Changing the Rules for How We Change the Rules

The Reformed Church Center Looks at Weighted Voting

The 2025 General Synod of the Reformed Church in America voted to send the following amendment to section 2.b. of the “Rules and Amendments of The Government of the Reformed Church in America and Disciplinary Procedures” to the classes for approval. If approved by two-thirds of the classes, this will replace what is currently on page 77 in the Book of Church Order:

For a proposed amendment to be approved by the classes, the weighted vote of the classes in favor of the amendment must be at least two-thirds of the total number of regular classical delegates eligible to be seated at the General Synod at which the amendment was adopted. Each classis’s vote is equal to the number of delegates from that classis who were eligible to be seated at the General Synod at which the amendment was adopted. A classis must cast all its votes either in favor of or opposed to the amendment.

As classes get ready to vote on this, it might be helpful to unpack just what this means and why it is such a big change—according to some people—in how we amend our constitution and understand the relationship among our classes. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it, but we might want to know why.

So, as we kick off the twenty-sixth year of Reformed Church Center programs, we will discuss “Changing the Rules for How We Change the Rules” on Thursday, September 18, 2025, 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm on Zoom.

Our presenters will be Greg Brower—Classis Leader for the Great Lakes City Classis since 2022 and for Northern Michigan Classis since 2024 and a former member of the RCA Restructure Team—and Matthew van Maastricht, pastor of Altamont and Helderberg Reformed Churches in Schenectady Classis, adjunct instructor in RCA studies at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and a fellow of the Reformed Church Center. Each of them will present arguments for why weighted voting is or is not a good idea and ask one another questions, then we will, as usual, open the floor for questions and discussion.

Like all Reformed Church Center programs, this discussion will be free and open to everyone, but registration is required. 

Register Here