Today the directors of World Renew signed an agreement with representatives of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and Joel Boot, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), that formalizes the denominations’ partnership. The agreement “makes World Renew the RCA’s domestic disaster response arm,” said Tom DeVries, general secretary of the RCA. It also lays out the process for cooperation between the RCA and World Renew at the international program and board levels.

World Renew and the RCA’s Reformed Church World Service have been collaborating in international and domestic volunteer placements for a decade, and are currently working together under World Renew’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) to respond to Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Today’s agreement is representative of a larger, more robust partnership between the two denominations in recent years that was outlined in 40 points of connection for about 200 regional representatives from the US and Canada at this week’s annual synod meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to the agreement, World Renew, currently the primary partner of the collaboration, will become the agency for compassion ministry in disaster response and international development for the two denominations over the next twelve months.

“We anticipate that World Renew’s working relationship with the RCA will accelerate as the Christian Reformed Church moves ahead in defining ­how we live out this relationship in practical ways,” said World Renew Canada director Ida Mutoigo.