by AARON VRIESMAN
Anyone who watched the final day of Synod 2023 in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) would have been stunned. The log jam of recommendations still to reach the floor led to the decision to postpone the remaining business to 2024. Highly important but contentious topics remained until the following year.
The differing factions within the CRC are increasingly visible at synod. “Conservative” and “liberal” descriptors are so politically charged that matters of Christ’s church become conflated with current political interests. A better term for the conservative faction is confessionalist. Exemplified by “The Abide Project,” these stress confessional identity and hold orthodox views on marriage and sexuality. The liberals would better be called revisionists. “All One Body” would fit into this group. They are more open to revising traditional church stances and new movements of what the Holy Spirit might be doing. They are either in favor of full LGBTQ inclusion or are open to the idea. Then there are moderates who often feel caught in the middle. Their organization is the CRCNA agencies and offices. They tend to be loyal to the CRC brand and averse to ecclesiastical conflict.
SYNOD 2022
The most contentious matters of Synod 2023 concerned matters from last year. Synod 2022 was a significant blow to the affirming (revisionist?) movement within the CRC. Synod had overwhelmingly voted to “affirm that ‘unchastity’ in Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 108 encompasses adultery, premarital sex, extramarital sex, polyamory, pornography and homosexual sex, all of which violate the seventh commandment. In so doing, synod declares this affirmation ‘an interpretation of [a] confession’ (Acts of Synod 1975, p. 603). Therefore, this interpretation has confessional status.”
Synod 2022 also was firm with Neland Ave CRC in Grand Rapids. In 2020, this congregation ordained a deacon living in a same-sex marriage. Synod overwhelmingly voted to “instruct Neland Ave to immediately rescind its decision to ordain a deacon in a same-sex marriage, thus nullifying this deacon’s term.” Further, synod instructed Neland Ave “to uphold our shared denominational covenants” and tasked the Executive Director to appoint a committee in loco to follow up with Neland Ave and Classis Grand Rapids East, which had refused to intervene. Neland Ave decided to appeal the decision to Synod 2023. Classis Grand Rapids East used the appeal as reason to still not intervene.
BETTER TOGETHER?
Once Synod 2022 drew a hard line on sexuality, the CRC head office became flooded with calls about current officebearers who disagreed with the decision, which led to the release of a FAQ.
In February of 2023, a new group emerged, calling themselves “Better Together: A Third Way.” Characterizing the revisionist-confessional debate as another branch of the broader culture wars erupting in the CRC, Better Together wants the CRC to have a “mission-focused, baptismally-based identity that allows for disagreement on ethical issues that do not determine our salvation, such as same-sex marriage…” This is “for the purpose of unity and mission together.” Essentially, the Third Way is unity at all costs. For one side this would be the cost of safe spaces for LGBTQ people. For the other side this would be the cost of having teachers in the CRC using the grace of God as license for immorality.
Only days after Better Together appeared, the CRC’s LGBTQ lobby group announced that 11 congregations have made public statements in support of full LGBTQ inclusion.
Overtures began to pile up. Many of them asked to reverse the decisions of the prior synod. Particular focus was on reversing the declaration that synod’s definition of “unchastity” has “confessional status.” Some called for responses to Neland Ave and the other 10 congregations with affirming statements. Others asked for leeway for Neland Ave and other affirming congregations as well as officebearers who disagree with Synod 2022’s decision.
SYNOD 2023
When Synod 2023 finally commenced, the initial days progressed as synods often go.
Synod 2023 decided (again) to refuse an overture to adopt Belhar Confession as a full confession. The final speaker before the vote was Christian Sebastia, a pastor originally from Venezuela who condemned the Belhar’s “liberation theology” that would open the door to “blood-red socialism.”
Synod decided to make an official statement against assisted suicide. Even speakers from historically revisionist classes spoke against assisted suicide and the need for a statement. A task force will be appointed to draft a report on assisted suicide based on prior synodical statements valuing human life.
A proposed “Code of Conduct for Ministry Leaders” with vague language about “harm” was thoroughly revised so that any open-ended language could not be used to limit the teaching of Scripture. After all, God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). Synod explicitly clarified that this Code is “subservient to Scripture and our Confessions.” Moreover, the Code is “encouraged” (not required) of councils to use for church staff.
All One Body demonstrators daily lined the walkways to and from the dining hall singing “Jesus Loves Me” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” as delegates walked by. The group neared 130 on Wednesday, many holding signs such as, “Avoid Loveless Orthodoxy / Accept God is Love,” “Say ‘All Are Welcome’ … and MEAN IT!”
While All One Body whites (is there a better descriptor?) demonstrated outside, inside was a different story. “Several Korean and Latino delegates expressed their positions on human sexuality,” observed Latino Commissioned Pastor Moises Pacheco. “And it seemed to be totally ignored by the delegates speaking in favor of the affirming side even while they continued to claim a desire to advocate for those on the margins. Oddly enough, those on the margins that they were advocating for seemed to be their own friends and family. I’m not sure I have ever felt so ignored. Even The Banner made an article mentioning Christian Sebastia and his daughter, but it didn’t even quote them and didn’t include most of what they said on the Synod floor. I felt like they were saying, ‘we want your diverse faces for our marketing, but please don’t speak.’”
Sparks began to fly on Wednesday, June 14 when reversing last synod’s decisions came to the floor. Synod voted to reject all overtures asking to reverse Synod 2022’s definition of “unchastity” in the Catechism. Synod voted against removing “homosexual sex” from the list of examples of “unchastity.” Synod voted to reject all overtures seeking to delay implementation of the decisions on sexuality from Synod 2022. Synod rejected a request to create a local option for affirming congregations. Each recommendation brought a flood of speakers. Most of those who spoke wanted reversal of the decisions of 2022. Up until this point, all of the recommendations were from a unified advisory committee. Only one matter split Advisory Committee 7 into majority and minority reports: Whether or not to retain last year’s definition of “unchastity” as “confessional status.” This writer was chair of the majority report, which called for synod to retain confessional status. The minority report called for synod to declare the matter “settled and binding” for all officebearers but not “confessional status.” Both reports were read and the majority report came to the floor first. Immediately one delegate moved to table the majority report to take up the minority report. That motion failed. More speakers stacked up in the queue, most continued to be of an affirming or third way bent. Again, a motion to table the majority report and take up the minority report failed. When Advisory Committee 7’s minority reporter Rita Klein-Geltink spoke with tears asking if her sons could still stay in the CRC if they were not fully settled in their minds about the CRC’s definition of “unchastity,” majority reporter Steve Zwart also broke down and wept as he answered, “Don’t vote for this and then go home and be jerks about it.” In the end, synod voted against removing “confessional status.”
One CRC pastor on his YouTube channel described Wednesday as a funeral. He described the next day as a fight that breaks out at a funeral.
The following morning was the final day of synod. Just after worship time, Better Together steering team member and delegate David Struyk announced he will leave in protest over the confessional status decision the night prior. CNN ran video of his speech, perhaps because Struyk’s gay son is a CNN senior producer. While Struyk removed himself in solidarity with his son, his action effectively demonstrated we are not better together.
The final day continued by taking up the appeal from Neland Ave. Speakers lined up and a long discussion ensued. Synod voted to reject Neland Ave’s appeal. Vote counts were not read up until this point. One delegate then spoke, saying she recognized she was in the minority and wanted to know just how much in the minority. After a successful challenge to the chair, the vote count on rejecting Neland’s appeal was announced: 124 to 47 with 6 abstentions. At this point the affirming delegates became visibly distraught.
Synod then voted to repeat the prior year’s instructions to Neland Ave and Classis Grand Rapids East. The next recommendation was to appoint a new in loco committee to oversee Neland Ave’s compliance – a letter of repentance that acknowledged their breaking of covenant and a public statement announcing their commitment to follow the CRC stance. A written statement from the classis was also put forth with a deadline of December 31, 2023. Another long discussion ensued as time ticked away and many other business items were yet to be taken up. Then, synod President Paul DeVries stood up to speak. He had recused himself from the chair since he was also chair of the prior in loco committee. He spoke against the recommendation to form another in loco committee, and the recommendation failed. Neland Ave received the same instructions as last year, but this year will have no follow up on their compliance. Synod then broke for lunch while a number of confessionalist delegates scrambled to put together a motion from the floor to propose some sort of accountability for the congregation that had essentially given the finger to the rest of the denomination for the past three years. But when synod reconvened, there was not enough time for the motion.
After lunch, only a couple hours remained but many agenda items were still to go. Synod took up and adopted the recommendation to require “all classes to guide into compliance the officebearers of their constituent churches who publicly reject the biblical guidelines affirmed by Synod 2022 regarding same-sex relationships.” Synod also voted to “remind all church visitors throughout the CRCNA of their authority and responsibility to, in a spirit of love and grace, guide officebearers into alignment with the biblical guidelines, including but not limited to all areas of human sexuality.” Last year’s mandate to Classis Grand Rapids East was thereby extended to every corner of the denomination.
Next was majority and minority reports on how to process official objections from officebearers about the confessions, called gravamina. The majority and minority reports were responding to a popular belief that an officebearer could simply file a gravamen, then continue to serve in every capacity. The majority report, citing the original purpose of the gravamen, sought to close the artificial loophole allowing dissenting officebearers to serve as if they were in full agreement. The minority report sought to allow flexibility for officebearers who dissent. A motion to table the majority report and move to the minority report failed. Then the body voted to cease debate and vote on the majority report recommendations. At that point, eight delegates left in protest. With time constraints nearing the breaking point, the officers of synod ruled to postpone the remaining agenda items to Synod 2024.
AFTERMATH
Synod, the last two years especially, feels like war. The differing visions for the CRC’s future and the underlying theologies behind the opposing visions collide each year at synod. The conflict does not feel like a friendly game of basketball between family members. The conflict feels like a desperate fight for the soul of the church. The viewpoints are so different that despite the verboten descriptors, there will be winners and losers. The losers will find themselves in a CRC so intolerable that they will have to leave. At synod, the gloves come off because the future of the church is at stake.
Religion News Service quoted Mary Jane Pories, an LGBTQ+ identifying member at Neland, saying, “I want to continue to be part of a congregation that reflects my values, which are being open and hospitable and welcoming to everybody,” she said. “But I can’t be part of a denomination that does not feel that way.”
Non-CRC observer Lance Cleaver astutely noted, “There is no middle way between these two positions, as both sides are steadfastly set in their positions. The chasm is too great. These are irreconcilable differences. A wise therapist once told me a marriage is over long before the divorce is considered. The CRC marriage is clearly over, yet it seems like some are still in denial that somehow a divorce can be thwarted…”
After synod voted to keep “confessional status,” an All One Body board member posted on Facebook: “This maneuver is a major overstep of Synodical authority and power move by Abide. This means that all office bearers must subscribe to this interpretation or resign. The CRC as you have known it has become unrecognizable. It is Abide’s way or the highway.”
This slow-motion collision of views is like a war, with sides and tactics, victories and defeats, and lots of casualties. This round, confessionalists came away with a disguised victory.
One CRC pastor put it this way:
“I think after the emotions cool down the conservatives will continue to realize they’re inheriting the kingdom. They won almost all the votes and GRE was only saved by [Paul DeVries] pleading mercy reflecting the moderates. The progressives now know that 1. 2022 was no fluke; 2. Their arguments again got them no traction; 3. They’ve really got to think hard about their agenda as a minority. …They are the ones facing an unknown future in the CRC.”
Only one thing is certain going forward. The future is in God’s hands, and our trust must be in him.
Aaron Vriesman is pastor in North Blendon CRC, Hudsonville, MI.
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