The Future of the Abide Project

"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 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