The secession of which this editorial speaks is the withdrawal from a church or denomination (more specifically, the Christian Reformed Church) to organize another. That this is not a purely academic or theoretical matter, but rather one that is relevant and practical right now, is undoubtedly familiar to our readers. It is by request that I attempt to offer some guidance on this matter already now at my editorial debut in TORCH AND TRUMPET.
Secession is serious business indeed. False ecumenism on the one hand and unwarranted schism on the other—these are the Scylla and the Charybdis between which the responsible and conscientious churchman will always strive to chart his course. Church history records the names of great reformers who are held in honor, but it records also the names of others remembered as schismatics and therefore in disgrace.
That secession is serious business, and a course to be followed as a warranted option only as our last line of defense, should be obvious from the following considerations:
1. By God’s grace, as a church, we are still confessionally sound.
Officially, our doctrinal standards are still to this day intact. The Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds), and the Form of Subscription embody the doctrine we profess to believe. If there fire those in the Christian Reformed Church who no longer subscribe to these standards, they are free to try to have these changed by going through the prescribed channels. In the event that this fails and these dissidents find themselves in an untenable position, honesty should compel them to exercise the only freedom left to them, the freedom to go elsewhere. To secede from a denomination that is still doctrinally sound officially is, to be sure, a most serious business.
2. Secession would be warranted only on the ground of one or more really basic issues.
When David was still a youth he was severely reprimanded by his oldest brother Eliab who accused him of meddling in affairs that were none of his business. But that was when the “uncircumcised Philistine,” Goliath, was presenting himself, day after day, to “defy the armies of the living God.” For forty days, morning and evening, this had been going on when young David arrived on the scene and found the men of Israel all but scared out of their wits. It was on this background that David replied to Eliab’s rebuke: “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” To be a leader or a participant in a church secession and to justify such drastic action, one must first discern, spell out, and clearly set forth the basic issue or issues at stake. Like David, those who secede must be able to say to those who remain behind as well as to others who look on from the outside: “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
Malcontents, disgruntled persons, and those who have an axe to grind are usually not given to examining the real reason for joining a secession movement. Notwithstanding their eagerness to gain momentum and to grow in numbers, the leaders of a secession movement owe it to themselves, to their would-be adherents, and above all to the Lord to exercise careful screening in order to sift out the true motives of those who apply for membership with them. Moreover, let those who depart to go elsewhere be reminded that there is no church on earth altogether free from fault.
3. According to Scripture, whenever possible, ecumenism is to be preserved and promoted rather than needlessly restricted or curtailed.
Even though the advocates of a counterfeit and unscriptural ecumenicity are constantly appealing to what Jesus said about unity according to John 17, it certainly does not follow that we are therefore now excused from the ecumenical mandate that these words imply. Granting that the unity for which Jesus prayed is carefully circumscribed, we are nevertheless; under solemn obligation to pursue this unity right to the limits he has set forth.
Our Lord prayed fervently as follows for his church: “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us; that the world may believe that thou didst send me” (John 17:21). Let it be noted carefully that, H we destroy the unity of and fragment the church needlessly, we are then obstructing the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unwarranted strife and division can make us guilty of the blood of those who perish. Unity, mutual love, and harmony are means God is pleased to use to draw men out of the world to Christ to acknowledge him as their Savior and Lord.
Having said all this, it is of the utmost importance to add and emphasize that, according to Jesus’ prayer, the unity for which Jesus prayed is bona-fide only if it is rooted and grounded in the truth. Notice our Lord’s words. “Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth…that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us…” (John 17:17–21).
Two things should be clear from this. First, any ecumenical movement that seeks to promote church mergers and unity at the cost of the truth does not have a leg to stand on when it appeals to John 17 to bolster its cause. Next, it must be clear also that secession can be justified only when the profession, preservation, and the propagation of the truth demand that it may and must come to pass.
4. Premature secession from a church or denomination must be regarded as running away from a responsibility we may not shirk.
Those of us who have been nurtured in the Christian Reformed Church are so indebted to her as our mother church that secession should be considered only as a last resort. It was here that we received the sacraments, our indoctrination, sound preaching of the Word, pastoral care, and that we for so many years have experienced the communion of the saints. Only as a last resort then should we feel free to sever our ties, dissociate ourselves, and disavow further identification with this church.
Secession means that we would lose our voice to speak from within the church and could then address her only as outsiders without the status and privileges to which none but members arc entitled. We need not and may not surrender our Christian Reformed identity, rights, and holdings to those to whom they do not belong, unless we cannot escape the conclusion that as a denomination we have passed the paint of no return. Meanwhile it would be irresponsible on our part to abandon and weaken the morale of those who are exhausting every possibility to press for needed reformation and to bring our mother church back to where she ought to be.
5. Those who consider secession to be the answer to the evils in the Christian Reformed Church should first make sure by serious thought and fervent prayer that they have really stopped to count the cost.
An established and sizable denomination like ours has so much to offer in the way of Christian nurture, education, fellowship, service, worship, and witness that we may not deprive ourselves and our children of all this unless we are fully convinced before God and by his Word and Spirit that we dare not do otherwise.
With little or no experience in the down-to-earth and bread-and-butter business of providing for a well-ordered denomination, a dissident may lightly secede in search of Utopia elsewhere only to become disillusioned when at last it becomes clear to him that he failed to first stop and count the cost.
Moreover, the communion of saints is such a precious and costly commodity that it may not be jeopardized or disrupted unless the intrusion of apostasy makes this imperative for such fellowship to be exercised in keeping with the will of the Lord.
The bitterness, family feuds, and the cold and broken hearts occasioned by religions controversies and the splitting of churches have at times given the enemy so much cause to rejoice and have done great harm to the cause of Christ.
Let those then, who are grieved and deeply dis!tubed by real or imaginary evils that are upon us as a church and who may be contemplating secession as their only option, first make sure beyond a doubt that they have really stopped to count the cost.
Obviously then, in our considered judgment, there are weighty reasons for believing that, at this time, secession is not the answer. It is our conviction that an all-out reformation from within is the course the Lord would have us follow.
Secession is serious business indeed. False ecumenism on the one hand and unwarranted schism on the other—these are the Scylla and the Charybdis between which the responsible and conscientious churchman will always strive to chart his course. Church history records the names of great reformers who are held in honor, but it records also the names of others remembered as schismatics and therefore in disgrace.
That secession is serious business, and a course to be followed as a warranted option only as our last line of defense, should be obvious from the following considerations:
1. By God’s grace, as a church, we are still confessionally sound.
Officially, our doctrinal standards are still to this day intact. The Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds), and the Form of Subscription embody the doctrine we profess to believe. If there fire those in the Christian Reformed Church who no longer subscribe to these standards, they are free to try to have these changed by going through the prescribed channels. In the event that this fails and these dissidents find themselves in an untenable position, honesty should compel them to exercise the only freedom left to them, the freedom to go elsewhere. To secede from a denomination that is still doctrinally sound officially is, to be sure, a most serious business.
2. Secession would be warranted only on the ground of one or more really basic issues.
When David was still a youth he was severely reprimanded by his oldest brother Eliab who accused him of meddling in affairs that were none of his business. But that was when the “uncircumcised Philistine,” Goliath, was presenting himself, day after day, to “defy the armies of the living God.” For forty days, morning and evening, this had been going on when young David arrived on the scene and found the men of Israel all but scared out of their wits. It was on this background that David replied to Eliab’s rebuke: “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” To be a leader or a participant in a church secession and to justify such drastic action, one must first discern, spell out, and clearly set forth the basic issue or issues at stake. Like David, those who secede must be able to say to those who remain behind as well as to others who look on from the outside: “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
Malcontents, disgruntled persons, and those who have an axe to grind are usually not given to examining the real reason for joining a secession movement. Notwithstanding their eagerness to gain momentum and to grow in numbers, the leaders of a secession movement owe it to themselves, to their would-be adherents, and above all to the Lord to exercise careful screening in order to sift out the true motives of those who apply for membership with them. Moreover, let those who depart to go elsewhere be reminded that there is no church on earth altogether free from fault.
3. According to Scripture, whenever possible, ecumenism is to be preserved and promoted rather than needlessly restricted or curtailed.
Even though the advocates of a counterfeit and unscriptural ecumenicity are constantly appealing to what Jesus said about unity according to John 17, it certainly does not follow that we are therefore now excused from the ecumenical mandate that these words imply. Granting that the unity for which Jesus prayed is carefully circumscribed, we are nevertheless; under solemn obligation to pursue this unity right to the limits he has set forth.
Our Lord prayed fervently as follows for his church: “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us; that the world may believe that thou didst send me” (John 17:21). Let it be noted carefully that, H we destroy the unity of and fragment the church needlessly, we are then obstructing the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unwarranted strife and division can make us guilty of the blood of those who perish. Unity, mutual love, and harmony are means God is pleased to use to draw men out of the world to Christ to acknowledge him as their Savior and Lord.
Having said all this, it is of the utmost importance to add and emphasize that, according to Jesus’ prayer, the unity for which Jesus prayed is bona-fide only if it is rooted and grounded in the truth. Notice our Lord’s words. “Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth…that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us…” (John 17:17–21).
Two things should be clear from this. First, any ecumenical movement that seeks to promote church mergers and unity at the cost of the truth does not have a leg to stand on when it appeals to John 17 to bolster its cause. Next, it must be clear also that secession can be justified only when the profession, preservation, and the propagation of the truth demand that it may and must come to pass.
4. Premature secession from a church or denomination must be regarded as running away from a responsibility we may not shirk.
Those of us who have been nurtured in the Christian Reformed Church are so indebted to her as our mother church that secession should be considered only as a last resort. It was here that we received the sacraments, our indoctrination, sound preaching of the Word, pastoral care, and that we for so many years have experienced the communion of the saints. Only as a last resort then should we feel free to sever our ties, dissociate ourselves, and disavow further identification with this church.
Secession means that we would lose our voice to speak from within the church and could then address her only as outsiders without the status and privileges to which none but members arc entitled. We need not and may not surrender our Christian Reformed identity, rights, and holdings to those to whom they do not belong, unless we cannot escape the conclusion that as a denomination we have passed the paint of no return. Meanwhile it would be irresponsible on our part to abandon and weaken the morale of those who are exhausting every possibility to press for needed reformation and to bring our mother church back to where she ought to be.
5. Those who consider secession to be the answer to the evils in the Christian Reformed Church should first make sure by serious thought and fervent prayer that they have really stopped to count the cost.
An established and sizable denomination like ours has so much to offer in the way of Christian nurture, education, fellowship, service, worship, and witness that we may not deprive ourselves and our children of all this unless we are fully convinced before God and by his Word and Spirit that we dare not do otherwise.
With little or no experience in the down-to-earth and bread-and-butter business of providing for a well-ordered denomination, a dissident may lightly secede in search of Utopia elsewhere only to become disillusioned when at last it becomes clear to him that he failed to first stop and count the cost.
Moreover, the communion of saints is such a precious and costly commodity that it may not be jeopardized or disrupted unless the intrusion of apostasy makes this imperative for such fellowship to be exercised in keeping with the will of the Lord.
The bitterness, family feuds, and the cold and broken hearts occasioned by religions controversies and the splitting of churches have at times given the enemy so much cause to rejoice and have done great harm to the cause of Christ.
Let those then, who are grieved and deeply dis!tubed by real or imaginary evils that are upon us as a church and who may be contemplating secession as their only option, first make sure beyond a doubt that they have really stopped to count the cost.
Obviously then, in our considered judgment, there are weighty reasons for believing that, at this time, secession is not the answer. It is our conviction that an all-out reformation from within is the course the Lord would have us follow.