NR #1995-076: CRC Challenges Future of Fund for Smaller Churches Synod adopted a proposal today to establish a ten year declining funding scale for 108 small congregations which support their pastors with the assistance of the CRC's Fund for Smaller Churches. According to denominational predictions, the result will be that less than 25 of the churches will continue to be assisted by the Fund for Smaller Churches after the end of the declining funding scale. NR #1995-076: For Immediate Release CRC Challenges Future of Fund for Smaller Churches by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (June 21, 1995) URNS - "Newt Gingrich-type overtones" or needed ministry retrenchment? That was the question addressed when the CRC synod addressed recommendations of a denominational board of trustees subcommittee which advocated that all ministry-assistance grants from the Fund for Smaller Churches be limited to a five-year maximum duration. The FSC program, targeted toward churches with between twenty and fifty families, currently assists over ten percent of the CRC's 985 congregations. Few could have been surprised to see attacks on a report whose anticipated outcomes projected that less than 25 of the 108 Christian Reformed congregations currently assisted by the Fund for Smaller Churches would continue to receive that assistance. While some eyebrows may have been raised by the strong language of overtures attacking the report as "ecclesiastical euthanasia" and comparing it to the assisted suicide practices of Dr. Kevorkian for containing "radical ministry wrecking or ministry killing recommendations" which "will serve as ecclesiastical birth control" by preventing new church starts, more were raised by the unusual agreement of liberal and conservative delegates who both argued that the report uncritically replaced Reformed ecclesiology with church growth methodology. "When we are creating a new church, we are creating a part of the body of Christ, living and in flesh, on this earth," said Rev. William De Vries from Classis Lake Erie. "I have real theological problems saying at any time to a part of the body of Christ that there will come a period of time when we will no longer support you... It's ministry accountability, not dollar accountability, that is the issue." Rev. Richard Blauw from Classis Illiana followed up on De Vries' objections, strongly objecting to a change from viewing local congregations as "churches" to viewing them as "growth opportunities." "We can have the greatest evangelism program in the world, but some of these churches are in rural areas where there just aren't that many people," said Blauw. Echoing concerns in a number of overtures that the CRC should seek to cut denominational staff before cutting ministry support to over 75% of its smaller churches, Blauw noted that the entire Fund for Smaller Churches budget was less than $1 million, compared to an $8 to $10 million annual budget for CRC Home Missions. However, CRC Executive Director of Ministries Dr. Peter Borgdorff took exception to his critics. "I'm hearing phrases like 'this is a grab for power in the church,' or 'where two or three are gathered together in my name,'" said Borgdorff. "This report does not change the ecclesiology of the church." Advisory committee reporter Rev. John Terpstra reminded synod that his committee had already changed the original recommendation to provide a ten-year rather than a five-year phaseout of fund for smaller churches subsidies. "The question here is not are we going to be the church, but how are we going to be the church," said Terpstra. Delegates vented particular ire upon an exception clause by which regional classes could recommend continued FSC support beyond the five year term if classis "judges the ministry to be of such a crucial nature or of such historical significance that classis contributes at a rate of one dollar for every two dollars contributed by FSC." "How big is our family?" asked Rev. Robert Jipping from Classis Red Mesa, noting that the Native American churches of his classis did not have sufficient financial resources to make the required contribution even for the most crucial of its small churches. "Is our family limited only to our classis, or are we all family together in our denomination?" Responding to the objections, second clerk Dr. W. Robert Godfrey proposed that the classis make the financial contribution "if possible in light of the size and wealth of its churches." After discussion, the motion was amended to specify that the classis would "normally" contribute at the specified rate, responding to Borgdorff's concerns that "it is better for synod to clearly state the policy and then provide for exceptions, rather than fuzz the policy and make it unadministrable." Despite continued objections, the ten year rule will remain in place and will mean a major change for many small congregations which have relied on the FSC program for decades. "The only reason we made this recommendation is that some of these churches have been on this for thirty, forty, fifty years," said one delegate. "This is a stimulation to the small churches to get going." Only time will tell whether the CRC's smaller churches will view the synodical action as a stimulus to "get going" on their ministry or to "get going" out of the denomination. 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: nr95-076.txt .