‘Shared Stories of Struggles and Successes, Pain and Joy’ At World General Council

The World Communion of Reformed Churches met Oct. 14-23 for its General Council in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a gathering that convenes about every seven years. Zachary King, general secretary of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, and Elly Boersma Sarkany, a commissioned pastor and member of the denomination’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations committee, attended on behalf of the CRCNA.

King participated in a discernment group that included denominations from North America, Korea, Oceania, Brazil, and France, refining materials presented in plenary sessions to prepare for consensus-seeking in the overall group. Boersma Sarkany attended some workshops and the Communion’s Women's Caucus.

“We heard presentations on women in war zones as well as the particular impact of climate change on women and children. These were all challenging topics that we discussed and shared stories around tables with women from so many global contexts and all kinds of life experiences,” Boersma Sarkany said.

King noted, “There were opportunities to rejoice with some delegates for God’s faithfulness. There were times to lament and pray for those whose churches and ministries have been impacted by war, epidemics, natural disasters, persecutions, and unrest. To witness these aspects of God’s church is transformational for our faith and ministry.”

For the plenary sessions the two were seated with a pastor from Cameroon, an Armenian pastor in Lebanon, another pastor currently in Kenya, as well as one of CRCNA’s “church in communion” pastors from the CRC in Myanmar.

“With our ecumenical partners, we shared stories of struggles and successes, pain and joy, and were able to spend some intentional time in prayer for each other,” Boersma Sarkany said.

King said from the Myanmar leaders and those with the Reformed Church of Christ for Nations, one of the CRCNA’s three ecumenical partners from Nigeria, he “learned how civil war (Myanmar), tribal conflict (Nigeria), and natural disaster (earthquakes in Myanmar) have led to the destruction of churches and displacement of members in these two countries. I was amazed how these two denominations are supporting the needs of their displaced members and even planting new congregations among refugees in cities and even in neighboring countries.”

Boersma Sarkany attended an additional session on the Karen-Myanmar conflict. “While I have known of the civil war that has been raging in Myanmar for years, there was so much about it that I did not know. Ethnic strife and genocide has occured over the last 40 years. That is more than my own lifetime, and I was impacted by how this is the reality that so many experience around the world,” she said. “It was also remarkable to me how even in a refugee camp, a theological school is established, the gospel is proclaimed, and the church presses on.”

Boersma Sarkany said she also enjoyed the times of worship and Bible study, which she found “challenging and profound, and the music was beautifully varied and enriched by global, multilingual participation and a stellar local band of musicians.”

King also remarked on the 150th anniversary worship service, which “stood out because it included music and liturgy from churches all around the world, including the Church of Christ in Thailand, which was the host for the General Council.”

The World Communion of Reformed Churches is the largest Reformed ecumenical organization in the world, claiming 230 member denominations from 109 countries representing 100 million Christians. It’s ethnically and geographically diverse, including denominations from mainline traditions in North America, Europe, Australia, Korea, and South Africa, traditions in the Global South that trace their origins to the mission movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, and more confessionally orientated denominations from North America, Europe, Korea, and other continents.

The marking of 150 years dates to the origin of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a Geneva-based ecumenical alliance of denominations started in 1875, which united in 2010 with the Grand Rapids, Mich.,-based Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches.