One of the charges lobbed at us from different quarters, including most recently in the Reformed Journal, is that we are watering things down, siding with the status quo, being “tepid,” for the sake of maintaining unity. We are sacrificing conviction, our detractors say, to hold to a tenuous middle ground.

I am a lifelong member of the CRC who has found great joy in welcoming and witnessing the affiliation of many who are not lifelong members. There is no doubt that we are changing as a denomination, and much of that change I embrace and celebrate. Yet, I sense we are at a historic moment.

One of the challenges we face as we encourage unity across disagreement is the challenge of and demand for clarity. A few weeks ago the Reformed Journal featured a piece on their daily blog written by a member of our Steering Team, Nate DeJong-McCarron. In this entry we are encouraged a more nuanced possibility - an improvisational ethic - for how we might consider moving forward in unity.

One of Better Together’s goals is to create space for key conversations throughout the church that promote both unity and mission. This week Better Together is thankful to launch our first YouTube conversation as we welcome James K.A. Smith. Smith is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview.

As we continue to share the vision of Better Together we are excited to introduce to you a new group of leaders who are committed to this vision and BT’s values. These are key leaders, pastors, and member of the Christian Reformed Church who are glad to add their voices to sharing this compelling call to unity in Christ for the sake of mission.

As a relatively new preacher, I have the rookie problem of bemoaning how much of the sermon study never makes the final cut. I still fight the urge to cram in as many details as possible like an over-stuffed suitcase. Because I’m convinced that 20+ hours of study can be shared in 20 minutes or less. This week the suitcase came undone. And for the first time, I was immensely grateful the congregation isn’t going to have to hear the details of my homiletical hissy fit.

As we approach Easter Sunday we find ourselves very much approaching the valley of the shadow of death. One of the key passages for today, Maundy Thursday, comes to us from Philippians 2:5-8 as it reflects the humility Jesus demonstrates as he washed his disciples feet in the Upper Room.

It’s 1995 in Michigan. My parents have asked our non-CRC church to transfer our memberships back to the CRC. We had been living in an area with no CRC churches, so a different denomination - one with an historically good relationship with the CRC - had been our home. We’ve moved though, and that church won’t transfer the membership. They don’t like some parts of the CRC’s theology anymore. These things they don’t like - they don’t seem to be salvation issues.

Do you want what Jesus wants?

That’s a question I have to ask myself regularly when I think about unity with other Christians in my city, in my denomination and around the world.

It’s pretty clear what Jesus wants. He prays for it.

I am going to assume we agree that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What we have received is a gift of amazing grace from God. I am assuming that even though there are various understandings of Scripture, most, despite those differences, desire to follow God and seek to faithfully and respectfully understand and apply Scripture.

Today, you’re invited to join us in this prayer of lament and confusion written by Marja Fledderus of Ancaster, Ontario specifically for Better Together. Please join us in praying.

We are thankful to Marja Fledderus of Ancaster, Ontario for authoring the prayer below. It is another installment in our Lenten series as we lament and repent over how we have come to this place where division threatens the church. Feel free to use it in congregational or group settings.

One of the goals of Better Together is to create a space for healthy conversations around how to best navigate unity and mission while providing space for disagreement. To that end, thank you from the content team of Better Together: A Third Way!

One of our goals as Better Together is to encourage spiritual practices that lead to decisions that promote unity and inspire engagement in mission. (1) We know that these kinds of practices can feel, at times, like swimming against the current of our culture. To help us engage in these spiritual disciplines we’ll be publishing a series of prayers that aid us in the practices of repentance and lament.

One of our key values as Better Together is the unity of the church. As one of our subscribers, we trust you deeply value the unity of your own faith community. Yet, too often in our context we’re told that unity is impossible; that our world is too divided; that your church is too divided; that no other denomination has maintained unity in the face of disagreement on non-salvific issues, such as same-sex marriage. Sometimes these voices are strong.