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CRCNA Draws Near to the CRC of the Dominican Republic

June 13, 2018
John Medendorp grew up in the Dominican Republic.

John Medendorp grew up in the Dominican Republic.

Karen Huttenga

Synod 2018 designated the Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana (Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic) as “a church in dialogue with the CRC,” thereby drawing this denomination closer to the CRCNA and opening the door to continued ecumenical relations.

The category of “Church in dialogue” is one of several ecumenical relationship categories used by the CRC’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee to define how it works with other denominations around the world.

Designating a denomination into a new category is the sort of thing that synod does every year and could easily have been passed by unremarked. But in this case, for two of the delegates, it touched deep memories.

The Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana became a Reformed church not as the result of missionary efforts, but by listening to the Spanish broadcasts of the Back to God Hour (now Back to God Ministries International).

The members of this small church decided to call themselves “Christian Reformed” after the CRC, and they wrote to the offices of the Back to God Hour in the Chicago area to let them know who they were.

Soon after, Christian Reformed World Missions (now Resonate Global Mission) missionaries went to the Dominican Republic and helped grow those disconnected churches into a larger denomination.

At one point, the CRCNA had 11 missionary families there, each responsible for a different geographic region to help grow that denomination.

From their small roots, the Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana has grown into a denomination of more than 200 congregations and is Resonate's key partner in the country.

For Synod 2018 president Scott Greenway, receiving this church as a partner denomination touched a memory. When Scott was a child, his father, Roger Greenway, then the Latin American Secretary for Christian Reformed World Missions, took him on a trip to the D.R.

They had received word that “there were some churches there claiming to be Christian Reformed.” When they arrived they found a small building with “Christian Reformed” on the front.

They stayed for a worship service–a long exuberant service quite unlike anything one might have found in those days in the CRC in North America. When the service was done, Greenway asked his father, “Is that a Christian Reformed Church?” His father replied, “You bet it is.”

John Medendorp–the third in a line of John Medendorps who have served as pastors in the CRC - grew up in the D.R. He said that it had always seemed odd to him that this church whose history is so deeply embedded in the history of the CRC was not included in the list of churches with whom the CRC has established an official ecumenical relationship.

As he spoke to the proposal to include the D.R. church among the churches with whom the CRC has family ties, tears came to his eyes and his voice faltered.

When time came to vote, the synod affirmed the ties between the two Christian Reformed Churches with an enthusiastic and unanimous “Aye.”