Episode 259: Why the CRC Needs Vision More Than Another Fight
“The last two years revealed there hasn’t been vision here for a long time…We’ve been coasting around. We’ve got all these ships sailing together…but are we actually sailing together? And who’s helping keep us together? He clarifies, he’s not looking for a CRC pope, but a leader who is excited and passionately Reformed and will cast vision.” —Jason Ruis
Summary of This Episode
This week on The Messy Reformation, Jason, Willy, and Dan give an update on their lives and what’s happening in the CRC. Dan continues to pastor the people of Baldwin CRC, and is looking forward to a sabbatical for rest, refreshment, and considering God’s call on his life this summer. He’s also going to be joining the Candidacy office, Calvin Theological Seminary representatives, and CMLT servants from across the denomination for a gathering in Phoenix this week, and plans to attend the Coram Deo Conference in March. Willy shares the big thing in terms of his church life at Pease CRC was the installation of Rev. Brad Bierma this past fall. He also shares from his involvement on the Council of Delegates that they have been talking about consolidating classes and a recommendation to switch to biennial synods. On the EIRC, he’s also part of the subcommittee looking at our relationship with the RCA. Jason has continued to adjust to his new position, primarily with Central Wisconsin Christian School as well as being an associate pastor. They’ve had a difficult loss in the school community that he’s grateful to have been able to help walk the school through that.
Jason poses the question of what’s the feel throughout the CRC at the beginning of 2026? Willy frames it well, “Trying to search for and fight and establish our identity…We’ve established what we’re against, and now…we’re having a hard time figuring out exactly what we stand for.” Dan alludes to an article published on “The Aquila Report” blog from 2018 (written by Rev. Paul T. Murphy, not Aaron Vriesman)—link here—, which talked about how the URC established their identity as not being CRC but had to figure out what the URC is. “I sense…an unsettling quietness…The fight or work is unknown.” He shares he feels like things have settled down, allowing people to focus on other work, but some are wondering what we did. He doesn’t think it’s necessarily about what we did, but an uncertainty of where we’re going. Jason shares a bit from Eugene Peterson’s “The Pastor” that after a big action, people can sense accomplishment but then not know what to do next. He agrees, rebuilding is about finding our identity.
Dan shares something he picked up from Patrick (not Peter) Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” related to some classis work he’s doing. He’s discovered it’s possible that a classis can’t truly be a team, and likely that applies to the CRC as well. While we may think and say we want a team mentality, is it possible we were so focused on reaching certain conclusions that we didn’t think or tend to results beyond. This attention to organizational terms seems to be part of a generational shift that hasn’t been present before in the CRC. Jason picks that up, “The last two years revealed there hasn’t been vision here for a long time…We’ve been coasting around. We’ve got all these ships sailing together…but are we actually sailing together? And who’s helping keep us together? He clarifies, he’s not looking for a CRC pope, but a leader who is excited and passionately Reformed and will cast vision.”
Willy “tips his hat” to Zach King, our General Secretary, for the work he’s done, especially when the Office of General Secretary has been tasked with so much by synods. He redirects, “...The denominational leaders we should be looking to are our ministers [and] elders,” but he also names that having a vision is not the only struggle but figuring out who’s vision. Dan highlights the reality of that. We have around 950 churches and pastors, so how or who gets to pick the vision. He suggests working through classes, which at least boils it down to 49. Willy sees the benefit there of being able to identify and share from the diversity of gifts and focus. We’ve got to figure out how to share across classes, though.
Jason prods on, asking for solution ideas. Willy states, “I personally love the idea of classes getting together…not even of the same region.” Jason thinks of strong leadership, like a football coach, who looks over everything, casts a vision, encourages and persuades to see how what one person, church, or classis is doing can help another. The three talk a bit about some of the gatherings that do take place outside of regions–the Gathering initiative, classical clerk conferences, the Candidacy-CMLT gathering, and others like those. Dan suggest that Thrive should focus on making connections versus making materials, but points out one of the biggest obstacles is buy-in. At some point, pastors, officebearers, church members, churches, and classes need to buy-in. Jason shares that he doesn’t have the solution, and he recognizes there are leaders looking, but there’s a need for change.