In short order, Synod 2017 (the general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church) approved a complex set of revisions to the corporate bylaws underlying the agencies of the CRC. These involved dissolving the corporate boards for Christian Reformed World Missions and Home Missions, restructuring the Board of Trustees as the new Council of Delegates, and revising the bylaws for Back to God Ministries International to fit into the Council of Delegates (COD) structure. All of this had to be done twice, using different terminology and legal processes, to reflect the differences between Canadian and U.S. law. The bylaw changes occupy nearly 100 pages in the printed agenda. They passed synod by voice vote and without comment.
These changes of corporate structure, stated in the sometimes obscure language of the bylaws, consolidate and bring to partial conclusion a long-term trend in the CRC toward centralization, dissolving some semi-autonomous agency boards into a single board, the COD.
The change of bylaws does not include the boards or bylaws of World Renew, Calvin College, or Calvin Theological Seminary.
Synod 2017 is meeting at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., from June 9-15. For continuous coverage, 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 at thebanner.org several times daily. For CRC Communications releases and the webcast, please visit crcna.org. 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.
