2 Significant Votes
Friends,
At our October 12 congregational meeting, after a few financial and ministry updates, we took two votes - both of which passed unanimously. The first vote was our second/final vote to disaffiliate from the CRC. This process began about a year ago at a council meeting where the whole council recognized (for various diverse reasons) we could no longer sign the CRC's covenant for officebearers in the manner in which it was now expected to be signed ("without reservation"). This set us on the path towards disaffiliating from the CRC, a process outlined here. After this vote, we have now completed our part in the process. We will communicate our decision to classis, and request that Summer and I be honorably released as ministers from the CRC. For now, we will be transferring our ordination to the RCA. As I mentioned before, this is all bittersweet. At our most recent classis meeting I was reminded of the rich relationships that we have through our connections to the CRC. Our church would not exist without the support of both our local classis and the church-planting arm of our denomination. I don't relish leaving. However, as I was unable to sign the covenant for officebearers, I was unable to vote and meaningfully participate in the life of our classis. And therein lies the rub. So I am ready to turn a page - with gratitude, some sorrow, but primarily an ever-growing hope for this next season in the life of our church.
Which leads me to the second vote we took: A vote to merge with United. Technically, we voted to empower the council to do whatever needs to be done, following the wisdom and guidance of our legal counsel, to create a new church which will consist of the people and resources of both United and Sanctuary. One body. One ministry. One Lord. One budget. One leadership team. And not necessarily in that order of importance. This has been a long journey, a lengthy conversation, and a growing hope... that God is bringing our churches together so that we might flourish as one church; scattered across this city in all the places we live, work, study and play, and gathered on this corner in Crown Hill to love these neighbors and bear witness to Jesus here, in this particular place. As I've said before, there are many significant ways we are already living as one body, and this vote simply formalizes what is already true.
United will hold similar votes at their meeting on the 26th, and we can pray for that body as they discern God's will for their future. Assuming a favorable vote from United, the elders of both churches will get to work creating a new church, and then transferring our various assets to the new church, merging various areas of leadership and staff, and doing whatever else needs to be done so that come January 1, 2026 - we will simply be a new church. Together.
But if the church is the people (which it is) then, really, very little will change. We are the church, part of the body of Christ that exists around the world and throughout time to bear witness to and follow in the footsteps of our Lord, Savior and Friend. And the work in front of us is to live, authentically, into the reality of being one church. So let us continue to do what we've begun doing these past 3 years - love each other. Invite those you do not yet know to share a meal at your house. Sit with the folks who are in a different stage of life than you at the monthly potluck. Find a new pew to sit in on Sunday mornings. And invite your friends. Who do you know that God has put on your heart to pray for, to hope that they might know Christ as their savior and friend?
To God be the glory,
Mark & Sanctuary's council (Amy M, Steve, Sarah, Bob, and Amy W)
