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After a challenging stretch of years, the CRC now stands at a threshold. Important matters of doctrine have been reaffirmed, but the next chapter depends on more than resolution—it depends on renewal. We need not a new approach, but a return to the ordinary tools by which Christ has always formed his people. These are practices grounded in Scripture, shaped by the confessions, and sustained by the Spirit. We have spoken much of the church’s marks; perhaps now is the time to rediscover them as means.
The past few years have seen renewed attention to the confessions. For many, this has been a season of clarification—a time to remember who we are and what we believe. But now, as the dust begins to settle, we have the opportunity for deeper rediscovery: not just of doctrinal alignment, but of spiritual nourishment. Our confessions, our practices, and our Reformed identity are not only assets to defend, but gifts to receive, inhabit, and pass on.
Historically, the church has used different language to describe its identity. Acts 2 speaks of a community devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. The Nicene Creed reminds us that the church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The Reformers, seeking to distinguish genuine churches from distortions of the gospel, named the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and church discipline as the church’s essential marks.
These marks remain crucial—not as mere signs of legitimacy, but as channels of life. Preaching is more than teaching; it is proclamation and nourishment. The sacraments are not just symbols of belonging; they are signs and seals of grace. Discipline, rightly understood, is not primarily a tool for exclusion, but for restoration and healing. These practices are not only signs of the church’s faithfulness—they are how we are sustained in Christ.
Confessions: More than Controversy
In the past few years, the Three Forms of Unity—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort—have become highly visible again in the CRC. But they have often appeared as courtroom documents, cited in debates and appeals to define doctrinal boundaries. That is a legitimate and important function. But we must also recover their pastoral and spiritual functions. The Heidelberg Catechism was written for comfort and clarity, not combat. The Canons of Dort were a word of hope for anxious Christians, not just a refutation of Arminians. The Belgic Confession was written not only to articulate the faith but to inspire courage in the Reformed people of the Low Countries as they faced persecution from Spain.
What if the confessions were used today as guides to communion with God? They were not written as trump cards to end conversation, but to shape it. They invite us into a shared vocabulary for understanding Scripture and, more importantly, trusting and following Christ.
The Means of Grace as a Way of Life
The past few years have brought a renewed vigilance in guarding doctrine. Now we must become skillful at using it to grow into the likeness of Christ. And the Reformed tradition already has abundant resources to nourish our life together.
The reading and preaching of the Word is not simply an information transfer—it is how God gathers and sustains his people. In the Reformed tradition, Scripture is not just a source of doctrinal content; it is the living voice of Christ, calling his church into being and nourishing it in faith. When Scripture is proclaimed, Christ is present by his Spirit, speaking grace, calling to repentance, and forming us in love. The Word, then, is not only a mark of the true church. It is also a means by which God actively shapes us into a holy and hopeful people.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not occasional extras, but regular means of Christ’s nourishment. Though baptism is received only once, each time a covenant child or new believer is baptized, the whole congregation is invited to remember their own baptism. By doing so, we recall that the Spirit has washed us, renewed us, set us apart as members of Christ, and empowered us to grow in holiness. The Lord’s Supper, celebrated more frequently, anchors us again and again in the grace of Christ’s death and resurrection. At the Table, our souls are nourished, our unity in Christ is strengthened, and we are refreshed to live for him in hope.
When we recognize these gifts as means of grace rather than mere structures, their power to nourish and guide the church becomes clearer. Prayer, rather than a perfunctory prelude or ornamental afterthought, becomes a channel of grace through which God works to change both us and the world. Discipline, too, is seen as formative rather than merely punitive. It is a way God protects, heals, and draws us back to Christ.
The confessional documents, long used for doctrinal clarity, also serve as spiritual companions: shaping how we trust, worship, and live before God. Their rhythms and teachings offer a steady path for formation, not just a framework for theological boundaries.
Likewise, the offices of pastor, elder, and deacon are more than institutional necessities. They are gifts by which God equips his church with wise leadership and care. When exercised faithfully, they shape communities that reflect the wisdom, compassion, and authority of Christ himself.
Rooted in Grace, Reaching out in Hope
Even with a return to these life-giving sources, the renewal of the Christian Reformed Church will fail if we only turn inward. These means of grace—the Word, Sacraments, prayer, and more—are not only for internal maintenance. They are also how we bear witness to the world. A church deeply rooted in the gospel does not need to choose between clarity and compassion. When we live out of the means of grace, our churches become not only correct, but compelling. For seekers, skeptics, and the spiritually bruised, what they need is not a political stance or allies in the culture wars. Rather, they need to hear Christ in the sermon, meet him at the Table, and experience grace in the community of believers. Evangelism in a confessional church is not strategy—it’s what happens when Christ is truly present among his people. The church’s renewal will not come by relevance or by retreat, but by being a community where Christ is clearly proclaimed and visibly present, and where new believers are grafted into a gospel-shaped people.
The road ahead for the CRC is not easy. But neither is it a road we must travel unequipped and unaccompanied. Let us teach the confessions—not only in debate, but in devotion. Where they’ve sometimes functioned as shields, they can now become tools for cultivation—tilling the ground for deeper faith and shared life in Christ. Let us recover the rhythms of preaching, sacraments, prayer, and mutual care—not only to affirm our Reformed identity, but to be nourished in Christ. The same Spirit who calls the church together through the Word and Sacraments still speaks, still feeds, still renews.
About the Author
Rev. Matthew Wright is the associate pastor of Cottonwood Church in Jenison, Mich. He is a Th.M. graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary and has served in pastoral ministry since 2009.