CRC Seeking Churches, Volunteers
Rev. John Rozeboom has been stopping at Christian Reformed Church congregations across West Michigan, dropping off fliers that invite churches to participate and provide much-needed volunteers to help in a variety of ways during this summer’s meeting of the Uniting General Council (UGC) at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.
Nelvina Ilbrink, who retired in 2003 as executive assistant to the executive director of ministries for the CRC, has been very active in promoting the gathering as well, keeping church secretaries busy with emailed announcements about the UGC for church bulletins, says Rozeboom.
During the council, set for June19-28, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) will be merging into the World Communion of Reformed Churches, an ecumenical entity that will represent some 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide.
More than 1,000 delegates and others from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and islands in the Pacific and elsewhere will be coming to Grand Rapids for the meeting.
Rozeboom says that this is an historic gathering. It brings together Christians who, for various reasons, have been separated for years. "Given all the struggles of the church in the current world, isn’t it better to encourage us to be talking together?" asks Rozeboom.
Sorely needed are churches to host delegates on the weekends of June 20 and June 26. Sponsorships to help delegates to pay for the cost of their trip are also being requested. A whole host of volunteers, from van and golf-cart drivers to ushers and guides, are needed to fill four-hour shifts on the Calvin College campus.
"We want to be hospitable and make the delegates feel at home as they do their business," says Rozeboom, the retired director of Christian Reformed Home Missions.
People are also needed to meet delegates at the airport and to transport them to the Calvin campus. In addition, people are needed on June 22 to help delegates travel downtown to take part in a Gathering of Nations Powwow at Ab-nab-awen Park along the Grand River in Grand Rapids.
Rozeboom is also asking people to purchase tickets, or sponsor a table, for a banquet that occurs June 25 at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids.
"More than half of the people coming are from south of the equator. They come from interesting countries and interesting political situations. This may be the only time in their lives that they come to a western country like the United States," says Rozeboom.
While there are others who are soliciting volunteers from the Presbyterian Church USA, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ (all with Reformed roots), Rozeboom and others have been concentrating their efforts to rally CRC congregations to become part of the effort. The CRC is one of the official hosts of the Uniting General Council, partly because it is the only US denomination that is a member of both WARC and REC.
The proposed constitution of the new organization is to be discussed and adopted on June 18. The new organization will then meet for business starting the next day.
Rozeboom credits Rev. Peter Borgdorff, with his vision for bringing churches and denominations together, as being one of the many who have helped make this merger meeting happen. Borgdorff is active in establishing arrangements for the USG. He is also president of the REC and executive director emeritus of the CRC.
"A new organization like this can help us to think of pushing the coals together so that the fire burns brighter," says Rozeboom. "I'm very excited about these folks coming together. This arises out of the value, as Peter Borgdorff believes, that unity is something to be achieved."
To become a church that welcomes, hosts and helps to share the cost of sponsoring a delegate, Presbyterian congregations are asked to contact: Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge at [email protected].
CRC congregations can contact Rozeboom at [email protected]. Reformed Church in America congregations can contact Rev. David Baak at [email protected] and United Church of Christ congregations are asked to contact Marcia Meabon at [email protected].
To become a volunteer, contact Rozeboom or Nelvina Ilbrink at [email protected]. For more information on the event itself, visit: reformedchurches.org. You can also call Nelvina Ilbrink at 616-878-3060 for more information.
In the flier that Rozeboom has been handing out, it says: "We are the faces, the worship and the accommodations that the delegates will get to see. So get your congregations and buildings ready to welcome our guests."
