Post-Synod Reflection and state of the CRC

As others have chimed in, I wanted to add my perspective on Synod 2022/23 and the state of the CRC from my perspective out on the West Coast. I've been RCA or CRC my whole life. I'm Dutch, and nowhere else has ever felt like home. I'm also a former two term Elder in the CRC, including a year as council president. I'm a polity and theology nerd. What I lack in personal connections to the West Michigan/Ontario affirming crowd, I make up for in being good at reading the vibes. Anyway, with that preamble, here's my reflection on where things stand.

First, I've never thought there was a prayer that a progressive or local option was a possibility. I was a delegate in 2016 when the HSR was first conceived. The pre-Abide faction was rooted in the complimentarian wing of the church who have long *hated* the local option on women officers.

A lot of the folks people refer to as progressives at Synod are really moderates, actually. They might be affirming, but a lot of them are pro-life and would consider themselves centrists politically. The CRC has always been conservative-ish with a heavy dose of academic moderation.

Rather than make final proclamations, the history of the denomination is marked by study committees. One committee will report on something and Synod will form a new committee to recommend implementation in 3 years. Slooooooow is the name of the game.

I've read among a lot of traditionalists and Abide allies that Synod "failed to finish the job". That's a fundamentally new understanding of Synod. All the talk of "weaponized compassion" and frustration with the officers moving slowly is because the body has always moved very slowly, with the idea Synod’s job is to discern the will of the spirit.

It's not a political body. It's not governed by Robert's Rules. There's a separate Synodical Procedures document that governs the body. We aren't a denomination that has its roots in the democratic process, like the presbyterians or methodists. The job of Synod is to sit and listen to the Spirit. And if there are people moved to tears and resigning on the spot, that's a damn clear sign that the Spirit is not affirming the direction of the body.

Anyone thinking that Synod would ever adopt an affirming, progressive position on human sexuality doesn't understand the CRC. I've had a lot of conversations with progressives (many who have already left) and others who want the CRC to change that they really need to understand how proud the moderates of the denomination are with the 1973 position. That decision is seen by many as progressive, not because it's affirming, but because at a time when few denominations were willing to make any space at all for queer folks, the CRC *did*.

From my progressive perspective, the only prayer we had was to ally with moderates around leaving the issue undecided. A de facto local option. But post 2016, moderates refused to accept that (what became) Abide was as radical as they clearly said they were.

Further, the HSR was cleverly and deceptively worded to appeal to moderates, and Abide was playing a different game around Synod that moderates didn't understand.

The first thing you have to understand about who comes to Synod is that Abide and their allies write the dates in pen in their calendars. It's the only thing they care about. Moderates and progressives on the other hand *loath* Synod. There's rarely any organized progressive faction at Synod because it's almost impossible to get any young moderates and progressives to attend. I desperately wish progressives were as organized as Abide believes they are.

Anyway, I think the 70/30 split that showed up in the votes isn't perfectly accurate, at least I think there is a significant range of opinions about why they were voting on the 70% side. I do think the majority of the CRC holds traditionalist views on marriage, but they also do not understand that Abide has far more conservative views than most of the moderates do, and by supporting them at this point they are dooming the denomination. I have argued with moderates who do not believe as real the plain text of what the HSR states around salvation, communion, divorce and more.

The reason there were so many tears being shed on Thursday afternoon is because there are people in that room who are CRC going back 4 generations and "finishing the job" has never been the point of Synod. They feel hijacked and abused by the *tactics* of Abide and it's allies.

I think that Synod 24 kills the gravamina and codifies a process for kicking out Neland Ave, I think that a lot of the conservatives are going to next work to gut the denominational offices, specifically OSJ and whatever is left of Race Relations, I think they'll try to sack Shao Chong at The Banner, ensure there's a purge of Calvin faculty, and then come for women's ordination, the original sin.

I think they're going to be racing the clock on the denomination collapsing however, because while the affirming may be in the minority, they represent a massive chunk of the denominations financial stability, and if they're pushed out it's only a matter of a few years before the CRC is gone completely.

Note: I made some late edits since I originally typed this on my phone. I think they’re all just to fix typos or clarify things that were awkwardly worded.