Episode 232: Synod 2025 — Oneness and Holiness-The Tension of a Faithful Church — Chris Ganski (Part 1)

“We [had] the broad spectrum ideologically…or theologically…and people coming at things very differently, but I was really amazed at how well we are able to come together and find…common points of agreement and move forward without a lot of fractiousness or deep division....My concern going into Synod was that it was going to be a hard pull to the right, ‘scorched earth,’ we’re going to get all of the dissent out by any means necessary with a heavy hammer, and I was ready to come in and resist that…[because] how you go about [things] matters…I tried to think…this Synod really is about how we as a church hold together the attributes of the church’s oneness and its holiness.” —Chris Ganski

Summary of This Episode

Welcome back to The Messy Reformation podcast where we are getting back to guest interviews as we reflect on Synod 2025. Willy and Dan are joined this week by Rev. Chris Ganski, the senior pastor of City Reformed Church in Milwaukee, WI, which he planted in 2012. Chris shares that he is not a CRC-native, but came to Presbyterian and Reformed convictions as a teenager. He connected with Brookfield CRC and Classis Wisconsin during his PhD studies at Marquette, and was licensed to exhort before seeking ordination. He has quite the variety of academic experiences, which have really shaped his understanding of being a pastor-theologian. We’ll hear more about what that entails in the next episode. 

Given his relatively recent entrance to the CRC, Willy asks what he’s noticed about our denomination. Chris shares that the last time he was at Synod was 2016 (he had also attended in 2010 as an elder and 2015 as a task force reporter), the CRC was at a crossroads of either going mainline or tracking differently, which there were no examples of but it’s the route we’ve gone. He notes that he’s struggled to fit in, though, because of the uniqueness of the Dutch-American/Canadian culture. It’s not that the CRC or its members are unfriendly, but the expectations for how things work is unique.

At Synod 2025, Chris was a member of and the assigned reporter for Advisory Committee 2 (AC2), which was one of two committees tasked with synodical services work. They handled two quite significant matters that were dealt with on Tuesday evening. First was a response to Overture 28, which asked for two distinct synods of the CRC–one in the U.S. and one in Canada. Second, was a response to Overture 7, which asked for an advisory body to vet he nominations to boards and agencies that synod delegates are asked to vote on and ratify.

For Overture 28, Chris reminds us Rev. Phil Apoll, pastor of Hope Community CRC in Mount Brydges, ON, took over the reporter duties because it made sense for a Canadian to report. AC2 recommended not acceding to the overture, which passed with less than 10 votes against or abstaining. Dan points out one of the reactions on social media has been a question of if AC2 and/or Synod really understood what was being asked for–that is, not to create a new denomination but just separate synods under a single CRC head. Chris shares, “Functionally, that’s a distinction without a difference…It’s more [of] a logistical distinction…If you look at the reasons behind this, they’re not substantive; they’re more symbolic. If you could read between the lines of the overture and…the people talking about it, there is a kind of anti-Americanism, and there’s the real reason…There was a sense that this was ideologically-motivated, not institutionally…The Human Sexuality Report (HSR) is also a subtext.”

With that said, Willy asks what Chris sees as being at work to bring Synod to such a unified vote. Chris highlights that no one was heard speaking for same-sex marriage, likely in large part because the decisions of the past couple Synods wouldn’t allow someone to be delegated who is in such disagreement, but unity doesn’t mean uniformity. About his Committee, he observed, “We [had] the broad spectrum ideologically…or theologically…and people coming at things very differently, but I was really amazed at how well we are able to come together and find…common points of agreement and move forward without a lot of fractiousness or deep division.” 

He was really encouraged by how the delegates were able to have conversations charitably, even with the discussion and approved recommendations regarding the RCA. He shares, “...My concern going into Synod was that it was going to be a hard pull to the right, “scorched earth,” we’re going to get all of the dissent out by any means necessary with a heavy hammer, and I was ready to come in and resist that…[because] how you go about [things] matters…I tried to think…this Synod really is about how we as a church hold together the attributes of the church’s oneness and its holiness.” Next time, we’ll pick up Overture 7, Chris’ view of “Reformed catholicity,” and a conversation he thinks the CRCNA needs to have soon.