A CRC, RCA Merger?

November 14, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Is there a possibility that the Christian Reformed Church in North America and
the Reformed Church in America, which split over a century ago, could someday
reunite?

A new book, written appropriately enough by four professors at two colleges
closely identified with the denominations, is adding to that conversation after
having been released this month.

"Divided By A Common Heritage: The CRC and the RCA at the Beginning of the New
Millennium" is authored by Calvin College political scientists Corwin Smidt and
Jim Penning, and Hope College sociologists Donald Luidens and Roger Nemeth. It
is being published by Eerdmans through the historical series of the Reformed
Church in America.

"The impetus for it was the discussion that's begun in the last 10 or so
years, rather more aggressively recently, about whether or not the two
denominations, in the face of the fact that they're both losing members, should
be thinking now about reconciliation, about merging," Luidens says.

The RCA and CRC were originally one denomination, with the CRC splitting away
in the 1850s over various doctrinal and social issues. Both denominations grew
for many years but since peaking in the 1960s have lost thousands of members.

"Divided by a Common Heritage" compiles and culminates research that the two
teams of scholars have been conducting on the denominations for decades,
including through surveys and historical data. Luidens and Nemeth since 1974
have studied membership trends in the RCA, Hope's parent denomination, while
Penning and Smidt have been studying Calvin's parent denomination, the CRC, for
more than 20 years.

Common characteristics, the scholars note, make the idea of merging tempting.
However, the researchers have also found important differences between the CRC
and RCA.

For example, they found that while the Midwestern members are similar in
outlook in many ways, the denominations differ significantly in other parts of
North America. For example, the researchers' surveys have shown that the
segment of the RCA based in the East is generally more liberal than other
sections of the RCA, while the segment of the CRC in Canada is more
conservative than the CRC membership in the Midwest.

The process of writing "Divided by a Common Heritage" mirrors an option that
the researchers feel could help the denominations in any case: namely, that
the RCA and CRC find ways to cooperate, often through individuals,
denominational agencies, and local churches, for their mutual benefit even
while remaining independent.

Such cooperation could take the form of congregation-to-congregation
communication and joint activity, such as through joint worship services or
through working together on CROP Walk or Habitat for Humanity projects.

For the complete story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/common-heritage.htm
See also http://www.eerdmans.com/shop/product.asp?p_key=0802803857

Contact:

Donald Luidens at 616-395-7555 or luidens@hope.edu
Roger Nemeth at 616-395-7964 or nemeth@hope.edu
Jim Penning at 616-526-6232 or penn@calvin.edu
Corwin Smidt 616-526-6233 or smid@calvin.edu

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Received on Tue Nov 14 09:03:45 2006