Hello church,
At the March 6 PNW Classis meeting Sanctuary’s council submitted a letter indicating our intent to disaffiliate from the CRC, and our reasons for doing so. At this week’s council meeting our assigned church visitor (Rev. Ashley Van Dragt) spent time with our elders listening, sharing her heart, and offering her prayer and support for our church as we navigate these next steps. As we’ve discussed in previous congregational meetings, we desire to abide by the denomination’s process for disaffiliation. Submitting this letter and welcoming our church visitor to discuss this decision with our council were the first two steps. The next step for us will be a congregational vote at our June congregational meeting, where representatives from classis will be given the opportunity to speak to us if they desire to do so. To complete the process we will hold a second congregational vote, most likely sometime in the early fall. You can read more about the CRC’s process for disaffiliation here.
Friends, I know that some of you receive this news with sadness and grief, and others of you couldn’t really care less. There are several conflicting feelings I found myself holding in tension as Steve Geelhood and I attended the classis meeting when our letter was received. There was sadness, to be sure. I was mindful of the genuine friendships I have formed with other CRC pastors and church leaders who were present in the room; friendships that would not exist had we not been a part of the same denomination, attending the same meetings, partnering in ministry, and praying with and for each other. I am profoundly grateful for the colleagues I have gained as a part of this denomination. I trust some of those friendships and connections will remain, but I also know that it will be different, and that not remaining in the denomination will change the nature of these relationships. For these reasons (and more) I am sad.
There was gratitude as well. Our church would not exist without the support of this classis, and this denomination. Summer and I have been personally supported and equipped by the resources of the CRC. At the March meeting, after informing classis of our letter, Matt Borst (the clerk of classis) shared a memory he had of coming to a leadership training at our old church office in Greenwood, being inspired by the energy and creativity of the church plants that were being birthed and nurtured out of our church (and with the support of our classis), and shared his personal gratitude for the role Sanctuary has played in our region and in his life. It was a gift to hear those words. I wish you all could have heard them personally.
However, I also felt a weight lifted, and some hope and energy for our future together. I have no excitement about disaffiliating from the CRC. But I do have excitement about the future God is leading us into. In particular, I’m eager to continue the work of merging with United – becoming one church – both in community, ministry, and structure. I’m eager to discover what it means for us to be rooted in our new home here on the corner of 80th & Mary. As I’ve mentioned before, the majority of our families at PATH are neighbors not connected to Sanctuary (or to any other church that I know of). God is using this ministry to serve their needs and give them a glimpse of his goodness through the church. We have had several neighbors show up in worship for the first time these past few weeks. God is drawing people to himself, and in his mercy using his church (you and me!) to be the welcome wagon. There is a growing collaborative spirit between churches and pastors in Seattle that I’m eager to invest more in. Pray Seattle is one element of that, but there are Ballard area churches gathering to collaborate on loving our unhoused neighbors. Let me know if you’d like to be a part of that conversation. And I continue to be so grateful and blessed for the simple life and love that we share together as a community, as friends, as Christ’s church.
The “Merger Team” (Mark M, Ralph G, Amy M, Frank T, and Bob K) continues to meet to work through the “25 areas of concern” from Better Together. The primary point of this exercise is to identify what current reality looks like for both United and Sanctuary, and to notice where we are aligned and where there are differences. We are making good progress, and finding that there are very few places where we differ in our values and approach to ministry. The elders from both churches will meet together in April, after which we hope to share some more concrete details regarding the merger.
We will continue to post the updates on both our relationship with the CRC and with United on our website.
In all of this we are dependent on the leading of our Good Shepherd, Jesus. So please join us in prayer for your church, for her leaders, and that God would be glorified in all we do. If you have any questions about any of this – please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mark or to any of the Sanctuary elders. We’re here to serve.
In Christ,
Mark
