Items to note from the meeting include ratifying a new director of communications, receiving a report from general secretary Zachary King after his recent return from a three-month sabbatical, financial updates, and pending decisions on re-addressing the 2019 abuse of power report and a possible change in corporate structure for ReFrame Ministries.
The Council of Delegates of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, and the denomination’s two ministry boards, one for the U.S. and one for Canada, met Oct. 14-16 at Cascade Fellowship CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Items to note from the meeting include ratifying a new director of communications, receiving a report from general secretary Zachary King after his recent return from a three-month sabbatical, financial updates, pending decisions on re-addressing the 2019 abuse of power report, and a possible change in corporate structure for ReFrame Ministries.
Geena DeWeerd, most recently director for client strategy and communications with Durrell Communications in Waterloo, Ont., was ratified by the Council of Delegates as the denomination’s new director of communications. Working out of the Burlington, Ont., ministry office, DeWeerd starts in the position Nov. 16. She is a lifelong member of the CRC and professing member of Stratford (Ont.) CRC, where she has employed her gifts toward congregational communication, website redevelopment, and digital strategy.
The position has been vacant since March, when then director Kristen VanderBerg left for a role with Ontario supportive housing charity InDwell. Brian Geers, director of marketing and communications for Resonate Global Mission, has been serving in the interim.
King thanked God and his colleagues for the gift of time to concentrate on rest and reflection, reconnecting with previous periods of ministry, and enjoying renewed relationships with family. He named five commitments for the next season of ministry: “respect boundaries in life and ministry … embrace ministry and leadership as God’s blessing instead of overemphasizing serving and duty … encourage the development of Christ-like leaders as a focus … communicating a hopeful and honest vision of God’s mission … embrace prayer and spiritual practices.”
King told delegates his office is close to completing a “very invitational communications strategy” for the ongoing church renewal and church planting plans and asked for support to share that message. “The core of what we do is to follow the Holy Spirit and encourage the ministry of our congregations,” King said.
Ministry Shares 79% of 2022 Shares, Only 1% Down From Last Year
Roberta Vriesema, director of partnership administration, reviewed the organization’s financial standing of the past fiscal year, compared to the previous fiscal year, especially with respect to ministry share giving, the contributions of member congregations to the shared ministry and operational support of the Christian Reformed Church.
Spending reflects revenues, Vriesema said. “Spending has gone down because ministry shares have gone down and overall giving is down. … We are conservative managers of the money,” she emphasized. “Overall revenues have gone down from all sources, and this is the result.”
Lloyd Hemstreet, delegate from Classis Zeeland who serves on the finance committee, noted that ministry share giving dropped only 1% between 2024-25 and 2025-26 but is still only 79% of the ministry share revenue from four years ago.
Review of 2019 Instruction on Abuse of Power to Come
Delegates received a report from the Dignity Team, a group appointed to address possible gaps in support to those who’ve experienced hurt within the church, which Synod 2026 requested be disbanded. The team has until June to wrap up its work. Council of Delegates chair Andre VanRyk led delegates in a discussion concerning whether a new approach to 2019 instructions to address possible gaps in support structures is still needed now that the Council’s first remedy—the Dignity Team—has been dismissed.
The team “was formed because of the (2019) report on abuse of power. That report has not been overturned,” VanRyk said. “So this body will have to work out a way to ensure, potentially in our existing mechanisms” that adequate support exists. He said the Council of Delegates executive, along with Thrive, “will review the (2019) mandate and sort through how we will find a way to make sure those gaps are filled.” Any recommendations will come to a future meeting of the Council of Delegates.
Members Appointed to Vision and Mission Statement Review Committee
The Council appointed some members to assist with a Synod 2026 request that the general secretary form a committee to work on new denominational vision and mission statements, giving an initial report to Synod 2027. Chris Pederson (Classis Chicago South), Gregory Morris (Red Mesa), Wendy Werkman (Alberta North), Felix Fernandez (Southeast US), Ren Tubergen (Thornapple Valley), and Ron VanAuken (Quinte) were appointed, with Matthew Haan (Iakota) and Philip Apoll (Ontario Southwest) as alternates.
Boards Approve Investigation of Corporate Change for ReFrame
The Canadian and U.S. ministry boards also function as U.S. and Canadian boards for ReFrame Ministries, the media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. That’s because, unlike Resonate Global Mission or Thrive, ReFrame is still independently incorporated as a nonprofit, registered in Illinois and also in Canada. During the October meetings, the boards discussed and approved in principle a proposal to begin the process of including ReFrame in the denomination’s charitable and corporate structure instead.
Canadian Board Approves Refreshed Justice Ministry Mandates
The directors of the Canadian Ministry Board adopted refreshed mandates for Indigenous Ministry, Intercultural Ministry, and the Centre for Public Dialogue. A subcommittee at work over the past eight months, with the input of ministry staff, developed revised mandates using the 2011 synodical mandate of the Centre for Public Dialogue as a template.
Each ministry is identified as part of the Canadian Ministries Office of the CRCNA and is accountable to the Canadian Ministry Board through the office of the executive director.
Al Postma, executive director, is responsible for providing regular updates to the Canadian Ministry Board on the work of the three ministries and bringing their proposed budgets and annual plans for awareness, amendment, and approval.
Other Actions
The Council of Delegates
- Acknowledged the resignation of Classis Iakota delegate Bob Drenton, whose first term was expected to end in June 2027.
- Welcomed 11 new synodically appointed members and appointed two interim delegates— one for Iakota and one for Thornapple Valley—recommending their regular appointment to Synod 2027.
- Heard reports from the director of ecclesiastical governance and from ministry leaders of ReFrame Ministries, Resonate Global Mission, Thrive, and Calvin Theological Seminary.
- Received the evaluation report of the Thrive review team “in fulfillment of Synod 2025’s instructions regarding the regular review of CRCNA agencies.” The report will be included in the Agenda for Synod 2027.
- Approved the theme “Formed to be Sent” as the guiding theme to be used in the preparation of prayer and worship materials for Synod 2027.
- Approved making a formal request that all CRCNA organizations submit the most recent copies of their bylaws for information, in order to ensure transparent governance and to facilitate cooperation among CRCNA entities.
About the Author
Alissa Vernon is the news editor for The Banner.