Twenty-four years ago, my wife and I were aspiring young pastor candidates who felt a call to mission ministry, but were not clear about where or what that meant. We knew that sharing our hope in Jesus Christ was part of the call, but since I had introverted tendencies at that age, I found the prospect quite intimidating. In my first mission postings, I learned from two Puerto Rican mentors about being confident in what God was doing in me, and comfortable sharing my personal faith story.
Most members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America are like me. As a group, CRCNA members tend to be fairly knowledgeable about doctrines through catechesis and Christian education, but they find it difficult to share their personal hope in Jesus Christ. Every year our CRCNA Communications Team sends a survey out to a cohort of our congregations. Each congregation encourages members to complete the survey. When the results are tallied, a predictable trendline emerges every year. Only a third of respondents “definitely” or “mostly” claim to speak regularly with others about their spiritual lives. This question is one of the lowest rated every year. It is also likely one of the reasons why our membership statistics indicate that adult baptisms and professions of faith received through evangelism are quite rare in many of our churches. (Note: As paedobaptists, we record new believers through numbers of adult baptisms.) In the Christian Reformed Church, we have been discovering that we have a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters in the Global South when it comes to evangelism. In fact, the vast majority of evangelism growth in our denomination is happening in immigrant churches. Even more remarkably, these churches, which tend to have the fewest resources, are the most prolific in planting new congregations. It seems that, amongst the immigrant congregations of the CRCNA, God is nurturing a thirst for evangelism and church growth that could transform our denomination. But how do we make this connection? One of the biggest missional challenges that I, and other leaders of North American denominations, face is how to connect our historic, mostly Caucasian congregations and leaders with their colleagues from the Global South. There is so much opportunity for us to learn from each other, and to witness the Holy Spirit at work transforming lives within our congregations. Yet, despite the best efforts of denominational leaders, these groups often miss each other. At the same time, we know that when these groups do connect, and when relationships flourish, the mission, vision, and spiritual practices of congregations and leaders bloom. I look forward to connecting to other CANAAC leaders and learning about how they leverage churches and leaders from the Global South to bless their denominations through evangelism and church planting. Zachary King Zachary King is a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in North America and serves as its General Secretary. From 2017 to 2022 he served as the Director of Resonate Global Mission, the mission agency of the CRCNA. Before that, he served as a missionary with Resonate in Haiti and Nigeria, and as a pastor in Allendale, Michigan. Zachary is married to Sharon, who also worked alongside him as a missionary, and who now serves as a hospice chaplain. Zach and Sharon have four teenage children and live in Kentwood, Michigan.
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