ChristianWeek

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Just one year after ruling women could not serve as delegates to its annual synod, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) has changed its mind.

Last year, CRC delegates decided they would not allow women to serve as synod delegates, and recommended a seven-year "Sabbath rest" from discussing the matter.

However, in what proved to be a dramatic turn-around for the denomination, that Sabbath came to an abrupt end this year when numerous communications from CRC churches across North America put the discussion squarely back on the table for 2007. This time synod ruled that women may serve as delegates, beginning in 2008.

Raised profile

Some CRC members who favour women's leadership worked to raise the profile of the conversation this year, making for one of the most watched synods in the denomination's history.

Emma Slager, 18, a student at the denomination's Calvin College in Grand Rapids, created an internet Facebook group, drawing the attention of more than 350 youth to the discussion.

Meanwhile, hundreds of observers turned up for the key debate at the Grand Rapids meeting this past June, some from as far away as Alberta.

Beatrix Prinsen made the trip from Wellandport, Ontario. "I suspected I'd be able to witness history in the making," she says. Hundreds of others around North America, watched the deliberations live, via the Internet.

Wall tumbles

After decades of debate on the role of women in the denomination, Stephanie Baker-Collins, of St. Catherine's, Ontario, observes that this year, "The highest, strongest wall finally tumbled down."

Shirley Roels, a Calvin College professor, calls the change a "seismic shift."

Leo Weverink, of Exeter, Ontario, stayed home to care for his grandchildren so his wife and three daughters could attend Synod together. Weverink, who describes himself as a firm believer of men and women as "one in Christ," says the meeting in Grand Rapids gave them "a new sense of purpose and strength."

Encouraged by the change, Slager says, "I'm just an 18-year-old kid but now I have my entire adult life ahead of me in which I can fully participate in the CRC."

Freedom remains

Not all were overjoyed by the change. Some CRC congregations do not approve of women in church leadership. However, synod agreed, along with other provisions, that its conservative congregations would remain free not to delegate women to classes meetings (gatherings of a group of churches within a geographic region.)

Reflecting on the allowances synod made for its more conservative congregations, CRC pastor Joel Nederhood posits that it would allow those fellowships to function according to their convictions within the denomination.

The change comes as the denomination, which first ordained women pastors in 1996, celebrates its 150th anniversary.

"In 1957...the CRC's 100th anniversary, congregational voting was opened to women members," says Roels. "[In]...the year of the CRC's 150th anniversary... women can serve in the centre, instead of at the margins of this church circle."

In an effort to build on the connections and conversation that was begun with synod, Prinsen will launch a website later this summer for Hearts Aflame, a group that encourages CRC women's leadership.