Leonard Hofman, who served as general secretary of the Christian Reformed Church in North America from 1990 to 1994, died April 11 at age 97.
News
Stories from people, congregations and ministries of the CRCNA, reported by The Banner's news editor and a team of regular correspondents and Church Worldwide news from the Religion News Service. Send news tips to news@thebanner.org.
ReFrame Ministries, the Christian Reformed Church in North America’s international media ministry, announced program changes April 14 closing Church Juice, Family Fire, and Think Christian, and suspending the agency’s Russian-language ministry.
Organized in 1875, Kelloggsville Christian Reformed Church in Kentwood, Mich., celebrates 150 years of ministry this year.
Supported by the Christian Reformed Church’s Thrive ministry and a ministry coach, the congregations spent the past year learning and encouraging one another to pursue specific goals related to disability inclusion.
“We are driven by the same heartbeat for the gospel, and together, we can do even more to serve the Church and societies worldwide,” said president of the Langley, B.C.-based Trinity Western University.
Canadian members in the Christian Reformed Church in North America have wanted to see and hear support from the binational denomination as economic and even sovereignty threats have come from President Trump towards Canada.
In Memoriam: Rev. Walter Swets
1935-2025A source of joy to those around him, Wally Swets trusted fully in his heavenly Father and believed that every minute was a gift from God. He died March 27 at age 90.
Kathy Vandergrift, Philip Visser, Peter VanderZaag, and Jim Romahn—Christian Reformed Church members in Ontario—each received a King Charles III Coronation Medal in recognition of their community contributions.
The CRCNA's Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee recommends that Synod 2025 add a stipulation about signing the Covenant for Officebearers for RCA pastors serving CRC congregations and if that is adopted, to affirm the current status of “church in communion.”
Analysing religious demographic data from Pew Research and data on immigrant populations from advocacy group FWD.us, four co-authors conclude that more than 10 million Christian immigrants in the U.S. are now vulnerable to deportation.
Both rival factions of the military government currently at war in Sudan have vowed to eliminate all Christians in the northeastern African country.
The “Prayer Vigil for Foreign Aid" event at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church on March 11 included faith-based charitable groups such as World Renew.
As of April 1 Moses Chung will be back with Resonate Global Mission as Asia Mission Team Leader.
World Renew’s 40-year track record of working with community partners on anti-poverty initiatives in Bangladesh contributed to its recent success in being awarded a substantial grant from Global Affairs Canada.
U.S. congregations of the Christian Reformed Church in North America involved in refugee sponsorship and resettlement pivot or wait while the admission program is suspended.
Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump in January, several of his actions have received pushback from faith groups, including in the courts.
Quilters from Pullman Christian Reformed Church in Chicago, Ill., made 12 hanging quilt banners in patterns commemorating the freedom enslaved people sought and found through the Underground Railroad.
Two Christian Reformed Church members, one in British Columbia and one in Ontario, were among this winter’s recipients of a King Charles III Coronation Medal.
Two or three times each year, Christian Reformed churches send representatives to their classes, regional groups of churches. Actions of classes in the past several months include two completed disaffiliations, several pastors released from ministry, and overtures going to Synod 2025.
In Memoriam: Rev. Gary Peter Hutt
1937-2025A farm boy who God made into a pastor, Gary Hutt, served seven churches during his ministry. He died Feb. 22 at age 87.
The Facebook page of Center Grove Church in Greenwood, Ind., is filling up with beautiful images and daily scriptural reflections as Pastor Art DeBruyn works his way through 1,000 days of devotions.
In over 13 years of serving as a food distribution hub Akron (Ohio) Christian Reformed Church’s The Landing has transformed the congregation, becoming more aware of the poor and working to provide for community needs.
Generally, a decline in American religiousness observed since at least 2007 has slowed over the past four to five years, Pew Research shows in its 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study.
“The massive cutting of foreign aid to those most in need, and from many faith-based organizations supplying it is a gospel issue for us that we must speak to,” reads one of the letters from faith groups.