GS 1971 ARTICLE 85 – Subscription Form for Elders and Deacons
Committee I presents:
Material – Agenda 8
- N – Overture from the Church at Burling ton-West, Ont.
Observations
- 1. The Church at Burlington-West states th;t it “has encountered some difficulty in the maintenance of Article, 54 Church Order.”
- 2. The Church at Burlington-West does not specify what the difficulty was that they encountered.
- 3. This difficulty apparently is caused by the absence of a generally adopted Subscription Form for Office-bearers.
- 4. The Church at Burlington-West is of the opinion that there is in equality between the offices since there is no generally adopted subscription form for Elders and Deacons, whereas there is one for ministers.
- 5. The Church at Burlington-West “is of the opinion that the inequality between the various offices should be abolished.”
- 6. The Church at Burlington-West requests Synod to:
- a. either adopt a form to be used by Elders and Deacons,
- b. or adapt the present form for Ministers so that it can also be used by Elders and Deacons.
- 7. The promised submission of a Form, presently in use in the Church at Burlington-West, has not materialized.
- 8. The Synod 1905 of the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland replied to a similar request, that this was left to the minor assemblies.
Considerations
- 1. The office of a Minister, although ”local” as is the office of Elders and Deacons, yet is such that a Minister can also, upon request, do the work of a Minister in other Churches, whereas an Elder and Deacon can not.
- 2. It is no proof of “inequality between the various offices” that there is a generally adopted Subscription Form for use by Ministers and not one for use by Elders and Deacons.
- 3. A Consistory itself could very well adapt the generally adopted Subscription Form so that it can be used by all office-bearers.
- 4. The matter can, therefore, well be finished in the minor assemblies.
Recommendation
Synod accede not to the request of the Church at Burlington-West.