Van Harten selected as U.S. Congregational Ministries director
Lis Van Harten was recently named permanent director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America's U.S. Congregational Ministries. The positions oversees the denomination's ministries including Chaplaincy and Care Ministry, Disability Concerns, Diversity, Faith Formation Ministries, the Office of Social Justice, Pastor Church Resources, Race Relations, Safe Church Ministry and Worship Ministries.Van Harten will continue to serve as director of Pastor Church Resources. She will be working with and supervising Congregational Ministries staff directors and leaders located in the U.S. while also working with churches and pastors binationally
Van Harten was born and raised in the CRC in Canada, serving many roles in her local church, starting in high school and continuing on. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., and received a master's degree in management from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids. She moved from Ontario to Grand Rapids in 1993 where her husband attended Calvin Theological Seminary. After seminary, her husband became the pastor of a church north of Grand Rapids.
In 2002, Van Harten received a permit to work in the U.S., and in 2003 she began serving as project coordinator for the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program, which coordinated all aspects of the program that focused on caring for pastors.
