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If synod delegates weren’t already familiar with the three scenarios developed by the Vision 2020 Team, they are now. On June 7 and 8, delegates met in small feedback groups for nearly five hours total, digging into the details of each scenario and discussing possible ramifications.

Related:

Scenario 1: Staying Together Summary

Scenario 2: Significant Reorganization Summary

Scenario 3: Grace-filled Separation Summary

The Vision 2020 Team was tasked by the 2018 General Synod with thoroughly researching three possible future scenarios for the future of the RCA: staying together, radical reorganization, and grace-filled separation.

Over the past year, the team, according to its report, has “imagin[ed] the impact of each scenario on people in different regions, on commissions and mission agencies, and on the overarching work of the denomination. We are considering theology, finances, assets, the Book of Church Order, statistics, relationships, and ecclesiology. We are considering in what ways each scenario bears witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and in what ways it fails to do so.”

The team then developed the three scenarios (each with several sub-options) and presented them to the 2019 General Synod, asking for honest feedback from delegates.

The feedback groups took place after a presentation laying the groundwork for engagement, which in turn built on pre-synod webinars focused on emotional and spiritual maturity and managing change.

The Vision 2020 Team will synthesize information from the feedback groups and will report back to General Synod on Sunday night.

The Vision 2020 Team will use the delegates’ feedback, alongside feedback from surveys of RCA members, to inform its work over the next year. That work involves developing a recommendation or recommendations that will come to the 2020 General Synod for consideration.

Read in-depth summaries of the three scenarios and what they could mean for the RCA:

Scenario 1: Staying Together

Scenario 2: Radical Reorganization

Scenario 3: Grace-Filled Separation