From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 18:33:59 -0500 (EST) Subject: NR 121B: NAPARC to Study Discipline of CRC for 1 year To Reach United Reformed News Service Regional Office Staff: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer [During NAPARC only, until 12 noon Wednesday, Nov. 20] c/o Pittsburgh Plaza Hotel 1500 Beers School Road, Moon Township, PA 15108 * O: (412) 264-7900 (ask for NAPARC) [After NAPARC adjournment] PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 O: (616) 674-8446 * FAX: (6160 674-8454 * E-Mail: Darrell128@aol.com Greg Rickmar, Circulation Manager PO Box 1717, Battle Creek, MI 49016 * H: (616) 966-3343 * E-Mail: GRickmar@msn.com World Wide Web Site: "http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/reformed/reformed-home.html" NR #1996-121B: For Immediate Release Conservative Interchurch Council Will Study Discipline of Christian Reformed Church for Women's Ordination by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service PITTSBURGH (November 20, 1996) URNS - By this time next year, the Christian Reformed denomination may be faced with suspension or expulsion from the major fellowship of conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denominations in the US and Canada, an organization the CRC helped to begin 21 years ago. Meeting in Pittsburgh on November 19 and 20, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) voted to study suspending the Christian Reformed Church from membership because of the CRC's decision to ordain women ministers, elders, and evangelists. At 292,000 members, the CRC is the organization's largest member denomination. Similar to but much smaller than the National Council of Churches, NAPARC counts seven conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denominations as full members. Any move to suspend or terminate CRC membership will require a two-thirds vote and approval within three years by two-thirds of the national synods or general assemblies of the member denominations. The proposal came from one of the CRC's longstanding supporters, the 271,000-member Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), whose 1995 General Assembly mandated its delegates to use "all due process afforded to them to remove the CRC membership in NAPARC" unless the CRC voted to "repent of and rescind the action of the 1995 synod" to ordain women. Since the 1996 CRC synod voted down numerous overtures asking for an end to the ordination of women, the PCA brought a motion to this year's NAPARC meeting noting "with deep regret and heartfelt concern" the CRC decision not to stop ordaining women and proposing "that NAPARC initiate the process to suspend the CRCNA from its membership." After extended procedural questions about the legality of the motion, NAPARC voted to refer the suspension proposal to its interim committee, which will report back to the next NAPARC meeting in Atlanta in November 1997. "Last year our General Assembly put us under mandate to deal with the situation with the Christian Reformed Church and what has been going on and I understood that there was something from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church that was coming," PCA stated clerk Dr. Paul Gilchrist told the NAPARC delegates. "The position that we have taken is we value the relationship we have with the CRC in NAPARC, and our desire is to continue in that relationship, however we are grieved and distressed by the action of the Christian Reformed synod." A technicality delayed and almost derailed the PCA's efforts. Although the PCA notified both NAPARC and the CRC of its decision last year, the PCA didn't place a formal request for discipline on this year's NAPARC agenda, assuming that last year's notification was sufficient. NAPARC chairman Rev. Jack Whytock of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church initially ruled that because the NAPARC agenda had already been adopted it was too late to add the proposal to discipline the CRC. That might have been fine with Gilchrist. "We thought we had already communicated this to NAPARC last year and we thought the OPC was going to come here with something this year," said Gilchrist. "We wish to follow the OPC's lead." However, PCA delegate Rev. Larry Roff warned that postponing action at NAPARC could cause problems within the PCA. "My sense is that the intention of the assembly was that it would be dealt with here," said Roff. "It was my understanding that new business opens up any new business and not that each item of new business needs to be listed specifically on the docket." After seeking further advice from NAPARC secretary Rev. Donald Duff, who also serves as OPC stated clerk, Whytock ruled that the PCA proposal was legally on the NAPARC agenda and would be dealt with as an item of new business. The Christian Reformed delegation was none too pleased by the PCA's proposal to suspend them from NAPARC. CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard strongly objected to the proposal and lack of prior notice. "This is not good procedure," Engelhard told the NAPARC delegates. "Nothing was said, not one word, and then all of a sudden there was a really weighty decision. I understand the press and a whole lot of observers knew a lot more about this than we did and I feel that is offensive." The CRC gathered support for its procedural concerns from some unusual quarters. After the CRC objected that the PCA motion was not properly before NAPARC, a procedural motion passed to declare it legally before the council - with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church being the only denomination other than the CRC to vote against consideration of the motion. Following the vote, Rev. Gordon Keddie of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America moved to send the PCA motion to the NAPARC interim committee for further study. "That is scandalous, really," said Keddie. "It is not something that in my judgment is properly to be dealt with 50 minutes before adjournment." While the NAPARC vote gives the CRC a yearlong reprieve, that doesn't mean NAPARC is likely to be supportive when the matter comes up again next fall in Atlanta. So far, at least three denominations are on record calling for discipline of the CRC. In addition to the PCA, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church voted this past June to suspend fraternal relations with the CRC and to terminate relations next year if the CRC synod does not repent of allowing women's ordination. At the NAPARC meeting, the Korean American Presbyterian Church announced a previously unknown decision last June to, by unanimous vote, "suspend fraternal relations with the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) until such time as the said church repents of their sin and rescinds their position on opening church offices to women." The Reformed Church in the United States had a history of difficulties with the CRC's ordination of women and has sent observers to groups of churches which have seceded from the CRC over the women's ordination issue. NAPARC also voted by a 4 to 3 margin not to admit the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to membership, in part because it allows the ordination of women ministers and elders. Suspension or expulsion requires the affirmative votes of five member denominations. If either the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church or the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America vote to discipline the CRC, the necessary two-thirds majority will be reached. Both the ARPC and the RPCNA have ordained women deacons for many years, but both are on record opposing the ordination of women ministers or ruling elders. "It's disappointing the way it slipped onto the agenda," said CRC general secretary Dr. David Engelhard, noting that the PCA had not responded to a letter sent by the CRC synod explaining its reasons for allowing the ordination of women. "We were thinking that our letter would initiate some discussion or conversation on their part." "This lack of a conversation is not treating each other as full believers in Jesus Christ, just coming in there and placing this kind of resolution on the agenda," said Engelhard. Despite the vote, Engelhard said the CRC would try to be cooperative with NAPARC. "We believe this is an organization we should be part of," said Engelhard after the vote, noting that the CRC will offer its conference call equipment to the NAPARC interim committee to facilitate discussion of the proposal, even though that discussion could lead to its removal from NAPARC. Some in the CRC were more pleased by the vote. Rev. Tom Vanden Heuvel, pastor of First CRC in Byron Center who has accepted a call to begin a new PCA church in Holland, Michigan, said the PCA action was "a great encouragement to the conservatives in the CRC." "I totally support the PCA in this action," said Vanden Heuvel. "It does grieve me to see the stubbornness of the CRC and its recalcitrance to give heed to the admonition of its brothers and fathers in the PCA." Vanden Heuvel, who helped to begin NAPARC's predecessor organization in 1970 and took a leading role in conservative CRC circles before joining the PCA, said he didn't think his new denomination's action would hurt his efforts to plant a PCA church in Holland - and might help. "I would say that the conservatives in the Christian Reformed Church will see that the PCA is very serious about its Reformed commitment and its desire to hold to the integrity of the Reformed confessions and will applaud it," said Vanden Heuvel. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1994-017: Immigrant Korean Leader Criticizes Christian Reformed, Presbyterian Church in America Influence at NAPARC #1994-058: NAPARC Admits New Denomination; Thanks God for Christian Reformed Decision Against Ordaining Women; Rev. Myung Doh Kim Becomes First Korean Chairman of North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council; Reformed Church in the United States Admitted Amidst Strong Criticism of Alliance of Reformed Churches #1995-070: Christian Reformed Classes Permitted to Declare Church Order Ban on Women's Ordination "Inoperative"; Synod Decision Given Immediate Effect without Two-Year Ratification Process #1995-080: Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly Unanimously Warns CRC to "Repent and Rescind" Women in Office Decision #1996-065: Women in Office Leads Orthodox Presbyterians to Suspend Ties with CRC, Will Terminate in 1997 Unless CRC Changes #1996-076: CRC Synod Rejects 25 Overtures and Communications Calling for End to Classical Option on Ordination of Women Contact List: Rev. Donald Duff, Secretary, North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council 614 Roberts Ave., Glenside PA 19038-3711 O: (215) 956-0123 * H: (215) 887-4901 * FAX: (215) 957-6286 Dr. David Engelhard, General Secretary, Christian Reformed Church in North America 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 O: (616) 246-0744 * H: (616) 243-2418 * FAX: (616) 246-0834 * E-Mail: engelhad@crcnet.mhs.CompuServe.com Dr. Paul Gilchrist, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America 1852 Century Place, Suite 190, Atlanta GA 30345 O: (404) 320-3366 Rev. Myung Doh Kim, Academic Dean, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary 1901 W. 166th St., Gardena, CA 90247 O: (310) 515-7696 * H: (310) 532-0328 * FAX: (310) 515-2747 Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Laurie Vanden Heuvel, Co-Editors, The Outlook 2475 - 85th St. SW, Byron Center, MI 49315 O: (616) 878-9278 * F: (616) 878-3256 * E-Mail: TomLaur@aol.com Rev. Jack Whytock, Chairman, North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council 155 Charles Lutes Rd., Magnetic Hill, RR #7, Moncton, New Brunswick, E1C 8Z4 CANADA ------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-121b.txt .