Dominican Republic: Celebrating 50 Years of a Global Partnership
It was Aug. 13, 1975, and the first missionary to the Dominican Republic from the Christian Reformed Church in North America had just arrived. By the time Arnold Rumph of Resonate Global Mission (then Christian Reformed World Missions) stepped foot in Batey Tarana, night had already fallen, and a symphony of chirping crickets filled the air. But music and voices also floated in the breeze from a building down the road. The sign on that building read “La Iglesia Cristiana Reformada” (Spanish for “Christian Reformed Church”).
The first Christian Reformed church in the Dominican Republic (DR) had already formed—on its own.
This group of believers eventually started a new denomination that would not only grow quickly to more than 200 churches in their country; they also initiated a fruitful partnership between churches in the DR and churches of the CRCNA that would lead to equipping more than 4,000 leaders and providing more than 5,000 students with Christian education each year – and more.
Here are some highlights:
From One Radio Broadcast to More than 200 Churches
Earlier in 1975, before Rumph arrived in the DR, a small church in Tarana Batey gathered and listened to a radio crackling with a message from “La Hora de la Reforma,” a Spanish-language radio program produced by ReFrame Ministries (then the Back to God Hour).
The message resonated with this group of believers, and their pastor, Ilophene Lherisme, who could not read or write, dictated a letter to the church secretary, Eugenio Castillo, and mailed it to the offices of “La Hora de la Reforma.” Eventually the letter reached the team of Resonate missionaries serving in neighboring Puerto Rico. And although the church already considered itself a Christian Reformed church at the time, Rumph’s visit recorded its official organization.
Reformed theology resonated with many people in the Dominican Republic—especially the teaching that faith informs and shapes every aspect of life—and just six years later, in 1981, the Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic (Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la República Dominicana, or ICRERD) officially formed. It started with 10 congregations and 494 members, and it more than doubled in size every year for the next few years. Today this denomination includes more than 225 congregations and more than 15,000 members.
In the early 1980s the church grew very quickly as many small, independent churches affiliated, said Steve Brauning, a Resonate missionary who has served in the DR for the past 33 years. “I think it was important too,” he said, “that they weren't necessarily denominational churches of another denomination. They were completely isolated, independent churches.”
As time went on, the denomination in the DR grew more from church planting and church growth than through affiliations. It has emerged and has grown with its own unique identity, added Brauning, and Resonate missionaries and the CRCNA have helped to support the ICRERD’s efforts along the way. While a hierarchical structure is common in the Dominican Republic, he noted, especially in Pentecostal churches, the ICRERD appreciated the representative governance of the CRCNA and chose to organize their denomination similarly.
Christian Education for Children
In 1981, Resonate also began partnering with the ICRERD to help start Christian Reformed schools in the country, as local pastors noted a need for schools in their communities. The ICRERD is a denomination made up of mostly Haitian immigrants and descendants, a group that is widely stigmatized and discriminated against in the Dominican Republic. As a result, most Haitian immigrants live in communities lacking basic infrastructure, opportunities for good jobs, and education for their children.
What started as one small group of students meeting under the shade of a mango tree outside of a church building in 1981 has grown today into Christian Reformed Schools in the Dominican Republic (Collegios Cristianos Reformados, or COCREF), a network of 20 schools with 450 staff members providing a Christ-centered education to 5,300 students. COCREF not only offers tuition assistance to families who would otherwise not be able to afford quality education; it also provides food assistance, health services, and more for a variety of communities.
Though Resonate provided 100 percent of the funding at first, the plan has always been to develop a wide support network for COCREF’s health and sustainability. As a result, today COCREF has a number of local partners invested in the ministry, and Resonate’s support has significantly decreased. The Sinergia Leadership Foundation now serves as Resonate’s partner providing organizational support, leadership and pedagogical training, and other services with COCREF.
Leadership Formation
Raising up local leaders in the Dominican Republic has also been a central focus of the partnership between ICRERD and Resonate, and the results have yielded leaders for ministry and mission in all sectors.
“It’s impossible to know how many leaders have participated in everything from mentoring, informal pastoral training, evangelism training, youth leadership formation, diaconal training, Timothy Leadership Training, and more,” said Brauning. But he estimates that roughly 4,000 people have been equipped and trained in part because of this partnership.
Construction Projects
In addition, hundreds of teams from CRCNA churches have visited the Dominican Republic over the years to partner with local communities in service and learning projects. Many of these projects have centered on the construction and renovation of church buildings, schools, ministry centers, and pastors’ homes.
Brauning said that CRCNA churches have helped to complete 375 construction projects in partnership with Resonate and the ICRERD. These service and learning projects have not only provided a boost for local communities but have also helped to build meaningful relationships with local believers.
Thanksgiving for the Past and Looking toward the Future
What sprouted from a single radio broadcast and a heartfelt letter has grown into a decades-long, Spirit-led partnership. And while aspects of ministry have changed over the years in relation to local churches’ and communities’ needs, the partnership between the CRCNA and ICRERD has remained focused on collaborative ministry in which both voices are valued and national leaders are elevated.
Resonate’s work has also provided an open door for World Renew to partner with churches and other nonprofits in the country for more than 30 years. And today ReFrame’s “La Hora de la Reforma” still broadcasts to eager listeners in the Dominican Republic, and Resonate is still especially committed to leadership formation and Christian education.
Brauning noted that the legacy of this partnership strategy is also evident in the development of other national ministries such as Juventud Empoderada para la Transformación (JET) and Programa de Alimentacion Ninos del Batey (PANIBA), youth and community leadership and transformational ministries that have grown out of the multifaceted network of ministries associated with the denominations’ work in the country.
“This partnership is a powerful reminder that mission is not about bringing God somewhere—it's about joining God where the Holy Spirit is already at work. For 50 years we've had the privilege of walking alongside our brothers and sisters in the Dominican Republic, learning, growing, and serving together as one body in Christ,” shared Kevin DeRaaf, director of Resonate.
“But the story is far from over,” he added. “The seeds planted continue to grow, and the mission moves forward.”
Watch a short video celebrating the 50th anniversary of ICRERD and the CRCNA's partnership with it.
