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Wisconsin Church Switches Classis Over Women in Office

June 12, 2017

Synod 2017 allowed a church in Classis Wisconsin to move to a neighboring classis “so that it can serve in harmony.”

In the Christian Reformed Church, a classis is a regional grouping of churches. Typically, these classes are assigned by geographic region not by theological ideology. However, Alto Christian Reformed Church asked this year’s synod to allow it to switch its classis affiliation because it “cannot in good conscience remain in a classis that promotes the ordination of women.”

The CRC’s stance on women in ecclesiastical office states that all congregations may allow women to serve as ministers, elders, deacons or commissioned pastors. It also recognizes that there are two different perspectives and convictions on this issue.

Individual churches may decide for themselves not to allow women in these roles. Classes may also decide that women office bearers in their classis may not serve as delegates to classis meetings or synod.

During Synod 2017, the annual general assembly of the CRC, Alto CRC requested and received permission to move to Classis Minnkota, which does not allow women to be delegated to its meetings. Two Michigan churches made a similar switch to Classis Minnkota in 2013 for the same reason.

For continuous coverage of Synod 2017 including the live webcast, news, video recordings, photos, reports, liveblog, social media links, and more visit www.crcna.org/synod.