CRC, RCA Join Hands for Sea to Sea Tour

The Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America are asking members of their respective denominations to help fight poverty by supporting next summer’s Sea to Sea Bike Tour across North America.

The Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour is being promoted by the CRC as a 3,750-mile cycling trek starting June 30 in Seattle, Wash., and ending Aug. 30 in Jersey City, N.J. Funds and awareness generated by the tour will support programs to alleviate local and global poverty.

Tour organizers recently approved an agreement that officially makes the RCA part of the tour. “This is a key partnership,” said Claire Elgersma, chair of the tour’s steering committee.

The two denominations are about the same size (1,000 congregations and close to 300,000 members in North America) although the RCA has a greater percentage of its churches located in the United States.

David Dethmers, coordinator for Reformed Church World Service, said the RCA is drawn to the project because of its goal to alleviate poverty. As part of the partnership, the RCA will promote the tour to its congregations and encourage cyclists to register. Half of the money raised by RCA cyclists will be added to the tour’s overall fund-raising total and the remainder will be used by the RCA in its own poverty-alleviation efforts.

The Sea to Sea bike tour is the latest in a growing list of partnerships between the two denominations. Faith Alive Christian Resources (formerly CRC Publications) serves as publisher and distributor for both the CRC and RCA and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee’s Disaster Response Services recruits volunteers from both denominations.

Registration for the tour closes Jan. 31, 2008. Currently, 138 cyclists are registered to ride all or part of the route – including a few from the RCA.

For more information about the tour and how to make a donation to support this project, call 1-888-272-2453 or visit www.SeatoSea.org.