$500,000 Grant Will Help Support CRC Congregations

For the past three years, the Christian Reformed Church in North America has been piloting a project in three geographic regions with the intent of creating relationships and resourcing congregations. This pilot project will now be rolled out more broadly, thanks to an additional investment of $500,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Originally coined “Connections,” the pilot project began in July 2016 with a nearly $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment. Utilizing regional coaches and catalyzers, the Connections Project helped congregations in southern Ontario, southern California, and the U.S. Midwest meet their unique needs by discovering and using a wide variety of ministry resources from the CRC and beyond.

According to the Connections Project website, this was accomplished by helping congregations “connect with resources through ‘the four C’s’: conversations, creating space for learning, facilitating the formation of cohorts, and offering resource coaching.”

“We’ve been really pleased with the success of the Connections Project,” said Lis Van Harten, project director. “In fact, it had surpassed the overall project goals before the second year was even over. We’ve found that the key to resourcing congregations and ministry leaders is relationships.”

Van Harten explains that Connections regional staff spend a significant amount of time investing in making and nurturing connections. Once those are in place, the opportunities for resourcing blossom.

“Our denomination is rich in resources and expertise that can help congregations face a multitude of ministry opportunities and challenges. Connecting the two is fun for the Connections staff and helpful for the churches and their ministry,” she said.

“Churches are finding what they need when they need it; they feel supported by their denomination; and they feel comfortable reaching out the next time they have a need. There are wins at every turn.”

At the same time that this pilot project was taking shape, several other initiatives were also emerging in CRCNA ministries that helped shift the culture toward working at the regional level to support local congregations.

The Board of Trustees, for example, was reorganized to a Council of Delegates to include representatives from every CRCNA regional grouping or classis. This has allowed the governance of the denomination to be better informed of regional needs, and it has improved communication back to the regions as decisions are made.

Similarly, ministries such as Resonate Global Mission, Faith Formation Ministries, Safe Church Ministry, and Disability Concerns have adopted models of using regional staff and volunteers to help equip and support congregations.

In addition, the denomination has recently launched an initiative called “Click, Call, Chat” with the intent of providing exemplary, effective customer service to all Christian Reformed people and churches. This initiative involved gathering all denominational resources onto one searchable webpage (crcna.org/resources), as well as providing one central phone number (1-800-272-5125) and an online chat feature by which trained staff can answer a variety of ministry questions.

“All of these things demonstrate a culture shift within the Christian Reformed Church of really being focused on the needs of local congregations and trying to support them as much as possible, which includes using regionally placed staff and volunteers,” said Van Harten.

This second grant will allow CRC ministries to take up the lessons learned through the Connections project, as well as the work already being done by a variety of other ministries, and to implement a cohesive strategy to resource congregations.

“Our goal is to bring many different denominational initiatives to a point of convergence through synergized regional teams that build capacity for congregational renewal,” said Syd Hielema, who has been appointed to lead Connections II.

The plan will be carried out over five years and will involve using existing regional representatives of CRC ministries and forming them into cohesive teams who share the ultimate goal of serving congregations. These teams will continue to serve their primary CRCNA ministry but will also work together with other regional staff to ensure that they are all aware of what is available for congregations and can put the needs of those congregations ahead of any ministry objectives.

“What we’re working toward is a total culture shift to enhance listening to, serving, and equipping our local congregations for renewal,” said Hielema.

Connections II will begin in July 2019.