15 Jul GS 2016 art 78

Posted at 13:18h in CanRC, GS 2016 by

GS 2016 Article 78 ­– URCNA (United Reformed Churches in North America) – Committee for Church Unity – Subcommittee for Liturgical Forms and Confessions (CCU-SLFC)

1. Material

  • 1.1    Report of the Subcommittee for Liturgical Forms and Confessions (SLFC) of the Committee for Church Unity (CCU) (8.2.8)
  • 1.2    Letters from the following CanRC: Fergus-Maranatha (8.3.3.2), Hamilton-Blessings (8.3.3.4), Lincoln-Vineyard (8.3.3.6)

2. Observations

  • 2.1    GS 2013 (Article 130) gave the committee the following mandate:
    • [4]         “To be available to review and compare the Creeds, Confessions, Forms and Prayers of the CanRC and the URCNA with a view to merger.”
  • 2.2    The Subcommittee reports:
    • 2.2.1     The latest Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA), Synod Visalia, 2014, continued the course set by previous URCNA Synods to work in close conjunction with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) to develop a joint Psalter Hymnal, a work which would include joint versions of the forms, prayers, ecumenical creeds and the Three Forms of Unity.
    • 2.2.2     The URCNA Liturgical Forms and Confessions Committee received no mandate to connect with the CanRC Committee. Though the CanRC committee made themselves available to their URCNA counterparts, they received no material that they could “review” or “compare.”
    • 2.2.3     At their recent synod, the URCNA affirmed their desire to keep working toward “an eventual merger” (Acts Synod Visalia, p 26), but they have not given their Liturgical Forms and Confessions Committee a clear mandate to work with the CanRC.
  • 2.3    Fergus-Maranatha recommends to maintain a CCU-SLFC. They desire to show that in no way do we seek to hinder our commitment and desire to progress with the URCNA to Phase 3.
  • 2.4    Lincoln-Vineyard recommends to reappoint the CCU-SLFC to continue the work and be faithful in prayer, in the hope that the Lord will hear our prayers, and bless our work for the unity of Christ’s church, on the basis of the Scriptures and the confessions.
  • 2.5    Hamilton-Blessings recommends, while recognizing that the CanRC still desires to proceed to full unity with the URCNA and that this is not imminent, therefore to suspend all sub-committee work at this time.

3. Considerations

  • 3.1    The CCU subcommittees are needed in the event that the URCNA decide to continue work towards Phase 3A.

4. Recommendations

That Synod decide:

  • 4.1    To reappoint the Subcommittee for Liturgical Forms and Confessions (SLFC) of the Committee for Church Unity (CCU), with the mandate to be available to review and compare the Creeds, Confessions, Forms and Prayers of the CanRC and the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) with a view to merger.

ADOPTED

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