Synod Materials Have Arrived
Friday, Mar. 15, was the deadline for agenda materials to be submitted for Synod 2024. Synodical services staff are now formatting those materials so that they can be included in the official agenda and distributed to delegates and churches online by mid-April. Print copies will come later, probably in May.
Included in this year’s materials are 21 overtures from Synod 2023 that were not able to be dealt with before the meeting ended. These relate to how to handle situations in which ordained officebearers have filed a confessional-difficulty gravamen, and how to “shepherd congregations into another denomination” when there is an inability to conform to synod’s position on human sexuality.
In addition to these carried-over items, Synod 2024 will deliberate on 46 new overtures and 26 communications from classes, councils, and individuals.
“It looks like Synod 2024 will be another full assembly with a number of weighty matters for delegates to discuss and deliberate on,” said Scott DeVries, director of Synodical Services. “A large number of these items will focus on continued follow-up to the decisions of Synods 2022 and 2023 on human sexuality, but there will also be discussions about Church Order, ministers pensions, racial reconciliation, ecumenical relationships, leadership in the CRC, commissioned pastors, and various other ministry and COD-related matters.”
Given the large agenda as well as the anxiety felt after not being able to work through the whole agenda at last year’s synod, when the Council of Delegates met in February, they agreed to several provisions for Synod 2024. This included allowing an online convening session for opening worship, roll call, election of officers, and opening remarks. It also included an initial, online meeting of advisory committees, but only for one hour so that committee members can introduce themselves.
The virtual convening session will take place May 29 at 7 p.m. (EDT). It will be livecast to the CRCNA’s YouTube page at YouTube.com/crcna. The virtual advisory committees meeting will be held June 5 at 7 p.m (EDT) and will not be available to the public.
“With all of the weighty matters on this agenda, prayer will be essential to synod and its deliberations,” said DeVries. “In our preparations we are attempting to live into the directions of Synod 2019 (Acts of Synod 2019, p. 803) to make prayer ‘a more intentional feature of synod's work sessions.’ We have worked hard to create moments when intentional pauses for prayer can happen. We are also asking all CRCNA members to join us in prayer.”
Members wishing to answer this call can sign up to pray during synod and/or to participate in 40 days of prayer before the meeting begins.
Synod 2024 will begin its in-person sessions on Friday, June 14, at 8:15 a.m. in the Calvin Chapel on the campus of Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Lee Street CRC of Wyoming, Mich., will serve as the convening church. A community-wide Synodical Service of Prayer and Praise will be held Sunday, June 16, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lee Street church (1261 Lee Street SW, Wyoming, Mich).
For news before and during synod, subscribe to Synod News and the CRC News weekly email (which will include links to Banner stories). Or follow the CRCNA on Facebook or on X (#crcsynod). Also visit crcna.org/synod regularly during synod to access the schedule, advisory committee reports, stories, photos, webcast links and recordings of synod’s deliberations.
