New Process for Churches to Request Free Resources

When she started her role as director of communications and marketing for the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the number-one complaint Kristen deRoo VanderBerg received from churches “was that we were sending them too much stuff and they didn’t know what to do with it all,” she said.

At the same time, she noticed, whenever a church member would attend a board meeting, participate in synod, or visit a CRCNA office and see copies of new resources, they would have a different response.

“They’d ask me why their church had never heard about this resource and why it wasn’t promoted more extensively,” said deRoo VanderBerg, who worked for many years with World Renew before starting her current position in August 2016.

Trying to find the balance between both of these issues — too much in the mailbox and interest in new resources — has led the CRCNA to create a new system for churches to review and order free resources. Starting this spring, CRCNA ministries will no longer automatically ship materials to churches. Instead, each church will receive an email in March with a unique order form link.

“After clicking the link, a church will see six months’ worth of materials all in one order form,” explained deRoo VanderBerg. “The form will make it easy for churches to order the exact quantities that they want; they can also find links to additional resources that are available for download.”

The new system will also remember a congregation’s order history. If, for example, a church participates in the World Hunger campaign one year and asks for one poster and 300 bulletin inserts, those quantities will automatically appear in the form the next year, when that church is asked to order again.

“A church will always be able to adjust their order preferences, but by remembering previous orders, we hope to make things as easy as possible for church administrators,” said deRoo VanderBerg, pointing out that the congregation’s order form link can also be shared with multiple people in the church.

This new process also meets a mandate asked of CRCNA ministries by the previous Board of Trustees (BOT) of the denomination.

In February 2017, the Mercy and Justice committee of the BOT said that while many resources produced by CRCNA ministries were excellent tools that churches could use, congregations weren’t finding out about them in a timely enough way to be able to use them.

“Many churches plan their worship services six months to a year in advance,” said Darren Roorda, Canadian ministries director and a staff advisor to the committee that discussed this decision. “They need to know about potential resources much earlier than we’ve been telling them.”

At that meeting, the BOT asked all CRCNA ministries to produce their materials in a generic way so that they could be used on any date. They also asked that all the materials be available by the beginning of the church year to allow for easier planning.

The new order process is a step in that direction. While it doesn’t list a full year of resources, it does cover six months. It is also sharing resources much earlier than in the past.

The March form, for example, lists materials for use from July to December of this year. A similar form will be shared in September for January-to-June planning.

The form is designed around ministry requests for special offerings and other key dates on the CRCNA calendar. Ministry newsletters, study guides, and other resources not related to this schedule are not yet included but may be added to the form in the future.

“CRCNA ministries exist as an extension of Christian Reformed congregations. Our goal is to find the best ways we can to partner with churches and meet their needs. This is one step in that process but we will continue to adapt the process as we hear feedback from churches about how it is working,” said deRoo VanderBerg.

CRC congregations should expect to receive an email marked “Important: New Way to Request Free CRC Materials” in their inbox soon.

In the meantime, church office staff may direct any questions to [email protected].