recently to share stories from their churches with Dr. Steve Timmermans, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church.

The caregivers were brought together by the Pastor-Church Relations Office.

Represented were pastors/chaplains from the Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Wesleyan Church, Evangelical Free Church of America, Foursquare Churches, Evangelical Covenant Church, and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. The Church of the Nazarene usually has someone at these yearly meetings but no one could make it this year.

“We are a bit of an interesting mix. This is a loose-knit, clergy development group,” said Rev. Norm Thomasma, director of Pastor-Church Relations, adding that they move from denomination to denomination every year for their meeting.

“We have been connecting and meeting like this for 15 years. We do this to support one another and to share the best practices about pastoral care.”

This year, they met for a day-and-a-half to discuss such issues in pastoral care as “Good Practices and Stories,” “Overall Health and Well-being of Clergy,” and “Clergy Crisis Care,” and to take a tour the Grand Rapids office of the CRC.

After touring the facility, they had the chance to sit down with Timmermans who, after greeting them, asked about challenges they faced in their churches.

“In my job, this is something I’m dealing with and I’m interested how you see it in your churches,” he said.

The responses painted a fairly upbeat picture about the health of denominations

“In the last five years, things have been changing slowly for the better,” said one pastor. “We could possibly be seeing a movement toward (people embracing) denominations because people are interested in being part of something.”

Timmermans said he also sees “a real longing for the church and we can build on that.”

One of the pastors said members of his denomination are attracted to the church “because they want to be part of an umbrella community, something that draws them in.”

Another of the pastors said he sees a “growing prayer life, especially among the youth. Young people are looking for deep connectedness.”

“Denominations will thrive to the extent that they serve people,” said a pastor. “How can we serve and connect with people better?”

At the same time, “we live in a society,” said a pastor, “when we have overlapping responsibilities. Although we have commonality, we go off in different directions.”

Referring to structural changes in his denomination, one pastor said his denomination has tried to change the ways in which it does ministry together.

There were hopes that breaking down the walls dividing the denomination’s ministries would streamline workflow, remove obstacles, and bring employees closer together.

That has only made things more confusing, said the pastor.

“We took down the walls, but we didn’t make things better,” said the pastor.