Rethinking Congregationalism
Since my last article appeared in Outlook (Sept. ‘85) on “Our Impressions of the Netherlands” many readers asked me to spell out exactly what kind of action I was proposing. I consider this a matter of considerable importance and will try to spell out just what kind of action I think we should undertake. As I see it, there has to come a parting of ways. As things have been going in the Christian Reformed Church, it is evident that we are being controlled and led by the Liberal mind away from the Truth as we have been taught it and as the Christian Reformed Church has upheld and confessed it in past years. That Truth, the churches no longer maintain. In spite of many overtures, protests, appeals, letters, articles and also lectures, synod decided to set that all aside and to make a decision that flies in the face of God’s Word and our confessions. By doing this it leaves us no choice. It has shown us very clearly that regardless of what is said, written or done, it will no longer bow before the Word of God.
I know all the anger and arguments the above statement elicits, but this is a fact. And we have to face it. The Christian Reformed Church is no longer Christian Reformed. We must part from what is called by that name and continue to be truly Christian Reformed. I state it this way to bring out clearly what I think is fact. We are not withdrawing from the Christian Reformed Church. It has withdrawn from us who want to retain the historic Christian faith. We must contend for that precious heritage and uphold it. Precisely for that reason we cannot continue as members in the Christian Reformed Church. It is very necessary that we come to see that. There is a very deep resentment against what is thought to be a leaving of our beloved denomination. Some even call it, very mistakenly, “Our Mother” to whom we owe so much. I say mistakenly because what Scripture calls “our mother” is the true Church, “the Jerusalem that is above” the very “bride of Christ.” No church on earth can rightly claim that title. And any church on earth that deviates from the Truth and fails to uphold the clear teachings of God’s Word in teaching or practice (discipline) fails to be a church that can claim our membership or allegiance.
I sense in the article by Rev. G. Martin on “Rethinking Congregationalism” some of this thinking. I see it as very dangerous thinking in that it makes a fellowship of churches a farce and borders on worship of a denomination . If we are going to be a meaningful fellowship of churches, we must be one in confession and practice. If not, then we are not really a true fellowship . And then one wonders just what value it has to remain in such a fellowship, the more so when it is suggested that we boycott its programs and actions by withholding our monies. As I see it, we are dreaming if we think that we can in that way be a kind of pressure group to bring the Liberal mind back to sound orthodoxy. But more seriously, we may not walk along with those who have set aside the Word of God and are only too influential in lulling many members asleep by blurring their thinking with clever talk and teachings. If we remain , we will lose everything we think we can regain. It is much too late to think we can change the direction our denomination has taken.
In parting ways we should follow what is called “the ecclesiastical way.” This requires that concerned members should go to their consistories and request it to consider whether it is not imperative at this time to withdraw from the Christian Reformed Church and to state our reasons for requesting this. Consistories who see what is really going on in the Christian Reformed Church will agree with such requests and will take the necessary steps to separate. If a consistory does not agree it leaves then no choice but that individual members leave, either to join some other fellowship of churches that does uphold the Reformed faith, or to form a congregation with others and then join a church that upholds the historic Christian faith. Or better still, if enough congregations part ways they together could form a fellowship of churches that remains true to the faith and can rightly claim the name Christian Reformed.
I think we need to be aware of what that means. I wish this was not necessary. It will be the cause of some tensions among friends and family members. It will mean making some changes. It will also mean facing frustrations and disappointments. But we must face the facts. They demand action if we would remain true to our covenant God and to our precious heritage . To put it in the words of Abraham Kuyper, “The existence of modernism and orthodoxy in one and the same church may not continue.” (“. . . het samenwonen van modernisme en orthodoxie in een en dezelfde kerkniet mocht voortduren.” p. 130 in the book by Ds. A. M. Lindeboom, Om de Grondslagen van het Christendom. And in the same book page 131 we read , “. . . to yield to the evils we do harm to ourselves as well as the church we serve.” (“Immers, met toe te geven aan het kwaad benadelen we zowel onszelf als de kerk die we dienen.”) We should be appraised of this. If at this point we fail to take action for the sake of peace or unity, will we ever rise above such accommodations and compromises?
At this point it is good for us to listen to Francis A. Schaeffer in his book, The Great Evangelical Disaster, p. 78, where he writes, “The second problem for those who did not leave the liberally controlled denominations is the natural tendency to continually move back the line at which the final stand must be taken.” And on page 79, “Evangelicals must be aware of false victories. The liberal denominational power structure knows how to keep Bible-believing Christians off balance. There are many possible false victories they can throw to evangelicals to prevent them from making a clear stand. There are still those who say, ‘Don’t break up our ranks. Wait a while longer. Wait for this, wait for that.’ Always wait, never act.” Both books mentioned above are worth reading with a view to what is happening today in the Christian Reformed Church. So many, too many, are saying, “Not yet! When they step further and allow women in the office of elder.” I predict that that is coming. Why are we blindfolded to that fact? The stage is set for it. And I predict too, that if the present decision of synod, showing the Liberal mind in action among us, is not ground enough for action now, nothing in the future will be either. We will follow the tragic course of the Gereformeerde Kerk in the Netherlands.
Having said this I want to make it as clear as possible that this is not a judgment at all of the many faithful members in our denomination. Rather it is a call to action, an action I see as imperative. I hope this writing will in some way be a spur to such needed action.
Cecil Tuininga is a retired Christian Reformed pastor at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
UNWORSHIPFUL WORSHIP
Editor John Stapert, in the November 1 Church Herald of the Reformed Church in America calls attention to the way the rather common “greet your neighbor” instructions given during church services disrupt and distract from the worship of God.
He proceeds to observe that ”Some of us were greatly affected by the anti-institutional and anti-authoritarian spirit of the 1960s. Whether lay or clergy, we preferred clergy styles that shunned the priestly in favor of the friendly, enabling horizontal relationships. Now we’re learning about the price we paid: ineffective leadership.” Then he quotes from a paper of Rev. Alvin Poppen, “In trying to give the ministry over to the people in the pew, the people in the pew lost their minister. Preaching which carried with it the authority of honest workmanship in the study and liturgical integrity declined, producing at the same time clergy who no longer knew what they were supposed to do and parishioners who became sure that they didn’t.”
PDJ
CHURCH DISHONESTY
It is time that we recover a measure of honesty and integrity in the CRC. Those virtues are being blatantly disregarded today in several instances. For example:
a) A pastor of the Eastern Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids denies that his congregation has women elders, and wants a retraction from someone who said that. The fact is, however, that Eastern Avenue has had “adjunct” (female) elders for some time, but since the synod of ‘85 disallowed that, the name was changed to “associate” elders. But women remain elders, and games are played with words in order to get around the Church Order and synod. Talk about dishonesty! And that in the church of Christ!
Meanwhile a student who brings these and other violations of C.O. to light, is placed under “behavioral discipline” by the president of Calvin Seminary. But one hears not a peep of protest from him about the situation in Eastern Avenue, or about the several female students studying at Calvin Seminary for the express purpose of entering the gospel ministry. Where is honesty here?
b) Recently one of the churches in Classis Alberta North delegated a woman deacon to a meeting of Classis, notwithstanding the clear and express stipulations of synod tnat this was out of order. Fortunately, she was not seated at Classis, though several delegates were ready to do exactly that. A test case? Yes, and it won’t be the last one. There are people in our churches who don’t care what the synod says—we are going to have women in office come what may. They have no concern for proper order in the church.
But when a member wants to withhold quotas from an agency for which he can no longer give in good conscience, he is admonished and denied his request. Pray tell, where is the consistency? Talk about straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
Unless we are going to regain a measure of confessional and church-orderly unity within the CRC, we are going to be in for some rough waters.
J. Tuininga, Lethbridge, Alta.