These Grand Rapids congregations have strong ties to Calvin University, with many influential faculty, provosts and former presidents of the flagship Christian Reformed Church school among their members. They include historians Joel Carpenter, George Marsden and Kristin Kobes du Mez as well as theologians Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff.
Calvin faculty may attend non-Christian Reformed churches, though they are still required to subscribe to the Christian Reformed confessional stances or submit a statement of confessional difficulty, called a gravamen.
A denominational spokesperson acknowledged that “some are now in the process of disaffiliating, or are considering taking that step,” and said the denomination won’t know exactly how many for several more months.
Some disaffiliating churches are considering joining other denominations. The Reformed Church in America is an obvious alternative because it shares theological and historical roots with the Christian Reformed Church. Two years ago, 43 theologically conservative congregations in the Reformed Church in America split off from the denomination. But others include the United Church of Christ as well as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — denominations that allow for LGBTQ ordination and marriage.
In the U.S., the United Methodist Church is among the Protestant denominations with the biggest splits. In that denomination, 25% of its churches broke away, fearing the United Methodist Church was about to lift its LGBTQ+ bans on ordination and marriage, which it did earlier this year.
Some Christian Reformed Church congregations wanting to break away have found resources and counseling through an independent group created in 2023 called “Better Together,” which has brought together a wide range of concerned churches for dialogue.
This article originally appeared here.
