Posted on 02/25/2025 7:28:54 PM PST by Morgana
At a church just outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday (Feb. 18), 33 ministers from the Christian Reformed Church in North America stood up to read aloud a declaration, officially accepting ordination in a rival denomination, the Reformed Church in America.
Having stated they will abide by the creeds and confessions of the RCA, each of the ministers was then offered a loaf of bread as a symbol of fellowship and welcome.
The group ordination ceremony — the first of its kind — is one of the more public signs of an ongoing split in the Christian Reformed Church on the part of churches no longer willing to abide the CRC’s firm stance on sexuality.
The ministers are not moving alone. Since June of last year, 26 churches have informed the denomination that they intend to disaffiliate from the 1,000-church body based in Grand Rapids, according to a CRC spokesperson. Most of those churches have declared themselves open and affirming of people who identify as LGBTQ and their lifestyles. Not all are moving to the Reformed Church in America. Some ministers have sought to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) or the United Church of Christ.
The 33 ministers in Tuesday’s ordination will all be absorbed into the North Grand Rapids Classis, or regional group, of the RCA. The North Grand Rapids Classis will hold another group ordination of CRC ministers in May.
The RCA has no denomination-wide policy on LGBTQ issues, enabling local church groups, or classes, to determine their views on human sexuality for themselves. The RCA went through its own split in 2021 when conservative churches broke away after it was unable to pass an amendment to its book of order on human sexuality.
“The RCA has more local freedom to really determine exactly how they want to operate and what their policy is going to be,” said the Rev. Steven Koster, pastor of congregational life at Grace Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. Koster was one of the ministers ordained Tuesday.
Grace CRC is one of 10 churches in the Grand Rapids area that decided to exit the CRC after the denomination codified its opposition to LGBTQ sex last year. At a churchwide meeting, known as a synod, in June, the Christian Reformed Church instructed LGBTQ-affirming congregations to repent, retract any divergent statements and comply with the denomination’s statement of beliefs on sexuality. Church leaders who spoke for or affirmed LGBTQ lifestyles within the church, including pastors, elders and deacons, were placed on a limited suspension, meaning they cannot vote in church meetings.
The RCA and the CRC are among the oldest Christian traditions in the United States. The RCA was formed in 1628 by an initial wave of Dutch Calvinists who came to the Colonies. The CRC was founded in 1857 by a later wave of Dutch immigrants.
This week, the Institute for Christian Studies, a Toronto-based graduate school that offers master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy, announced it would drop its affiliation with the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
“It became a reputational issue and an identity issue because our affiliation with the CRC clouded our identity,” said Ron Kuipers, president of the Institute for Christian Studies. “We were trying to recruit board members, and when they saw the affiliation, they declined to join our board, even though we have a history of speaking out on this issue and supporting LGBTQ+ persons.”
Neland Avenue CRC is one of the 10 Grand Rapids-area churches that plans to leave the CRC. Its pastors attended the ordination ceremony on Tuesday. They will be part of the next group to switch their ordinations in May.
The Rev. Joel DeMoor, the Neland Avenue pastor, said not all the churches leaving have voted to affirm LGBTQ lifestyles, but they want to be part of a denomination that allows dissent on the issue.
“We’ve been told, you may not have such a range of views in your leadership, and you may not come and participate anymore,” DeMoor said. “And we feel like, OK, we have no choice. They have shown us the door and we can’t stay in good conscience.”
If God calls it a sin, your opinion opinion doesn’t matter.
I am more sympathetic to the “go and sin no more” tradition.
“The RCA and the CRC are among the oldest Christian traditions in the United States. The RCA was formed in 1628 by an initial wave of Dutch Calvinists who came to the Colonies. The CRC was founded in 1857 by a later wave of Dutch immigrants.”
That just means that they have been wrong on such, and other, things for a very long time. Longevity of error is no substitute for truth. Just take note of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Amen 🙏🏻!!!!
So am I!
RCA isn’t what I’d consider to be conservative. The conservative continental reformed folks are the URCNA (United Reformed Church in North America). There’s also a micro denomination Heritage Reformed Congregation almost evenly split between US and Canadian congregations.
On the other hand, it appears that the RCA is a member of the NCC and WCC and is in communion with the ultra liberal PCUSA. Other than not yet enthusiastically embracing homosexuality like the CRC, I would consider the RCA the the more liberal of the two.
Sounds like there are schisms in religion.
Some religions want to discard traditional teachings about sexuality and homosexuality in particular. Others want to hold onto the traditional teachings and traditional theology.
I’m not a theologian so maybe missing something. But it seems to me you can accept that there are homosexuals, without explicitly changing your theology to accept the homosexual.
Cottoning on to what the LGBTQ+ etc, stand for I see these participants have joined the ABOMINATION.
This is a reason to not extend privileges to any of that ilk!
Amen, Brother. Let them go... they’re only hearing the parts of the Word that they want to, anyway!
I’ve known and talked to homos and one was a bi and the one thing they all have in common is that,whether they admit it or not, they seem depressed. Their life is missing something. No, they don’t want to give up their lifestyle but they always seem to be searching for happiness. More so than regular people.
That’s because they’re heretics.
“The Rev. Joel DeMoor, the Neland Avenue pastor, said not all the churches leaving have voted to affirm LGBTQ lifestyles, but they want to be part of a denomination that allows dissent on the issue.”
They want to be part of a denomination that isn’t willing to distinguish between right and wrong and feels they should be allowed to vote on such matters.
Who? Who in the world would want to be part of such a group? A group that is saying: “Let’s vote on whether we think God in His word knows what He is talking about.” The arrogance is so thick that you could cut it with a knife, a butter knife.
There are no beliefs about sexuality!
There are only FACTS about sexuality. Male or Female, None other.
End of story, Good Night.
The RCA loves them some sodomy.
So do they just not speak the Biblical scriptures from Moses, Paul, Mark Jude and Timothy regarding homosexuality?
If not they are actually not teaching the word of God.
But let’s not offend anybody.
Although I think he was mislead on some of that. He said something to the effect that while one can resist homosexual urges, the transgender people are born that way and that is who they are. I made some arguments against that way of thinking but I doubt it swayed his opinion. Although he may have studied up on the whole transgender thing more.
And Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”
I’ve worked for, with, and had subordinates.
That were homosexuals.
They all seemed to missing the ability to be happy with their lives.
Granted that is a generalization, but compared to “normal”
people, they as a group are less happy, more angry and definitely more promiscuous.
Consider this statistic
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9923159/
Early death primarily due to disease.
” For instance, synod has been clear that same-sex attracted people are not morally culpable for their attraction and are welcome to serve in all ecclesiastical offices... When we become so concerned with guarding lines of right and wrong, we can neglect the other fundamental and often messy parts of being the church, such as witness, welcome, community, and discipleship. “
https://www.crcna.org/SexualityResources
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