Thank you for giving your time and words to NCN. I appreciate that you took time to listen to everyone but my heart is heavy right now. I know Grand Rapids is not an easy place for Ricardo and my other LGBTQIA+ siblings in Christ. I continue to pray for radical change here.
Oh, Jeff, thank you for taking up NCN's story. I see you and your commitment to tell the full story, even when telling it one-sided might be the expected thing. Bravo.
I, too, love "O Magnum Mysterium." This is my current favorite arrangement, one I got to sing with the composer quite a few years ago. It remains stuck in my soul: https://youtu.be/QNtfYfYs0WQ
Thank you for your kind and gracious words to tell this important, yet painful story. Two corrections to note: Lance Kraai got his MDiv at Regent College in Vancouver, BC and the conference on race is CORR (Congregations organizing racial reconciliation) not CORE. But again, thank you.
Corrections made. I will have a word with my fact-checker, whose name also happens to be Jeff Chu; clearly, he is letting his standards slip. My apologies.
I am a writer/journalist myself, so I just couldn't help myself to do a little editing! Apologies accepted. Lance and I would love to meet up with you sometime in GR or have you and your husband over for (outdoor) dinner. I've always admired your work and courage and think your voice is so important in the institutional church. Don't give up!
I'm so sorry this has happened with the community garden, and I am sorry you are having so many bad, hard days. I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church and attended Calvin University so I am familiar with the "Dutch Reformed" culture. It made me smile when I read, "The white, Dutch culture in which Fourth is rooted tends not to speak openly, especially about tension and difficulty." Our culture is not known for a lot of talking! But we are known for a lot of deep study of Scriptures. It is a shame that the way forward together seems impossible to the church and the NCN. I will pray that they can find a way.
Thank you for attending to this story and telling it so well. This story matters so much to Grand Rapids, and God has given you eyes to see how and why.
I'm not sure why everyone is laying all the blame for this situation on Fourth Reformed. It sounds like they put in the time, the energy, the creativity, and the money to build a vital and necessary program for the neighborhood - at their own expense. It also sounds like Schalk did the heavy lifting of organizing and keeping people accountable, the hard work that it takes to make a business viable and an organization growing.
NCN had to know that the church created this program with a mission for spreading the gospel. If they are no longer interested in doing that, it's on them if the church separates itself. Fourth Reformed is under no obligation to convert to a social justice religion or embrace gay marriage as Christian doctrine. They have already proven that they can work for and with people who are not like them culturally. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Dutch Reformed culture that they need repent for. Dutch Reformed people work hard, pay their taxes, volunteer in the community, take care of their families, and value education and straight dealing. Grand Rapids has benefited because of its Dutch Reformed citizens. I'm really tired of people slagging off people like this with impunity.
Schalk said he's sorry about they way that the church separated from NCN, but not THAT they separated. It sounds like *NCN* separated from the church's mission but still expected Fourth Reformed to subsidize them because "it's the Christian thing to do." The church is under no obligation to financially or in any other way put their resources into anything they are not in accord with. They may work to make the land available to neighbors directly after this, or they may have a completely different focus. When you have an organization that refuses to honor its sponsors and invites the press in to write pieces implying that their sponsors are bad people because they're not doing what NCN thinks is most important, what do they expect?
NCN's finances were in a complete shambles only a short time ago, and now they are asking for more money from the community to make their dreams happen. Yet it's not at all clear if they have concrete plans for how that will happen or the ability to translate those dreams into reality with start-up capital. They are really good at placing the blame for their issues elsewhere, though. Hmmm. That doesn't really seem like a Christian thing to do.
Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate that you have been thorough. As a former staff at NCN, I am hurt that the leadership at 4th cannot not recognize the gospel that is right in front of them. We worked hard to not weaponize the words of scripture or use them for manipulation or control as they so often have been in the mouths and hands of the white evangelical church. They could have learned from our strategies, but instead they disregarded us as negligent outsiders.
Thank you for telling this hard story, Jeff.
Thank you for giving your time and words to NCN. I appreciate that you took time to listen to everyone but my heart is heavy right now. I know Grand Rapids is not an easy place for Ricardo and my other LGBTQIA+ siblings in Christ. I continue to pray for radical change here.
Oh, Jeff, thank you for taking up NCN's story. I see you and your commitment to tell the full story, even when telling it one-sided might be the expected thing. Bravo.
I, too, love "O Magnum Mysterium." This is my current favorite arrangement, one I got to sing with the composer quite a few years ago. It remains stuck in my soul: https://youtu.be/QNtfYfYs0WQ
Cheering you on from Holland,
Rachel
Thank you for your kind and gracious words to tell this important, yet painful story. Two corrections to note: Lance Kraai got his MDiv at Regent College in Vancouver, BC and the conference on race is CORR (Congregations organizing racial reconciliation) not CORE. But again, thank you.
Corrections made. I will have a word with my fact-checker, whose name also happens to be Jeff Chu; clearly, he is letting his standards slip. My apologies.
I am a writer/journalist myself, so I just couldn't help myself to do a little editing! Apologies accepted. Lance and I would love to meet up with you sometime in GR or have you and your husband over for (outdoor) dinner. I've always admired your work and courage and think your voice is so important in the institutional church. Don't give up!
I'm so sorry this has happened with the community garden, and I am sorry you are having so many bad, hard days. I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church and attended Calvin University so I am familiar with the "Dutch Reformed" culture. It made me smile when I read, "The white, Dutch culture in which Fourth is rooted tends not to speak openly, especially about tension and difficulty." Our culture is not known for a lot of talking! But we are known for a lot of deep study of Scriptures. It is a shame that the way forward together seems impossible to the church and the NCN. I will pray that they can find a way.
Thank you for attending to this story and telling it so well. This story matters so much to Grand Rapids, and God has given you eyes to see how and why.
I'm not sure why everyone is laying all the blame for this situation on Fourth Reformed. It sounds like they put in the time, the energy, the creativity, and the money to build a vital and necessary program for the neighborhood - at their own expense. It also sounds like Schalk did the heavy lifting of organizing and keeping people accountable, the hard work that it takes to make a business viable and an organization growing.
NCN had to know that the church created this program with a mission for spreading the gospel. If they are no longer interested in doing that, it's on them if the church separates itself. Fourth Reformed is under no obligation to convert to a social justice religion or embrace gay marriage as Christian doctrine. They have already proven that they can work for and with people who are not like them culturally. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Dutch Reformed culture that they need repent for. Dutch Reformed people work hard, pay their taxes, volunteer in the community, take care of their families, and value education and straight dealing. Grand Rapids has benefited because of its Dutch Reformed citizens. I'm really tired of people slagging off people like this with impunity.
Schalk said he's sorry about they way that the church separated from NCN, but not THAT they separated. It sounds like *NCN* separated from the church's mission but still expected Fourth Reformed to subsidize them because "it's the Christian thing to do." The church is under no obligation to financially or in any other way put their resources into anything they are not in accord with. They may work to make the land available to neighbors directly after this, or they may have a completely different focus. When you have an organization that refuses to honor its sponsors and invites the press in to write pieces implying that their sponsors are bad people because they're not doing what NCN thinks is most important, what do they expect?
NCN's finances were in a complete shambles only a short time ago, and now they are asking for more money from the community to make their dreams happen. Yet it's not at all clear if they have concrete plans for how that will happen or the ability to translate those dreams into reality with start-up capital. They are really good at placing the blame for their issues elsewhere, though. Hmmm. That doesn't really seem like a Christian thing to do.
Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate that you have been thorough. As a former staff at NCN, I am hurt that the leadership at 4th cannot not recognize the gospel that is right in front of them. We worked hard to not weaponize the words of scripture or use them for manipulation or control as they so often have been in the mouths and hands of the white evangelical church. They could have learned from our strategies, but instead they disregarded us as negligent outsiders.