A group called All One Body spent years advocating for the CRC to be fully LGBTQ-affirming. In 2021, Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan ordained a deacon in a same-sex marriage. A group of unrenowned pastors and lay leaders started the Abide Project with the goal to maintain biblical sexuality in the CRC.

The conflict came to a head in 2022 when the CRC’s annual synod adopted the Human Sexuality Report. This report stated that “adultery, premarital sex, extra-marital sex, polyamory, pornography and homosexual sex” all violate the Seventh Commandment. Moreover, this had “confessional status.” In other words, all ministers, elders and deacons would be expected to hold this position.

At Synod 2023, a flood of challenges to this decision were denied with a firm stand on “confessional status.” Meanwhile, more and more congregations were openly waving rainbow pride flags and stating publicly that they were fully affirming alternative sexual lifestyles. For a denomination with many family ties, discipline has often been avoided. Arguments were made that Church Order does not permit regional classes or the binational assembly of synod to conduct discipline.

Nevertheless, Synod 2024 imposed “limited suspension” on all officebearers who publicly contradicted synod decisions on sexuality, restricting them from being delegates to broader assemblies such as classis or synod and keeping them from serving on CRC agency boards.

After Synod 2024, the progressive wing began to depart the CRC. Dissenters have painted themselves either as martyrs or victims of political maneuvering or political partisanship.

Living Into the Biblical Stance on Sexuality

Most recently, Synod 2026 met from June 12-18 and its decisions reflect a denomination that is continuing its renewal. Delegates and discussions reflected a settled stance on marriage and sexuality. Debates centered around how to live into this stance.

Continue reading at Juicy Ecumenism

Splash photo: crcna.org/synod

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Host Lora Copley, The Banner’s interim editor-in-chief, discusses synod’s second day of deliberations with Susan LaClear, the CRC’s director of Candidacy, and Jason Ruis, associate pastor of Bethel CRC (Waupun, Wisc.) and stated clerk of Classis Wisconsin.

Here are some more updates from Banner Magazine editor, Lora Copley:

The Banner Synod 2026 Recap: Prayer with John Hoekema

The Banner Synod 2026 Recap: Fresh Eyes with Joshua Jiang

The Banner Synod 2026 Recap: Worship with Tim Blackmon

The Banner has posted a summary video of the evening’s proceedings hosted by current interim and soon-to-be permanent editor, Rev. Lora Copley with Rev. Nate Van Denend as a guest.

The officers elected were:

President: Rev. Chad Steenwyk, pastor of Central Ave CRC in Holland, MI

Vice President: Rev. Derek Buikema, pastor of Orland Park CRC in Chicagoland, IL

First Clerk: Rev. Jose Rayas, pastor of Valley Ridge CRC in Socorro, TX

Second Clerk: Rev. David TenClay, pastor of Bauer CRC in Hudsonville, MI

The Abide Project is not hosting this event; it is simply promoting it. We are excited to come alongside Our Three Forms and help share this great conference.

We are excited to announce that next fall, Our Three Forms will be hosting several speakers and theologians at Hillcrest CRC in Hudsonville, MI, to help us think more deeply about “What is the Church?” Please mark your calendars for Oct 24 and use the link below to sign up. We are excited that Dr. R. Scott Clark will be joining us, along with Rev. Stephen Terpstra and others. There will be a special Pre-Conference preaching Seminar on Friday night Oct 23, with Rev. Stephen Terpstra. Past guests & speakers to Our Three Forms (3F) have come from the CRC, OPC, URC, PCA, and Alliance, etc. However, these events are designed for anyone who wants to grow in their understanding of Confessionally Reformed Christianity. Last year, we gave an overview of the Three Forms (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort). This year marks the beginning of a three-year project.

October 24, 2026: The Church Defined (Beauty of Reformed Ecclesiology)

2027: The Church Gathered (Worship and The Ordinary Means of Grace)

2028: The Church Committed (Leadership, Belonging, and Membership)

3F: A coalition to encourage, nurture, and equip churches, officebearers, and members to live out a confessionally Reformed faith in the CRC and beyond.

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We cannot bring an update without first pausing with humbled, grateful hearts at God’s mercy to the Christian Reformed Church. What God has done among us is something he has not done in many other denominations. The “Human Sexuality Report” (HSR) has been adopted by a landslide. Those who were in open defiance of the biblical and catholic position on marriage and sexuality have been admonished and encouraged to repent. Those who refused to comply have moved on to churches that aligned with their vision. The last synod saw a revived cooperation that we have not seen in years. Conversations have changed. The Lord has delivered the Christian Reformed Church, and we are grateful. May He fix our eyes upon Jesus and move us into greater and greater faithfulness.

Because of this, the Steering Committee has wrestled with whether or not to continue. It has always been the intention that The Abide Project would be a temporary grassroots movement for this particular moment. The ultimate goal is local ministry in each of our contexts.

We realize that there is always more work to be done regarding discipleship and pastoral care surrounding matters of sexuality. We still breathe the cultural air of the sexual revolution. Its ideas still find their way into the church. The plague of pornography is a constant battle. We call upon all members and ministry leaders to practice pastoral care that is both faithful and tender, with grace and truth, in correction and encouragement.

We also realize that the reason marriage and sexuality became a debate in the first place was because of our weak biblical and confessional rootedness.

This is our call moving forward. We need to do the work of teaching and shepherding. People need to grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We share in his anointing to be prophets, priests and kings in a world that needs him. People need to know that their needs and desires are ultimately met in Jesus Christ and all that he offers to us. True love is Christ on the cross for our sins. True intimacy is our connection with God the Father through Jesus Christ and his body of the church. True acceptance is in his grace. True purpose is in holiness. True fulfillment is in carrying a cross. This is the good news needed in a sexually broken world. We all need to live out these truths in our lives and preach them with our words. This is best done in our local congregations, so we hope to continue helping the Christian Reformed Churches live into these challenges with the hope of the gospel.

From the very first Zoom meeting that led to the formation of “The Abide Project,” we also knew that these discussions were not merely about human sexuality. It was symptomatic of a deeper and more fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be confessionally Reformed. We hope to spend the next year exploring some of those underlying questions: what does it mean to be confessional? What does transformation look like in the life of a believer? And fundamentally, what is the gospel? These are all necessary questions to explore to live faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ.

So, what is happening with the Abide Project? While on the one hand, we will be scaling back our work because of many answers to prayer; on the other hand, because of the ongoing needs mentioned above, we will be continuing the work the Lord has led us to pursue from the start:

For the sake of the true Gospel, the faithfulness of Christ’s Church, the glory of God, and the good of His people, we strive for the Christian Reformed Church to uphold the beautiful, Biblical, confessional, and historic understanding of human sexuality in doctrine, discipleship, and discipline.

You can expect to see more articles published in 2026, as well as lectures hosted via Zoom. We continue to urge all members of the CRC to be actively engaged in their local congregations as well as at classis and denominational levels. This is Christ’s church, and he calls his people to join together in the work of ministry. May the Lord continue to build his church, shape us by his Word, and encourage us with his grace.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Chad Steenwyk
Rev. Aaron Vriesman
On behalf of the Abide Project Steering Committee

We are inviting you to join us at our usual time (each Tuesday at noon ET) each week during the month of October. These prayer times will follow the same format that we’ve enjoyed together over these past years; however, we are sensing that the focus of our prayers ought to take a particular turn.

The Abide Project more broadly is in a season of discerning what the future holds. As a reminder, the mission of Abide has been “for the sake of the true Gospel, the faithfulness of Christ’s Church, the glory of God, and the good of His people, we strive for the Christian Reformed Church to uphold the beautiful, Biblical, confessional, and historic understanding of human sexuality.” Under this mission, and in light of past decisions and current direction of the CRCNA, the Abide Project is discerning what this mission looks like going forward.

We see our prayer times as a necessary component to that discernment!

Thus, the first thing we want to do in our meetings next month is offer gratitude to God for how He has answered so many of our prayers. To a significant extent, the mission of Abide Project has been a success! For that, we need to give our sovereign Lord thanks.

But second, we want to use our time together to ask for direction about the future. On one hand, some sense that Abide has perhaps served its stated purpose. But on the other, our team senses that praying together has provided a significant blessing, not only related to the subject of our prayers, but in the relationships built. In addition, though Synod has established the position of the CRCNA, there remains some important work regarding the follow-through of those decisions (i.e. Calvin University, ecumenical relationships).

So, what ought our prayers look like going forward? Our team would like to pray through the many questions with our entire praying community in the hopes that this will help us gauge what the plan ought to be moving ahead.

We hope you’ll join us, and we look forward to seeing you all again!

In his farewell editorial, Shiao Chong lamented the CRC’s inability to share “diverse opinions” about our dogma. It’s not hard to see why this was so lamentable for him, since he has repeatedly said his mission, from the Lord, has been to stand between diverse opinions as a bridge. If we remove the space for such diversity, the bridge is no longer needed. In such situations of homogeneity, the populace looks “spiritually insecure,” in Chong’s words. I write as one of those people.

In one way, I understand how the desire for doctrinal unity can be the result of spiritual insecurity. If I am genuinely unsure about my beliefs, I may want to squash all opposition so that I can blanket myself with the absence of any dissenting voices. For example, Scientologists aren’t likely to open the door to Christian evangelists equipped to share their “diverse opinion” about L. Ron Hubbard and his spirit-space ships from Lord Xenu. They would, understandably, rather live in a cloistered world where people don’t question Hubbard’s doctrine. Are we the same? Was Chong right?

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Ironically, though we could be spiritually insecure, there is another way to look at this situation. If I am extremely confident in what I believe, and I believe that what I believe is essential to believe, then I will be someone who isn’t all that keen on printing, promoting, and publishing other beliefs. Though I’d relish the opportunity to squash the house of cards L. Ron Hubbard built (2 Cor 10:5), I wouldn’t want to give him the space (no pun intended) to publish his “diverse opinions” in my quarterly newsletter. Why? The reason is clear—I am perfectly confident that what he is teaching is wrong and harmful. Thus, it is my spiritual security that leads me to say “no, not in my magazine.”

Even more ironically, if I were spiritually insecure, I might think that Hubbard’s space aliens made sense of recent astronomical events (what were all those “drones” anyways?) more than the Bible could. If I was in such a state of uncertainty, I may think that allowing him the opportunity to give his piece could engender some discussion among my readers and perhaps allow me the opportunity to improve my belief system and finally get a grasp on what is going on in the world. Maybe my “faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3) needs an adjustment. In this way, if my faith in my faith is weak it leaves me more open to hearing divergent opinions with anxious curiosity.

Therefore, what the CRC needs today is not another editor of The Banner who is looking for diverse opinions, no matter how well intentioned he or she is—and Chong was very well intentioned, I’m sure. Rather, the CRC needs an editor who is spiritually secure, so much so that he or she is willing to tell opinion writers submitting articles about animal thermoregulation (p. 31), wristwatches, emojis, and especially, the possibility that we got it wrong about doctrine X, Y, or Z, “No thank you.” Ours should be a magazine that does one thing—glorify Christ. Whether it be through systematic theological treatises about the essence of God, or apologetic articles designed to equip the average CRC’er to answer everyday objections to his biblical view of sexuality, The Banner should be a place where every person in the CRC who believes CRC doctrine should be able to rally for support. Indeed, that’s what a banner is for—it’s a symbol above us designed to bring soldiers together under one heading. Chong has said he was merely following the “kitchen table” model that preceded him, which uses The Banner as a place for different people to gather and share their diverse opinions as they might for a meal. But keep reading the history of the The Banner and you’ll see it was originally intended to be a rallying point where we could all gather under our shared doctrine in a world trying to pull us apart. That is, after all, why it’s called The Banner and not The Kitchen Table.

May all those who gather under our banner believe wholeheartedly the doctrines of the CRC. May its forthcoming editor, under the providence of God, trim the longstanding frayed edges that have so long been wisping in the wind and re-dye its faded colors in the crimson shade of Christ’s once-for-all work so that all who lay eyes upon it will instantly know “this is what we believe.”

Rev. Rob Golding was ordained as a Minister of the Word in 2024 and serves First CRC in Artesia, CA.

The Every Tongue Confess convention is only a few short weeks away! The convention team has been busy working out the details and, the schedule is finalized (although subject to change).

We are very excited to host General Secretary Rev. Zach King for a discussion, along with a host of great speakers and panellists. These two days in Ontario will be a truly rich time of fellowship, growth, and worship of Christ.

Wednesday, August 13

8:00 - 9:00 AM - Breakfast

9:00 - 9:40 AM - Welcome and Opening Worship

9:40 - 10:35 AM - Sermon, Philippians 1 - Rev. Christian Sebastia

10:40 AM - Break

11:00 AM - Panel Discussion with Q&A - Review of Synod 2025 (Ken Benjamins)

12:00 - 2:00 PM - Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 PM - Interview with General Secretary, Rev. Zach King

3:00 - 3:20 PM - Break

3:20 - 4:20 PM - Sermon, Philippians 2 - Rev. Rich Grift

4:30 - 5:30 PM - Roundtable Discussion - How are we engaging our communities with a gospel witness?

5:30 - 7:00 PM - Dinner

7:00 - 9:00 PM - Public Lecture and Q&A - Above and Below, Above in Below: Transposition and the Glory of Preaching - Rev. Dr. Ed Gerber

Thursday, August 14

8:00 - 9:00 AM - Breakfast

9:00 - 9:30 AM - Morning Worship

9:30 - 10:30 AM - Sermon, Philippians 3 - Rev. Michael Bentley

10:30 - 10:50 AM - Break

10:50 AM - 12:00 PM - Panel Discussion - Binationality in the CRC (Stephen Terpstra, Brian Dunn, Rich Grift, Ken Benjamins)

12:00 - 1:30 PM - Lunch

1:30 - 2:30 PM - Panel & Q&A - The Future of the Abide Project (Abide Project Steering Team)

2:30 - 2:50 PM - Break

2:50 - 3:50 PM - Panel Discussion and Q&A - Mission 46 (Curtis Meliefste, Aaron Vriesman, Michael Bentley)

3:50 - 5:15 PM - Sermon and Closing Worship, Philippians 4 - Rev. Chris DeWinter

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• Lloyd is the pastor of Coopersville CRC and host of the Three Forms Podcast.

• Cam is the pastor of Bethel CRC in Listowel Ontario.

Pastors Lloyd and Cam are here to recap today's Synod meeting.

• Lloyd is the pastor of Coopersville CRC and host of the Three Forms Podcast.

• Cam is the pastor of Bethel CRC in Listowel Ontario.

Pastors Lloyd and Cam are here to recap today's Synod meeting.

• Lloyd is the pastor of Coopersville CRC and host of the Three Forms Podcast.

• Cam is the pastor of Bethel CRC in Listowel Ontario.

Pastors Lloyd and Cam are here to recap today's Synod meeting.

• Lloyd is the pastor of Coopersville CRC and host of the Three Forms Podcast.

• Cam is the pastor of Bethel CRC in Listowel Ontario.

Pastors Lloyd and Cam are here to recap today's Synod meeting. Lloyd is the pastor of Coopersville CRC and host of the Three Forms Podcast.

Cam is the pastor of Bethel CRC in Listowel Ontario.

This article was written before Synod 2025 convened on May 28th.

There is a temptation to believe that most of the work of charting our beloved denomination forward in an orthodox direction is largely finished in the CRC, now that Synods 2022, 2023, and 2024 have deliberated and made their solid decisions regarding matters of human sexuality. Robust standards were laid out of what we expect of our officebearers when it comes to upholding the doctrinal teachings of the CRC, and ‘exceptions’ to those biblical standards were not permitted.

But it would be a mistake to think the work is finished.

Synod 2025 has before it an opportunity through Overture 7 (from Classis Zeeland) to continue the important work of shepherding the various ministry and institutional boards forward in a healthy Reformed biblical direction. The CRC has a long history through our agencies and institutions of living into our Reformed identity where ‘every square inch’ of this world belongs to Christ the King. Because of this Reformed understanding, 150 years ago our denomination established Calvin College & Seminary, to train up teachers and preachers to help God’s people better know God’s Word and God’s world. Because of this Reformed understanding we engaged in robust missions both in our home lands of the United States and Canada as well as lands beyond our two nations’ borders. Because of this Reformed understanding we engaged in ministries that helped us to more faithfully love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Because of this Reformed understanding we created discipleship ministries to help train us up into maturity.

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Through our agencies and institutions we came together as individual churches and as classes to do broader ministry, to live out our calling as Reformed Christians. And in setting up those agencies and institutions Synod created boards to oversee that work and carry out the mission of the church in those agencies and institutions. It was a way for us as the church to faithfully live out our Christian faith, being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us by our God.

But it’s for that reason that the work of Synods 2022, 2023, and 2024 is not finished. The desire of those synodical delegates to see our Christian Reformed Church once again more robustly and lovingly grow into our Reformed and evangelistic identity needs to continue forward, reaching into the work of our shared ministries and institutions. The challenges of our post-Christian Western world are growing more acute, not less, and therefore the need for our shared ministries and educational institutions to rise to those challenges also grows.

For that reason Synod 2025 will be given an opportunity to more actively participate in what was previously a more perfunctory matter at every Synod, that of approving (or not) board members that oversee and govern our shared institutions and ministries, such as Calvin University, Calvin Seminary, and the Council of Delegates. In the past (if you’ve ever served as a delegate to a Synod you know that) near the end of Synod delegates were given a list of names with a brief bio, provided by the respective institutional and agency boards, for an “up/down” vote.

But often delegates felt that they were largely voting ‘blind,’ not being able to more personally invest themselves in the interviewing process, even on a committee level. We as delegates were essentially ‘rubber stamping’ names of nominees provided to us that most delegates didn’t know and had no way of getting to know in the space of our brief window of time in that week. And so these votes were cast based largely on ‘trust.’ Trust the institution. Trust the agency. Trust that they have put forward the best nominees for the positions needed to be filled.

This trust perhaps worked better when the CRC was a more culturally monolithic church body where most people knew most everyone else, either directly or indirectly through family ties, friendships, or having gone to seminary or college together. However, those earlier days have changed as our denomination has now become more wonderfully diverse. That diversity brings new blessings, but it also brings new challenges…the challenges of not knowing each other very well.

Overture 7 seeks to help change this by creating a new Synodical Advisory Committee, to join the other existing Advisory Committees that meet to do the committee work of Synod. Those committees then forward their reports (unified or else majority/minority reports) to the full body of Synod for adjudicating and voting. This newly-proposed advisory committee would be tasked with doing these individual interviews (the overture helps to spell out how that could happen in a practical way using today’s technologies), to help the delegates get a fuller sense of where these board nominees are at theologically, biblically, and ethically. For instance, do they know the gospel? What is it? Are they able to articulate it? What is the Reformed faith? How might they apply the Reformed faith to the particular board they are being asked to serve on? What is their view on human sexuality? On marriage? On the sanctity of human life? What is their view on baptism? Questions such as these.

Now the various boards that presently govern our agencies and institutions have many different concerns to keep in mind as they go about selecting possible board members (diversity, expertise, etc.). But for Synod, that governing church body concerned primarily about the gospel and doctrine, there is a vested interest in ensuring that prospective (or re-nominated) board members are confessionally Reformed and rooted well where the CRC wishes to see its agencies and institutions live out our shared gospel-ministry work.

The work of continuing to bring greater vitality and commitment in our agencies and institutions to our shared confessional Reformed heritage and life isn’t yet finished. And Synod 2025 will give us a very important and vital opportunity to continue on in the necessary work we have all begun.

(Rev. Wagenmaker has been serving as the pastor at Beaverdam CRC in Hudsonville, Michigan since graduating from Calvin Seminary and being ordained in 2000. He has served on numerous classical committees over the years, as well as recently a six year stint on the Council of Delegates. He presently is serving as a board member on the Calvin University Board of Trustees. He has been a delegate to Synod numerous times over the past 25 years and will be attending Synod 2025 as a delegate from Classis Zeeland.)

Links:

Three Forms Podcast

Three Forms Podcast is a project exploring the trusted paths of the Reformed Three Forms of Unity, and considering how they apply to our lives today!

General Prayer Items

• For biblical fidelity, integrity, humility and clarity to shine throughout this Synod

• For wisdom in understanding the broader implications of Synod 22–24’s decisions concerning sexual ethics. (eg. ecumenical, agency, and financial implications)

• For God to be glorified and the Church to be strengthened through Synod 2025

Prayers for Delegates - to be...

• Resembling Christ Jesus – Lord, may Synod 2025’s delegates resemble Jesus’ integrity, humility, righteousness, gentleness, wisdom, guilelessness, courage and joy. "Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk as Jesus walked." — 1 John 2:6

• Guided by the fear of the LORD - Lord, may we take nothing more seriously than You. "Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." — Isaiah 7:12-13

• Empowered by the Spirit – Lord, you poured out the sevenfold* Spirit; may we look to Your Spirit in all we deliberate and act upon. Live by the Spirit. — Galatians 5:16 (*the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and discernment, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:2)

• Drawing from God’s Word - Lord, fill our mouths with Scripture and shape our decisions by your Word - for worship and every good work. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." — Psalm 119:105

• Repentant and obedient to Jesus Christ, Lord of the Church – Lord, show us our blind spots and our sin; may we be responsive to Your correction and lordship. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." — James 4:10

• Fitted with spiritual armor – Lord, in this spiritual battle, may we resist Satan with weapons you provide, and may we withstand his attacks. "For the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." — 2 Corinthians 10:4

• Courageous and persuasive – Lord, make delegates bold in faith and skillful in words. "Now, Lord, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." — Acts 4:29

• Prayerful - Lord, may our Synod look to You again and again in all actions. "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." — James 1:5

• Kept in the gospel’s peace, healing and trust – Prince of Peace, surround this assembly with healing peace because they trust in You and not themselves (Isaiah 26:3). "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." — Philippians 4:6-7

  Aspects of Synod 2025 to Pray Over

  1. Delegates

  • First-time

  • Elders, Deacons, Pastors

  • Officers (president, vice-president, clerk, second clerk)

  2. Logistics

  • Binational (and international) details

  • Travel; border crossings

  • Technology

  • Health and stamina

  3. Advisors

  • Youth advisors

  • Ethnic advisors

  • Seminary Faculty

  • Parliamentarian

  • Staff Consultants

  4. Advisory Committee Work

  • Advisory Chairs and Reporters

  • Recommendations on reports, overtures, task forces

  5. Synodical Services team and CRCNA Leadership & Staff

  6. Worship Team & Worship Times

  7. Technical /Support Staff

  8. Agency heads/ Ecclesiastical representatives

  9. Observers, Protestors, Reporters, Reactions (also on social media)

  10. Prayer-teams CRC Synod Prayer times and prayer efforts

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