Episode 268: Classes Need a Plan for Dying and Planting Churches in the CRC — Denominational Structure Roundtable (Part 2)

If episode 267 made the case that the CRC has a congregational health crisis, episode 268 asks why the structures meant to address it aren't functioning. The answer, according to Matt Haan, is simple: classes have never had a plan. Not a real one. They were formed by proximity, not strategy, and the denomination has never seriously addressed that. What would it look like to treat a classis as a territory — a defined patch of the kingdom — responsible for every church and every unchurched community within it?

Matt introduces the CRC belt of the Bible: 80 percent of the denomination falls within 100 miles of I-90, north or south. Everything outside that corridor is harder. Dan DeGraff adds the legacy dimension — it's not stubbornness keeping struggling churches together, it's that the building is woven into people's faith stories. But he also names what he learned at a recent candidacy gathering in Phoenix: some classes have figured this out, and the ones that haven't need to be challenged, not coddled. Meanwhile, Jason drops the news that Classes Wisconsin is bringing an overture to Synod 2026: before the CRC plants more churches, it needs to answer a basic question — what is a church?

Matt closes with the line that cuts deepest: one church in Classis Iakota had more baptisms than 11 classes combined. That's not boasting — it's a challenge. The gospel is still alive. God can do amazing things when people are willing. The question is whether the denomination is willing to do the unglamorous work of supporting the outposts of the kingdom — not just the exciting new plants, but the struggling congregations that need someone to walk with them and help them figure out what comes next.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 — Willie: swallowing pride and drawing from covenant community (rewind)
• 0:38 — Matt: classes need to have a plan
• 1:00 — The history of how classes formed — there was no plan
• 2:00 — The CRC belt of the Bible: 80% within 100 miles of I-90
• 3:00 — A full church life cycle roadmap: plant → emerging → revitalization → close
• 5:00 — Dan: legacy feelings — "This is the church that raised me"
• 6:00 — Hard conversations are actual leadership — without them, people spin their wheels
• 9:00 — Matt: the smaller the place, the bigger the pride
• 11:00 — The CRC's post-WWII church landscape and why it's changing
• 13:00 — Jason: the 40-year mark when churches hit crisis
• 14:00 — Dan: the last 40 years of the CRC — women in office, human sexuality, COVID
• 15:00 — COVID and the sexuality debate stalled classes renewal work
• 16:00 — What classes are planting churches? Iakota's four church plants
• 17:00 — Funding nearly half of pastor salaries — and the limits of classis capacity
• 20:00 — If the OPC is already there, support them — don't compete
• 21:00 — Let's plant even if it never gets above 70 members
• 22:00 — classes are territories for us to care about
• 24:00 — We have locations and willing churches — we just don't have planters
• 25:00 — The pastor shortage makes it hard to plant churches
• 29:00 — Classes Wisconsin overture: define what a church is before planting more
• 30:00 — Dan: the Quorum Deo conference and what good missionaries look like
• 32:00 — Matt: one church in Iakota, more baptisms than 11 classes combined
• 34:00 — Jason closes: "I could keep yapping, but we'll end it on that"

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Intro music by Matt Krotzer