A growing trend in denominational ministries is the movement toward alliances and partnerships to leverage resources and enhance ministries.
Norm Thomasma (left) at the fall ministry kickoff in Holland, Mich.
Last October at Park CRC in Holland, Mich., Classes Holland, Zeeland, and Georgetown held a joint fall ministry kickoff and invited denominational staff to join them.
Two of the denominational staff who attended were Bonnie Nicholas of Safe Church Ministries and Rev. Norm Thomasma of Pastor-Church Relations.
Nicholas met with congregational leaders to reaffirm the importance of maintaining a safe church environment for children and for everyone in which each person is valued and abuse is not tolerated. She highlighted new resources available from Safe Church Ministry.
The group shared ideas about how to meet challenges associated with abuse awareness, prevention, and response.
Thomasma engaged participants in conversations about “early warning” conditions that make congregations vulnerable to destructive conflict. The conversation led to thinking creatively together about what kinds of things congregational leaders can do to address conflict proactively so that when it happens, conflict can be constructive rather than destructive.
He noted that isolation from other churches and leaders is a contributing factor that makes a congregation vulnerable. When denominational ministries, classes, congregations, and leaders work together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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