South Orange County Church planting effort changes frequency and venue

After nearly two years of monthly mid-week home studies, South Orange County Reformed Fellowship is stepping forward in faith with weekly Sunday evening public meetings.

Beginning March 13, 2011, the group will meet each Sunday at 5:00 PM for a time of prayer, fellowship and Bible study at the San Felipe de Jesus Chapel, located at 26010 Domingo Ave. in Capistrano Beach, CA.

Under the supervision of the Oceanside URC consistory, Rev. Jon Moersch carries out the church planting work in a tent-making capacity. Rev. Moersch explains that the change in frequency and venue has been under consideration for some time.

“For the past several months, we have been thinking that a midweek home Bible study, held once a month, made it difficult for visitors to come,” he says. “Our thoughts were that if we could get a public facility and meet every Sunday evening, we could potentially draw a larger number of people.”

Obstacles to making the changes were finding a suitable location and the financial burden of renting a facility. But the Lord overcame those obstacles in an amazing way.

“Thankfully, I was able to find a small chapel near the beach that was available on Sunday evenings,” Rev. Moersch relates. “The building is owned by a large Roman Catholic church up the road and they use it largely for Spanish language mass. The priest was extremely gracious and is allowing us to use the facility for six months at absolutely no cost!”

The group’s initial goal is to spread the word concerning the work. A closely related goal is to gain as many core members as possible.

“Currently there are three families (not including my own) that are seriously committed to planting this church,” says Rev. Moersch. “Please pray for us that the Lord would see fit to bless our labors and add to our numbers.”

Oceanside’s pastor, Rev. Danny Hyde, reports that the Oceanside consistory approved South Orange County Fellowship’s changed venue and frequency for six months.

“If we grow to 6-10 families (singles, couples, entire families), we will proceed with public worship.” Rev. Hyde writes. “If not we will bring this labor to an end after nearly three years.”

The consistory of Oceanside URC adopted a church planting plan for the area in October of 2008. In February of 2009, Jon Moersch (member of the core group and previous Oceanside intern) was ordained to the work. The monthly home meetings began in San Clemente in May of 2009.

“For the past year and nine months,” writes Rev. Hyde, “Pastor Jon has labored with minimal success in terms of numerical growth, although we know his labors are not in vain eternally.”

The consistory of the Oceanside URC remains convinced of the desperate need for a confessionally Reformed congregation in South Orange County, CA.

“While we remain convinced of the need, only the Lord can grant success,” writes Rev. Hyde. “Will you boldly pray with and for us: ‘Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!’ (Ps. 118:25)?”

Rev. Hyde requests not only the prayers of God’s people, but also the transmission of information: “We need your help propagating this info to anyone you may know in South Orange County who is not a member of a Reformed congregation.”

Readers are encouraged to point area family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to the South Orange County Fellowship’s blog.

The above article by Glenda Mathes appeared on page 17 of the March 16, 2011 issue of Christian Renewal.

Packaging news for children: Interview with Norm Bomer

by Glenda Mathes


Norm Bomer is the Senior Editor of God’s World News (GWN) and was its founding editor in 1981. He also is a talented writer and the author of several books including his memoir, Sons of the River. I recently had the opportunity to interview him via email.

GM: Your memoir, Sons of the River, is beautiful for its poetic prose and its depiction of relationships between family members and friends. What led to its writing?

NB: The writing of Sons of the River was sparked by our church’s first “hymn of the month”—either a familiar or an unfamiliar hymn chosen to be sung every week for one month during worship. That hymn was “Our God Our Help in Ages Past”—a very familiar one. As with so many other hymns, I knew all the words and usually sang them without thinking much about their meaning.

This time was different. The verse that begins, “Time like an ever-rolling stream” hit me as never before. Time “bears all its sons away.” But the words are not just about death. They are about the fact that a human does not really make his mark through his own merit. Life is short. And so are memories. Those sons who pass away are soon forgotten. They “fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.”

Suddenly I was struck with the fact that I now had personal friends who had already died. Only a few people remember them, and they will soon be gone too. Was there anything about their lives on earth worth remembering?

Oddly, the name and face of an actor popped into my mind too: Franchot Tone.

GM: Who is Franchot Tone? I’ve never heard of him.

NB: I’m not surprised. But 60 or more years ago, virtually the whole world knew him. He was a beloved and highly acclaimed Hollywood star. I admired him. And he had a smile exactly like my friend Clayton Hoke.

The bottom line is this: There is no eternal hope in ourselves. Only God is “our hope for years to come . . . and our eternal home.” But there are things worth remembering. The Bible tells me so. And I wanted to remind others of that fact, not to brag about human accomplishment, but to glory in the fact that life in Christ does have meaning that lasts forever.

My early years in the small Nebraska town of Ewing made a huge and lasting impression on my heart. Few people have ever heard of Ewing, Nebraska, or known the people who made it live—people such as my lifelong friends Gordon Shrader and Clayton Hoke. I wanted to tell their story, which includes the story of their ancestors. For not only had that story intrigued me all my life, I saw it as everyone’s story—a reminder that life is worth living, that it has eternal meaning in Christ, and that true, eternal hope includes remembering what God has done on earth.

GM: How did the memoir writing process affect you?

NB: The writing itself was a cathartic experience for me. As a professional writer, I whip things out and meet deadlines regularly. But this was different. Although the book is not a long one, I spent three years creating it, usually writing in the dead of night when I and my memories were the only ones awake in the world. It was my sincere desire to create something beautiful, not only in theme but in form.

GM: You definitely accomplished that. Sons of the River has beautiful writing as well as beautiful content. What other books have you written?

NB: I’ve written No More Singing, published by Paideia Press; Willow, published by Baker Book House; Etymology for Wordbrains Like Me, published by Wordbrain Paperbacks (GWP); and Adventures in Etymology for Wordbrains Like Me, Wordbrain Paperbacks.

GM: Let’s talk about your professional writing and regular deadlines. God's World News produces four different monthly current events magazines at age-appropriate levels to help elementary and middle school students develop Christian character and learn to discern. These magazines remind me of the “Weekly Readers” from my grade school days, and I tend to think of them as "Reformed Weekly Readers." How would you describe God's World News as well as its mission and purpose?

NB: "Reformed Weekly Readers" would be a fair description, although they have now become monthly readers. The word “Reformed” is avoided in the context of GWN published materials, since many orthodox Christians react negatively to that term. The base of current events, biblical editorial analysis, and related features remains. And the core focus remains Christian worldview, promoting biblical discernment in students. The presentation now includes specific connections to the major academic areas of Christian school/home school curricula.

GM: Developing a biblical worldview is a lofty ideal, but how does that play out in practical terms in the pages of a current events magazine?

NB: All publications are written from a distinct worldview. Liberal, secular media masquerade as “neutral.” That masquerade is a powerful weapon. Readers are led to believe that the front page of a newspaper is just “fact,” and that opinions are exclusive to the editorial pages. Not true. The most influential opinion molders are on the front pages, where writers carefully pick and choose the stories you will see, carefully pick and choose the details they want you to hear, and carefully censor out what they do not want you to hear or think about. They also carefully choose quotes that build their cases—a media tool known as “journalistic ventriloquism.”

Like all news media, God’s World News is not neutral. We also carefully pick and choose the news stories we present and the details we believe our readers at each level should know about. The difference is, at GWN and in GWN we are honest about our non-neutrality. But more important than that, we diligently strive to be biblical, to tell the truth, to be honest and fair.

Our “Newsthink” editorials comment at length on particular current events, encouraging students to analyze them through the eyes of Scripture. In addition, we often append news stories with relevant Bible verses, questions for discussion, and sometimes brief editorial comments under the heading “Bible2Life.” We also supplement our print publications with online teaching tools, including a biography series that includes biblical commentary.

GM: What is the relationship of God's World News (GWN) to WORLD magazine and how did that relationship develop?

NB: During the first several years of publishing God’s World News, parents and teachers frequently expressed interest in the creation of a similar current events magazine for adults, one presented from a biblical editorial perspective. WORLD magazine is the product of that interest. It was first published in the mid 1980s and was financed largely through the success of God’s World News. Today, both publications are governed by the same board of directors, as is the World Journalism Institute.

GM: I’m curious about the logistics for GWN. Where are the offices for GWN located? Where are production and mailing handled? How do you get your news?

NB: God’s World Publications headquarters is located in Asheville, North Carolina, although the staff of WORLD magazine is scattered throughout the country. Printing and mailing are done by a company in Pennsylvania. We are members of the Associated Press and get most of our news information from AP. Some stories, of course, originate with us.

GM: What are the unique challenges faced by GWN and of your work in particular?

NB: One of the primary challenges over the years has been to encourage Christian school/home school teachers and administrators to appreciate the vital importance of teaching current events and Christian worldview—and to move beyond the traditional loyalty to textbooks. Completing a textbook should not be the primary purpose and goal of the school year in any classroom. The goal should be the proper teaching of children. The unique challenge of my particular work is also the most gratifying personally—that is, to see and explain what God’s word teaches in relation to a particular event or issue, and to do it in a manner appropriate for a particular age level.

GM: In what ways have you seen God's hand at work through your work with GWN?

NB: Over the years, the thousands of appreciative responses and testimonials from parents, teachers, and students have reinforced the importance and effectiveness of this facet of Christian education.

GM: How can Reformed Christians support the work of GWN?

NB: I believe the biggest need continues to be a thorough and enthusiastic dedication to Christian education. Education works, period. Christian parents who send their children to Godless schools need to understand the powerful and lasting ramifications of the fact that they are indeed Godless. As for God’s World News, I suppose one of the most helpful contributions would be to encourage local Christian schools/home schools to include it in their standard educational process.


ENDNOTE:
God’s World News produces 30 page editions for pre-Kindergarten through first grade (Early Edition) and second through third grades (Taking Off), as well as 38 page editions for fourth through fifth grades (News Current) and sixth through ninth grades (Top Story). The current subscription level for all four editions is 116,000. School year subscriptions include seven monthly issues (September-April), while full year subscriptions include 10 issues (every month except December and May). Subscriptions for three monthly summer issues of each edition are also available. Educational resources and subscription information for God’s World News publications can be found at: www.gwnews.com. More information about World is available at: http://www.worldmag.com/.


Christian Renewal Editor John Van Dyk added the following boxed article to the above interview.



Norm Bomer had this to say when asked how he became the editor of God's World Publications:



In February 1981, we were living in Hutchinson, Kansas. A close friend in Sterling, Kansas, called to tell me he had read a news report in The Presbyterian Journal about the launching of a Christian "weekly reader" by the Journal organization. He said a search was underway for a founding editor, and that with my enthusiasm for Christian education, my Christian school teaching experience, and my writing/editing history, I was Tailor-made for the job. But when I found out the Journal was published in North Carolina, I told Carol, my wife, that I was not even going to inquire. For me anything east of the Mississippi was too foreign and too strange. Here's a quick calendar of events:

February: phone call from my friend Harry Wilkey

February: at Carol's urging, very brief letter of inquiry to The Presbyterian Journal

February: no response

March: no response

April: in Prinsburg, Minnesota, interviewing for a teaching position at a Christian high school. Phone call from Carol telling me Joel Belz had called from The Presbyterian Journal

April 1981: home again, spoke to Joel by phone

April 1981: flew to Asheville, North Carolina, for interview. Joel had interviewed nearly 50 candidates, but not one had met all of the half-dozen prerequisites he had established.

May 1981: sold house in Hutchinson in spite of real estate recession.

June 1981: moved to Asheville, North Carolina. Harry had been right. It was the work of the Tailor.



The above articles originally appeared on pages 33-34 of the June 23, 2010, issue of Christian Renewal.

Chino's Mission and Evangelism Emphasis Week

When I was a child, the highlight of the summer was our hometown’s annual Mission Fest—a week-long outdoor extravaganza featuring missionary speakers and fellowship for adults as well as playground fun and Cracker Jacks for kids.

Even as a married mom, I recall week-long Mission Emphasis events focusing on missionaries supported by our church. In today’s busy society, I don’t hear much about such week-long celebrations raising awareness and support for missions. But at least one church, First United Reformed in Chino, CA, has maintained a Mission Emphasis Week for 36 years. And it doesn’t look as if it’s a dying tradition.

Mr. Larry Vanden Berge, who is Vice President of the church’s council and chairman of its Evangelism Committee, says, “I certainly feel Mission Emphasis Week will go on for many years. In fact, it seems like it’s enjoyed more than ever. Even as our church approaches it 53rd year of existence and the congregation transitions from a predominately Dutch, dairy-based congregation to a rich variety of people who love and appreciate the Reformed faith, we still enjoy biblically-based traditions. Mission Emphasis Week boosts our support for missions, our local evangelism efforts, and our hospitality toward church visitors. In addition to providing generous support for our selected missionaries, our church members are even more inspired to make our church a shining light in our community.”

Based on Psalm 96:3, “Declaring God’s Glory to All People” was the theme when First URC in Chino held its 36th annual Mission Emphasis Week from January 22-30, 2011. It began with a Saturday evening prayer service, featured guest ministers and speakers for two consecutive Sundays, and included a Wednesday “Family Night” chicken dinner as well as a Saturday morning food and Bible distribution project.

“Mission Emphasis Week 2011 certainly exceeded my expectations,” says Mr. Vanden Berg. “Last year we put a lot of thought into the week but the attendance seemed about the same as if we had put little effort into it. This year I had lower expectations because of that. The Family Night event was much more edifying and, of course, the distribution project was again an encouraging event. Our committee commented they were quite pleased with the week and thought the sermons and presentations were all very motivating. We again arranged for a mix of foreign missions (Rev. Vic Bernales) and local evangelism (Rev. Danny Hyde), which seems to be an effective format.”

The week of activities began with an intimate gathering for prayer on Saturday evening, when about 18 people (many of them Evangelism Committee members) gathered around circular tables and prayed in small groups for specific aspects of the upcoming week.

On Sunday, January 23, the Sunday school children were told about foreign mission life and work. Rev. Vic Bernales, a church planter in Davao City, Philippines, spoke to the adult class on “Office Bearers’ Training: A Key to Sustain Reformed Mission Work.”

“Rev. Bernales’ presentation about training office bearers at a small church plant in a foreign land was a highly interesting topic,” says Mr. Vanden Berge.

Prior to the morning worship service, Cadets from the church presented the Christian flag and flags of sixteen countries in which the congregation supports mission work. Rev. Bernales preached on “Make Known His Deeds Among the Peoples” from Isaiah 12:1-6. Special music included brass players and the church choir singing “All Who Believe.”

At the evening service, Rev. Bernales preached from Acts 17:1-9 on “The Message That Turns the World Upside Down.” A soloist sang, “The Name Above All Names.” During a fellowship time following the service, Rev. Bernales gave a presentation on “Prayer and Gospel Preaching” that challenged attendees to seize every opportunity for witness.

“He asked the people in attendance to speak about their experiences in witnessing and their shortcomings as they did so,” says Mr. Vanden Berge. “Several people shared their encounters. It was encouraging for those present to hear others’ accounts and Rev. Bernales’ comments. I think many felt convicted to be braver in sharing their faith.”

Almost 150 people gathered at the church for a “Family Night Chicken Dinner” on Wednesday evening, after which Rev. Bernales gave an overview and answered questions regarding his work in the Philippines. Special music was presented by a mixed vocal group.

“The Wednesday night event had been a potluck for many years, but evolved into a Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner for the past several years,” explains Mr. Vanden Berge. “It was a lively and fun crowd with a good turnout of young families. The group seemed to greatly appreciate Rev. Bernales’ presentation. Vic interned in our church for ten weeks in the summer of 2007. Vic, Cathy, and their family are greatly loved by our congregation, so hearing about his ministry in Davao City was of high interest.”

An innovative aspect of the church’s Mission Emphasis Week was its “Food for Life” distribution project on Saturday morning, January 29. Mr. Vanden Berge explains that “Food for Life” began a couple of years ago and is supervised by a Christian board that acquires food items at depressed prices and sets up distribution events with various church in the local valley.

“We had participated in this as a congregation in October,” he explains, “and decided to tie it in this time with Mission Emphasis Week.”

About 175 families came to purchase groceries for $5 per large box. Approximately 60-70 volunteers from the church stocked the boxes. As boxes were loaded into the families’ cars, some church members offered them free Bibles, literature, and information about the church.

“Around 25 English Bibles were distributed and 40 Spanish Bibles were given to the largely Latino recipients,” says Mr. Vanden Berge. “They were very appreciative to receive spiritual as well as physical food.”

The week of activities concluded with a “Commitment Sunday” on January 30. Rev. Daniel Hyde, pastor of Oceanside United Reformed Church, spoke to the adult Sunday school class on “Being a Welcoming (Reformed) Church,” a topic on which he has recently published a book.

Rev. Quentin Falkena, First URC’s Youth Pastor, extended to the congregation a call to pledge financial support for the church’s monthly “Faith Promise” mission offerings. Through the “Faith Promise” offerings, the congregation supports Dr. Brian Lee’s work at Christ Reformed Church in Washington, DC; Rev. Ruben Sernas with Ontario Hispanic URC; Tom & Donna Cnossen with N. Canada Evangelical Mission; Rev. Bill Green with Latin American Reformed Fellowship in Costa Rica; Dr. Neal Hegeman, Academic VP & Hispanic Director for Miami International Theological Seminary (MINTS); Marvin & Joyce Hyde with Wycliffe Bible Translators; Chris & Joy Konop with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Democratic Republic of Congo; Dr. Sylvia Martinez with Ministries in Action in Dominican Republic; Rev. Steve McGee, Coordinator of English Speaking Caribbean Ministry for MINTS and President of Ministries in Action; Rev. Eric Pennings, Central American Director for MINTS; Rev. Steve & Nalini Poelman, URC missions in India; Roger & Karen Van Otterloo, Wycliffe Bible translators; Rev. Allen Vander Pol, Director of African and Philippines & English ministries for MINTS; and John & Shirley Wind with CRC World Missions in Mexico.

Rev. Hyde preached at the morning service on “Defending God’s Existence in an Age of ‘New Atheism,’” based on Psalm 19 and Romans 1:18-32. The Providence Men’s Group provided special music. Rev. Ronald Scheuers, First URC’s Senior Pastor, preached at the evening service on “Even a Gentile Soldier” from Acts 10. The “Bells of Praise” presented “Jesus Shall Reign.” During the fellowship time following the evening service, Rev. Ruben Sernas, pastor of Ontario Hispanic United Reformed Church, gave an overview of his Spanish ministry.

“Rev. Sernas helped us at the Food for Life distribution the day before,” says Mr. Vanden Berge, “and our congregation is seeking to help him financially and physically with his developing ministry.”

Mr. Vanden Berge relates that those attendees with whom he spoke “seemed very blessed and edified by the week of mission focused events.” He admits “it was a lot of work and sometimes I felt barely able to stay ahead of the wave.” He is quick to add, however, “But I think it is an awesome tradition to set aside this week at the beginning of the year, to focus on the work of our missionaries and to feel the conviction to do a better job of witnessing to our local community. Our congregation gives generously to our monthly Faith Promise for Missions offering, but I think more and more of us are becoming even more stimulated to witness in our community and show hospitality to the growing number of visitors who are checking out our church and joining us in worship.”

“I recommend that all churches, large or small, set aside a week focusing on missions and evangelism,” he says. “I believe it will spur them on to a year of ‘Declaring God’s Glory to All People.’”


The above article by Glenda Mathes appeared on pages 12-13 of the February 23, 2011, issue of Christian Renewal.

URCNA Classis Western Canada expands

The following article by Glenda Mathes appeared on pages 9-11 of the February 2, 2011, issue of Christian Renewal.

Classis Western Canada expands

by Glenda Mathes


When Classis Western Canada of the URCNA met on January 13 & 14, 2011, at Trinity Reformed Church in Lethbridge, AB, it welcomed two congregations and examined two men.

An initial item of business was a request from Parkland Reformed Church of Ponoka, AB, seeking concurring advice regarding the organization of a daughter church, according to Article 22 of the Church Order. Known as “Parkland South,” the group has been meeting in Lacombe, AB, for just over a year. It consists primarily of URCNA members, although some visitors are among the 150-170 regular attendees.

Classis happily acquiesced to the request regarding Parkland South’s organization.

Delegates also rejoiced to adopt an overture from Surrey Covenant Reformed Church requesting the provisional reception of the Orthodox Reformed Church in New Westminster. The provisional membership of the New Westminster church requires ratification by the next URCNA Synod, scheduled for 2012.

The cities of Surrey and New Westminster are in the Vancouver region of southern British Columbia. The two churches have a long and warm relationship with each other, both having been members of the Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches at one time.

The New Westminster church has been independent for about five years. The congregation meets for 9:00 am and 7:00 pm Sunday worship services at 701 6th St. in downtown New Westminster. In January of 2010, the church called Rev. Gary Zekveld, who was ordained and installed last April. At a meeting in October, the congregation voted 100% in favor of affiliating with the URCNA.

Since Rev. Zekveld pastors the New Westminster congregation, this meeting of Classis Western Canada included his colloquium doctum for acceptance into the URCNA. He graduated from Mid-America Reformed Seminary in 2009 and served the Covenant Christian Church of Wyoming, ON, as well as Trinity Reformed Church in Lethbridge, AB, prior to his ordination at the Orthodox Reformed Church in New Westminster.

Rev Zekveld sustained his exam and Classis Western Canada welcomed him as a minister of the Word and sacraments in the URCNA.

The second examination conducted by Classis Western Canada was the candidacy exam of Corey Dykstra, a 2010 graduate of Mid-America Reformed Seminary and a member of the United Reformed Church of Thunder Bay (ON).

Mr. Dykstra sustained his candidacy exam and Thunder Bay URC may now declare him a candidate in the URCNA. Classis also adopted a motion that Mr. Dykstra’s ordination exam would be waived should he accept a call within Classis Western Canada.

In his report on Classis, Rev. William Van der Woerd (Clerk for Classis Western Canada) wrote: “It is always a joy to observe the desire of young and gifted men who aspire to become ministers of the gospel and for them to demonstrate those gifts and give a good account of their training.”

Following his graduation from Mid-America, Mr. Dykstra served a four-month internship in Kelowna, BC, and is currently in the Thunder Bay area. He and his wife, Jill, have an infant son, Kyle.

In other business, Classis Western Canada adopted two overtures regarding ecclesiastical procedures, made an appointment to the songbook committee, and agreed to provide financial support for two congregations through its needy church fund.

An overture from Surrey Covenant Reformed Church requested that Synod 2012 establish a “Standing Committee for Appeals” that would serve as a “pre-advice” committee for subsequent synods. Composed of elected representatives from each Classis, this committee would review all “pertinent material” associated with appeals and “make recommendations to the next synod regarding [their] adjudication….”

As background, the overture cited its intention to prevent a recurrence of the “undesirable” handling of appeals at Synod London 2010, when it was felt that time constraints on the Appeals Committee led to committee work being done during the full session of Synod.

Grounds for the overture reiterated that insufficient time was available during Synod to interview appellants and Classis members and stated that no other investigations could be done before Synod convened. Grounds also were that this would “provide Synod with a more balanced and thorough opinion of the committee’s work” and “prevent possible ‘pre-advice committee’ work during the full session of Synod.” Grounds additionally noted: “This would give the committee a minimum of four months (the usual time between the agenda deadline for synod and the synod meeting) to study the appeals rather than the 48 hours which the committee of pre-advice had at Synod London.”

Classis Western Canada adopted the overture, although Rev. Ralph Pontier spoke against it and advocates the implementation of regional synods to help expedite the appeal process.

“While I recognize the problem the overture addresses, having been deeply involved in the painful process of dealing with two thorny appeals at Synod London,” he says, “I believe a standing committee is not the best solution. We should recognize that one of the strengths of regional synods is that they expedite the appeals process, not necessarily preventing the appeals from going to a general synod, but digesting them in such a way that by the time they get to a general synod, the core issues are clearly before the body and can be dealt with both judiciously and speedily. We should also recognize that regional synods are not a Canadian Reformed invention but are part of our church order heritage from the Synod of Dort. Instead of rejecting them out of hand, we should ask why the CRC corrupted the Dort church order tradition by jettisoning them.”

“It seems ironic that many oppose regional synods as hierarchical,” he continues, “yet we seem willing to readily embrace synodical standing committees which have a far greater potential for becoming hierarchical. The membership of regional synods changes every time they meet and their budgets do not inflate dramatically every year. Although standing committees can serve well, in the history of some Reformed denominations, they are notorious for arrogating more and more authority unto themselves.”

A second overture dealing with procedural issues came from Faith Reformed Church of Telkwa (BC). The overture aimed at holding churches accountable to the Church Order mandate regarding regular church visitors by suggesting the addition of the following question to the existing seven questions on classis credentials: “In accordance with C.O. Art. 27, has the consistory invited the church visitors to visit the council in the past 2 years?” The addition of that eighth credential question was adopted.

Since Synod London 2010 had decided that the Psalter Hymnal Committee should be augmented by additional appointments from Classes not yet represented (Central US, Eastern US, Michigan, and Western Canada), Classis Western Canada needed to appoint a representative to that committee.

After having received multiple nominations, Classis appointed Scott Finch, from Redeemer Reformation Church in Regina, SK, to the URCNA Psalter Hymnal Committee. His is the Assistant Professor of Music and Worship Arts at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, SK. He was scheduled to be ordained as an elder in Redeemer Reformation Church on January 23, 2011.

Two churches requested and received financial assistance from Classis Western Canada’s Needy Church Fund: Redeemer Reformation Church of Regina and the Orthodox Reformed Church of Edmonton for the support of its Grande Prairie church plant.

In executive session, Classis Western Canada dealt with several discipline issues and pastoral matters.

Rev. Hank Van der Woerd chaired this meeting of Classis, while his brother, Rev. William Van der Woerd served as Clerk. Rev. William Van der Woerd concluded his classical report by writing: “One of the blessings of federative unity is to be able to request the advice and wisdom of like-minded brothers in the Lord.”

The Lord willing, Classis will meet again during the second week of June, 2011, with Emmanuel Reformed Church of Neerlandia next in rotation to convene and host the meeting.

Hubert R. Krygsman: In all things to glorify God

Today's post is the final Christian college president interview from the feature that appeared in the April 28, 2010, issue of Christian Renewal. I posted my interview with Derek Halvorson on Tuesday, and I posted my interview with Philip Graham Ryken last Thursday. This is a slightly edited version of my interview with Dr. Hubert R. Krygsman, which took place before his inauguration as the current president of Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario.




Redeemer College began classes in 1982 and Dr. Krygsman serves as its third president, following the retirement of Dr. Justin Cooper, who served as Redeemer’s president for 16 years. Prior to coming to Redeemer, Dr. Krygsman was the Associate Provost and Director of the Andreas Center for Reformed Scholarship and Service at Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA.

Glenda Mathes (GM): Dr. Krygsman, I understand that you will assume the presidency on June 14, 2010. Is that correct?

Hubert Krygsman (HK): This is correct. Technically, I assume responsibility on June 14. But I will begin working at Redeemer on June 1 to learn from and work with Justin Cooper before he leaves office.

GM: Although most institutions of higher learning seem to want a multi-function president, they appear to vary in their desired focus. How would you describe the expectations for your presidency? Will you be more of a scholarly instructor or more of a development administrator? What primary categories of work are included in your job description?

HK: My understanding of the role is that of a multi-function president. I understand my responsibilities to include leadership in the following areas: affirming and articulating Redeemer’s Reformed identity and perspective; ensuring that Redeemer maintains and develops high quality programs that are rooted in its wholistic, Biblical perspective; developing Redeemer’s administrative organization; expanding Redeemer’s enrollment and supporting constituency; and cultivating Redeemer’s relationships with and service to its broader community, including with legislators, other colleges and universities, and other service organizations.

GM: What do you view as the probable challenges you will face in your new position?

HK: I’m sure there will be many challenges that I don’t yet know, but among the challenges I expect are the following: First, we will continue to face the pressures of a predominantly secular culture, and we will have to show the positive contribution that Redeemer makes to our students and our society. Second, we will need to continue building understanding and commitment to Redeemer’s Reformed perspective among our increasingly diverse community of students and supporters. Third, we will need to continue developing our programs in ways that serve our community and engage the wider world with a transforming vision. Fourth, we will need to find and develop the resources to sustain and expand Redeemer’s programs and impact. And fifth, on a personal note, I’m sure I will find the task of developing my own leadership a challenge. To meet all of these challenges, I trust that God will continue to provide for Redeemer, and we will find our strength and hope in Him.

GM: What do you view as the possible joys of the work?

HK: Here too, I’m sure I will find unexpected joys, but I hope to find much joy in following God faithfully, in working with colleagues and a supporting constituency that are share a deep commitment to Redeemer’s mission and vision, in seeing Redeemer’s faculty and staff flourish in working together in carrying out our mission, and in seeing our students grow into mature, faithful, and able servants and leaders of God’s kingdom in the world around us.

GM: What are the hopes or goals you have for your work at Redeemer?

HK: My goals are, generally, to lead successfully in the areas that I mention above, and in doing so to help Redeemer to flourish in fulfilling its mission in service to God. More specifically in the shorter term, I expect to focus the institution’s efforts especially on implementing the Strategic “Great Goals” adopted by Redeemer’s Board of Governors, which I share deeply. These goals include developing Redeemer’s international and global engagement; refreshing Redeemer’s distinctive Reformed worldview in ways that speak to a wider Christian community, demonstrating that Christian faith relates to all of life; and developing programs that connect academics and student life to develop the whole person.

GM: How can you see that God's providence in your life has prepared you for this position?

HK: God has provided for my family and I in many wonderful ways, starting with being raised in Christian homes, schools, and churches in southern Ontario. I pursued graduate studies in Canadian history, always with the commitment of one day serving the Reformed Christian community and its witness in Canada, especially in Christian higher education. God also provided an opportunity to work in Christian higher education at Dordt College, where during twenty years I had opportunities to develop my teaching and leadership in many facets of Christian higher education, and to work out a vision for Christian higher education that is intentionally based on a wholistic Biblical perspective. Finally, the search and interview process was a wonderful, Spirit-filled experience in which we discovered that we had a common vision, and where Redeemer’s needs and priorities matched with the experience, passions, and skills that I could offer. Throughout this process, we have sensed God’s leading, clearing a path, and giving us peace that His purpose was served.



Redeemer University College is an undergraduate Christian liberal arts and science university located near Hamilton in southern Ontario. Its more than 900 students are educated in small classes with a low student to faculty ratio. Redeemer University College offers a scripturally-direct education from a Reformed Christian perspective and in all things seeks to glorify God.

Derek Halvorson: In Christ All Things New

Nearly a year ago, I (Glenda Mathes) interviewed for Christian Renewal three men newly appointed as presidents at Christian colleges: Dr. J. Derek Halvorson (Providence Christian College in Ontario, CA), Dr. Hubert R. Krygsman (Redeemer University College in Ancaster, ON), and Dr. Philip Graham Ryken (Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL).

I posted my interview with Dr. Ryken last Thursday (17 February 2011) and hope to post the interview with Dr. Krygman later this week. Today's post features Dr. Halvorson, the dynamic president of Providence Christian College.

Since this interview took place, Providence has moved from its original location in Ontario, CA, to Pasadena. The final informational paragraph has been edited to reflect current information.


Providence Christian College was founded in 2002 and Dr. Halvorson began serving as its second president after Jim Den Ouden’s retirement in 2009. Prior to his appointment to the presidency, Dr. Halvorson served as the Regional Director of Development for Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA.

GM: Dr. Halvorson, I believe you have been President of Providence Christian College since July of 2009, is that correct?

DH: Correct. I took office on July 1, 2009, and was formally inaugurated on September 19, 2009.

GM: Although most institutions of higher learning seem to want a multi-function president, they appear to vary in their desired focus. How would you describe your presidency? Are you more of an administrative instructor or more of a development director? What primary categories of work are included in your job description?

DH: You’re right in observing that most institutions want a multi-function president. In fact, I think that most would say that they have to have that sort of president. And, that's fairly typical of executive positions in other industries as well. Gone are the days (at most institutions) when the president could simply be a faculty member who also got to hand out diplomas at commencement.

I'm not primarily an administrative instructor, although I have guest-lectured in several classes this year and will teach a course next year. I'm determined to keep teaching as a part of my job, despite the many other good things I can and should do, for three reasons: 1) it's a great way to be involved in students' lives; 2) it's a great way to stay "in the trenches" with the faculty; and 3) it speaks to our college's commitment to undergraduate teaching as our first functional priority. (The secret fourth reason is that I just love the classroom, the learning that goes on there, and the learning that spills over into after-class conversations.)

Development is a big part of my job, no doubt, especially at Providence’s young age. Our board expects me to spend 50% of my time in fundraising and external relations activities (and those two often overlap). I also spend a good bit of time setting/articulating vision and establishing strategy for the institution. In addition, I am ultimately responsible for every aspect of the college's operations, so I'm regularly involved in conversations and decisions on budget/finance, public relations/marketing, admissions/recruiting, student life, academic affairs, facilities/operations, etc. Thankfully, I've got a great group of senior administrators who handle much of the day-to-day load on those issues. I also spend a good bit of my time working with our board. It's probably worth mentioning, too, that I'm expected to provide spiritual leadership for our entire campus community, which is a pretty awesome responsibility.

GM: I know that Providence recently benefited from a large gift. Can you describe how this gift came to the college and what role, if any, you played in the process?

DH: My primary role in relationship to the big gift we recently received was chief thanks-giver. Because of the confidentiality of the gift I can't say a whole lot, but I can tell you that I had limited involvement in the process of that gift coming to Providence. Some very generous folks became aware of Providence and its mission to deliver first-rate Reformed liberal arts education on the West Coast, and I think they saw this as a unique and strategic opportunity to support the growth of the kingdom.

GM: What other noteworthy events have taken place during this academic year and what role have you played in those?

DH: One of the delights of being in my first year as president is that I can brag about all of the good things that are happening, since I had almost nothing to do with most of them!

I don’t know if it counts as an event, but we had our largest freshman class ever matriculate in the fall. And in addition to being the largest they were also the strongest, academically speaking. Their average high school GPA was above 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. For us to be growing both in numbers and in the academic strength of our student body in a down economy bodes well for the future of the college and is a very tangible reminder of God's faithfulness.

In the fall we hired our first full-time film and communications professor. Troy Lamberth has extensive experience in the film industry here in southern California and is enthusiastic about equipping young Christians to bring a biblical perspective to bear on that world. That was a strategic hire for us, as we are seeking to build an institution that takes advantage of the peculiar resources afforded it by its proximity to a global city like Los Angeles.

We also rolled out a new visual identity in the fall. That’s certainly not the most profound event that’s taken place in my time here, but it was probably one of the more noticeable to the broader community. I was fortunate to be able to participate in the development of that “brand” even before I came on board officially, and it was fun to take up the challenge of communicating some of the distinctives of an academic institution and its heritage via a visual identity. (You’ll notice that Dutch orange and Presbyterian blue take a prominent place now in all of our materials.)

We’ve had some wonderful guest speakers on campus, our faculty continue to contribute to scholarly conferences and publications, our students continue to participate in a wide array of off-campus educational and service experiences.

GM: What are the challenges as well as the joys of your position?

DH: Challenges:
- There’s an awful lot to be done, or that could be done, so much of it exciting, and so little time. Like most folks in this sort of position, I have to guard against letting the job consume all of life. I work hard to set aside time for personal devotions, prayer, my family (I'm married and have two young children), and church activities. It’s not easy.
- The economy. We’re a young institution, and so we’re particularly susceptible to downturns in the economy. Missing out on one student or one big gift has much larger implications for us than it does for our older, more established sister institutions. Of course, by the same stroke, adding just a few more students or getting one big gift can have real positive impact for an institution at our stage of development.
- Awareness. In an information-saturated age, it’s difficult to raise awareness of a new college. One of my primary responsibilities is to get the word out, and it’s tough to do with so much noise out there. [Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I’m grateful for your invitation to answer some questions about my job.]

Joys:
In short, the people of Providence:
- Our students. They are wonderful—thoughtful, bright, deeply committed young Christians.
- Our faculty. Gifted, engaging, dedicated to discipling their students intellectually and spiritually.
- Our staff. Selfless, creative, and tireless in their support of our core educational mission.
- Our board. Visionary, prayerful, wise; they are a delight to work with.
- Our supporters. Faithful, generous, and encouraging in their support of the college.

GM: What are the hopes or goals you have for your continued work at Providence Christian College?

DH: There’s a lot that I could say here. At the highest level, my prayer is that Providence would be known for its faithfulness to biblical truth, for its commitment to the riches of the Reformed tradition, for outstanding liberal arts education, and for graduates who are thoughtful and passionate about working out the implications of the Christian faith for every aspect of their lives and for every dimension of society.

GM: How can you see that God's providence in your life has prepared you for this position?

DH: This could be a long answer, too. I'll try to be brief. I am the product of Christian education from kindergarten through college. In particular, my experience at Covenant College (which I chose over more "prestigious" institutions—Duke, the University of North Carolina, and the US Naval Academy) had a profound impact on who I am and how I think about and act in the world. I long for other young Christians to experience that same sort of education. And, I’ve become convinced that if we wish to have a leavening effect in our culture, Reformed higher education is one of the best ways to accomplish that. God has used my educational experiences to convince me of the value of Reformed liberal arts education, both for the students who receive it and for the churches and communities that will benefit from the lives of its graduates.

God has also taken me down an unusual career path to prepare me for my current role. I spent time immediately post-college working in the financial markets in Charlotte and Chicago. When I left the markets to pursue graduate education in medieval history, it was difficult to see how God would use that time, though now I am grateful for the exposure it gave me to business and finance. My training in medieval and early modern European history, while valuable in its own right (and also very interesting), gave me opportunity to explore the history of higher education in the West. The insights gained through that exploration have already proved useful as we work to build a college that takes advantage of the real strengths of western educational models while avoiding some of the pitfalls of the modern university. When I returned to my alma mater, Covenant College, after graduate school, my first job involved a mix of management responsibilities and roles in marketing and public relations. It was fascinating work, and stretching in many ways, but I couldn’t figure out at the time how God was going to use those experiences to make me a better history professor. In my last position at Covenant College, I did major gift fundraising. Again, it was difficult to see how that was going to help me be a better history professor. But my roles in management, marketing, PR, and fundraising are all proving invaluable in my present position. So, I can state with a lot of confidence that God was, by the work of His providence, providing me with the very kinds of experiences and responsibilities that one needs to be a college president. I certainly wouldn’t have recognized that at the time, but it seems obvious in retrospect.


Providence Christian College is a multi-denominational Christian liberal arts college located about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles. It has more than 60 students from several states and three foreign countries. Its motto is: In Christo Omnia Nova (in Christ all things new).

Philip Graham Ryken: For Christ and His Kingdom

Earlier this week I promised to post my interviews with Dr. Leland Ryken and Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. My interview with Leland Ryken appears as my 15 February 2011 entry. Today I'm posting my interview with his son, Philip Graham Ryken, who was inaugurated as the eighth president of Wheaton College on September 17, 2010.
Last spring I interviewed Philip Graham Ryken via email for a Christian Renewal feature profiling three new presidents at Christian colleges. [The other two interviews were with Dr. J. Derek Halvorson (Providence Christian College) and Dr. Hubert R. Krygsma (Redeemer University College); I'll try to post those interviews soon.] The three interviews appeared in the April 28, 2010 issue of Christian Renewal.

Bear in mind that the following interview with Philip Graham Ryken took place almost a year ago, while Dr. Ryken was still the senior pastor at the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and before he began serving as Wheaton's president.

Wheaton College was established in 1860 and Dr. Ryken will serve as its eighth president, following the retirement of Dr. Duane Litfin, who has been Wheaton’s president for 17 years. Dr. Ryken is currently the senior pastor at the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where he has served since 1995.

GM: Dr. Ryken, I understand that you will assume the presidency on July 1, 2010. Will this put you in the position of becoming your father's boss and would that be awkward for either of you? [Dr. Leland Ryken is Professor of English at Wheaton and has been on the faculty since 1968.]

PR: Yes, I will be my father’s boss. I doubt my presidency will be very awkward for either one of us, though. We have a close relationship. My dad is always one of my biggest supporters, and I know he will be quietly supportive when I come to Wheaton. I also happen to be one of his biggest enthusiasts. He is still one of the best writers and lecturers I know for communicating truth clearly and comprehensively.

GM: Although most institutions of higher learning seem to want a multi-function president, they appear to vary in their desired focus. How would you describe the expectations for your presidency? Will you be more of a pastoral instructor or more of a development administrator? What primary categories of work are included in your job description?

PR: The work of the Wheaton College President is wide-ranging, which is one of many things that draw me to this new calling. There certainly is a pastoral dimension to providing leadership for a Christian college—especially through speaking in chapel and showing care for students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are going through difficult times.

I will also serve as an administrative leader, helping to ensure that everything on campus is run in an excellent, efficient, compassionate, and God-honoring way. There is always fund-raising to do, of course, which I embrace as an opportunity to encourage people in sacrificial stewardship and help advance the kingdom of God. As a collaborative visionary, I will also have a role in helping the Wheaton community discern its calling and then promoting that vision both inside and outside the college. The campus community will expect all this…and more.

GM: What do you view as the probable challenges you will face in your new position?
PR: The biggest initial challenge will simply be to learn the job by getting to know the campus community and growing into my new calling as President. For the past ten years I have served on the Wheaton College Board of Visitors and then on the Board of Trustees, so I have a fair working knowledge of the college. Yet I have never served in administration for higher education, so I have a huge amount to learn.

Since it will be impossible to please everyone, the criticism will be ongoing. But the support and encouragement are vast. I know that countless friends and alumni are committed to praying for me and for Wheaton College—every day, in many cases. So I believe that God will give me the grace to serve him faithfully.

Beyond the personal pressures, of course, there are all the pressures that Christian colleges face from the wider world: to compromise biblical standards on sexual ethics, to accommodate biblical theology to secular thought, to seek academic recognition for reasons of pride rather than humble service—the challenges will be endless. At Wheaton we try to meet these challenges by remaining true to our Statement of Faith and Community Covenant—documents that guide our thinking and conduct along biblical lines.

GM: What do you view as the possible joys of the work?

PR: I expect that the biggest joy will be to connect with college students. At the center of everything that Wheaton does is the intellectual work of preparing young people to offer a lifetime of service “for Christ and His Kingdom,” as our motto puts it. I will do everything in my power to ensure that our students receive the very best biblical, theological, and academic training that a college can provide. I look forward to spending some of my time with students in chapel, at the dining hall, in the concert hall, in the gymnasium, and everywhere else on campus.

GM: What are the hopes or goals you have for your work at Wheaton?

PR: My goals are many: to maintain Wheaton’s long-standing commitment to evangelical orthodoxy; to support our faculty in the exceptional work they do as teachers and scholars; to improve our campus facilities; to develop a more comprehensive program for collaborative student/faculty research; to continue to grow our ethnic diversity; to strengthen our connections to the church worldwide—my list of goals is a long one.

But perhaps my biggest goal is to help a performance-oriented campus become more and more a community of grace, in which the pursuit of excellence is motivated primarily by everything that God has done for us in Christ, not by our desire to do something for God.

GM: How can you see that God's providence in your life has prepared you for this position?

PR: From earliest childhood, almost everything I love in life has been associated with Wheaton College. I like to say that the campus is my natural habitat. Wheaton is the place where I fell in love with books and the life of the mind, with sports and music, with literature and philosophy. It is also the place where I fell in love with my wife; I met Lisa Maxwell during orientation week our freshman year and by Christmas I was sure that I wanted to marry her.

At the center of all these experiences has been God himself, who led me to fall in love with Wheaton College when I was still a young boy. This gave me a heart for Christ and His Kingdom that has never left me, and which I now see has prepared me to serve the college as its president.

Wheaton College is an academically rigorous Christian liberal arts college located west of Chicago. About 2,400 undergraduates and 500 graduate students come from 50 states, 37 countries, and over 55 denominations. Its motto is: Christo et Regno Ejus (For Christ and His Kingdom).

Leland Ryken: Prolific author and passionate teacher

Some of you may know that I was an older, non-traditional student who graduated from the University of Iowa in 2006 (No, I'm not telling how old!). Even as a young child, I was fascinated with books. I knew how to read before I knew I knew how (a story for another post someday). As a child, I longed to grow up, go to college, and write books. As an adult with many other commitments, I still longed to learn and to write. As my children grew and were educated, I became a self-educator through extensive reading.

One of the authors with whom I was most impressed was Leland Ryken. More than any other author, he expressed my beliefs about literature and faith. I often thought that, if I could have attended any college, I would have liked to attend Wheaton and study under his instruction. As church librarian, I placed several of his excellent works in our church's library.

It was only in recent years that I learned he'd grown up in my hometown! Shortly after I'd contacted him regarding an interview, the woman I was sitting beside in church choir practice mentioned that she and her husband were just back from the Chicago area and had enjoyed a nice visit with "Lee" Ryken, a friend from high school.

Small world? Coincindence? I think not. God is in control of even these seemingly coincidental trivialities of life (see my 11 February 2011 post on Psalm 103).

In yesterday's blog entry on Psalm 104, I promised to post my Christian Renewal interviews with Leland Ryken and his son, Philip Graham Ryken, editors of the ESV Literary Study Bible.

The following is a slightly edited version of my interview with Leland Ryken that appeared in the February 11, 2009, issue of Christian Renewal.



To say that Leland Ryken is a prolific author sounds trite, but is true. He has not only written a remarkable number of books, but he has also written on a number of subjects in a number of genres.

Some titles of the more than 30 books Dr. Ryken has had published reflect his broad range of interest and expertise: Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible; The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing; The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly About the Arts; The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation; Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were; Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work & Leisure; and Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective.

Dr. Ryken and his son, Philip Graham Ryken, co-authored the extensive studies in The Literary Study Bible, ESV and were two of three authors for Ryken’s Bible Handbook. He also co-authored with Margaret Lamp Mead the popular A Reader’s Guide Through the Wardrobe: Exploring C.S. Lewis’s Classic Story and A Reader’s Guide To Caspian: A Journey into C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. He has additionally served as a primary editor for The Discerning Reader: Essays on Christian Literary Criticism; A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, and Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.

He has been a professor of English at Wheaton College since 1968. He has taught a wide range of courses through the years. His current repertoire reflects his various areas of expertise and includes Shakespeare, 17th-century English literature, the Bible as literature, writing, and survey of British literature.

Dr. Ryken served as Literary Chairman for the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. In 2003 he received the Gutenberg Award for his contributions to understanding the Bible. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and his B.A. from Central College and is—I recently learned—a native of my hometown: Pella, IA.

Dr. Ryken responded via email to several of my questions regarding his work and his perspective.

GM: Dr. Ryken, you’ve written about biblical translation and biblical literature, Milton and the Puritans, work and leisure, and the intersection of faith and art. How have you managed not only to develop this variety of interests, but also to write extensively on many different topics?

LR: Early in my career I had success in publishing on topics “outside my field,” as we call it in the academy. I can remember reaching a conscious decision that I would have a writing career in addition to my career as a professor and literary scholar. It is one of the best decisions I have made. My writing career is the story of entering pretty much every publishing door that opened before me, governed by God’s providence in the matter.

GM: How do you maintain focus with your many productive pursuits?

LR: I just concentrate on the topic of the moment. I actually enjoy working on multiple writing projects at the same time. In fact, if I have an afternoon to write, I normally divide the time among multiple projects just to avoid the potential boredom or discouragement that comes from spending the whole afternoon on a single project.

GM: In writing on so many different topics, have you published on subjects about which you were initially unqualified to write?

LR: I have. In much of my writing I have become an expert through a really great human invention known as research. It is a great sadness to me that many people do not envision the possibility of mastering something that currently lies beyond their field of knowledge.

GM: You’ve taught at Wheaton since 1968. What are the joys and challenges of teaching?

LR: For me, the joys of teaching are primarily being given the opportunity to interact with material that interests me a lot and of being able to share what I have found with students in the classroom. I enjoy performing in the classroom. I do not enjoy grading, and I have been disillusioned with developments in the youth culture during the past dozen years.

GM: What are those developments and how has youth culture changed since you began teaching?

LR: Multiple aspects of the current youth culture make this an inauspicious time to be a teacher. Young people are simply less knowledgeable than they once were in the subject areas that have traditionally made up education. Most young people have lost the old authentic thrill to be learning something new. Modern technology (even the computer by itself) has raised expectations of getting what we want immediately, and these expectations have produced a colossal entitlement mentality. Obsession with grades is an epidemic. Most young people do not revere the expertise represented by their teachers and are quick to set themselves up as rival authorities. Most teachers’ fund of anecdotes on these trends is full and overflowing.

GM: You’ve published more than thirty books. What are the joys of writing and publishing?

LR: The joy of publishing has been the joy of making an impact on people around the world. My books have made the world my classroom. They have fallen into the hands of people (chiefly teachers, broadly defined) who have in turn shared my thoughts with people under their influence. In the late stages of my career it is obvious that my books have been my chief contribution to the Kingdom, though I did not know this as the process was unfolding.

GM: Do you prefer teaching or writing?

LR: In both activities I would have withered on the vine if I had not had the two activities to feed each other. I could not have been a good teacher or writer alone.

GM: Your Wheaton faculty bio lists "travel and research in England" as one of your interests. What is the nature of your travel in England?

LR: I am poised to serve as a director on the Wheaton College program for the sixteenth time. I first served in that capacity in 1977. Intermingled with those trips have been seven or eight research trips lasting a couple of weeks each. My current upper-level scholarly project is to contextualize selected sonnets of John Milton in a Puritan milieu, so I have spent weeks and months typing Puritan data into my computer.

GM: Related to the above question, what literary projects do you have in the works?
LR: In keeping with what I said earlier about entering every open door, my current publishing ventures include books on English Bible translation, pastors in the literary classics, and expository preaching. If that list sends some of your readers into shock, let me add that many of my publishing ventures have been collaborative ones, and sometimes I have undertaken a role of what I call midwife as a servant to worthy projects. Essays that are currently in the publishing pipeline include ones on Calvinism and literature, Shakespeare and the Bible, and what I call "Christian Shakespeare." Some of my best work in the past decade has come in the form of addresses for professional conferences, college audiences, and church audiences.

GM: You served as Literary Chairman for the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible and have written extensively about the difference between essentially literal Bible translations (like the ESV) and dynamic equivalency ones (like the NIV). Can you briefly summarize the difference and explain its importance?

LR: Let me say first that people who want to know the full scope of this topic should consult my books on English Bible translation. But if you want my viewpoint in a single sentence, it is this: an essentially literal translation gives you what the biblical writers actually wrote (subject to the necessary changes of translating from one language to another); a dynamic equivalent translation is not a translation—it is a translation with intermingled commentary, with the result that an ordinary Bible reader has no way of knowing what the biblical authors wrote and how much has been added to that or subtracted from it.

GM: Readers of the Chronicles of Narnia differ in their views of allegory in the books. I identify allegorical elements in the stories; others identify the stories as allegories. As a co-author of reader’s guides to Chronicles of Narnia books, how would you summarize your view of allegory in the Chronicles of Narnia?

LR: The key to understanding allegory in any work of literature is the idea of an allegorical continuum on which we can plot the degree to which a work is allegorical (not whether it is "an allegory"). The Narnia stories range over the explicitly allegorical half of the continuum. In a letter, Lewis himself listed his allegorical intention for each of the seven books. For example, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe portrays "the Crucifixion and the Resurrection" of Christ. In that same letter, Lewis said that "the whole Narnian story is about Christ." It is impossible to reach those conclusions without seeing an allegorical or symbolic level of meaning in the stories.

GM: How would you characterize or describe your view of literary criticism?

LR: I believe that the function of literary criticism is to enhance a reader's understanding and enjoyment of works of literature. To achieve that goal, a critic needs to keep the focus on the work of literature and not on a substitute. My own love is explication or close reading of literary works.


Dr. Ryken's responses during the interview process were instrumental in helping me view my many work commitments more positively and structure my regular work days more efficiently.

I hope that the above interview whets your appetite to explore some of Leland Ryken's extensive works and discover for yourself how his meticulous research and articulate writing contribute to the continuing story that is literature.

Doon URC will wait longer for pastor

After waiting two years for a new pastor, the United Reformed Church of Doon, IA, will have to wait at least a few more months.

Doon URC called Simon Lievaart in July of 2010 and Mr. Lievaart successfully sustained his candidacy exam at Classis Central US in September of 2010. For the past six months, the church has been working through the immigration process that would allow Mr. Lievaart, a Canadian citizen, to take up his calling in Doon. But the United States government recently denied the visa request.

“The news was very disappointing,” says Mr. Clyde Lems, Vice-President of Doon’s Council, “and the congregation was in a state of disbelief, shock, and tears were shed. But after those initial human emotions were in check we were very much encouraged by a letter from Mr. Lievaart to the congregation reminding us that we are ‘always being shepherded by the Lord,’ and to keep ‘worshipping, praying, trusting and serving Him….’”

In consultation with Mr. Lievaart, the Council of Doon URC has determined to re-apply for the R-1 petition. The process is expected to take a few more months.

“This means that the church in Doon, which is now vacant for two years, will have to wait a little longer, and we too will have to wait before we can settle down as a family in the congregation God, through His church, has called me to,” explains Mr. Lievaart.

Mr. Lievaart is a 2009 graduate of Mid-America Reformed Seminary who served Rehoboth URC of Hamilton from May 2009 through February 1020. He spent some time in Doon during the spring of 2010, and since May has been serving the congregations associated with Parkland Reformed Church in Ponoka and its church plant in Lacombe. He and his wife, Jodi, have two young children.

The Doon Council is working with Rev. Todd Wagenmaker (an OPC pastor and immigration attorney) to resubmit documentation and re-apply. The hope is that Mr. Lievaart and his family will arrive at Doon in the spring.

“The plans for the next few months are similar to the past two years,” says Mr. Lems. “We have been very blessed to have had faithful preaching/pulpit supply from other area URC pastors, retired ministers, and we are very thankful for the RCUS pastors who have been filling our pulpit. We already have most of the Sunday services filled through March. We have also maintained our family visitations and our visits to the sick. By God’s grace the church has gained members, has had professions of faith and baptisms.”

“As elders and as a congregation,” he continues, “I feel that we have grown through even this trying situation. We have had times of disappointment, questions, and doubt, but by God’s grace we see more and more our dependence on the Lord and not our earthly circumstances. We are strengthened by the providential care of our Lord for His church and as a church of Christ we take comfort in what we confess in Heidelberg Catechism Q. & A. 27 and 28 [regarding God’s providence].”

“This is a disappointing reality,” Mr. Livaart says, “nobody likes to wait. We long to be home in Doon…. But these things are out of our hands, and this is another time in life where we are called to trust God’s ways and His timing.”

“And we have many blessings,” he adds. “I am still serving Parkland Reformed Church and am thankful that I can bring God’s Word to His people. The congregation here is glad to have me serve as I wait for the visa. It has been a blessing to work with Rev. Ramkissoon and to be part of the Parkland Reformed Church as they continue the process of establishing a daughter church. Though we are eager to move to Doon, we are very thankful to be where we are.”

This article by Glenda Mathes appeared on page 8 of the February 02, 2011, issue of Christian Renewal.

Useful Instrument for God: Interview with Gideon Strauss

Although I've enjoyed one-on-one, face-to-face conversations with Gideon, this interview was conducted primarily via email. It was published in the February 2, 2011, issue of Christian Renewal.

Dr. Gideon Strauss is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Center for Public Justice, Senior Fellow at Cardus, and—until recently—the Editor of Comment magazine. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America and has been married to Angela for 25 years. Their two daughters, Hannah and Tala, are students at Gordon College near Boston, MA.

Christian Renewal (CR): Dr. Strauss, you assumed leadership at the Center for Public Justice (CPJ), which began in Midwestern America and now is headquartered in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2009. Can you explain why you recently moved from Hamilton, ON, to Pasadena, CA?

Gideon Strauss (GS): While my intention remains to be living in the Washington DC area in the near future, I plan to be living in Pasadena, California for at least the next year, since my wife of nearly 25 years is a graduate student in intercultural studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, and we like to spend as much time together as possible. I don't know that Los Angeles serves as a bedroom community for many people working out of Washington DC, but it does for me. Of course, my work requires a great deal of travelling all over the United States, as we build the community of Center for Public Justice associates, so I spend nearly as much time in Southwest airplanes as I do in either our little graduate student apartment or the coffee shops of Washington.

CR: For some years you've been the editor of the electronic and print magazine, Comment. According to its website, Comment is "trying to build a Christian intellectual, artistic, and culture-making community animated by the gospel." How is Comment attempting to do that?

GS: Comment magazine connects people through the writing and art it publishes and the conversation that its content generates. Recently, for example, we heard back from an artist friend in New York City who met with a group of other artists to discuss one of our articles about a vocation in the arts, its promise and challenges, from a Christian perspective, and it was wonderful to hear about the quality and value of that conversation. Magazines have a great community-building power when they have a clear voice—people identify themselves with that voice, and then identify with others who also read the magazine with agreement. And that generates movements with culture-making consequences. On a small scale, examples would include the Partisan Review crowd of anti-stalinist leftists from the 1930s to the 1950s, or TS Eliot's The Criterion and its influence on the modernist literary movement. On a larger scale, think of Rolling Stone magazine in helping to shape the rock-'n-roll generation, or Wired magazine's techno-utopianism in the early 1990s. Comment magazine starts out from the premise that the good news of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference in the world, also for the life of the mind and the practice of the arts, and in every area of human cultural endeavour. It tries to contribute to that by publishing articles that explore that difference.

CR: You have served as a Senior Fellow at the think tank Cardus (formerly Work Research Foundation), which takes its name from the Roman road that connected people with public spaces. The Cardus website describes it as "the liberal arts program of the think tank world." With a base in Hamilton, ON, and team members throughout the United States and Canada, it works to "build intellectual capacity, social networks and policy alternatives to sustain a wide range of cultural entrepreneurs for the renewal of North American social architecture." How does it do that and what is its relationship to Comment magazine?

GS: Cardus is the publisher of Comment magazine, so Comment is wholly a publication of Cardus. Cardus does a multitude of things, with most of which I am not involved. I'd encourage you to interview several of their staff for a better big picture: Michael Van Pelt, Ray Pennings, Milton Friesen, Rob Joustra, Dan Postma…

CR: In addition to your work for Cardus and your editorial responsibilities for Comment, you are the CEO of CPJ, which (according to its website) is "dedicated to public policy research, leadership development, and civic education" with a "distinctive Christian-democratic perspective." How is it accomplishing those goals and what are your responsibilities as CEO?

GS: I think perhaps examples are the most useful.

With regard to research, we are at the beginning of a research project on intergenerational justice, the federal deficit and debt, and domestic poverty. We'll be working with other organizations, and if all goes well with some colleges and universities, to try and understand the demands of public justice when it comes to balancing the costs of providing public services (especially to the elderly and the poor) with the raising of government revenues (especially from the young and the productive). The big question for us is always what God calls citizens and governments to do, practically, faced with particular historical challenges, given the order of creation for human life and the hope we have in the resurrection of Christ. So what is God calling the federal government to do now in the second decade of the 21st century, knowing what we know about demographic trends, the constraining effect of national debt and the burden of taxes, and the complex character of both poverty and aging in this moment of American history? As both a policy think tank and network of citizens, the Center for Public Justice has the difficult task of facing up to the complexity of policy issues while trying to communicate what we find and recommend in clear, honest, accurate terms that enable action. This is not easy!

With regard to leadership development, for example, this past summer we presented our annual Civitas events in Washington DC, starting in the evening on July 4 with a rooftop celebration watching the fireworks. The Civitas conference is an event anyone can attend. We start each day with common worship—this year we had Jim Belcher, the author of the book Deep Church, teach and exhort us from the Scriptures, and the husband-and-wife singer/songwriter team of Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb lead us in song. Then we bring in speakers who connect principle and practice—folk who as lawmakers, executive leaders and public administrators, judges, police officers and soldiers, public policy thinkers, public opinion journalists and so on respond to the call of God into a life of politics. This year we had a wonderful set of presenters—including Judy Dean on international trade and Rebecca Patterson on foreign service, Angela Wu on religious freedom and Bethany Hoang on sex trafficking and debt slavery. The Civitas School is a living-learning experience for graduate students, who spend a week together digging into these issues at some depth, and this year they studied with Stanley Carlson-Thies, a former colleague of ours at the Center for Public Justice who now heads up the Institutional Religious Freedoms Alliance (and whom you should really also interview for an article!). Stanley is a wonderful teacher, and our students really benefitted from what they learned in the Civitas School—I recommend the experience to any grad student: from seminarians to law school and business school students, political philosophers and social workers—the gamut! Finally we presented what we called the Civitas Institute (it will be called something else in the future), a series of evening lectures for people working in DC during the day, where they also had access to the teaching of Stanley Carlson-Thies. This model (of a series of evening lectures) really worked for us, so we'll be experimenting with ways in which to expand that in the future. I should mention here that these kinds of events only go as well as they do because we are blessed with a very gifted, small crew of staff and volunteers at the Center for Public Justice, under the able operational leadership of our Chief Operating Officer, Stephanie Summers.

With regard to civic education, we do that by means of both events and publications. An example of the civic education events we do is our current series of panel discussions on immigration, which we are doing in partnership with several other institutions—you can read a little about this series and the related certificate program here: http://www.cpjustice.org/content/cpj-co-sponsors-panel-series-immigration-reform. Our flagship publication is the weekly online magazine, Capital Commentary (http://www.cpjustice.org/capitalcom), which is about to expand significantly.

What do I do? Well, I see my task as CEO to have three parts: mission, morale, and money. My job is to serve as the connection between our board of trustees, who steward the purpose and mission of the organization by means of policy governance, and our staff, who give effect to that purpose and mission in programs and projects, it is to hire and lead a staff of highly motivated and competent paid and volunteer staff, and it is to raise the money to make all of this happen. In addition, I serve as the editor of Capital Commentary, making sure we publish articles that serve the purpose and mission of the Center for Public Justice: Our mission is to equip citizens, develop leaders, and shape policy in pursuit of our purpose to serve God, advance justice, and transform public life.

CR: How does your work for Comment and your work for CPJ intersect?

GS: In practice, not very much—these are and have always been completely separate and independent organizations; in principle: both Cardus and the Center for Public Justice starts out from the confession that Jesus is Lord over all of life, and so in their common commitment to the love of God, common worldview convictions about the creation, fall and redemption of the world, and common calling to culture-making, there is a deep intersection.

CR: You are a native of South Africa and wrote your Ph.D. dissertation on "The Ethics of Public Welfare." You worked as an interpreter for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission under Desmond Tutu and were an advisor to the South African constitutional assembly on the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Beginning in 1999, you served as Research and Education Director for the Christian Labour Association of Canada, developing a comprehensive education program that included a one-year "CLAC College" for new staff. What led you to leave South Africa and come to Canada?

GS: Big life changes like moving from one country to another almost always have a complex of reasons and motivations woven together. I'll mention two of the reasons why we initially moved from South Africa to Canada.

First of all, I had been going through an extended vocational crisis from 1990. Before 1990 I thought that my life's vocation would be in the political struggle against apartheid in South Africa, which I had not imagined would come to an end in my lifetime. But then, early in 1990, with the release of Mandela and other political prisoners, the legalization of various previously banned anti-apartheid political organizations, and the initiation of negotiations towards a non-racial democracy, it became clear that I would have to listen for God's call into something other than resistance politics. During the 1990s I came to the conviction that my work would have to dig the soil in which a politics of contribution (rather than resistance) might grow, and that this must consist of helping the people of God think deeply about the connections between biblical faith, contemporary culture, and everyday life and work. Around 1996 and 1997 I thought that this call—to explore the connections between faith, work, and culture—might be given best expression in the ministry of word and sacraments in the Presbyterian churches of Southern Africa—mistakenly, it turned out—and so sought to prepare for such ministry. I wanted to study Reformed doctrine—in particular John Calvin—with J.I. Packer, and the pastoral practices as taught by Eugene Peterson, and so ended up at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Secondly, I needed, badly, a sabbatical, after two years of work as an interpreter for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. My work was quiet and behind the scenes—nothing spectacular: just conveying the words and stories of witnesses before the commission from one language (usually my mother tongue, Afrikaans) into another (usually English). But because these stories were all about abduction, torture, and murder, I found myself after two years to be very angry: praying Psalm 137 all the time, so to speak. I was sustained somewhat by the practice of praying the Psalms, which our small group had been studying since about 1994, but my prayers were narrowing down to that one psalm—a little like Bruce Cockburn's song "If I had a rocket launcher"?—and I knew that if it were to be well with my soul, and if I were to be able to continue making a contribution to God's world, I would have to step away from the work of the Commission and recover a practice of praying all the other psalms. Vancouver gave me the space to do that, and Regent College was a place of substantial healing for me, and for my marriage, which had suffered from how I processed my work with the Commission.

Unexpectedly, some months into our time in Vancouver, the Christian Labour Association of Canada invited me to apply for a job in which I would help their staff "explore the intersection between faith, work, and culture," which was too close to my sense of vocation for me to dismiss as coincidence, and so, wondering if this was providence, I applied for the job, was hired, and had the wonderful opportunity for twelve years to explore that intersection with CLAC and the Work Research Foundation (now Cardus) and Comment magazine.

For several years I was troubled by this turn of events, wondering if I understood God's call correctly—I had made commitments, including a five year commitment to CLAC, that I was resolved to keep, but I was still troubled. An invitation to consider a job as an academic administrator in South Africa around 2002, and the process around that, brought me to accept that I was truly called, for the long run, to do my work in North America. And here I still am, until differently assigned!

CR: What events, books, or people have been important influences in shaping your thought and guiding you into your current work?

GS: Too many to name! I could talk about my mentors through the years—from "Uncle Cliff" and Father Anthony Perry when I was a teenager, to Mark Manley and Caesar Molebatsi during my years in anti-apartheid politics, my university professors, including Kobus Smit, who supervised my master's thesis and doctoral dissertation work, to Calvin Seerveld and Steven Garber during my Canadian years. But let me list some of the books that most deeply influenced me.

In 1983, a year after my conversion to the Christian faith (my cradle religion was an amalgam of racism and Reformed pietism with which some of your readers will be familiar, and in my early teens I called myself a Zen Buddhist ... but I don't know if any Zen monks would have taken that claim seriously!), I started reading John Howard Yoder's "Politics of Jesus" at L'Abri in Switzerland, and in the years immediately following I drew on the work of Yoder and similar theologians to try and understand the connections between faith and politics. By the late 1980s I was no longer satisfied with what I could find in that tradition—it seemed to me that Yoder offered a politics of resistance and witness, but not a politics of contribution, and I was convinced (consider Jeremiah 29:7) that Christians were also called to a politics of contribution. Sometime in the late 1980s I had read a little book, Idols of our Time, by the Dutch economist and politician Bob Goudzwaard, that seemed to me to hint towards such a positive politics, even though the book itself was a work of criticism. In 1989 I decided to read into the tradition behind the work of Goudzwaard, to see what it offered—I read everything by Goudzwaard I could find, and then also the work of Herman Dooyeweerd, Abraham Kuyper, Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer, Johannes Althusius, leaping back to John Calvin, and then leaping back further yet to Augustine of Hippo. Two years of reading backwards of time through these Christian thinkers, focusing on what they had to say about faith and politics, converted me to their tradition. I don't think anything else has so deeply shaped my thought or called me into a particular way of doing politics as the work of Augustinian, Calvinist, Kuyperian thinkers.

Briefly, also: my imagination and my sense of how a Christian way of life should *feel* has been thoroughly shaped by the work of Calvin Seerveld, in particular his book Rainbows for a Fallen World; my understanding of that intersection of faith, work, and culture has been thoroughly informed by Steven Garber's Fabric of Faithfulness, and recently nuanced by Andy Crouch's Culture Making; the eschatology and ecclesiology to which I would subscribe—both of which play a very large role in how I live my life—are handily summarized in Richard Mouw's little book When the Kings Come Marching In and Jim Belcher's Deep Church. And during this year my personal devotional life has been much enriched by Abraham Kuyper's To Be Near Unto God (in an older translation), as some years ago it had been by praying daily for two years out of John Baillie’s Diary of Private Prayer.

CR: How can you see God's hand at work in leading you into this work and preparing you for it?

GS: I believe rather thoroughly, first, in divine grace and providence, but also human responsibility. I have made many mistakes throughout my life, some very serious, and always with consequences. And yet, as Cal Seerveld likes to say, "God picks up the pieces." My life and work has taken peculiar, unexpected turns, and I must admit to often being perplexed and anxious in the face of the challenges that my calling brings about. And yet, looking back, I can see how God, more than anything else, has been slowly shaping my character and providing me with opportunities to learn skills that turn me into a useful instrument of his purposes, opaque as these purposes often are to me. I pray for the help of the Spirit in faithfully responding to my experiences and opportunities, paying attention to what I can learn, and trusting God to bless my limited efforts so that they constitute an honest and effective contribution to the work of the people of God and to the common good.

NOTE: This interview was conducted via email communications prior to the September 2010 decision of Dr. Strauss to give up his position as Editor of Comment magazine. Dr. Strauss became the CEO of the Center for Public Justice (CPJ) in October of 2009 and was scheduled to continue as Editor of Comment magazine until the end of 2010, but his increasing work load with CPJ made it impossible for him to continue his Comment editorial responsibilities.