Syd Hielema shared he experienced terrible pain that awakened him from sleep. He ran to his parents’ room with his complaint. His father listened intently and lovingly to his pre-teen son. His father told him he was experiencing growing pains that assured Hielema his pains were normal. This was part of the opening devotions for the eight churches assembled at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre near Waterloo, Ontario. Churches shared their growing pains stories during this two day retreat. The ten-month cohort is sponsored by Thrive, Canadian Intercultural Ministry, and Resonate Global Mission. 

The six Canadian churches and two US churches heard stories from each other’s presentations that revealed some common themes. They noticed God might be up to something different in their church’ journeys. During the 2020 pandemic, Calvin CRC in Ottawa, Ontario, saw an uptick of diaspora people watching their livestream service. Once in-person services resumed, these families began attending and the church found themselves being challenged about what it meant to become inclusive. 

Some participants referred to these epiphanies as “holy interruptions” that forced churches to consider the new things God was doing in their midst. 

Another council made a bold move by hiring the first intercultural integration coordinator in their church’s history. According to Pastor William Koopmans, Paul Oghinan will seek out new diaspora guests and intentionally find meaningful engagement in the church. Living Hope CRC, located in Peterborough, Ontario, has lost a number of members and then refugees from a few African countries began attending the church. Renee VanderWind explained they experienced growing pains of learning to listen, confession, and prayer. Living Hope saw their 5% diversity of members rise to 25% in two years. VanderWind shared white members learned to celebrate the gift that was in front of them. The Living Hope participants shared a skit about coffee cream expectations between white and Nigerians members wonderfully illustrated the tension between insiders and outsiders in the church. It was powerful! 

Each church’s stories were nuanced and unique, but shared common themes from their growing pains lessons. Most of the churches were either struggling  or an outside catalyst, such as the pandemic, sparked new interest in their respective churches. Some participants referred to these epiphanies as “holy interruptions” that forced churches to consider the new things God was doing in their midst. 

Another theme was moving away from being knowledge-based church to relational based posture. Madison Avenue Church in Paterson, NJ, shared that due to past experiences when the current church plant, Madison Avenue en Espanol, started the focus was to be one church. The mostly African American and Anglo church sought to learn Spanish, grow intentionally together by including Latino leaders on the council, and breaking bread together. Grace Church in Pella, IA, was another CRC that was on the brink of closing before Central American refugees who were being recruited for work at two of the largest employers, Vermeer Corporation and Pella Windows started attending. The church offered ESL classes for these newcomers, but members soon learned the refugees had many other needs such as housing. Leader Larry Hanthorn shared that the housing situation went beyond the church, so he wondered if city officials and other churches could brainstorm in tackling this opportunity. Both Madison Avenue and Grace embraced that mistakes will be made, but it didn’t deter them from learning lessons along the way.  Growing pains of becoming multicultural will birth new lessons that can be shared with other churches both in the cohort and other churches looking for intercultural help. 

Grace Church in Scarborough, Ontario shared the story of Hilda, who was raised as a Hindu who began attending the church. By God’s grace, Hilda was converted to Christ and became an evangelist who brought people to Grace on her own. One of the main features in the worship service has been the testimonies. Storytelling matters in churches trying to become multicultural. As missiologist David Boyd explained, “in the early church, crossing the cultural barriers occurs primarily within the local church environment rather than the mission field. The Church today needs to take back this role and learn how to build multicultural churches so that the Gospel can move freely across the cultural divides. The bridges are the bi-cultural people who belong to these churches” (You Don’t Have to Cross the Ocean to Reach the World, p. 23) These CRC churches are living into the growing pains of learning and hospitality to follow where God is leading them to grown.  

Photo: Syd Hielema discussing growing pains at the retreat.