25 Nov GS 1986 art 61

GS 1986 ARTICLE 61

Address to Federal Government

Committee 1 presents:

A.    MATERIAL

– Agenda VIII, I, 1: Overture from the Maranatha Canadian Reformed Church at Surrey, BC, re address Federal Government.

B.    OBSERVATION

The Church at Surrey requests synod to address the Federal Government requesting “new legislation which will address the following areas of great concern to all those who fear God and tremble for His coming wrath over our nation:

• 1.     the sanctity of life;
• 2.     the observance of the Lord’s Day;
• 3.     the honour of God’s Name;
• 4.     the moral conduct of Canadian citizens. “

C.    CONSIDERATIONS

• 1.     General Synod acknowledges and shares the concern of the Surrey Maranatha Church on the issues mentioned above.
• 2.     The Church at Surrey does give grounds for addressing the Federal Govern­ment on the issues mentioned, but no grounds are given that it is the task of synod to make such an address.
• 3.     Article 30 of the Church Order stipulates that ecclesiastical assemblies shall deal only with ecclesiastical matters; the Church at Surrey has not shown that this is indeed an ecclesiastical matter.

D.    RECOMMENDATION

Synod decide:

• not to accede to the request of Maranatha Canadian Reformed Church at Surrey. A motion, duly seconded, reads:
• “Delete consideration 1, Replace Recommendation with: Synod decides to declare the request of Surrey inadmissible.”

The motion is DEFEATED.

The recommendation of the Advisory Committee is ADOPTED.