Raise Up Joins Resonate

Following a decision of the Council of Delegates, the staff and programs of Raise Up Global Ministries have been consolidated with Resonate Global Mission as of Jan. 1, 2023.

All three programs of Raise Up – Global Coffee Break, Educational Care, and Timothy Leadership Training – were started by CRC leaders to help the church in its mission. Over time, each program grew up in different organizational homes, yet all three shared a common goal to support and develop Christian leaders through biblically based resources.

These three organizations came together in 2017, took up the Raise Up name in 2019, and will now join with Resonate Global Mission, which walks alongside Christian Reformed congregations to encourage and equip them to join the Spirit in mission both in their local communities and around the world.

“We are thankful for the gifts and experiences that the former Raise Up staff are bringing into Resonate,” said Resonate’s interim director, Joel Huyser. “We look forward to exploring new ways of developing synergy between the Resonate teams and the Coffee Break, Timothy Leadership Training, and Educational Care programs.”

The decision to move Raise Up into Resonate was made at the October 2022 Council of Delegates meeting.

“The shared missional mandates of both Raise Up Global Ministries and Resonate Global Mission give them unique synergies to operate better together than independently,” explained the COD report on this matter.

The report explained that Raise Up’s mandate is to support the global church through the development of interactive, biblically based resources that equip leaders and facilitate learning for kingdom change, while Resonate’s primary strategy is to mobilize missional leaders. Forming and training missional leaders, it said, is a key component of mobilization and is a logical connection point for these two organizations. 

“The consolidation will employ the three Raise Up programs more fully as a primary formation strategy within Resonate,” said the report. In fact, Raise Up programs were already being well used by CRC churches, Resonate missionaries, and ministry partners around the world.

“This consolidation will improve collaboration across agencies, enhance Raise Up’s structural capacities, and allow for the allocation of more promotional and advancement resources” to the Raise Up ministries, the report added.

While the decision was made in October, it took a few months to work out details about what the transition would look like for the staff and programs involved.

“I am excited to see Timothy Leadership Training, Educational Care, and Global Coffee Break come under the Resonate name and brand,” said Sam Huizenga, former director of Raise Up and leader for these programs within Resonate. “Our staff have been fully welcomed, and we are already seeing great collaboration happening.”

While the name “Raise Up” will no longer be used, all three Raise Up programs will continue. People who utilize the training, curricula, and other resources will not notice any change in services but will begin to see communications sent out under the Resonate Global Mission name.