As United Methodist bishops from around the world meet this week in Chicago, they anticipate ‘reconfigured boundaries, reformed agencies, and a revised work plan to achieve our mission.’
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.
On March 21, one month before fire would briefly disrupt demolition on the site of the former Maranatha Christian Reformed Church in St. Catharines, Ont., about 80 community members gathered to recognize the church’s legacy.
A Colorado church spends one Sunday a month with a discipleship focus, leading its congregants in different practices to deepen their faith.
A Florida judge has dismissed a lawsuit originally brought by more than 100 United Methodist churches wishing to immediately disaffiliate from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The Evangelical Press Association and the Associated Church Press hosted spring conventions and presented recognition to member publications, including an EPA Award of Merit for The Banner and several ACP awards for Reformed Worship.
Joe Kuilema, who taught at the Christian Reformed Church-affiliated Calvin University for 14 years, did not have his contract renewed after officiating a wedding for a transgender former student.
After five years of building a community of language learners with free English as a Second Language classes, First Christian Reformed Church in Oostburg, Wisc., sees the blessings and prays for deeper community.
When a train derailed near Raymond (Minn.) Christian Reformed Church, Pastor Aaron Greydanus and several church members provided breakfast and shelter to those responding to the fire.
Evangelical Environmental Network’s Kyle Meyaard-Schaap speaks to young Christians in the church with his climate-focused book. “Millions of other Christians like you understand this. We’re concerned, too. And we want to do something about it. So let’s get to work.”
Just under two months before the 2023 All Ontario Youth Convention was to host an an expected attendance of 800 youth, the planning team canceled the event over questions of the invited speaker’s position on same-sex marriage.
After a three-year hiatus, an ecumenical choir festival in the Eastern Ontario village of Frankford is “back for good.”
“In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the respect due to every human being,” the Vatican declared in a statement March 30. Some reacting to the formal rejection of the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery say more steps are needed toward relationships with Indigenous peoples.
“Which generations of your ancestors have been involved in the Christian Reformed Church?”
A two-decades old compassionate quilt ministry attracted the attention, time—and more than 50 donated quilts—of a West End (Edmonton, Alta.) Christian Reformed Church member.
“If anywhere needs the gospel, it is here,” says church planter Sean Taylor, who for the past two years has mounted a display depicting symbols of Christ’s passion in downtown Lynden, Wash.
Julius Vigh, a faithful pastor and devoted family man, died Nov. 30, 2022, four days after joining family for a final Thanksgiving gathering.
Requests, communications, and actions of the regional assemblies of Christian Reformed churches include calls to pursue ‘scriptural and confessional unity,’ to clarify the use of gravamina, and to revisit the confessional status of a Synod 2022 decision.
When Campus Edge Fellowship at Michigan State University hosted its weekly Bible study Feb. 13—the night of a campus shooting that killed three students—locked-out graduate students sheltered at the fellowship house.
Faith-based groups, like Presbyterian elder Donnie Wedgworth’s group of church-affiliated 60+ friends, often play a key role in cleaning up after disasters and nourishing communities.
Ruby Rissley was 7 years old when she was struck and killed by a car while on her way home from school. Nine months later, her parents started a nonprofit called “Be A Ruby,” sharing food, clothing, and love in her memory.
Ottawa-based think tank Cardus presses “Toward a Hopeful Future: Facing Down Religious Hate” as hate crimes targeting religious communities in Canada have reached their highest point since 2009.
The Manhattan (Mont.) Christian High School boys’ basketball team achieved their second consecutive Class “C” State Championship win March 11.
The board for the Washington Elementary School District recently voted to not renew a student teaching partnership with Arizona Christian University, saying the university’s policies “do not align with our commitment to create a safe place for our LGBTQ+ students, staff, and community.”
After 50 years of ordained ministry in Sri Lanka and U.S. churches, Neville Koch lived two-and-a-half years with Lewy Body Dementia and died Feb. 15, 2023. He was 78.