A steady, compassionate man who was a highschool teacher before he was a pastor, John Pasma lived his final years with Parkinson’s disease and esophageal cancer. He died Nov. 22 at age 73.

Regional groups of congregations of the Christian Reformed Church in North America meeting this fall have responded with varying approaches to instructions from the 2023 general assembly.

The 2023 CRCNA Congregational Survey asked participants to “indicate how many hours you spent during an average month over the last year in each of the following:

Josh Newell, executive director of Jesus Film Project, said he views animation as a fitting means to speak to younger generations about the life of Jesus.

Described as a righteous man who was quick to offer compassion and forgiveness, Art Stienstra died November 26. He was 93.

Clergy resource groups like One America Movement and the Colossian Forum find pastors are seeking ideas for how to preach in ways that heal, rather than widen, congregations’ social and political divides.

From spelling out words with letter tiles to tasting different foods representing characteristics of Jesus, Grace Community Christian Reformed Church in Oak Lawn, Ill., used a multisensory approach to prayer for Advent.

Pastor and missionary, Ken Van De Griend, was a passionate, humble man with a heart for missions. He died Nov. 22, at age 79.

An interest in a former pastime from 19 years ago led pastor Diego Flores to connect with one young person through martial arts, creating a Bible study program he calls The Way.

Christian Reformed churches meet together in regional assemblies two or three times per year. Actions of classes in the past several months include approving new ministers, recognizing retirements, establishing discernment committees and processing disaffiliation requests.

Seeking to help ethnic minority leaders feel less isolation and more belonging at regional assemblies of Christian Reformed churches, Thrive is rolling out the One Family Conversation project.

A 2023-24 global partner with Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary’s Overseas Mission Study Center, Pastor Eric Sarwar is documenting a history of remarkable church growth in pre-and post-partition North India and Pakistan.

Campus pastor, preacher, pianist, organist and writer, Dale Vander Veen died Oct. 25. He was 80.

The 2023 fall youth retreat in Arden, Ont., attracted the largest number of teens since the retreat was started more than 20 years ago and prompted restarting local, combined youth services throughout the year.

In the Alberta Avenue neighborhood of Edmonton, Alta., the worshiping communities of Avenue Christian Reformed Church, St. Faith’s and St. Mary’s Anglican churches and an Indigenous spiritual community called Standing Stones, together form Lodgepole Communitas.

Former executive secretary of the Council of Christian Reformed Churches in Canada, who also served for 20 years in parish ministry, Rev. Arie Van Eek died Nov. 7. He was 91.

All Nations Church in Lake View Terrace, Calif., hosted “Made to Belong” to equip the next generation of leaders in disability ministry in Korean American churches.

From disagreements over the Christian Reformed Church's 2022 and 2023 synodical decisions on human sexuality to unsettledness over binationality, there are groups making cases for either separation or unity.

With the help of a church-funded grant, Stewards of Kleinstuck, along with volunteers from Third Christian Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Mich., planted 23 trees in a nearby preserve.

When a group of Christians from diverse backgrounds founded Unity Christian School in South Holland, Ill., they sought to ground their purpose with an educational creed all could affirm.

The services encourage dialogue, questions and sharing to help “people to contemplate how the words of scripture and the call of Christ actually interact with their daily life.”

Church leaders are conducting weekly workshops to train traditional and church leadership in how to promote peace in their communities.

We got a news tip about a British Columbia church celebrating its pastor’s 20th anniversary with that congregation.