Journey With Jesus to Synod
“Journey with Jesus” is a theme that will frame this year’s synod. It was used at 10 Gather events over the past 14 months, is the framework for 40 days of prayer leading up to synod, and will undergird the Synod 2025 events as well, as they take place on the campus of Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont., from June 13-19. It was fitting, therefore, for the online convening session of Synod 2025, which was held on May 28 at 7 P.M, to begin with a reflection on this same theme.
Jon Hoekema, the denomination’s prayer shepherd, started the evening.
“In the Gather events we studied scripture – the Emmaus Road journey in Luke 24 – and we saw ourselves in moments of the story as well,” he said. “The moments where we had hoped, the moments where we were slow to believe, the moments where we recognized Jesus at work, where we tell others, and where we are sent out with the power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses.”
He explained that this theme will be central to Synod 2025 and he then read Luke 24:15, which says “As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.”
Elaine May, Equip team lead for Thrive and the project manager for Gather, then shared a brief devotional reflection. She explained how over the Memorial Day weekend, she had planned to take a walk with her adult daughter to burn off calories and get some steps in. However, before they left, her eight-year-old grandniece asked if she could join them.
“Of course we welcomed her to walk along with us, but we knew that doing so would change the experience,” May said. Instead of a power walk, the journey now included pausing to pick wildflowers, and looking for rocks to throw into the lake. “For us, the value of walking with Harper was greater than the values that had caused us to lace up our walking shoes in the first place.”
In a similar way, Luke 24 tells the story of two walkers who were making the seven-mile journey home from Jerusalem. May pointed out that the two were probably used to making this two-hour journey together. They had a cadence and a rhythm. But, when Jesus came alongside them and asked them a question, they stopped.
“They altered their pace. They adjusted. They made room for him in the conversation,” she said. “The value of making space for a stranger was more important than reaching their destination sooner.”
Next, May shared a short video clip from the film The Boys in the Boat in which a coach for a men’s rowing team is teaching them that “technique is more important than power” if they want to succeed.
“Synod is not a sport,” she joked, “But you are here to work together. You come as individuals but beginning tonight you are working as a team…..you are not individuals representing a classis, you are delegates ordained by God and appointed by the church for this task.”
She encouraged delegates to pay attention to Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their midst, but to also pay attention to each other. “You will all need to adjust your pace for one another,” she said.
“Synod could be more poetry than governance,” she added. “Each person, each committee moving through the movements of the week in unison, paying attention to each other, and listening to the Holy Spirit.”
This concept of unity was a theme that Nate Van Denend also picked up on. As pastor at First CRC in Chatham, Ont., the convening church of Synod 2025, he served as president pro-tem of this year’s synod. He pointed out to the delegates that we are in a time of upheaval as a denomination, and that political tensions between the U.S. and Canada are high.
“We have an opportunity, as a binational denomination, to show that unity in Christ supersedes and even transcends national borders and identities,” he said, adding a few joking comments about how to spell neighbour with a “u”, to call the facilities “washrooms” rather than “bathrooms”, and that Canada has no intention of becoming the 51st state.
He also added some more serious words of wisdom. “You are here as a delegate, not as a representative,” he said. “Listen to the Spirit in your own time of prayer and devotion. Discern what the Spirit is saying together as you talk to the other delegates here. And then, trust that the Spirit will guide us through the decisions we have to make.”
Following these opening words, the delegates spent the majority of the two-and-a-half hour, online meeting voting for their executive committee members. They elected pastors Stephen Terpstra as president, Ken Benjamins as vice president, Josh Christoffels as first clerk, and Gary van Leeuwen as second clerk for Synod 2025 (see Banner story).
When Terpstra addressed the delegates, he thanked them for the confidence they had placed in him and the other elected officers. “We pledge to do our best to facilitate the conversation so that we can have a very successful, hopefully efficient, but also, hopefully, a synod that is pleasing to God and will bless our denomination,” he said.
Like others earlier in the evening, he also encouraged delegates to come to synod with the right mindset. “We don’t come to synod representing a nation, a classis, or in many ways even ourselves,” he said. “All of us are office bearers and we represent Christ.”
He reminded delegates to come prepared, having read their agenda materials, and to participate fully especially in their advisory committees on the first weekend.
“We look forward to having a wonderful week together where we can see the breadth of our ministry as a denomination, be encouraged, and hopefully facilitate ministry for the coming year.”
Synod 2025 will begin June 13 on the campus of Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont. Visit crcna.org/synod for the agenda, advisory reports, 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.
