Episode 199: Know, Believe, Stay Faithful - Leadership for Unprecedented Times - Steve Zwart (Part 2)
“Know what you believe and stay faithful!…We have got to have this identity thing figured out personally, the local church, denominations, whatever mission organization you represent–be very clear on what you believe. Understand why you believe it, and then stay faithful, and understand that we’re entering a time that it could get really real that it will cost you. It will negatively impact you to stay faithful. You may not be as popular or welcomed or necessarily invited to the table for the conversation. We have to be at peace with God knowing that’s okay. We need to stay faithful.” -Steve Zwart
Summary of This Episode
Jason and Willy are back on this episode with Rev. Steve Zwart, pastor at First CRC in Sioux Falls, SD. Jason brings us back to Synod 2023, where Steve served on Advisory Committee 7, which was tasked with human sexuality. He was initially assigned as the alternate reporter but eventually was tasked with being the reporter of the majority report. They talk a bit about his feelings leading up to that synod and the atmosphere in the advisory committee as well as on the synod floor, which led to some very tense moments when Steve finally reported.
He shares how the big question that was in his mind was “Can we do this better?” How things played out was not CRC Synod at its best. As he puts it in perspective of Synod 2024 now, he believes resolution to the tension was needed–“a place to land”–and that’s what happened this year. However, he sees a bigger identity dysphoria in the CRC. “Against this ever-changing backdrop locally and nationally and internationally, who are we? What do we believe when culture comes…with these questions about human sexuality or…diversity issues and justice issues and creation issues and climate issues. When you don’t have a sense of ‘this is who we are,’ we’re going to feel fractured [and] all over the map…Then desperation…sets in and emotions get involved, and we start coming at each other. And we kind of lose sight of: What’s our goal? What are we going after? What’s most important?...I sense a watershed moment for the denomination to figure out who we are, what are we about, and…so what, where are we going with all of this?”
Willy notes there really was just too much material before Synod 2023, which Synod 2024 learned from and figured out a better way, but he asks if we’re finding “a more clear path towards that trajectory.” Steve agrees that we were able to figure out where we stand on this particular issue, but he believes, “There’s still…something in the air that’s unresolved, and it has to do with identity and…trajectory.” He shares some reflection he’s been doing on Genesis 3 and how Satan, the enemy, asked questions that distorted God’s identity to man and man’s identity to himself. “If you’re going to do good work on identity, you need to address both of these elements: who is God and who are we?...The [CRC] from a biblical, confessional standpoint [is] in a good place…But the tension is…how do we implement that?...I’m not sure we engage well.”
He goes deeper with that, “...It feels at times like we’re more concerned about making disciples of the Christian Reformed Church than we are [making disciples] of Christ….We’re scrambling…to survive as the denomination…to boost our morale, and we’re losing sight of where we’re supposed to be going. One of the things I keep communicating…it’s about the kingdom! …This theological, doctrinal detour we took the last three years…was in part essential, but at the same time…did it really have to take that long?...I think there was a part of us that forgot, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this is what it’s really all about, and that’s disciples in the kingdom.’”
Steve’s encouraged by the Gather events and the hard work that’s been done by synods, but we’ve got to deal with these things. He sees the CRC as having something great to offer, but we must recognize it’s something we’ve been given to bring to the world. Jason reminds us of Jesus’ words, “‘...But seek first the kingdom of God…and all these things will be added to you’” (Matthew 6:33). “Our temptation is always to seek the other things, and God says, “No, seek first the kingdom, and then these other things will be added unto you.”
Steve’s final words are, “Know what you believe and stay faithful!” He believes we are continuing into unprecedented times. As such, “We have got to have this identity thing figured out personally, the local church, denominations, whatever mission organization you represent–be very clear on what you believe. Understand why you believe it, and then stay faithful, and understand that we’re entering a time that it could get really real that it will cost you. It will negatively impact you to stay faithful. You may not be as popular or welcomed or necessarily invited to the table for the conversation. We have to be at peace with God knowing that’s okay. We need to stay faithful.”