���ҵ���

Grand Rapids-based Bethany Christian Services, an agency supported by many Christian Reformed churches, helps place children arriving in the U.S. without guardians in foster homes with the goal of eventually reuniting them with family.

Finding that many students are not equipped for financial literacy, Calvin College has launched Nexus Peer Financial Coaching, helping students learn skills to manage their resources.

In a conference to mark the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dort, Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, hosted thinkers and speakers to revisit the canons the synod produced.

In a video featuring voices from various Christian traditions, the Canadian Council of Churches, Citizens for Public Justice, and KAIROS, an ecological justice and human rights mission, call for “an urgent moral and spiritual response” to climate change.

Bible teacher Mac Wiener at Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, Ill., helped his campus receive Level 1 National Arboretum status by cataloging their garden of trees.

The Banner; RCA-CRC Disability Concerns; and Reformed Worship, the journal of the Christian Reformed Church’s Worship Ministries, have all been recognized in the 2018 “Best of the Church Press” awards from the Associated Church Press.

The Christian Reformed Church has a process of last resort for sorting out appeals of decisions made by various levels of leadership. The group responsible is the Judicial Code Committee and its members want a review of their practices.

In Fruitport, Mich., when a school system sought adult mentors to encourage struggling students, the local Christian Reformed congregation joined three other churches to make a difference.

Teacher Nicky DeBoer lives in Byron Center, Mich.; the band is located in Sunnyside, Wash. The high school’s principal, looking for qualified teachers dedicated to Christ-centered learning, didn’t see that as a barrier.

Marinus Harberts, who had ministered for 35 years with the Navajo people in New Mexico, died on March 19.

A hospital chaplain described as thoughtful and a man without pretense, Steven Van Heest passed away on March 10. He was 66.

Allen Bultman was a humble, hardworking, and compassionate pastor who served Christian Reformed congregations since 1959. He passed away on March 8 at the age of 89.

World War II veteran, military policeman, minister, chaplain, pastoral counselor, and missionary Ben Ypma lived a full and joyful life. He died on March 7, a month after his hundredth birthday.

The Banner has received Awards of Merit for a denominational magazine in both digital and print categories, and seven higher goals awards in design, individual articles, blogs, and poetry published in 2018.

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.

For the third year, groups in Medicine Hat, Alta., concerned for the state of the family, held an annual conference. Medicine Hat Christian Reformed Church was the 2019 host.

Seven classes (regional groups of churches) have registered their objection to three of the 32 recommendations coming from the Synod Review Task Force to Synod 2019, the annual leadership meeting of the Christian Reformed Church.

The Indigenous Family Centre in Winnipeg, Man., an urban aboriginal ministry operated by the Christian Reformed Church, had some help repurposing rooms this winter, creating space to promote healing and spiritual growth.

A state championship in boys basketball in March makes three sports in which Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Mich., has won the state title this academic year.

The National Trust for Canada, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving historic buildings, has stats and stories on how disused churches are being repurposed and saved from the wrecking ball

World Renew, a participant in Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program since the beginning, estimates that it has welcomed and resettled 7,500 refugees since 1979.

James Douma, a former rodeo rider and member of Discovery Christian Reformed Church in Bowmanville, Ont., has been building a part-time rodeo outreach ministry, encouraged by his pastor and supported by his church.

Since 1988 Camp Dunamis, a ministry of several Southern California Christian Reformed churches, has been bringing children together to celebrate differences and grow in Christ.