wfn.org | [CRC NEWS] Synod 2005 Daily Roundup

["Henry Hess" <hessh@crcna.ca>]

Palos Heights, Ill. - Synod 2005 opened Saturday at Trinity Christian
College. Delegates elected Rev. Wayne Brouwer of Classis Holland to
preside over Synod 2000, Rev. Stanley Mast of Classis Grand Rapids South
as vice president, Rev. Gordon Pols of Classis Hamilton as first clerk
and elder delegate Donald Dykstra of Classis Illiana as second clerk.

Sunday, June 12
At synod's annual Service of Prayer and Praise, Rev. Sam Hamstra of
Palos Heights Christian Reformed Church, preached on Matthew 16:18: "You
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of
Hades will not overcome it." He sketched a picture of the church as a
people, not a collection of facilities, that belongs to Christ and is
built on a foundation of apostolic teaching.

Monday, June 13
Delegates voted to remind churches of their calling to nurture the faith
of all their members and called on churches and classes to make
faith-nurture a special focus from the fall of 2007 through the summer
of 2008.
Synod voted to create a position of discipleship specialist within the
denomination to assist agencies and ministry organizations, especially
those working with youth, and to offer high-quality training for
teachers and leaders. They also called for a more comprehensive plan
that would focus on adult discipleship, and for an institute of
discipleship that would train church staff and volunteer leaders.
Synod began several hours of discussion on what action to take in
response to the decision by First Christian Reformed Church in Toronto,
Ont. that people living in same-sex relationships would be allowed to
serve as officebearers. Delegates expressed a sense of urgency in
dealing with the issue, but were unable to reach consensus about the
best way to do it.  Synod sent the matter back to the advisory committee
for more work.
In advance of the presentation of ministerial candidates, Synod agreed
to vote on the candidates from Calvin Theological Seminary as a group
rather than individually.
Synod approved a ministry share for 2006 of $270.08 per active, adult
member to help support the ministries of the denomination. This is an
increase of 1.5 percent.

Tuesday, June 14
Synod declared 38 graduates from Calvin Theological Seminary as
candidates to be ministers of the Word in the CRC.  The 31 men and seven
women are eligible for call to Christian Reformed congregations subject
to meeting other candidacy requirements.
Synod resumed its discussion about First CRC, Toronto, and decided to
send a synodical committee to investigate the position of the church's
council regarding persons living in same-sex relationships. The
committee is mandated to seek a response from the church council to
allegations made against it over this issue, and to determine if the
church is in compliance with the Christian Reformed Church's position on
homosexuality. The comittee is to report to the meeting of Classis
Toronto in September and make recommendations to classis for
deliberation and action.
Synod 2005 voted unanimously to appoint Rev. Calvin Bremer as the
executive director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
The appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2005. Bremer has been a pastor in
the CRC since 1972, and has spent the past nine years at the Back to God
Hour, the CRC's electronic media ministry. He told delegates that a
critical issue facing the Christian Reformed Church today is the
consumer mentality. People will leave if a church doesn't meet their
expectations, he said. "We can't keep doing church the way we've done it
for the past 20 years or we will die."
Synod also ratified the appointment of Dr. Darwin Glassford as associate
professor of church education at Calvin Theological Seminary. Glassford
comes to Calvin from Montreat College where he taught Bible and
Christian education. Before that he served a number of educational and
youth-related ministries in churches and other institutions.

Wednesday, June 15
Synod 2005 took several small steps to facilitate the ordination of
women in the Christian Reformed Church. But it stopped short of allowing
women to serve as delegates to synod. Instead, synod decided to revisit
the issue of female delegates at a time when a majority of classes allow
the ordination of women as officebearers. Currently just under half of
the 47 classes have taken that step.
Synod did make it easier to ordain women in classes where this is
permitted. It asked CRC Publications to make the language in ordination
and installation forms gender inclusive, it allowed the examination of
female candidates to take place in smaller gatherings in cases where
some delegates have objections to such examinations and it said that a
classis may appoint a female minister to serve as a synodical deputy, as
long as a male minister is the alternate.
Earlier in the day delegates voted to continue the practice of
appointing ethnic advisers to synod until at least 25 of the 188
synodical delegates are members of ethnic minorities. This year's synod
had 22 minority delegates.
Synod also asked all classes to develop a strategy for incorporating
ethnic minorities into the life and government of the local church and
its broader assemblies, and to submit a plan to the Board of Trustees by
2007.

Thursday, June 16
Synod called for a strong commitment to preaching and teaching
restorative justice. Delegates heard that restorative justice is based
on biblical principles of reconciliation, accountability, forgiveness,
and healing. Synod also approved recruiting volunteer restorative
justice coordinators in the United States and Canada in coordination
with the CRC's Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action.
In ecumenical matters, Synod instructed its Interchurch Relations
Committee to clarify a number of theological differences that are
threatening to undermine the CRC's relationship with the Protestant
Church of the Netherlands and to bring a recommendation to Synod 2006.
Delegates attended a testimonial luncheon to honor retiring faculty and
denominational leaders. These include professors James MacKenzie, Derald
De Young and Carl Huisman from Calvin College and Robert De Vries from
Calvin seminary as well as General Secretary David Engelhard and
Executive Director of Ministries Peter Borgdorff.
In a farewell address to synod Rev. Peter Borgdorff told delegates he
has been greatly blessed by the opportunities to serve the church during
the past 36 years, including 13 years as EDM. He challenged leaders
never to forget that the church is a community formed by God and it is
big.  He also said the church lives in a changing world and needs to
practice discernment because "there is so much we don't yet
understand.... We're making progress, but we're not yet where we need to
be."
Synod reaffirmed the commitment of the Christian Reformed Church to
Christian day school education. In declaring that churches need to
support both Christian education and evangelism, synod suggested that
schools have a role of evangelism by accepting children from
non-Christian families.  Synod commended the report to the churches and
also asked the denomination's Board of Trustees to publish a document
that articulates the CRC's position on Christian day school education.
Delegates also adopted recommendations to help churches promote
Christian education in communities where there are no Christian day
schools and little chance of starting one.

Friday, June 17
Synod 2005 ended shortly after noon with prayer and singing. Rev. Stan
Mast, synod vice-president, expressed synod's appreciation to the
president, Rev. Wayne Brouwer, for his leadership during the week.  He
said four words describe Brouwer's performance: fun, fair, firm, and
faithful. Delegates showed their agreement with a loud burst of
applause.
During the closing session, delegates approved proposed changes to the
abuse response guidelines governing the advisory panel process. Advisory
panels are convened to conduct a hearing when allegations of abuse are
made against a church leader. The changes make the process more
accessible to accusers and also ensure that accusers have an advocate
available to them throughout the process. Classes and churches were
again strongly urged to put in place abuse response teams and abuse
prevention policies.
Synod approved a $10 supplemental increase in ministry shares to assist
smaller churches that are struggling to survive and instructed the Board
of Trustees to work with Christian Reformed Home Missions to design a
unified plan for providing assistance to struggling churches, since Home
Missions has other programs designed to help churches.
In other matters, synod:
* Instructed the Board of Trustees to come up with a plan by 2007 to
carry out synod's desire to reflect the diversity of our denomination in
its administrative positions;
* Ratified changes to the church order proposed by last year's synod;
* Recommended that classes set aside time in the coming year to discuss
the study committee report on War and Peace that is coming to next
year's synod.

Contact Henry Hess, Synod News Officer, at 905-336-2920.