Synod Closes with Worship

Synod 2012 ended this afternoon with delegates standing shoulder-to-shoulder in worship, after a week of discussion, deliberation, debate and sometimes disagreement. 

On its final morning, synod dealt with the remaining sections of the Creation Stewardship report.  Delegates approved several calls to action on creation and called on churches to be gracious and accepting of each other in the context of creation stewardship.

Delegates also returned to a request that a task force be formed to study the difference between the church as institute and the church as organism. 

Synod declined to form a task force. It instead asked the executive director to send a letter urging the church at all levels – congregations, classes, denominational agencies, and officers – to take note of the full range of ethical positions that the CRC has adopted over the years, and to admonish all those who speak on behalf of the church to speak with discernment as to how their words will be received by those on whose behalf they speak.

Other matters raised in the original request will be referred to the task force that is reviewing the structure and culture of the denomination’s administrative structure.

In a final note, synod formally noted that the status of “Our World Belongs to God,” the Contemporary Testimony, is unchanged by the adoption of the new Covenant for Officebearers, which makes reference to the Contemporary Testimony.

For news, photos, video recordings of all synod sessions and more, visit crcna.org/synod