Reformed Roots, Missional Imagination

People in the CRCNA don’t tend to view Church Order as a springboard for creative expression. And yet, church plants work within its framework to fill a new church, like a canvas, with all the potential of what a church can be. The CRC is seeing that, with the guidance of leaders and coaches as well as support from the parent church, the Reformed faith has opportunity, creativity, and relevance.

What’s so Unique about Church Plants?

“I think because their starting point is so mission-driven and mission-centered, there’s often a deep imagination about everything,” said Tim Sheridan, Resonate Global Mission’s director of church planting, speaking about the church plants he has seen. In his work he guides the denomination’s newest churches using Christian Reformed traditions and structures as a foundation on which to build.

But what about Church Order? For CRC church planters, clear and winning advantages include the reputation of the CRCNA, its strong organization, its “big-R Reformed” theology, its many pathways into ministry, and its strong sense of relationship with other churches.

Creative expressions of church plants might look quite different from a “traditional” church—such as church plants employing bivocational or co-vocational pastors, taking forms such as microchurches or young adult communities, or bringing together diaspora and ethnic minority groups. But these church plants are rooted in the gospel and in the rich theology of the Christian Reformed Church.

“Church plants respect those boundaries,” said Sheridan. “Style of preaching, content of sermons, worship style and who’s involved in that worship, formation of young people, witness in the community … these allow the needs and opportunities of a community to shape our church plants.”

Resonate equips church planters with the tools, resources, and relationships they need to thrive. Through the prayers, support, and collaboration of people across the CRCNA, the denomination is investing in providing church planter assessments, bringing planters and parent churches together, providing guidance, and offering quality coaching and training. Resonate, with classis and parent church partners, walks alongside church planters on the planting journey.

The resulting cohort of church plants in the CRCNA, 59 of them and counting, brings the strength of tradition and a different and necessary skill set that the CRCNA needs.

“I think a lot of churches have forgotten what it’s like to not have faith in Jesus, and what it’s like to have the church be a foreign space. ... Church plants have thought about the person for whom church is new and different,” said Sheridan. “Church plants are always filled with people who doubt, people who think Christianity is ridiculous, people who are searching.”

Art, Expression, and Mission

“Creativity is one of our values as a church,” said church planter Sam Lee at The Tapestry Mundy Park in British Columbia. One of the first things he noticed about his community was the number of artists, so The Tapestry hosted an art exhibition as one of its first community outreach events. Those first steps, Lee said, helped “open the doors of imagination.”

“I’ve always felt the need to find new and creative ways of gathering together in worship,” said Lee. The church plant rearranged the seats of the sanctuary to face one another around the communion table, designed services to use that space in liturgy, incorporated theatrical presentations, and installed seven works of art in the sanctuary—representing the words creation, fall, promise, Christ, presence, flourish, and consummation.

“Creative expression is important because it's at the very nature of God himself … inviting us to create with him in his mission to reconcile the whole world to himself in Christ,” said Lee. “It gives members in our community an opportunity to exercise their unique gifts and talents. … That generates more vitality and engagement in a congregation.”

Help and ongoing support from Resonate was key for The Tapestry Mundy Park from the beginning, said Lee. “I really appreciated my assessment process before planting, as it helped me to discern my calling and to prepare me for the work.”

The church’s creative principles and focus on artistic creativity might contrast with a typical established CRC congregation’s approach, but they have resulted in familiar types of ministry partnerships. The Tapestry Mundy Park started a free service for English-language learning and tutoring. They partner with a local ministry to feed the community. They are launching a one-on-one discipleship curriculum. And their first artist-in-residence discerned a call to ministry and became a Minister of the Word.

“Together, these stories have convinced me that creativity is not peripheral to the church’s life,” said Lee. “It’s one of the ways God forms people, calls them into vocation, and draws the church more deeply into his reconciling work in the world.”

Inch by Square Inch

“One of the things I was really encouraged by when getting involved with the Christian Reformed Church was the idea that every square inch falls under God’s kingdom,” said Moises Pacheco, church planter at Grace in Garfield CRC in Chicago, Ill..

“The biggest help has been relational and networking. … The conversations Brad (Meinders, Resonate’s director of North American Regional Teams) and Tim (Sheridan) have offered, along with introductions they’ve made for me to others, have been priceless.”

There aren’t many established churches in his neighborhood, said Pacheco. “I’m on the west side of Chicago. … Trying to plant a traditional church in this context is creative because there aren’t a whole lot of people doing it.”

The idea to plant a church started several years ago when Pacheco was attending a church in the suburbs and decided to start something new. He leaned hard on worship traditions he knew would be deeply important and familiar to his neighbors. “One of our church members describes our church as ‘high house church,’” said Pacheco. Each Saturday, they use the Book of Common Prayer, have communion, and do so in a small but purposefully sacred sanctuary—a garage.

“You walk in now and it feels a little bit more intimate. But when we (first) walked in there, it was just a garage with bullet holes in the door,” said Pacheco.

Pacheco and the congregation at Grace in Garfield find themselves living out what it means to be uniquely equipped to reach a different group of people than an established church can. “Some of our regular attenders have come out of very negative church experiences,” he said. “Many people have found spiritual healing here.”

The church has also found itself with the opportunity to help redeem this hard neighborhood. “When we first opened … there was a pretty significant heroin market in front of the church. To get to church you had to walk past 20-30 drug dealers. It was hard to do outreach that way. But the church was very instrumental in shutting that market down.”

The differences in their context have helped Grace in Garfield cultivate its own kind of creativity. “I think creativity is being adaptable,” said Pacheco. From the beginning he’s been convinced that if God wanted this church planted, he would provide opportunities. And he has—especially through the CRCNA.

Next Steps for Church Planting

Many churches such as The Tapestry Mundy Park and Grace in Garfield are taking their first steps, growing in mission and discipleship, and transforming their communities through the gospel. When they look at the faith and traditions of the CRCNA, they see possibility. They see hope. They find inspiration.

“The most encouraging thing is when I decided to plant a church within the Christian Reformed Church … I’ve met a lot of people and pastors who have been very impactful, very encouraging,” said Pacheco. “I’m thankful for those relationships I’ve built and feeling like I belong in this denomination.”

Certainly there are more out there who can find belonging in this denomination. Synod 2025 addressed the issue of church planting at length, debating ideas to increase the denomination’s capacity to church plant and hearing from church planters and Resonate staff. Among their conclusions, synod declared “that church planting is a key strategy in building the health and vitality of our denomination. Therefore we encourage:

• “All churches to take an extra step to connect with Resonate in order to build support for church planting.
• “All churches and classes with current relationships with a church planter to check with their church planter to find out if they have raised enough support.
• “All churches to encourage their classes to develop a church planting strategy or strengthen their current strategy in partnership with Resonate.”

Church planting has always been done in close collaboration with classes and parent churches. The renewed effort Resonate is making to expand church planting is focused on creating a garden where all types of churches can grow and each gets what they need to thrive. This is our work to accomplish together, by combining our rich traditions with the opportunities God gives us to be creative.