Two or three times each year, Christian Reformed churches send representatives to their classis, a regional grouping of churches. Delegates at those meetings review and make decisions about shared ministries and practice mutual accountability for their congregations’ individual ministries. Here are the highlights of some of the most recent classis meetings.
Entering Ordained Ministry in the CRC
Classes examined and approved the following candidates (seminary graduates):
John Medendorp
Tim Leferink
Jon Vugteveen
Leaving Ordained Ministry in the CRC
Classes may end the ordained ministry status of a pastor if the minister has voluntarily left the CRC or has taken up a nonministerial vocation. A classis may also end ordained ministry status if a minister released from a congregation does not receive a call to another church within two years. Those whose status as an ordained minister in the CRC was ended include the following:
Henry Hogeterp
Jim Pot
Commissioned Pastors
Commissioned pastors are elders called to a specific ministry and ordained to function within that classis. The following commissioned pastors were approved by classes:
Robert Zoerman (Thornapple Valley)
Tom Dykstra (Pacific Northwest)
Linda Grace (Pacific Northwest)
Keemun Sung (Pacific Northwest)
Charles Post (Kalamazoo)
Steven Timmermans (Grand Rapids East)
Jason Botbyl (Grand Rapids East)
Jerry An (Chicago South)
New Ministries and Ministry Changes
An emerging church does not have its own council and is under the care of a council of a neighboring Christian Reformed Church. An organized church has its own council. Changes to a congregation’s status as emerging or organized must be approved by the classis.
The following church was designated as organized congregations:
Sanostee (New Mexico) CRC
The following church plants were approved:
Little Saigon/Duong Le, Westminster, Calif.
An English/Hispanic church plant in Bellflower, Calif.
Synodical Committee to Provide Pastoral Guidance Regarding Same-Sex Marriage
The following classis held a listening session with the synodical committee:
Greater Los Angeles
Synod 2015
Classis Grand Rapids East sent a communication to Synod 2015 expressing surprise and concern about the overture from Classis Minnkota, citing lack of due process. Minnkota requested that synod instruct the consistories of Calvin CRC and Eastern Avenue CRC (both in Grand Rapids, Mich.) to exercise discipline with respect to those in their congregations who are publicly advocating homosexual practice through their membership in All One Body, and to admonish the consistories of those two churches for hosting meetings of a group whose purpose is to promote behavior that synod has declared to be sinful.
—Banner Staff
