Kate Kooyman at Still Processing next week!

Dec 7, 7pm, Brew Merchant, Holland, MI

“Musings on Deconstruction” is a vague title. I admit it. I came up with it on a whim, honestly. I based it on the conversations that Kate I have had over the last few years. When we’ve found the time to sit down and talk about the trajectory of our lives, we always come back to the same thing. We’re tired of being forced, and sometimes forcing ourselves, to make meaning within Christianity. It’s too constricting, too prescribed, too out of step with reality as we now see it.

Let me tell you a bit about Kate. She is the District Director for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks. Senator Brinks is the first woman to hold this position in the Michigan Senate. She has worked for the senator since 2021. I first met Kate when she was working at the Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice, where she was focusing on immigration policy and education. Shortly after we met (I think it was 2015), she began writing for the Reformed Journal. You can find her posts here. She’s a powerful writer and thinker. Kate also spent three years working for in Hope College’s campus ministries from 2010-2013. Kate has a BA in English from Calvin College and an MDiv from Western Theological Seminary.

Kate and I have met for coffee maybe 5-6 times over the past eight years or so. That’s been the extent of our relationship. But every time we met, we had an easy rapport. Inevitably, we would find ourselves talking in hushed tones, and laughing quite a bit, about our shifting relationship to Christianity and to the church. Did we know where this was going to lead us, professionally and personally? We had no idea. But at least we knew that we weren’t alone.

Next Thursday, we are going to bring you into our ongoing conversation. I assure you that it will be an engaging, honest, and vulnerable conversation. I hope you can join us: “Musings on Deconstruction” with Kate Kooyman, Dec 7, 7pm, Brew Merchant, Holland, MI.