Joint Worship Thursday Will Open Synod 2018 and Annual Reformed Church in America General Assembly

Synod 2018 will open at 7 p.m., Thurs., June 7, in the Calvin College Chapel with joint worship for delegates to the Christian Reformed Church synod and delegates to the Reformed Church in America general synod.

Both denominations are holding their annual business meetings starting tomorrow at Calvin College. While each will have time to discuss their own unique business, they will also come together to share in times of worship, joint sessions, and seminars.

As the convening church for synod, Pillar Church in Holland, Mich., will host the joint opening worship. Pillar is affiliated with both the CRC and the RCA.

“We will speak on how we as a church are called to worship ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all [Eph. 4:5-6],” said Rev. Jon Brown, an RCA copastor at Pillar.

Rev. Jenna Brandsen, a CRC copastor at Pillar Church, will also preach.

Synod 2018 is scheduled to run through Thurs., June 14, at 3:30 p.m. The RCA general synod begins on June 7 and runs through June 12.

A community-wide synodical worship service, planned by a joint committee of the RCA and the CRC, will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 10, at the DeVos Center for Arts and Worship at Grand Rapids Christian High School, 2300 Plymouth Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, Mich. All are welcome.

Dee Recker, director of the Synodical Services office of the CRC, said the denominations have been working on this joint meeting since 2016 — and it arises from the “Pella Accord” that came out of the denominations’ joint sessions at their concurrent meetings in Pella, Iowa, in 2014. A joint resolution (nicknamed the “Pella Accord”) adopted at those meetings calls for the churches to work together wherever possible.

Some of the joint activities include a Friday-night session highlighting areas of CRC/RCA collaborative work, including church multiplication, joint ministry in disaster relief, refugee resettlement, global missions, and women’s leadership.

On Saturday morning, a total of 27 advisory groups of 20 delegates/advisers each, led by a moderator (each a delegate to one of the synods) will address one of four topics: collaboration, new creation, congregational renewal and transformation initiative, and interfaith engagement.

Moderators will convene Sunday afternoon to prepare a written summary for each of the four topics for presentation to the joint meeting on Monday morning.

Joint worship services, advisory committees, workshops, and other gatherings will take place while the CRC and RCA synods are meeting concurrently.

The CRC synod will officially open for business on Friday morning, June 8, in the Calvin College Covenant Fine Arts Center, where all CRC plenary meetings will be held.

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

On the agenda for Synod 2018 are a range of issues and overtures related to declining church membership, speaking out on political and social issues, classis renewal, and the effectiveness and value of various church ministries.

Here are some items that will be discussed:

• Council of Delegates: An update on the Council of Delegates (COD) of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, which replaces the former Board of Trustees. The COD held its inaugural meeting in October 2017, gathering delegates representing classes, with additional at-large members, to address the mission and ministry of the CRCNA on behalf of synod.
• Diversity: At the instruction of Synod 2013 each CRC agency, Calvin College, and Calvin Theological Seminary have been asked to submit to the executive director a report on how they have been doing, as part of their strategic plan, in reaching diversity goals and timelines in their leadership, administrative, and regional ministry teams. In receiving this year’s annual report, the COD noted that while there has been progress, the church needs to keep working to increase diversity in leadership, on boards, and at other levels.
• Classis renewal: Synod 2015 directed the executive director to “appoint and resource a working group (Classis Renewal Group) to build on the work of the existing Classis Renewal Ministry Team, including an examination of the nature, scope, and purpose of classes, with the objective of boldly exploring and innovatively addressing revisions to structures and to the Church Order that will enable classes to flourish” (Acts of Synod 2015, p. 680). The Classis Renewal Group has been at work studying the role of and considering changes to classes in the CRCNA. The COD reviewed the group’s final report in February and is forwarding the report to synod for its consideration.
• Programs and ministries: Synod 2016 instructed the Board of Trustees of the CRCNA “to evaluate and prioritize all existing programs and ministries with the goal of reducing the institutional footprint” (Acts of Synod 2016, p. 858). Synod 2017 received an update on the process, and delegates had the chance to offer their impressions of each ministry’s value by completing a survey prior to synod. Delegates also participated in an exercise during synod that generated data to produce a final analysis.The results reported in this year’s agenda show that all CRC ministries and programs, to a varying extent, are considered valuable. At its February 2018 meeting, the Council of Delegates finalized its report and has now submitted it with recommendations to Synod 2018.
• Evangelism, congregational renewal, and church planting: A team of Resonate Global Mission and Calvin Theological Seminary staff, in consultation with Back to God Ministries International leaders, addressed the main focus of the Synod 2017 recommendation “to make available a list of current denominational resources related to church renewal, including church planting with emphasis on training for evangelism” (Acts of Synod 2017, p. 706).

Received by the COD in February and now recommended to synod is a report providing a biblical theology for church planting and evangelism, addressing contemporary contexts, and providing a list of resources and tools.

The Agenda for Synod 2018 has been mailed to all CRC churches. The Agenda Supplement and Financial and Business Supplement, now complete, are available in digital format. Past reports and Acts of Synod and much more can be found on the CRC’s Synod Resources page and annual synod page.

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