The Christian Reformed Church’s Council of Delegates received a final report from its task force to reduce governance costs, fund synod, and use time wisely at an early fall virtual meeting. Scheduled to meet the deadline of having recommendations before churches with enough time to consider and offer feedback before Synod 2026, the Sept. 4 meeting comes ahead of the Council’s regularly scheduled fall meeting expected Oct. 8-10 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The two approved recommendations—convening biennial instead of annual synods and appointing a task force to reconfigure the current 49 classes (regional groups of churches)—aim to reduce costs incurred by running synod, the Council of Delegates, and ongoing staff interactions with classes.
The third recommendation, to have synod introduce an annual classical assessment or fee classes would pay, aimed to create stable funding for these activities, but the Council of Delegates voted against that, 25 to 17, with two abstentions. Because of that, the task force asked to not yet be dismissed from its work in order to potentially present a revised funding proposal that could still go to Synod 2026.
The Office of General Secretary will distribute minutes from the Sept. 4 meeting, including the task force’s report and its rationale for the accepted and rejected proposals, to classes as soon as possible, coordinator of synodical operations Ashley Medendorp told delegates at the meeting.
Discussion over the recommendations included acknowledging the need to make changes carefully with a thought toward unintended consequences and a need for urgency, given the financial impacts of the status quo. When the task force presented its interim report in May, the denomination’s chief administrative officer Shirley De Vries described the reality of the fixed costs taking a larger percentage of denominational funding.
Drew Sweetman, Classis Muskegon and chair of the task force, which included representatives of the Council’s financial and synodical services committees, noted, “It's fair to admit that this started with a discussion about how can we save money in the governance of our denomination—Synod, the Council of Delegates, Office of General Secretary, all the things that are involved in our governance … (but) we were really looking for solutions that would not only be financially advantageous, but also ones that would be helpful for the governance of our denomination. I think that was our overriding goal as we work through all of these things.”
Sweetman also reminded delegates that “what we're suggesting here is a recommendation to synod. Synod still has to consider this and approve it.”
Still, some delegates didn’t want to be on the side of “recommending” these actions to synod without having classes and churches weigh in.
Herb Schreur, Classis Northcentral Iowa, said “I think we are failing in our function if we do not let this go out to the classes as information, at least give them a chance to look at it, before we say this is a recommendation.”
Other delegates, including Phil Apoll, Ontario Southwest, who served on the task force, saw it differently. “We really need to ask ourselves if we are serious about our role as Council of Delegates, which I assume, like most boards, has a fiduciary responsibility to the denomination. The reality is, the denomination is going broke. This (moving to biennial synods) is such a significant cost savings for governance, I don't see any way that we can't do it.”
Loren Veldhuizen, Classis Heartland, spoke in favor of accepting the task force’s recommendations. “A task force looks at everything that might be workable and they suggest it. I see this as a process. We need to get some ideas to the decision maker (synod) because we're at a crossroads.”
Several delegates suggested it wasn’t the right time to recommend less frequent synods. William Krahnke, Classis Lake Superior, questioned the wisdom of having synod, the primary deliberative assembly, meet only one time over a two-year period, while the Council of Delegates, the secondary body, would meet six times in the same period. “I just don't think this is wise in the current climate that our denomination is in right now.”
Eric Van Dyken, Classis Minnkota, said, “If there was a time in the CRC where we could go back to an every other year synod (the denomination had biennial synods between 1884 and 1936), I can't believe that now certainly is the time. There are too many things changing and too many things unsure to add a level of disconnection. … I think there are significant other ways in the denomination that we can still cut funding, including … to reduce our work (the Council of Delegates) instead, which is secondary work to Synod, not primary.”
In the end the Council voted 30 to 16, with one abstention, in favor of recommending biennial synods to Synod 2026. Krahnke, Van Dyken, and Lloyd Hemstreet, Classis Zeeland, registered negative votes.
The proposal for synod to create a task force to redistribute the classes into fewer regional assemblies received the least amount of discussion in the two-hour meeting, with the only remarks against it questioning the tight timeline. The Council did vote to “recommend to synod that synod establish a one-year task force, working in close coordination with the classes, to review the current classis structure and make recommendations to Synod 2027 for classis con-
solidations and/or overall restructuring.” Schreur registered a negative vote.
About the Author
Alissa Vernon is the news editor for The Banner.