General Synod 2013 met June 20-25 on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa, and addressed many aspects of ministry and mission in the RCA.
Addresses: Synod president Tom Smith urged delegates to see Jesus and spoke of seeing Jesus transform lives through the RCA. In response to his proposal, synod voted to form a task force to define challenges related to aging church buildings and demographic changes and recommend ways to address them.
In his report to synod, general secretary Tom De Vries affirmed the shifts in RCA ministry and mission that have taken place over the past 10 years. De Vries said the RCA has remained true to itself while expanding to a more missional, transformational, and contextual ministry.
In a keynote address, missiologist Ed Stetzer challenged delegates to be agents of change.
Elections: Delegates elected Carl Boersma president of General Synod. Boersma is pastor of Faith Reformed Church in Brookings, South Dakota. “The calling on my heart for the year ahead is, first, that it will be a season of prayer,” he said.
Delegates elected Greg Alderman vice president of General Synod. Alderman is senior pastor of Christ Community Church in Carmichael, California. He spoke of a debt of love and gratitude to the RCA and a desire that the church “would believe deeply in the call of Jesus Christ to be the presence of our Lord and Savior and to proclaim his name as the hope that we all have and that we all share.”
Other news: Synod affirmed the growing collaboration between the RCA and the Christian Reformed Church in North America. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with World Renew for disaster response and affirmed a plan to merge the RCA and CRC insurance plans.
RCA Global Mission unveiled a new “One for the World” focus, emphasizing mission efforts around compassion, the next generation, and the nations. Delegates worked together to build 1,000 World Vision school kits for a school in central Iowa and another in Nicaragua.
For more coverage, go to www.rca.org/synod for full news stories, video coverage, and photos from the event.