Talk About the WCRC and Reformed Ecumenism

Looking at the World Communion of Reformed Churches

Since its founding in June of 2010, the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) has been at the forefront of world ecumenical discussions. With 232 member denominations, it works on behalf of eighty million Reformed Christians globally. For ten of those twenty-four years, two members of the Reformed Church in America have been a crucial part of the WCRC’s work.

Lisa Vander Wal is an RCA Minister of the Word and Sacrament, recently retired, with a Master of Divinity degree from Calvin Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary.  She as Vice President, President and Past President of the RCA’s General Synod from 2010-2013, has been active in the ecumenical work of the RCA, and will soon complete her term on the Executive Committee of the WCRC as Vice President, representing the Caribbean and North American Area Council (CANAAC).  Vander Wal and her husband, David, reside in Niskayuna, New York; together they have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Phil Tanis, a former mayor of Holland, Michigan, has recently completed a decade of service for the WCRC, as Executive Secretary for Communications, Executive Secretary for Communications and Operations, Executive for Communications and Operations as part of the Collegial General Secretariat, and Transitional Director for Communications and General Council Preparations based in Hannover, Germany, for all of that work. He previously served the RCA in similar capacities. His political development work in Bulgaria, for the International Republican Institute, included the country’s first presidential primary election. He is married to the Reverend Dr. Gretchen Schoon Tanis, a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the RCA; they have two children.

With Phil and Lisa both being friends of the Reformed Church Center and both completing their work with the WCRC around the same time, this seemed like a good time for us to Talk About the WCRC and Reformed Ecumenism, so we will do just that on Thursday, November 14^th, 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm Eastern Standard Time on Zoom. People from all Reformed bodies are welcome to join us.