RCA Staff Find Home in CRCNA Burlington Office

The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) have been forming strong ecumenical ties for several years. The relationship become a little closer this year, with Canadian staff from the RCA moving into office space in the CRCNA building in Burlington, Ont.

For over 10 years, the RCA’s Regional Synod office was located at Camp Shalom, an RCA summer camp near Cambridge, Ont. In 2008, the office moved into what had been the parsonage of Westdale Reformed Church in Hamilton, Ont.

When recent renovations made it necessary for the office to move, Marijke Strong and Barb Laidlaw, who work for the RCA’s Regional Synod of Canada, started looking for another space to set up shop.

“We were asking CRC churches in the Hamilton area,” said Strong.

When word reached Darren Roorda, the CRCNA’s Canadian Ministries Director, he suggested that they consider space in the CRCNA’s Burlington office.

The CRCNA’s Canadian office was undergoing renovations at the time to increase the number of offices and meeting rooms. Creating space for the RCA at the same time seemed a natural fit.

Until renovations wrapped up, Regional Synod  staff worked from home, meeting once each week at an RCA church in Brantford. Earlier this year, they moved into the Burlington space and have been warmly embraced by the CRCNA staff there.

Both women enjoy working in a professional office atmosphere, having co-workers around them and opportunities to work together on some aspects of church work and connection. “I love the ecumenical aspect, the networking, the collaborating,” said Strong.

Like the CRCNA, the RCA is organized into regional groups of churches called classes, and governed by a synod which meets each year. However, says Strong, there is another layer in the RCA between classis and synod. Each classis is part of a regional synod: seven in the US and one in Canada. So while in some ways their office functions as a national office for the RCA, its real designation is as a regional synod.

Laidlaw is the administrator, covering bookkeeping, ministers’ pensions and benefits; grants to churches and individuals; donations for disaster response and mission work; travel bookings, meetings, and events.

She describes Strong as “a bridge between Canadian churches and the RCA,” working with the three classes in Canada, providing support, resources, workshops, mediation, and acting as a consultant to support ministry.

With classes and churches spread from Vancouver Island to Montreal, much of Strong’s time is spent on the road, which means a small office is all she needs.

She is happy to see the connections building between the CRCNA and the RCA, and what it represents.

“Most denominations in the western world are grappling with how to engage with culture…. It’s so important for our two denominations to come back to one another and work together for such a time as this, to help  churches navigate changes and disagreements, stay connected, and remain faithful to the gospel in Canada,” said Strong.

On a personal level, both Laidlaw and Strong enjoy the sense of community of working in the Burlington office. When possible, they join staff devotions, chat over lunch, and participate in the office culture. Since making the move to the office, says Strong, she has “felt nothing but generosity and hospitality.” Both look forward to continued collaboration in the future.