Guide to Synod 2025’s Agenda

Synod 2025 opened with a convening session online May 28 at 7 p.m. The in-person gathering of synod will start this Friday, June 13, at 8:15 a.m. in Founders Hall at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont. All are welcome to attend or watch the proceedings online. 

The agenda for this year’s synod is full, with two task force reports, numerous ministry and other reports, 30 overtures, and 11 communications from classes, councils, and individuals (Agenda for Synod 2025; Agenda Supplement). To help clarify the issues to be discussed at this year’s synod, a guide has been provided as well. 

“The Synod Review Task Force in 2019 asked that a guide summarizing synod’s agenda each year be sent to the churches for anyone who wants to know what is coming up,” said Joel Vande Werken, director of ecclesiastical governance (see Acts of Synod 2019, p. 809). 

In addition to outlining the various overtures and communications, the guide also summarizes conversations that will need to take place regarding virtual churches, medical assistance in dying, and reports from synod’s standing committees, agencies, and leadership groups. 

“As you read the guide, we hope you will be able to see and appreciate that the ministry of the CRC is broader than one specific topic or issue,” Vande Werken added. “We have much to celebrate and much to discuss. Please pray for all who will be participating in this year’s synod, that they may have traveling mercies, calmness in their hearts, kindness in their words, and openness to the Lord’s leading.”

All who are interested in praying for synod can join a pre-synod prayer gathering at Grace CRC in Ancaster, Ont., on June 11. They can also join a prayer walk on June 12, sign up for daily prayer requests, participate in a prayer vigil, or pray on their own. Learn more at crcna.org/synod/prayer.

Visit crcna.org/synod for the agenda, advisory reports, and recordings of plenary sessions – and to subscribe to the daily Synod News email. You can also find daily coverage from The Banner at TheBanner.org/synod.