Do You Hear What We Hear?
One of the goals of Better Together is to create a space for healthy conversations around how to best navigate unity and mission while providing space for disagreement. To that end, thank you from the content team of Better Together: A Third Way!
We are so grateful for how many voices we’ve been able to engage in less than four weeks. Over this short period we’ve engaged with 400+ subscribers and welcomed 4,000+ unique individuals to our website. Many of you have engaged us with questions and signed Better Together’s public statement (if you haven’t yet, we invite you to click here)
Our early conversations have provided an opportunity to give us valuable data as we work to provide the best and most relevant content for you. In fact, the word cloud above represents the questions and comments you have provided. We asked what are the most pressing questions you want us to engage and here’s a summary of what we’ve heard.
Unity
We hear you loud and clear that unity at this point in time may seem like a long shot. Many of you voiced doubts, fears, and major concerns about if this is even a possibility. Is there even enough a desire for unity? Are we alienating everyone on both sides by choosing unity? What can actually unite us? You are also asking practical questions of how Better Together thinks they can do this. What are our next steps? These are all good questions. Know that we hear them, we agree with many of them, and we are still committed to being better together. To further this conversation we invite you to check out several of our blog entries.
Having Hard Conversations
So many of you expressed the pain of having one difficult conversation after another. Thank you to those of you who shared stories with us of conversations gone well and also gone wrong. There is a strong desire among us to learn how to have these conversations in the best, Spirit-filled ways possible. You mentioned active listening, restorative practices, listening and engaging the prophetic voice. You are wondering how to have these conversations with so many loud voices coming at you from many different sides. You wonder how to continue to remain in dialogue with those with whom you disagree. Together we’ll explore good listening practices, ways to seek reconciliation, and avenues to deepen relationships even amid disagreement.
Synod 2023
Our eyes are all turning ahead to Synod 2023. Classis meetings have happened or are happening; delegates are being selected. With Synod coming in just a few months, many of your questions are practical ones:
#1- Will the CRCNA survive?
#2- Is there a process for changing confessional status decision?
#3- If Synod draws a hard and fast line this year, what may be a next step for Better Together?
#4- Will this be a slippery slope to other actions that have huge ramifications for the future of the CRCNA?
Officebearers
In many ways this question is tied up with the questions about Synod 2023. What will happen to all the gravamina filed? What discipline measures might materialize? What happens if nobody wants to serve on council? What happens if my congregation and I disagree on the HSR? What actions can be taken? All of these are good and fair questions, and most of them are unanswerable at the moment. But we hear your concern and your worry. And we share them.
Binationality
Several asked about the future of binationality in the CRC. Can we and should we continue to be binational? What are the differences between the United States' and Canada’s approach to moving forward post-Synod 2022? Are there conversations going on more publicly about the future for binationality and if so, what are they? Will the Better Together effort partner with a uniquely Canadian voice(s)?
Ministry with and for LGBTQ+ friends
Many are concerned that this call to unity sacrifices and alienates our LGBTQ+ friends who desire inclusion over unity. If that is true, how can we as a group create safe spaces in our communities particularly our worshiping communities for LGBTQ+ members? In doing so will officebearers face risk? If so, what could be or should be done about this?
CRCNA’s witness to the world
There is deep concern among us about what this past year has done to our denomination’s witness to the world. Many of us have become so bogged down in this conversation that ministry has seemingly halted in our local contexts. How do we continue our ministry faithfully? What about our global outreach? What about our ethnic partnerships we’ve worked so hard to encourage and grow? How do we maintain a faithful reading of scripture while creating space for disagreement on non-salvific issues? We are suffering within the walls of our churches, but it extends out much further than that and we are concerned.
Should a Better Together be Seeking New Denominational Ties
Will the CRCNA split like many other denominations have already done? What kind of vision must we cling to so as to not suffer a similar fate? If so, what can we learn from them and what are some historic examples? Are there other denominational ties we should be considering? What about affinity classes that allow us to remain? Have we thought about a CRC/RCA game of “Red Rover”? These questions are not easily asked or answered. Throughout them there is a voice that emerges of great care and loyalty to the CRCNA as we deeply desire unity and mission together.
The synthesis of all the data you have provided us is far from complete and far from perfect. But hopefully it does a few things well. We hope it gives you a sense of solidarity in your questioning - you are not alone. Others are asking the same things, fearful about the same things, hopeful about the same things. We hope this data also helps you to think about what small piece of this puzzle you might be able to help us solve. Where is God calling you in all these questions to jump in and get involved?
We remain hopeful that our team can wrestle with some of these questions in a way that provides useful content both for your edification and also your spiritual health and well-being. This is a hard space with hard questions. We remain grateful to you for sharing your hearts with us and entering this space with a posture of open questioning. You are a blessing to us and a blessing to God’s church - and we are grateful. Grateful to be journeying with you as we strive to be Better Together.
