NR #1995-080: Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly Unanimously Warns CRC to "Repent and Rescind" Women in Office Decision Negative reaction in the conservative Reformed world to the Christian Reformed decision to permit women in office by permitting classes to declare parts of the church order "inoperative" has been strong and immediate. However, the strongest reaction to date has been from an unexpected quarter: the Presbyterian Church in America, whose interchurch relations committee has previously been quite supportive of the CRC in ecumenical matters. In a marked departure from past precedent, the PCA General Assembly voted to instruct its interchurch relations committee "to use all due process to remove the Christian Reformed Church from membership in NAPARC, if the Christian Reformed Church does not repent of and rescind the action at the Synod." In a separate motion, the General Assembly voted to communicate this decision to the CRC and noted that the motion passed unanimously on the floor of the General Assembly. NR #1995-080: For Immediate Release Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly Unanimously Warns CRC to "Repent and Rescind" Women in Office Decision * Interchurch Relations Committee Instructed "to use all due process afforded to them to remove the CRC from membership in NAPARC, if the CRC does not repent of and rescind the action of the 1995 Synod at the 1996 Synod." by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service with local reports by Dr. Frank Smith GRAND RAPIDS, Mich./DALLAS (June 23, 1995) URNS - Negative reaction in the conservative Reformed world to the Christian Reformed decision to permit women in office by permitting classes to declare parts of the church order "inoperative" has been strong and immediate. Fraternal delegates from the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination and the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland expressed strong reservations about the decision in their fraternal addresses to the CRC synod. However, the strongest reaction to date has been from an unexpected quarter: the Presbyterian Church in America, whose interchurch relations committee has previously been quite supportive of the CRC in ecumenical matters. At 260,885 members, the PCA is the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States and its sheer size gives it a great deal of influence in the conservative Reformed world. Acting upon the unanimous recommendation of its committee of commissioners for interchurch relations, the PCA General Assembly voted at its June 22 session to send a communication to the CRC stating that "we are grieved and distressed over the action of the 1995 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church to permit women to hold the offices of minister and elder." The PCA is more than grieved however; if the CRC does not change its position, it faces possible expulsion from the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council, the interdenominational fellowship of conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denominations in the United States and Canada. "The action of the Christian Reformed Church is in contradiction to the clear teaching of Scripture and the historic presbyterian and reformed confessions of faith," wrote the PCA. "Furthermore, we have instructed our Interchurch Relations Committee to use all due process to remove the Christian Reformed Church from membership in NAPARC, if the Christian Reformed Church does not repent of and rescind the action at the Synod." A separate motion instructs the PCA's interchurch relations committee to monitor "the acts and pronouncements of the CRC Synod" and makes clear that the repentance and rescinding described in the communication is expected at Synod 1996. One sentence was added to the communication by a motion on the floor of the General Assembly: Rev. Mark Dalbey, who had served as the PCA's fraternal delegate to the Christian Reformed synod, moved that the PCA General Assembly inform the CRC that "we commend the sizeable number in your midst who are working hard to see the CRC remain faithful to Scripture on this issue and pray for God to use this group to prevail at the 1996 Synod." In the minutes of the session, the General Assembly took the unusual step of noting that its decisions on the CRC were adopted unanimously. Dalbey's motion follows a speech the previous day by Rev. John Sittema, pastor of Bethel CRC in Dallas who was sent by the CRC as its fraternal delegate to the PCA General Assembly. Sittema said that Satan's "teeth" include secularism, materialism, feminism, and relativism, but noted that these teeth are bared inside the church as well. "You have been faithful to us calling us to account [regarding such issues as] women in office and homosexuality," said Sittema. "The church here below is a church militant and it battles. The battlefield is both within and without." Sittema informed the PCA General Assembly delegates that the CRC Synod "has affirmed that both views (pro- and anti-female ordination) are acceptable within a Reformed hermeneutic that holds to the infallibility of Scripture." "Brothers, our battle is not over," said Sittema. "I stand before you in the relationship of brother... Not only that we stand together for things, but sometimes as brothers we stand up to one another." "I know you are exasperated with us - I am too. I know you see us as being contradictory, one year deciding one thing one year, the next year deciding what appears to be the opposite - I too." said Sittema. Sittema concluded his fraternal delegate speech with a request that the PCA exercise its fraternal ties through an admonition to the CRC. "Our commitment to one another as brothers must be to the Word of God that never contradicts itself," said Sittema. "I would plead with you, ...as fraternal delegate, to hold yourselves accountable to the Word of God, and to hold us accountable to the Word of God." Sittema was not the only speaker to make strong comments about the Christian Reformed decision to the PCA General Assembly. "It appears to use that this is not merely a step to open offices to women, that it is a disturbing precedent and all sorts of things could transpire," said Rev. K. Eric Perrin, chairman of the PCA's Interchurch Relations Committee and a longtime defender of the CRC. "The barn door is open, the cows are out, and the Christian Reformed Church will never be able to get them back in." The PCA action indicates that the CRC has lost one of its most important supporters and raises the real possibility that the CRC will be effectively driven out of the conservative Reformed world. Most of the theologically conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denominations in the United States and Canada are members of NAPARC and the CRC is currently the largest member. According to NAPARC stated clerk Rev. Donald Duff, the process for termination of NAPARC membership is identical to the admission process: two-thirds of those voting at a Council meeting may propose that a denomination be terminated, a decision which takes effect if at least two-thirds of the synods or general assemblies of the member denominations also vote to expel the denomination. NAPARC standing rules provide that on significant matters each denomination's delegates cast a single vote at Council meetings. The current NAPARC member denominations are the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Christian Reformed Church, Korean American Presbyterian Church, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America, and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America. The Reformed Church in the United States was proposed for membership at the November 1994 NAPARC meeting; so far, the CRC, PCA, and OPC have voted in favor of admitting the RCUS to NAPARC membership and it is likely that the RCUS will be a full NAPARC member by its next meeting in November, 1995. CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard expressed surprise at both the PCA decision and at the speech by his denomination's fraternal delegate to the PCA General Assembly. "I saw the report of what Rev. Sittema said, it sounds to us like our own fraternal delegate encouraged them to take an action like this, and I'm disappointed that he did that," said Engelhard. Engelhard said the PCA communication, when it arrived, would be given to the CRC's Interchurch Relations Committee which will decide whether or not to recommend a response to next year's synod. "My immediate reaction is that it seems a little premature without a moderating influence," said Engelhard. "I don't think we would take an action like this as rapidly in a similar case. We've found in the Christian Reformed Church that these decisions have gone back and forth, not always for the best interests of the church, but that's where we are at the moment." Reached at his office in Dallas, Sittema acknowledged that his fraternal delegate speech was unusual but said it was not out of line with the role of a fraternal delegate. "It was not my attempt to critique the CRC but to explain what fraternity means in a climate in which there are disputes," said Sittema, noting that the PCA had expressed concern about trends in the CRC as early as 1993. "To address them as a fraternal delegate and ignore the existence of this correspondence would have been improper and silly," said Sittema. "I simply had to speak to them about the issues of women in office and homosexuality because they had spoken to us about them." While Christian Reformed congregations are rather rare in Texas, the Presbyterian Church in America is a predominantly southern denomination and the state is filled with PCA churches. Sittema said his church, originally planted by First CRC in Pella, Iowa, as a congregation for CRC members from the Dutch farm country of Iowa who moved south to Dallas, had maintained good relations with local Presbyterian Church in America congregations. Sittema, who served First CRC in Pella until 1989, maintains strong contacts with the CRC's conservative wing despite pastoring a church hundreds of miles away from most other Christian Reformed congregations. "While the CRC is a divided denomination, it is the view of most people in the PCA that the majority of the CRC membership agrees with the PCA on these issues," said Sittema. "I did not make fun of the CRC, I did not call the CRC a false church, I said it would be incumbent upon the PCA to admonish us as brothers." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-023: General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in America Calls Christian Reformed Church to "Repent of Its Sins"; Women in office, homosexuality, theistic evolution, deposition of conservative pastors cited as "departure from the Scriptures in its doctrine and practice" #1994-026: Presbyterian Church in America Committee Report Recommends Apology to Christian Reformed Denomination #1994-029: PCA General Assembly "Pleads" with Christian Reformed Denomination not to Open All Church Offices to Women; Proposal to Dismiss Interchurch Committee Rejected After Floor Fight #1994-035: Christian Reformed Synod Rejects Women in Office on Biblical Grounds #1994-058: NAPARC Admits New Denomination; Thanks God for Christian Reformed Decision Against Ordaining Women; Rev. Myung Doh Kim Becomes First Korean Chairman of North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council; Reformed Church in the United States Admitted Amidst Strong Criticism of Alliance of Reformed Churches #1995-070: Christian Reformed Classes Permitted to Declare Church Order Ban on Women's Ordination "Inoperative" Contact List: Rev. Clarence Boomsma, Administrative Secretary, CRC Interchurch Relations Committee 1150 Gladstone Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506-6541 * H: (616) 243-4221 Rev. Mark L. Dalbey, PCA Fraternal Delegate 2318 Minneman Rd., Richmond, IN 47374 * H/O: (317) 935-3227 Rev. Donald Duff, Stated Clerk, North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council 614 Roberts Ave., Glenside PA 19038-3711 * O: (215) 956-0123 * H: (215) 887-4901 * FAX: (215) 957-6286 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. Paul Gilchrist, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America 1852 Century Place, Suite 190, Atlanta GA 30345 * O: (404) 320-3366 Rev. K. Eric (Ric) Perrin, Chairman, PCA Interchurch Relations Committee 703 Woodcreek Ct., Columbia, SC 29212 * O: (803) 772-1000 * H: (803) 781-7520 * FAX: (803) 772-1003 Rev. John Sittema, Pastor, Bethel Christian Reformed Church 6506 Frankford Rd., Dallas, TX 75252 * O: (214) 248-4401 * H: (214) 596-7235 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-080.txt .