Christian Reformed Church Appoints First Executive Director
The CRC on Tuesday appointed its first executive director, during the denomination's annual top legislative gathering - the 2005 Synod - at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill.
The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) on Tuesday appointed its first executive director, during the denomination's annual top legislative gathering - the 2005 Synod - at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill.
Rev. Calvin Bremer, a CRC pastor for 30 years and executive director of the electronic media ministry, Back to God Hour, will serve indefinitely as the 300,000-member denomination's top representative.
The executive director’s position was created last year by the 2004 Synod to streamline the current governance structure, which has two top staff positions – the General Secretary and the Executive Director of Ministries.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
According to Henry Hess, the communications director of the CRC, the current structure is being phased out because having two co-leaders was "a little bit awkward."
“The General Secretary was responsible for church polity and the executive director of ministries was responsible for the ministries of the church, and having these two co-equal positions was seen as being a little bit awkward,” explained Hess.
“This was a way of restructuring the denominational leadership so it is clear who the leader of the church is, rather than having to figure out whether it’s a matter of polity or ministry in terms of knowing who should be consulted,” said Hess.
The incumbent general secretary, David Engelhard, and the executive director of ministries, Peter Borgdorff, will retire later this year.
Bremer was appointed unanimously by the delegates at the weeklong 2005 Synod, which began last Saturday. Following his appointment, Bremer told attendees that the most critical issue facing the CRC today is “consumer mentality,” where people are becoming more individualistic with more specific needs.
He said leaders must lead by influencing and modeling, and work to find the church’s identity.
“God has given us things we must offer. We must articulate and lead from the vantage point of those who know what it is to claim every square inch for the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Bremer. “We can’t keep doing church the way we’ve done it for the past 20 years or we will die.”
Bremer also told delegates that the CRC has a wonderful legacy of rigorous academic scholarship that is the envy of the evangelical community, according to CRC news.
“And now we are learning to express our hearts,” he said, “saying without reservation ‘I love Jesus Christ and nothing will ever separate me from his life.’”
Bremer will be assisted by the director of denominational ministries - the Rev. Gerard Dykstra, pastor of the Faith Christian Fellowship in Walnut Creek, California - who was appointed by the CRC’s board of trustees earlier this year.
Both Bremer and Dykstra will begin their terms on August 1, 2005 and will work out of the CRC’s main office in Grand Rapids, Ill.
