wfn.org | WARC Conditionally Readmits Dutch Reformed Church

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

25-August-1997 
97321 
 
    WARC Conditionally Readmits Dutch Reformed Church 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
    World Alliance of Reformed Churches Newsroom 
 
DEBRECEN, Hungary--Fifteen years after it suspended two South African 
churches for their theological justification of apartheid, the World 
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has voted to readmit one of them -- 
the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) -- conditional upon the DRC General Synod 
in October 1998 assuring the churches of the Alliance that they agree that 
the "fundamental nature" of apartheid was morally wrong.  The other church 
has since left the Reformed family of churches. 
 
    With no discussion or debate and a nearly unanimous vote, WARC's 23 rd 
General Council approved a joint resolution between the WARC and the DRC 
lifting the suspension.  The DRC General Synod observer to the Council, 
Frederik Swanepoel, predicted that his church "will act responsibly" to the 
resolution, though he stopped short of saying the resolution will 
definitely pass. 
 
    The DRC was suspended by the 21st General Council in 1982, when WARC 
declared its rejection of apartheid in South Africa a matter of "status 
confessionis" (confessional status).  The Council further declared the 
theological justification of apartheid "heresy," which it defined as "the 
persistent and deliberate teaching of false doctrine after the error has 
been pointed out by the wider church." 
 
    WARC officials said the term "conveys WARC's conviction that the 
theological justification of apartheid was not simply an `error' in stating 
doctrine or a disagreement in matters where there is freedom to disagree 
but rather a fundamental perversion and deformation of the heart of the 
gospel." 
 
    At the time of the suspension, WARC laid down three requirements for 
its lifting: 
 
    *  that the DRC open its worship services to Christians of all races 
    *  that the DRC give aid to victims of apartheid 
    *  that the DRC reject apartheid "as wrong and sinful not simply in its 
       effects and opoerations but also in its fundamental nature." 
 
    Satisfied that the DRC has met the first two requirements, this Council 
agreed that approval by the DRC of the joint resolution approved Aug. 18 by 
WARC "will satisfy the remaining requirement." 
 
    Passage of the joint resolution capped an intense period of 
negotiations that also involved the Uniting Reformed Church (URC) of South 
Africa.  Jameson Buys, URC moderator and a delegate to the Council, said he 
"welcomed the decision" to lift the suspension.  The URC and the DRC are 
engaged in unity talks and Buys described the URC's role as "trying to 
follow a route of accompaniment with the DRC."  After all, he said, "we 
have all learned that when you try and walk a road alone, there is no one 
to help you up when you stumble and fall." 
 
    The URC, Buys said, came to Debrecen determined that the decisions of 
WARC regarding lifting the suspension "be consistent with previous 
actions." 
 
    Paraic Reamonn, WARC communications secretary, praised the role of URC 
in the negotiations leading to the joint resolution.  "When the [WARC] 
executive committee arrived here, we had support from 11 of 19 South 
African member churches for lifting the suspension," he said.  "But some of 
the accompanying responses indicated that something more needed to be done" 
to ensure that lifting the suspension would be contingent upon the DRC 
categorically rejecting apartheid, Reamonn said.  "We have to keep faith 
with what we have said and with our member churches." 
 
    "We are satisfied,"  Swanepoel said, "and grateful for this gift from 
God today." 

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