The Christian Reformed Church in North America is joining with other faith-based relief agencies to help the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by last week’s devastating cyclone in Burma/Myanmar

Nyamuhu Kabogo is pleased that the Kenyan government has begun to resettle thousands of the people who fled their homes after violence swept the country following a controversial presidential election.

When Rev. Michael Laird started North Shore Chapel in Danvers, Mass., in 2002, he wanted to find a worship location that would attract people who had given up on church or religion.

Riders, organizers and supporters of the Sea to Sea Bike Tour 2008 are more than halfway toward the goal of raising $1.5 million to fight poverty worldwide. A new devotional book titled “Shifting Gears” will soon be available for purchase to help support riders on the trek. Also for sale are shirts and wristbands to commemorate the event.

The Board of Trustees for the Christian Reformed Church in North America has named Rev. Norman Thomasma as the new director of the Office of Pastor-Church Relations.

The Banner, the monthly magazine of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, received four awards from The Associated Church Press for editorial and design excellence.

A group of Christian construction specialists has linked with the Christian Reformed Church in North America to help congregations in countries such as Haiti and Honduras construct church buildings using volunteer labor and donated materials.

More than 100 Christian Reformed Church in North America pastors and others gathered in Kalamazoo, Mich. late last week to reflect on the themes of racial unity, justice and reconciliation contained in the Belhar Confession.

Christian Reformed Home Missions is seeking to expand its campus ministry program on the campuses of colleges in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

The cramps hit as Rev. Jon Huizenga began jogging downhill on the final six-mile section of the Boston Marathon earlier this week.

Just in time to spark discussion during the 2008 presidential election season, Calvin College political scientist Steve Monsma has come out with a new book titled "Healing for a Broken World."

Reformed Christians in Kenya are asked to help heal the nation following the violence that stemmed from a disputed presidential election.

Calvin College announced Tuesday morning that it has received a $1.1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to help the college expand opportunities in the sciences for its students and faculty as well as local high school students.

Christian Reformed Church in North America agencies are busy working to develop a coordinated response to the crisis of rising food prices which is causing increasing hunger and political unrest in countries worldwide.

When 16 Korean-American pastors toured Graafschap Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Mich., several weeks ago, the significance of the visit was not lost on Rev. Tong Park.

In a presentation on Friday at Calvin College's Festival of Faith & Writing, author Edward Gilbreath said breaking down racial barriers requires that Christians be committed to opening themselves to the reality that everyone is equal in the eyes of God.

Calvin College's Festival of Faith & Writing began on Thursday. Running through Saturday, it features presentations by novelists, poets, journalists, artists and musicians from around the world.

Pastor John Phiri reports that March and early April were a busy time for baptisms in a handful of communities in a far-flung portion of northwest Sierra Leone.

The Back to God Hour, the media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, has launched a new radio spot that features a daily message and an online video-blog conversation.

"Reconciliation" is the theme of this year’s Black & Reformed Conference presented by Christian Reformed Home Missions.

Calvin College has approved a new Use of Force policy that includes allowing, for the first time in school history, select members of the campus safety staff to carry guns.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America is finalizing its plans to host a series of spirit-packed Celebration Rallies in different cities during this summer's 2008 Sea to Sea Bike Tour.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America called on Thursday for its church members to pray for Haiti, where skyrocketing prices of food and fuel have led to an eruption in violent protests, deaths, and an increase in the number of kidnappings.

As the traditional torch for the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing is being carried from country to country towards China, the Back to God Hour of the Christian Reformed Church in North America is working to bring another more enduring light to China.

Christian Reformed Church missionaries have been busy in recent months distributing copies of a newly translated version of the New Testament to remote villages in the West African country of Guinea.

Now that the burnt shell of their church structure has been demolished, members of the Cambodian Christian Reformed Church of Utah plan to move ahead to build a new home for themselves.

Christian Reformed Church Army chaplain Rev. Gordon Terpstra says the horrible sound of rocket and mortar fire fills the air nearly every day in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Jacob Kramer says the kidnapping and subsequent death of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop has made Iraq "even more unsafe and unwelcome for his followers and other Christians."

When University of Calgary campus pastor Paul Verhoef started his Wednesday Dinner Fellowship several years ago, he usually made a pot of soup for the small gathering of students.

Rev. Jerry Dykstra will be representing the Christian Reformed Church in North America at an ecumenical prayer service led by Pope Benedict XVI on April 18 in New York City.

Novelist Michael Chabon, Yann Martel, author of the “Life of Pi,” and children's author Katherine Paterson are among the constellation of novelists, poets, playwrights, illustrators, screenwriters, memoirists, graphic artists and others featured at the 2008 Festival of Faith & Writing, to be held April 17-19 at Calvin College.

Dale Dieleman recalls the day in 2005 when his work as Africa director for Worldwide Christian Schools of Grand Rapids, Mich. took him to a one-room apartment outside of Kampala, Uganda.

Robart Farho and his family arrived in Toronto recently from Damascus, Syria, where they had been living for several years after fleeing from the war in Iraq.

For the first time in the more than 150-year history of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, women will serve as delegates to the denomination’s annual synod. Twenty-four of the 188 delegates who have been appointed to participate in Synod 2008 this June in Grand Rapids, Mich., are women, including seven female pastors.

Trying to determine what career, vocation or even relationships God is calling a person to can be a difficult and confusing process, says Rev. Heidi DeJonge, pastor for discernment at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Seven members of a Nigerian church with close ties to the Christian Reformed Church died in a traffic accident just before Easter when the van in which they were riding lost control and crashed into an embankment.

The worlds' oldest community of Christians is quickly dying off in the Middle East, and that is making it harder to build a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Two Calvin professors have written an unconventional travel guide to China, just in time for those going to the games of the XXIX Olympiad, to be held August 8-24, 2008, in Beijing.

Christian Reformed Home Missions recently re-launched its Assessment Center for church planters, a three-day training event that had not been held for several years.

People inside and outside of the Christian Reformed Church have in recent years told the CRC to "burn its wooden shoes" and to become a multicultural and multiracial Reformed denomination, says Henk Aay, professor of Dutch Language and Culture at Calvin College.

Dr. Anne F. Oostendorp lived a quiet, low-key life as a physician and dedicated member of LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A culture of sharing, friendship and commitment to life-long learning is developing among pastors in the Christian Reformed Church, says a report that evaluates the denomination’s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) program.

An exhibition of the work of renowned African-American artist and illustrator Kadir Nelson opens March 17 in the Center Art Gallery in Calvin College.

Christian Reformed Home Missions has appointed Canadian pastor and church planter Karen Wilk to lead its Small Group Ministry Development efforts.

North American youth have a chance to join with Ugandan young people next year to take a cross-cultural “mystery trip” to an undisclosed location in Africa.

A lecture series beginning later this month at Calvin College reflects the college's growing connections to the continent of Asia and specifically to North Korea.

The Christian Reformed Church has posted on its web site a proposed new version of its Form of Subscription, the document that preachers, professors, evangelists, elders and deacons are asked to sign before beginning work for the church.

Watching the children of Blang Mee dance made Grace Wiebe realize that recovery from the devastating tsunami of 2004 is truly taking hold in the region of Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The Christian Reformed Church's Board of Home Missions has decided to look for two people under the age of 23 to serve as members on its board of directors.

You might say it was pizza that first brought them to Christ. Well, okay, it wasn't exactly the pizza, but God is using the Spotlight ministry in amazing ways to reach people with the gospel.

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee recently passed a bill that will help to continue the fight to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS around the world, say staff of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC).

More than 50 people interested in learning more about cross-cultural missions work recently attended the first of three, one-day “IN the GO” missions conferences being put on across North America by Christian Reformed World Missions.

John Gunnison was serving in the U.S. Army Special Forces in the central highlands of Vietnam in mid-1970 when he was given a plastic bag full of items sent overseas by the Christian Reformed Layman’s League. At the time, the Layman’s League, based in Grand Rapids, was busy every year shipping to soldiers in Vietnam thousands of bags that contained packages of Kool Aid, medicated hand wipes, a clean pair of socks, writing paper, a pencil, a copy of one of the Psalms and a portion of the New Testament.

A dedication ceremony was held recently in Sierra Leone to celebrate the translation of the Bible into Kuranko, the language of people living in the northeast part of the West African country.

A Calvin College professor of Spanish has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study language acquisition in Chile and Mexico City.

Rev. Mwaya Wa Kitavi's cell phone began ringing soon after the news broke this morning that the warring factions in Kenya had forged an anxiously awaited 50-50 power-sharing agreement.

People flocked to the banks of Nicaraguas Coco River as a group of Christian Reformed Church members from Canada sped by in two boats on their way to visit remote Miskito Indian villages.

Calvin College students and mentors will spend their upcoming spring break doing everything from urban ministry to hurricane relief.

The Back to God Hour, the Christian Reformed Church’s worldwide electronic ministry, continues to grow its global reach as it shares the gospel, as evidenced by 6.5 million who reached out in various ways to contact the ministry in 2007. That’s an increase of 2.5 million contacts over 2006.

Rev. Raymond Swierenga says he sees a great need for Christian Reformed pastors and congregations across the country to get more deeply involved in prison ministry.

After 10 years of study, dialogue, and debate, the Christian Reformed Church in North America has released its final report that clarifies the CRC’s stance on the Lord’s Supper as it relates to the Roman Catholic Church.

Multicolored hearts and other images of peace have been hand-painted on the exterior of the canvas “Tent of Hope” that currently sits in the atrium of the Christian Reformed Church offices in Grand Rapids.

CRC officials are again allowing church members to travel to Kenya for church work.

Inocencia had been bleeding on and off for many days before the medical missionary team from Sunshine Community Church in Grand Rapids arrived in the Mexican community of Xocenpich last year.

Christian Reformed Church congregations that are interested in bolstering the quality of their worship may want to consider applying for a Calvin Institute of Worship grant for 2009, says John Witvliet, the institute’s director.

An official with the One Campaign, the global anti-poverty program backed by the rock star Bono, says the group strongly supports the Christian Reformed Church’s Sea to Sea Bike Tour 2008.

Christian Reformed Church disaster relief workers left Friday to assess the damage caused on Tuesday by fierce tornadoes that killed nearly 60 people and destroyed more than 500 homes and businesses in five Southern U.S. States.

A Calvin College professor of speech pathology and audiology has been named the college's 2008 recipient of the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching.

Calvin professor Gary Schmidt has won his second Newbery award for children’s literature.

CRC staff in Kenya is safe, but relief and development work has come to a halt or been cut back because of the violence.

Rev. Peter Borgdorff, former executive director of the Christian Reformed Church, has been named president of the Reformed Ecumenical Council.

The Christian Reformed Church in Canada is ramping up its efforts to push for peace and reconciliation and an end to the war in Afghanistan.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America has recently been faced with a range of immigration-related issues that have made it difficult for a few of its workers to move freely between the United States and Canada.

Christian Reformed Church relief officials say they remain very concerned by the level of violence that continues to ebb and flow across parts of Kenya.

Calvin College to participate in national teach-in on Thursday.

CRC executive director Jerry Dykstra and his wife, Linda, are joining the Sea to Sea bike tour, a CRC-sponsored event to fight global poverty.

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship received $7 million from the Lilly Foundation to support programs for worship renewal.

People hungry for the gospel lined up to receive gifts of Christian literature from The Back to God Hour during a recent conference in Hong Kong.

Calvin College will hold an open house on Jan. 29 for its summer program for high school junior and senior students of color.

CRC relief workers are distributing food, water and other necessities in one of Nairobi's largest slums, where people are suffering from the violence that has wracked Kenya.

Two scholars with ties to the Christian Reformed Church's mission efforts have been awarded fellowships to further their work in studying Christianity's impact on various cultures.

For the first time, the Calvin Symposium on Worship is offering Web visitors the chance to view a live video feed of one of its events.

CRC Chaplaincy director Herm Keizer is encouraging churches to send care packages to soldiers serving overseas in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Pastor Mwaya Wa Kitavi, a Christian Reformed World Missions leader for Africa, is optimistic that his homeland of Kenya will weather its current political crisis without plunging further into turmoil and violence.

Calvin's January Series hears from best-selling author who fought as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

As tension in Kenya remains high, the CRC is asking for prayers for an end to the conflict and donations to help those who have been displaced by the violence.

The 2008 Calvin Symposium on Worship will feature worship leaders, musicians and liturgical specialists from across the United States and Canada. Registration for the event ends Jan. 16.

On Jan. 18, Calvin College will debut a new lecture series about the just and merciful treatment of animals from a faith perspective.

The Christian Reformed Church is launching a long-term relief effort to assist thousands of people displaced by election-related violence in Kenya.

Calvin philosophy professor Kevin Corcoran's January Interim class in England attracted a surplus of applicants.

The CRC Loan Fund is celebrating 25 years of "helping ministry to happen" by offering low-interest loans to Christian Reformed congregations.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America is mobilizing its resources to raise support for persons whose houses were burned and looted—and in some cases whose family members were killed or raped—in the election-related violence that has swept Kenya in recent days.

With several of their staff members in harm's way, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee officials on Monday called into action a special Emergency Response Team to monitor the unstable, and increasingly violent, situation in Kenya.

Members of Community Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids say they got the best Christmas gift ever—and it came in an unexpected, even miraculous way from Godwin Heights CRC, their mother church.

Tim Reitsma's more than 40-year tenure at the Christian Reformed Church in North America's printing plant comes to an end on Dec. 31, less than a month before the operation itself is scheduled to close its doors for good.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America celebrated its 150th birthday in 2007—a year in which the denomination reached out and responded to a range of local and world events in a variety of ways.

A national advertising campaign sponsored by several denominations aims to renew public interest in Christianity, says the Australian Bible Society.

In recent decades there has been a huge increase in the number of Christian Reformed churches that make special preparations to celebrate seasons of the church year, especially Advent and Lent.

A wonderful—perhaps even groundbreaking—example of a church reaching out to people with disabilities came to life this year at Westview Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Savilla is a young girl in Indonesia who knows the real meaning of Christmas.

Christian Reformed Church chaplains will be ministering this holiday season to people facing many challenges in a wide range of settings.

Walk humbly, put yourself in the background and have faith in others if you want to work successfully with needy persons, Benedict and Kathleen Schwartz told a group of supporters at the Christian Reformed Church offices in Grand Rapids.

Calvin College will welcome 400 young people from around the country next month for the third annual Faith and International Development conference.

A Calvin computer science professor has created a professional journal that focuses on the link between Christian faith and software development.

The Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America are asking members of their respective denominations to help fight poverty by supporting next summer’s Sea to Sea Bike Tour across North America.

One of the country's longest-running performances of Handel's “Messiah” will be seen across the United States for the first time ever this month thanks to an evolving relationship between Calvin College and WGVU Television.

A Calvin College student’s religious Web site, begun when he was in middle school, has hundreds of thousands of visitors a year from around the world.

Human rights lawyer Dioniso Diaz Garcia was shot to death a year ago as he drove to court to in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to seek justice for workers being employed and, he contended, exploited by private security companies.

Jolanda Malburg was struck by the beauty and joy of the Christmas season as she gazed at the Nativity scenes inside Global Gifts, a CRC-supported, fair trade business in West Michigan.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee on Friday announced a wide-ranging, two-year "Embrace AIDS" Campaign with a goal of raising $3 million to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and ease the suffering.

Vendors of fair-trade goods will sell their wares on the Calvin College campus December 4-5, including a woman who crochets handbags out of plastic grocery bags from Meijer.

Two Christian Reformed Church agencies have sent a letter to pastors and others, asking churches to give an offering and muster volunteers to help the Cambodian CRC in West Valley, Utah, recover from a fire that gutted its building in October.

A group of Christian Reformed Church ministers are honing their speaking skills by attending a series of seminars on a wide range of topics.

Cyclists will begin the Sea to Sea tour—a fundraiser to fight poverty—on June 28 in Seattle, Wash., and end nine weeks later in Jersey City, N.J. on Aug. 30, 2008.

During this time of tinsel, Christmas lights and celebrations, the Christian Reformed Church is once again offering some unique gift-giving choices.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is extending its response to the devastating cyclone that struck Bangladesh on Nov. 15.

A Calvin College staff member has earned an award from the Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MACRAO).

Faith Alive Christian Resources will soon begin a new billing system that makes automatic monthly adjustments to Canadian prices based on the rate of exchange with the U.S. dollar.

A group of Christian Reformed Church pastors and communications specialists met recently at Calvin College to discuss fresh, media-savvy ways of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

Together with many other believers from across Nigeria, two Christian Reformed Church workers are taking part in an unprecedented, 10-day peace walk. The walk, which began today, commemorates the first anniversary of the Takum Peace Agreement.

A Calvin professor of English has written a book of meditations for the Advent season.

A reflection by Bob Heerspink, director of the Back to God Hour.

A Calvin faculty member has won a duo of prestigious Kenyan literature awards.

A $56,000 grant to Calvin College will fund a project on integrating spiritual practices into the Christian classroom.

The Christian Reformed Church is working with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, the CRC’s largest partner in Mexico, to provide aid to families affected by severe flooding in the city of Villahermosa.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) plans to provide food aid to 500 families affected by heavy flooding in southeastern Mexico.

People with a heart for the Christian Reformed Church and its ministries can now read the latest prayer requests posted on the CRC’s Prayer Line simply by checking their e-mail.

Three Calvin organizations are teaming up to host a walk-through photo exhibition that spotlights the gender inequity inherent in global HIV/AIDS.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America announced today that it will close its Grand Rapids printing plant operations effective mid-January 2008 and move much of the work to RBC Ministries, also in Grand Rapids.

hree young people have been arrested for setting a fire that gutted a large house that the Cambodian Christian Reformed Church in West Valley, Utah, was transforming into offices and classrooms.

While exhausted firefighters continue to fight deadly wildfires that burned in California this week, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee's Disaster Response Services (DRS) is assessing ways to help.

Calvin students were among 30,000 people from 100 U.S. cities and 15 countries taking part in GuluWalk recently to raise awareness about the 20-year civil war in Uganda.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America has picked a veteran pastor to lead the work of finding and training its future ministers.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has agreed to unite with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to create a new “global entity” that will group 80 million Reformed Christians.

The Calvin College Board of Trustees wrapped up its fall meetings on Oct. 20, concluding two-plus days of business that included both plenary sessions and committee meetings and reports.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is among the first five relief and development agencies to receive a $1.5 million Malaria Communities Program grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Rev. Jul Medenblik will lead the newly-created bi-national church planting team for Christian Reformed Home Missions.

A new book from an education professor at Calvin College is aimed at helping the church nurture the spiritual development of children.

Calvin College has landed a $50,000 grant to inspire entrepreneurship in engineering students.

Calvin College is planning a variety of activities for October 7-12 to educate Calvin students, faculty and staff about anti-racism and diversity.

Australian Richard Geluk receives weekly Back to God Hour messages in a way his grandparents could not imagine - via the Internet.

Calvin Theological Seminary has received its largest single gift ever—$2,050,000—and it’s all going to students.

Trinity Christian College has appointed Dr. Bill Van Groningen to be its new campus chaplain.

A new book from Calvin professors Deborah and Loren Haarsma is intended to help Christians who want to better understand the often controversial issues connected with life’s origins and development.

Calvin College’s award-winning January Series will hit the road in January 2008.

The Gospel Choir at Calvin is releasing a new CD, celebrating 10 years of live performances.

Odenor St. Cyr, the long-time director of the Haitian Program for Training Diaconal Organizations (PWOFOD), was shot to death in Port au Prince last Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Just the second fundraising campaign in Calvin’s history will kick off next week with a $150 million goal that includes significant dollars for endowment, a new campus commons, a renovation of the venerable Calvin Fine Arts Center and much more.

Calvin College has received almost $50,000 to purchase a state-of-the-art DNA sequencer.

Calvin has hired a veteran wellness expert to lead its expanding programs for faculty and staff.

A Calvin computer science professor has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to build a supercomputer.

A Calvin course on the seven deadly sins is being turned into a book for teens and young adults.

CRWRC reports that it has requests for another $1 million in additional Katrina reconstruction work that are not yet funded.

Partners Worldwide will hold its 10th annual National Conference on Oct. 4 – 6, 2007 at the Vermeer Global Pavilion in Pella, Iowa.

A newly-released survey by The Associated Press and MTV, the music channel aimed at young people, has found that religion and family are two of the strongest components contributing to the happiness of people aged 13 to 24 in the United States.

More than 1,000 Calvin College first-year students will take part in an orientation project that sees them serving and learning at sites all over Grand Rapids.

Renowned Christian philosopher, ethicist and author Richard J. Mouw will be the keynote speaker at the Christian Reformed Church’s 150th anniversary conference.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is responding to the needs of survivors of last week’s devastating earthquake that struck south of Lima near Pisco and Ica, Peru.

A ranking of the performance of the state’s colleges and universities in preparing future teachers contains good and bad news for Calvin College.

A summer-long research project at Calvin College surveying hundreds of Kent County congregations is nearing an end.

A change in categories has meant a change in the rankings for Calvin College in the annual U.S. News & World Report guidebook.

As international aid organizations hurry to respond, flood survivors in Pakistan are in need of shelter, food, medicine, blankets, and daily necessities.

A new math curriculum project at Calvin College is complete and ready to be used by middle school and high school teachers across the United States and beyond.

Sean Matthuis and the Kids Corner race car are at it again, but this time with stiffer competition and more opportunities to spread the gospel.

With 70 percent of crops destroyed, the infrastructure compromised, and their insecticide stock depleted, a hundred farm families in Miguel Aleman, located on the Suchiate River and the Guatemalan border, are in crisis.

Joel Lautenbach, a CRWRC Program HOPE! Intern, reflects on his year-long term of service in Malawi.

Budding scientists work alongside faculty at Calvin to develop their research knowledge, skills and questions.

With the newest Harry Potter movie opening this week, Calvin's Brenda Hoeksema reports another run on neckties at the Campus Store.

Michelle Loyd-Paige reflects on her new role as dean for multicultural affairs.

A pair of upcoming camps at Calvin College will try to address a shortage of computer scientists, especially among women.

The Christian Reformed Church has received a second grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to continue developing pastoral excellence within its churches.

Educators from across the country will come to Grand Rapids to study a Calvin program aimed at helping students of color succeed in college.

Calvin College has begun a wait list for first-year students hoping to enroll at the college this fall.

YouTube is one of the hottest websites in today’s media world. Potentially within hours of posting a new video, email links are flying through cyberspace attracting viewers to the latest posting.

Calvin will host a seminar and two public lectures in July on primal religions and Christianity.

An upcoming workshop at Calvin College will touch on some rarefied topics.

An overview of the important decisions made at Synod 2007.

Synod 2007 wrapped up its deliberations this afternoon.

Synod voted today to “discourage the practice of infant dedication,” but asked a committee to guide churches that wrestle with the issue.

Synod 2007 decided not to adopt the proposal of Synod 2006 that would have opened the way for all baptized children to take part in communion.

More than 90 people gathered in Grand Rapids for the 2007 Multi-Ethnic Conference hosted by the Christian Reformed Church office of Race Relations.

Synod decided today that the Christian Reformed Church will publicly repent for a 1920 decision that synod said “was motivated in part by racist values.”

In his first official act as president of the Reformed Church in America, Rev. John Ornee warmly greeted the CRC’s synod yesterday.

Synod 2007 delegates gave a standing ovation to Rev. Mary Hulst Wednesday night, after interviewing and confirming her as assistant professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary.

Synod 2007 decided today not to act on reports from the Committee to Study Third Wave Pentecostalism.

Synod decided this morning that women will be allowed as delegates to Synod 2008. The action followed last night’s decision to delete the word “male” from the Church Order as a requirement for office bearers in the Christian Reformed Church.

Calvin College will host 77 high school students of color for almost four weeks as part of the annual Entrada Scholars Program on campus.

Synod 2007 made a historic decision last night, voting to remove the word “male” as a requirement for holding ecclesiastical office in the Christian Reformed Church.

Synod today encouraged Christian Reformed churches to become familiar with the Belhar Confession, a declaration focusing on justice, unity and reconciliation.

Synod 2007 told the Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church to take a careful look at how contributions to ministry shares might be divided among congregations more equitably.

Synod warmly embraced 30 new candidates for ministry of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church with prolonged applause.

Synod 2007 last night approved plans for a new hymnal, scheduled to hit the pews in 2013.

An explosion ripped through a cafe in downtown Nairobi at eight o’clock (0500 GMT) this morning. Reports said that a suicide bomber detonated a bomb two blocks from the location of the U.S. Embassy attack in 1998, causing concern that history may be repeating itself, the BBC reported.

Synod opened this morning with delegates convening for worship and a brief plenary session before spending most of the day in advisory committees.

Twelve thousand worshippers gathered in the Van Andel arena Sunday afternoon, plus about 2,000 more in an overflow venue, in the largest worship service ever held by the Christian Reformed Church.

The annual synod of the Christian Reformed Church in North America began its week-long meetings today at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Everyone knows that water is critical to survival. Yet while most people in North America take safe, clean water for granted, in some other parts of the world people know that it is a luxury.

The CRC doesn’t want “lone ranger” pastors – or lone ranger leaders of any kind, says its executive director, Rev. Jerry Dykstra.

The annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church in North America will take place June 9-16 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Agenda materials and an invitation to prayer are posted on the Christian Reformed Church’s website in advance of Saturday’s opening session.

U.S. President George W. Bush has announced his intention to nominate five individuals and designate two individuals to serve in his administration, including William J. Garvelink, a graduate of Calvin College who this month was honored as one of two winner's of Calvin's 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Five-time Gospel Music Association award-winning group Selah, will perform a benefit concert in support of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) next month.

Relief agencies from two Reformed denominations have agreed to work more closely together when disasters strike in North America.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is planning its emergency response to aid the survivors of a devastating tornado that demolished Greensburg, Kansas, Friday.

The Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church has appointed Sandy Johnson to be the Director of Denominational Ministries (DDM).

A small book from long ago will make a big impact at Calvin College for years to come.

For families in Iraq, every day has the potential of being filled with terrorizing acts of violence, murder, kidnapping, and bombing. For Iraqi Christians these horrors are even more common.

Inner Compass, the award-winning televison show shot on the Calvin College campus, is moving to a new timeslot and the first show to air then will feature former January Series director June Hamersma.

For Rev. John de Vries Jr., of London, Ont., his 13th Boston Marathon was different than the previous 12. De Vries ran this year’s 26.2 miles yesterday (April 16) in honor of John Bara, an AIDS orphan...

For 68 years, The Back to God Hour has been an important media voice in response to Christ’s command to go and make disciples of all nations.

Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day 2007, a day for environmental awareness around the world when millions of people consider how to live healthier, live better, and live more efficiently.

When an earthquake struck El Salvador in 2001, the Christian Reformed Church in Santa Tecla was so badly damaged that it had to be torn down. But the congregation itself was not destroyed.

For many Tanzanian farmers, this year’s planting season—the first in a while with good rains—has produced a large harvest.

Rev. Wilson Castro Ferreira, former Portuguese language ministry leader for The Back to God Hour, passed away in Brazil last month at the age of 94.

Christians in Toronto have commemorated the 200th anniversary of the law abolishing the slave trade in the then British Empire, at a service in a church founded as the city's first black congregation in 1826.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter M. Harkema as director of denominational advancement, effective July 2007.

Five days in the life of a development worker in rural Uganda.

As part of its recent Web redesign, the CRC's Office of Communication (CRCcom) introduced a new regular feature to the denomination’s home page at www.crcna.org.

Rains in drought-ravaged Burundi were not a welcome sight this year.

The Calvin College Republicans hosted a conservative advocate recently for an issue that is not typically associated with Republicans: environmental protection.

What do Rudy Guiliani and The Back to God Hour have in common?

Missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM), returned to Guinea on March 7 after evacuating the country last month due to violent strikes and political turmoil.

On Sunday, March 18, Christian Reformed churches are encouraged to receive an offering in support of Calvin Theological Seminary—in particular, its Facing Your Future program.

Faith-based organizations across the country are working together to gain an audience with U.S. presidential candidates on issues of global hunger and poverty.

The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) is planning to hit the road again next summer, pedaling bicycles and a message of hope across much of the United States.

“Many leaders in Blang Mee are still asking how they can get past the grief of seeing their whole community literally washed away,” said Andrew Ryskamp, director of CRWRC-US.

A Calvin College engineering professor and six students presented a seminar on wind energy to a very special guest on February 20 at the college's Bunker Interpretive Center.

The Back to God Hour’s ability to reach people with the gospel through media has increased—and it shows in the number of people who are connecting with the Chicago-based electronic media ministry.

All missionaries serving with Christian Reformed World Missions in Guinea were able to safely leave the strife-torn country Saturday.

The Festival of Faith & Music at Calvin College is introducing a new twist for 2007: bandspotting.

Without treating justice, there is no treatment of HIV/AIDS. That’s the bottom line after 56 staff and partners from around the world met together for the CRWRC Africa Convergence on HIV/AIDS, Feb. 12-14 in Limuru, Kenya.

The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) has relocated three of its missionaries in Guinea, West Africa to a safer location due to violent protests that began Saturday, Feb. 10.

Fifty community development workers from across Africa and around the world are meeting in Limuru, Kenya this week for a three-day summit on AIDS.

In a letter to the Canadian prime minister, the Christian Reformed Church is asking that Canada make reconciliation and development a top priority in Afghanistan.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and other local emergency organizations are planning a response to the destruction caused by a tornado that ripped through Central Florida early Friday morning.

Western capitalism has made big inroads in China in the last two decades. But the philosophical foundations of western society have been less explored. A new grant to Calvin College from the John Templeton Foundation hopes to change that.

Contemporary worship, geographic location, a website and the absence of conflict are key factors in why some congregations in America are growing, according to the latest national survey of U.S. faith communities.

Too expensive to be renovated and too historically significant to be torn down, Pamela Bolar's West Fourth Street house in Hattiesburg, Miss., was deemed a total loss after Hurricane Katrina had done its worst.

In a world of mega-churches, the small church can get lost, especially when it comes to education.

An innovative new center at Calvin College will bring fresh resources to beleaguered Christian school administrators.

"The Lord is with me; I am blessed! And I am blessed to be a blessing." These were the comments of CRWRC intern, Sharon Bemis, after she had the opportunity to distribute over 5,000 Christmas boxes to children in Romania in December.

More donations were given through the Christian Reformed Church’s Christmas Gift Guide this year than ever before.

Thirty years ago, Hirotsugu Mochida was struggling. Just 13 years old then, he and his family were experiencing great trouble and needed hope. Hirotsugu found it through The Back to God Hour radio program.

Emmylou Harris has joined a stellar line-up of singers and speakers at Calvin College's biennial Festival of Faith & Music.

Imagine interviewing hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, about their needs after a disaster and then entering all of that into a database. That's something Ken and Mary Geurink do on a regular basis on behalf of CRWRC--and they couldn't be happier. In fact, their dedicated work is helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina see hope for rebuilding their lives.

CRC Communications is ringing in 2007 with a new denominational website for the Christian Reformed Church.

A Calvin College communication professor has a new book coming out next month on the history of voting rights in the U.S., the civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, and the efforts of President Lyndon B. Johnson to create a more just society.

Calvin Theological Seminary is inviting applications for two faculty openings, commencing September 2007 or 2008.

The second annual Faith and International Development Conference will be held at Calvin College Thursday through Saturday, February 1-3, 2007.

As search and rescue teams continue to retrieve bodies from the mud and debris following Typhoon Reming, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is preparing to respond with food, shelter, and hope.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) received two grants on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, for a total of almost $2.5 million (all figures US) for AIDS programs in East Africa.

Pathway Community Church, a Christian Reformed church plant located in Newport, Maine, knew that it had a talented worship team on its hands. But the level of that talent reached new heights when a song written by the team’s leader, Amy Brown, was given honorable mention in the CRC’s recent song contest.

The 2007 edition of the January Series at Calvin College will be a little like a reunion. The series marks the 20th under the guidance of January Series director June Hamersma, who announced last spring that 2007 will mark her moving on.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) plans to provide food aid to 500 families affected by heavy flooding in southeastern Mexico.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) plans to provide food aid to 500 families affected by heavy flooding in southeastern Mexico.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is extending its response to the devastating cyclone that struck Bangladesh on Nov. 15.