NR #1995-073: What May Non-Ordained Church Leaders Do? CRC Appoints Committee to Study "Official Acts of Ministry" May unordained members of the Christian Reformed denomination administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, pronounce the salutation and benediction in worship services, install officebearers, receive candidates into church membership, or excommunicate from church membership? Responding to overtures from two quite different classes that wanted to clarify or expand the role of unordained church leaders, synod voted to create a committee to study who may perform these and other "official acts of ministry." NR #1995-073: For Immediate Release What May Non-Ordained Church Leaders Do? * CRC Appoints Committee to Study "Official Acts of Ministry" by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (June 20, 1995) URNS - Concluding a discussion begun on Monday morning but interrupted by women in office, synod voted on Tuesday afternoon to erect a study committee to determine what Church Order Article 53 means when it states that unordained persons licensed to exhort or appointed to read a sermon "shall, however, refrain from all official acts of the ministry." Synod's concern arose from two overtures. One from Classis Red Mesa asked synod to allow unordained laypeople "who have been properly authorized to bring the Word" to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper; the other from Classis Alberta North noted the increasing number of persons with specialized academic degrees serving in unordained staff positions and stated that "defining those areas that are specifically the responsibility of ordained persons would greatly assist churches with staff ministries." The contrast between the two classes involved could hardly be more striking. Classis Alberta North, largely composed of Dutch immigrants in the Canadian city of Edmonton and surrounding rural areas, needed help determining how to handle multi-staff ministries, whereas Classis Red Mesa, most of whose members are Native Americans brought into the CRC through over a century of home mission work, cited as grounds for the request that "we have an increasing number of organized churches moving toward bivocational ministry. In most of these situations there is little likelihood that these churches will ever again be able to have full-time, regularly credentialled and ordained pastoral ministry." The advisory committee assigned to the matter, however, proposed that a single solution be applied to both situations. By a 13 to 6 margin, the committee majority recommended deletion of the "official acts of ministry" phrase and authorizing anyone who has been licensed to exhort to also administer the sacraments. The minority recommended that synod officially adopt what was once an unwritten rule in the CRC: that, in the words of the Monsma-Van Dellen Church Order Commentary, "generally and by common consent the following matters are classified as activities which are reserved for ordained ministers of the Gospel only: the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper; the pronouncement of the salutation at the beginning of the service, and the pronouncement of the benediction at the conclusion of the service. Furthermore, the following three matters: the installation of officebearers, the receival into full membership by public profession of faith, and excommunication from the fellowship of God's Church." While expressing appreciation for the difficulties of Classis Red Mesa, the minority noted that "we presently have alternatives for filling these positions in the absence of ordained ministers of the Word, for example, the use of ordained evangelists." Rev. Ken Benjamins of Classis Chatham, a member of the minority, began the Monday debate by warning synod that the majority proposal departed from not only the Reformed tradition but also "the whole Christian tradition." "We think the issue really is about office. We are allowing anyone to do benedictions, excommunications, and public profession of faith," said Benjamins. "If we break with this tradition, we are breaking with two thousand years of the New Testament church, as well as that of the Old Testament." Pastor George Vander Weit of Classis Lake Erie, a member of the majority, objected in equally strong terms to the minority report. "I've heard a lot about tradition, but I haven't heard anything yet about the Bible," said Vander Weit. "We have said in our tradition that there is no biblical reason why a person authorized to bring the Word may not also administer the sacraments, and if we have already said that we will have a hard time finding something in the Bible that says only a minister may read a form." Rev. John Noordhof of Classis Chatham moved to table the majority to take up the minority report - a motion which was soundly defeated on a voice vote. When synod took up the matter again on Tuesday, another member of the minority warned of serious consequences if the majority report were adopted. "We readily acknowledge that it is a difficult task to define the official acts of ministry, yet the problem with the majority is that they take the whole concept of official acts of ministry out of the church order," said Rev. Casey Freswick of Classis Hudson. "Just because the word has become obsolete we shouldn't do away with the concept." Others pressed the point that the problem should be solved by ordaining persons who are performing official acts of ministry. "We're getting into this mess because we have created excessive requirements for ordination," said Second Clerk Dr. W. Robert Godfrey, alluding to the rule that with rare exceptions no ministerial candidate can be ordained without spending at least one year as a student at Calvin Seminary. "Because we don't want to ordain them, now we are having to jump through all kinds of hoops, creating categories to do the work of ordained men without ordaining them," Godfrey said. "This is knottier than we might think," said Rev. William De Vries from Classis Lake Erie. "I would like to send this to committee so we can study it thoroughly." Synod finally took De Vries' suggestion and sent the matter to a study committee for further work. In the meantime, Classis Red Mesa was given a three year exception to the church order's regulations to cover its specific local need. Contact List: Mr. Tim Penning or Mrs. Bonny Wynia, Christian Reformed Synodical News Office Calvin College, 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * O: (616) 957-8652 * FAX: (616) 957-8551 To Reach Delegates During Synod: (616) 957-6000 Pre-Recorded CRC Synod Hotline: (616) 957-8654 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-073.txt .