Preserving Our Shared History

Looking Objectively at the 2020 Vision, We Continue with Missions

The Reformed Church Center will continue our series Planning and Preparing for the 2020 Vision on Saturday, December 12, at 10:00 am. As with our first program, our plan is to continue helping the church reflect on what the 2020 Vision Report proposes as objectively as possible, defining what is different about the report’s proposals from what the RCA is currently doing. These will not be sessions for deciding what is right or wrong—everyone will do that in other venues—or for strategizing about how to respond, but simply to help all participants better understand what the report says and why

The second program will deal with Part Two of the report, Preserving Our Shared History, which discusses the denominational missions program. On Saturday, December 12, at 10:00 am, we will begin with brief presentations, then continue with questions and discussion.

JP Sundararajan is director of RCA Global Mission. A native of Bangalore, India, a city of twelve million people, he attended Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, a city of about 6,000. After starting as a biology major with the hopes of returning to India as a medical missionary, he felt his calling change. He graduated with a degree in psychology in 2000, then moved to Holland, Michigan, where he received his M.Div. from Western Theological Seminary and met his wife, Katy. For twelve years, Sundararajan has served as an RCA missionary with Audio Scripture Ministries and recorded the Bible in almost 100 languages. He will be reflecting on how the 2020 Vision proposal will change what RCA Global Mission is doing.

Prior to seminary, Bethany Devos served for three years as the mission-supported staff person at the Mescalero (Apache) Reformed Church in New Mexico.  Currently, she and her husband, Corstian, co-pastor the North & Southampton Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. Bethany’s perspective will be as a former missionary who has been in the field, and the effects this might have on those active in these ministries.

Thomas C. Goodhart is the Minister at Trinity Reformed Church of Brooklyn in Ridgewood, NY where he has served since 2008. Prior to that he pastored a congregation in New York’s Hudson Valley. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, Tom has functioned in various roles at all levels of the RCA including classis president, moderator of the Commission on Christian Action, and vice moderator of General Synod Council. He is also a past board member and former co-president of Room for All. He is a member of the Vision 2020 Team. Tom is a passionate advocate for Christ’s work of reconciliation and a lover of ecology. He lives in Queens with his bullmastiff, Hildegard.

Recordings of all of these programs will be available on the Reformed Church Center page.

There is no charge for attending this event, but participants need to register by clicking here.

Webinars to look at the two other sections of the report are scheduled for October 3, 2020, and February 13, 2021.