Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 05:08:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Darrell128@aol.com Subject: NR 97064: OPC General Assembly to Consider Cutting Longstanding CRC Ties NR #1997-064: Orthodox Presbyterian General Assembly to Consider Cutting Longstanding Christian Reformed Ties When the annual General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church reconvenes June 9 at Geneva College in the Pittsburgh suburb of Beaver Falls, the denomination will consider severing its longstanding ties with the 286,000-member Christian Reformed Church. The CRC has maintained fraternal ties with the 22,000-member OPC longer than with any other North American denomination, and historically was closer to the OPC than any other denomination except the CRC's Dutch "mother church," the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (GKN). While the CRC is upset by the GKN decision to allow the ordination of practicing homosexual ministers, the OPC is upset by the CRC's 1995 decision to allow the ordination of women ministers, elders, and evangelists. Last year, the OPC suspended its relationship with the CRC. This year, the OPC's Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations Committee submitted a highly detailed 25-page report on interchurch relations, including a recommendation that the OPC terminate its fraternal relationship because the OPC "cannot participate in ecclesiastical matters with the Christian Reformed Church in North America where women ministers and/or ruling elders are involved." NR #1997-064: For Immediate Release Orthodox Presbyterian General Assembly to Consider Cutting Longstanding Christian Reformed Ties * Will Consider Second-Level Relationship with United Reformed, Liberated Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, Other Denominations by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service BEAVER FALLS, PA (June 7, 1997) -- When the annual General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church reconvenes June 9 at Geneva College in the Pittsburgh suburb of Beaver Falls, the denomination will consider severing its longstanding ties with the 286,000-member Christian Reformed Church. The CRC has maintained fraternal ties with the 22,000-member OPC longer than with any other North American denomination, and historically was closer to the OPC than any other denomination except the CRC's Dutch "mother church," the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (GKN). The CRC strongly supported the formation of the OPC when its leaders seceded from the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1936, and also provided significant financial assistance to Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, an independent ministerial training school that in earlier years was staffed largely by Orthodox Presbyterian and Christian Reformed professors. While the CRC is upset by the GKN decision to allow the ordination of practicing homosexual ministers, the OPC is upset by the CRC's 1995 decision to allow the ordination of women ministers, elders, and evangelists. Last year, the OPC suspended its relationship with the CRC. This year, the OPC's Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations Committee submitted a highly detailed 25-page report on interchurch relations, including a recommendation that the OPC terminate its fraternal relationship because the OPC "cannot participate in ecclesiastical matters with the Christian Reformed Church in North America where women ministers and/or ruling elders are involved." If the OPC recommendation passes, the OPC will send a fraternal delegate one last time to next week's Christian Reformed synod to announce the termination and call the CRC to repent of allowing women's ordination, and may consider establishing a lower level of relationship known as "restricted contact." An advisory committee recommendation advises a somewhat less serious step of extending the suspension of fraternal ties to the year 2001 and making a final decision at that time; a minority report calls for terminating fraternal relations with no option of a lower level relationship. The OPC will also consider establishing a lower level of ties on a "corresponding relations" basis with the United Reformed Churches in North America, a group of 51 churches with approximately 10,000 members who have seceded from the CRC in recent years, largely due to its decision to allow the ordination of women. The committee report proposes that the OPC General Assembly "express to the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) its thankfulness to God for their love for the truth of God and the purity of the church of Jesus Christ, welcome them to the family of Reformed churches, and pray for the blessing of God on their ministry." The committee also recommends that the International Conference of Reformed Churches receive the URCNA into membership on the grounds that "the committee had has close contact with these churches even before they were federated as the United Reformed Churches in North America," that "their confessional standards are the Three Forms of Unity," that "their church order has been examined favorably by the committee," and that "representatives of the federation attended the 1993 ICRC meeting [in] Zwolle, the Netherlands, showing their interest in international ecumenics." Other denominations proposed for this lower level of "corresponding relations" include the Liberated Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, composed of conservatives who seceded from the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland following the 1944 deposition of Dutch seminary professor Dr. Klaas Schilder. The OPC also proposes establishing corresponding fellowship with several mission churches in Africa, the Africa Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in Uganda, and the Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv. CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard and URCNA stated clerk Rev. Jerome Julien both attended and spoke to the OPC assembly. Representatives of the Liberated Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and their sister denomination the Canadian Reformed Churches are both present at the OPC General Assembly. "This is not a day I longed for," Engelhard told the assembly in his fraternal address. "Neither of us would be what we are without the other." Engelhard criticized what he saw as a presumption in the OPC that the CRC will follow other denominations which have ordained women and become more liberal. "It is unfair for the OPC to presume or conclude that the CRC will follow other churches," said Engelhard. While acknowledging that a focus on unity can deceive Christians, Engelhard said separation at this point is wrong. "We are more alike than different from one another," said Engelhard. The chairman of the OPC committee recommending termination of ties shared Engelhard's sadness. "Personally I'm devastated by it because of the long history and the great good they've done for us," Rev. Jack Peterson in a subsequent interview. "We're coming to what looks to be a parting of the ways." According to Peterson, few if any Orthodox Presbyterian leaders supported the CRC's views on women's ordination. "How you deal with the concerns is what we're focusing on," said Peterson. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-070: Christian Reformed Classes Permitted to Declare Church Order Ban on Women's Ordination "Inoperative"; Synod Decision Given Immediate Effect without Two-Year Ratification Process #1996-070: Christian Reformed Synod Intensifies Restrictions on Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland #1996-071: Orthodox Presbyterian Fraternal Delegate Announces Suspension of Ties With Christian Reformed Church #1996-076: CRC Synod Rejects 25 Overtures and Communications Calling for End to Classical Option on Ordination of Women #1996-104: New Denomination Born: Most Christian Reformed Seceders Organize as "United Reformed Churches of North America" #1996-121B: Conservative Interchurch Council Will Study Discipline of Christian Reformed Church for Women's Ordination Contact List: TO REACH DELEGATES DURING THE OPC GENERAL ASSEMBLY, June 4-11, 1997: c/o Geneva College, Skye Lounge General Assembly Front Desk: (412) 847-6584 TO REACH DELEGATES AFTER THE OPC GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Rev. Donald Duff, Stated Clerk, Orthodox Presbyterian Church 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 * E-Mail: engelhad@crcna.org Rev. Jerome Julien, Stated Clerk, United Reformed Churches in North America 3646 - 193rd Pl., Lansing, IL 60438 H/O: (708) 418-5321 * FAX: (708) 418-5591 Rev. Jack Peterson, Pastor, Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church 1315 White Rock Drive, San Antonio, TX 78245 O: (210) 690-6360 * H: (210) 675-9097 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-064.txt .