Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 17:11:17 -0500 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 99022: Other Western Canada Overtures Focus on Liturgy, Charitable Tax Status, Missions Rules, Classical Structure, South African Missionary to Canada NR #1999-022: Other Western Canada United Reformed Overtures Focus on Liturgy, Charitable Tax Status, Missions Rules, Classical Structure, South African Missionary to Canada While denominational mergers and seminary matters are likely to gather the most attention at Classis Western Canada's March 25-26 session, those aren't the only items on the agenda. The Reformed Church of Telkwa in British Columbia noted significant confusion in United Reformed circles over tax law and asks classis to overture synod to appoint a committee to clarify the Canadian tax law situation, noting that a number of URC churches may be violating Canadian law by taking collections for charities not recognized by Revenue Canada. Immanuel's Reformed Church of Salem, Oregon, asks classis to ask synod to clarify a church order article stating that missions beyond the field of an organized church must "exclusively" be carried out by ordained ministers acting under the supervision of their local consistory. Bethel URC of Smithers, British Columbia, asks synod to alter the baptismal forms to provide for situations where both parents and childen are baptized together. Covenant URC of Grande Prairie, Alberta, submitted two liturgical overtures: one to "draft an abbreviated formulary for the celebration of the Lord's Supper for approval at a subsequent synod meeting" due to churches which administer the Lord's Supper on a weekly or other frequent basis, and one to draft a new form for exclusion of members by baptism. The Grande Prairie church also asked classis to appoint a church to oversee ongoing classical matters in lieu of a stated clerk, to appoint a classical treasurer and apportion classical expenses between the churches, and to implement "a plan by which churches rotate in (a) acting as a convening church and (b) providing a chairman." Classis also has a communication requesting that a South African missionary to Canada be allowed to address classis and an item of old business discussing how to allocate funds from the closed United Reformed church in Agassiz. NR #1999-022: For Immediate Release: Other Western Canada United Reformed Overtures Focus on Liturgy, Charitable Tax Status, Missions Rules, Classical Structure, South African Missionary to Canada by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (February 23, 1999) URNS - While denominational mergers and seminary matters are likely to gather the most attention at Classis Western Canada's March 25-26 session, those aren't the only items on the agenda. The Reformed Church of Telkwa, British Columbia, is asking classis to ask Synod 1999 to appoint a five-member committee to study Revenue Canada regulations pertaining to charitable status. "There is some confusion among our Canadian churches as to the implications of having charitable status," wrote the church in its overture. "For example, some understand that churches with charitable status are not permitted to collect offerings for causes that are not registered as charities with Revenue Canada, while other churches believe that they may collect for such causes as long as they do not issue tax receipts for the money collected for such causes." The Telkwa church also noted that "there is some indication that Revenue Canada is beginning to crack down on charities with respect to a wide range of issuesÉ Thus, this is a matter which could directly affect our churches in the very near future, and so it should be dealt with as soon as possible." Immanuel's Reformed Church of Salem, Oregon, overtured classis for clarification of a different sort: instead of clarifying civil tax rules, the Salem church wants synod to clarify its own church order. "According to the current rendering of [church order] Article 47, mission activity beyond the field of an organized church must 'exclusively' be carried out by an ordained minister, acting under the supervision of his consistory," noted the church. "The directory of the URCNA discloses that many member churches, including our own, support mission activities which do not pass the test of church order Article 47, since they either occur without the supervision of the consistory of a local church or are conducted by persons ordained neither as ministers or evangelists." "If this article of the church order is violated, it sets a dangerous precedent for violating other articles of the church order," noted the church. Bethel URC of Smithers has found a different difficulty with the church order. In its evangelistic work, the church has twice in its seven-year history conducted baptisms for families received through evangelism. The church notes that Baptism Form #1 makes no provision for situations where both parents and children will be baptized, while Baptism Form #2 includes no questions or vows by parents to raise their children in the Christian faith. As a result, the church requests that synod alter the forms to provide for family baptisms. Covenant Reformed Church of Grande Prairie submitted two more liturgical proposals. In one overture, the church asks classis to ask synod "to appoint a committee to draft an abbreviated formulary for the celebration of the Lord's Supper for approval at a subsequent synod meeting," on the grounds that "churches which celebrate the Lord's Supper on a frequent basis (weekly or otherwise) have no other option than using one of the three approved formularies in the 1976 Psalter Hymnal, all of which are too lengthy for frequent readings." A second asks synod to appoint a committee to draft a new form for exclusion of members by baptism. The Grande Prairie church also submitted three structural overtures to the classis. One asks for the appointment of a church "to oversee all ongoing classical matters, such as processing classical correspondence and maintaining classical archives," since Classis Western Canada is one of only two URC classes that does not have a stated clerk. A second asks for the appointment of a classical treasurer and "that annual classical expenses be divided into the total number of member families belonging to the churches of classis and that each church pay the amount represented by the number of families it has." The last asks classis to implement church order Article 26 by implementing "a plan by which churches rotate in (a) acting as a convening church and (b) providing a chairman." Two final items on the agenda are less formal. Providence Reformed Church of Winnipeg is requesting permission to allow Rev. Lukas Scheepers, a South African minister working among Afrikaner immigrants to Canada, to address the classis. In addition, Classis Western Canada will discuss how to allocate funds from the now-disbanded URC in Agassiz, British Columbia, that are now being held by the Trinity Reformed Church of Lethbridge. Cross-References to Related Articles: [No related articles on file] Contact List: Rev. Barry Beukema, Pastor, Bethel Reformed Church (URC) PO Box 3847, Smithers, BC V0J 2N0 H/O: (250) 847-2080 Rev. A. William De Jong, Pastor, Covenant Reformed Church (URC) PO Box 21113, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 6W7 H/O: (403) 831-7332 * E-mail: bdejong@telusplanet.net Rev. Frederick E. Folkerts, Pastor, Providence Reformed Church (URC) PO Box 28104 RPO No. Kildonan, Winnipeg, MB R2G 4E9 O: (204) 654-2243 * H: (204) 669-8806 Rev. Jim Klazinga, Pastor, Telkwa Reformed Church (URC) Box 504, Telkwa, BC V0J 2X0 H/O/F: (250) 846-5415 * E-mail: Klaz@mail.netshop.net Rev. William Renkema, Pastor, Immanuel's Reformed Church (URC) 4653 Sunnyview Rd. NE, Salem, OR 97305 O: (503) 581-6764 Rev. Jelle Tuininga, Pastor, Trinity Reformed Church (URC) 1807 2nd Ave. "A" North, Lethbridge, AB T1H 0G4 H/O/F: (403) 328-4799 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive99: nr99-022.txt .