NR #1995-018: For Immediate Release Grand Rapids East Tries New Approach to Women in Office Classis Asks Synod to Allow Women Elders, Ministers in Local Churches but Permit Classes to Ban Women Delegates by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (February 21, 1995) RBPS - No observers who are familiar with the Christian Reformed denomination could have been surprised that Classis Grand Rapids East decided at its January 19 meeting to send overtures to synod regarding women in office. Women in office has long been an issue for a classis in which six of 15 churches have disobeyed synod by electing women elders. The sheer volume of paperwork, however, may be a surprise: after plowing through fifty pages of documentation with the aid of a classical ad hoc committee on women in office, Classis Grand Rapids East voted to send a 23 page overture to synod. First on the agenda, however, was a proposal to answer communications from Seymour CRC and Shawnee Park CRC objecting to Classis Grand Rapids East's July 21 decision "in principle" to "permit its individual churches to decide whether or not the word 'male' in Article 3-a of the Church Order is operative in their particular settings." Classis unanimously adopted the ad hoc committee's proposal to "note the objections raised by these churches and declare they were met by the actions classis took in September." The September decision referenced by the motion was a declaration that "recognizing synod's legal right to insist on the retention of the word 'male' in Church Order Article 3a, [classis] nevertheless acknowledges its congregations' moral right of conscientious objection (with any attendant consequences) to that insistence with respect to the office of elder." Classis then forwarded to synod an official protest by Eastern Avenue CRC which "informs Synod of its disagreement with the decision of 1994 and communicates that it cannot in good conscience discontinue the terms of office of those women elected and presently serving as elder, nor can it close the offices to women in the future." Since Eastern Avenue CRC did not specifically ask for classical endorsement, the classis unanimously followed the committee recommendation to simply note the protest and forward it to synod without comment. However, a committee recommendation blending overtures from Neland Avenue CRC and First CRC met with considerably more opposition and was finally replaced by the original Neland Avenue overture. Delegates to synod differed on whether the committee report or the Neland Avenue overture was more pastoral. "We thought our document was a respectful tone of presentation, but the revised document without the foundational material makes it more strident," said Dr. Andrew Bandstra, a retired Calvin Seminary professor and president of the Neland Avenue council. Rev. Morris Greidanus, pastor of First CRC and a member of the ad hoc committee, received laughs when he told the delegates that "we thought we took the stridency out of Neland." The key issue in dispute between the two reports was that the original Neland Avenue overture included different guidelines for implementation of women in office, along with a provision whereby each classis and synod could adopt a provision banning delegation of women to its meetings for up to a three year period. While the three year ban could be renewed an indefinite number of times, any classis which failed to initially adopt a ban on women elders or allowed a previously adopted ban to expire would not be able to renew the ban at a later date. By contrast, the revised overture asked for immediate ratification of women in office without the two-year ban and argued that synod does not need to wait one year before ratifying church order changes which have been discussed for a number of years. Waiting in the wings was another overture from Woodlawn CRC, also intended as a compromise approach to minimize offense to conservatives while allowing women to serve at least some Christian Reformed congregations. The Woodlawn overture, citing certain precedents in Christian Reformed history, would have allowed classes, by way of exception, to authorize women in office on the regional level. While both Bandstra and Greidanus sought to reach the broad middle of the denomination, others said the time had come for decisive action. "We have been for twenty years here in the wilderness on this thing. Are we going to be in the wilderness another twenty years?" asked retired Calvin College professor Rev. Clarence Vos, a member of Neland Avenue and of the ad hoc committee. "No one is being compelled to make women deacons, elders, or anything like that; that is the monstrous arrogance of 1994. I say let's enter the promised land right away!" However, Dr. Henry De Moor, Calvin Seminary professor of church polity and chairman of the ad hoc committee, strongly warned classis against hasty actions and called attention to his officially recorded reservations about the committee report. "I've had the personal conviction for many, many years that justice must be done on this issue, however, I did detect in the Neland Avenue overture a spirit of persuading the rest of the church," said De Moor. "If this church, this denomination, continues to move toward polarization, much will be destroyed in the way of local ministry, classical and denominational ministry, on the way to justice." In his written reservations, De Moor also noted that "to ask Synod 1995 for immediate implementation may well be interpreted as an act of impatience and intolerance similar to that inherent in the decision of Synod 1994. The Neland Avenue overture, unrevised, has a greater chance of being perceived as a prophetic, yet pastoral, attempt to persuade on the basis of the text of Scripture." A number of delegates came to De Moor's side in the issue, particularly voicing his concern about suggesting that synod could immediately ratify women in office without waiting for ratification by a subsequent synod. "In the mind of the broader church, there is a two year process," said Rev. Carl Kammeraad of Neland Avenue CRC. "To remove that process suddenly and say, wow, you were wrong all these years, there doesn't need to be a ratification process, you talk power politics and in your face, that is what people will think." "We all agree that the promised land is a goal," said Rev. Peter Jonker of Woodlawn CRC. "People who are already against this will view this as a violent wrenching and dig in their heels." Dr. Peter Borgdorff, CRC Executive Director of Ministries and president of the Shawnee Park CRC council, also expressed his concern that the classis not be perceived as moving in a radical direction. "One of the real difficulties is in the way we have lost the art of deliberating," said Borgdorff. "We have increasingly seen people come to synod with their minds made up." "Classis Grand Rapids East is increasingly being perceived as one of those poles," said Borgdorff, noting that Classis Illiana "voted just recently to send an overture not to seat our delegates no matter who we sent to synod." At the end of the debate, Classis Grand Rapids East voted by a 14 to 11 margin to defeat the revisions proposed by the committee report and subsequently adopted the original overture by Neland Avenue. If adopted by synod, the result may be that at least some parts of the denomination will continue to prohibit women in office for many years, long after synod has officially allowed women in office. Cross-References to Related RBPS Articles: #1994-038: Classis Grand Rapids East Votes "In Principle" to Permit Churches to Disobey CRC Synod's Ban on Women Elders #1994-050: Classis Grand Rapids East "Refines" July Decision to Disobey Christian Reformed Synodical Ban on Women Elders #1995-012: Classis Illiana Overtures CRC Synod to Disenfranchise Classis Grand Rapids East for Ecclesiastical Disobedience Contact List: Dr. Andrew Bandstra, President of Council, Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church 1218 Alexander SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506 * H: (616) 241-2595 Dr. Peter Borgdorff, Executive Director of Ministries, Christian Reformed Church 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 * O: (616) 246-0832 * H: (616) 957-3288 Revs. Rolf Bouma & Roy Berkenbosch, Pastors, Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church 506 Eastern Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 * O: (616) 454-4888 Dr. Henry De Moor, Professor of Church Polity, Calvin Theological Seminary 3233 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * H: (616) 940-0513 * O: (616) 957-7194 * FAX: (616) 957-8621 Rev. Morris Greidanus, Pastor, First Christian Reformed Church 1349 Alexander SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506 * H: (616) 243-9549 * O: (616) 452-3590 Rev. Carl Kammeraad, Pastor, Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church 1600 Seminole Rd. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506 * O: (616) 452-0501 * H: (616) 243-5100 Rev. John Timmer, Pastor, Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church 2257 Edgewood Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * O: (616) 942-8180 Dr. Clarence Vos, Retired Professor, Calvin College Department of Religion and Theology 1941 Keyhill SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * H: (616) 949-2888 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-018.txt .