Episode 129: Reflections on Synod 2023 - Jason & Willy (Part 1)

"The more I reflect on Synod the more encouraged I get. I'm going to start with the young adult representatives because that's where my journey in Synod started. An overwhelming majority of the young adult representatives spoke in favor of, or in endorsement to, orthodox sexuality matters and even matters of discipline. That has been what we've been talking about for years. Younger people are looking for the truth of how God has spoken. They are looking for the marks of the true church and they're not looking for things that are watered down in such a way so as to bring forward a young people's initiative under the guise of unity, all done in the name of pragmatics. They don't want pragmatics. They want truth. And I saw that this year in an overwhelming fashion. So that encouraged me very much." -Willy Krahnke

Summary of This Episode

Jason and Willy are back from the messy and exhausting Christian Reformed Church’s Synod 2023! This week primarily focuses on Willy’s experience, who served as an ethnic advisor and he was assigned to Advisory Committee 7, which primarily dealt with matters, overtures, and communications related to human sexuality. While there were connections between his committee’s work and Advisory Committee 8, who was handling matters related to Neland Avenue and gravamina, there was (as is expected) independence in their work.

Much of the conversation focuses on the differences between what goes on behind closed doors in the advisory committees and what is seen on the synod floor. Without getting into too many particulars (committee members are expected to uphold confidentiality), both of their committees dealt with contentious matters which there was disagreement on. The delegates serving on the committees, though, worked towards unity as much as possible and good leadership provided for unified reports on many points. The way Rev. Willem Dellemen (Committee 7) and Jason (Committee 8) chaired their committees allowed for good discussion and discernment—the advisory committee members have views coming in, but the process of seeking to understand each other is what led to so much of their work being a single report. Willy shared that when they had to go their separate ways and write majority and minority reports due to conscience, that was difficult, but the integrity was appreciated. Jason reminds us that disagreement can be had among believers, and should be done while maintaining the fruits of the Spirit, not with hatred toward each other. 

Things do change when you move from the advisory committee meetings to the floor. Jason points out the context is different. The tone and the manner in which people speak has a different purpose. Alluding to something said by John Piper, how the pastor speaks when they’re preaching is going to be different from visiting at someone’s bedside. The difference isn’t fake, it’s not hypocritical, the context is different. Willy reminds us of the gravity of the synod floor—this is where decisions are made and there are processes for it. The vote totals continuing, quite surprisingly, to follow last year with the 70%/30% split seemed to give way to a desperation among those on the minority side. Jason analyzes it well, “[The floor is] when anxiety picks up for people. That's when anger, frustration picks up because a decision is going to be made…It's easy to find unity on…0 recommendations that we're bringing to synod, but it's a lot harder to find that unity and generosity when it's [saying] yes or no to what your recommendation is…[We] have to understand that that's going to happen just because of the nature of what it is.” The tiring work and crunch for time did not help matters either.

The third main part of this week’s episode highlights the encouraging aspects of Synod 2023. I addition to the vote counts fitting where he stands, Willy talks about what he saw from the young adult representatives and other ethnic advisors and delegates. Most of the young adults spoke in favor of or endorsing traditional views of sexuality and also of discipline. That fits the ministry model and findings from Jason and Willy’s experience: “They don't want pragmatics. They want truth.” When it came to the various ethnic voices, they really helped to show where our unity is—it’s in our confessional identify. Diverse groups of people who have come into and found a home in the CRC have done so around our confessions.

The guys end with the realistic landscape of the CRC coming out of Synod: we’re not united and there’s no way for us to move forward together. We need to work towards a split graciously. “It’s gonna do nobody any good for us to keep coming back…pummeling one another.” Willy summarizes why this is: “I hear this all the time that this is not a salvific issue from those in the revisionist camp, but for us in the Orthodox camp it is. [Unlike women in office and complementarian versus egalitarian beliefs] this is not an issue where we are in agreement that it is an issue of salvation or not… We have two views that are mutually exclusive. They cannot coexist together in a local structure…In a classical structure, I don't believe it works. In a denominational structure, we have seen how it doesn't work…There does come a point to say, let's be calm…Let's speak to each other in a very honest and biblical tone, speaking the truth to one another in love, understanding that there has arisen between us a sharp disagreement to the point where I'm going this way, you're going that way. Go with God's blessing…”