GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Sitting in the front pew of the empty sanctuary, Joel DeMoor, pastor of Neland Avenue CRC, recited a sentence he'd committed to memory: "To be a community of hope where all will experience and extend the deep welcome of Christ."
The well-remembered phrase— part of Neland Avenue's mission statement— also appears in a communication to Synod 2024, which convened Friday morning on the campus of Calvin University.
For one week, delegates from Christian Reformed churches across North America will pray, worship and make decisions on matters of doctrine, including same-sex relationships, which the denomination codified as sinful at Synod 2022 and reaffirmed at Synod 2023.
In response to these decisions on sexuality, a number of churches from Classis Grand Rapids East, including Neland Avenue, wrote a letter to Synod 2024, asking the delegates to "hear these cries of the heart."
"Our communication — from our church's perspective — is a plea," DeMoor said. "Please listen and please acknowledge all of us."
READ MORE: Synod 2023 denies Neland Avenue CRC's appeal
Referred to as Communication 26, the letter primarily asks the denomination to allow officebearers — pastors, elders and deacons — to remain in office despite disagreement or difficulty with portions of confessed doctrine, a CRC concept known as "confessional difficulty gravamen" (CDG).
"We continue to be blessed by members who hold a variety of views on marriage and sexuality," wrote the council of Neland Avenue, claiming that prohibiting or inhibiting the gravamen process would "sadly be closing the door on our participation in this denomination."
In addition to Neland Avenue, Boston Square, Eastern Avenue, Fuller Avenue, Grace and Woodlawn Christian Reformed Churches also contributed to the communication, adopted by the classis in February.
"Put to words some of our hopes for Synod and some of our pain," said Kelsi Jones, a pastor at Grace Church. "Room for us all. The Kingdom of God is going to be so much more diverse than we can imagine."
"Openly" disagreeing with the CRC's stance on sexuality, Grace said it should not have been elevated to confessional status: "Starting with the Wittenberg door, our tradition has always made room for the expression and exploration of nonmajority positions," it wrote.
The majority report for Synod 2023, though, called for the gravamen process to be "time-bound and time-sensitive," as "no one is free to decide for themselves or for the church what is and what is not a doctrine confessed in the standards," per church order.
Continuing, the report added that confessional difficulties are not "a request for an assembly to tolerate a subscriber's settled conviction that a doctrine... is wrong," but rather a tool to "resolve" doubts.
While the majority report recommended those with CDG's related to sexuality — "the definition of unchastity" — come into alignment with the denomination, resign, or face suspension by the end of year, Synod 2023 ran out of time to debate the measure, delaying it to Synod 2024.
"We're thoroughly Christian Reformed, said Michael Van Denend, a member at Neland Avenue who attended Synod 2023 as a delegate. "But we cannot take a stance that would shun some of our members."
Referring to his congregation as his "faith family," Van Denend does not want to have to choose between his brothers and sisters in Christ at Neland Avenue and the denomination he's long attended.
"We're not trying to make some sort of statement," he said.
At Grace Church, it's a similar story: Some want to leave the CRC, others want to stay, having served and fought in it for years.
READ MORE: All One Body sings on Calvin's campus as Synod 2023 delegates discuss sexuality, sin
"I have such a peace at Grace that God will be with us," said Emily Helder, the church clerk. "I experience a great deal of hope and what feels like a taste of God's Kingdom when I'm in affirming spaces."
As the denomination returns to discussion on sexuality this month, DeMoor prays Synod 2024 will listen well to the churches it serves: "Walk that road together in the same way we feel the Spirit here."
