CRC Engages Other Religions

A new subcommittee of the Christian Reformed Church’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee (EIRC) has been busy carrying out its synodical mandate to find ways to build bridges between the CRC and people of other religions.

In June, seven CRC pastors in Canada visited the Mountain Mosque in Hamilton, Ont., and spoke with Muslim leaders there. The pastors hope this was the first in an ongoing engagement with Muslims in that community. The visit was coordinated by two members of the EIRC subcommittee.

Last week Steve Timmermans, executive director of the CRC and a member of the subcommittee, also attended an interfaith gathering that took place in Washington, D.C.

“In Washington, I heard repeatedly that while interfaith dialogue is valuable, it's not necessarily the place to start,” said Timmermans.

“Simply interacting with those of other faiths in one's community is a place to begin, and it will lead to important discussions—and I would add, provide the Spirit an opportunity to work through us.”

Synod 2010 asked the EIRC to compile resources for the CRC that will guide interfaith encounters and to monitor and facilitate the interfaith encounters that take place through ecumenical activities and within the context of the ministries of the CRC.

It also asked the EIRC to provide advice and perspectives for the CRC as requested and, when appropriate and opportune, to represent the CRC in interfaith dialogues.

“The EIRC is supposed to provide the CRC a place to focus on both ecumenical and interfaith matters. We've long done the former well but have provided little attention to the latter,” said Timmermans.

As a result, the EIRC last year decided to shape the subcommittee to more sharply focus on practical ways of forging relations between the CRC and other religions, said Jim Payton, chair of the EIRC as well as of the subcommittee.

“We wanted to raise the awareness of the importance of CRC congregations getting involved in engaging in interfaith relations in their local communities,” he said.

As a start, said Payton, he and Greg Sinclair, another member of the subcommittee, decided to organize the trip to the Mountain Mosque, located on the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton.

“Before the trip, we met with pastors in the Hamilton/Ancaster area. There was a fair bit of interest, but there were also some reservations about doing this,” said Sinclair, who directs Salaam 2.0, a CRC project to make churches in Canada more aware of what Muslims believe and to find respectful ways to witness to Muslims about the Christian faith.

Once they agreed to visit the mosque, Sinclair made the arrangements. “A member of the mosque met with us to answer our questions,” he said. “We were able to observe their prayer time, and then we met with the imam (the mosque leader).”

Payton said they are hoping to set up a meeting with the imam and others to further build a relationship between area CRC congregations and Muslims.

“The imam said he would like to have a dialogue as long as we can both be honest and straightforward about what we believe,” said Payton. “We want to recognize the differences. We want to get into in-depth stuff.”

Eventually, the EIRC subcommittee wants to help other CRC congregations, especially as North American society becomes more religiously diverse and multicultural, to find ways to connect with and learn from people of other faiths in their communities, said Payton.

Timmermans went to Washington last week to attend the Sixth Annual President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge (PICSCC) as a member of the subcommittee of the EIRC. But, he said, he has been going to the gathering ever since he was president of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill.

“I got involved with PICSCC when I was president of Trinity, where we participated in a trail-building project with local Muslim college students,” he said.

“Since we were involved from the beginning of the PICSCC project, I also helped the project in other ways, such as serving on the planning committee for the conference,  particularly after I left Trinity to work for the CRC (as executive director).”

Last week’s conference, Timmermans said, reinforced for him the necessity of preparing the next generation—in the case of this conference, students on campuses—for a pluralistic world.

“To live out our faith is going to be challenging in the years to come for our next generation of church members; yet new opportunities will be afforded to us because of greater plurality,” he said.

Earlier this year, members of Waterloo CRC visited a mosque in their city. Read about this and about ways in which your local church can connect with and build relationships with people of other faiths in your community.