One group that was closely following the debate about a new ministry share system were the presidents of the colleges associated with the Christian Reformed Church.
Presidents Melanie Humphreys (King’s University in Edmonton, Alta.), Erik Hoekstra (Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa), Kurt Dykstra (Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill.), and Michael Le Roy (Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.) met with the synod committee processing the proposal to change the ministry share system.
Calvin College, the official college of the denomination, receives ministry shares. These ministry shares are allocated in proportion to the number of students that attend Calvin from a classis. The classes that pay less for Calvin are encouraged to contribute to Trinity Christian, The King’s, Dordt, and Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont.
In their meeting with the committee, the presidents made their case for the importance of Christian higher education for the denomination. The colleges are, they said, the training ground for future leaders in the denomination. A Reformed denomination should not back away from Christian higher education.
The proposal adopted by synod included the colleges, urging the churches to maintain or increase their current contributions to the schools.
Synod 2019 is meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., from June 14-20. For continuous coverage from our award-winning news team, download the Banner app on your mobile device or follow The Banner Magazine on Facebook or @crcbanner on Twitter. You can find more tweeting by following hashtag #crcsynod. News stories will be posted on The Banner’s dedicated Synod web page several times daily. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are by Karen Huttenga.
About the Author
Clayton Libolt was the long time pastor of River Terrace Church in East Lansing, Mich. Since his retirement, he has served in a variety of interim positions. He is presently serving as the interim senior pastor of Sonlight Community CRC in Lynden, Wash.