In January of 2023, Classis Grand Rapids East of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) reported that they were committing $5,000 to a group within the CRC called Better Together, A Third Way. This group seeks to help churches build unity even when they disagree on issues. Then in January of 2024, Better Together announced that they had received a significant grant from the Lilly Endowment (almost 1.25 million was given to Calvin CRC for this endeavor according to the Lilly website) to launch a project that would create networks of churches to transcend polarities that divide. This project, known as The Better Together Project, is described in the announcement as a “centered-set network” of churches rather than a “bounded-set” one.
These terms are not new. They were pioneered by missiologist Paul Hiebert decades ago. More recently, Mark D. Baker has published a book called Centered-Set Church that describes what Hiebert taught and applies it more specifically to the church. Given that this paradigm is being used today, it is worth exploring this centered-set approach to see if it is compatible with confessional churches.