The Messy Reformation

Jason records solo with an update on why the show has been quiet and what comes next.
The reruns earlier this summer were intentional. We wanted listeners to hear the conversations we were having three, four, and five years ago, before the fights, and to hear the contrast between that tone and the conversations about Synod. Jason's reason for running them: it's easy to move on to the next fight without stopping to look at how good God has been to the Christian Reformed Church.
Then the posting stopped, and people noticed. Jason has gotten text messages asking whether everything is okay. The show has been running for almost six years without missing much; the only long gap was the two or three months when he almost died. That's not what's happening this time.
Two things happened over the summer. Dan DeGraff's church blessed him with a sabbatical, and he stepped away from his responsibilities at the Messy Reformation for those months. Jason, coming off a year of stepping into two new roles at a church and a school, treated his own summer much the same way. Two of the three of them were out for three months, and then the school year started.
The gap turned into a chance to think. For about five years it was clear what the main conversation in the CRC needed to be. Those conversations have largely been wrapped up. There are still plenty of issues, but less agreement about which one is central. So the question the team is sitting with is what role God has for the Messy Reformation in the life of the church right now. Jason is direct about not wanting to have conversations for conversation's sake, or put out episodes for the sake of putting out content.
Out of that comes a listener survey. Jason grounds the request in the conviction that the Holy Spirit speaks more clearly through large groups of people, which is why the church has classes and synods. He wants to know who is listening, why, what has been useful, and where listeners think the CRC is going.
He also names the shift the denomination has made into a rebuilding phase, and says the podcast likely needs to shift toward it. And he is hoping to bring back the Messy Reformation conference in Wisconsin next summer.
He asks for patience and for prayer while the team works this out.
Take the listener survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf91m4Obqpue1s6tCchu49CZHTRnrnd3xeTPeFnyuExxus81g/viewform
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro
1:55 — The update begins
2:20 — Why the reruns were intentional
3:12 — "He has done great things"
3:35 — The text messages checking in
3:46 — Almost six years, and the one long gap
4:18 — No, the Messy Reformation isn't going away
4:34 — Dan's sabbatical
4:49 — Jason's summer, and two new roles
5:27 — September is nuts
5:47 — Taking a moment to think before diving back in
6:14 — The big conversations have basically been wrapped up
6:41 — What role does the Messy Reformation play now
7:02 — Not content for the sake of content
7:23 — Reformation is never complete
8:20 — A week or two before new episodes
8:43 — The listener survey
9:39 — Whether the podcast needs to shift
10:17 — Why this is a theological question, not a marketing one
11:19 — Getting back to the work
11:37 — Hoping to bring back the conference next summer
12:18 — Be patient with us, be praying for us
13:29 — Substack newsletter
13:52 — Closing
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Recorded days after Synod 2023. Last of three reruns in the Before We Knew series.
Jason says at the outset that he is not getting into the weeds of what happened at synod. He had been processing the week out loud with Rachel, including his own committee's material being tabled to the following year, and her reply was: so you're telling me that reformation is messy. He takes that as the correction. His own impatience keeps him expecting things to move quickly and on his timeline, and they never do. Over the course of the drive he moved from discouraged to encouraged.
The middle of the episode is two texts. From 2 Corinthians, which he points out is probably Paul's fourth letter to Corinth rather than his second — the church there was a mess for a long time and no single letter fixed it. He reads 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, on being burdened beyond strength and despairing of life itself so as to rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead, and 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, treasure in jars of clay, afflicted but not crushed. The point he draws from both: if reformation comes to the CRC it will be because God did it, not because anyone was powerful or smart.
Then Calvin, writing about Geneva after his expulsion, as he considered returning. Placed in that station by God like a sentinel at his post, from which it would be impiety to move a single foot; not a day passed in which he did not ten times over long for death, and yet the thought of leaving never came. Jason applies it directly: this is not an excuse to leave, it is a call to stay, even when disappointed, even when frustrated, even when out-politicked.
He then lists what synod actually accomplished, against the mood people left with. Two vote counts were given, at 72 percent and 68 percent conservative, in line with the year before — and he says plainly that he was wrong, having predicted 60 to 66 percent for months. Synod 2022 was not a fluke and neither was 2023. Confessional status was upheld. Neland Avenue's appeal was not sustained. Classes and the denomination's institutions and agencies were instructed to come into alignment. The majority report on gravamen was about to pass, which he reads as the reason the end of synod became as chaotic as it did. He also names a new unity among conservative delegates, quoting a brother who texted afterward that for the first time in thirty years he had found the kind of brothers he expected to meet in seminary in the nineties.
The charge comes last. The work stopped on the one-yard line, everyone knows where the ball is, and the question is who will lead the CRC now. He quotes a text he received — if conservatives leave now, they never wanted to lead anything — and directs it at his own side: stay and lead your congregation, your classis, your denomination.
He closes on reward. Hebrews 11 on Moses counting the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward, and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 on light momentary affliction preparing an eternal weight of glory. Good work was done at Synod 2023 and it did not produce the earthly outcome people wanted; it may never. The reward is stored elsewhere.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Series intro
1:40 — Original episode begins
1:55 — On naming a podcast The Messy Reformation
2:15 — The drive home from Grand Rapids
2:34 — "So you're telling me that reformation is messy"
3:00 — Impatience, and expecting things on your own timeline
3:39 — Read 2 Corinthians
4:13 — Probably Paul's fourth letter, not his second
4:53 — 2 Corinthians 1: burdened beyond our strength
5:38 — 2 Corinthians 4: treasure in jars of clay
6:25 — We are not a big deal; God brings reformation
7:04 — Calvin on returning to Geneva
7:51 — "A sentinel at his post"
8:14 — "Not a day passed in which I did not ten times over long for death"
9:49 — Not an excuse to leave; a call to stay
10:31 — Staying when you get out-politicked
10:59 — The two vote counts: 72 percent and 68 percent
11:16 — "I have to say that I was wrong"
11:42 — Synod 2022 was not a fluke, and neither was 2023
12:01 — Confessional status upheld, Neland's appeal not sustained
13:01 — The gravamen report that was about to pass
13:40 — A new unity among conservatives
13:56 — "The kinds of brothers I thought I might find in seminary"
15:10 — Stopped on the one-yard line
15:35 — Who is going to lead the CRC?
16:03 — "Stay and lead"
16:26 — "If conservatives leave now, they never wanted to lead anything"
17:03 — Why he is not getting into the weeds this time
17:40 — Eternal reward, not earthly reward
17:52 — Hebrews 11: Moses and the treasures of Egypt
19:22 — "Well done, good and faithful servant"
19:48 — 2 Corinthians 4: we do not lose heart
20:35 — Closing
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Recorded days after Synod 2022 adjourned. Second of three reruns in the Before We Knew series. Jason and Willy work through the six questions the podcast then put to every delegate it interviewed: your role at synod, what you learned about yourself and the CRC, what encouraged you, what discouraged you, how your congregation is responding, and where we go from here.
Willy served as a young adult representative, a role that can speak on the floor but cannot vote or speak for or against a motion. He questions whether the role should exist at all under a Presbyterian polity, and both note how many actual delegates were young that year, most of them conservative. They sat together on advisory committee three, education and candidacy, which handled the seminary and Calvin reports and the candidate interviews, including the two new Calvin Seminary professors, Wilson Cunha in Old Testament and Yudha Thianto in historical theology. Cunha answered directly on the human sexuality report. Thianto said he would abide by whatever synod decided, which left people uneasy.
On what encouraged them: orthodoxy prevailed, and it prevailed by margins nobody expected. Four things passed — penal substitutionary atonement, the majority report on human sexuality, confessional status for its teaching, and disciplinary action against Neland Avenue — all by supermajorities in the range of 70 to 75 percent. Jason expected to come home wrecked and did not. He credits the fellowship among delegates and answered prayer, including moments where several delegates arrived at the same conviction separately during deliberations.
On what discouraged them: hostility toward orthodoxy in some quarters, arguments from personal testimony treated as equal to Scripture, and conduct on the floor that was out of order on a worldwide livestream. Jason was criticized for repeating the word clarity, and answers the charge that the CRC has made an idol of it: clarity is not about being right, it is what makes pastoral guidance possible. He also names tone deafness, particularly the reasoning that professors should be asked only whether they will abide by synod's decisions rather than what they believe, and traces it to the distance between Grand Rapids and the rest of the denomination. Willy answers with Luther at the Diet of Worms on conscience captive to the word of God.
The hardest section is about their own side. Off social media all week, Jason came home to find not only anger from those who wanted an affirming outcome, which he expected, but conservatives who were angry that synod had not gone far enough. Willy answers that watching a livestream is not the same as reading the room. Jason argues from church revitalization: this was the first disciplinary action against a congregation in over twenty years, small wins come before large ones, and nobody thought the work was finished after one synod. They also read the closest vote of the week, the defeated catechism footnote at about 51 percent, as a matter of people not having had time to think it through beforehand.
On congregations: Willy's church was glad of the results and worried about a split, and he tells them that separation may be inevitable when both sides believe the gospel is at stake. Jason reads an email from an orthodox pastor who got everything he hoped for from synod and now has a congregation in turmoil, with members asking whether they can still belong. Both argue for giving churches time to repent before stronger action, and Jason ties it to Hebrews 12 — discipline is not designed to remove someone from the family. He mentions the Neland elder who said, with a smile, that synod would have to kick them out.
They close on where to go from here. Willy names the three marks of the true church: preaching, sacraments, discipline. Jason wants the in loco committee under the new general secretary held to its work, and a warning that Paul Vander Klay's prediction may hold — that some will leave from the left and some conservatives from the right. His closing word is to the conservatives: this is step one, stay.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Series intro
1:43 — Original episode begins
3:02 — The six questions asked of every delegate
4:03 — Willy's role as a young adult representative, and whether it should exist
9:52 — Advisory committee three: education and candidacy
13:49 — Interviewing the new professors: Wilson Cunha
18:30 — Yudha Thianto's answer on the human sexuality report
20:11 — What encouraged them: orthodoxy prevailed
23:51 — Four supermajority votes
25:55 — Answered prayer, and the Spirit at work among delegates
29:06 — Disagreeing agreeably: 95 percent of it went well
31:06 — What discouraged them: hostility toward orthodoxy
34:03 — "The clarity guy," and whether clarity is an idol
35:13 — Tone deafness, and the Grand Rapids echo chamber
38:47 — Luther at the Diet of Worms
39:25 — The social media moratorium, and what came after
40:32 — Conservatives angry that synod did not go far enough
41:40 — Willy: watching a livestream is not reading the room
44:02 — Thinking like a church revitalizer: step one of many
48:46 — The false accusation that orthodox delegates know no one affected
50:49 — The catechism footnote, defeated 51 to 49
53:57 — How the congregations are responding
57:24 — "Separation, I believe, is inevitable"
58:30 — The email from a pastor who won and now has a mess
61:14 — Giving churches room to repent
62:26 — Quoted in the Banner, and Hebrews 12 on discipline
63:45 — The Neland elder: "You're going to have to kick us out"
64:54 — The marks of the true church
66:59 — Holding the in loco committee to its work
67:33 — "Don't leave. Stick with us."
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Recorded in May 2022, weeks before Synod 2022. First of three reruns in the Before We Knew series, pulled from the years before the CRCNA's direction was settled.
A solo episode. Jason works through the fear of the Pharisees — Matthew 21:45-46, Mark 11:18, Luke 22:1-2 — where the religious leaders intend to arrest and kill Jesus and hold back because they fear the crowds. He applies it to the delegates heading to synod, alongside 1 Corinthians 16:13: be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
He then describes his own fear. He shakes when he speaks up in a group. A year or two into ministry as a youth pastor, he sat through a contentious congregational meeting, disagreed with where it was going, and said nothing, because he was afraid of what speaking would cost his position and his relationships. He drove home resolved never to do it again. The definition of courage follows: not the absence of fear, but fearing God more than men and moving forward anyway.
The second half takes up the arguments circulating before synod — fear of damage, fear of disunity, fear of a rash decision. He names delay as a tactic rather than caution, argues that smaller forces stretch out a fight when they know the numbers are against them, and holds that the majority in the pews were orthodox on sexuality. He cites the Chesterton line that a soldier fights for what is behind him rather than against what is in front of him, and lists what he longs for: a denomination he is not ashamed of, one that disciplines false teaching, that hires people worth being excited about, that is known for standing firm.
He closes on 1 Corinthians 15:10 — Paul working harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God — and argues that courage comes through faith rather than from within. The episode ends with Acts 20:22-24 adapted to synod: going constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what waits, counting his life of no value if only he may finish the course.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Series intro: why we are running these
1:55 — Original episode begins: one odd week before Synod 2022
2:22 — The fear of the Pharisees
2:39 — Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 22
4:07 — 1 Corinthians 16:13: be watchful, stand firm
4:30 — "I'm trembling, I'm shaking"
5:06 — The congregational meeting he stayed silent in
5:57 — What courage actually is
7:05 — "Fear God more than you fear men"
8:27 — Delay as a tactic
8:42 — How smaller forces beat larger ones
10:26 — The Chesterton line
11:44 — "I long for the day": what the CRC could be
13:08 — Telling the story of how reformation happened
14:43 — Courage comes from the Lord, not from within
15:07 — 1 Corinthians 15:10
16:31 — Acts 20 adapted to synod
17:42 — Closing
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

If Synod's new ten-year church-planting vision is going to mean anything, it has to land somewhere ordinary: in one Christian noticing another. Part 2 of our conversation with Ralph Wigboldus starts exactly there. Asked how a small, tired congregation actually begins to raise up leaders, Ralph is refreshingly concrete. Stop living in silos. Don't be afraid to cross the room and talk to someone thirty or forty years younger than you. Discipleship happens with people you know.
Willy grounds it in his own story, and Ralph answers with a testimony that shows why he's Reformed to the bone: after a season of rebellion, angry at God, others could have written him off, but it was God who held on to me, not the other way around. From there the conversation turns to two of Synod's harder debates, the WCRC decision and the question of whether a digital-only ministry is a church, and to Ralph's conviction that in an anxious, disconnected world the church's calling is to draw people out to embodied community.
What carries the episode is why Ralph came home so full. After everything, he's still very much in love with this denomination. Synod felt like a family reunion. He closes with a charge for a hardening culture: in Canada a new law could brand Scripture as hate speech, and he and his co-pastor won't turn off the livestream to stay safe. Christ's work is not near finished, so speak boldly and share the gospel in love.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro: Calvin's Geneva and raising up leaders
2:52 — "It's on us": the denomination's charge comes home
3:30 — What can small local churches actually do?
4:52 — "Cross the room": discipleship with people you know
5:20 — Willy on the mentors who poured into him
7:34 — "It's not about what's there for you"
8:46 — Raising up leaders isn't just the pastor's job
10:41 — Don't write people off for a few rough edges
11:05 — "God held on to me": Ralph's testimony and why he's Reformed
13:40 — Anything else from Synod? The harder debates
13:59 — The WCRC decision and the scolding that followed
15:45 — Why a digital-only ministry isn't a church
17:11 — What Ralph learned about himself: still in love with the CRC
21:08 — Synod as a family reunion
23:47 — Rejoicing over the virtual-church decision
24:52 — First-time delegates and a more engaged church
25:57 — The youth advisors who impressed everyone
27:09 — Looking ahead to Synod 2027
29:53 — Closing words for a growing audience
30:44 — Bill C-9 and the courage to speak boldly
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Ralph Wigboldus has been in the boiling water longer than most of us. A senior pastor in Woodstock, Ontario, and a six-year veteran of the Council of Delegates, he came to Synod 2026 tired and half-hoping someone else would carry the load. He left overjoyed. In Part 1 of our conversation, Ralph gives American listeners something they rarely hear clearly: the Canadian side of the last decade, from the fight over financial autonomy to the push for a separate, more progressive denomination that finally fell flat.
This is the encouraging episode. Where 2022 and 2023 felt like trench warfare, Ralph describes a Synod marked by mutual love and respect, disagreement handled with grace. He walks us through his advisory committee's work on Resonate's ten-year church-planting plan and what struck him most: this wasn't pitched as a gimmick to arrest decline, but as the plain mission of the church, regardless of the numbers.
Under it all runs the refrain we've carried for two years now: the CRC is moving out of the fight stage of this Reformation and into the build stage. Ralph reaches back to the Reformation itself, and to Calvin's Geneva as a nursery for church planters, to make the point. By the end the denominational vision has come home to a single sentence: it's on us. Part 1 leaves us right on the edge of the practical question we take up next.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro
2:15 — Meet Ralph Wigboldus: Woodstock, Ontario, and a ministry built on team
3:06 — Why team ministry has been a lifelong blessing
3:38 — Calvin Seminary and a through-and-through CRC identity
4:49 — "I have yet to meet a pastor good at both preaching and pastoring"
7:11 — Six years on the Council of Delegates: the Canadian story
10:31 — The overture to separate, and why it fell flat
11:14 — Disaffiliation, independence, and grieving the losses
17:27 — The peace that came on the other side
17:43 — Ralph's overall thoughts on Synod 2026
18:28 — "We've turned a corner"
22:27 — Serving as a committee reporter
24:36 — Committee 6: Missions and Congregations
24:56 — Resonate's ten-year church-planting plan
26:48 — Excitement on the floor: the mission of the church
29:04 — From the fight stage to the build stage
30:19 — The URC, the Reformation, and churches by another name
31:12 — Calvin's Geneva as a church-planting nursery
32:05 — "It's on us": bringing it home to the local church
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

In the second half of our post-Synod conversation, Zack Flipse and Jason move from how Synod 2026 felt to what it means for the work ahead. There's encouragement, but there are also some concerns. The biggest thread here is a worry both share: the CRC has an exciting church planting vision, but plant churches poorly and you can do damage to the denomination. Reformation isn't just about doing more; it's about doing it in a way that fits our ecclesiology. That's why Zack keeps half-joking that we need a study committee on ecclesiology, and why he's unembarrassed to say it: "I want to be part of a denomination that's doing theology."
From there the conversation ranges widely. They name the three streams of the CRC—confessionalist, pietist, transformationalist—and make the case that the church is stronger for holding all three. They look ahead to the Christian nationalism study report, arguing the Dutch Reformed tradition is uniquely equipped to speak here, with Kuyper and Bavinck in our own lineage—so long as we actually do the theology rather than just point back to it. And they return to Jason's hobby horse since day one: a denomination is healthy when local churches are engaged, not when they outsource their convictions to Grand Rapids.
Zack shares the kids' Heidelberg Catechism project he makes with his daughters—question one, "What gives you comfort? That I belong to Jesus"—because instead of complaining that the resource didn't exist, he decided to build it. Then Jason gives him the final word, and Zack delivers the line that names the whole vision: "Figure out what you can do to plant a church so that more people worship Jesus tomorrow than worship Him today. Let's plant some churches."
Timestamps:
0:00 — Recap: naming gifts and raising up leaders
2:15 — Satellite options and the uneasiness around multi-site churches
4:01 — The ecclesiology study committee that didn't pass
5:07 — "I want to be part of a denomination that's doing theology"
6:39 — Planting churches well: the danger of doing it poorly
7:55 — Discouragements: pressure to skip process
9:22 — "We found out in 2022": differences in how we read Scripture
10:35 — The three minds: confessionalist, pietist, transformationalist
12:04 — The Christian nationalism study report and our tradition
12:39 — Why the Dutch Reformed are uniquely equipped: Kuyper and Bavinck
21:30 — A healthy denomination means local churches engaged
23:03 — An overture on categories for church membership
23:38 — Unified worship vs. faithful contextualization
26:51 — Zack's kids' Heidelberg Catechism on YouTube
30:48 — The Little Heidelberg Catechism and resourcing parents
31:44 — Final word: let's plant some churches
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Zack Flipse walked into Synod 2026 as a first-time delegate and came home energized. For anyone who remembers the synods of 2022 and 2023—the walkouts, the exhaustion, the open question of whether the CRCNA would survive—that's no small thing. In this first half of our post-Synod conversation, Zack and Jason compare notes across a few short but seismic years: from a denomination that felt like it might die to one that is, in Zack's words, finally "rowing in the same direction." This is the encouraging episode.
Zack served on the Committee for Education and Candidacy, and he walks us through the reports, the new seminary professor, and the candidates—double last year's number—who got a standing ovation on the floor. The two of them dig into the slow, hard work of rebuilding trust in institutions, why low trust isn't a uniquely CRC problem, and the sober math behind the 150-churches-in-three-years vision: a pastor shortage that demands we get serious about raising up leaders.
What carries the episode is Zack's testimony of belonging. After years of having to qualify what he meant by "Christian Reformed," he sat on the floor of Synod and realized he didn't have to anymore. "I belong in my own denomination. I love this." It's a window into what reformation actually feels like when it starts to take hold—not a victory lap, but a sigh of relief and a turn toward the work ahead.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro: post-Synod interviews with delegates, Zack returns
2:35 — How are you feeling after Synod? Coming home energized
3:14 — A first-time delegate's glowing testimony
3:54 — Prep, the 400-page agenda, and the website struggle
5:47 — Trust in institutions: owning the gossip, the broader culture
9:50 — The Committee for Education and Candidacy and the college reports
11:40 — A new seminary professor with a heart for boots-on-the-ground ministry
14:19 — Double the candidates, and 80% of churches giving ministry shares
16:19 — Standing ovations and the question of encouragement
17:26 — Moved to tears: "I belong in my own denomination"
22:57 — The 2023 contrast: when Jason wept fearing the CRC would die
24:38 — East or west, not left or right: arguing about how, not where
26:38 — The church planting vision and a 10-year plan
29:47 — Raising up leaders: commissioned pastors and the LDN
32:48 — The hard math: 350 new pastors and classes of a hundred
34:55 — Naming gifts and the on-ramps into ministry
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Part two of the recap opens with a quieter decision that says a lot: removing Our World Belongs to God from the Covenant for Office Bearers. As Willy explains, the real debate wasn't about the contemporary testimony's merits but about what an office bearer should be bound to — and Synod's answer was the ecumenical creeds and the Reformed confessions, nothing added. It's one more thread in a confessionalist turn that ran through the whole week, captured by a transformationalist on the floor who joked that the confessionalists are in the driver's seat, the pietists are riding shotgun, and the transformationalists are in the back seat — and said he was okay with that.
From there Jason and Willy celebrate two structural decisions: keeping Sunday as a real Sabbath in the middle of Synod, and decisively rejecting biennial synods. Willy, who sits on the COD and voted against the biennial proposal, says the lopsided voice vote shows the task force is out of touch with the denomination. Jason makes the deeper case for meeting yearly — this year delegates actually changed their votes mid-debate, which is what real deliberation looks like and exactly what gets lost when a church only gathers every two years.
The heart of the episode is the unanimously adopted ten-year church planting vision and the Saturday-night State of the Church address that set it up. Jason, no reliable fan of Zach King, offers a genuine correction: King earned his standing ovation, naming a pivot from a season of fighting into a season of building — an Antioch moment of discipleship, leadership development, and healthy church planting. The goal is concrete and audacious: 150 new churches in five years, about three per classis. Both hosts ground it in the pastor shortage and the hard work of legacy churches, but the encouragement is unmistakable. Double the candidates showed up this year. Young confessional men are coming. So stop waiting on the denomination, Jason says — do the work, grassroots.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro: the gospel covers this synod
2:07 — Removing Our World Belongs to God from the Covenant for Office Bearers
4:07 — Doubling down on confessional identity: the driver's-seat line
6:29 — Decisions about Synod: the days and biennial synods
7:20 — Keeping the Sabbath and rejecting biennial synods
11:02 — The big theme: the ten-year church planting vision
11:51 — Zach King's State of the Church address and a standing ovation
13:10 — An Antioch moment: from fighting to building
15:03 — 150 churches in five years; three per classis
18:21 — The pastor shortage, leadership development, and legacy churches
22:24 — Double the candidates: young men returning to the CRC
22:54 — Post-millennialism banter
23:41 — Final thoughts: happy warriors and grassroots work
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Jason and Willy are back with their annual post-Synod recap, and the mood is different than it used to be. This isn't a denomination bracing for a fight; it's one taking stock of how far it has come. Willy is relatively satisfied with Synod 2026 — a give-and-take week with real wins and real losses — and Jason agrees, framing his disappointments as wisdom calls rather than make-or-break ones. The throughline this year, borrowing a line from Derek Buikema, was a willingness to stop deferring everything to process and just make decisions now.
The biggest win is the virtual church decision. After leaving the door cracked last year, Synod acceded to the Atlantic Northeast overture and declared plainly that a church meeting exclusively online is not a true church — rooted in Acts and the Belgic Confession, and framed well by Chad Steenwyk as chair. The biggest loss is the Classis Wisconsin overture for a study committee on Reformed ecclesiology, which failed 106 to 71. Jason's frustration isn't the defeat but the reason: the whole debate collapsed into a conversation about money and pragmatism — the very disease the overture was trying to treat. His verdict on the leading floor argument is unprintable-adjacent: it sounds good, but it's crap.
The episode closes on the two-year Christian nationalism study committee. Both hosts are skeptical, not because the issue is unimportant but because nobody can define the term — a point Al Mohler recently made by calling it a rebrand of "fundamentalist." Jason is genuinely thankful Synod refused the overture's proposed definition, but he expects two years of study to produce a definition that helps no one. What stings most is the contrast: a committee for the buzzword, none for the root issue. So the Messy Reformation will do the ecclesiology work itself — grassroots.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro and overall thoughts on Synod 2026
3:14 — Willy: relatively satisfied; a give-and-take synod
5:22 — "We're just going to do it now": Synod's new decisiveness
6:35 — The virtual church decision: online-only is not a true church
9:18 — Digital church versus digital ministry
9:35 — The Classis Wisconsin ecclesiology overture fails, 106 to 71
13:21 — Pragmatism on the floor: "his argument sounds good, but it's crap"
14:05 — The cracked-foundation analogy and planting Reformed churches
16:03 — An invitation to fund Reformed ecclesiology work
16:44 — The Christian nationalism study committee
18:19 — Al Mohler: a rebrand of "fundamentalist"
20:08 — Thankful Synod didn't adopt the proposed definition
21:12 — Chasing a ghost: two years, and a committee for the buzzword but not the root
Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/Intro music by Matt Krotzer