Because of Synod's decisions in recent years, it is anticipated that a significant number of CRC ministers will be seeking to transfer their ordination and ministerial credentials to the RCA. In some regions of North America, the number of CRC ministers applying to be received into a particular RCA classis could be high. Because of this possibility, the Task Force on Ministerial Credentials exists to help you, and to help the RCA help you all through their overall process of receiving ministers from another denomination.
We are a group of goodwilled ministers and members in the CRC who have been tapped by the Steering Team of First Wave [a bi-national grassroots group of disaffiliating ministers and congregations] to be a Task Force focused on helping CRC ministers transfer their ordination and ministerial credentials to the RCA if that is their desire.
We do not have an agenda.
We are not recruiting for the RCA.
We do not wish to influence your decision one way or another.
Our goal is to help you should you decide to transfer your ordination to the RCA, and to help the RCA anticipate applications to their classes.
Pastor Tim Bossenbroek, Hessel Park Church (CRC), Champaign, Illinois
Pastor Heidi De Jonge; university and long term care chaplain, trainer and coach for The Colossian Forum; Kingston, Ontario
Gail Hall, retired mental health therapist; Next Steps team member, Bethany Christian Reformed Church, Muskegon, Michigan
Sue A. Rozeboom, CRC Minister, ordained to specialized ministry as Professor of Liturgical Theology at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan; member and council chair of Boston Square Church (CRC), Grand Rapids, Michigan
Kathy Smith, associate pastor, First CRC, Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University; and CRC polity adjunct professor and adviser
Peter TeWinkle, Co-Pastor of Oakdale Park Church (CRC), Grand Rapids, Michigan; ordained in the RCA, member and executive team member of the North Grand Rapids Classis, RCA
How did this Task Force come to be?
This Task Force came about by way of the Classis GRE Next Steps Committee (formed in July 2023), which expanded in September 2023 to the Bi-National Circle of concerned ministers and members of the CRC. More recently, ministers and congregations actively moving toward disaffiliation also started meeting separately to focus specifically on matters of disaffiliation. This group, the First Wave of Disaffiliating Ministers and Churches, identified a Steering Team which appointed this Task Force to start addressing the immediate need of helping CRC ministers who are, may, or will seek the transfer of their ordination to the RCA. We know there are many, so we want to help the RCA help us.
We soon began talking with Better Together as we discovered our efforts were overlapping. There is no competition between us, and we mutually recognize that such drama would be utterly unhelpful to you, the RCA, and the church’s witness to the world. Together, we and Better Together have been in conversation with some classis and regional synod executives in the RCA.
We offer the above simply and only to indicate that we as a Task Force have some “official capacity”:
- We were collaboratively appointed and are recognized by folk in the CRC who have been mobilizing and conversing for some time regarding just this possibility.
- We are collaboratively recognized by official RCA folk who are sympathetic to the needs and aspirations of CRC ministers and churches.
This FAQ, the Form, and our goodwill are for you:
if you are intending to transfer your ordination and credentials to the RCA, whether you are active in ministry, retired, or otherwise; whether you are an ordained minister or a commissioned pastor.
if you have already reached out to an RCA classis and are in the process of transferring your credentials to the RCA.
if you are only just wondering about transferring your credentials to the RCA, curious about the process or want others to talk to safely.
This FAQ, the Form, and our goodwill are for you whether your motivation for moving from the CRC to the RCA is for any or all of these reasons:
Concern about synod’s overreach, decisions about confessional status, and changes to the use of confessional-difficulty gravamina.
Disagreement with synod’s conclusions about human sexuality.
You have been put under "limited suspension" because you and/or your congregation are "in the status of one in protest with ecclesiastical intent" (Synod 2024).
Your church is disaffiliating.
We suggest you at least scan the FAQ before starting the Form because the FAQ contains information as well as links to information that will help you respond to some prompts in the Form.
The FAQ will be updated regularly with editorial clarifications and with more Q&A's.
By way of this form, you will give the Task Force information.
We six members of the Task Force are the only ones who will see your information. We will hold it confidentially, using it only so that we might give some general information to RCA classes, and so that we might reach back to you with information or networking opportunities per your interest.
Check the FAQ for further explanation.
As indicated in the FAQ, to familiarize yourself with RCA history, polity, and worship these are go-to resources:
Book of Church Order [online]
By Grace Alone: Stories of the RCA, by D. Bruggink and K. Baker
Foundations of Reformed Church Polity, by M. Van Maastricht
Loyalty and Loss: The RCA 1945-1994, by L. Japinga
Meeting Each Other in Doctrine, Liturgy, and Government, by D. Meeter
RCA Church Polity Self-Led Study Module
RCA Doctrinal Standards Self-Led Study Module
RCA History Self-Led Study Module
RCA Worship Self-Led Study Module
The January 15, 2025, crc2rca Zoominar
Four RCA experts on RCA history and polity conversationally engage topics and questions presented by CRC ministers. (90 minutes)
The January 31, 2025, crc2rca Zoominar
Four RCA experts on RCA history and polity conversationally engage topics and questions presented by CRC ministers. (90 minutes)
The March 19, 2025, Zoominar with RCA Benefits Staff
Peace to you.