02 Mar GS 1977 art 91

Posted at 16:45h in CanRC, GS 1977 by

GS 1977 ARTICLE 91 – Contact Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Committee I presented:

Material –

  • Agenda 8, G, 1 –  Report of the Committee for Contact with the Or­thodox Presbyterian Church. (See Appendix VI. p. 94.)
  • G, 2 –   Overture Church at Brampton, Ontario.
  • G, 3 –   Overture Church at Barrhead, Alberta.
  • G, 4 –   Overture Church at New Westminster, B.C.
  • G, 5 –   Overture Church at Coaldale, Alberta.

I. Observations

  • 1. The Committee reports that they were unable to complete their mandate due to the departure of the convener and the illness of their vice-chairman.
  • 2. The Committee submits a copy of a letter from the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church dated April 14, 1976, received in answer to a letter of March 6, 1974, which had requested to “com­plement the answer of the 40th General Assembly with a comment on the doctrinal and church-political points stated in a letter of March 1972” (see Acts, General Synod Toronto 1974, p. 57, 5, l l.
  • 3. The Committee was not able to react to this letter of April 14, 1976 due to the above (sub 1) reasons but submits to Synod a draft reply which deals with part of the letter.
  • 4. The Committee does not submit an evaluation of the letter of April 14, 1976, and does not make a recommendation regarding continuation of the contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
  • 5. The Committee asks Synod for directives as to the disposition of the files of this and previous committees.
  • 6. The Committee proposes that Synod send a letter of appreciation to the Rev. G. Van Rongen for the work he did as a member of the Committee till his departure for The Netherlands.

Considerations

  • a. It is regrettable that due to unforeseen circumstances the Committee was unable to complete its mandate.
  • b. The letter of April 14, 1976 received from the Committee on Ecumenicity and In­terchurch Relations contains valuable information on the doctrinal matters and matters of church polity which are under discussion in our contact with the Ortho­ dox Presbyterian Church.
  • c. The draft submitted by the Committee is not to be used as a reply to the letter of April 14. 1976, since it shows too much the marks of a draft.

Recommendations

Synod decide

  • a.  to discharge the Committee on Contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with appreciation for the work done, and to request them to pass on their files and those of the previous committees to the Committee-to-be-appointed;
  • b. to send a letter to the Rev. G. Van Rongen expressing Synod’s appreciation for the work he did while a member of the Committee.

ADOPTED

II. Observations

  • 1. The Church at Brampton and the Church at Barrhead request Synod to state that we can recognize the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as a true church of Jesus Christ.
  • 2. The Church at Coaldale proposes that Synod decide to officially recognize the Or­thodox Presbyterian Church as a true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 3. The Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations of the Orthodox Pres­byterian Church, in their letter of April 14, 1976, asked our Committee whether the Canadian Reformed Churches are prepared to say that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church shows the marks of the false church as given in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession.

Considerations

  • a. Synod Edmonton 1965 stated that “the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
    • (a)  als een Presbyteriaanse Kerk vrucht is van de Calvinistische Reformatie;
    • (b) belijdenisgeschriften en een kerkregering heeft, die Calvinistisch van kar­ akter zijn;
    • (c) in deze eeuw beslist gekozen heeft voor de Orthodoxie en tegen het Moder­ nisme” (Acts, Article 141, III, A, 1, a, b, c).
  • b. Synod Edmonton 1965 also stated that “er tussen de Orthodox Presbyterian Church en onze kerken verschillen zijn in belijdenis en kerkregering,” and, “ver­ schillen zijn ter zake van correspondenlie met andere kerkgenootschappen.”
  • c. From the letter of the Committee on Ecumenicily and lnterchurch Relations of April 14, 1976, it appears that the divergencies in confession and church polity, not­ withstanding the fact that continued discussion of them is desirable, are to be ex­plained from the different origins of the confessions of the Canadian Reformed Churches and the Westminster Confession of Faith with its related Doctrinal Standards of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
  • d. The General Synod of our Netherlands sister Churches in 1967 accepted the state­ment of the Regional Synod of Groningen that the Westminster Confession of Faith is “een voluit Gereformeerd belijdenisgeschrift” (Acta, Artikel 241, D).
  • e. No evidence has been brought forward so as to question the above statement of our Netherlands sister Churches.
  • f. Synod Orangeville 1968 gratefully acknowledged the fact that “the Orthodox Pres­byterian Church can accept the Canadian Reformed Churches as true Churches on the basis of their doctrinal standards and church government I Report Depu­ties, page 2) ,” and “to express its gratitude that it is evident that in many re­spects the good fight of the faith is being fought in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church” (Acts, Article 154, Recommendation Band CJ.
  • g. Synod New Westminster 1971 gratefully acknowledged “that the Orthodox Presby­terian Church is a group of Churches that commit themselves to the Scriptures as the infallible Word of God, and that wish to maintain the Creeds, based on this Word of God,” and “that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church desires to regulate and order the government of the Church in accordance with the Scriptural con­fession,” namely that in accordance with the Form of Government, Chapter I,7, “all its decisions should be founded upon the revealed will of God” (Acts, Article 92, Conclusion 1 and 2).
  • h. The letter of the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations of April 14, 1976, confirms that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church wholeheartedly adheres to the Westminster Confession of Faith and maintains the rules for church polity as laid down in the Form of Government, and also that the divergencies having been discussed in this letter do not form an impediment to recognize the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • i. With regard to the relations of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with other Chur­ches, it is to be noted that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church has repeatedly ad­ monished the (Synodical) Reformed Churches in The Netherlands for not main­taining the Reformed Creeds, thereby honouring the, at the time, existing rules for correspondence, till it was decided in 1973 to terminate the sister Church relation­ ship with the (Synodical) Reformed Churches in The Netherlands. In 1975 an in­vitation from the same churches to enter into the relationship “Churches in Ec­clesiastical Fellowship” was declined by the 42nd General Assembly “in view of the fact that the reasons leading to the decision of 1973 are still valid.”
  • j. In a report to the 43rd General Assembly (1976) the Committee on Reformed Ecu­menical Synod Matters stated that they were preparing “papers showing that the failure of the (Synodical) Reformed Church in The Netherlands to maintain the Reformed Confessions disqualifies them from membership in the R.E.S., and that denominational membership in the W.C.C. is unbiblical and incompatible with membership in the R.E.S.”
  • k. Although the Canadian Reformed Churches deplore the membership of the Ortho­ dox Presbyterian Church in the Reformed Ecumenical Synod, it is to be noted that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church uses this membership in a positive way for the maintaining of the Reformed Confessions.
  • I. After 12 years of contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church by means of ap­pointed Committees the Canadian Reformed Churches must be considered able and willing to give a clear answer to the question of the Committee on Ecumenici­ty and Interchurch Relations whether or not the Orthodox Presbyterian Church shows the marks of the true Church as confessed in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession.

Recommendation

Synod decide

  • With thankfulness to recognize the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as a true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ as confessed in Article 29 of the Belgic Confes­sion.

ADOPTED

III. Observations

  • 1. The Churches at Brampton and Barrhead request Synod to establish a fraternal relationship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
  • 2. The Church at New Westminster proposes that Synod recognize that a fraternal relationship exists between the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Canadian Reformed Churches, and that Synod request the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to submit a more defined explanation of officially established “fraternal relation­ ship.”
  • 3.  The Church at Coaldale proposes that Synod offer the Orthodox Presbyterian Church a new relationship called “ecclesiastical contact” of which the contents is defined in three rules.
  • 4. The preference of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for ” ‘fraternal relationship’ prevents the use of the rules for correspondence as a condition for entering into correspondence” (Synod New Westminster 1971, Acts, Article 92, Conclusion 6).
  • 5.  Synod Toronto 1974 decided not to take a decision regarding the fraternal relation­ ship since Synod did not know what exactly the contents of such fraternal relation­ ship is and since the Committee for Contact asked for a clarification of this rela­tionship (Acts, Article 149, Recommendation 2).
  • 6. The Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations in their letter of April 14, 1976, invites the Canadian Reformed Churches to consider “a fraternal rela­tionship which would begin to realize the goals of negative discipline embraced in Rule 1 of your Rules for Correspondence as well as of positive discipline by means of the kind of activity described in Rule 2,” and “if it is not found to be satisfact­ory to offer an alternative proposal.”
  • 7. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church prefers “at this time” a fraternal relationship to ecclesiastical correspondence with the Canadian Reformed Churches (see Acts, General Synod Toronto 1974, Article 149, p. 58, 2a and 2b). This preference is con­ firmed in the letter of the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations dated April 14, 1976.
  • 8.  The 40th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church stated that if the Canadian Reformed Churches are prepared to accept a fraternal relationship. “then a basis for continued. and potentially fruitful, talks on doctrine and polity may be established” (see their letter dated August 10, 1973).
  • 9. The Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations in their letter of April 14, 1976, does not give a clear definition of the term “fraternal relations.”
  • 10. The Church at Coaldale informs Synod that according to the Chairman of the Com­mittee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations no “quotations from official church documents that explain precisely what the Orthodox Presbyterian Church means by fraternal relations” are available.

Considerations

  • a. Whereas our Lord Jesus Christ has prayed to the Father “that they shall be one,” therefore His Churches may only entertain contact with others in such a way that it is directed towards and eventually may result in the unity of the true faith.
  • b. It is desirable that the fellowship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church finds ex­ pression in an officially established contact with rules defined for practical use.
  • c. A sister Church relationship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church according to the adopted rules for correspondence cannot be reached at this time.
  • d. The term “fraternal relations” is also used by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for relations with other churches and appears to be too vaguely defined and too broad for use by the Canadian Reformed Churches.
  • e. Rules for ecclesiastical contact can serve as a basis for further discussion with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the hope and intent that eventually full correspondence expressing the unity of the true faith can be established.

Recommendation

Synod decide

  • To offer to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church a temporary relationship called “ecclesiastical contact” with the following rules:
    • a. to invite delegates to each other’s General Assemblies or General Synods and to accord such delegates privileges of the floor in the Assembly or Synod, but no vote;
    • b. to exchange Minutes and Acts of each other’s General Assemblies and General Synods as well as communications on major issues of mutual concern, and to solicit comments on these documents;
    • c. to be diligent by means of continued discussions to use the contact for the purpose of reaching full correspondence. 

ADOPTED

IV. Considerations

  • 1.   The mandate given by Synod Toronto 1974 should be completed by a Committee to be appointed.
  • 2. further discussion on divergencies in confession and church polity is desirable.

Recommendations

Synod decide

  • To continue the Committee for Contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the mandate:
    • a. to inform the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations of the de­cisions of Synod regarding the Orthodox Presbyterian Church;
    • b. to continue the contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church while taking into account the rules for “Ecclesiastical Contact”;
    • c. to respond to the letter of the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Re­lations of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church dated April 14, 1976;
    • d. to discuss and evaluate the relationships of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with other Churches. as the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Syn­od, and the Christian Reformed Church;
    • e. to inform the Churches from time to time about the progress made (e.g. by press releases of combined Committee meetings);
    • f. to report on its activities to the next General Synod.

ADOPTED

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