Task Force: ‘Major assemblies do have the authority to ensure accountability’

A Christian Reformed Church task force working to “develop Church Order procedures to discipline officebearers, including disaffiliation of a council or classis initiated by a major assembly” completed its report at the end of October. “What is especially crucial at this time is that synod make explicit what has always been implied: major assemblies do have the authority to ensure accountability,” the task force says.

A council is the appointed group of officebearers (elders and deacons) that serves a local congregation. It’s the narrowest, or minor, ecclesiastical assembly in CRC polity. A classis, attended by delegates of each council in a regional or other grouping, is a major assembly—there are 49 classes currently in the CRC in North America. Synod, a gathering of delegations from every classis, is the broadest, or most major assembly. Church Order, developed over time by many synods and based originally on the Church Order of Dort, is the set of rules that govern denominational life.

“The issue of the authority of broader assemblies is a challenging topic,” the task force writes in its 22-page report, commissioned by Synod 2024.

It affirms that all authority in church bodies is “vested authority” coming from Christ, first to the local church and then transferred to the other assemblies by means of covenanting together. Referencing Henry DeMoor’s 1986 doctoral dissertation, “Equipping the Saints,” the report asserts that “given that the major assemblies are ‘combined consistories’ of many councils and not simply gatherings of individual delegates, major assemblies are the ruling agency of the minor assemblies.”

And yet, the task force writes, “In the history of the CRC there has always been a general desire to protect the autonomy of the local church as much as possible—but not at all costs.”

To explicitly prescribe the possibility of an intervention by a major assembly, the report proposes a supplement to Church Order Article 27-b, which already asserts, “The classis has the same authority over the council as the synod has over the classis.”

The supplement would read, in part: “Major assemblies are expected to hold councils or classes within their constituency accountable to the ecclesiastical covenant implied in denominational membership. The means of maintaining accountability may include the steps of special discipline described in Church Order Articles 82-84 and their Supplements.”

The task force also recommends a new Article 83-b in the section of Church Order on the admonition and discipline of officebearers. “In exceptional circumstances, when necessary for the well-being of a congregation, a major assembly may suspend and depose officebearers even when such action has not been initiated by the council,” the proposed new article reads.

The task force also proposes adjustments to the supplement to Articles 82-84, to be in line with the proposed Article 83-b, and it recommends Synod 2026 “affirm that although Synod 2024 made decisions regarding “limited suspension” (Acts of Synod 2024, pp. 891-93), that precedent should not be deemed to create a new category of discipline (“limited suspension”) in addition to the already established categories of suspension and deposition.”

Synod 2026 will receive and vote on the recommendations in the task force report. Until acted on by synod they are just proposals.

As laid out by the rules for synodical procedure, a single synod may alter or add a supplement to Church Order, but the addition of, or alteration to, an existing article must be proposed by one synod and adopted by a subsequent synod.

The report has been made available, along with executive summaries in English, Spanish, and Korean, to the churches and classes of the CRCNA. CRC communications announced the report’s availability in mid November, noting, “If councils or classes have an opinion about how Synod 2026 should respond to the report, they are invited to send their suggestions to next June’s meeting by means of an overture or communication by Mar. 15, 2026.”