Beyond the CRC
Two different groups, Hesed and Toward CRC Canada, pivot in the face of closed doors.
This October, representatives from more than 300 denominations, all members of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will gather in Egypt to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The creed this council produced in 325 AD begins, “We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” It goes on to describe how Jesus is both fully God and fully human. The Nicene Creed is considered an ecumenical treasure, a declaration of doctrinal consensus, hard won after hundreds of years of debate. Those who gather for the WCC conference later this year will focus on the theme “Where now for visible unity?”
This is a relevant question in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) these days, too, as the denomination has experienced fractures over the role of LGBTQ people in the church. On this issue, the CRC has moved on a quicker timeline than those early Christians at Nicaea. After the legalization of gay marriage in Canada in 2005, it took the CRC less than 20 years to make a “settled and binding” decision to stick with a traditional definition of marriage.
Hesed’s rebrand
The pace of this timeline was a surprise to at least some of the denominations’ 228,000 members, including Marlene Bergsma, who is Christian Courier’s (CC) Features Editor and a member of the steering committee for Hesed. Hesed was founded in 2022 as a response to the CRC’s Human Sexuality Report (HSR). Bergsma thought Hesed would have many years to contribute to a rich denomination-wide discussion after that report was received in 2022, similar to when CRC synods made and reversed decisions on women in office multiple times between 1970 and 1995. Instead, subsequent synods have enforced the 2022 decision by disciplining officebearers who hold dissenting views, requiring affirming churches to repent or disaffiliate and limiting the denominational publication’s ability to share positions contrary to synodical decisions.
“[Hesed] started as a storytelling website,” explains Bergsma, because they believed the HSR was missing some key LGBTQ voices. Hesed also set up a support group for parents of LGBTQ children and hosted educational events, including a screening of the movie 1946.
“Our original intention was to try to wake the CRC up, and we failed,” says Bergsma, although the team was successful in providing support and resources for LGBTQ people who have experienced harm, she added.
After facing closed doors in the CRC, Hesed has now decided to broaden its mandate. In June 2025, Hesed launched a new website for all Christians – not just those in the CRC – to “explore questions about faith and human sexuality, find reliable resources [. . .] and make connections with others on a similar journey.”
Hesed is still an entirely volunteer-run organization with very limited funding. But they dream of having the capacity to hire staff and produce more content that will reach LGBTQ Christians and their communities.
Toward CRC Canada
Just as Hesed has entered a season of redirection and rebranding, another recently-founded organization in the CRCNA, Toward CRC Canada (TCRCC), is making a pivot this summer. Christian Courier spoke to Peter Bulthuis, Director of Engagement for TCRCC, to find out how this group’s goals have shifted after Synod 2025 closed certain doors.
Originally, the group tried to advocate for the binational Canada-U.S. denomination to create an independent CRC in Canada using existing structures and processes. On June 17, 2025, Synod held a lengthy discussion on an overture calling for “two distinct Christian Reformed Churches, one in Canada and one in the United States,” which was defeated by a vote of 171 to 3.
Bulthuis says he was a bit surprised by the size of the vote, but TCRCC was prepared to continue their work without Synod’s support. Three days after the vote, TCRC announced that they will hold a summit in Kitchener, Ontario, from November 5-9 to “lay the foundation for a new community of Reformed congregations.”
A new community
Christian Courier asked TCRCC why they would persist in their mission after receiving such a clear defeat at Synod.
“We are responding to an issue that does exist,” explains Bulthuis, pointing to the dozens of churches that are disaffiliating from the CRCNA and the new networks that are springing up in Alberta and Ontario. “The opposite of a denomination is not being solitary. It’s not just two poles. There are churches disaffiliating from the CRC that have had some experiences with the denomination that are concerning and not helpful for them. That does not mean they want to go it alone. But they want local authority, shared resources by choice and holding each other to some kind of accountability. An accountability that’s winsome, that’s helpful, that’s lovely.”
Bulthuis says the November summit will center around fellowship and community-building. It will include three keynote addresses open to the public, a day of sharing stories, a workshop track for questions and answers and a working group that will build a blueprint for a new community of churches. TCRCC hopes to raise enough money to subsidize travel, making the conference a true opportunity for cross-Canada connections.
The video promoting the summit does not mention the CRC explicitly, and Bulthuis did hint that “Maybe the ‘CRC’ in our name will represent some other letters at some point.”
Back to the creed
CC asked Bulthuis if universal declarations of faith, like the Nicene Creed, give any sense of solace as churches and organizations look to leave the CRC.
“There is one catholic church, one baptism,” he replied. “I think it’s neither wise nor prudent nor honest to suggest that our [CRC] confessional walls are the best walls. Maybe they shouldn’t be walls, but encouragement to be still and know that I am God; to live in the mystery and the majesty.”
Hesed steering committee member Kathy Vandergrift put it this way: “The Nicene Creed, often portrayed as defending orthodoxy, can also be seen as widening how people understood God’s mercy through its teachings on the importance of each person in the Trinity, which was contested at that time. The covenanting and grace-filled love relationship between Father, Son, Holy Spirit and their adopted, redeemed children on earth is the model for Hesed (love) that God still shows and wants us to reflect.”
While Hesed and TCRCC are finding that they can no longer work within the CRC’s structures and synodical decisions, they are finding hope as they look in new directions.
