Synod 2018 Elects Officers
Synod 2018 officers from left to right: Rev. Cal Hoogendoorn (second clerk), Rev. Scott Greenway (president), Rev. Elizabeth Vander Haagen (vice president), and Rev. Mary-Lee Bouma (first clerk).
Karen Huttenga for CRC Communications/The Banner
As one of its first orders of business, Synod 2018, the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church, elected officers to lead the process over the next week.
Some technical difficulties made electronic voting difficult, but through a combination of online voting and paper ballots, delegates elected Rev. Scott Greenway as president, Rev. Elizabeth Vander Haagen as vice president, Rev. Mary-Lee Bouma as first clerk, and Rev. Cal Hoogendoorn as second clerk.
This group includes some new faces, with only one having served as an officer of synod in the past. Yet, the group also comes with extensive experience serving the church.
Combined the group has 11 years of synodical experience as well as many years serving on classis and ministry boards and committees.
Greenway, 54, is the pastor at Caledonia CRC in Caledonia, Mich. who has attended six previous synods, including serving as president of Synod 2014. He has also served on the board of Back to God Ministries International, on the CRCNA
Board of Trustees, was a member of the synodical Task Force Reviewing Structure and Culture, and has served on the Home Missions Church Planting and Renewal committee in Classis Thornapple Valley.
This is the second synod for Vander Haagen, 43. She is a pastor at Boston Square CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich. whose previous experience includes serving on the committee that proposed revisions to Our World Belongs to God, and being president of Classis Grand Rapids East.
Bouma, 55, is a delegate from Classis B.C. North-West where she serves as a missionary in Vancouver, B.C with Downtown Friends CRC. This is her second synod. In addition, she has previously served on the Urban Mission Board, the synodical committee for Pastoral Care to Homosexual Members, the Candidacy Committee, and the synodical committee for Theology of Human Sexuality.
Hoogendoorn, 57, serves as a pastor at First CRC in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In the past, he has served the CRC as a member of the CRCNA Board of Trustees and the Council of Delegates. He has also been a member of the boards of Dordt College, Calvin Theological Seminary, the synodical Alternate Routes to the Ministry Committee and on the Task Force to Study the Offices of Elder and Deacon
As the new synod president, Greenway said he is looking forward to a great week.
“I hope we can make headway on how we work together as a denomination considering our differences over social justice. People have different passions, human life, immigration,” he said. Echoing the message from morning worship, he said that it if turns into winners and losers, some people go home disenfranchised and the church loses.
His advice to delegates? “Get to know your fellow delegates. Listen to them, hear their stories.” And, he added, do what the president says!
For continuous coverage of Synod 2018 including the live webcast, news, video recordings, photos, liveblog, social media links, and more visit www.crcna.org/synod.
