Reformed Church Center Events

Upcoming Events

Reformed Worship and the Liturgical Revival

Thursday, April 11, 10:00 am – 2:30 p.m.

A look at historic forces behind twentieth and twenty-first-century liturgical renewal in the American Reformed tradition. Emily R. Brink, Senior Research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and 2018-19 Alvin J. Poppen & John R. Young Fellow in Reformed Worship at NBTS, will present the keynote address on CRC and RCA parallel influences in liturgical renewal in the 1960s. Gregg Mast, president emeritus of NBTS, will look at international ecumenical influences on the RCA Communion liturgy of 1968, and worship leaders including Benjamin Alicea-Luogo of St. Paul’s Evangelical-Reformed Church in Perth Amboy and Ursula Cargill of Agape House Ministries in North Plainfield will discuss adapting the Reformed Liturgy to diverse cultural situations.

The suggested donation for the day is $10.00, but seminarians are welcome for free and everyone else is welcome regardless of the ability to pay. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Monday, April 8.

Preaching in a Period of Polarization

Thursday, April 25, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Come join us for a Preaching Workshop at NBTS!

Preaching the Word, and doing so pastorally and prophetically, week in and week out, is one of the central callings for ministers. This becomes even more challenging in this politically polarized era, when so many listeners are looking for a subtext in support of one secular position or another, and will only listen to those that support them. On top of those weekly tasks, we have the duty of presenting the gift and the dare that comes with Christ laying down his life for our sake and how we present that to congregations in the charged climate.

To help ministers proclaim the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost and move into a new electoral cycle under these circumstances, the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, along with the school’s department of worship and preaching, will offer the workshop “Preaching in a Period of Polarization” on Thursday, April 25, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Gifted preachers and instructors representing the Episcopal, Baptist, ad Reformed traditions will discuss the challenges before us, then participants will each be able to take part in two small-group sessions on topics including “Justice and Lament: Unlikely Partners”, “Preaching the Liturgical Year”, and more!

	The Rev. Dr. Kara Slade serves as Associate Chaplain at the Episcopal Church at Princeton University and Associate Rector at Trinity Church, Princeton. A native of Pensacola, Florida and lifelong Southerner, Kara holds degrees in Christian Theology and Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science from Duke University. Before entering ministry, she was a research engineer for NASA. She serves on the Committee for the Priesthood of the Diocese of New Jersey and the General Board of Examining Chaplains, and is also the chair of the Society of Scholar-Priests. She will speak on “What Is Preaching Today?”
	Anna Jackson is a native New Yorker who grew up at New Lots Community (Reformed) Church in Brooklyn and has served several RCA commissions, task forces, councils, and congregations, and is a past moderator for the Board of Trustees of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, her alma mater. She and her husband, Dwayne, are the co-pastors of Second Reformed Church in Hackensack, NJ. She is an avid reader, loves jigsaw puzzles, social media, animals, traveling and playing her cello. She will speak on “What Does Polarization Look Like Today?”
	The Reverend Jes Kast is the Senior Pastor to Faith United Church of Christ in State College, PA. Before moving to Pennsylvania, she was a minister at West End Collegiate Church in NYC for 8 years, and she is a graduate of Western Theological Seminary. Her understanding of prophetic justice is rooted in Reformed theology guided by black liberation and feminist theologies. She and her wife enjoy finding the perfect cup of coffee at unique coffee shops across the country. She is active on social media believing the congregation is more than who is just in the pews. Her topic for the morning session will be “Exegeting the Congregation.”
	Andrew Wymer is Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship, Director of Chapel, and Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He has taught in the Association of Chicago Theological Schools Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program and at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and serves as a board member for The Liturgical Conference. He is author of numerous papers and journal articles, and lives in New Brunswick with his wife and children. He will be speaking on “Exegeting the Scriptures.”

This day-long workshop is open to everyone. The suggested donation for lunch will be $10.00; but everyone is welcome regardless of ability to pay. Lunch is free for all seminarians. NBTS is also able to offer .5 CEU to anyone who completes this program, at a cost of $25.00. Register via e-mail to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Monday, April 22nd^th. Please include your name, postal address, and telephone number; those applying for the .5 CEU must indicate the same in the e-mail.

400 Years After Dort: Owning It and Letting It Go

Thursday, May 9, 9:30 am

On the 400th anniversary of the end of the Great Synod of Dort, which had a profound effect on Reformed churches all around the world, we will look at those effects and discuss which aspects of Dort should be kept, refreshed, and built upon, and which we might well let go of as we enter a new century. Leadership will include David Daniels from McCormick Seminary, Suzanne McDonald from Western Theological Seminary, Daniel Meeter from Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, Matthew van Maastricht from Altamont Reformed Church, and Allan Janssen, RCA General Synod Professor emeritus from NBTS.

The suggested donation for the day is $10.00, but seminarians are welcome for free and everyone else is welcome regardless of the ability to pay. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Monday, May 6.

Past Events

The third annual Women’s Stories Day

Saturday, February 2, 2019

The third annual Women’s Stories Day at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, co-hosted by the Reformed Church Center and the RCA Office for Women’s Transformation and Leadership, will be held on Saturday, 2 February 2019 (snow date 9 February 2019). This year’s theme will be: “Taking a Stand,” featuring stories of RCA women advocating to change their world.

The day will feature the 2018-2019 Hazel B. Gnade presentation in RCA Women’s Studies.

	Elizabeth Colmant Estes, the 2018-2019 Hazel B. Gnade Fellow, is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, where she won the Hitchcock Prize in Church History, the Muilenberg Prize in Biblical Studies, and the Union Traveling Fellowship. A chaplaincy resident at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, and an elder at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, she serves on the RCA Commission on Theology. Her presentation—part of her larger work on persons, office, and the local church—will focus on those who took part in a retreat at Stony Point, New York, in the early 1970s, committing to work together to open the office of Minister of the Word and Sacrament to women.
	Patricia Sealy is a graduate of New Brunswick Theological Seminary and pastor of Mott Haven Reformed Church in the Bronx. She is director of Children’s Haven: A Place of Healing and Hope, and will be speaking about ministry to and advocacy for children whose parents are incarcerated.
	Karen Jackson is a specialized RCA minister who serves as the Director of Recovery and Community Initiatives at Project Hospitality, an interfaith social service agency committed to feeding the hungry and housing the homeless. She also administers the Staten Island Long Term Recovery Organization, founded in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, and leads the Staten Island Inter-Religious Leadership coalition, organizing local clergy to respond to the social justice issues of our times. She will share her work with Project Hospitality in her address “Here I Am, Lord: The Call to Local Advocacy.”
	Liz Testa serves as the RCA’s denominational leader for Women’s Transformation and Leadership. She is a pastor, creative innovator, visionary leader and community builder who is passionate about biblical hospitality, the importance of story sharing, encouraging, and equipping others to live into their God-given gifts and callings, and she will be leading all of the participants in a process of sharing their own stories.
	Anna Jackson, a native New Yorker who grew up at New Lots Community (Reformed) Church in Brooklyn and has served several RCA commissions, task forces, councils, and congregations, will be the worship leader for the day. Anna and her husband, Dwayne, are the co-pastors of Second Reformed Church in Hackensack, NJ. She is an avid reader, loves jigsaw puzzles, social media, animals, travelling and playing her cello.

Everyone is welcome at the Women’s Stories Day event. There is a suggested donation of $10.00 for lunch, but everyone is welcome to join in regardless of ability to pay—all seminarians will be served for free. Reservations are extremely helpful, however: please respond to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Tuesday, 29 January if you plan to attend.

HOW CAN WE RESPOND TO THE REFUGEE CRISIS?

Wednesday, January 30, 5:00 pm at St. John’s University, St. John Hall – Room 304B

As the number of displaced people worldwide grows every day, and as more and more governments shrink from responsibility, Christian—followers of a refugee—are left wondering how to take up the challenge. The Reformed Church Center invites you to join JJ TenClay, Refugee Ministries Coordinator for RCA Global Mission, for Dinner & Discussion on Thursday, November 15, 5:00 pm at St. John’s University, as she shares stories of trauma, resilience and hope related to her work with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Italy, and why Christians should do more to care for those seeking refuge.

JJ TenClay spent four years in Italy as a missionary for the Reformed Church in America, providing for the social, emotional and spiritual needs of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. She returned to the United States in July 2018 and is now the Refugee Ministries Coordinator for RCA Global Missions.

Everyone is welcome to come and be part of this event. The suggested donation for dinner is $15.00 (it is free for seminary students and RCA staff and faculty), but everyone may share in the meal regardless of ability to pay. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Monday, 12 November.

Looking at the Great Lakes Catechism

Tuesday, January 15 2019, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm

Reformed Church Center Looks at the Great Lakes Catechism

The RCA General Synod of 2018 voted “To commend the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality for reflection, study, and response by the Commission on Theology and RCA churches and classes as a means of deepening our understanding of the biblical teaching on human sexuality and finding a pathway forward toward unity in mission and ministry” (OV 18-21, MGS 2018, p. 148). This action raises issues for the church and its assemblies, not only in the area of human sexuality, but over the theological and biblical integrity of this catechism as well as how and when we amend the Standards of the Reformed Church in America, which have only been changed once in the last 400 years.

On Tuesday, 15 January 2019, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, the Reformed Church Center will host “Looking at the Great Lakes Catechism”, a time to help office-bearers and congregations review this document and consider their responses to the General Synod in its ongoing discussions. We will have five presentations on the Catechism from experts within the RCA, looking at it from their own disciplines:

	Tricia Sheffield holds degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Drew University, and currently serves as pastor and teacher of Middletown (New Jersey) Reformed Church. She has taught religion and gender theory at the college level, and most recently was the Lilly Visiting Scholar in Religious and Gender Studies at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.
	Matthew van Maastricht is the pastor at Altamont, New York and teaches the Reformed standards and church polity for Western and New Brunswick Theological Seminaries. He is a doctoral candidate at the Free University of Amsterdam and General Editor of The Congregational History Series of the Reformed Church in America.
	Dwayne Jackson, Co-pastor, Second Reformed Church, Hackensack, NJ
	Christopher Dorn is a biblical and liturgical scholar who resides in Holland, Michigan. He currently serves as chair of Christians Uniting in Song and Prayer, an interdenominational organization in Holland dedicated to promoting and practicing worship that embodies the best of the catholic tradition. He preaches regularly at First Presbyterian Church in Ionia and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Holland.
	Micah McCreary is President of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Virginia Union University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. A pastor and pastoral counselor, his areas of specialization include the integration of spirituality and psychology and the influence of culture upon health.

The rest of our time will be spent in conversation around the Catechism and issues raised by our presenters. Participants may prepare by reviewing the Catechism, which is found at http://images.rca.org/docs/synod/GLCatechism.pdf.

Remembering Who We Are: How Congregations Commemorate and Celebrate Their Heritages

Thursday, December 6, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm

The Reformed Church Center Looks at How and Why Congregations Celebrate Their History

After the first Sunday, every congregation has a past. What we do with those pasts, how we remember and celebrate, is significant to understanding how we live out our faith, according to David Zwart, Associate Professor of History at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and 2018-19 Albert A Smith fellow in Reformed Church History at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Zwart will be the keynote presenter for “Remembering Who We Are: How Congregations Commemorate and Celebrate Their Heritages”, a program hosted by the Reformed Church Center at NBTS on Thursday, 6 December, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm. His address—“An Obligation to the Past? RCA Congregations and History after World War II”—examines the ways Reformed Church in America congregations conceptualized and used the past in the second half of the twentieth century. By surveying congregational anniversary books, certain patterns and exceptions emerge in how congregations conceptualized and used the past. Congregations showed they felt some obligation to their history by commemorating anniversaries. They generally emphasized faithful forbearers and pastors. However, some seemed to use the past to constrain any innovations while others did the opposite. Historical variables may account for these differences. Studying the ways congregations in the RCA conceptualized and used the past sheds light on the historical process of memory formation. It also helps us understand how congregations navigate contentious issues by appealing to the past.

Other presenters will look at ways in which RCA congregations which are not ethnically Dutch remember and celebrate their identities.

Patricia Singletary holds Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from NBTS, and serves as pastor of Elmendorf Reformed Church in New York. She will share the story of how that congregation is leading its community in rediscovering an African Burial Ground in East Harlem and using it to strengthen the neighborhood’s knowledge of its roots.
Gerri Igarashi Yoshida is a member of the Japanese American United Church, also in New York City, and serves on the Pastoral Formation & Transitions Committee of the Classis of New York and the Executive Committee of the RCA Council for Pacific and Asian American Ministries. She will lead a discussion of how her congregation celebrates its identity.
Regina Robles Brannock, a mother, grandmother, and member of the Comanche Nation, has been part of the Apace Reformed Church in Oklahoma since 1971, and has served as Sunday School teacher, Deacon, and Elder, as well as serving on the RCA Council for Christian Education, General Synod Council, and Native American Council. A current candidate for ministry as a commissioned pastor, Ms. Brannock will examine the ways the Apache congregation remembers its history.
Russell L. Gasero, a graduate of Hope College and Rutgers University who established the RCA Archives in 1978 and continues as Archivist of the Reformed Church in America, will help us consider the importance of congregational histories for the ministries of local churches and denominations.

The Reformed Church Center Presents:

Schism – and Reformed theology?

A Lecture and Panel Discussion on the issue of Schism.

Monday, November 5, 2018, 4:00-6:30 pm

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Dirk Smit, Rimmer and Ruth deVries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life at Princeton Theological Seminary and principal author of the Belhar Confession

Struggles over maintaining a Christian witness in a society where our understandings of inclusion and personhood keep changing have driven many denominations, including the Reformed Church in America, to consider the idea of splitting apart. For Reformed Christians, however, there are fundamental ideas about the unity of the Church that are at the core of our ecclesiology and out theology.

On Monday, November 5, 2018, 4:00-6:30 pm, the Reformed Church Center will host a discussion on the New Brunswick Campus. Dirk Smit, Rimmer and Ruth DeVries Professor of Reformed Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and former Professor of Systematic Theology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, will be the principal presenter. He is a pastor from the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, and was primary author of the Belhar Confession, adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in 1982 and the Reformed Church in America in 2009.

Dr. Smit’s presentation will be responded to by Jaeseung Cha, Associate Professor of Foundational and Constructive Theology at NBTS and a General Synod Professor of the Reformed Church in America;

Janice McLean-Farrell

Janice McLean-Farrell, Dirk Romeyn Assistant Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry at NBTS and author of West-Indian Pentecostals: Living Their Faith in New York and London (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016); and

Jonathan Vanderbeck, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York, a licensed psychotherapist at Samaritan Counseling Center in Scotia, New York, and a dedicated advocate for those on the margins, particularly at the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality.

After the formal presentation and responses, everyone will be invited into a discussion with the leaders over dinner.

“Send Them, Apostles”: NBTS As the Birthplace of RCA Missions

Friday, October 5, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Remembering New Brunswick’s Role in Making Missionaries!

Send them, apostles! Heralds of your cross,
forth may they go to tell all realms your grace;
inspired of you, may they count all but loss,
and stand at last with joy before your face.

—Denis Wortman, 1884

These words are part of New Brunswick Theological Seminary’s “school song,” the hymn written on the occasion of its centennial in 1884. The creation of the main student governing group at the Seminary, now called SSIM, was as the Society of Inquiry into Missions in 1812. The Bussing Museum, housed in Sage Library, was begun as a collection of artifacts sent from missionaries in the field to seminarians to encourage them to join in spreading Christ’s Good News to every land.

On Friday, October 5, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, as part of the Seminary’s Founders Weekend, the Reformed Church Center will host “Send Them, Apostles: NBTS as the Birthplace of RCA Missions”. Three scholars will look at origins and effects of the school’s missionary fervor, and we will consider the future of missions in the RCA and beyond and how this cradle of missions can cooperate with the larger church in this work.

	John W. Coakley is L. Russell Feakes Professor of Church History emeritus at NBTS and one of the pre-eminent living scholars of John Henry Livingston, founder of this school ad “Father of the Reformed Church in America.” He will look at “What Does It Mean to Say the Gospel Will Triumph?: John Henry Livingston on Missions.”
	John Hubers (NBTS 1982) is an RCA pastor of congregations in the US and a global missionary who pastored three congregations in Bahrain and Oman and supervised RCA missiond in the Middle East and South Asia. He recently accepted an invitation from Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addas Ababa, Ethiopia, to restructure and teach in their Muslim/Christian relations program. He will present “An Unexpected Harvest: Zwemer, Cantine, and What They Have Wrought.”
	Derrick Jones is the supervisor of RCA mission in Africa and Oman. He has served in this role for over ten years and is passionate about holistic mission principles, partnerships and opportunities that advance the missio Dei, and he will be sharing a Vision for Twenty-First Century RCA Missions.
	Eri Kitada is a third-year doctoral student who studies Women’s and Gender History and US History at Rutgers University. Her presentation, “Rutgers Foreign Missions and the Scarlet and Black Project”, discusses the ties of Rutgers students and alumni (many, if not most, NBTS graduates) to foreign missions and the Scarlet and Black Project, an effort to explore the African-American and Native American experience at Rutgers.

Being a Reformed Church When the Church is Under Stress: A Conversation

Thursday, June 21, 10:00 am-2:30 pm

A few weeks ago, in the midst of a Facebook discussion over the state of the RCA and concerns over the coming General Synod, a side conversation opened up. It was about how some of us, while we are unsure of what is going to happen to the current denominational structure, are quite confident in local churches and classes and even a few regional synods, who, no matter where they are in the discussions of human sexuality—and many of them are mixed—are continuing to do good Reformed ministry. While the future of the RCA is in doubt, there are lots of Reformed churches in local communities who maintain a vibrant Reformed witness, and they need help and support doing that—help and support the denomination is having difficulty providing right now.

That led to the plan for this special conversation, which the Reformed Church Center will host at New Brunswick Theological Seminary on June 21^st. This event will not be live-streamed, because placing us in an informal setting where we can all share freely makes that much more difficult. Still, I hope many of us can be here, and the Center will do what it can to find low-cost (or free) accommodations for those who need to stay the night.

As our denominational structures in the RCA face conflict, stress, and uncertainty, local congregations still have the challenge of being Reformed and bringing a witness to their communities. This time of conversation will focus on how every congregation can keep doing that, no matter what happens at General Synod. Following a state-of-the-church presentation by Al Janssen (a General Synod Professor at NBTS), we will launch into informal conversations around four topics:

We can be church together even when we don’t entirely agree—led by Abby Norton-Levering (Albany Synod Ministries Coordinator) and Thomas Song (pastor of Steinway Reformed Church, Queens, NY).
We can be church no matter what happens denominationally—led by Rett Zabriskie (specialized transition minister) and Matthew van Maastricht (pastor, Altamont Reformed Church).
We can be a non-anxious presence for our own congregations and the RCA—led by Linda Burlew Gold (pastor, First Reformed Church, College Point, NY) and Dwayne Jackson (pastor, second Reformed Church, Hackensack, NJ).
We can be ecumenical on our own . . . and often are—led by Patricia Singletary (Pastor, Elmendorf Reformed Church, New York, NY) and Amy Nyland (New York Synod Executive Minister).

Everyone who cares about the lives of their congregations and about our call to bring a Reformed understanding of God’s Reign to our communities is welcome, no matter what your theological understanding of human sexuality might be.

*This is an over-and-above program for the Center at the end of the budget year. Anyone who has the means to give a little extra toward food, etc., is welcome to do so.

Second Annual Women’s Stories Day Celebrates Those Who Came First

Saturday, May 12, 2018, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm at the New Brunswick campus (35 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, New Jersey)

The year 2018 celebrates the confluence of important anniversaries for women in ministry in the Reformed Church in America. A century ago, the first overtures were sent to General Synod calling for all the offices of the church to be open to women. That same year, Ida Scudder opened Velore Women’s Medical College. The first woman was ordained to ministry of the Word and Sacrament 45 years ago, and, five years later, women were examined by classes for ordination for the first time. Three decades ago, the first African-American woman to be a minister of Word and Sacrament in the RCA was ordained, and this is the twentieth anniversary if the installation of the first woman professor of theology.

In celebration of this special year when the General Synod will be thanking God for the gifts and ministries of women in the church, the Reformed Church Center’s Women’s Stories Day, co-hosted by the RCA Office of Women’s Transformation & Leadership, will be sharing the stories of “First Women.” On Saturday, May 12, 2018, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, the Center will have its second annual Hazel Gnade presentation, with four of the first women sharing their stories.

Bernita Babb, the retired pastor of Mott Haven Reformed Church in the Bronx and the first African-American woman ordained in the RCA, is a graduate of Hunter College and NBTS, with a DMin from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She taught for 27 years in New York City Public Schools and, in retirement taught in the public schools of Prince George’s County, Maryland, while preaching and teaching in congregations in the DC metropolitan area.	Bernita W. Babb
Carol Bechtel is Professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and a graduate of Hope College and WTS with a Ph.D. from Yale University. She has published extensively, served as president of the General Synod of the RCA in 2009 and moderator of the General Synod Council in 2010, and was the first woman ordained by the Classis of Illinois in 1988. In 1998, she became the first woman professor of theology.	Carol Bechtel
The first woman full-time faculty member at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, E. Elizabeth Johnson holds degrees from Ohio University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Yale University. She returned to Princeton to earn her Ph.D, was ordained by the Presbytery of Greenbrier (PCUS) in 1977, and taught at Queens College (now Queens University) in Charlotte, NC, from 1979-83. From 1986 to 1998 she was on the faculty at NBTS, and, since 1998, she has served as J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.	Elizabeth Johnson
Joyce Borgman DeVelder has spent her life in the RCA. A native of Fremont, MI, she attended Hope College and Western and New Brunswick Seminaries, then served at the Delmar, NY, Reformed Church 1977-80, being examined by the Classis of Albany in 1978 and then, after spending a year at the center of a General Synod controversy, was ordained in 1979. For the last 37 years, she has been pastor of Old Saratoga Reformed Church in Schuylerville, NY. She and her husband, Davd, have two sons, Nathaniel and Mikael.	Joyce Borgman DeVelder
Young Na is the first woman of Korean heritage ordained as a minister of the Word & Sacrament in RCA history, and the first to earn a Master of Divinity degree at NBTS (1989). She earned her DMin at NBTS in 2002, and is the senior pastor of Forest Park Church in Queens, NY, and an adjunct professor of basic biblical language courses.	Young Na

In addition to hearing those stories, we hope to hear from women who were the first to serve as deacons and elders in their local congregations. Go to http://www.nbts.edu/student-life/reformed-church-center/rca-first-stories-project/ to find out how your congregation can take part in the RCA First Stories Project.

ISHMAEL AND ISAAC: Examining Interfaith Relationships

April 19, 2018 at 10:00 am at the New Brunswick campus (35 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, New Jersey)

This day-long program looked at the past, present, and future of interfaith relationships for Reformed Christians. Four Reformed Church leaders will share their thoughts and experiences in this crucial area of our common life.

Rev. Harold “Hank” Lay, the 2017-18 Albert A. Smith Fellow in Reformed Church History, presented “Lessons Learned: RCA Mission Work Among Arab Muslims.”	Rev. Harold Lay
Norma Coleman James, an RCA elder, shared the progress of a working group preparing “An Interfaith Mandate for the RCA.”	Norma Coleman James
John Hubers (NBTS 1982) is a professor of religion and director of the Global Education department of Northwestern College, an RCA college in Orange City, Iowa. He received his PhD in the area of World Christianity and Global Mission from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013. Prior to that he served with the RCA mission in Bahrain and Oman and as supervisor of the RCA global mission program in the Middle East and South Asia. His book on the first Protestant missionary to the Middle East was published by Wiph and Stock Publishers in 2016.	Dr. John Hubers
Rev. Vicky Eastland, pastor at The Brookville Reformed Church on Long Island, shared their unique ministry as a multi-faith campus.	Rev. Vicky Eastland

There Is a Balm in Gilead: Worship as a Tool for Healing

Part 1 – There Is a Balm in Gilead: Worship as a Tool for Healing

Part 2 – There Is a Balm in Gilead: Worship as a Tool for Healing

There is a growing body of empirical evidence confirming something that people of faith have known for a long time: our spiritual health has a profound effect upon our physical health. Worship, ritual, prayer, and singing can be physically as well as socially healing.

On Thursday, March 15, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the New Brunswick campus (35 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, New Jersey), the Reformed Church Center hosted a conference examining this connection and how local congregations can use it as a force for greater good, featuring four leaders who are both scholars and practitioners.

	Paul Janssen is the Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellow in Reformed Worship for the 2017-2018 academic year and pastor of United Reformed Church in Somerville, New Jersey, and holds degrees from Central College in Palla, Iowa (1981) and New Brunswick Theological Seminary (1985). During his seminary years he met and married Annette Giles, a daughter of First Reformed Church in Astoria, Queens. They have two grown children, Samuel and Emma. An occasional writer of hymns and composer of tunes, he has always had a keen interest in the liturgical life and renewal of the church, and finds deep value in both the historic reformed tradition and more contemporary influences like Taizé and Iona. Paul’s keynote address, “Reformed Worship: Not Enough ‘From the Neck Up,’” will examine information on recent studies of how worship effects the human brain—an interest that was sparked for him by an elder in one of the congregations he served—and what that might mean for our worship leadership and planning.
	Jes Kast is the Associate Pastor at West End Collegiate Church in New York City and Lead Pastor of A Taste of Heaven Soup Kitchen Church. Under her leadership she revitalized a soup kitchen and created a worshiping congregation with some of New York City’s economically poor. She is a sought after preacher and writer. Her public theological work includes serving with Governor Cuomo’s Interfaith Advisory Committee and the National Clergy Advocacy Board for Planned Parenthood. She writes for The 12. Reformed. Done Daily. She will share the story of “A Taste of Heaven: How worship heals wounds in the sanctuary of the City.”
	Holly Phares, a professional singer, conductor, educator, composer and private voice teacher & coach, has guided singers from all walks of life and levels of experience for over 30 years, while helping them discover or recover their authentic voices. Holly is presently the Director of Music at Old First Reformed UCC Church in Philadelphia, Founder & Artistic Director of The Healing Presence Singers, a local Philadelphia-based community healing choir, Music Director of ParkinSingers, a choir comprised of people living with Parkinson’s Disease, their care partners and friends, and recently has started a homeless choir at Old First, serving the community of people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Philadelphia. She will talk about the healing power of choral singing.
	Micah McCreary is President of New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He will be presenting on the topic of worship as pastoral care.

Called to Communion, Committed to Justice: Reflections on the 2017 WCRC General Conference

Reflections on the 2017 WCRC General Conference

The World Communion of Reformed Churches, representing Christians of the Reformed tradition from across the globe, held its most recent General Conference last July, meeting in Leipzig, Germany, in celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. While they were there, the WCRC signed onto the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification with Lutherans and Roman Catholics from around the world. What does this mean for the RCA? What does involvement in such worldwide ecumenical gatherings mean for local congregations and even denominational bodies in the United States?

On Thursday, February 15, the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary hosted “Called to Communion, Committed to Justice.” Lisa VanderWal, pastor of the Lisha’s Kill Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York, and a vice president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and Monica Schaap Pierce, RCA Associate for Ecumenical Relations, spoke about the major issues and reasons why they matter. Monsignor John A. Radano, Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology in the School of Theology at Seton Hall University and a world-renowned Roman Catholic ecumenist, responded to their presentations.

	Rev. Dr. Lisa Vander Wal, Pastor of Lisha’s Kill Reformed Church and Moderator of the RCA’s Commission on Christian Unity, has served on the Executive Committee of the World Communion of Reformed Churches since 2014 and was elected one of its Vice Presidents at the WCRC General Council in July, 2017.
	Monica Schaap Pierce is Associate for Ecumenical Relations for the Reformed Church in America and a doctoral candidate at Fordham University. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, Steve, and her children.
	Monsignor John A. Radano served in the Department of Religious Studies at Seton Hall University from 1965-1984, and was its chairman from 1977-1984, specializing in ecumenical studies. He continues there as Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology in the School of Theology. He has participated in the North American Academy of Ecumenists, in two international assemblies of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (Princeton, New Jersey, 1979, and Nairobi, Kenya, 1984), and as member of the Pax Romana (a Catholic NGO) delegation at the United Nations (1975-79), and head of the delegation (1977-79). From 1984-2008, he served in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity(PCPCU), Vatican City, and in 1985, Pope John Paul II appointed him as head of that Pontifical Council’s Western Section. He is the author of several books and numerous articles.

Conversation Around Baptism

Thursday, December 7 – 4:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. in Hageman Hall

All Christians get baptized; it is one of the central realities of our faith, an act upon which we can all agree. Except that some of us baptize infants and some of us only baptize adult believers. In a world where people of different denominations and even faith traditions interact, and especially in a seminary where people of many different denominations interact, the subject of when people should be baptized can lead to spirited discussions. On Thursday, December 7, at 4:00 pm, the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary will host a “Conversation Around Baptism,” particularly around when we believe people should be baptized and why. Theologians representing both infant and believer baptism traditions will present their understandings, and then we will all participate in discussion over dinner, wrapping up around 6:00.

	Danielle L. Brown is the Pastor of Church Life at Cathedral International in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and serves as the Moderator of the Raritan Association of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey. In addition to her work in the local church and denomination, she is an increasingly sought after preacher and workshop facilitator. Dr. Brown is also a member of the Board of Trustees at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and the Mayor’s Strategic Planning Committee in the City of Perth Amboy. Rev. Dr. Brown holds an MEd from Virginia State University; MDiv and MA degrees from New Brunswick Theological Seminary; and a DMin from Palmer Theological Seminary, where she studied Leadership and Church Renewal.
	Daniel Meeter is pastor of the Old First Reformed Church of Brooklyn, NY, with an MDiv degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary and a PhD from Drew University. He has published extensively, and his book Meeting Each Other in Doctrine, Liturgy, and Government (Eerdmans, 1993) is considered one of the most important modern works on the Constitution of the Reformed Church in America. One area of his concern is the texts and contexts of Reformed baptismal liturgies.
	Monsignor John A. Radano served in the Department of Religious Studies at Seton Hall University from 1965-1984, and was its chairman from 1977-1984, specializing in ecumenical studies. He continues there as Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology in the School of Theology. He has participated in the North American Academy of Ecumenists, in two international assemblies of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (Princeton, New Jersey, 1979, and Nairobi, Kenya, 1984), and as member of the Pax Romana (a Catholic NGO) delegation at the United Nations (1975-79), and head of the delegation (1977-79). From 1984-2008, he served in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity(PCPCU), Vatican City, and in 1985, Pope John Paul II appointed him as head of that Pontifical Council’s Western Section. He is the author of several books and numerous articles.

Dinner & Discussion about human trafficking and sexual exploitation

Monday, October 23 @ 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm. in Hageman Hall On Monday, October 23, 4:45-6:00 pm, the Reformed Church Center will host a Dinner & Discussion with Jennifer Lucking, who serves the RCA by raising awareness and mobilizing advocacy about human trafficking and sexual exploitation, primarily in the Synod of Canada. Because this is a topic that reaches far beyond the RCA, all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others are welcome and encouraged to take part. jennifer_lucking Jennifer is the RCA representative to the Canadian Council of Churches’ Commission on Justice and Peace where she serves as the Vice Chair as well as the Chair for the Working Group on Sexual Exploitation in Canada. Over the coming year, Jennifer will be transitioning from her role with the Regional Synod of Canada—raising awareness and mobilizing advocacy—into her new role as inaugural Executive Director of Restorations Second Stage Homes, a charity working to open a long-term home in southern Ontario for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, working directly with women and girls affected by sexual exploitation and providing them with long term housing and programming to help them overcome trauma and flourish in their new lives apart from exploitation and abuse. Prior to her role with the Regional Synod of Canada, Jennifer worked for Walk With Me Canada, a victim services agency which provided support and services to victims and survivors of both labour and sex trafficking. There, she responded to crisis calls from law enforcement, victim services and other social agencies regarding victims of human trafficking, and she coordinated first-response care, support and services to accommodate immediate needs.

A Discussion of Slavery at the Roots of NBTS History

Tuesday, October 17, 4:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Especially in the events of recent days, we are reminded of Edmund Burke’s words: “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” As Christians, we are called again and again to remember all we have gotten wrong—both as individuals and as a society—so that we may be forgiven and move forward working toward justice and wholeness. Black slavery is part of the history of New Brunswick Seminary and Rutgers University. Slaves and slaveholders were involved in the start of both the schools. The “Scarlet and Black” project at Rutgers has been studying this history, and Dr. John Coakley, professor emeritus of Church History at NBTS, has been representing the Seminary. Kendra_Boyd_Hi On Tuesday, October 17, beginning at 4:30 pm, Dr. Kendra Boyd, the Postdoctoral Associate for the Scarlet and Black Project, will present “Scarlet and Black: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History,” sharing the work the project has done to date and the direction of its future work, followed by questions and discussion over dinner. Kendra Boyd holds a Ph.D. in African American History and United States History from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and previously received a B.S. in Business Administration from Wayne State University. She is currently working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation, “The Great Migration and Black Entrepreneurship in Detroit.” As the Postdoctoral Associate for Rutgers’s Scarlet and Black Project, Boyd administers and supervises research on the history of African Americans in Rutgers History. The entire Seminary community, along with people from Rutgers and area congregations, is invited to this program hosted by the Anti-Racism Transformation Team and the Reformed Church Center. There is a suggested donation of $15.00 for dinner, but it is free for NBTS students, faculty, and staff. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Thursday, October 12.

RCA History Day

Saturday, September 23, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Open to the Whole Community The Reformed Church Center and the Archives of the Reformed Church in America will be hosting the first-ever “RCA History Day” at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. The day will celebrate history in both formal and informal ways. RCA History day is for the whole community–not just the RCA and not just church. It’s an opportunity to learn about digitization of materials (records, video, photos, etc.), meet with a representative of a digitization vendor who can help with the preservation of family items, hear about stained glass windows and how to care for them, meet with a stained glass professional to ask about your own glass work (bring pictures), visit the seminary and Sage Library (acknowledged as the most beautiful library in the state), hear two prominent scholars talk about the Reformation from both a Protestant and a Roman Catholic perspective, and enjoy a variety of other historical fun. Through the morning—10:00 am to 12:00 noon—participants may rotate through a variety of presentations;

Preserve Your Memories: Digital Memory Media will be present to provide their services with scanning videos, photos, papers, and any other material for attendees. People may bring the materials with them to drop off with DMM or talk with the representatives to get estimates and suggestions for the best procedure to move precious memories from paper or video tape to digital formats.. To be better informed, attendees may view their website at https://dmmem.com/.
Stained Glass Care & Handling: Representatives from J & R Lamb Studios, Inc., will review the history of stained glass from the early centuries to today, and discuss why stained glass has been used in religious edifices then and now. Then there will be a discussion of the responsibilities of stewards of these beautiful sacred arts. A checklist for examining windows will be distributed, highlighting how to look for signs of needed repairs and what should be done to make corrections.
Rutgers Oral History Archives: the director of the oral history archive at Rutgers University will be here to talk about their work and how they document New Jersey history through their extensive program. The director will explain how more than 800 life stories and over 32,000 pages of transcripts offer excellent resources for history. This Archive has also started collecting oral histories of NBTS faculty. See more about them at: http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/
What to Do With Records: Russell Gasero, RCA Archivist, will be available to answer questions and offer guidance about how to care for local church records as well as personal papers.
Look Around Historic Sage Library: Gardner A. Sage Library, identified by Tech Insider as the most architecturally beautiful in New Jersey as part of a national survey, will be open for tours through the morning.

At noon, a buffet lunch will be served. This is free for all visitors, although donations to defray the cost will be accepted. After lunch Dennis Tamburello and Allan Janssen will present “True Confessions: Reformed and Roman Catholic Reflections on the Reformation on its 500th Anniversary.” Fr. Dennis Tamburello is Professor of Religious Studies at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, where he teaches courses in theology and the history of Christianity. A part-time prison chaplain for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, he holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from the University of Chicago, and is the author of Union with Christ: John Calvin and the Mysticism of St. Bernard (Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), Ordinary Mysticism (Paulist Press, 1996), and Bernard of Clairvaux: Essential Writings (Crossroad Publishing Co., 2000). He is currently working on a new book for Paulist Press, 101 Questions and Answers on the Reformation. Allan-Janssen-IMG_0463 The Rev. Allan Janssen is Affiliate Professor of Theological Studies at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, where he teaches RCA polity and doctrinal standards as well as “Theology in Traditions and Contexts.” He is the author, editor, and translator of several books, most recently Confessing the Faith Today: A Fresh Look at the Belgic Confession (Wipf and Stock, 2017) and A Ministry of Reconciliation: Essays ion Honor of Gregg Mast (Eerdmans, 2017). Both Tamburello and Janssen are members of the current (eighth) round of the national Reformed-Roman Catholic Ecumenical Dialogue, which is focused on ministry and episcopacy. Reservations for the day are not required, and the entire day is open to everyone, but we would appreciate responses from those who think they may be attending the lunch, in order to allow for a proper headcount. Just respond by e-mail to jbrumm@nbts.edu.

“Everybody at the Table,” a Multi-Cultural Worship Workshop

For more info about this event, please click here. Thursday, March 16, 10:00 am in New Brunswick The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Pastor of Middle Collegiate Church in NYC and 2016-17 Poppen-Young Scholar at NBTS will present the annual Poppen-Young lecture: “For the Healing of the Nations: Love, multicultural worship, and Creating a New American Story.” Our world is a wonderful mix of cultures, languages, abilities, and orientations. Travel up and down any city street and you will see all sorts of people and shops, hear voices in different languages, and smell an array of fragrant foods from a world’s worth of restaurants. Our differing backgrounds and abilities and perspectives, melded together, make us stronger. For generations, churches have been the one place that has been homogenous. It has been said that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. But even that is changing in more and more congregations. People of different races, languages, and abilities are getting together for worship as they do for all of life. On Thursday, March 16, the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary will celebrate this blending in “Everybody at the Table,” a workshop looking at how we are joining together, and how we can cross even more cultural barriers.

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church, a 900-member multiracial, welcoming, and inclusive congregation in New York City, and the first African American and first woman to serve as a senior minister in the Collegiate Church, will present the 2017-18 Poppen-Young Fellowship lecture: “For the Healing of the Nations: Love, multicultural worship, and Creating a New American Story.” There is no question that something is broken in America: our hearts, our dreams, our sense of civility. Worship “stories” God’s plan for a healthy and whole world. Worship puts love, period, on the line as a balm in Gilead. This practical talk will show and tell how multicultural worship can change the story from broken to whole.
The Rev. Jill Fenske, child of God, pastor of the Franklin Reformed Church in Nutley, New Jersey, poet, wife and mother, life-long learner, volunteer chaplain at Camp Sunrise, promoter of dialogue and committed follower of Jesus, will share her experiences of including differently-abled people in worship.
The Rev. Vicente Martinez, pastor of the Reformed Church of North Brunswick—the Sanctuary in North Brunswick, New Jersey, chaplain for the Port Authority Police of New York and New Jersey and the New Brunswick Police Department, and lecturer on urban ministry and non-profit initiatives in the US and the Caribbean, will share the story of helping a primarily mono-cultural suburban, Caucasian congregation become bi-lingual and multi-cultural.
The Rev. James Hart Brumm, director of the Reformed Church Center, moderator of the Commission on History of the Reformed Church in America, and a teacher on worship and congregational song known across North America, will lead us in worship and a discussion of the theology behind using songs from all cultures.

The workshop will begin at 10:00 am on Thursday, March 16—registration, coffee, and tea will be available beginning at 9:30 am—and everyone should be on their way home by about 2:00 pm. Registration is free for everyone, and lunch is free for NBTS students, faculty, and staff. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Monday, 13 March.

“Confessing the Faith Today”

What does it mean to be Confessing the Faith Today? “To all appearances the old Standards have largely fallen into disuse in the church.” This assertion is made by Allan Janssen, affiliate associate professor of theology at NBTS. In his new book, Confessing the Faith Today, he observes that “one hears little reference to the Belgic Confession . . . in ecclesiastical discussions.” Still, Janssen sees this oldest Reformed confession as something valuable for a church engaging the Word and the contemporary U.S. situation. We discussed this new book and the place of the Belgic Confession in the 21^st century at the gathering “Confessing the Faith Today” on Monday, February 13, 2017. Dr. Janssen made a brief presentation about the book and its approach, followed by responses to his work by four pastoral theologians. Watch the video below, and scroll down for more info about the participants.

Cora Tait, a graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary and New Brunswick Theological Seminary, is pastor of Highbridge Community Church (RCA) in the Bronx.
Joshua Bode is pastor of Woodstock (New York) Reformed Church and a graduate of Western Theological Seminary. He is a past moderator of the RCA Commission on Church Order.
Lynn Japinga is Professor of Religion at Hope College, and a graduate of Princeton and Union (NY) Theological Seminaries. She is the author of Loyalty and Loss: The Reformed Church in America, 1945-1994. Her book Preaching the Women of the Old Testament: Who They Were and Why They Matter, is scheduled for publication in 2017.
Jaeseung Cha is Associate Professor of Foundational and Constructive Theology at NBTS.

“Our Only Comfort: Belonging in the RCA.”

In the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, Reformed Christians say that our only comfort in life and in death is that we belong to Jesus Christ. In question and answer number 32, we say that we are called Christians because, by faith, we are members of Christ. Membership and how we understand it is important to our Reformed understanding of the church and the world. On Thursday, 6 October, 2016, the Reformed Church Center at New Brunswick Seminary hosted “Our Only Comfort: Belonging in the RCA.” Dirk Mouw, historian, translator and a fellow of the Reformed Church Center, presented the 2016-17 Albert A. Smith lecture in RCA History; his topic was how the colonial Dutch Reformed Church understood church membership.

Following that were presentations on the experience of becoming members of the RCA for Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans by:

Irving Rivera–pastor of Meadow Hill Reformed Church in Newburgh, NY, and past president of the General Synod of the RCA
En Young Kim–RCA Supervisor of Mission in Asia and the Pacific and Coordinator for Pacific and Asian -American Ministries
Anna Jackson–pastor of the Reformed Church of Queens, NY, and moderator of the board of trustees at NBTS.

The day concluded with group discussion over lunch of what membership means in the modern RCA and how we grow into new understandings based on our experiences.