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Two or three times each year, Christian Reformed churches send representatives to their classis, a regional group of churches. Here is the report of classis meetings of the past few months.

Two pastors in Ontario and one in Wisconsin talk about the experience of reopening their churches for in-person worship after widespread closures to keep people socially distanced during COVID-19.

Immanuel CRC members Mike Earls and Gerry Gysbers in Hamilton, Ont., often take their band Deservedly So into local nursing homes to perform for residents. During COVID-19, they’ve kept the sing-along going with an online concert.

For two weeks out of every winter, Ann Arbor (Mich.) CRC hosts additional shelter space for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw. This year, their second week of hosting turned into 12 weeks, benefitting the church and the men.

In a 7-2 decision July 8, the Supreme Court of the United States carved out a broad ministerial exception to workplace discrimination rules that allows religious schools to include lay teachers as among those subject to an exemption from civil rights laws.

A June 30 decision by the U.S. high court has sparked debate over church-state separation.

Restrictions on the use of the Christian Reformed Church’s office buildings in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Burlington, Ont., have been updated and continue to be in place.

A 15-year-old after-school ministry program in Wyoming, Mich., is launching new programs to serve students.

A pilot program has brought together an intergenerational group of graduate students, social justice and policing consultants and senior pastors to determine what to do before, during, and after crises of racial injustice arise.

Two cases—Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel—that involve a “ministerial exemption” to civil rights protections will be decided on this month.

A gentle, wise servant of God, Bill DeJong died May 30 at age 90.

Jim Versluys, who served for 33 years as pastor to several Christian Reformed congregations, died May 15.

Berny Niemeyer, a church planter and pastor who lived for more than a decade with Alzheimer’s Disease, died May 20.

Thirty-three people signed a public post accusing author Chris Heuertz of  “spiritual and psychological abuse." The Christian publishing company Zondervan responded by halting a documentary project and suspending promotion of two of his books.

Religion ���ҵ��� Service reports that a June 18 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is receiving praise from faith groups across the religious spectrum. The ruling temporarily halts  efforts to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants legal protection to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

For the first time in its 163-year history, the Christian Reformed Church canceled its annual synod due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council of Delegates met to deal with matters from the Agenda for Synod 2020 that couldn’t wait.

In a short service of lament, the CRC’s Council of Delegates recognized the pain and hurt of racism and heard black pastors call for more than this moment of recognition.

With a 28-15 vote the CRC’s Council of Delegates approved the Synod 2019-proposed change to the way money is collected for joint ministries.

The Council of Delegates, acting on behalf of Synod 2020, approved the candidacy of 36 men and women to serve in the Christian Reformed Church, sending them off in a special Zoom presentation.

Most CRC ministry leaders signed on to a statement about racism. Reginald Smith, director of diversity and former director of CRC Race Relations, declined to sign. The Council of Delegates debated whether to support the statement.

At its special June meeting, the CRC’s Council of Delegates decided to continue its work in governance restructure, despite a protest from two Ontario congregations.

The CRC’s Council of Delegates, acting on behalf of synod, has approved a training program prepared by the task force appointed by Synod 2019.

The 25th anniversary of women’s ordination in the Christian Reformed Church will be recognized, though the proposal for 15 months of events was scaled back to the summer of 2021.