Episode 228: Synod 2025—The Changing Face of CRC Leadership
"There's always this kind of uneasiness, and I just want to encourage people to realize that the denomination has shifted significantly…The leadership at Synod has changed for sure and I think that's going to keep filtering up into the rest of the denomination. So be at ease." — Jason Ruis
Summary of This Episode
On this episode of the Messy Reformation, Jason and Dan sit down to recap and reflect on the Convening Session of Synod 2025 that was conducted on Zoom on Wednesday, May 28. They jump pretty quickly to the main business of the night: the elections of Synod’s officers, which Dan sarcastically labels as “100 minutes of action-packed fun.” If you haven’t been a part of or watched one of these sessions, it can be rather boring with a lot waiting around. On the plus side, the delegates are learning how to use the synod website and voting system–essential parts of the in-person meeting, and the IT staff are trying to work out glitches in the system. With over 150 people, who are all over the spectrum of technological know-how, some are usually learning on the fly.
When it did come time for the delegates to vote, there was a slate of twelve names to select from for President and Vice-President and a separate list of twelve for First and Second Clerks. While there is some overlap, not all who would be appropriately gifted for president or vice-president are appropriately gifted to serve as a clerk and vice-versa. Dan shares how these slates are composed. Synod delegates can register their willingness to serve as an officer, that list is put before delegates to nominate from, and then synodical services creates the slates based on the highest nominees, who is well-qualified, and who brings representation.
This year, Stephen Terpstra was elected as president and Ken Benjamins was elected as vice-president. Stephen was the vice-president last year and is at his 6th synod. Ken has not been an officer, but is at his 7th synod. He has a wealth of involvement in denominational committees. Josh Christoffels was elected as first clerk, the role he served in last year as well, and Gary van Leeuwen was elected as the second clerk. All four officers are pastors. Three of them were born and raised in Canada, and two currently serve in Canadian churches, one of which is the oldest Canadian CRC.
While social media is known to pick on the lack of diversity, Dan sees these as sensible, experienced picks. He addresses the gripes over the lack of women, by noting there was only one woman–Luann Sankey (second clerk of Synod 2022). She was also the only non-pastor (a deacon), and only on the clerks slate. What we’ve seen at recent synods is an appreciation of experience for dealing with hard things. Being a woman or a racial minority does not make someone well-qualified, and we’ve heard from individuals who come from an ethnic minority–many don’t want to serve as officers, and readily admit there are language and cultural barriers that contribute to lacking confidence and comfortability with being in those roles. Jason also wonders if the pool of willing individuals continues to decrease because it is hard; it’s not a fun experience.
Jason points out some of the delegates brought up concerns during votes about if all the votes were being counted and asks if Dan has any insight on that as the clerks watch vote totals come in during synod. Dan shares 168 was the top number of delegates participating, which means 85 was a majority. Yet the total votes coming in would often waver between 140 and 150—so missing 10 to 16% of the possible vote. There was a bit of user error as well as technological glitches likely behind most of that, but that’s an amount that isn’t necessarily uncommon due to different factors. However, the results at the convening session appear to have been clear enough. “Nothing hinky was going on.”
Jason highlights the task of the delegates now is to prepare. They will be on the beautiful campus of Redeemer University in Ancaster, ON in two weeks as Synod kicks off on Friday, June 13. He wraps up the episode by echoing Paul Vander Klay (pastor of Living Stones CRC, Sacramento, CA and well-known YouTuber), “The vibe shift is here.” What that means is we’re seeing shifts from one generation to another stepping into lead and moving on from the old “pillars” of the denomination. It’s not really surprising who’s getting elected. Jason names that some lament the shift, some are uneasy, but he encourages us to “be at ease.” Reformation has been happening and, Lord-willing, it will continue.