First Council of Delegates Meeting Begins

"In my past work as a pizza delivery boy, COD meant ‘Cash On Delivery.’ It was my job to deliver,” said Rev. Paul De Vries, interim chair of the newly formed Council of Delegates (COD) of the Christian Reformed Church. “I hope the Council of Delegates can deliver on the trust that each classis and the Christian Reformed in North America as a whole has given us.”

After years of discussing denominational structure, making several synodical decisions, and figuring out legal and ecclesiastical details, the first Council of Delegates meeting of the Christian Reformed Church in North America opened this morning in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a chapel service that included denominational staff.

This meeting marks the start of a new era of governance and collaboration for the denomination. While the work of the CRCNA is governed by synod (the church’s annual decision-making assembly), decisions that need to be made when synod is not in session or actions that follow up on synod’s decisions have been delegated to a 30-member Board of Trustees for nearly 25 years — and prior to that to a Synodical Interim Committee. There have also been separate boards for several denominational agencies.

“Everything is changing,” said De Vries in remarks to those gathered in the atrium of the Grand Rapids office of the CRCNA for the chapel service on Wednesday.

“I remember when synod met for two weeks, when we had to have the words Christian Reformed in our names (of church agencies and  ministries).”

As this new structure of governance begins, the denomination itself is changing; there are new names; new approaches. The church is spreading and growing in places across North America and beyond, said De Vries.

“We look different ….We are not just white or black or Hispanic…..We are the baptized sons and the baptized daughters of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we go forward, let’s remember that!” said De Vries.

Beginning this year, while synod is not in session its work will be carried out by the Council of Delegates. Through the COD, the CRCNA will be governed by 52 people who represent each of the 48 classes (regional groupings of congregations) of the church.

There are also four “at large” members – one from the United States and three from Canada – who add additional perspective, expertise, and diversity to the mix.

Together, this group of 52 individuals will provide oversight to the work and ministries of the denomination – including Back to God Ministries International and Resonate Global Mission.

“The decision to move to a Council of Delegates was made by synod in 2015 with a goal of improving input from local congregations and fostering increased collaboration across ministries,” said Dr. Steven Timmermans, executive director of the CRCNA.

“We’ve spent the past two years getting all of the legal and ecclesiastical details in place, and it is exciting to finally open this first meeting.”

“I love the vision of local churches coming together in classis and delegating a servant leader to represent Christ in the broad collective ministry of the denomination,” added De Vries.

“Whereas in the past we had several boards overseeing specific ministry interests, which often did not have delegates from each local classis, now we have a one council, with a delegate from each classis, representing all the streams of our collective mission.”

Following this morning’s chapel, the Council of Delegates divided into separate meetings of U.S. Corporation representatives and Canadian Corporation representatives to deal with country-specific legal matters.

This afternoon the delegates will meet in five different committees to do work related to congregational ministries, global missions, mercy and justice, support services, and the ministry plan. The council will also elect its executive leadership today.

As they begin this work, COD members and CRCNA executive staff request your prayers.

“Putting together this first meeting of the Council of Delegates has been like arranging a mini-synod,” said Timmermans.

“Many people have put a lot of thought and prayer into the agenda and details. We now pray that things will run smoothly and that the Holy Spirit will be present to guide discussions and decisions.”

“I hope the COD can deliver,” added De Vries, returning to his pizza-delivery metaphor. “Please pray that this new delivery system will work, and that each individual ‘delivery boy or girl’ on the council will represent Christ well."