a CRC Synodical decision that has very practical implications on my life now

i have been a professing member of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) for 15 years now. For most of the time, due to work and studying and financial aid, i have rarely attended the church that holds my membership. i have continued to participate in the CRC through teaching, doing mission work, being on committees, helping with worship, and so on. and i have stayed somewhat connected to my "home church" through my parents' connection to it - and i feel loved and welcomed by the church every time i return to it.

but i am tired of holding my church membership from a distance and attending a church where i am not expected to be held accountable. and i am hoping that a discussion at the CRC Synod will allow this to change without me being asked to give up the denomination i grew up in and still love dearly. this week at Synod, they are discussing whether the CRC will once again be in ecclesiastical fellowship with the PKN (Protestant Church Netherlands - the church formed from what used to be the Reformed Church in the Netherlands). and if it passes, i can hopefully move my church membership to Amsterdam.

the CRC has questions about the theology of the PKN, about how they interpret Scripture and of their stance towards homosexuality. i have questions about it, too [although i am not immediately confronted with these issues since i do not fully understand dutch], as i still hold strongly to the theology i have grown to love in the CRC. and yet i still choose to attend a PKN church. i attend it because it holds onto Reformed theology, it is my neighbourhood church, and because they hold the word of God highly. and most of all, because it is place where i can meet God in worship. i would like to be able to participate more fully in the life of the church - and dialogue with the questions. and by so doing, i hope that "i might be part of a Reformed witness in the the secular environment and part of spiritual renewal within my church." [as adapted from Synod 2008 Committee 7 - Report 7C-Majority].

The discussion on Wednesday, 19 June was long and complicated. No decision has yet been made. To hear more of the questions involved and the process, you can read it on the blog, Returning Church. To read a commentary on it in a dutch newspaper, visit this article in the Trouw. As noted by the reactions, it's not the best of articles as it doesn't exactly get the nuances of the conversation.