This morning Synod, the decision-making body of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, voted to approve the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC)’s proposal to change its name to World Renew. This followed endorsements of the name, World Renew, by CRWRC’s Canadian and US Boards of Delegates and the CRCNA Board of Trustees. With no additional approvals needed, CRWRC will now work towards launching itself as World Renew in September 2012.
“Over the last 50 years, the organization has broadened and its scope has expanded exponentially,” said CRWRC U.S. director Andrew Ryskamp. “We came to a point where we needed to acknowledge that we have outgrown the name ‘Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.’ Our work reaches well beyond the Christian Reformed Church, involves much more than disaster relief, and has been overseen by a board rather than a ‘committee’ for decades.”
Shortly after CRWRC was created as the denomination’s diaconal and relief organization by a mandate of the Christian Reformed Church Synod in 1962, CRWRC’s leaders began to explore the kinds of longer-term solutions to global poverty than emergency disaster efforts could provide. Today, in addition to immediate disaster aid, CRWRC engages in long-term community development in 26 of the world’s poorest countries, coordinates thousands of local and international volunteers, influences social justice initiatives, builds community capacity with faith-based and government organizations, and much more.
The decision to propose a change to CRWRC’s name came after months of surveying, testing, planning and prayer by those in the organization as well as external consultants and numerous stakeholders. Today’s decision to approve that proposal also came after much discussion. Some questioned whether the loss of the words “Christian” and “Christian Reformed” from the name would be problematic for the organization as a whole.
“The identity of CRWRC is such that it is really our own congregations doing the work around the world. I am very concerned about the name ‘World Renew’ in terms of what it is going to do in the 3-5 year time frame for the funding of the organization,” said Pastor Mike VanderLaan of Classis Toronto, referring to this as possibly a “new coke” moment.
Another pastor commented that,"Of all the issues being discussed at Synod this year, [CRWRC's proposed name change] is the one that has caused my congregation the greatest amount of anxiety. Yet, I speak in favour of the name change."
Despite these concerns, the 188 delegates of the Christian Reformed Church voted to approve the name change. They cited the fact that “relief” is only half of what CRWRC is currently involved in and that its current name is therefore insufficient.
CRWRC Canadian Director, Ida Kaastra-Mutoigo, also made a convincing argument that CRWRC’s current name can cause barriers to doing God’s work in some of the neediest places in the world.
“The name World Renew can provide us an entry point into places where we would otherwise be denied because of our name,” she said. She then cited an example of where Christian named organizations were not permitted to respond in certain Indonesian locations following the 2004 tsunami. CRWRC registered itself under a new name, Gen Assist, in order to provide aid there, yet its staff were explicitly Christian and expressed their faith and values as they worked alongside Muslims in the community. Four years later, that community invited the Christians to stay.
“We don’t lose our Christian faith by what we are called,” said Mutoigo. “Once we gain entry, we continue to live out our values as a Christian ministry.”
In the report given to Synod by the Missions Committee that prayerfully considered CRWRC’s proposed name change over the weekend, the committee explained that CRWRC would “maintain the values, structure, governance policies, and operations as a denominational agency of the Christian Reformed Church, practicing and promoting a Reformed theology and worldview.”
It also explained that CRWRC would continue to be “Christ-centered with the goal of bringing His love and hope to those affected by injustice, poverty, and disaster.”
CRWRC, understanding that the change of a name is no small issue, acknowledged that it would need to carry out its name change with careful attention both to the process and to communicating a clear rationale for why it was doing so. The new name, World Renew, will be launched in September 2012.