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The Reformed Church Center Offers Fellowships in RCA History, RCA Women鈥檚 Studies, or Reformed Worship in 2026-2027

Is there something you want to want to learn and share more about? Do you have a creative idea that you want to explore a bit further? Would you like to spend two weeks studying, sharing, or maybe creating, and have somebody pay you (a little) instead of you paying them? Do you have something to say about being Reformed in the Twenty-first Century?

Then you should consider sending in a brief proposal for a fellowship at 麻豆视频 in during the 2026-2027 academic year! The Reformed Church Center is looking for those proposals, to be submitted by April 15, 2026.

The Albert A. Smith Fellowship
An opportunity for research in Reformed Church History

The Smith Fellowship provides a stipend of $500.00 and the possibility of a two-week residency at 麻豆视频 to support research into the history of the Reformed tradition, particularly as it pertains to the Reformed Church in America (RCA). Get more information and download an application .

Recent Smith fellows include (click on the names to see their presentations) Mary Risseeuw, Benjamin Doolittle, and William Ruggles Church.

The Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellowship
An opportunity for research and/or presentation in Reformed Worship and Liturgy

The Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellowship provides a $500.00 stipend and the possibility of a two-week residency at 麻豆视频 to support research and creativity in Reformed Worship, particularly as it pertains to the RCA. Get more information and download an application .

Recent Poppen-Young fellows include (click on the names to see their presentations) Linda Van Soest Tintle, Mel Van Hattem, and Nancy L. Graham.

The Hazel B. Gnade Fellowship
An opportunity for research in RCA Women鈥檚 Studies.

The Hazel B. Gnade Fellowship provides a $500.00 stipend and the possibility of a two-week residency at 麻豆视频 to support research in the history of women鈥檚 involvement in the RCA. Get more information and download an application .

Recent Gnade fellows include (click on the names to see their presentations) Lisa A. Hansen, David Alexander, and Anna Jackson.

What does it take to get a fellowship? It takes some practice doing scholarly research, whether by reading old manuscripts or books or conducting oral interviews, etc., or maybe a gift for writing prayers or songs or telling stories. It鈥檚 good to demonstrate that you鈥檝e done some work and can define a project within your question or idea that you can significantly complete within a couple of weeks of intense work.

What DON鈥橳 you need to get one of these fellowships? You don鈥檛 need to be a pastor or a professor. You don鈥檛 need specialized theological training . . . just some familiarity with your subject matter.

If you鈥檝e read this far, what are you WAITING for?

Applications and proposals for all three fellowships are due by April 15, 2026. Contact James Hart Brumm, Director of the Reformed Church Center, at jbrumm@nbts.edu, if you would like to discuss your idea or get suggestions for your proposal.

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The Reformed Church Center is pleased to announce five women who will work in the three fellowships offered by the Center during the 2025-2026 academic year. Each was chosen as part of a competitive proposal process, reviewed by members of the Reformed Church Center Committee. They will spend up to two weeks for each fellowship in New Brunswick, working with the resources of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) Archives, Gardner A. Sage Library, and members of the 麻豆视频 faculty as needed to complete their work, then will present their findings to members of the Seminary community in programs still to be scheduled that will be streamed on Zoom.

Lynn M. Japinga, recently retired as Professor of Religion at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where she had been on faculty for thirty-three years, will be the Albert A Smith Fellow in RCA History. She is the author of Bible studies, histories, and essays in numerous books and journals. Her fellowship with be part of her current work researching the experiences and attitudes of RCA members during World War II, on the home front, on the war front, and in the churches. She plans to be on campus in October.

Mary K. Risseeuw is a historian and genealogist living in Wisconsin and the recipient of the Alvin J. Poppen-John R. Young Fellowship in Reformed Worship for 2025-2026. She is the second person ever to complete the 鈥渉at trick鈥� of all three Reformed Church Center fellowships, and the first to do so in three consecutive years. Her planned project for the Poppen-Young fellowship looks at the history and evolution of liturgical vestments in the RCA, starting in New Netherland and moving forward to the present day. Mary plans to be in New Brunswick in November.

The three women who have the Hazel B. Gnade Fellowship in RCA Women鈥檚 Studies for 2025-2026鈥�Christina Van Eyl-Godin, Arlene Walters Waldorf, and Dianna Walker鈥攈ave all served as Executive Directors of Reformed Church Women (RCW), consecutively, beginning with Walker and ending with Waldorf, between 1986 and 2004. Reformed Church Women ceased to exist as in independent organization in 2004. Their project will look at the triennial gatherings of RCW, the last of which was held in 2007, particularly at how they were empowering and transformative for women and also aided RCA men in their journey of acceptance of women鈥檚 leadership. They will begin working on campus in late July.

The three fellowships of the Reformed Church Center are awarded annually by the Reformed Church Center based on the submission of proposals, reviewed by the Reformed Church Center Committee, which includes 麻豆视频 faculty and the RCA Archivist. More information is available at nbts.edu/student-life/reformed-church-center/research-and-scholarship/. During the Reformed Church Center鈥檚 twenty-fifth anniversary year, gifts to 鈥淔riends of the Reformed Church Center鈥� are being used to help bolster the fellowship funds and, it is hoped, expand their work. To support this, go the nbts.edu/donate/. When asked to designate where your gift will go, select 鈥淔riends of RCC鈥� from the drop-down menu. You may also contact Cathy Proctor, Vice President of Advancement, for other ways to support this work.

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Click here to download highlights from the Chat during the webinar.

What is a 鈥淢iddle Assembly,鈥� and Why Will It Change Our Judicial Business?

After two years of work, the RCA鈥檚 Restructure Task Force presented eleven recommendations to the 2024 General Synod. You can read more about that , and see the discussion we had in the 2024 General Synod Recap. Of all of these recommendations, the biggest鈥攚hich will condense the denomination鈥檚 current classes and regional synods to a single level of 鈥渕iddle assemblies鈥� and change how judicial business works鈥攂oth to reflect the reduced number assembly levels and to prevent some of the pitfalls this has presented for other Reformed bodies鈥攊s set for a classis vote between now and next March as the biggest single amendment to the Book of Church Order in a number of years.

Why is this all one huge, ungainly amendment? What does it mean for how the RCA does business? Is this a good idea at all? To answer some of these questions and to help classes answer others for themselves, the very first webinar of the Reformed Church Center鈥檚 twenty-fifth year is  鈥淎 Proposed New Look for RCA Polity,鈥� held on Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time on Zoom.

This program featured three members of the RCA Commission on Church Order, explaining just what the amendment does and why the Commission presented it the way they did.

• Brian Andrew is an attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has been a member of Central Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, since 1998. Brian has served on the Commission on Church Order since 2021, and recently joined the Board of Trustees of 麻豆视频.
• Amanda Bruehl is the Vice President of Operations at 麻豆视频. Prior to 麻豆视频, she served as an RCA denominational staff member for seven years. She has been on the Commission on Church Order since 2023. She has her Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Grand Valley State University and has held positions in human resources, development, and administration in a variety of church and nonprofit settings.
• Howard Moths is an RCA minister of the Word and Sacrament, ordained in 1977. He has served congregations in Bradenton, Florida, and Jenison, Michigan, and has served as clerk of South Grand Rapids Classis and the Regional Synod of the Great Lakes. He is serving his fourth term on the Commission on Church Order.

After their presentation, three stated clerks from across the RCA, people who will have to make this work, asked questions about the ins and outs of the proposal.

• Rita Burkard has been a member of the RCA all her life.  She served as an elder for two terms, then moved to the office of deacon, which better utilized her talents, and currently serves as the Stated Clerk for the Classis of the Canadian Prairies.  Retired from her career as a Medical Laboratory Technologist (Advanced) in 2016, she lives in Calgary with her husband, Dennis. 
• Grace Rim was born and raised in New York by Korean American parents who worked tirelessly for their daughter鈥檚 education and future. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Child & Family Studies and an MDiv in Academic Theology. She is clerk of Rockland-Westchester Classis and second vice president of the Regional Synod of New York and co-pastor of  The Lamb of God Reformed Ministries.
• Carlos Corro is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament serving as the stated clerk of the Classis of Central California. He has a BA in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeleyand an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has spent seventeen years working as a pastor and leader in several churches, organizations, and academic institutions in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Imago Church (RCA)  in Visalia, California.

Once they have gotten the ball rolling, the floor is open, as always, for all participants to ask questions and offer opinions. This discussion is VERY important for everybody in RCA classes as they begin to think about how they should vote on the proposed amendment, and should be instructive for folks in other Reformed and Presbyterian denominations to think about how their polity landscapes might be changing.

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This course is open to anyone who has a basic familiarity with the RCA and its order. Participants will be expected to purchase a few books and do weekly reading. The course will meet two hours a week for ten weeks, with one hour of face-to-face on-line lectures via Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00-8:00 Eastern Time, and one hour in an asynchronous guided discussion forum.

The instructor is Matthew van Maastricht, pastor of the Altamont and Helderberg (NY) Reformed Church and Ph.D. candidate at the Protestant School of Theology in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is a Fellow of the Reformed Church Center and teaches RCA Polity and Standards for 麻豆视频.

Classes will begin on Monday, September 16, 2024, and continue until Monday, November 18.

The cost of the course will be $250.00. A certificate of completion will be sent to anyone who finishes all the class requirements satisfactorily.

To register, email jbrumm@nbts.edu with your name, address, telephone number, and preferred email address (for accessing the 麻豆视频 online learning management software). You will be contacted about how to pay your $250.00 tuition.

Questions? Contact James Hart Brumm, director of the Reformed Church Center, at jbrumm@nbts.edu.

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The Reformed Church Center Debriefs General Synod 2024

 You鈥檙e invited to join people from across the RCA鈥攖hose who were there and those who weren鈥檛鈥攊n what has become an annual custom: discussing and debriefing what happened at General Synod, and reflecting on the promise and challenges facing the denomination as we move forward. This year, it will include the report of the Restructure Task Force with their eleven recommendations!

Kelvin Spooner, moderator of the Commission on Race and Ethnicity, will talk about new antiracism initiatives that were discussed.

Joshua Scheid, our brand-new General Synod president, will talk about the mood of the Synod, the view from up front, and what he sees as the big work of the coming year.

Tony Davis from the African American Black Council (AABC) and Kim Van Es, moderator of the General Synod Council (GSC), will talk about the AABC鈥檚 proposals for dealing with racism in RCA church order, the GSC鈥檚 response, and what the Synod did with is all.

And Sherri Meyer-Veen and Micah McCreary from the Restructure Task Force will talk about that group鈥檚 report, their long day of presenting, and what the Synod did with it all.

Then everybody at the webinar got to make observations, ask questions, and discuss!

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Would you like to spend two weeks in study and sharing, and have somebody pay you (a little) instead of you paying them?

Then maybe you should send in a brief proposal for the 2023-2024 Poppen-Young Fellowship in Reformed Worship! The Reformed Church Center is looking for those proposals, to be submitted by April 21, 2023.

What do you need to get this fellowship? You need a good understanding of Reformed worship and liturgy, and a question you think is worth discussing or a creative approach to something鈥攊t could be prayers, music, liturgical dance, drama, visual arts, or a study into the theology, science, psychology, or personalities behind what we do in worship. You also need to demonstrate that you have done some preliminary work on your idea and can define a project that you can significantly complete within a couple of weeks of intense work.

What DON鈥橳 you need to get this fellowship? You don鈥檛 need to be a pastor or a professor. You don鈥檛 need specialized theological training . . . just some familiarity with the subject matter.

You can write a proposal for . . .

The Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellowship
An opportunity for research and/or presentation in Reformed Worship and Liturgy
The Alvin J. Poppen and John R. Young Fellowship provides a $500.00 stipend and the possibility a two-week residency at 麻豆视频 to support research in Reformed Worship, particularly as it pertains to the RCA. The resources of the Seminary and the RCA Archives, as well as the wide variety of worship resources and experiences in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, are at the Fellow’s disposal. The Fellow will provide an experience of the results of the work, through a lecture, a convocation on the theme chosen, or some other public expression shared with the Seminary community. This is an opportunity for personal study that can improve the vitality of the worshipping church. Get more information and download an application .

Applications and proposals are due by April 21, 2022. Contact James Hart Brumm, Director of the Reformed Church Center, at jbrumm@nbts.edu, if you would like to discuss your idea or get suggestions for your proposal.

Note: Due to issues with the availability of the RCA Archives during the 2022-2023 academic year, we are not seeking proposals for new Smith or Gnade fellowships for 2023-2024. We will search for these for the 2024-2025 year.

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