wfn.org | RCA Sets Out to Chart New `Mission' Territory

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

15-June-1999 
99225 
 
    Like Lewis and Clark, RCA Sets Out 
    to Chart New `Mission' Territory 
 
    Church leader says pact with PC(USA) 
    and other faiths blazes a new frontier 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota - Like the early explorers who trekked across the 
Dakota prairie, the Reformed Church of America (RCA) must band together as 
a "unified ensemble" to achieve its directive of providing mission and 
being the "very presence of Jesus Christ in the world." 
 
    That includes being "radically attentive to the world outside our 
doors," the denomination's general secretary, the Rev. Wesley 
Granberg-Michaelson, said in his report to the body on June 11 during its 
yearly General Synod session here. 
 
    "Like Lewis and Clark, we committed to our mission and to the 
discoveries that would allow us to fulfill it," he told about 270 people in 
attendance at the Elmen Center gymnasium on the campus of Augustana 
College. "But we couldn't be certain of what obstacles would be encountered 
and what surprises would be discovered along the way." 
 
    The RCA is a Protestant denomination with roots in Dutch Calvinism; its 
organization is essentially Presbyterian. In 1991 it numbered nearly 
330,650 members in more than 928 churches, with its greatest strength in 
the Middle Atlantic states and in Michigan and Iowa. The General Secretary 
serves as RCA's chief executive officer, whose duties include nurturing a 
vision to guide the denomination's future direction. 
 
    RCA's General Synod, like the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.), brings together ministers, elders, ecumenical delegates 
and others from the denomination to deliberate and decide important issues 
crucial to the church's future. 
 
    Two years ago, the RCA's General Synod adopted a "Statement of Mission 
and Vision" that included a "Formula of Agreement" that paved the way for a 
relationship between the RCA, the PC(USA), the United Church of Christ 
(UCC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 
 
    Referring to the church's mission statement, Granberg-Michaelson 
outlined four areas the denomination must live out in order to solidify 
RCA's ministry in mission: 
 
    As his image was beamed across two large television screens, 
Granberg-Michaelson called on RCA boards and committees to make mission and 
future direction a higher priority in meetings, so that the denomination 
can "look outward, engaging the world and imagining the future." 
 
    Despite the fact that many of  RCA's 46 classes (a class includes 
several RCA congregations in the same geographic region) already have 
seriously studied their mission and vision, he called upon the rest to do 
the same, because "if we don't have a clear sense of where we are going and 
what our challenges are -  a sense of mission -  our meetings are much more 
likely to center around `administrivia.'" 
 
    While administrative matters remain important, he said, with budgets 
and structures often requiring even more attention than ever, "neither are 
they the center of focus." He added that "our mission ought to even change 
the way we engage each other at this year's General Synod." 
 
    Funding is essential, Granberg-Michaelson said, and that means raising 
money to allow the wheels of the church to spin. As examples of fiscal 
obligations, he pointed to staff salaries; upgrading RCA's computer system; 
publishing the church magazine to "link us together for mission and 
ministry"; and holding General Synods for important decision-making. 
 
    "Mission needs all these things," he said. "In short, mission needs the 
assessment budget." 
 
    He said the church has worked diligently for four years to obtain 
mission objectives without raising assessments by more than the cost of 
living. 
 
    In April, he said, when the staff proposed that the General Synod 
Council  increase the year-2000 assessment by 4.75 percent to cover the 
basic and essential cost of  "stepping out in mission," the figure was 
reduced to 3.75 percent by cutting travel and face-to-face meetings, 
possibly at the expense of "moving forward" with ideas for creative 
ministry that could benefit congregations. 
 
    Money must come from other corners of the church as well, said 
Granberg-Michaelson, stressing the importance of RCA's Urban Ministries 
Fund Drive, a campaign to raise $5 million for present and future ministry 
in U.S. cities. He announced a gift of $1 million for the endowment fund of 
the RCA Foundation, from Marvin and Jerene DeWitt, of Zeeland, Michigan. 
 
    "Mission needs money," Granberg-Michaelson said. "We are grateful for 
the growing generosity of those in the RCA who believe in our mission and 
want to participate financially in moving us toward God's future." 
 
    Granberg-Michaelson drew a comparison to the Lewis and Clark 
expedition, which succeeded because its members summoned the determination 
and dedication to accomplish their objective despite their differences. He 
said the church must continue to think creatively about how to strengthen 
the patterns of cooperation among the various structures of the 
denomination. 
 
    "We cannot afford to be divided by our structures if we intend to be 
together in mission," he said. 
 
    If the RCA is to reverse a downward trend in membership, it must work 
together with other denominations to increase its reach in mission and 
ministry, Granberg-Michaelson said. 
 
    Again referring to expedition of Lewis and Clark, the general secretary 
pointed out how 50 people from a variety of national and racial backgrounds 
were united in a single cause. The key for the church, he said, is to keep 
its focus on mission in the midst of the healthy diversity of ethnic, 
cultural, and theological perspectives. The mission staffs of RCA, PC(USA), 
the UCC and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been meeting to 
discuss how they can cooperate for the sake of their common calling. 
Likewise, the faith groups are sharing approaches to educational 
ministries, communication, evangelism, new-church development and 
racial/ethnic ministry. 
 
    "The camp is established," concluded Granberg-Michaelson, "but soon we 
must choose whether to move on to face the next challenge, the next 
obstacle ...  as we follow Christ in mission." He said that he hopes and 
prays that the RCA can echo the words of Meriwether Lewis, who described 
his group as "zealously attached to the enterprise and anxious to proceed 
 ... all in unison with everything to hope and nothing to fear." 
 
    He said there are plans for RCA to establish 80 new congregations over 
the next five years - "and I think we can do it." In addition, a new 
initiative to revitalize the mission and ministry of local churches is 
expected to involve 200 pastors and congregations over the next couple of 
years, he said. 
 
    "These combined initiatives, I am confident, will reverse the decline 
in RCA membership," Granberg-Michaelson said. "But they depend upon our 
being radically attentive to the world outside our doors." 

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