Episode 187: Synod 2024 - Building Trust & Community in the CRCNA - Michael Bentley (Part 1)
“God is working for a deeper good in the CRC, on deeper levels than I can account for, and for a longer term than I can plan for.” -Micheal Bentley
Summary of this Episode
This week, the Messy Reformation podcast features Jason and Willy with Rev. Michael Bentley, the pastor of Trinity CRC in Maryland Heights, MO (a suburb of St. Louis) and a Classis Central Plains delegate to Synod 2024. Michael was a guest previously on Episodes 17 and 18. This was his third synod, having attended in 2013 (Classis Northcentral Iowa) and 2015 (Classis Hudson), and he served this year on Advisory Committee 5 dealing with congregational care and justice. They had a mixture of work, including an overture on creating a licensing board for ministers and others on how congregations relate to each other. He shares how they were one of the few to get their work done early and not be given additional work. One of the advantages for those on such a committee is that they have a chance to be well-read on other committees’ reports as they become available.
A main focus of this episode’s conversation relates to what was most encouraging at Synod and the current moment for the CRC. Michael shares that there’s a distinction that synodical delegates had to recognize, similar to politics, between what’s desirable and what’s passable. There are a lot of factors that the variety of the delegates bring. That said, he acknowledges and is hopeful, “God is working for a deeper good in the CRC, on deeper levels than I can account for, and for a longer term than I can plan for.” As committees did their work and discussion was held on the floor along with prayer, built-up anxiety decreased.
This opens the door to a discussion surrounding The Abide Project’s influence in the CRCNA and recent synods. Jason is a member of their leadership team and Michael has been heavily involved on their media team as a graphic designer. Jason points out, “What’s happening now is a total work of God…Abide is a tool,” which Michael agrees with, “There are too many people involved with a different view of what’s going on to say that Abide or All One Body is in control of [things].” Reformation in the CRC is way bigger than just the most visible people or those who get delegated to Synod. It’s been a Spirit-led movement.
Jason articulates a significant swing in the CRC. “Nobody now is questioning whether the majority of our denomination is conservative…And yet, four years ago, when we started this podcast, many, many, many people thought that conservatives were the minority…We almost forget that…It shows how much, I think, the liberals have…infiltrated the institution…how much of our public face seemed very progressive…The Messy Reformation, [and] through Abide, the work has been to connect people and to build some friendships and…fellowship so that people realize, ‘We’re not the minority anymore’...and [work] together for this.” Michael agrees, “We really coalesced a lot of attention in one direction, where people were able to find what they were looking for and know that they weren’t alone.” They talk about here a bit about how these two groups can offer resources, and acknowledge people have been looking to them to do that because of a lack of trust in the denomination’s resourcing.
Next time we’ll pick up Michael’s thoughts regarding discouraging parts of synod, especially as related to perceived cultural elitism.