The birth of a denomination and the strength of a mission in The Dominican Republic  

We’re nearing the end of Lady’s Lane to our left is a 15 foot rusting anchor – one of many artifacts left behind by the notorious Christopher Columbus. Our local 5 foot tour guide keeps his distance while politely motioning us to his right. Towering above him, the sun setting, directly parallel to the enormous anchor is Santo Domingo’s oldest and first independent Christian church. A small cross rests at it’s crumbling peak. Reaching the end of the “Old City,” we realize the strength of the people and the character of the mission we’re about to embark on.  

On Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 21 pastors were ordained, 15 church planters commissioned, and 24 children, ages 5-14, we’re baptized.  The official “launch” of Iglesia Rerformada Dominicana, The Dominican Reformed Church (IRD), and its General Synod rang true. 

In partnership with The Reformed Church in America the formal creation of the IRD has been a five year process. It began in 2004 as an idea preached over Radio Impacto by Rev. Andres Serrano from Corona, California. He spoke of reformed theology, history, confessions, including the new Belhar Confession. Christians from across the Dominican Republic we’re inspired. In particular, Rev. Victor Castro, the current President of the IRD, began discussions with Rev. Serrano, Rev. Brigido Cabrera, the RCA’s Hispanic Council, and Rev. Bruce Menning, the recently retired director of RCA Global Mission, of how to partner with the RCA.  

The mission? To organize for change, educate, seek to unite independent churches across all 31 provinces. Combine those that share similar aspirations and form a denomination grounded in scripture as well as the historic confessions of the reformed tradition. To develop a church that could be a partner in mission with the RCA in the Dominican Republic and throughout the Caribbean region.  

With the leading support of the RCA Council for Hispanic Ministries, after many lunches, conferences, and travels from the United States to Santo Domingo, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Articles of the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Belhar Confession, and principles of Presbyterian governance through assemblies of elders and ministers took flight.  Preparation to make it official began in January 2009 with a visit by an RCA delegation headed by General Secretary Wesley Granberg-Michaelson and the RCA leadership team.  

May, being the rainy season, caused rivers and roads to flood and some people living hours away were unable to attend the Saturday formation of the IRD General Synod and the first ordinations of pastors and elders. Nonetheless 21 out of 35 expected ministers and elders were in place, and church planters commissioned – all motivated and ready to serve the mission they were called to lead. The Revs. Andres Serrano (Iglesia Reformada La Senda, Corona, CA), Brigido Cabrera (RCA Hispanic Ministries), and Kenneth Bradsell (General Synod Assistant Secretary and Director of Operations), representing the RCA, were made temporary members of the IRD, and participated in the ordinations of the new ministers and church planters. 

However, before the ordination, Rev. Kenneth Bradsell, translated by Rev. Brigido Cabrera, led a seminar on the relationship of scripture, confessions, and reformed polity. He addressed the organization and explanation of the consistory. Several were inquisitive, standing up, asking questions, receiving answers, and considering together how to implement these practices in the context of their country. Afterwards the movement of the Holy Spirit was clearly present as the threads of the IRD were woven. Songs, a sermon, pictures, and signing the official church record book took place.  

The final highlight of the day was a 20 minute car ride to the Atlantic Ocean where 24 children, plus one adult woman, lined up on the sandy beach, in shorts, swimsuits, and some just their skivvies – awaiting baptism. When called they pranced 20 feet into the ocean where Rev. Serrano, Rev. Cabrera, and Rev. Bradsell joined hands in prayer. Standing semi-circle, they received each child by name, spoke the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and dipped them beneath the clear blue sea.  

Baptism in the Dominican Republic, except in Roman Catholic churches, is traditionally for adult believers and offered only upon confession of faith. Therefore, this moment, was even more ground-breaking. 

“This was a significant moment for the new church, a public statement, ‘a sign and seal,’ as our liturgy states it, for all that God’s grace is sufficient and that children are embraced by God’s promises by grace alone to forgive sins and to adopt all of us and these children into the Body of Christ,” says Kenneth Bradsell. 

The significance of the moment was clearly depicted by children sprinting into the ocean, energy whipping their legs through the waves. One child after being immersed, springs from the water, arms held high, a smile a thousand yards wide, victory presses from his eyes and he waves his hands in glee as if he just hit a winning grand slam in Yankee Stadium; the crowd on the beach cheering.  

Thinking back to that 15 foot high anchor and the rock where Christopher Columbus moored his ships, what seemed so mammoth and so powerful, now feels like a fragment of sand sweeping beneath our toes. Observing the baptism, the ordination, the commissioning, and traveling to various IRD member’s homes, sharing meals, visiting with their families, and hearing the sparkle, the magic, knowing the Dominican Republic’s history –  the good problem is how quickly this denomination is growing; how rapidly churches across all 31 provinces are lining up to join the IRD.  

The RCA being a solid, guiding instructor and sister for the IRD makes it that much more exciting and liberating. This past weekend, Memorial Day for the United States, was proof of how an idea, beyond our borders, with just a few passions of the heart embraced and empowered by a deep faith, combined with a culture seeded in determination to exert a freedom powdered in a history of repression – breathes. The Body of Christ grows, grace abounds, the IRD is born, and the movement lives.