2024: A Year in Review

Tough decisions made by synod, several changes in personnel, and, most importantly, wide-ranging ministry took place across the Christian Reformed Church in North America during 2024.

From the most-read stories that appeared in CRC News in 2024, here is a sampling  that reflects the many things that occurred in the denomination and among its members over the past 12 months.

Synod Captured Our Attention 

Stories from Syond 2024 were, by far, the most read in 2024. 

Synod 2024 began on June 14 in the chapel at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Delegates joined in worship and training and prepared for challenges as the meeting got under way.

Synod 2024 concluded its annual deliberations with encouragement from its president, Rev. Derek Buikema, to be gentle in the ongoing days, weeks, and months. 

The Office of General Secretary prepared a list of frequently asked questions and answers following Synod 2024. The responses aim to provide clarity and advice on how to apply synod’s decisions within the congregational and classis settings. 

Starting a New Era in Grand Rapids

Another major news item for the denomination in 2024 had to do with the change of location for the CRCNA’s Grand Rapids, Mich., offices. Some 100 people took the opportunity in late June to make a final tour of the CRCNA’s former denominational building. Concluding the tour was a special worship service marking the sale and end of activity at the structure, which had opened in 1956.

CRC People

Several other top-read stories of 2024 had to do with changes in ministry leadership. 

After 21 years of service with the CRCNA, including five years supporting CRC congregations as a staff member of a CRCNA agency, Chris Schoon stepped away from his role as codirector of Thrive.

Scott DeVries, who was serving as director of synodical services for the CRCNA, passed away from cancer on Apr. 27, 2024.

Albert Postma, following a robust recruitment and hiring process, was appointed to the role of executive director-Canada. 

Ruth Groenhout, who became Calvin University’s first female tenure-track philosophy professor, passed away in late 2024 from cancer.

Moses Chung left Resonate Global Mission after more than 13 years of service when church officials decided, after discernment and prayer, to eliminate the position in which he was serving. 

Greg Elzinga was appointed to serve as the 13th president of Calvin University by the school’s board of trustees upon the recommendation of the presidential search committee.

Colin Watson, Sr., former executive director of the CRCNA, became the first student to be awarded a doctor of ministry degree by Calvin Theological Seminary.

Our Shared Ministry 

Many of the most-read stories in 2024 had to do with ministry that Christian Reformed people do together through their ministry shares and support of shared agencies. 

Last April, for example, more than 60 CRC members from five regional classes convened at a hotel in St. Paul, Minn., to attend the first of a series of events called “Gather.” Joined by 18 staff members from CRCNA agencies, they shared stories, studied Scripture, and sought God’s will for the future of their congregations. This initiative is continuing into 2025.

In Bainet, Haiti, residents will no longer need to walk a long, rocky path to gather water for drinking, cleaning, and bathing. That’s because students serving through Resonate Global Mission’s IMPACT club in Bainet helped to make it possible to bring water to this community.

Friday, June 21, 2024, marked extreme rainfall in northwestern Iowa that led to severe flooding in the area. Several communities faced evacuation, including members of First CRC in Rock Valley. In addition, First CRC’s supply of brand-new Sunday school curriculum was destroyed. Through Dwell Assist, the curriculum was replaced, offering help and hope to the congregation as it recovered from the storm.

In early October, World Renew’s Disaster Response Services began collaborating daily with officials and other voluntary organizations to plan a coordinated response to Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 160 people and injured many others across four states in the U.S. 

Todd Cioffi reported that he reached a milestone in September. In 2015 he had made his first visit to the Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Mich., in connection with the Calvin Prison Initiative. Since then, Cioffi’s week-in, week-out commitment as senior advisor of the program has been hard to match. On Friday, Sept. 6, he entered the facility for the 500th time.

In May 2024, nearly 30 young adults from North America visited four locations in Europe. Their purpose was simple: to see what God is up to. The trip was cohosted by Generation Spark, the intergenerational ministry initiative formed as a partnership between Thrive and the Reformed Church in America.

Starting in early 2024, Rev. Jon Hoekema, a pastor at Horizon Community Church (Downers Grove, Ill.) and the Christian Reformed Church’s prayer shepherd, began guiding a handful of pastors and church leaders on a prayerful journey to seek the face of God in the hope of bringing renewal to their congregations.

Life in CRC Congregations
CRC News also shared many stories that featured what God is doing with and through local congregations. 

An unexpected knock on the door at Immanuel CRC in Langley, B.C., led to an extraordinary encounter. A young man had come with a refugee claimant family, seeking help at the nearest church after the family had just arrived in Canada. What began as an unplanned moment became a community-wide effort to welcome the family.

Bethany Besteman shared that as she offers prayers during the Sunday worship service at Silver Spring (Md.) Christian Reformed Church, she often envisions the faces of people of several faiths or no faith at all who have become connected in one way or another with the church’s food pantry.

When Amanda Mason started attending Hope Fellowship CRC in Courtice, Ont., she needed shelter amid a convergence of storms in her life. At Hope Fellowship she found that and more.

Westmont Christian Reformed Church in Strathroy, Ont., was nearly 60 years old. Though it was a healthy church in many ways, it was also aging, and membership was down. At the same time, the rural community of Strathroy, surrounded by farmland, was growing. New subdivisions, schools, and businesses were popping up as more families moved in. What happened next took several unexpected turns that led the congregation to where God needed them to be.

After his early-morning round of driving a local school bus, Rev. Scott Nichols hurried to his office so that he could send out a message informing members of his two churches in Corsica, S.D., that an elderly woman known to them all had been hospitalized after being injured in a fall. In this town of about 650 residents, Nichols serves as the pastor of a CRC congregation and a former RCA congregation. 

In 2025, CRC News will continue to bring you stories of the Christian Reformed Church. If you have a story to share, please email [email protected].