What is the ICRC?

At the time of this writing (Oct 2022), summer had just begun in Namibia, Africa, where I was attending the gathering of the International Council of Reformed Churches (the ICRC), a network of small but faithful Reformed denominations who gather every four years to discuss how to better cooperate and find areas of ministerial overlap. The ARP Church sent Synod Inter-Church Relations representatives Rev. Patrick Malphrus, Rev. Benjamin Glasser, and me, as a World Witness representative.??

When thinking of an international Reformed conference, one might first think of the Dutch, since several in ICRC leadership are Canadians with Dutch origins. However, they are not the dominating voice of the Reformed church. Indeed, much of this was a picture of the kingdom to come, as we worshiped among people from many tribes, tongues, and nations (Rev. 7:9). This gathering had 75 representatives from countries such as the Congo, England, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Wales, and the US, many of whom, with bold courage, face deep struggles and hardships unfamiliar to us.???

I sat with Pastor Joseph, Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Kenya, who remarked that 70% of their congregants are going hungry after a 3-year drought that only now is beginning to break. Another pastor from Kenya commented that a congregant had just contacted one of his elders, saying they wanted to come to church but were too weak from lack of food.??

Pastor Patrick, from South Sudan, told us about the church-planting efforts among Christians in South Sudan and Muslims in Sudan. He had brought with him a tall, thin companion whose smile lit up the room. Ismail, formerly a Muslim who Pastor Patrick had often visited, became a believer in Jesus. Pastor Patrick then began visiting Ismail’s father who became a believer on his death bed. Now all of Ismail’s family are Christians, and today, he pastors a congregation in the Janub mountains where tribal violence has become so dangerous that his wife and children had to move to a different city. He sees them several weeks a year. Though difficult to comprehend from a western perspective, we too must trust the Lord to work in extreme circumstances.??

In discussing his denomination with me, Pastor Hae Shin, a quiet, thoughtful man from South Korea, noted they have over 2,000 Reformed churches and over 200,000 members. Though an aging denomination, they are quite strong and have over 400 missionaries globally.??

Rev Zacharys, a pastor from Nigeria, is soft-spoken and moves quietly through crowds. In conversation with him, I learned his denomination has 2,000,000 members, most of whom are farmers laboring all day in fields. Their largest struggle is that the infamous terrorist group, “boko haram,” consistently raids their farms, stealing food  and killing anyone who gets in their way.??

Rev. David McKay, from Belfast and representing the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland, recounted the 1970’s car bombings during the height of IRA terrorist activities. During those days, streets were deserted after 5pm, as night travel was very dangerous. Each Sunday, congregants had to make bold decisions as to whether to attend evening church services. One of his congregants, a high court judge, was targeted for assassination and could attend Sunday services only if accompanied by his security detail which still travels with him today. The great struggle of the Church then and today is how to encourage forgiveness between Protestants and Catholics, amid a lingering animosity.

The Lord has opened new doorways for joint mission work with several of these groups, as we look specifically at partnering with those pioneering among Muslims. This will take openness and boldness, especially among hard-to-reach people in hard-to-reach places. As we see from the accounts above, those of the Reformed faith have been struggling to advance the Gospel for many years in places of tremendous hardship. Be encouraged that your faith in God is bigger than your personal world, and brothers and sisters from around the world would still have us join them in advancing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Let us pray boldly to that glorious end!