The CRC's Council of Delegates has appointed Joel Vande Werken as the denomination’s first director of ecclesiastical governance, starting in mid-November.
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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.
Hagersville (Ont.) Community CRC recently moved from a 60-year-old building to a 140-year-old sanctuary.
In Memoriam: Rev. Norman Edmund Jones
1931-2024A member, in his retirement, of Aylmer (Ont.) Christian Reformed Church, Norman Jones was described at his funeral as “beloved pastor to the entire town.”
Expecting to retire Oct. 31, Shirley Hoogstra, president emerita of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, spoke with Religion News Service about her 10 years with the institution.
After two hurricanes hit their region only 15 days apart, members of Bradenton (Fla.) Christian Reformed Church are cleaning up and thanking God for his protection.
The number of ministers of the Word serving outside of congregational ministry in 2023 is more than nine times greater than in 1950.
Meeting since 2019 in professional buildings and in parking lots, Bridge Church, a Christian Reformed church plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., now worships in a Christian school on its way to completing a multi-use community hub.
Emmaus City Church, an emerging Christian Reformed congregation in Worcester, Mass., is in its second round of Surge School, a discipleship and spiritual transformation program.
World Relief asked supporters to urge U.S. presidential candidates “to uphold human dignity, secure borders, and protect family unity in immigration solutions.”
In Memoriam: Rev. Anthony (Tony) Begay
1938-2024Pastor, chaplain, and Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Anthony Begay was known for his deep faith and kind and generous spirit. He died Sept. 5 at age 86.
Eight ministers are releasing their calls, seven congregations have begun disaffiliation, and one church is affiliating with the Christian Reformed Church in North America, in moves directly tied to recent synodical decisions on human sexuality.
Congregations facing hard choices about what to do with underutilized, high-maintenance sacred structures heard from real estate experts at a recent conference on the future of church buildings.
In Memoriam: Rev. Vernon F. Geurkink
1936-2024Vern Geurkink was an academic who sought to be a person of integrity. He had a lifelong commitment to justice and mercy. Vern, 88, died Aug. 2.
In the U.S., 64% of respondents said it’s important to have a national leader who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. 50% of Canadian respondents said the same.
Synod 2024’s measures to ensure leaders in the CRCNA remain in line with the denomination’s confessional teachings are having an impact on the makeup of the Council of Delegates.
Oct. 31 is marked as Reformation Day in Protestant churches to remember the onset of the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517.
With weekly visits to a nearby juvenile detention center and annual trips to support inmates and programs in Louisiana and Mississippi, the prison ministry team of Elmhurst (Ill.) CRC has a wide reach.
Canadian megachurch The Meeting House has closed public ministry. Nine satellite sites have relaunched as a network of churches with shared preaching and support services.
Mission Church in Tuscon, Ariz., seized the opportunity to help a community member re-establish stable housing when an adjacent building was ripe for transformation.
Chris Schoon, co-director of the Christian Reformed Church’s Thrive agency, is stepping down as of Sept. 20: “I feel that I can no longer carry out my responsibilities … with integrity to my own convictions.”
Pew study shows U.S. migrants are much more likely to have a religious identity than the American-born population.
A report from the Christian Reformed Church’s Candidacy Committee on the current leadership landscape of the denomination is included in the Agenda for Synod 2024.
As a pastor, church planter, and home missionary, Don Griffioen spent his ministry career bringing churches together, focusing on similarities rather than differences. He died May 26 at age 92.
A pastor who saw his calling as being “a Storyteller with a capital ‘S,’” Herm Van Niejenhuis loved to help others explore the wonder and truth of the Christian faith. He died July 24 at age 75.