As members of the Christian Reformed Church we, the undersigned, wish to express our sincere concerns about what we see as wrong trends in teachings and practices among us. We list some of our concerns below with the hope that a greater awareness of wrong trends will encourage us to reverse our course and to seek again that first love we had for Christ and His Body, the Church.
1. The Proclamation of the Gospel
We see a definite shift away from sound prophetic preaching. There is in evidence among our members, both young and old, an increase of wordly entertainment, drunkenness, and sexual immorality. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep our children from going to bars, shows or cabaret dances, and the like, when many parents allow their children to attend. Why is it that so many among us no longer dare to call sin sin, and that many of our ministers are seemingly afraid to let God’s Word speak against such sins? Our people need to hear from the pulpit that such practices do not belong to those who seek to practice true holiness of life before God.
God’s Word, via the sermon, ought to be central in every worship service. That is what the Reformers fought for and died for. It seems to us that sound preaching of the Gospel is not getting the attention it should. The Word of God should be fearlessly proclaimed and applied to every area of life for the guidance and correction of God’s people. Our preachers ought to call us to repentance and holiness of life.
2. Discipline of Erring Members
Where the Word is proclaimed, taught and maintained there follows the loving discipline of members not walking the Christian way of life. Very little attention seems to be paid to discipline today in our churches. Discipline, one of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, was given by Jesus Christ himself to the church to open or close the Kingdom.
Lack of discipline will result in the complete breakdown of Christ’s body and the corruption of sound Christ-like lifestyles. We must come to grips with sin, take a firm stand against every form of it. Only in that way can we stem the fearful tide of materialism, secularism, sport madness and other idols of which our generation has taken a hold. Let us stir up one another in the fight against ungodliness.
3. The New Hermeneutics
This is a new way in which God’s Word is explained and analyzed by many theologians today, including seminary professors and ministers in the Christian Reformed Church. Some of these men for example, Dr. Verhey and seminarian Clayton Libolt, question the historicity of God‘s revelation in Genesis.
It is no surprise then, that several ministers within the Christian Reformed Church no longer trust Calvin Seminary and therefore plan to start a new seminary in Iowa. There is no doubt that we, if we want to remain a Reformed Church, must fearlessly take our stand on our creeds and dare to oppose those who go contrary to what we as Refor med people confess in our Bible–based standards.
When some of our leaders dar e to question God’s authority and His infallible Word they are imposing man’s thinking and learning above the Truth. Then God becomes grieved and justly angry with the “whole congregation.” We are at that stage in our churches now.
4. Church Instruction
We must be much more alert as to what is being taught to our children in our church classes, as well as to what is being proclaimed from our pulpits. Doctrinal indifference is a sure sign of a dying church. All catechism and Sunday School materials should be carefully studied by our instructors and parents, also materials from our own Publishing House. We must insist that our children be taught the doctrines of the church as contained in the Heidelberg Catechism and our other Creedal standards. We have a rich heritage to pass on. Let us not neglect it or water it down.
We should also insist that the memorizing of catechism questions and answers, as well as Bible passages, be retained. Discussion type classes in which catechumens only listen and share and are not required to study or memorize fail to indoctrinate the youth of the church adequately. We must not let our children down in this important formative function in their young lives.
5. Our Church Offices
It is our strong conviction that the Scripture is very clear that the special offices in the church are to be held by men only. That we find among us a kind of determined drive to open the special offices to women stems from the influence of a women’s liberation movement in the world today which is not driven by obedient listening to God’s Word. God’s Word is very clear on the Headship principle bestowed on men by God Himself, yet because of the New Hermeneutics these issues come up for reinterpretation and cause many children of God to falter in their faith.
6. Strong Committed Leadership
We observe a tendency on the part of some ministers to go their own ways in preaching, teaching, liturgy, and the like. Our ministers are accountable for their teachings and actions to our church councils. Elders and deacons of those councils should dare to stand up for the Truth under whatever pressures they face. Certainly, elders should, as they are called to do, analyze the sermons of the ministers carefully and prayerfully. (See the forms for ordination and the church order.)
These are some of our concerns. We hope by means of this open letter to stir up members and leaders of our churches to preserve true Reformed preaching and teaching and to return to the sound Biblical practice of life. We believe that if this does not happen we will soon lose our great Christian Reformed heritage and no longer have a right to be called by that name.