Posted on 01/08/2025 10:41:51 AM PST by Morgana
At least eight churches in Grand Rapids, Michigan, home of the CRCNA (Christian Reformed Church in North America), have announced they are departing and disaffiliating from the denomination on account of its recent anti-LGBTQ stance, including Kristin Du Mez’s own congregation.
These churches include “Grace Church, Calvin Church, Church of the Servant, Boston Square, Eastern Avenue, First, Neland Avenue, and Oakdale CRCs, according to Fox17, who profiled one of the departing entities.
“Our intention was never to leave the CRC,” said Rebecca Jordan Heys, a pastor at Calvin Church in Grand Rapids. “Our longing was that a congregation like ours could hold that policy of full participation and still be a part of the denomination.”
Like Grace Church, Calvin has a policy of full participation, allowing Christian couples in same-sex relationships to be married, be baptized, serve in leadership positions and participate in all aspects of life in the church. It too plans to leave its denomination.
“I wish that this issue didn’t divide us,” Jordan Heys said. “And also that we saw it as more than an issue but as our beloved siblings and neighbors whom are called to love.”
It’s great that they are leaving, and many more are likely to follow suit. The CRCNA is a historically conservative denomination in the process of being eaten alive by famished and bad-faith progressives, and they are barely fighting back. Like a wildebeest that quietly lets lions tear chunks out of its hindquarters with half-hearted resistance, so too has the CRCNA been being attacked and put upon by LGBTQ-loving liberals, slowly being drained of the lifeblood of Christ.
This defeatism was most evident in 2022 when their flagship school, Calvin University, made a devil’s deal with gay-affirming staff and professors. The school’s board of trustees voted to allow pro-LGBTQ faulty members to dissent from having to uphold the denomination’s view of sexuality and purity and instead hold to their sodomy-loving convictions while still retaining their teaching jobs.
Rather than clean house and force every last lib out of there, the cancer was invited to remain and metastasize, and it’s only a matter of time before stage 4 is at the door.
This abdication of duty from the university, and ironically impetus from these eight churches, came months after the denomination took a step in the right direction and voted during their annual synod to elevate their opposition to homosexuality into becoming part of their confession, their very declaration of faith, with the motion passing 131-45.
While this is a victory in one sense, it will be a loss in most others unless the church leaders put some teeth into it.
A third of the people voted against the entrenchment against homosexuality, and Calvin gets a free pass to douse itself with all the gasoline it wants and further its end of being the world’s largest dumpster fire.
Calvin remains the weathervane, no matter how many churches come or go.
Adios.
How many members are in those “churches”?
I was thinking the same thing.
Someone post that “Well...Bye” guy
That is the definition of a satanic cult.
Witness the rot of the degenerate.
Based on my limited readings and knowledge, I always thought the CRC was a conservative denomination.
Why and how are there suddenly pro-LGBTQ congregations popping up?
It was huge in West Michigan at one time. And was very conservative when I was growing up. How quickly apostasy set in though.
Likely, these congregations ran off all the conservatives.
1 Peter 4:17 -— Judgement begins in the house of the LORD.
Powers Boothe
“Bring your guests to us so that we may KNOW them.”
Remember, Lot offered them his wife and young daughters.
The fairly conservative theology of the CRC has been warped by 40 years of Calvin College and theological seminary. The campus has been a hotbed for liberal and socialist staffing. This is the end result. It’s no mistake that this coup is taking place in Grand Rapids. The large Korean CRC contingent told CRC leadership that if they abandoned true theology on this issue that they would break away.
In high school, I attended the CRC in Chula Vista. Lots of friends my age attended. The church hosted my Eagle Scout Court of Honor in the "cultural hall" in August 1972. Good memories there. The SWiM team (Summer Workshop in Missions) was present that Summer. I still have a friend from that cohort. Some of the kids planned attendance at Calvin College. I opted for UCSD and never crossed paths with most of the members thereafter.
The CRC long ago bent over to the woke and perverted. There wasn’t any CRC in the Fairbanks area in the 90’s so I left them and have grown ever since. I recognized the denomination for the bunch of wolves that they are.
Imagine if these eggheads in Calvin and CRC had held firmly to Biblical principles from the start, they would never have had to deal with this garbage. But the eggheads can rest in the knowledge that they have already reaped their rewards.
That's probably true. Their intention was to take over the CRC and make it just as perverted as themselves.
I’m a CRC member. According to the CRCNA membership listings, these churches range from 80-400. I would put the average at about 150-170.
I was in a United Methodist church years ago when I learned that the general conference leaders were using some of our donation money to pay for lobbyists for abortion and gay marriage. And they were also starting to push the hedonism teaching to be in the Book of Discipline -- which means the official doctrine of the church and that it should be taught at the local level.
I chose to stay and make a difference. I kept volunteering with young people (both the youth group and the children's church). While I also routinely met with my pastor and elders to ask what to do about changing the minds of the denomination's leaders. I was never fussy or disrespectful, but I was persistent. I kept having follow-up meetings asking if they've reviewed what I presented and if they had advice for a petition or whatever to present to the denomination leaders. They kept putting it off, and I kept asking. This went on for a year. Eventually they told the pastor to get rid of me. He did.
The kids I remember are now the young adults. They were the main ones a few years ago pushing for that local Methodist church to leave the hedonist denomination. Did I have an influence in that? I don't know. Maybe the youth had forgotten the times they themselves repeated the LYLYMI teaching -- Live It Like Ya Mean It -- and said that's why earlier that week they chose to do the right thing despite the peer pressure. Maybe the younger ones from children's church had forgotten the countless times they begged, "Mr. (insert my real name)! Can we do the song?" and it was one of those Christian stand your ground songs (Petra's I Love the Lord).
I don't know if any of that impacted their recent decision. What I do know is I would regret today if I had jumped ship as soon as I saw things get bad when I could have stayed and possibly made a difference. I also would have regretted if I was in a church like that during a weak season in my life if I chose to stay and be influenced by their anti-Biblical teachings.
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