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.
A hard-working, disciplined teacher and preacher with a dry sense of humor, John Boonstra pastored five congregations and served another six communities as an interim pastor. He died June 20 at age 93.
A July conference at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., offered Bible studies for men, women, and children on the theme “Inspired by Hope,” based on 1 Thessalonians 1:3.
The DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada presented its 2024 National Hummingbird Award to Vancouver, B.C., resident Sandra Pronteau.
Denominational staff hosted a time of thanksgiving and worship before closing the Grand Rapids, Mich., ministry building, in anticipation of relocation.
Invited by Terrace (B.C.) Christian Reformed Church’s visuals committee, nine congregation members contributed illustrations for Pastor Joel Ringma’s spring sermon series on the parables of Jesus.
June flooding in northwest Iowa affected three Christian Reformed churches and their communities.
Deacons attending Synod 2024 gathered to share stories of the work they and their congregations are doing to serve God and their neighbor at their annual dinner.
Pablo Kim Sun, who was the first senior leader for intercultural ministry for the Canadian ministry board of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, is stepping down July 31.
Released June 20, it’s the first film entirely in American Sign Language to debut in theaters, according to the filmmakers.
After two years of working with a local convention center to recover meals that otherwise might have gone to waste, the Bridge Church in Niagara Falls, Ont., is expanding its project to more partners.
A statement “to bring closure to Dr. Boer’s term as President of Calvin University” was issued June 13.
The words that echo loudest after the Christian Reformed Church in North America’s Synod 2024 will depend on who you are and where you’re situated in the CRCNA.
Synod 2024 asked for advice on the categories of synodical pronouncements and wants a task force to “develop Church Order procedures to discipline officebearers, including disaffiliation initiated by a major assembly.”
Some items on the Agenda for Synod 2024 passed with little to no discussion. Here are those things that synod did or didn’t do.
Synod 2024 appointed a task force to study multisite churches with a mandate to research current iterations of these churches and report back to Synod 2026.
Kent Hendricks used digitized agendas from the Hekman Library website to find the average number of words per overture for nine different years going back to 1944.
Synod 2024 heard appeals of several classis rulings in closed session. President Derek Buikema read synod’s decisions into the public record.
Derek Buikema tells synod delegates “gentleness is strong” and urges them to refrain from acrimony and slander as they head back to their home congregations.
Trish Borgdorff shared words of farewell to the denomination at Synod 2024.
Synod declared that churches, members, and officebearers who have an “in protest with ecclesiastical intent” status shall be entered into the process of discipline.
Synod 2024 considered requests to require delegates to re-sign the Covenant for Officebearers at synod, choosing instead to have the re-signing of the covenant yearly at the classis level.
Synod 2024 adopted a proposal to extend the denomination’s current ministry plan by five years, but it wants a revision of the “Grow in Diversity” milestone to emphasize “hospitality” over “ethnic quotas.”
Synod 2024’s young adult representatives shared with The Banner their motivations for attending synod and their experiences at the assembly.
Synod 2024 declined to make a statement calling specific matters “a salvation issue,” saying Scripture is already clear that all sin is a salvation issue.
