The love of Christ and the Great Commission call us to reach people with the gospel. We connect disciple-making, leadership formation, church renewal, and planting so new generations can know Jesus and help others follow him.
Church planting begins with the Great Commission: helping people know Jesus, follow him, and help others do the same. New congregations give that shared life a home. Renewed congregations carry the same calling into the communities they already serve.
In its overture submitted to Synod 2023, Classis Southeast US called for an urgent, coordinated response to long-term membership decline in the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA). It asked for a comprehensive strategy and annual reporting of progress.
The overture grounds that appeal in the love of Jesus and the Great Commission. Our response is to invest in disciple-making, prepare leaders, renew existing churches, and plant new ones—with an honest account of what is bearing fruit.
“The love of Christ compels us.”2 Corinthians 5:14 · cited in the overture
The wider context / CRCNA · 1996–2023
An urgent call, grounded in the numbers.
The overture and its 2023 addendum trace a sustained decline across the denomination. Each number represents people and communities. Understanding the trend helps us ask better questions about evangelism, discipleship, and the church we are preparing for the next generation.
32.9%
Decline in total membership
291,796 in 1996 → 195,704 in 2023. Calculated from the figures in the overture and addendum.
47 of 49
Classes reported membership losses
For 2016–2021, according to the overture. A classis is a regional group of churches.
833
Reported evangelism growth in 2023
Compared with 3,170 in 1996. This is the source’s annual reporting category, distinct from total membership.
Total reported CRCNA membership
Historical observations, not projections.
1996291,796
2006272,127
2016235,921
2021211,706
2022204,664
2023195,704
All bars share a zero baseline and a 300,000-member scale.
Look beneath the total.
The 2023 addendum also examines children baptized, transfer growth, and evangelism growth. For 2023 it reports 1,815 children baptized, 1,921 in transfer growth, and 833 in evangelism growth. These categories help reveal how people are entering the life of the church; none alone describes the whole story of discipleship.
The response calls for sustained work: prayer, training for evangelism, learning from effective ministry, and a shared strategy connecting church renewal with church planting. Annual progress reports help leaders learn, adapt, and remain accountable.
These figures describe the CRCNA through 2023. They are not current totals for Multiply222, nor are they the regional figures in the 2025 presentation below.
Explore the annual growth categories, 1996–2023
Selected years reported in the 2023 addendum. Labels retained from the source.
Year
Children baptized
Transfer growth
Evangelism growth
1996
4,397
2,534
3,170
2001
3,398
3,074
3,005
2006
3,768
4,570
3,373
2011
3,650
3,826
3,089
2016
3,204
3,180
2,292
2017
3,097
3,227
2,118
2018
2,834
2,992
1,553
2019
2,799
3,359
1,848
2020
2,627
2,801
1,771
2021
1,914
1,885
1,294
2022
1,586
1,120
625
2023
1,815
1,921
833
A shared response
Renew. Plant. Learn. Keep making disciples.
Renew existing churches
Help congregations recover their outward calling, strengthen disciple-making, and serve their neighbors faithfully.
In 2017, the earlier overture requested a comprehensive strategy and annual progress reports. Synod declined those requests, noting work already underway, and instead adopted recommendations addressing resources, best practices, collaboration, and continuing prayer for renewal, planting, and evangelism.
The later overture renewed the request for a unified strategy and annual reporting. Submitted after the March 15 deadline for Synod 2022, it was neither published in that agenda nor presented to that synod. Classis Southeast US then submitted it to Synod 2023 with updated 2022 and 2023 figures.
The supplied text documents a request; it does not establish what Synod 2023 subsequently adopted. Its 2026, 2031, and 2036 membership forecasts are not presented here as observed results.
The regional story / Classis Southeast US
A faithful past. An urgent next chapter.
For generations, churches in the southeastern United States have gathered people around the gospel. The eight founding churches described in the presentation built lasting communities; five also founded Christian schools.
That legacy calls for continued care. The history of Classis Southeast US—a regional family of churches—records significant losses alongside new work. Those figures establish the scale of the challenge; they do not, by themselves, explain why each congregation closed.
We carry the mission forward by forming disciples, preparing leaders, and gathering new communities of faith. Healthy churches keep investing in the people who will carry it next.
The challenge / Reported by 2025
16 / 24
Of the churches that existed in 2010, sixteen had closed by 2025.
Those sixteen congregations represented 865 members in the presentation’s accounting.
Another view of the long-term challenge
Of 35 churches started in the 1970s–2000s, the presentation reports three remaining: Sunlight, Good News, and Vida Nueva. These are historical groups of churches, not the classis-wide total.
Regional results / 1985–2025
Local progress. Continued accountability.
Alongside the losses, the wider classis reported 2,471 members across 21 congregations in 2025. Its membership was 387 higher than in 2012.
This regional increase is encouraging, but it is not evidence that the wider denominational decline has reversed. Membership totals alone cannot tell us how much growth came through evangelism, transfers, or other changes. The call to make disciples and report progress remains.
+387
Net change in reported membership 2012–2025 · Classis Southeast US
Reported in 2025
2,471members
Classis-wide totals at the years shown. Membership is a reported church count of people, not a count of new disciples or conversions.
View the full historical data
Classis Southeast US figures from the 2025 presentation
Year
Congregations
Members
1985
10
2,437
1990
17
2,834
1995
20
2,548
2000
22
2,600
2005
23
2,453
2010
24
2,295
2012
24
2,084
2015
24
2,289
2020
19
2,275
2025
21
2,471
Learning in community at 222Leadership Seminary.
Leaders for the work ahead
Invest in people. Strengthen the church.
The presentation pairs its church-planting vision with a commitment to raise up leaders. It reports 49 examinations involving 49 leaders—a tangible result in the work of preparing people for ministry.
Within Multiply222, 222Leadership Seminary gives emerging leaders a place to grow through biblical learning, mentoring, and ministry practice.
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