Is it possible to transform a denomination over Zoom?

The Christian Reformed Church pastors and church members behind Toward CRC Canada believe that Canadian concerns and opportunities have not been taken seriously by the larger U.S. portion of the denomination. In a letter sent to CRCs in Canada, the group claims “that the time has come to create two distinct sister denominations out of the CRCNA – one in the US, and one in Canada.” Toward CRC Canada has no official status within the binational CRC. Everett Vander Horst is the chair of Toward CRC Canada and he offered some thoughts on the vital role video conferencing technology has played in the early days of this organization.

Christian Courier (CC): Why have you felt that Zoom “kitchen table discussions” and “open Zoom meetings” were good ways to get this organization started?

Everett Vander Horst: We wanted to listen to and communicate with CRC members across the country quickly and easily, in a cost-effective way. Zoom provides that connection, mostly because it became the go-to communication tool for churches, organizations and even extended families during the pandemic. People who would not consider themselves computer savvy forced themselves to learn and use it.

Zoom allowed us to invite people into thoughtful conversations right in their own homes. For us on the listening side in the fall, we learned not only from people expressing their opinions but also as they interacted with each other in dialogue. There was simply no other way to engage people and draw them together from B.C. to the Maritimes.

CC: What about these Zoom events has seemed useful?

EV: The chat function allowed people to insert questions and comments without interrupting, and they could privately communicate with each other during the meeting. The chat was also a helpful tool for organizers, not only privately to better keep the meeting going, but also to post links for the group to follow up with. Those public chats could be copied and referred to later.
Zoom also allows users to make a video recording as well. We haven’t used that function because we want people to feel free to speak without worrying that it will be played back out of context later on.

CC: What about these Zoom events seems frustrating?

EV: Of course, the Zoom bombing incident was very frustrating. We believe it was a maliciously directed bot that disrupted our July 20 Zoom meeting with a non-stop stream of offensive language. It was quite unnerving, and we are very upset that it happened in a meeting we’d invited people into. We apologized wherever we could.

Other frustrations with Zoom are ones we worked out as a church already during the pandemic. We soon realized that it was very difficult to serve as the technical host while also preaching, presenting or otherwise being emcee. So we appoint a Zoom “producer” at each meeting to serve as the non-speaking host, manage the waiting room, mute open microphones, and keep a close eye on the chat for important content that the presenter might not see.

Zoom is also costly, once you rise beyond a certain level. A free account gets you unlimited 40-minute meetings. A $200 annual fee allows long meetings with up to 100 people. But to increase to the next level of capacity (500) is over $900 annually.

CC: I think Toward CRC Canada (TCRCC) has done an impressive job with its chats, communications and website. But welcoming more people into the conversation always complicates the discussion and slows down action. Is that too much of a drawback?

EV: It is true that more people in the conversation slows down action. But very early on, in the construction stage of TCRCC, we committed ourselves to collaboration and transparency. That means everyone is welcome at our public Zoom meetings, and can comment or post on our Facebook group. So we get critical – even hostile – feedback right in our own virtual spaces. And those written comments stay there. There are two valuable upsides. First, we get to hear those critical comments, reflect on them, and respond. That’s much better than not knowing what people are saying about you, and being out of the conversation. Second, welcoming more people shares ownership, and builds a community. Ultimately, that’s what our whole organization is about.

CC: Other thoughts?

EV: Zoom is tiring at long stretches. You don’t want to have too many Zoom meetings in a day. Research is starting to tell us why this is; in my mind it boils down to our being embodied creatures, and while our brains understand what’s going on, we are ultimately neither fooled nor satisfied by a video/audio interaction with other people.