Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 14:48:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Darrell128@aol.com Subject: NR 97096: West Sayville CRC in New York Secedes by 88% Majority NR #1997-096: West Sayville CRC in New York Secedes by 88% Majority While secessions have occurred all across the Christian Reformed denomination, few areas have been affected more than Classis Hudson. Since 1991, what was once one of the most conservative Christian Reformed classes has lost a third of its churches either to secession or expulsion. First a church in inner-city Harlem seceded for reasons unrelated to the conservative movement. Then Pompton Plains CRC in New Jersey seceded and Messiah's Congregation of Brooklyn was expelled after Rev. Steve Schlissel was deposed by classis. In subsequent years, the classis lost Franklin Lakes CRC and Newton CRC in New Jersey, and deposed Newton pastor Rev. Casey Freswick; Queens CRC in New York City has only recently resumed attending classis meetings after a longstanding boycott of classis sessions. Now West Sayville CRC on Long Island has seceded by an 88% majority. The September 3 decision by the 183-member church means the Christian Reformed denomination has lost one of its oldest congregations on the east coast. NR #1997-096: For Immediate Release: West Sayville CRC in New York Secedes by 88% Majority by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (September 9, 1997) URNS -- While secessions have occurred all across the Christian Reformed denomination, few areas have been affected more than Classis Hudson. Since 1991, what was once one of the most conservative Christian Reformed classes has lost a third of its churches either to secession or expulsion. First a church in inner-city Harlem seceded for reasons unrelated to the conservative movement. Then Pompton Plains CRC in New Jersey seceded and Messiah's Congregation of Brooklyn was expelled after Rev. Steve Schlissel was deposed by classis. In subsequent years, the classis lost Franklin Lakes CRC and Newton CRC in New Jersey, and deposed Newton pastor Rev. Casey Freswick; Queens CRC in New York City has only recently resumed attending classis meetings after a longstanding boycott of classis sessions. Now West Sayville CRC on Long Island has seceded by an 88% majority. The September 3 decision by the 183-member church means the Christian Reformed denomination has lost one of its oldest congregations on the east coast. Begun to serve Dutch fishermen on the island, the church and community have changed as the Sayville area economy shifted from that of a fishing village to a resort community for New Yorkers and the stop-off point for the ferry to Fire Island. The church's conservative stance has attracted a number of non-Dutch members from the community fleeing pro-homosexual activism and other liberal views in the local mainline churches. That conservative stance led to an increasingly ambivalent stance toward the Christian Reformed synod. Longtime elder Jake Klassen, a retired fisherman who has spent his entire life in the church, has been one of the most frequent elder delegates to synod and has repeatedly served as synodical sergeant-at-arms. The church's stance of remaining within the denomination as a conservative voice kept the church in the CRC for years, but Synod 1997's refusal to allow theological classes and Classis Hudson's rejection of an application to join the classis by Terra Ceia CRC in North Carolina -- whose membership includes a number of former families of West Sayville -- spelled the end of the road for the church's Christian Reformed affiliation. "I don't think the classis will be happy, but this congregation has made every effort to uphold the principles the denomination has historically held and to keep to those principles," said West Sayville pastor Rev. Jim Stastny. "We even last Sunday evening [prior to the vote] had the church visitors here to meet with the elders." Stastny said the church wanted to try to avoid the bitterness of a number of the other secessions in Classis Hudson and elsewhere. "We expressed the fact that in our leaving we want to part as friends, we do not want to part with animosity," said Stastny. "That was our message to the church visitors and now it's up to classis what they want to do with that." The church has made an apparently unprecedented commitment: it will continue to pay denominational and classical ministry shares even after the secession. "We know the budget of classis was budgeted in accord with our pledge, and we made a promise to continue to make payments through 1997," said Stastny. "That's an indication of our effort to be dealing with this in integrity." Stastny said the church hadn't yet decided what it would do about denominational affiliation but did not plan to remain independent. "We do not want to be hasty in making any decisions; we are going to give the matter some prayer and we are going to look at other confessionally and principially Reformed bodies such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America, and United Reformed Churches, and we want to make decisions within the next six to nine months," said Stastny. "We want to be very sure we make the right decision." 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 #1996-004: More Christian Reformed Churches Secede from Denomination #1996-076: CRC Synod Rejects 25 Overtures and Communications Calling for End to Classical Option on Ordination of Women #1996-077: Churches Allowed to Switch Classes for Theological Reasons #1996-117B: Separation Without Secession: Interclassical Conference Urges Christian Reformed Synod to Create New Conservative Classes #1997-004: Newton Christian Reformed Church Secedes by 49-1 Vote After Classis Urges Members to Disregard Council Leadership #1997-011: Classis California South Endorses Classes Grouped by Theological Affinity Instead of Geography; Organizers Hope a Tenth of CRC May Join New Conservative Classes #1997-013: No Transfer for Terra Ceia to Classis Hudson #1997-053: Classis Hudson Declares Rev. Casey Freswick to Have "Status of One Deposed from Office" #1997-063: Christian Reformed Synod 1997 Faces Crossroads Decision: Will Seceding Churches Keep their Property? #1997-068: Christian Reformed Synod Convenes Today in Grand Rapids; Major Issues to Include Feminine Language for God, Abortion, Interchurch Relations, Local Church Property Issues, Theologically-Defined Classes #1997-073: Synod Modifies Local Church Property Rights #1997-074: Severance of Ties, Dealing with Seceders Dominate CRC Agenda #1997-075: Calling God "Mother," Theological Classes to Headline Thursday's Christian Reformed Synod #1997-077: No Theological Classes Allowed for CRC Conservatives Contact List: 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 Elder Jake Klassen, West Sayville Christian Reformed Church c/o West Sayville CRC, 31 Rollstone Ave., West Sayville, NY 11796 O: (516) 589-4688 Rev. Jim Stastny, Pastor, West Sayville Christian Reformed Church 31 Rollstone Ave, West Sayville, NY 11796 O: (516) 589-9281 * H: (516) 589-1281 Rev. Don Wisse, Stated Clerk, Classis Hudson 183 Godwin Ave, Midland Park, NJ 07432 O: (201) 445-4260 * H: (201) 444-6423 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-096.txt .