BLOG SERIES: The RE REsearch REview

For the next few weeks, we have the privilege of hearing from guest bloggers to help us think about the plans for our church’s future.

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by Megan Ferber

I quickly realized that when I was first asked to join the denominational research team, I had to figure out first why denominations matter. That’s kind of a big deal. You don’t want someone helping to decide the next steps of a church, and not having a good idea why the choice matters! It’s a really big deal. 

But I have thoroughly appreciated the journey and the conversations I have had along the way. And I wouldn’t mind having even more. So let me tell you where I’ve landed at present, and I’d love to talk more with anyone who’s interested!

To begin with, I was raised in a non-denominational, Protestant church of a few hundred members. . . . It probably would have aligned fairly well to PCA (Presbyterian Church of America, with which River’s Edge is currently affiliated). For at least two decades, I thought very little about denominations and figured as long as a church followed the Bible, all was well. Why worry about a label? Also, denominations seemed constantly to be splitting, so it’s just a mess anyways. Best to be friendly with other local Christians, partner with nearby churches when it makes sense, and ignore the politics that denominations can bring in.

I moved to Maryland from California in my 20s, and after a few misses in my church hunt, I landed with River’s Edge. It was recommended by someone who knew a current elder at RE (Brian Skelly), and I stayed because George and Rosemary Keiser quickly adopted me, along with two other friends who were trying the church, and invited us to meals at their home. Finding a family like this so far from home probably impacted me more than the teaching and singing. But those were quite good, too. I didn’t give any thought at all about RE being affiliated with the PCA. About 10 years after that, I finally became a member since it seemed like the thing to do, but I still didn’t think too much about the PCA; the denomination’s standard beliefs mostly aligned with what I thought was found in Scripture.

Another almost 10 years have passed. I, along with my husband, have been involved in the A/V team, we love the other folks at the church, and are involved with several other families on a semi-regular basis. And denomination has essentially nothing to do with our enjoyment of RE. But then I attended the last in-person Focus Group regarding women in ministry and leadership, and I thought there were excellent points made, and I was curious to see where this was headed.

So when I was asked to be part of where this was headed, I got to thinking. And asking questions. And doing some research. And some more thinking. . . .

The question of why denominations matter was actually brought up by someone else in the Focus Group I participated in, and Dane answered that a part of it was to help the church to keep him (Dane) in line. If our pastor were to ever go off the rails, and try to take us somewhere un-Biblical or out of alignment with the PCA, we had a recourse with the PCA denomination to help get us out of a pastoral mess. That’s all well and good, but is definitely more of a stick than a carrot in that old analogy. So what are the true benefits that a denomination can bring to a church with which they are affiliated? 

Here are a few things I think are true:

  • A good denomination can provide good partner churches available for support.

I have an oddly distinct memory from when I was about 8 years old of my mother commenting after a family friend stated his approach to choosing friends. Steve had said that he looks for people with habits he admires, and then befriends folks from whom he would like to develop their good practices. My mother commented at how remarkable that was since so few people give that depth of thought in people they choose to be around. 

Now that I’m an adult, I realize how very true that is. And while I want to make sure that I as a person continue to love all those around me, maybe I should give more thought to the habits and patterns I want to pick up by association. Perhaps also, now is a great time for River’s Edge to consider what we want to be as we continue to grow as a church; and choosing good partners in a new denomination has the potential to set us up for good learning, support, and development.

  • A good denomination can provide helpful resources: pastoral transition, teaching materials for various ministries, support for leaders, even monetary support, if needed.

In the times of the early Church, it’s clear from pastoral letters in Scripture that churches supported each other in times of need. And the apostles provided mentorship and coaching, and brought churches together who could provide for material needs in a sister church. I think in these times, these roles formerly filled by apostles are more formally performed by denominations. A good denomination can provide support to River’s Edge when we have need or in an ongoing mentorship capacity. But it can also let us know of needs about which we might not otherwise be aware, but for which we have the ideal resources to share. 

  • A good denomination can provide thoughtful approaches to contemporary cultural issues.

As we all know from news coming full force in all directions, there’s a lot going on in our world, a lot of opinions, and very fast transmission of facts and ideas. It’s honestly impossible to process all of this alone, much less take the time to consider how to love while applying Scriptural approaches to choose appropriate actions. There are a lot of smart, thoughtful people within our church, many of whom I should seek out more frequently to learn from (see point #1 about choosing good friends!). But within a good denomination, there are other studious individuals who have prayerfully considered current issues and written down thoughtful ideas about faithful responses. These can be very helpful for foundational thoughts, and for being able to have a resource at home to begin considerations.

I know that many others have stronger ties to denominations and better personal experience of their benefits (or downfalls?), and there are others who have been blessed by multiple different denominations and what they bring. That’s part of what makes these conversations with others so interesting to me.

As I continued with the research team, and we narrowed our way through the options to consider proposing to the congregation, one of the ways that ECO (ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians) has stood out is how it fills each of the beneficial roles that a good denomination can be. We’d like to look into these a bit more in further blogs :)