Synod Commends Faith Formation Ministries

Syd Hielema was hired to lead Faith Formation Ministries (FFM) since its inception four years ago. As his final act as leader of this ministry, he presented to Synod 2019 about the work of this ministry. Hielema will move to a new role on July 1, and Chris Schoon will replace him as director.

As part of a new practise approved by Synod 2018, delegates at Synod 2019 received evaluation reports from ministries related to one of the denomination’s calling areas.  This year focused on Faith Formation as well as Gospel Proclamation. 

That means that delegates looked at evaluation reports and received presentations from FFM, Worship Ministries and Calvin College. FFM’s presentation was given on June 17.

Joined by FFM staff member, Christine Dekker, Hielema told delegates about the philosophy of ministry that has guided this still new and innovative denominational ministry.

FFM grew out of a “shepherding committee” appointed by Synod 2007 to help the denomination invite and incorporate children in the Lord’s Supper, something new to many churches at the time.

Another factor in its birth was the decision by Synod 2013 to disband CRC Publications and the creation of new materials by Faith Alive.  To fill the gap that this decision created, Synod 2014 started Faith Formation Ministries and Worship Ministries.

Instead of creating programs, Faith Formation Ministries comes alongside churches, listening carefully to who they are and where they want to go, curating resources—often resources created by other congregations—and making them available to the churches, and walking with the churches as they explore new ways to take on the shape of Jesus.

In his and Dekker’s address to synod, they said they take a “practice-based approach,” drawing on the practices of congregations new and old, in order to help leaders “be shepherds of [their] congregation’s culture.”

This approach, Hielema said, “reshapes the relationship between the denomination and the local church.”

Hielema and Dekker then asked several delegates to rise and share their own Faith Formation stories from the floor of synod.

Neil deKoning from Woodynook CRC, for example, shared that his church was struggling with how to help their parents encourage their children to walk their faith in word and deed. 

“We had a number of sessions being led by people in their age group,” he said. “They had chats together about their children, about faith formation, and it was a very, very productive time.”

Laura deJong, pastor at Second CRC in Grand Haven agreed.  She said that FFM helped her in her work without her even needing to ask them. 

“Because of work we had already done with FFM, our adult ministries team decided to spend this next year looking at story-telling and testimonies, and in one of our meetings we googled ‘story-telling faith resources’ and the very first hit was the toolkit from FFM,” she said, commenting on the dozens of excellent resources that were immediately at her disposal. 

Synod commended FFM for their work and gave a standing ovation to Syd Hielema, their director.
 
Hielema will be leaving his post as director of FFM on July 1 and will instead turn his attention to helping all of the ministries of the denomination become more focused on meeting the needs of local congregations. This is part of a Lilly Endowment funded program known as Connections, and is the extension of a pilot project with 12 classes. 

When Hielema leaves his post with FFM, he will be replaced by Chris Schoon.

For continuous coverage of Synod 2019 including the live webcast, news, video recordings, photos, liveblog, social media links, and more visit www.crcna.org/synod.