Together, Yet Changed

Looking Objectively at the 2020 Vision, Starting with Structures

The Reformed Church in America’s  2020 Vision Team put in two years of dedicated and difficult work looking for a way forward for the denomination, ready to report to the General Synod in June. The unforeseen pandemic, however, left us with no Synod to whom to report, and a year to reflect upon the report as we get ready to discern God’s will and pray for the 2021 Synod. 

The Reformed Church Center, as part of its mission to help the church reflect on what it means to be Reformed in the twenty-first century, is planning a series of three webinars to help the church reflect on what the 2020 Vision Report proposes. The goal is to be as completely objective as possible: each program will seek to define what is different about the report’s proposals from the current polity of the church. 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 first program in our Planning and Preparing for the 2020 Vision series will deal with Part One of the report, Together, Yet Changed, which discusses the denominational structure. On Saturday, October 3, 2020, at 10:00 am, we will begin with brief presentations, and then continue with questions and discussion. Stephen Mathonnet-VanderWell, co-pastor of Second Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa, with his wife, Sophie, holds a Ph.D. from Boston College and teaches for both Central College and Western Theological Seminary. John Messer, executive for the Regional Synod of the Great Lakes, is a former strategic intelligence officer for the US Army and a member of the 2020 Vision Team.

There is no charge for participating in this webinar, but all participants need to register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hsrFo–FRXOkei-yPImHHw.

Webinars to look at the two other sections of the report are scheduled for December 12, 2020, and February 13, 2021, respectively.