Synod Launches Overhaul of Denominational Structure

After more than 30 years of discussing denominational structure and adopting partial measures at various synods, Synod 2015 last night approved sweeping changes to the Christian Reformed Church’s governance structures.

The proposal came to synod - the annual leadership meeting of the Christian Reformed Church - from a task force that was appointed in 2011 following the resignation of the CRC’s top two administrative leaders. That task force has reported on its progress to each synod since then.

The plan will see the denomination’s 30-member Board of Trustees, which conducts the work of synod when synod is not in session, and three agency boards, replaced by a Council of Delegates of perhaps 60 members by 2018 or sooner.

The agency boards included are the boards of Back to God Ministries International, Christian Reformed World Missions and Christian Reformed Home Missions. The Council of Delegates will rely on a committee structure to provide the needed focus on specific agencies and ministries.

Although many details still have to be finalized, the proposal presented to synod suggested that instead of representing regions, delegates might come from classes (regional groups of churches). Plus there could be several at-large members of the council. This would result in the council resembling synod in that the U.S. delegation would outnumber Canadians by a about three to one. The current Board of Trustees has an equal number of Canadian and U.S. members.

It is yet to be determined how often the council would meet. It would have a smaller executive committee, perhaps with 12 members, that would meet more frequently.

Rev. Nick Overduin, Classis Toronto, said this is the perfect time to make such a change, with new leaders in place on the administrative executive team. Executive director Steven Timmermans, director of ministries and administration and ministries Colin Watson, and Canadian ministries director Rev. Darren Roorda all have been appointed in the past 15 months.

Rev. Paul Vander Klay, Classis Central California, also spoke in favor of the change. “I think it’s time to no longer take half measures,” he said. “We’ve got a plan; we’ve got the people; we should empower them and set them loose.”

Elder delegate Bruce McMurry, Classis Wisconsin, said he wasn’t convinced a radical change is needed. While the work started out when the church was in turmoil, “conditions are different than they were four years ago,” he said. “By God’s grace we are at a very different time than we were four years ago.”

Rev. Frank de Boer, Classis Alberta South/Saskatchewan, said the fact that the boards of all three mission agencies sent communications to synod expressing concerns about the proposal “set off an alarm bell inside of me.”

Some delegates expressed concern about the lack of detail in the proposal, which Rev. Henry Kranenburg of Classis Hamilton described as “a fairly open-ended recommendation.”

Rev. Timothy Toeset, Classis Yellowstone, also suggested, “There are far too many unanswered questions. I don’t think it is wise to proceed.”

Elder Lenore Maine, Classis Hackensack, didn’t want synod to be held back by lack of detail. Referring to decisions synod had made earlier in the week, she said, “We’ve been going forward, voting forward all week. We’ve built a brand new car and now you want to put a beat up engine in it. You need a new engine to make it go further!”

Synod tasked a transition committee with working out the details, including the size and composition of the council and how often it will meet. The transition committee is expected to work on a three-year time frame, reporting to synod on its progress each year.

After overwhelmingly approving moving ahead with the overhaul of the denominational board structure, synod also instructed the executive director to appoint a working group to examine the nature and purpose of classis, with the objective of proposing revisions that “will enable classes to flourish.”

And it instructed the  Board of Trustees to recommend to Synod 2016 a mandate, composition and timeline for a task force to review the practices and functions of synod itself.

For continuous coverage of Synod 2015 including the live webcast, news, video recordings, photos, liveblog, social media links, and more visit www.crcna.org/synod.