That the Christian Reformed Synod in 1972 found it necessary to make a pronouncement on the subject of abortion is indicative of the times in which we live, and indicative, also of the fact that we are not isolated from, nor immune to, contemporary attitudes and practices. That Synod refused to go along with current […]
“And . . . Caiaphas . . . said . . . it is expedient for us . . .” (John 11:50). That is the way the high priest who was the head of the Jewish council or Sanhedrin expressed and gave direction to the deliberations of that religious court. It is true that John […]
What did Synod do with Report. 44? Many a delegate to Synod 1972 heard that question again and again. To begin with, the answer to that question is that almost a whole day of Synod’s time was given to debate on what was Report 36 in 1971 and became Report 44 in 1972, on The […]
The Liturgical Committee presented to the 1972 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church a new form for Public Profession of Faith (Agenda 1972, pp. 264266). The Williamsburg Consistory submitted Overture 23 asking for several changes in this newly proposed form. The Advisory Committee incorporated some of these ideas of the overture in its recommendations to […]
The “lodge question,” as it is usually referred to among us, is by no means something new. It has been with us as long as the Christian Reformed Church has existed. It was, in fact, one of the factors involved in the decision to separate from the Reformed Church in America in l857 and to […]
For a number of years various consistories and congregations have felt and expressed the need for improving the method of c.1lling ministers. This feeling has also been expressed through several overtures to Synod in previous years. Consequently, in answer to an overture from Classis California South, the Synod of 1970 appointed a committee “to study […]
Synod opened officially on Tuesday morning, June 13, 1972 at the Fine Arts Center at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich. The first order of business was the election of officers. Synod spent the entire morning electing as president, the Rev. Clarence Boomsma, pastor of the Calvin CRC, Grand Rapids; the Rev. William Haverkamp, pastor of […]
It is with some hesitation that one attempts, on necessarily very short acquaintance, to formulate some editorial reactions to our massive 500 page Agenda for the June Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches. Revised Report on Biblical Authority The biggest and most important issue the Synod will have to face is that introduced by the […]
Dear Mr. Editor: Whether Synod not only has the right, but also the duty, to apply the Word of God to church members—who have committed racial discrimination against fellow church members—is a question that involves the integrity of the Christian Reformed Church. Two writers have said in these columns that Synod had no right to […]
Dear Mr. Editor: Please allow me the opportunity to comment on Mr. Martin La Maire’s response (THE OUTLOOK – letters, October 1971) to my letter (THE OUTLOOK – July 1971). First, presumably, Mr. La Maire objects to my objecting to our Synod interfering with non-ecclesiastical matters. This, of course, is his privilege. However, if this […]