Episode 153: Synod 2024, Inevitable Division, Gracious Separation - Aaron Greydanus (Part 2)

“It’s just glaringly obvious that we cannot walk hand-in-hand anymore…We can’t just keep hanging, keep pretending, like we’re together on this…[If we do, it] will just drag the denomination down…And there will be nothing left…There’s going to have to be restructuring, reorganizing, [changes to budgets], but we can’t let the practical stuff overcome our principle.” -Jason Ruis

Summary of this Episode

Jason and Willy are back with Rev. Aaron Greydanus, pastor of First CRC of Hull, IA, on this week’s episode of the Messy Reformation podcast. After talking a little more about this year’s Synod, Jason zooms out to look at the denomination and where we are now and where we’re heading. A key part of that is who’s leading, and he proposes there is a different type of leader needed for times of peace versus times of war. Right now, the CRC has a lot of peace-time leaders. Aaron is a bit cautious to say we’re in a “wartime” or that there is a “power-struggle,” but he describes the current moment being one of “a turning point” or “friction.” “We need leaders who will…work better…in that time of friction.”

From there, the conversation moves on to thinking about Synod 2024. One of Aaron’s questions is, seeing that we have multiple Synods holding a course, what happens when you as a church or officebearer disagree with that? It seems like this year’s delegates will have some heavy work in returning to Advisory Committee 8’s material around gravamen. Truthfully, we’re likely at the point where schism or division needs to happen. “We have two different gospels and understandings of what God has said, and we can’t be together on those things.” “[Our side needs] to keep our eyes on…faithfulness to Christ and to his calling upon us.”

Jason points out a document recently published by Better Together for a church to declare their status as “a church in protest.” He argues, this isn’t staying together—it’s admitting there is brokenness. All One Body at least acknowledges there’s a clear division of beliefs. Aaron and Jason both see a need for Synod 2024 to discuss separating in an honest and faithful way, to have some form of “gracious separation.” Jason states, “It’s just glaringly obvious that we cannot walk hand-in-hand anymore…We can’t just keep hanging, keep pretending, like we’re together on this…[If we do, it] will just drag the denomination down…And there will be nothing left.” He reminds us that doesn’t mean this will be easy, or the way forward will be easy. “There’s going to have to be restructuring, reorganizing, [changes to budgets], but we can’t let the practical stuff overcome our principle.”

Part of the difficulty of all this is that it takes committed people and deliberate work on various levels. Aaron encourages local pastors to keep being faithful to the Word and to their call. That’s the priority, but they and all officebearers need to be involved in the broader classis and denominational work as well. Jason proposes a helpful piece would be getting the denomination to a point where it’s no longer in its current and long-standing brokenness, but healthy! If we got there, “We would understand more of the broader benefits of being part of a denomination.” Both classes and denominations, when functioning well, provide good accountability, community support, and working together on mission.

Aaron offers a call and challenge to elders—it takes a lot of time, energy, and work to do this work. “We need…faithful elders who will come and do some of that evaluation and…accountability…We can have [a] good, healthy classis structure.” He does admit it’s a challenge in geographically distanced classes more than classes where everyone is nearby. His final words continue the encouragement—not just pastors, but our elders and deacons need to value the work of classis and the broader work going on. These things are not just the pastor’s job. “God has called you to this office…Yes, you may have a calling to a different occupation, but he’s called you to this office inside of his church, his body, and there is value…and purpose in that…He will equip you. But…it’s not something that you just tack on…You…have to [put forth your best effort for the glory of God] and take it seriously.”