Women delegated to synod by year since 2008
The CRC's rightward drift has begun.
There is a version of CRC’s history that assumes a slow, continued, leftward drift (or decline, depending on which circles you run in) that started sometime post-World War II and accelerated in the 1980s and 90s with the admission of women to ecclesiastical offices and, the following decade, as delegates to synod.
To the extent that this drift exists, it has certainly reversed.
Here are the number of women delegated per synod by year since they were first allowed in 2008:
The first eight synods where women were allowed as delegates averaged 15.6 women per synod. Then the next four averaged 35.5 women per synod. But subsequent years have seen a decline. The three post-COVID synods have sent an average of 25.6 women to synod.
If you can infer one thing from this data, it’s that, since 2015, the CRC’s institutional drift has shifted rightward.
I believe that Synod 2016 was also the first Synod that incorporated deacon delegates. So instead of a Classis sending 2 pastors and two elders, now a Classis could send 1 pastor, 1 elder, 1 deacons, and one 'other.' I'm guessing that reconfiguration of delegates caused the spike. Also, if 2016 was a "disastrous Synod" then I wonder if it is because that Synod also would have had a high percentage of first-time delegates. I was a delegate in 2016 and our Advisory Committee was over 50% first time delegates.