BOT Highlights - February 2017

The Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church in North America met on February 23-24, 2017 at New Street Christian Reformed Church in Burlington, Ontario. 

During this meeting the Board:

• Appointed Rev. Dr. Zachary King to the position of Director for the new mission agency and recommended that synod ratify this appointment, effective July 6, 2017.
• Ratified the administrative appointment of Rev. Sarah Hae Kyung Roelofs to the position of Director of Chaplaincy and Care Ministry, effective April 3, 2017
• Ratified the administrative appointment of Rev. Dr. Reginald Smith to the position of Director of Race Relations and Social Justice. He took up his role with the office of Race Relations on February 27 and will begin to phase into his role with the Office of Social Justice in a time of transition with Peter VanderMeulen, who retires in June 2017.
• Recognized and confirmed the importance of providing strong Reformed material for and with churches. Adopted an action plan from Faith Formation Ministries for new curriculum development when budget is able to support it.
• Recommended that synod encourage CRC churches, classes and educational institutions to annually sponsor events to celebrate Disability Week, preferably during the week that concludes with the third Sunday in October
• Recommended that synod designate an Annual Day of Justice for the CRCNA, its churches, classes, ministries and educational institutions preferably on the third Sunday of August beginning August 2018. If approved, this day would be promoted by the Office or Race Relations, Office of Social Justice, and World Renew.
• Encouraged the denominational agencies, in their production of resources, to make content generic enough to be used by local churches at any time of year, and to be ready by September 1 each year to ease church planning.
• Affirmed with thanks and encouraged denominational agencies, officers and staff directors to speak prophetically and biblically into contemporary justice issues.
• Reviewed new mission agency and CRCNA draft bylaws with regard to the upcoming transition to a Council of Delegates. Recommended that these bylaws be integrated into one set of bylaws for Canada and one set for the United States. The integrated bylaws will be reviewed by legal counsel and presented to the BOT for approval and recommendation to synod in May 2017.  The Back to God Ministries International bylaws will remain separate.
• Reviewed and adopted an Executive Committee Transition Plan for the upcoming transition to a Council of Delegates. Reviewed and recommended that Synod 2017 adopt a Council of Delegates Handbook as well as changes to the Rules for Synodical Procedure, the Church Order and its Supplements to reflect the transition from the Board of Trustees of the CRCNA to a new Council of Delegates of the CRCNA. 
• Received a CRC Ministry, History and Funding Grid as well as a Program Evaluation Overview document as partial fulfilment of the request of Synod 2016 (see Acts of Synod 2016, p. 858). These documents will be forwarded to Synod 2017 as information. In addition, the BOT recommended that delegates to Synod 2017 be asked to assess the value of the CRCNA’s ministry efforts in advance of synod by using a simplified version of a proposed survey. A request was made that Synod 2017 set aside time for delegates to review their assessments with each other as an initial step towards prioritization of ministries.
• Approved a provision that the 2017 RCA General Synod and the CRC Synod each devote up to one hour to discuss the direction of RCA-CRC collaboration.
• Appointed Rev. Michael Koetje to a special one-year term on the Calvin College Board of Trustees; Ms. Greta Luimes as an at-large member of the CRCNA Canada Foundation Board;  Mr. Daniel Pell, Mr. Jay DeBoer and Ms. Nasreen Fynewever to the World Renew board.
• Recommended Rev. Henry Kranenburg to a second term on the Judicial Code Committee and recommended Mr. John Koot, and the slate of Mr. Doug VandeGriend and Mr. Adam Zylstra for appointment to the Judicial Code Committee.
• Ratified the appointments of Rev. Michael Kooy, Rev. Henry Admiraal, and Rev. Jonathan Kim as synodical deputies and Rev. Daniel Roeda, Rev. Jerry Blom, and Rev. Ronald Goudzwaard as alternate synodical deputies.

Upcoming meetings:    

• May 4-5, 2017 Board of Trustees in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• October 11-13, 2017 Council of Delegates in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• February 22-23, 2018 COD in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• May 3-4, 2018 COD by technology
• October 10-12, 2018 COD in Elmhurst, Illinois

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Steven Timmermans, Executive Director
[email protected]