Ministry Leaders Discuss Faith Formation

Nearly 35 Christian Reformed Church denominational ministry leaders recently came together to consider ways in which they can partner with each other in the area of faith formation.

The leaders were gathered at the CRC’s office in Grand Rapids, Mich. by Congregational Services, formerly Specialized Ministries. The day-long discussion began as ministry leaders each had a few minutes to talk about the work they do and what faith formation means to their ministries.

They also talked, as the day unfolded, about how they might be able to help create a common vision of faith formation to further the mission of the CRC, especially as it applies to shaping and supporting the faith of people in congregations.

“I think there were several benefits to the meeting,” said Colin Watson, Sr., the CRC’s director of ministries and administration.

“First of all, representatives and leaders from many ministries and agencies had an opportunity to focus on how we can work together and collaborate for the benefit of our congregations. It is important to note that, for this gathering, the particular lens through which we viewed serving congregations was faith formation.”

Placing the focus on faith formation was important, he said, because without making this the focus “our witness would be hollow… . In a real sense, we can say that leadership is itself a subset of faith formation and discipleship.”

Syd Hielema, director of Faith Formation Ministries, which was launched at Synod 2015, helped to facilitate the discussion.

“We asked in our meeting, ‘How can we speak about this topic of faith formation together? Is there a harmonizing strategy of how we can do that, of how we can  work together?’” said Hielema.

He said the meeting had four main objectives:

• To work toward a common understanding of faith formation.
• To strengthen community and trust between the ministries.
• To discuss ways to partner in regional ministry.
• To identify specific areas where partnerships seem wise and timely.

“We are seeing a whole shift gathering momentum in our denomination of ministries working toward blessing congregations,” he said.

“But as every ministry and project has been doing that, it can be confusing. We held our meeting as a way to get on the same page.”

The discussion, he said, was the first step in discerning what ministries are doing and how they view faith formation.

Hielema said this is a continuing process for all ministries “as we communicate and integrate who is doing what and coordinate all of the work being done for the benefit of our congregations.”

But at the same, Hielema said, several church initiatives are already working across ministries to bring together people and resources to create a shared vision for mission.

This is happening as Christian Reformed Home Missions and World Missions are moving toward unifying their work into a single agency for mission, he said.

In addition, said Hielema, there is Connections, a pilot project that is funded by a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. in Indianapolis, Ind. that is working with regional groups of CRC congregations.

“This project will focus on bringing awareness to congregations as to what denominational, regional and local resources are available to them,” said Hielema.

“The goal is walking alongside congregations to help them, in whatever ways, to become salt and light in their own contexts.”

In addition, said Hielema, there is a new, two-year Reformed Leadership Initiative that has been launched between the CRC and Reformed Church in America to develop leaders in select areas across North America.

There is also a classis renewal project in the works and the ongoing Renewal Lab project that involves Calvin Theological Seminary and CRC congregations, he said.

“Many of these are new and we hope they will be intersecting with one another to enhance the ministries of the church as it works with local congregations,” said Hielema.

On the day after the meeting at the CRC office, Faith Formation Ministries made a presentation during the 29th Annual Worship Symposium at Calvin College.

Specifically, they discussed a Faith Formation Ministries initiative called the Building Blocks of Faith. This involves 15 churches that are using a program geared to help them build the faith, through discussions and exercises and other means, of members in their congregations.

“We are excited by what is happening,” said Hielema. “Faith Formation Ministries sees its role as working in different ways to encourage and help foster discipleship shaped by grace in congregations.”