Join the Canadian Vision 2020 Discussion Event - Nov 4, for pastors, elders and deacons,
or the Canadian Vision 2020 Learning Community - Four Thursdays in November, for all Canadian RCA members.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
or the Canadian Vision 2020 Learning Community - Four Thursdays in November, for all Canadian RCA members.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
THE RCA'S VISION 2020 TEAMThe Vision 2020 Team was formed by General Synod 2018, and tasked with exploring future scenarios for the RCA in light of significant divisions.
The team initially looked into three future scenarios for the RCA: staying together, radical restructure, and grace-filled separation. After thousands of hours of research, discernment, and feedback, they arrived at a combination of the three. The team released its report and recommendations on June 30, 2020. This report was scheduled to be considered at General Synod 2020, which was postponed due to COVID-19. A special session of General Synod was set for the fall, but that has also been called off because of the pandemic. Instead, the team’s final report will come to General Synod in June 2021 for consideration.
General secretary Eddy Aleman has urged people throughout the RCA to pray over the coming year. Regional gatherings will provide space to discuss the Vision 2020 report. These gatherings will be held from October to May, organized and led by Vision 2020 Team members, General Synod officers, and the RCA’s Executive Leadership Team. |
WHY THE VISION 2020 TEAM WAS FORMED
The theological differences within the RCA have led us to a point where we are not sure how to continue ministry together. Interim general secretary Don Poest, who proposed the team in 2018, identified human sexuality as a point of significant division in our denomination, but he acknowledged other divisions as well, including polity, biblical interpretation, and lack of alignment with Transformed & Transforming, the RCA’s strategic goal.
Get full context by reading Don’s report to General Synod 2018.
RCA Vision 2020 Team Members:
Meeting summaries
Transparency and authenticity are important to the people on the Vision 2020 Team, so after each in-person meeting, they release a summary of their discussion and decisions.
The theological differences within the RCA have led us to a point where we are not sure how to continue ministry together. Interim general secretary Don Poest, who proposed the team in 2018, identified human sexuality as a point of significant division in our denomination, but he acknowledged other divisions as well, including polity, biblical interpretation, and lack of alignment with Transformed & Transforming, the RCA’s strategic goal.
Get full context by reading Don’s report to General Synod 2018.
RCA Vision 2020 Team Members:
- Charlie Contreras, spiritual formation and leadership pastor at Faith Church (RCA) and pastor of Faith’s Munster, Indiana, campus. He also serves on the General Synod Council.
- Barbara Felker, pastor of leadership development at Highbridge Community Church (RCA) in the Bronx, New York, and a member of the board of trustees at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. She is vice president of strategic community partnerships at Northwell Health (Brooklyn region).
- Thomas Goodhart, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Ridgewood, New York.
- Brian Keepers, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. He previously served congregations in Holland, Michigan, and Spencer, Iowa.
- Kristen Livingston, pastor of congregational care at Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- John Messer, regional executive of the Synod of the Great Lakes. Previously, he served as pastor of Good News Community Church (RCA) in Okoboji, Iowa, and was a former strategic intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.
- Christa Mooi, executive pastor of operations at First Reformed Church of Sioux Center, Iowa. She is a past GSC moderator.
- Rudy Rubio, pastor of Reformed Church of Los Angeles, an RCA church plant in Lynwood, California.
- Diane Smith Faubion, an elder at First Reformed Church of Scotia, New York. She serves on the board of the Church Growth Fund and is executive vice president of First National Bank of Scotia.
- Marijke Strong, executive secretary of the Regional Synod of Canada. She previously served Fellowship Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan.
- Scott Treadway, pastor of Rancho Community Reformed Church in Temecula, California.
- Imos Wu, copastor of Bogart Memorial Reformed Church in Bogota, New Jersey. He also serves on the General Synod Council.
- Eddy Alemán, RCA general secretary, and Don Poest, who was serving as interim general secretary when he proposed the Vision 2020 Team, are ex officio members.
- Jim Herrington, Trisha Taylor, and Ryan Donovan are consultants working with the team.
Meeting summaries
Transparency and authenticity are important to the people on the Vision 2020 Team, so after each in-person meeting, they release a summary of their discussion and decisions.