The governing assembly of the Christian Reformed Church of North America, meeting in Grand Rapids this week, voted not to sustain the appeal of a church that petitioned to retain a deacon who is married to a person of the same sex, against the denomination’s doctrine.
The synod ordered the Neland Ave. Christian Reformed Church, which stands a few blocks from where church leaders are meeting, to immediately rescind the appointment of “any and all” officeholders in same-sex relationships.
The synod also voted to instruct all classes, as the CRCNA’s regional jurisdictions are called, to bring pastors, elders and deacons who publicly disagree with its stance on human sexuality into compliance.
The CRCNA, one of the oldest but smallest denominations in the Americas, with about 200,000 members across the United States and Canada, has navigated tensions over questions of sexuality since last year’s Synod 2022, when delegates voted to affirm the confessional status of its position that “homosexual sex” is sin.
Confessional status means that a position is considered part of the core beliefs of the CRCNA and that anyone holding office in the church is expected to uphold it.
Synod 2022 also ordered Neland Avenue to rescind its 2020 appointment of a deacon in a same-sex marriage. CRCNA General Secretary Zachary King was ordered to create an in loco committee to ensure Neland complied with the order.
It remains unclear from synodical proceedings, however, how the denomination will enforce this year’s decisions. In addition, the synod’s order is largely symbolic as Neland Avenue’s deacon has completed her three-year term and is no longer in office.
This year’s synod voted against the creation of a similar committee to ensure today’s decision is upheld. During discussion prior to the vote, Paul DeVries, chair of the previous committee, said that he recommended against creating a new one and that creating another committee would result in the removal of Neland.
“The previous in loco committee failed. We were not able to do what synod asked us to do,” said DeVries. “Another in loco committee will have no better success.”
The synod also voted to defer voting until Synod 2024 on decisions regarding the denomination’s gravamen process for expressing difficulties with an aspect of the church’s confessions.
Debates over today’s decisions reflected disagreement in the denomination over its views on homosexuality. The CRCNA has long held the position that “homosexual sex” is a sin. In 1970, synod appointed a task force to create an official church position on the topic of homosexuality in response to increasing acceptance of same-sex relations in the U.S. and Canada.
The report, approved by Synod 1973, distinguished between same-sex attraction (which was considered “a disordered condition” but not a sin) and sex between people of the same sex (which was considered sinful). Later reports, approved in 2002 and 2013, also upheld this position.
However, not all members of the CRCNA agreed with this position.
In 2002, First Christian Reformed of Toronto announced it would allow people in committed same-sex relationships to serve as elders and deacons, an announcement that was rescinded in 2006 under threat of disaffiliation. The church requested that synod reconsider the guidelines of the 1973 report but was denied.
In 2016, a year after the U.S. legalized same-sex marriage, Nicholas Wolterstorff, a philosopher and former professor at Reformed school Calvin University, announced his support for same-sex marriage. Classis Grand Rapids East, which houses the Neland Avenue church, also released a report in support of allowing same-sex marriage.
The CRCNA also re-opened the question to some extent that year. Synod 2016 appointed a new study committee to create a summary of the church’s position on human sexuality. The committee was made up of 12 persons who “adhere to the CRC’s biblical view on marriage and same-sex relationships,” according to the resulting report.
In summer 2020, Neland Ave CRC appointed a woman who is married to another woman to serve as deacon. A few months later, the CRCNA released the report of the study committee, which recommended that the synod declare that the church’s teaching barring homosexual sex “already has confessional status.”
Within a month of Synod 2022, Neland Ave CRC voted to appeal its order to remove its deacon from office.
In its report to Synod 2023, the committee recommended that synod immediately rescind “any and all” appointments of officeholders in same-sex relationships. The report also included a recommendation to admonish Classis Grand Rapids East for its failure to discipline Neland.
In the January 2023 meeting, Classis Grand Rapids East thanked the committee for its report but said it would wait to take action regarding Neland until after the church’s appeal had been processed at synod in June 2023.
In the months leading up to Synod 2023, several classes filed overtures (as resolutions are called in the CRCNA) to discipline Neland as well as its classis, including a call to redistrict Classis Grand Rapids East over its failure to discipline Neland. There was also an overture to defund Calvin University, the denomination’s flagship university, until its faculty and staff are in compliance with the denomination’s position on homosexuality. Neither overture passed.
In the days leading up to Thursday’s decision, All One Body, a pro-LGBTQ Christian group, led demonstrations on Calvin’s campus. On Wednesday, when synod began discussions on human sexuality, there were about 40 demonstrators present. They stood outside the university library and held flags. A few demonstrators I spoke to said they themselves were members of Neland. A few others were Calvin students or alumni.
Thursday’s decision — as well as Wednesday’s decision to uphold Synod 2022’s decision — was also contested by several of the delegates themselves.
Dave Struyk, a delegate from Classis Grand Rapids South, left prior to the Neland vote in protest of the CRCNA’s treatment of the LGBTQ community. “When we ordained this person, we believed God himself had ordained this person to holy office,” said Kathy DeMey, a delegate from Classis Grand Rapids East. DeMey is a deacon at Neland herself.
On Wednesday, Bernard De Jonge, a delegate from classis Huron, spoke against the denomination’s affirmation of confessional status.
“We will lose officebearers, and we will lose members if we take a hard and fast position and do not allow room for grace,” said De Jonge.