Accountability

• Congregation (votes on council members and annual budget—meets as needed)
• Council (pastor, elders, deacons and clerk—meets once a month)
• Classis (CRC churches in Arizona and El Paso—meets twice a year)
• Synod (delegates from 1000+ churches—meets once a year)

Since Hope is a part of the Christian Reformed Church, it is Presbyterian in its governing structure. The Church Order (much like an organization’s bylaws) governs our Christian Reformed churches. It delineates each assembly’s responsibilities and relationship to one another.

Christ is always given first place as the “Head” of the local body of believers. The local congregation is the seat of power; it votes for its local leadership that governs the local church and sends delegates to form the regional and national assemblies. Authority increases as it widens from the congregation out to the Synod, YET larger meetings get their authority from the local church leaders. Larger meetings create temporary authority to make decisions for classis (region), or denomination.

On a local level, our particular church is governed by our Council and our bylaws. See www.crcna.org for more details.