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Reaching Out to Ministry Leaders

June 22, 2016
Rev. Al Postma and Rev. Samantha DeJong McCarron

Rev. Al Postma and Rev. Samantha DeJong McCarron

Chris Meehan

Rev. Al Postma says he appreciated the chance to be a delegate to Synod 2016 while preparing to serve as the new classis renewal coordinator for the Christian Reformed Church.

“It's been good to be here to recapture a sense of the breadth of the CRC, both geographically and culturally,” he said one morning during the week of synod.

“I’ve had a chance to connect with people in the church and start talking about how classis functions, what some of the hopes are, and what is already happening to deepen and strengthen regional ministries.”

Rev. Samantha DeJong McCarron also attended Synod 2016, but not as a delegate. She was there to connect with delegates to discuss aspects of her new job as ministry assessment coordinator for the CRC’s Vocational Ministry Assessment Initiative. Both she and Postma are part of the Pastor Church Resources office.

“I know a lot of the pastors who were at synod, and some of them showed interest in taking an assessment” to get a better sense of their strengths and those areas of ministry for which they are best suited, said DeJong McCarron.

Rev. Norm Thomasma, director of Pastor Church Resources, said Postma and DeJong McCarron are serving in complementary roles.

Both jobs emerged in response to the concern Synod 2012 showed in the rising number of pastors who were leaving the ministry by way of Church Order Article 17. Article 17 describes a process by which a pastor may be released, for any number of reasons, from a congregation.

On average, 17 ministers have been released from ministry at their churches every year for the past six years under Article 17, said a report that went to Synod 2016.

“Pastors are stressed, as trending challenges in the denomination and the wider culture result in more and more expectations on them,” says the “Better Together Project” summary report to synod from Pastor Church Resources (Agenda for Synod 2016, pp. 63-65).

Thomasma said both of the new jobs focus on helping pastors and ministry leaders before problems occur that might cause them to seek an Article 17 release.

“We wanted to find ways to address this by looking at what we can do more proactively,” said Thomasma. “In the past when we did assessments, they were to assess whether a person was right for a certain position. What we are doing now are person-based assessments.”

As DeJong McCarron helps coordinate those assessments, Thomasma said, Postma will be working with all aspects of what a classis does, from providing church counselors and regional pastors to training and offering resources to church visitors for congregations in their regions.

By bringing renewal to all of these functions, said Postma, he aims to foster vitality and new leadership in those who serve a classis.

He will especially be looking to help pastors and others sort through and address challenges before they grow to a point at which an Article 17 release might be the only solution.

DeJong McCarron is working closely with pastors and other ministry leaders to help them assess where they are personally and professionally, what challenges they face, and what types of work might best suit them in ministry.

Essentially, she said, her role is to help pastors find “their sweet spot—the place where their heart sings and where God is glorified.” 

Postma will be leaving Bethlehem CRC in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he has been a pastor since 2009, to take on his new job.

“Helping people who are in positions of doing ministry is something that I’ve always been passionately drawn to,” he said.

As part of his job, Postma will be helping to implement the recommendations in the Better Together initiative, formed after Synod 2012 took note of the rise in Article 17 releases and gave the CRC Board of Trustees and Pastor Church Resources the task of discovering how best to address the issue.

“I see my new role as being a helpful presence to classes,” said Postma. “I will be the person classes can call with any issues that they have.”

DeJong McCarron and her husband, Nate, were copastors of a church in Albuquerque, N.Mex., for a time. They then planted a church in Denver. In 2013, Nate received a call to serve Fuller Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich.

As Nate began his role at the church, Samantha had time to assess her own skills and look toward the future, trying to see where she fit. It was a process, she said, that helped prepare her for her new position, which she began in February.

Key in any assessment process is matching one’s gifts with a ministry setting, said DeJong McCarron.

“In doing assessments, pastors ought to keep in mind that churches in Chicago or rural Iowa or in Canada all have particular cultures and styles,” she said.

“As ministry continues to be more and more challenging these days, it is important for a person to find the right position.”