From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 13:01:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: NR 97023: Lake Michigan Loses Last Federated Churches NR #1997-023: Lake Michigan Loses Last Federated Churches, Considers Welcoming Canadian Independent Church, Appoints Church Visitors to Assist in Resolution of Church Conflicts At its fall 1996 meeting, the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship voted to amend its articles of fellowship to allow federated as well as independent churches to remain members of the fellowship. That amendment -- which has yet to be ratified by the necessary majority of member churches -- may now be moot. Beverly United Reformed Church of Wyoming, Mich. and Cornerstone Church of Hudsonville, Mich., both resigned their membership at the January 30 meeting; Oak Glen Covenant Community Reformed Church of Lansing, Ill., not an official member, indicated they would not be attending, and no other federated church sent official delegates. NR #1997-023: For Immediate Release Lake Michigan Loses Last Federated Churches, Considers Welcoming Canadian Independent Church, Appoints Church Visitors to Assist in Resolution of Church Conflicts by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service KALAMAZOO, Mich. (February 19, 1997) URNS -- At its fall 1996 meeting, the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship voted to amend its articles of fellowship to allow federated as well as independent churches to remain members of the fellowship. That amendment -- which has yet to be ratified by the necessary majority of member churches -- may now be moot. Beverly United Reformed Church of Wyoming, Mich. and Cornerstone Church of Hudsonville, Mich., both resigned their membership at the January 30 meeting; Oak Glen Covenant Community Reformed Church of Lansing, Ill., not an official member, indicated they would not be attending, and no other federated church sent official delegates. Officially numbering 19 churches before the recent withdrawals, the regional fellowship meeting at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo had only seven member churches send official delegates after the three official withdrawals, though several nonattending churches have indicated continued interest. One of the first items of business at the regional fellowship meeting was adoption of a motion to send a letter to all churches on the regional fellowship mailing list inquiring as to whether they continued to be interested in membership; a second motion also passed to contact all the churches that have left the CRC but not joined the United Reformed synod to inquire as to whether they would be interested in joining the regional fellowship. Despite the decline in membership, at least one church is interested in joining for precisely the reasons that caused others to leave. Elder Fred Colenbrander of the Independent Christian Reformed Church of Ancaster drove down from Ontario to attend the regional fellowship meeting and inquire as to whether his church could join. "I stand before you as abandoned brothers, if you will," said Colenbrander. "We were charter members of the Ontario Regional Fellowship, but now the churches have joined the United Reformed." Colenbrander said that his church had established ecclesiastical fellowship with United Reformed churches in the area to allow such activities as pulpit exchanges and intercommunion, but did not want to join the federation. "There was such a strong desire to federate that it was almost a desire to federate at any cost," said Colenbrander. "If Christ is head of the church, but there is such a strong desire to create a manmade federation, it reminds me of the Israelites who were the only nation that had God for their king, but they wanted a king anyway even though they knew what it would cost them." "We can't get it any better when we have a direct authority from Christ to the local consistory," said Colenbrander. Since Colenbrander did not come with a formal request from his consistory to join the regional fellowship, the fellowship chose not to proceed at the January 30 meeting but invited Colenbrander to return with a formal request. The withdrawal of the federated churches also created more immediate local problems, including continuation of local events in West Michigan such as hymnsings, officebearer's conferences, and the annual Reformation Rally. Activities committee chairman Elder Pete Elzinga asked the delegates whether there was an interest in continuing the committee and its work. "I strongly feel we should not discontinue fellowshipping with each other just because one group is federated and one is not," answered Elder Peter Yonker of Reformed Heritage Community Church in Holland. "Continuing these activities would be a good sign that we are serious about continuing fellowship." Yonker's sentiments carried the day in the regional fellowship -- on a voice vote without dissent, the delegates voted to continue the activities committee and its work. Much of the rest of the meeting, however, focussed on less pleasant tasks. In an official communication, the Christian Reformation Church of Grand Rapids requested that the regional fellowship implement a provision in its articles of fellowship by appointing "one experienced minister and one experienced elder from within the fellowship as church visitors for a period of two years." The mandate for the church visitors would be "to visit each church council in the regional fellowship once within the two years in order to encourage, advise, and confirm the local churches in their ministry" and "to visit churches upon request beyond the required visit in order to render advice." Given the decision of the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship churches not to join the United Reformed synod, the church visitation proposal prompted more than a bit of discussion. Rev. Peter De Jong of Dutton (Mich.) Independent Reformed Church noted that while church visitors had a history of abuse in the CRC, they could be useful in assisting churches in resolving internal problems. "One of the things that we have to think about is to fine-tune our organization, and one of the ways is to make ourselves more accountable," said Elzinga. "I think this is a means that could be used to make ourselves more accountable and perhaps nip some of these things in the bud." After further discussion, the regional fellowship voted to elect Yonker and Rev. Duane Vedders of Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo as its church visitors and to appoint a committee to determine the role and parameters of church visitation. Later discussion made clear that the church visitors could have work to do in the near future. Bringing up an unscheduled item, Rev. Paul Murphy of Dutton noted a specific problem in one of the churches, though not specifying the church by name. "There is a sister church in our fellowship which is experiencing quite a bit of difficulty, and my question on behalf of my consistory is what responsibility do we have?" asked Murphy. "While we certainly cannot intrude on the affairs of another consistory, when a congregation appears to be self-destructing, what do we do? Do we just stand by and do nothing?" Several delegates answered Murphy's question by urging his consistory and others to follow the procedure of Matthew 18. "If we notice a fellow Christian going off in a wayward way, we go off to talk to that Christian and see if the things we are hearing are true or not," said Yonker. "What about when there are conflicts or contradictory reports, and using the words of Matthew 18, when there is a refusal to listen?" asked Murphy, who also asked for advice in the event that members of a church who had been placed under discipline by their consistory wanted to transfer to another church of the regional fellowship. Rev. Mark Scholten of the Christian Reformation Church said care must be used not to talk to the members but only to the church consistory. "The consistory speaks for the church, and we need to talk to the consistory; they are the voice of the church and that is the body we need to deal with," said Scholten. Responding to concerns that Scholten's proposal would listen to only one side if the consistory was united, Scholten said the proper avenue for people not on the consistory to be heard was a formal appeal to the regional fellowship. "I think we would hear an appeal based on certain conditions," said Scholten. "One was that the procedures with the consistory had been faithfully followed. Another would be whether the church's own bylaws or procedures have been followed. The third has already been mentioned here, that the consistory has been notified and had a chance to respond." Whatever happens, the elder appointed as a church visitor urged that it be handled promptly. "We shouldn't kid ourselves, everyone knows what's happening, so let's get with it and do something," said Yonker. Continuing a discussion which has been underway for over a year, the regional fellowship also had an extended discussion on the nature of church orders. "We question the binding part of the church order as to the point of whether it is binding," said Elder Dan Mejeur of Covenant Independent Reformed Church of Wayland, Mich., noting the specific case of the decision of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. "It would appear to us that was not binding on the churches because it would be in conflict with Paul's teaching. Church history also teaches us that churches have taken first one stand, then another, as we have seen by with our brothers in the Christian Reformed Church first making one decision one year, then another decision the next." "The only things that should be in the church order are things that are in Scripture, and therefore to be considered binding," said Murphy. "The church order should not have things in it, such as saying communion is to be four times per year, which are not specified in Scripture." Murphy noted that the question of the binding character of church orders was an intensely practical issue in current ecclesiastical debates. "It seems that what separates like-minded conservative Reformed brethren is differences in tradition, differences in practice, differences in church order," said Murphy. "You have doctrinal adherence which is an objective matter of adherence to the standards, and then you have the subjective matter of whether you practice adherence to the standards. The problem is that people say if your practice does not adhere to mine, you don't believe the doctrine." However, Elder Claude Wierenga of the Christian Reformation Church urged the regional fellowship not to change the Dutch Reformed tradition of church orders rashly or hastily. "I have noticed in past years that it's not the conservatives who have a problem with a good church order, it is the liberals," said Wierenga. In the end, the regional fellowship adopted a motion from Scholten to declare that "a church order gathered from the Word of God is binding because of, and only insofar as, it agrees with the Word of God." In other business, the regional fellowship elected Elzinga as its new recording clerk and Elder Bob Knaack of Messiah's IRC of Holland as its new treasurer. Partly out of a desire to give more attention to biblical principles of church order, the regional fellowship voted to meet more frequently and to hold its next meeting at Dutton IRC on April 18. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-012: Independents and Conservative Christian Reformed Leaders Plan New Regional Fellowship in CRC's West Michigan Heartland #1994-022: Midwest CRC Seceders Move Toward Regional Organization #1995-107: Trumpeting, Families, and Federating Headline Michigander Meeting of Independent Reformed Churches #1995-015 Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship Holds Fifth Meeting; Discusses State of Alliance of Reformed Churches #1996-015: Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship Calls Special Meeting to Deal with "Crisis" of Federation #1996-104: New Denomination Born: Most Christian Reformed Seceders Organize as "United Reformed Churches of North America" #1996-116: Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship Votes to Let Federated Churches Stay After Most Federated Churches Leave Contact List: Rev. Steve Arrick, Pastor, Cornerstone Church 6442 - 36th Ave., Hudsonville, MI 49426 O: (616) 669-2190 * H: (616) 669-3457 * FAX: (616) 669-4321 Rev. Art Besteman, Pastor, Beverly United Reformed Church 2420 Avon Ave. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 O: (616) 532-1708 Elder Fred Colenbrander, Independent Christian Reformed Church of Ancaster 283 Wilson St. E., Suite 145, Ancaster, ON L9G 2B8 H: (519) 758-5037 Peter De Jong, Pastor Emeritus, Dutton Independent Reformed Church 4985 Sequoia Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512 H: (616) 698-6267 Elder Pete Elzinga, Reformed Heritage Community Church 10532 Paw Paw Dr., Holland, MI 49424 H: (616) 772-2918 Rev. Paul Ipema, Pastor, Oak Glen Covenant Community Reformed Church 2224 Indiana Ave., Lansing, IL 60438-2107 O: (708) 474-0172 * H: (708) 474-0172 Elder Bob Knaack, Messiah's Independent Reformed Church A6472 - 140th Ave., Holland, MI 49423 H/O: (616) 335-5516 Elder Dan Mejeur, Covenant Independent Reformed Church c/o Covenant IRC, 2846-16th St., Hopkins, MI 49328 Rev. Paul Murphy, Pastor, Dutton Independent Reformed Church 6940 Hanna Lake Rd., Caledonia, MI 49316 O: (616) 698-7467 Rev. Mark Scholten, Pastor, The Christian Reformation Church 1001 - 33rd St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49548 O: (616) 246-6203 Rev. Duane Vedders, Pastor, Immanuel Fellowship Church 4430 West "F", Kalamazoo, MI 49009 O: (616) 343-5357 * H: (616) 375-4012 Elder Claude Wierenga, Vice-President, Christian Reformation Church 6150 Hanna Lake Road, Caledonia, MI 49316 H: (616) 698-6262 Elder Peter Yonker, Reformed Heritage Community Church 3984 North 168th Ave., Holland, MI 49423 O: (616) 399-1009 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-023.txt .