Dignity Team: Making Ministry Safer
The Council of Delegates asked Synod 2025 to approve changes to the charter for the denomination’s Dignity Team. This team was established in 2022 by the COD and endorsed by Synod 2022 as a way to make our churches, classes, and ministries safer spaces for everyone. It was one of several actions that Synod 2022 took in response to the Abuse of Power Ad Hoc Committee Report.
Synod 2025 looked at the revised charter and asked the COD to review it before it could be approved. It specifically asked the COD to consider the scope of the Dignity Team’s role as a care provider, and to consider the roles of local assemblies in pastoral engagement. This review is taking place, and a report to Synod 2026 is planned.
In the meantime, the Dignity Team continues to do significant work across the denomination. The members of the Dignity Team include Sherry Fakkema, Carel Geleynse, Sheila Holmes, and Dave Spoelma (see this page for more biographical information). They are supported by Ashley Medendorp, coordinator of synodical operations for the CRCNA. Recruitment is also under way for one or more additional members.
“We have been busy for the past three years,” said Geleynse in an interview about this team. “While specific details about instances we’ve been called in to consider can’t be shared publicly, I can say that we have helped to mediate situations with classes, councils, and specific individual leaders.”
When the Dignity Team launched in 2022, its stated purpose was to offer support and direction for people who felt they were victimized by abuses of power in the CRCNA. The team is not a judiciary body or one that hands out punishments and consequences. Instead, the team promises to listen empathetically to people who contact them, to pray with them, to provide clarity and direction on taking next steps, and to identify resources and processes that may be available to help toward healing and reconciliation.
“We are a body that is available to people who can’t seem to find their way through a difficult situation,” Geleynse said. “Our goal is to provide nimble pastoral support in situations involving abuses of power.”
While other processes are already in place for reporting overt offenses and providing discipline via local councils, regional classes, synod, or government authorities, the Dignity Team is designed to respond to less tangible and less clearly defined abuses of power that can occur within CRC circles. Some examples of these are outlined in this article and in the Abuse of Power report.
A variety of these types of abuses have been brought to the team over the past three years and the dignity team has striven to respond as best they could.
“We have an intake form that we ask people to complete when they bring a situation to our attention,” said Geleynse. “On that form we ask which channels the person has already explored for voicing their concerns. Sometimes simply pointing out these options is enough, and we can direct people to an appropriate first step. In other instances people have tried all of these avenues but haven’t been taken seriously. In those instances we can offer to set up a meeting to help them be better heard. We also ask them about their anticipated goals and try to help people think through action steps that they could take to get there.”
The Dignity Team can be reached via email at [email protected] or by visiting crcna.org/DignityTeam. When you reach out, a member of the Dignity Team will contact you to hear more of your story. They will work with you to help determine next steps and how to assist you.
