Church Life: Church News - March 2008
New Church Crossing Bridges, Giving Hope
Bridge of Hope in Waterloo, Iowa, is looking back on a year of new beginnings, readying itself for what comes next.
The RCA church start began public worship in fall 2006 in a movie theater. The fellowship is sometimes referred to as “the theater church.”
As the developing church celebrated its first anniversary, members noted progress has been made even in the face of new and continuing challenges. “At the conclusion of year one, I’ve been pushing us to focus on two things: prayer and love,” said pastor Kevin Van Wyk of the church, which averages fifty-five in attendance.
Effort has been high. Over a two-week period last year, church members hand delivered 10,000 fliers promoting a worship sermon series on restoring relationships. They sponsored a neighborhood picnic at a local park where a clown made balloon animals and entertained children, and in December the church expended about $2,000 helping people in need.
“We partnered with a food bank to help twenty-two families from the area to have a Christmas meal and Christmas presents for their children,” said Armond Floyd, another pastor on staff. “There were volunteers loading the food, wrapping gifts for the kids, and then personally delivering them.”
The Rev. Ed Baker of Orchard Hill Reformed Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, is part of the Bridge of Hope (BOH) steering team. “One of the things that impresses me about BOH is that the people in the seats—in this case theater seats—see themselves as having both the responsibility and opportunity to be the body of Christ. They’re not looking to [pastors] to do the evangelism, calling, and inviting.”
Van Wyk is enthusiastic about a Thursday night prayer group that began meeting in August. A journal of answered prayers has been encouraging.
A January worship message (“Facing Giants—Knowing Your Enemies”) and related invitation led to ten people rededicating their lives to Christ or becoming new believers. A Saturday morning men’s fellowship Bible study was started as a result. Later in the month BOH screened the recent Christian feature film Facing the Giants as part of the topical message series.
Long-term needs include finding youth ministry/office space and the continuing call for volunteers. BOH receives financial support from Pleasant Prairie Classis, the RCA, and various churches, partners, and individuals.
“Our attendance hasn’t changed much yet, but God is certainly at work,” Van Wyk said.
Homosexuality Dialogue Process Underway
Participant response in the ongoing RCA dialogue on homosexuality has been positive to date, according to the coordinator of the process.
“We’ve had sessions in Nassau-Suffolk Classis (Long Island, New York, region), in the southern part of the Mid-Atlantics Synod, and in Orange City (Iowa),” said the Rev. Dr. John Stapert, coordinator of the denomination-wide dialogue mandated by General Synod 2005.
Additional sessions were scheduled for Iowa and western Michigan in February, with other regions still under consideration.
The standard “dialogue” format approved by General Synod Council, recommends four separate sessions to allow participants “personal emotional processing” time between them, according to Stapert.
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| John Stapert |
“Participants are giving the dialogue program high marks for its effectiveness,” said Stapert, a psychologist with a practice in Arizona. Evaluations are compiled at the close of each session. “They regularly say that their overall experience was positive, they felt comfortable with the process, and that they felt safe expressing themselves honestly,” Stapert said of the “emotionally loaded” subject matter.
The Rev. Stephen Giordano is pastor of Massapequa Reformed Church in Massepequa, New York, a congregation that hosted dialogue sessions last fall.
“There were a wide variety of opinions on this subject,” Giordano said, noting various views within his own small group discussions. “But despite the heartfelt diversity, there was a strong approval of adopting the norms we would follow in the dialogue: we will listen to understand, we will be respectful to one another, and we will use actions and words that are respectful.”
Among the discussion points: Scripture’s statements on homosexuality, the mandate to love our neighbor, the need to be progressive, and maintaining traditional values. Giordano said the initial session drew more than fifty persons.
Stapert said research suggests that discussion in such dialogues likely does not change the participants’ original opinion.
Giordano suggested that might lead some to question whether the process is worth the effort. “For me, the answer is that first norm: we will listen to understand. This provides an opportunity to help us understand the issue in a far more helpful way, whatever our initial opinion.”
One dialogue participant commented that the program had achieved “a miracle,” in that she had been able to talk to a participant with whom she strongly disagreed. Although neither changed their viewpoints, they can now talk to each other.
“Changing views on homosexuality and on the RCA’s stand on this issue is not among the [dialogue’s] purposes,” Stapert reiterated. “The goal is understanding: hearing another person’s views and how they have come to hold them.”
Giordano said there was a fair exchange of viewpoints shared in the meetings. But he did note a disappointment. “Because of the diversity of passionate opinions present, we didn’t engage in a healthy debate, but rather listed various and diverse perspectives,” he said. “To move ahead…we need to be willing to honestly and lovingly discuss our different perspectives.”
General Synod 2005 foresaw a three-year timeline for the dialogue process.
“The outcome of the dialogue cannot be known in advance,” Stapert said. “But it is possible that it will create nothing more than a new appreciation for the fact that people who hold different views have reasons that make sense to them. Another possible outcome is the formation of respect and trust between people of different views, which allows them to live together with less hostility.”
Search in Progress for New Albany Executive
After a period of examination and evaluation, a search committee is now in place charged with securing a new executive to serve the Regional Synod of Albany (RSA). The Rev. Norm Tellier, a retired RCA minister from Schenectady, New York, is the convener of the search group that had its first meeting in February.
“There is one member from each of the (six) classes, and two from the [RSA] executive committee,” said regional synod clerk the Rev. Robert Hoffman of the committee’s makeup. “There are also four ministers and four laypersons who reflect the larger, smaller, urban, rural, and suburban congregations of the synod.”
When Albany’s previous full-time executive, the Rev. Richard Otterness, resigned in 2004 to become a missionary in Eastern Europe, the synod tapped Hoffman to fill in as administrator while an ad-hoc committee thoroughly examined the region’s needs and helped shape responsibilities of a future executive.
Hoffman has continued his administrator role through the interim, while also serving as RSA clerk and as pastor of First Reformed Church in Berne, New York.
Churches
Abbe Reformed Church in Clymer, New York, sent $190 to Reformed Church World Service (RCWS) as part of the “Gift of Hope” campaign. The effort was led by the church’s first- and second-grade Sunday school class, which chose fundraising in place of its usual Christmas gift exchange. “We saw in the Church Herald where you could donate a Gift of Hope,” said Sunday school teacher Trudy Williams. “And we had been learning that Jesus said, ‘When you do something for others, it’s like doing it for him.’” The students took up the challenge, and the effort raised enough money to purchase one school kit ($20), two goats ($35 each), and one food pantry ($100, feeding a family of four for a week). The third- and fourth-grade class was asked to help, as well. The students did jobs to earn the extra money, from barn chores to cleaning a grandparent’s basement. Some even gave up their allowance.
Elementary school students at Abbe Reformed Church in Clymer, New York,
take the lead in fundraising for RCWS project.
Hawthorne Reformed Church in Hawthorne, New York, celebrated the restoration of its historic church bell with a worship service and community ringing in November. A fund drive gathered donations to restore the bell (which had not functioned for nearly a half-century) and to install a digital carillon system that can be programmed to play a variety of music. To save wear on the seventy-five-foot bell tower—which dates to 1877—the bell no longer swings back and forth. Instead, a clapper now strikes the bell’s outer shell. Restoring the bell’s sound has been a highlight for the congregation. “It means a great deal to people who have been members of this church for a long time,” bell committee chairman George Imrich told a local newspaper.
Plainview Reformed Church in Plainview, New York, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in October and received fourteen new members during 2007. The first service in the congregation’s history took place in a farmhouse that is now the parsonage. The barn next door was extensively renovated to serve as the sanctuary and is still in use today. An education wing was added in 1962, and stained-glass windows were installed twenty years later. Former pastors Paul Kranendonk, Harry Hall, Robert Engel, and David Maris were on hand for the anniversary celebration on Reformation Sunday.
First Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan, has begun a local chapter of Mothers of Pre-Schoolers (MOPS), a national Christian organization dedicated to encouraging and equipping mothers of young children. The church hosted an open house in January to introduce the program. “We’ve been planning and building up to this for months and look forward to watching God work through us,” said Becky Dykhuis, church steering team member. “Our program is going to care for and nurture moms of all kinds as well as their children.” A church open house introducing the MOPS program registered thirty-three mothers. “We had to ask for more volunteers because there were forty-eight kids—more than we expected,” said First Reformed pastor Christopher Wolf. Roughly two-thirds of the participants are from outside the congregation. The MOPS group meets twice a month and includes guest speakers and crafts.
Staff
Ella Campbell has retired as RCA Coordinator for Pacific and Asian American Ministries (CPAAM) after serving in that role for more than two decades.
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| Ella Campbell |
The Rev. John Chang, pastor of Grace Christian Church in Staten Island, New York, called Campbell “the mother of CPAAM, whose daughter has grown up and is ready to go out on her own.”
Nearly three dozen colleagues and friends gathered at a New York restaurant in December to honor Campbell, who recalled a 1980 meeting that formed a council seeking to reach out to immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian countries.
That working group eventually led to CPAAM, with Campbell hired part time in 1986. Beginning with just a handful of RCA congregations, the ministry now encompasses thirty-eight organized churches and many other developing ministries and associated pastors.
“From its beginning, CPAAM has always strived to invite more Asians into the Reformed Church,” said Campbell. “We have hardly peaked yet.”
Several others spoke at the event, among them the Revs. Livingstone Chen, John Heimstra, Hak Ryong Kim, and Wai Tan. The Rev. En Young Kim thanked Campbell for being a role model for Asian American women to follow their dreams of going to seminary and becoming ministers of Word and sacrament.
“There were many warm words of respect and appreciation given,” said Gerri Yoshida, CPAAM executive committee secretary and one of the organizers of the event.
The Rev. Ken Eriks, RCA director of revitalization and leadership, noted Campbell’s key role in developing CPAAM and its ministry outreach. “Her pastoral heart, leadership abilities, and administrative skills were used by God to help foster this remarkable growth in Asian American and Pacific Islander congregations,” he said. “She has been a gift to the Asian community and to the entire RCA.”
Campbell reflected on her vision for CPAAM into the future. “My hope is that all efforts will be made to welcome Asians here in the U.S. and Canada into the fold of the RCA. I believe God will bless that relationship and challenge the church to even greater witness, both locally and globally.”
A formal search process for Campbell’s successor is to begin this spring.
People
Tom Renner, long-time director of public and community relations at Hope College, was honored with his wife, Carole, in the naming of a “press row” at the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse on the Holland, Michigan, campus. Renner, a member of Christ Memorial Reformed Church in Holland, has worked at Hope for forty years in public relations and also served as sports information director and athletic conference publicist. He has served as consultant or co-authored four sports-related books. A plaque, with the Renners’s likeness and an inscription, is displayed on the wall of the fieldhouse’s south concourse where several others have been similarly honored.
Tom (left) and Carole Renner view an honorary "press row" plaque from
Hope College president Dr. James Bultman.
Debbie Remmerde, a member of Faith Reformed Church in Rock Valley, Iowa, and a student at Northwestern College, set a national scoring record as a member of the school’s basketball team. The senior became the all-time leading career scorer in the history of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II women’s basketball by scoring twenty-three points in a game January 16. The three-time All-American has a career total of 3,252 points, with ten games remaining in the regular season. She is also the state of Iowa all-time women’s college basketball scorer at any collegiate level. Remmerde also connected on a record-setting 133 straight free throws during the 2005–06 season.
Deb Remmerde
Obituaries
The Rev. Fred Baumgardner, a retired RCA pastor, died November 14. He was 89. He served congregations in Elmhurst, New York, and Jersey City and West New York, New Jersey. His longest pastorate was twenty-five years at Bellevue Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York, where he created and supported various outreach programs. He also served on the editorial council of the Church Herald. He is survived by his wife, Lillian; children Faith Gardner-Moron, F. Wesley Baumgardner, and Lynn Baumgardner; and five grandchildren.
Geraldine Poppen, wife of retired RCA minister the Rev. Dr. Alvin Poppen, died January 2. She was 76. The Poppens were commissioned as missionaries to Hong Kong in 1959, and Geraldine studied Chinese at the University of Hong Kong and later taught at Tunghai University and Tainan Theological College, both in Taiwan. While her husband served the denomination in the U.S. and Canada, she taught high school—including Chinese language courses—in New Jersey. She is survived by her husband of fifty-three years, Al; daughters Moira Gargano and Barbara Barron; and four grandchildren.
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