HUDSONVILLE (RNS) Clergy and members of congregations’ governing bodies in the Protestant Reformed Churches of America must send their children to denomination-affiliated schools, church leaders have decided.

That was the consensus at the PRCA’s annual synod, which wrapped up late last month (Aug.) at Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Mich. The decision affects more than 300 office holders in the denomination’s 30 congregations.

While congregation members are encouraged to send their children to Christian schools, they aren’t required to do so. Synod Clerk Don Doezema said the vote of the 20 delegates overwhelmingly favored requiring denomination-affiliated schools for children of clergy and office holders.

The issue has been under consideration since 2007, when a Grand Rapids pastor was fired after his congregation became divided over his children being homeschooled.

“The issue was: Can a member … believably promote the schools if he chooses not to send his children there?” Doezema said.

The synod’s decision notes that elders are in a different category than congregation members because they are supposed to promote denominational schools “by word and by example.”

The PRCA formed in 1924 by breaking off from the Christian Reformed Church. It represents 7,630 members with 14 churches comprising just under 5,000 members in the Grand Rapids, Holland and Kalamazoo areas of Michigan.

The denomination is affiliated with 15 schools, including four elementary schools, one high school and one theological school in the Grand Rapids area.