She is Called Sabbath Rest Retreat for Women Church Leaders - registration now open!

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11: 28 - 30 NRSV

Dear sister in ministry leadership,

Registration is now open for the third annual She is Called Sabbath Rest Retreat, April 5-7, 2024, amidst the rolling hills of the Warwick Conference Center, in Warwick, New York. Our theme for this year is “You Were Made for This -the Gift of Spiritual Discernment in our Need for Rest”, and we are thrilled to welcome Seattle-based spiritual leaders, Rev. Denise Easter and Rev. Dianna Kunce of Renewal Ministries Northwest to guide us. A gentle rhythm of worship, Bible study, thematic workshops, and restorative spiritual practices will be interwoven with rest, good food, and quality conversation. You are welcome to enjoy a visit to charming Warwick village on Friday or Sunday afternoons, if you like. 

This retreat is open to women leaders in all areas of ministry—pastors, elders, deacons, worship directors, Christian educators for all generations, spiritual directors, chaplains, seminarians, faith-based non-profit executives, etc. Space is limited, so do not wait to register and ensure your spot. Registration is open through March 31.  Register by March 15 with code EarlyBird to receive a $25 discount. Please spread the word to other women who would benefit from this experience.

To accommodate varying schedules, this retreat has been designed with one-night, two-night, and daytime options. Single and double occupancy will be available this year, with prices ranging from $145 to $230 per person. Retreat costs have been generously offset by support from the regional synods, Women’s Transformation and Leadership, and Next Generation Engagement. Please also note that you will be able to request additional accommodations during registration. This retreat is co-sponsored by RCA women's transformation and leadership and next gen/intergenerational ministries and the Regional Synods of the MidAtlantics and New York.

Register Here

We look forward to experiencing this Eastertide retreat with you!

Embracing Christ’s promise of rest,

Rev. Liz Testa, Dawn Muller and Ruth Langkamp
on behalf of the retreat planning team

The Reformed Church Center Continues Discussing Creation Care

In November of 2022, the Reformed Church Center hosted authors from the Reformed Journal blog in a discussion of Creation care, in a Reformed sense, looking at it as an aspect of eschatology. That program, “Coming to Our Senses: Creation Care, Communion, and Consummation,” was the beginning of a conversation, which has continued over the last several months in the Reformed Journal.

Please join us Wednesday, November 15, 12:00-1:30 p.m. for a second colloquy in the series on “Creation: Care, Communion, and Consummation.”  Tom Boogaart will present a reconstruction of cosmology, creation, humanity, and the Creator in the Hebrew Scriptures that challenges interpretations of these Scriptures that sharply divide spiritual and material realities.   Renée House will discuss the ways in which specific Christian doctrines, particularly during the Enlightenment, developed to erode our sense of the relationalities between ourselves, the larger creation, and God as Creator, and in contrast, will consider how these relationalities are preserved in Native American spirituality.   Responses to these presentations will be given by Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, Joshua Parks, Debra Reinstra, and Tim Van Deelen, followed by discussion with all the colloquy participants. All of this will look toward a third Reformed Church Center program in April 2024.

Thomas Boogaart, Dennis and Betty Lou Voskuil Chair of Old Testament emeritus at Western Theological Seminary (WTS) and General Synod Professor of Theology emeritus, will moderate the conversation. During his thirty-two years at WTS, he helped start The Bridge (a third world store seeking to relieve hunger by offering third world artisans a fair price for their crafts) and the Community Kitchen (offering a hot noon meal to the food insecure). He also worked with Jeff Barker, a theater professor at Northwestern College, to stage the biblical dramas of the Old Testament, and with Travis West and Pam Bush to launch an interactive Hebrew curriculum.

Renée House, a member of the Reformed Church Center Committee, recently retired from her full-time ministry at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, New York, where she served for nine years.  Prior to accepting the call to Old Dutch, she served on the faculty of NBTS for twenty-five years as Director of the Library, Academic Dean, and Professor of Practical Theology, and as a General Synod Professor of Theology.  In retirement, her ministry continues in local congregations, Mid-Hudson Classis, the Regional Synod of New York, Kingston Interfaith Council, and the Kingston Coalition for Housing Justice, which she helped to create.

Kyle Meyaard-Schaap serves as the Vice President for the Evangelical Environmental Network. Kyle was a Yale Public Voices on the Climate Crisis Fellow in 2020 and was named a Grist Fixer for 2022. His writing and work have been featured in national and international news outlets such as CNN, PBS, NPR, NBC News, Grist, Reuters, and U.S. News and World Report. He is married to Allison and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with their sons, Simon and Amos.

Josh Parks is a graduate student in church history at Princeton Theological Seminary. He graduated from Calvin College with a BA in English and music in 2018, and he earned an MA in medieval studies from Western Michigan University in 2020. His research interests include medievalism, fantasy, and American Christianity as well as ecocriticism, ecomusicology, and ecotheology. He is currently writing a religious biography of Walt Disney for Eerdmans’s Library of Religious Biography series. He is also a violinist and plays regularly in worship services and other settings

Debra Rienstra is professor of English at Calvin University, specializing in early British literature and creative writing. She is the author of four books—on motherhood, spirituality, worship, and ecotheology/climate change—as well as numerous academic essays, literary essays, and poems. Her most recent book is Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth (Fortress, 2022), a book that combines theology, nature writing, and biological principles to consider how Christians must adapt our faith and practice for a climate-altered planet.

Tim Van Deelen is a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and has taught at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies for nearly two decades. Tim’s degrees include Michigan State University (Ph.D.), University of Montana (M.S.) and Calvin University (B.S.). Tim’s academic specialties include the population dynamics of large mammals and predator-prey interactions, and he is a frequent contributor to the Reformed Journal Blog.

Please Register: This colloquy is free and open to everyone, but all participants must register in advance. Click here to register

There is a bibliography of blog posts and books that serve as a background for the discussion. Go to https://nbts.edu/events/creation-care-communion-consummation/ to find out more.

Old North Reformed Church Seeking Full-Time Pastor

We are a historic church with 300+ year legacy that is looking to grow and be relevant in the current time. Our church has the resources but needs someone to help us mobilize them to fulfill our mission of congregational growth and developing disciples of the Lord.

 

Our vision and mission goes beyond sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and making disciples. We would expect our new pastor to play a major role in helping us develop and expand our mission and vision that will move Old North into its next 300+ years of existence.

OldNorthDumont@gmail.com

CPAAM To Host Conversation - "What Does It Mean To Be Asian American?"

The Council for Pacific and Asian American Ministries (CPAAM) of RCA will host an evening event during our Annual Consultation Meeting:

 

Conversation on "What does it mean to be Asian American?" 

(This topic is based on the book Learning Our Names / IVP / 2022)

Monday, October 2, 2023, 6 pm -8 pm (free dinner will be served at 5:00 pm)

New Brunswick Theological Seminary

 

As a church or a pastor, if you live in a community with Asian Americans, and would like to welcome and create space for them in your congregation or to be blessed with their presence among you, this event will be a great opportunity and blessing for you to learn about Asian American Identity from the rich conversation with CPAAM members who came from Korea, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Thailand, and who are 2nd or 3rd generation of Asian descendants who were born and raised in the US.

 

This event is free and open to the public. 

To reserve your seat and free dinner box at 5 pm, please RSVP by September 25 with this link: https://sforce.co/3sOWW0C  

Lisha's Kill Reformed Church Seeking Minister

Lisha's Kill Reformed Church, in the small upstate NY city of Schenectady, seeks a minister of Word and sacrament. They hope their new pastor will be excellent preacher of bible-based messages who is also is a good spiritual leader with a focus on church growth. From their profile: "We believe God has a plan and will lead us to the right person to not only be a wonderful pastor leading church worship services, but also focusing on strengthening our members and overall health and well being of our congregation." 

Interested candidates should email the search committee chair, Robert Farquharson, to request the church profile. rfarquharson77@me.com

RCA Disability Awareness Sunday - October 15, 2023

It's not too early to start your planning for RCA Disability Awareness Sunday - October 15th 2023 (see link for the RCA resources).  Please consider using these resources to address the access to belonging and inclusion in your congregations. Prepare the way to the fullness of the kingdom of God.

 

https://www.rca.org/equipping-congregations/disability/disability-awareness-sunday/?fbclid=IwAR2_exDew7HHin5EQXDUJMS1qr4TrK7-uenjKGG-KMmF4ahLiAEYgik00qo

 

Photo Collage courtesy of Friends to Friends Community Church

Grace Reformed Church Seeking Part-Time Pastor

Grace Reformed Church

2815 Woodbridge Ave, Edison, NJ

Grace Reformed Church seeks a part-time pastor, 20-25 hours per week, who will assist in growing and guiding the congregation in their faith journey.

Since 1875, Grace Reformed Church has served the Lord in our community.  Located in Edison, Central New Jersey, the church is an hour from New York City and Philadelphia.  The church is located about 20 minutes from New Brunswick, NJ home to Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and directly across from the campus of Middlesex College.  The church is convenient to several large hospitals and shopping centers.  It is accessible to the New Jersey Turnpike.  Our small but diverse church family provides spiritual nourishment, Christian fellowship, and opportunity for community service.  

The Pastor will:

  • Be ordained (or eligible for ordination) in one of the Formula of Agreement churches: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Reformed Church in America

  • Preach on Sunday mornings and for occasional special services

  • Interpret Scripture, preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, encourage us in our faith, lead and develop creative liturgy

  • Provide visitation either in person, by zoom or telephone to members of the congregation

  • Possess a desire and ability to walk with and guide us to grow the church

  • Outreach to the community and presence at community events

  • Work with church leadership to develop strategies to better relate with our community at large

  • Inspire youth of the community and church through music, outreach to local schools, development of healthy relationships

  • Share an appreciation for the heritage and history of the congregation

Interested individuals should send a letter of interest along with their Curriculum Vitae, (CV), to

The Rev. Scott D. Brown, a classis-advisor to the church:  revscottbrown@cnrc.church

Marbletown Reformed Church (Stone Ridge NY) Seeking Part-Time Pastor

Marbletown Reformed Church, in Stone Ridge, NY is faithfully praying and actively searching for their next pastor. Located between New York City and Albany, MRC sees this part-time position as a wonderful opportunity for an ordained minister in specialized ministry, a recent retiree, or one interested in sharing a call with another local congregation. The church profile is available at the RCA Ministry Services Office, ministryservices@rca.org