CRCNA Members Join in Reformation Celebration in Germany

As one of the Christian Reformed Church representatives to the General Council meeting of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in Germany, Mary Buteyn has joined in celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, discussed issues, and given people a look at the refugee ministry she and her husband are doing in inner-city Berlin.

Anthony Elenbaas, another CRC representative, has also attended special worship services, participated in discussions, and, as he experienced seven years ago at the WCRC’s first General Council, glimpsed a wider vision of what the Christian church can be.

And for Calvin College student Ahee Kim, the meeting that runs through July 7 has been an opportunity to work as a steward, helping to serve the needs of representatives to the gathering, and especially to see up-close that building ecumenical relations between churches is hard work.

“Diverse languages and cultures often become more like challenges than something we appreciate, especially because we have limited time to be in others’ shoes,” said Kim in an email interview.

“But when I acknowledge that it is God who called us to this place, I find peace and begin to appreciate others’ strengths and qualities. . . . Nonetheless, I have sincerely learned that achieving ecumenical movement is not easy.”

Seven members of the CRCNA’s Ecumenical Interfaith Relations Committee are attending the WCRC assembly, which takes place in the year that commemorates the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s challenge to church corruption in his 95 Theses nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Luther’s actions,  soon followed by those of other Reformers such as John Calvin in Geneva, are credited as sparking the sixteenth-century Reformation.

More than 225 Protestant churches with a combined membership of about 80 million Christians in over 100 countries are members of the WCRC, which sprang to life in 2010 in a gathering at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich., at the merger of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Its offices are in Hannover, Germany.

Anthony Elenbaas, a youth and outreach pastor at Immanuel CRC in Hamilton, Ont., said the General Council is dealing with its own business and debating, discussing, and making statements on issues such as the ordination of women, climate change, human trafficking, and peace in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere.

While noting the importance of all these issues, Elenbaas added that particularly key for him is the opportunity to take part in a gathering in one place at one time of so many Christians from around the world.

“I find myself once again [as happened in 2010] caught up in the rich flavor of Revelation 7—worshiping God together in a foretaste of the heavenly multitude ‘from every nation, tribe, people and language’—God’s diverse family, reconciled together in Christ, seeking to worship him in the power of the Spirit,” he said.

Elenbaas joined more than 1,000 WCRC members who traveled on Sunday, July 2, from Leipzig, where the General Council is being held, to Berlin for a worship service at Berliner Dom, the Protestant cathedral.

Several WCRC leaders spoke at the service, which was broadcast live on German television and live-streamed around the world, about challenges facing Christians in their regions.

“At the service, we were able to witness to a broader spectrum of the German society and speak a visible word to the unity of Christians making up a visibly diverse body of people,” said Elenbaas.

After the service, they met with German officials at a reception and then walked through the city of Berlin, seeing remnants of the Berlin wall—peacefully broken down nearly 30 years ago.

Some of the WCRC global church delegation, including part of our CRCNA delegation, then visited the Berlin City Mission, where Mary Buteyn and her husband, David Kromminga, pastor a church, work with refugees, and connect with people and other organizations and ministries in the inner-city area.

During the conversation, a church leader in Greece working with refugee populations who have just landed in Europe was overcome to see “the loving, faithful work of the many who received [refugees] and helped them to settle at the end of their journey,” said Elenbaas.

Buteyn and Kromminga discussed their ministry, which began in 2016 and operates in connection with Resonate Global Mission, as a way to help address the needs of immigrants that have flooded into Germany.

Buteyn and her husband also talked of discovering that many Christians in Berlin consider the refugees to be a gift to the church.

“Many of them are new believers, and they are bringing a reinvigorated curiosity and passion for the church and faith—invigorating their German sisters and brothers at the same time,” said Buteyn.

Buteyn also mentioned how pleased she has been to connect with Ahee Kim and Jonathan Manni, who are serving as stewards to the council and whom she met when she taught in the German Department at Calvin College.

Both Ahee and Manni came with her to Germany in January 2016 on the German Interim Abroad program -- and she recommended them to serve as stewards for the General Council.

“WCRC couldn’t have better young people working for them: both are hardworking, warm, and flexible. They can welcome the delegates in English and German, and Ahee also speaks Korean,” said Buteyn.

Manni will come to Berlin after the conference as a volunteer with Resonate Global Mission to work alongside young people from Hungary, Turkey, and Germany.

As for the days during the General Council, said Elenbaas, they are busy—beginning with worship and followed by meetings with representatives from other churches over coffee and lunch, presentations, discernment groups, Bible studies, and decisions.

“Gatherings like this are formational—not only for the individuals who attend but also for the church. The work moves slowly, but through it relationships between churches are formed that stretch across the globe—relationships of mutual learning and sharing around mission, discipleship, and interfaith engagement.”

On Monday, council delegates met and joined in prayers for peace in Leipzig’s historic Nikolaikirche—St. Nicholas Church. Offering prayers for peace has been a tradition every Monday stretching back 35 years since people joined in a peaceful and prayerful revolt against communist rule in East Germany.

On Wednesday, the WCRC and The Lutheran World Federation LWF signed the Wittenberg Witness, a common statement affirming their common call to continued renewal and cooperation on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Click here to read news stories coming of the WCRC General Council meeting.