Should We Initiate the CRCNA End of Life Directive?

Video Summary

In today's video I have a conversation with three other leaders in the @CRCNA. Is there still a point to this denomination? Does it need, should it execute an "end of life directive"?

This video was arranged by my friend John who is a very interesting guy. He's a former CRC pastor who left the ministry for the sake of his wife before she left him. Here's his story.

As with many other Protestant denominations the political struggle over same-sex marriage will test, change and possibly fracture the denomination. This process is nearly complete in the @RCAonline https://calvinchimes.org/2021/03/25/lgbtq-inclusion-disagreements-threaten-reformed-church-in-america-split/

There's some anxiety about what a dissolution of the denomination would mean in terms of the legal standing of local congregations. Doug, the lawyer with a lot of experience in church work puts to rest a number of those questions early.

The conversation then moves on to far deeper things. Dale was the son of CRWM missionaries in Nigeria and like all of us loves and is loyal to this denomination. He handed out some of the most salient observations about the current status of the denomination.

When talking about core of @crcna councils and churches he quips "These guys are loyal to a denomination that no longer exists". This seemed deeply true. There is a pervasive congregationalism that has become the default posture towards the denomination.

Most people are first committed to their local church. They may have some fondness for their classis. The identity and loyalty towards the denomination is vague especially the further away one gets from Western Michigan at least in the USA.

It's important to note that in splinter denominations their polities are increasingly congregation. They are usually "confederations" or "alliances" https://arc21.org/

Dale offered a very pragmatic view of the denomination's historic purpose: 1. offer a safe space for Dutch immigrants 2. support world missions. He asserts that both tasks are complete and no longer relevant.

Doug pushes that there is near zero communal conversation nor agreement on what the denomination is or is for.

I return to my position that the church should figure out how to facilitate "confessional conversations". What I mean by that is some foundational communal discussions about how we read the Bible together and what the church is for.

For too many the moorings they inherited are too vague and fuzzy to function in a governing fashion to address the challenges of our moment. Lacking a shared, sustaining vision local churches just act out of pragmatism and expedience.

There will be more videos on this topic. I'd love to hear your thoughts.