RCA Restructuring Team

A multi-year discernment process culminated at General Synod 2024, when the Reformed Church in America took steps toward a new structure that will best serve the Reformed Church in America for flourishing ministry now and in the future. 

The recommendations for a new structure came from the restructuring team. After decisions at General Synod 2024 and General Synod 2025, the approved changes are in the process of being implemented, while others have been adopted by the General Synod and are now being considered by classes.

At a Glance:
Middle Assemblies

General Synod 2024 adopted the recommendation from the restructuring team and the Commission on Church Order to condense two of the RCA’s four assemblies—regional synods and classes—into a single assembly: the middle assembly. (The other assemblies, the local congregation and the General Synod, will be preserved.) In the spring of 2025, classes approved the constitutional change, which was then declared effective—with a delayed implementation deadline—by General Synod 2025. Middle assemblies will become effective as of December 30, 2026, to allow more time for discernment and implementation.

The middle assembly’s name comes because it’s between the consistory (the most local assembly, which governs a congregation) and the General Synod (the broadest assembly that oversees the ministry of the denomination). Some of the responsibilities of middle assemblies are to ordain, install, care for, and oversee ministers, and commission and oversee commissioned pastors; receive and support congregations and organize them as local churches; and evaluate, oversee, and support those who are seeking to become ministers in the RCA.

Transitioning to Middle Assemblies FAQ

Regional Synods’ Preliminary Plans for Forming Middle Assemblies (Mid-May 2025)

Potential Principle and Process Ideas for Forming Middle Assemblies (from the restructuring team)

At a Glance:
Restructuring Decisions at General Synod 2024

Approved
  • Condense regional synods and classes into a single assembly*
  • Update the name of the merged assembly: middle assembly*
  • Ensure equity in the new judicial bodies
  • Hold General Synod in-person every three years
  • Resize the delegation of General Synod
  • Experiment with a consensus model for decision making
  • Adjust the approval process for changes to the Book of Church Order
  • Pursue an equitable and just ordination and reception process (amended)
  • Adjust the commissions’ sizes and requirements (amended)
  • Allow gifted elders to serve as church supervisors* (amended)
Rejected
  • Deacons will not serve as voting delegates to middle assemblies
  • No 2 percent cap on General Synod covenant shares

For an in-depth overview of the synod proceedings, read part 1 and part 2.

* denotes a constitutional change, which required approval by two-thirds of classes, then ratification by General Synod 2025. The other approved recommendations were assigned to various commissions or boards for further development and recommendation.

At a Glance:
Restructuring Decisions at General Synod 2025

Approved
  • Constitutional amendments that permit General Synod to meet virtually, with a requirement that the synod must meet in person at least once every three years
  • Constitutional amendments that resize the delegation of General Synod
  • Constitutional amendments that adjust the approval process for changes to the Book of Church Order
Declared Effective (as of December 30, 2026)
  • Condense regional synods and classes into a single assembly
  • Update the name of the merged assembly: middle assembly

Why is the RCA restructuring?

The restructuring team was approved by General Synod 2021 at the suggestion of the Vision 2020 Team. The work of the restructuring team was to propose changes to the denomination’s organizational structure that better allow for living in tension, as well as one that is optimized for sustained spiritual and organizational health. 

After years of disagreement on human sexuality, interpretation of Scripture, polity, and other tensions, the denomination appointed and tasked the Vision 2020 Team with considering how–and if–the RCA could live together in the tension. General Synod 2021 affirmed that the RCA should continue to live in the tension, and that people who no longer want to live in the tension have an avenue to leave, with the blessing of the remaining churches. Read more detail in the General Synod 2021 news summary. 

The Vision 2020 Team thought of this “living in the tension” as a centered set rather than a bounded set. On some ranches, cattle are kept in fenced areas (bounded set–some are in, some are out). On larger ranches, fences aren’t practical, so ranchers will dig a few wells, and the cattle will stay close enough to the wells (centered set). Living in the tension is a centered-set approach: we commit to key things that we have in common and keep coming back to (like the water wells) but are not strictly bound on every matter. 

The aim of the restructuring is a streamlined structure for a smaller denomination, recognizing the general decline in size of the North American church, as well as the departure of churches that preferred a “bounded-set approach” and have already transferred to other denominations or networks.

The work of the restructuring team was informed by guidance from the Vision 2020 Team, which did extensive research about possible structures for the future of the RCA.

The process so far

After being approved by the General Synod in October 2021, team members were appointed by the General Synod Council (GSC) by late January 2022. The team’s make-up was in accordance with the instructions from the General Synod: “a team of between 10 and 15 people, including several executive RCA staff members, and of representatives from around the RCA drawn from regional or local assemblies that have expressed an intention to remain in the Reformed Church in America, and should be representative of the racial, ethnic, gender, age, socio-economic, geographic, and other forms of diversity present in the RCA.” See the members.

For the first year, the team focused on spiritual discernment, gaining clarity and unity around where they believed God was calling the denomination to restructure for the future. As they engaged in a process of group discernment using the work of Ruth Haley Barton in her book Pursuing God’s Will Together, the team realized that in order to restructure, they must first know what outcomes that the proposed restructure needs to produce. The focus statement that the team believes God is calling the RCA to produce is “growing disciples who participate in God’s reign throughout the world.” 

After discerning that focus statement, the team’s process included many feedback loops, held via Zoom and in-person roundtable gatherings in fall 2022 and spring 2023

The team took into account research and guidance from the Vision 2020 Team as well as feedback from General Synod 2021 and 2022, various roundtable and Zoom meetings, and communications the team received. 

At General Synod in June 2023, the team shared a rough draft of three proposals. Delegates spent time discussing the proposals in small groups and in a plenary session, providing feedback to the team. 

The team utilized the feedback it received from the spring roundtables and from General Synod to refine its draft proposals. It released a second draft of its proposals and held another series of roundtable events in the fall to gather feedback. Utilizing that feedback, the team further refined its proposals and released a third, penultimate draft of its proposals, which includes more specific language for General Synod recommendations. The team then shared proposals and elicited feedback by hosting a final set of virtual roundtable discussions from February 26-March 8.

The team published its final report in May 2024 (along with an appendix of frequently asked questions), and the recommendations contained in that report were presented to General Synod 2024 in June. The majority of the team’s recommendations received initial approval at General Synod 2024; read part 1 and part 2 for the in-depth overview of those decisions. Changes to the constitution proceeded to the classes for voting; those that received the required two-thirds approval by classes were then brought to General Synod 2025 in order to be declared effective.

In addition to declaring middle assemblies effective (with a delayed implementation date of December 30, 2026), General Synod 2025 made three significant decisions to restructure the denomination, all of which now go to the classes for approval. Those that receive the required two-thirds approval will be brought to General Synod 2026 to be declared effective.

  • The size of the General Synod delegation will be reduced to better fit the size and budget of the denomination. 
  • When a constitutional change requires approval by the middle assemblies, the vote of the middle assemblies will be weighted by the membership size of the assembly.
  • General Synod will be able to meet in-person or virtually, with a mandate that it must meet in-person at least every three years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Transitioning to Middle Assemblies FAQ

Why are we restructuring? 

First—and primarily—General Synod 2021 called for a new structure and created the restructuring team to develop a “restructuring plan for the denomination with a view to optimizing the RCA’s sustained spiritual and organizational health.” 

We also believe there is good reason to restructure the denomination at this moment. We are a notably smaller denomination following the departures of churches after Vision 2020 decisions. Also, the average size of RCA churches has gotten smaller, which creates different ministry contexts and creates different needs for support and accountability. Relational connections and trust have declined as the RCA moved from a predominantly Dutch denomination where nearly all ministers of Word and sacrament attended the same two seminaries. We also need a structure that will allow us to keep up with the work God is already doing in making our formerly Dutch immigrant denomination into an ethnically, culturally diverse church. 

You talk about “living in the tension.” What’s the tension the RCA is living in?

The tension could come from disagreement on any number of things that are not confessional. Looking specifically at LGBTQ marriage and ordination, the tension comes in that General Synod statements have repeatedly affirmed marriage between a man and a woman, yet the authority for ordination and supervision of ministers lies with the classis and not the General Synod. Consistories have authority over ordination of elders and deacons. On paper, at the General Synod level, the RCA is only supportive of traditional marriage, but in practice that is not always the case at every level of governance.

What did General Synod decide in response to the Vision 2020 Team report?

Votes on recommendations from the Vision 2020 Team were not about the RCA’s position on sexuality, but about how (and if) the RCA will live together in the midst of disagreement. Essentially, the RCA will continue to live in the tension, and people who no longer want to live in the tension have an avenue to leave. This General Synod 2021 news summary is a more detailed recap.

Where is the RCA in the restructuring process?

Restructuring is underway! Following the General Synod’s decisions in 2024 in regard to the restructuring team’s final recommendations, some constitutional changes have been approved by at least two-thirds of classes and declared effective by General Synod 2025. One of the biggest restructuring changes—condensing regional synods and classes into middle assemblies—will be declared effective as of December 30, 2026. Conversations and plans to form the new middle assemblies are underway in all regions; read the preliminary plans in this appendix to the General Synod workbook. 

Other changes that stemmed from the restructuring team continue to take effect, while still others will take longer to implement to ensure a smooth transition. The Commission on Church Order, at the request of the General Synod Council, identified a number of other changes that will require longer transition periods, like transitional leadership on boards and commissions, handling outstanding judicial business, tax exempt status, and suggested additional provisions for those circumstances.

Following General Synod 2025, some changes are effective immediately, while those that change the RCA’s constitution are now to classes for voting. Those that receive the required two-thirds approval will be brought to General Synod 2026 in order to be declared effective. For the latest updates on the process, see the news stories below.

Latest news

Who’s on the RCA Restructuring Team

  • Eddy Alemán, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America
  • Dale Assink, executive strategist, Regional Synod of the Heartland, and former classis leader for Central Plains Classis
  • Greg Brower, classis leader for Great Lakes City Classis and former pastor of Zion Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan
  • Michelle Chahine, General Synod Council member, Regional Synod of the Great Lakes executive committee, elder
  • Chad Farrand, classis executive for Classis de las Naciones
  • Andrea Godwin-Stremler, trustee at Western Theological Seminary, executive director of New Revelations Collegiate Mission in Krum, Texas
  • Sung Kim, lead pastor of Grace Churches in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and director of church ministry for the Reformed Church in America
  • Micah McCreary, president of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, General Synod professor of theology
  • Sherri Meyer-Veen, pastor of Niskayuna Reformed Church in Niskayuna, New York, and minister for renewal for the Regional Synod of Albany
  • Ina Montoya, elder at Jicarilla Apache Reformed Church in Dulce, New Mexico
  • Young Na, pastor of Forest Park Church in Woodhaven, New York
  • Andres Serrano, pastor of Iglesia La Senda in Corona, California, and director of church multiplication for the Reformed Church in America
  • Gildo Vieira, elder at Igreja Vida Nova in Toronto, Ontario