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Mistaken Identities
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The following is an article found in
Faith Today, October, 2008.
It was written by John Kapteyn and edited by
Faith Today. |
The
pace of change in our world leaves many of us feeling like Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz: a bit dizzy but sure “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
It’s easy to wonder where we are and who we are. It’s easy for Canadian
society to mistake and misunderstand our identities as believers and
churches.
It is important that believers have a true sense of identity and purpose,
not based on how others identify us but based on who God has made us to be.
There’s more to say about this but, first, let me also introduce the
denominational part of my identity in keeping with the aims of this series
of guest columns.
I belong to the Reformed Church in America (RCA), which has 40 organized
churches in Canada. The RCA (rca.org) is the oldest continuous Protestant
denomination in North America. In the small colonial town of New Amsterdam,
New York, on a Sunday in 1628, about 50 people gathered around a crude table
in a mill loft. Their celebration of the Lord’s Supper marks the birth date
of the RCA in North America.
Our oldest congregation in Canada will celebrate its 100th anniversary next
year in Monarch, Alta.
Our theology is Reformed (owing much to the 16th-century Protestant
Reformation) and our style of government is Presbyterian (with congregations
led by elected elders and deacons).
Those interested in Canadian history may want to know that RCA ministry in
Canada goes back to the 1790s when an RCA minister named Robert McDowell
ministered to Loyalist settlers. He settled about 20 miles west of Kingston
and opened his first church in 1798.
When the RCA decided to stop its work in Upper Canada, McDowell decided to
stay and work among Presbyterians. He became known as the father of The
Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Today some people mistakenly confuse the RCA with the Christian Reformed
Church (CRC) or other denominations with Dutch Protestant roots.
We can clarify that by going back to Canada in the 1950s when the country
welcomed a large influx of Dutch immigrants. The RCA encouraged these
immigrants to join The Presbyterian Church in Canada and The United Church
of Canada.
However, many immigrants joined the CRC, a group that had seceded from the
RCA in 1857 (the RCA was known at that time as the Reformed Dutch Church).
These CRC folks were especially proactive in establishing immigrant churches
in Canada.
So today, even though the CRC and RCA are of comparable size if you look at
all of North America, the CRC is much larger in Canada (roughly one-fourth
of the CRC’s 1,000 congregations are in Canada, whereas the RCA has 40).
What does our history suggest about our character today? Some might conclude
that we are focused inward or non-evangelistic or only a Dutch church. In
fact, our 40 Canadian churches are in various stages of birthing another 16
churches over the next few years. What’s more, we minister in eight
languages. “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
More important than our history or our Reformed identity is our identity as
followers of Christ. In Christ we are a new creation. We are anointed to be
prophets, priests and kings, as 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us: “You are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that
you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light.”
All Christians were chosen to bring forth the good news of the gospel. Being
a prophet means declaring God’s word. As we declare the good news of God in
word and deed, we declare His praises. As priests we are to pray for our
nation, for the people. And we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices,
living not for our own well-being but for God’s glory and in service to
others.
We are to let God rule in our lives and to bring His rule into our land by
voicing His truth, advocating for a society that upholds His word and cares
for those who are poor and in need.
I thank God for my identity as a leader in my denomination, yes, but mostly
because I belong to Christ and have the privilege of serving Him. May we all
rejoice in our calling as His people! |
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