NR #1995-081: Classis California South Calls Special Meeting to Discuss Christian Reformed Women in Office Decision Three consistories in Classis California South have voted to call a special meeting of classis to respond to Synod 1995's decision to allow classes to declare the church order's ban on women in office "inoperative." The agenda for the special meeting will be to consider the possibility of having Classis California South invite all like-minded classes and consistories to a November assembly to plan decisive action against the CRC's decision on women in office and continued fraternal relations with the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland despite its support of gay marriages. NR #1995-081: For Immediate Release Classis California South Calls Special Meeting to Discuss Christian Reformed Women-in-Office Decision * Special Classis Meeting to Consider Calling General Meeting of All Conservative Classes and Consistories to Plan United Response to Christian Reformed Synod by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (July 13, 1995) URNS - The first major internal reaction against Synod 1995's decision to allow classes to declare parts of the church order inoperative didn't come from the Christian Reformed heartland of West Michigan, but rather from a group of churches located two thousand miles away in Classis California South. On July 10, the consistories of First CRC of Chino and Ontario CRC announced that they had voted to join with a June 27 decision by the consistory of Escondido CRC to call a special meeting of Classis California South to discuss the synodical decision. According to classical rules, the fact that three churches have endorsed the request means that the classical interim committee is now required to call the meeting. According to a letter distributed to a June 28 congregational meeting by the Escondido consistory, the agenda at the special meeting of Classis California South will be to consider a proposal by the Escondido consistory that its classis invite "all classes (as well as all councils and officebearers) who share our convictions to attend an assembly in November to formulate appropriate actions and responses to Synod 1995." The November assembly is to seek ways to "protest and change the decision of Synod 1995 relative to women in ecclesiastical office and relative to its failure to break relations with the GKN [Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland] despite their unbiblical approval of homosexual practice," to "protect congregations which differ with their classis where women serve as officebearers," and to "seek to ensure that the historic Reformed commitments of our churches will be maintained in coming generations." Escondido CRC also noted that "all decisions of this assembly will be presented to the classes represented at the assembly for approval for submission to Synod 1996." In its invitation, the Escondido consistory cited Article 44 of the Christian Reformed Church Order, which provides that "a classis may take counsel or joint action with its neighboring classis or classes in matters of mutual concern." While Article 44 is normally applied to joint mission works of classes in close proximity and to the Council of Christian Reformed Churches in Canada, it was also cited in 1986 by the original conveners of what is now the Alliance of Reformed Churches. Currently including 55 independent congregations with 10,800 members as well as 20 CRC congregations and a scattering of churches in other denominations, the Alliance has become the largest group of churches seceding from the CRC. "We are convinced that synod has acted in a tyrannical way, and something has to be done to call synod to honor its own rules," said Rev. Andrew Cammenga, pastor of Escondido CRC. "For many this is the last straw. We have already lost thousands because our denomination is forsaking its heritage," said Cammenga. "We would like to find a forum for some kind of consensus of united action." According to Cammenga, the agenda will not include an immediate call for secession. "At least that will not be the initial goal of it," said Cammenga. "One of the reasons for the call for such a meeting is to get a broader consensus than we have in our own consistory and even our own classis, and hopefully we will find ways to change what happened in 1995, not only with women in office, but also with the GKN. We also want to find ways to protect congregations in classes where women serve as officebearers." Exactly what form that "protection" will take is not entirely clear. "Historically there have been a number of ways to do that, the Gereformeerde Bond in the Netherlands has been one way but there are other ways and we have to leave that for the future to determine," said Cammenga, referring to a group which remained in the state church in the Netherlands when the founders of the CRC's mother church seceded and which has maintained a strongly conservative stance for over a century despite increasingly radical liberalism in its denomination. Ontario CRC's pastor, Rev. Randy Lankheet, seconded Cammenga's concern about protecting conservative churches, noting that his experiences as a delegate to Synod 1995 were instrumental in his decision to recommend that his church join the call for the special meeting. "There is no way to protect the minority in the Christian Reformed Church, even though, ironically, of the people in the pew, it's really a majority who would be in favor of women elders and pastors," said Lankheet. "I think for most of us conservative delegates, Synod 1995 was a traumatic experience. We went back to our churches and classes very dismayed about the future of the church, and very doubtful that the conservatives will ever gain a conservative majority again in the Christian Reformed Church." "It seemed to me like Synod 1995 with a majority of delegates who were in favor of women in office, and knowing they had the votes all along, a sizeable majority, was just willing to plow ahead regardless of Church Order and regardless of normal ways to decide the women in office issue," said Lankheet. "If synod has fifty percent plus one vote, synod can do really anything it chooses to do. Synod 1995 is a good illustration of that, they had the votes and they went for it all." Escondido's proposal is likely to receive widespread support in Classis California South beyond the three churches calling for the meeting. The churches calling for the special meeting include the second and third-largest congregations in the classis and between the three account for almost a third of the total membership of the classis. Three of the four members of the classical interim committee, including the classical stated clerk, are also members of the calling churches. "There is a diversity in our classis, although it tends to be a conservative classis," said Cammenga. "I think there is a likelihood for it, particularly if they realize that its purpose is not directed toward secession but rather for consensus." The motion will also receive significant support from another powerful quarter: Westminster Theological Seminary president Dr. W. Robert Godfrey, a member of Escondido CRC and second clerk of Synod 1995. "I don't think the synod at all anticipated how much unrest this would create in the churches; I've heard from a number of ministers from all over the country expressing their own personal concern and the concern expressed in their congregations," said Godfrey. "My hope for the meeting is that there would be a strong consensus that would emerge among conservatives for decisive action and I would not want to prejudice what that action might be, but I think that just protesting the decision of 1995 would not be adequate," said Godfrey. "I don't think it's realistic to expect that 1996 will reverse 1995 and therefore some way to protect our churches becomes necessary." Both Godfrey and Cammenga insisted that the Escondido proposal was not ecclesiastical disobedience. "There's nothing in the overture as I understand the Church Order that is ecclesiastically disobedient; whatever is done in this meeting will be submitted to Synod 1996 and so there is no ecclesiastical disobedience in our action," said Godfrey. "I do think that Synod 1995 itself violated the Church Order and therefore it's no longer a classis that is guilty of such procedure but synod itself, and that puts all of us who would like to play by the rules in a very difficult position." Exactly when the special meeting of Classis California South will convene is not yet clear, but Cammenga indicated that two weekend dates in Saturday were under consideration. "We would hope that it would be on a Saturday morning so elders from various churches could more easily attend, and especially the Korean elders, because they have a greater difficulty attending during the week than some of our elders would have," said Cammenga, noting that almost half of the churches in his classis are ethnic Korean congregations. If Classis California South does convene a meeting of other like-minded classes and churches, Godfrey indicated that it would probably be held outside the borders of the classis in a major midwestern city with easy airplane access. "I think it's crucial that we labor to get as many conservatives at the meeting in November as possible," said Godfrey. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-067: Christian Reformed Synod Votes to Keep Fraternal Relations with Gereformeerde Kerken Despite Advocacy of Gay Rights #1995-070: Christian Reformed Classes Permitted to Declare Church Order Ban on Women's Ordination "Inoperative" Contact List: Rev. Andrew Cammenga, Pastor, Escondido Christian Reformed Church 1850 N. Broadway, Escondido, CA 92026 * H/O/FAX: (619) 745-2324 Dr. David Engelhard, General Secretary, Christian Reformed Church in North America 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 * O: (616) 246-0744 * H: (616) 243-2418 * FAX: (616) 246-0834 Dr. Robert Godfrey, President, Westminster Theological Seminary 1725 Bear Valley Parkway, Escondido, CA 92027 * O: (619) 480-8474 * H: (619) 741-1635 * FAX: (619) 480-0252 Rev. Jerome Julien, Stated Clerk, Alliance of Reformed Churches 34 Azores Crescent, Cambridge, ON N1R 7Z4 * H/O: (519) 622-1033 Rev. Randy Lankheet, Pastor, Ontario Christian Reformed Church 125 East Philadelphia St., Ontario, CA 91761 * H/O: (909) 984-8201 Rev. Ron Scheuers, Pastor, First Christian Reformed Church 12943 Magnolia Ave., Chino, CA 91710 * O: (909) 591-9111 * H: (909) 590-2324 * FAX: (909) 464-9636 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-081.txt .