General Synod Daily Recap: Sunday, June 14, 2026

Worship at a Red Sea moment

“The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” –Exodus 15:2

During worship on Sunday morning, Rev. Dr. Kristin Brouwer preached a powerful message of God’s faithfulness based on Exodus 15. She spoke of worship—the Israelites’ first act upon deliverance from slavery and salvation through the Red Sea—as an honest declaration and posture, with fear of circumstances being swallowed up by a holy reverence for God.

“God made a way where there was no way. And yet it was precisely there in that impossible place that God moved most powerfully,” she said. “With 400 years of slavery behind them and an uncertain wilderness before them, the Israelites’ first response was to sing, to worship. It was the natural overflow of their heart. It was not out of their perfect circumstances, but out of their profound experience with God. They stood on the shore with no map, no plan, no certainty about what tomorrow would bring, and they sang anyway—not because the future was clear but because they knew who held it. This is the kind of faith God calls us to as we step into something new.”

Brouwer likened the current transitional moment of the Reformed Church in America to that moment of uncertainty the Israelites faced having walked through the Red Sea.

“We’re standing on our own shore line. Behind us is a season that has shaped us, one that has carried its own joys, its own struggles, its own breakthroughs, its own celebrations, and its moments of doubt and deliverance. It wasn’t slavery like the Israelites knew, but it was our own kind of hard at times,” said Brouwer. “And we felt it, and some of us are still feeling it, but we have watched God sustain us through things we weren’t sure we would survive. We have seen God provide when provision seemed impossible. We have seen God provide clarity when confusion felt permanent. And we watched God protect what mattered most when everything around us felt uncertain. This was and is God: faithful and present and unmoved, even at times when we felt like we were shaking. Like the people of God, we have not always understood the route, but we cannot deny the movement.

“And we do what Israel did on the shore: we sing because we know who reigns,” she added. “This is the future with open hands and a settled heart, trusting that the God who has led us this far will continue to lead us forward. God is the strength of the Reformed Church in America. God is our song. God is our hope. God remains the hope of the Reformed Church in America even when we cannot yet see the full picture. The King is king-ing, the faithful God we can trust with all of our confidence.”

Seven nominated for vice president

Seven people were nominated for vice president on Sunday evening: Cal Brouwer, Kristin Brouwer, Marisol Ferrer Malloy, Edie Lenz, Al Plat, Grace Rim, and Jael Serrano.

Each candidate received at least ten nominating ballots and will now discern if they are willing to stand for this office, which begins a three-year commitment of service to the General Synod. After serving at the pleasure of or in the absence of the president in the first year, the vice president is typically the sole nominee for president the following year, then has responsibilities to the General Synod Council and other bodies as the past president. 

Candidates will have the opportunity to address the synod on Monday afternoon before ballots are cast on Monday evening.

Celebrating partnership and unity in Christ

During his report to the synod on behalf of the Commission on Christian Unity, Rev. Bob Hoffman highlighted the importance of unity in Christ in tangible ways. He also gave an overview of ecumenical partnerships and events that commission members took part in this past year, particularly noting the recent delegation to South Africa where the Belhar Confession was written 40 years ago; read commission members’ takeaways here.

On Sunday evening, the delegation welcomed seven ecumenical guests and heard greetings from them. Each of the following people expressed appreciation and prayers for the RCA, as well as their continued commitment to working together in the kingdom of God as a visible testament to the reconciling love of Christ:

• Pastor Elly Boersma Sarkany, Christian Reformed Church in North America
• Dr. Monica Schaap Pierce, Christian Churches Together
• Rev. Danielle Hickman, United Church of Christ
• Rev. Jihyun Oh, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
• Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, National Council of Churches
• Bishop Emeritus H. Julian Gordy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Rev. Garland F. Pierce, World Council of Churches

Learn more about each body and their partnership with the RCA in the commission’s report.