10 Nov GS 1989 art 129

Posted at 20:51h in CanRC, GS 1989 by

GS 1989 ARTICLE 129

Committeee I presents:

Agenda Item VIII, I, 1A. MATERIAL

Letter from the Church at Hamilton re ICRC

B. OBSERVATIONS

  • 1. The Church at Hamilton states that to make the Conference more meaningful it would be preferable that definite conclusions be reached by the Conference regarding specific items on the agenda, e.g. ecumenical creeds, coordinating mission activities, and various papers re doctrine of the church, inter-church relations.
  • 2. Hamilton recommends that Synod instruct the deputies to submit the following proposals to the ICRC for amendment of the constitution:
    • a. to add to Art IV after (d) (e):
      • “show willingness to strive for unity with member churches of the Conference in their own country and on their own continent;”
    • b. to add to Art. IV after the proposed (e) (f):
      • “show willingness to assist the member churches to realize the purpose of the Conference, (Art. III), by examining the doctrinal divergencies of their confessions and church polity, and examine each other’s applications of the confessions and church order so that the churches may determine whether it is possible to express the unity of faith by full ecclesiastical correspondence.”
  • 3. Hamilton requests that the delegates to the ICRC be instructed to ask :
    • a. that matters related to the Constitution be given priority.
    • b. that the issue of inter-church relations be made a standing agenda item, and to come with recommendations to the member churches until the full sister-church relationship has been reached with all the member churches.
    • c. that a clear statement be made about the position of the observers and advisors, and furthermore which churches can be invited as observers by the convening body.
    • d. that the matter of Bible translations be placed on the agenda of the next conference.
    • e. that conclusions be drawn on divergencies discussed.
  • 4. To instruct the delegates who attend the ICRC to issue Press Releases for the benefit of the churches in order to inform them of conclusions reached at the 1989 ICRC.

C. CONSIDERATIONS

  • 1. The purpose of the ICRC is:
    • a. to express and promote the unity of faith that member churches have in Christ.
    • b. to encourage the fullest ecclesiastical fellowship among member churches.
    • c. to encourage cooperation among the member churches in the fulfillment of the missionary and other mandates.
    • d. to study the common problems and issues that confront the member churches and to aim for recommendations with respect to these matters.
    • e. to present a Reformed testimony to the world.
  • 2. The stated purpose of the conference adequately describes the call for unity among the member churches and the need to assist one another in the examination of common problems.
  • 3. The proposed addition of item (f) to Art IV of the constitution of the ICRC by the Church at Hamilton falls outside the stated purpose of the ICRC, and is primarily the responsibility of the individual member churches among themselves.
  • 4. The matter of inter-church relations falls more properly under the mandate of the Committee on Relations with Churches Abroad.
  • 5. Matters related to the constitution are important items for the agenda.
  • 6. The multinational and multilingual character of the Conference discounts the value of placing the matter of Bible translations on the agenda.
  • 7. The discussions on divergencies are already a matter of the conference as stated in Art. III of its constitution. Discussions and decisions of these matters are of an advisory nature only.
  • 8. The status of the observers and advisors and the churches from which they can be drawn is sufficiently governed by the Constitution and Regulations, cf. Acts, Synod 1983, p. 329ff.

D. RECOMMENDATIONS

Synod decide:

  • 1. not to accede to the request of the Church at Hamilton regarding the proposed amendments to the constitution.
  • 2. to recommend to the ICRC that matters regarding the constitution receive priority on the agenda.
  • 3. not to accede to the request of Hamilton regarding the matter of inter-church relations as a standing agenda point.
  • 4. not to accede to the requests of Hamilton regarding Bible translations and the discussions re divergencies.
  • 5. to instruct the Committee on Relations with Churches Abroad to issue Press Releases regarding the ICRC Conference of June 1989, so that the churches may be kept informed.

MOTION TO AMEND

The following motion to amend the Advisory Committee’s proposal is made and duly seconded:

  • 1. To replace Consideration 3 of the Advisory Committee proposal with:
  • The proposed addition of item (f) to Article IV of the Constitution of the ICRC by the Church at Hamilton is consistent with the stated purpose of the ICRC.
  • 2. To replace Recommendation 1 of the Advisory Committee proposal with:
  • to accede to the main thrust of the Church at Hamilton by proposing to replace Article III (2) of the Constitution of the ICRC with: “to study the possible divergencies between the Confessional Standards which are taken up in the Basis and thus to promote the fullest ecclesiastical fellowship among the member churches” and to bring this amendment to the ICRC in keeping with Article VI of the constitution.

DEFEATED

MOTION TO AMEND

The following motion to amend the Advisory Committee’s proposal is made and duly seconded:

  • 1. To replace Consideration 6 to read:
    • The matter of Bible translations is indeed a matter for cooperation mentioned in the purpose of the ICRC (see Consideration 1 c above).
  • 2. To replace Recommendation 4 of the Advisory Committee proposal to read:
    • To accede to the request of the Church at Hamilton that the matter of Bible translations be placed on the agenda of the next Conference.

DEFEATED

The Committee proposal is

ADOPTED

Print page