Dear Canadians,
In a way, Easter is much like geography: both seek to answer the question: “why is what where, and so what?” Easter: Christ, on a cross, suspended between heaven and earth, forsaken; Christ, in a tomb, sealed away; Christ, no longer dead, out of the tomb. So what? Defeated death, bore the wrath, bore the pain, we stand forgiven at the cross and the empty tomb; to share his work, his love, his ministry. That’s why and how all of us kingdom-workers, no matter where you stand or sit, do what we do. (Oh, the geography part? That’s yours to answer in Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Fredericton, Winnipeg and Fort McMurray and all the places in between.)
Synod 2025 is coming to Ancaster, ON, June 13-19. The Agenda is available online (
www.crcna.org/synod under “resources”). On that site, everything Synod can be found. As you will see in the Agenda, there are 29 overtures, pp. 337-405. One of them,
Overture 28 (pp. 395-401) is from the Council of Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Ancaster, Ontario, (which) “overtures Synod 2025 to do the following:
A. Envision the CRCNA as two distinct Christian Reformed Churches, one in Canada and one in the United States.
B. Make the changes necessary for this ecclesiastical reorganization to be accomplished.
C. Task the U.S. Ministry Board and the Canadian Ministry Board with rewriting the relevant joint ministry agreements to ensure continued cooperation and collaboration among agency staff.”
A set of solid grounds backs up this overture. You have been reading some of these grounds over the past several months in both these newsletters, and in our Facebook page (Toward CRC Canada).
This then, is the opportunity for Synod to discuss and recognize and act upon the need for an autonomous CRC in Canada. While it’s true that not every CRC congregation in Canada feels that need in the same way, that does not necessarily lessen it.
It is urgent. The Canadian CRC is losing too many of its congregations, for all sorts of reasons. An autonomous Canadian CRC, given the opportunity to honestly collaborate, discuss and plan its own future, will be able to ensure that the bleeding, which hurts all 240+ congregations across Canada, will no longer be ignored. Bleeding can tell where the wounds are, but bleeding can also be fatal.
Pray that Synod 2025 is one of thoughtful deliberation; one of action based on conversation during Synod; one where the overriding ethos is: how can these decisions that will be made best enable the church(es) to answer the “so what?” honestly, discerningly, locally and globally, to the glory of God.
To dig more deeply into the grounds referred to above, do have a look at our improved website: towardcrccanada.net (https://towardcrccanada.net/). Past online conversations can be found there, as well as past newsletters, foundational papers, various new videos…just a whole bunch of resources that unabashedly show the need for this CRC-CA. Do share the site/link with others.
The time, the need, the change are urgent.
Watch for upcoming newsletters; stay tuned to the Facebook page and the website.
God bless you and your church, as you as an individual and as a church, decide your “so what.”
Sola deo gloria.
Blessings,
Peter Bulthuis, for TCRCC
Read the Overture here: Overture 28
