NR #1995-014: For Immediate Release Classis Chicago South Still Lists Woman Expounder as Available to Fill Christian Reformed Pulpits by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service ORLAND PARK, Ill. (January 18, 1995) RBPS - Classis Chicago South turned down an effort by its stated clerk, Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel, to remove a woman from a list of persons available to fill pulpits in Classis Chicago South. At the previous classis meeting in September, Hope CRC in Oak Forest asked classis to "add the name of Betty Vander Laan to the list of people who are authorized to expound in Classis Chicago South." Classis agreed and added her to an otherwise all-male list, appending the word "expounder" in parentheses. The decision made Vander Laan the only woman outside Classis Lake Erie officially authorized by a classis to bring messages from Christian Reformed pulpits. Vander Laan is currently a seminary student serving as interim pastor of Loop Christian Ministries in Chicago. "My point certainly is not against Betty Vander Laan, my point is we may not go contrary to the church order," said Vanden Heuvel. "We have to live by the church order; if we don't, we have nothing to hold us together as to the policies of the church." Vanden Heuvel also pointed out that Synod 1995 will be receiving a study committee report which unanimously argues that a disputed 1992 decision on expounding did not allow women to fill Christian Reformed pulpits, noting that two of the study committee members were supportive of women in office but still agreed that under the current church order women cannot fill CRC pulpits. After confirming that Vanden Heuvel was reading a report which had not yet been adopted, Vander Laan's pastor, Rev. Bill Lenters, urged classis to delay action until synod acted on the study committee report. Others objected that the request had come on the credentials of Vanden Heuvel's church and was not printed in the agenda for other churches to see prior to classis. The request never came to a vote on its merits, losing on a procedural motion to permit discussion of an item which was not printed in the agenda. Cross-References to Related RBPS Articles: #1994-035 Christian Reformed Synod Rejects Women in Office on Biblical Grounds #1994-036 Two Hundred Women Take Over Synod Floor in Protest Against Christian Reformed Denial of Women's Ordination; Synod Votes to "Urge" Churches Not to Ordain Women Elders, Pastors #1994-062 Synodical Study Committee: "Expounding" Does Not Mean Women May Fill Christian Reformed Pulpits Contact List: Rev. Bill Lenters, Pastor, Hope CRC 6609 Courtney Dr., Oak Forest, IL 60452 * O: (708) 687-2095 * H: (708) 687-2530 Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel, Stated Clerk, Classis Chicago South 9401 S. 54th Ave., Oak Lawn, IL 60453 * H/O: (708) 422-1428 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-014.txt .