GS 1965 ARTICLE 170: English text Church order.

The proposal on the English version of the Church Order referred to in Agenda item 8 P 2 is dealt with. The following decision is taken:

• “The General Synod has taken note of the request of the Regional Synod of Ontario 1965 to “decide to have the Order of the Church translated into English in order to arrive at an official text thereof; and to have that text included in the Book of Praise in due course.”

The Synod considers

• a.    it is indeed necessary to adopt and publish an English text of the Church Order in force among us;
• b.    that the present Church Order has been adopted from the sister churches in the Netherlands, which is in tune with Dutch relations and situations;
• c.    that the present Church Order contains several words and refers to matters and conditions which we do not know exist here {e.g. Art. VI ‘private manors, institutions of mercy’; Art XXVI “visitors to shut-ins or other Almoners”; Art. LI, which talks about the relationship of Reformed Churches of Europeans in the Dutch East Indies with the Churches in this country).

The Synod decides

• to appoint three deputies with the task of translating the present Order of the Church as far as possible and sending the result of their work to the next Synod, with a copy of their report to the Churches, at least six months before the next Synod.”