From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 17:18:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: NR 97032: So. GR Classis: Reject Full Communion w/UCC over gay issue NR #1997-032: South Grand Rapids Classis Overtures Reformed Church in America to Reject "Full Communion" with United Church of Christ Due to UCC Approval of Gay Marriage and Ordination Should the Reformed Church in America enter into "full communion" with the only mainline denomination in the United States that officially approves the ordination of practicing homosexuals and whose 1991 General Synod declared that the denomination "boldly affirms, celebrates, and embraces the gifts of ministry of lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons?" Not according to the RCA's Classis of South Grand Rapids. Meeting at Grace Reformed Church in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, the classis adopted a heavily-documented thirteen page overture from University Reformed Church of East Lansing arguing that the "open and affirming" position of the United Church of Christ - a 1.5 million-member denomination produced by a 1961 merger of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches and the General Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church - warranted rejection of a "Formula of Agreement" which would establish a relationship of "full communion" between the Reformed Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ. NR #1997-032: For Immediate Release South Grand Rapids Classis Overtures Reformed Church in America to Reject "Full Communion" with United Church of Christ Due to UCC Approval of Gay Marriage and Ordination South Grand Rapids Classis: "We believe that the issue is so pressing in our day that it is an illegitimate approach to argue that a public, publicized relationship should be affirmed with the United Church of Christ because, in the meantime, 'mutual affirmation and admonition can continue.'" by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service WYOMING, Mich. (March 18, 1997) URNS - Should the Reformed Church in America enter into "full communion" with the only mainline denomination in the United States that officially approves the ordination of practicing homosexuals and whose 1991 General Synod declared that the denomination "boldly affirms, celebrates, and embraces the gifts of ministry of lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons?" Not according to the RCA's Classis of South Grand Rapids. Meeting at Grace Reformed Church in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, the classis adopted a heavily-documented thirteen page overture from University Reformed Church of East Lansing arguing that the "open and affirming" position of the United Church of Christ - a 1.5 million-member denomination produced by a 1961 merger of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches and the General Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church - warranted rejection of a "Formula of Agreement" which would establish a relationship of "full communion" between the Reformed Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ. The Formula of Agreement - touted by its supporters as a historic move by the largest mainline Lutheran and Reformed denominations in America to reconcile the four-centuries-old breach between the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of the Protestant Reformation - will be voted on this summer at each denomination's broadest governing body. If passed by all four denominations, each denomination would implement a seven-point plan to establish closer ties with the other three denominations. The RCA will be the first of the four denominations to vote; a negative vote by any of the four will kill the accord. The key items in the seven-point "full communion" plan include declarations that each denomination will "recognize each other as churches in which the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered according to the Word of God," "withdraw any historic condemnation by one side or the other as inappropriate for the life and faith of our churches today," and "commit themselves to an ongoing process of theological dialogue in order to clarify further the common understanding of the faith and foster its common expression in evangelism, witness, and service." Most of the attention has focused on the fourth point: that each denomination will "recognize each other's various ministries and make provision for the orderly exchange of ordained ministers of word and sacrament." While two of the denominations contain formally-organized pro-gay caucuses - Lutherans Concerned in the ELCA and Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns in the PC(USA) - both denominations oppose the ordination of practicing homosexuals, as does the RCA. The official position of the RCA since 1974 has been to "encourage the churches to affirm the Biblical teaching against the practice of homosexuality." Since receiving a study committee report in 1978, the RCA General Synod has stated that "the [biblical] texts which do refer to homosexuality are unequivocal in their condemnation of the practice" and that "the homosexual must be affirmed as a person even while his/her acts of perversion cannot be." By contrast, the United Church of Christ has over 180 "open and affirming" congregations which have formally declared that they welcome lesbians, gays, and bisexuals into their membership. In 1995, the UCC's media relations office announced that 59 new open and affirming churches were honored at a banquet at General Synod for their decision to formally declare their openness to practicing homosexuals. In an article on the Formula of Agreement quoted by the South Grand Rapids overture, John Thomas, assistant to the president for ecumenical concerns in the UCC, noted that "in general the United Church of Christ sees its understanding of the place of gay and lesbian Christians in the church as a gift it brings into ongoing ecumenical dialogue." "Full communion includes the corporate recognition of the ordained ministries of each participating church without reservation," wrote Thomas. "The United Church of Christ would expect such recognition to be extended to all of its ordained ministers. At the same time, full communion states that should an ordained minister of one church be invited to serve in one of the partner churches in response to particular needs or special circumstances, that invitation would be subject to the orderly processes and discipline of the inviting church." One complication of the UCC position is that the authority of its General Synod differs from that of the broadest assemblies of the other denominations. In keeping with Congregational polity, synodical declarations by the UCC "speak to, not for" the member churches. The United Church of Christ membership includes a large number of evangelicals actively fighting the official denominational position and the synod formally recognizes its conservative caucus, the Biblical Witness Fellowship, as a recognized interest group. Because of the homosexual issue, the classis overture argued that "for the RCA to join in with those who approve of what the RCA believes to be contrary to the will of God compromises and hinders the RCA's witness for Jesus Christ." "We believe that the issue is so pressing in our day that it is an illegitimate approach to argue that a public, publicized relationship should be affirmed with the United Church of Christ because, in the meantime, 'mutual affirmation and admonition' can continue," stated the overture. "The issues that divide us are too profound, and 'mutual affirmation and admonition' must not be used as a smoke screen for delay so that the Formula of Agreement can be approved." However, according to the South Grand Rapids overture, the problems with the United Church of Christ shouldn't derail closer relations with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. While urging rejection of the Formula of Agreement in its current form, the overture also asks the RCA General Synod to adopt all seven points of "full communion" with the ELCA. "We recognize that, in deference to Lutheran tradition, such a formal action may need to be taken with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America," stated the overture. "But we believe it is unwise to take such a formal action with the UCC at this time." The overture on the United Church of Christ generated even more discussion at classis than the vote on salvation apart from Christ. Rev. Tom Stark of University Reformed Church strongly urged adoption of his church's overture. "It would in my opinion be totally contrary to the action of the 1996 General Synod if this Form of Agreement were adopted at the 1997 General Synod," said Stark. "This is a mockery." "I appeal to you to pass this and send it to the General Synod because if the General Synod doesn't pass this it is a kick in the gut to every gay and lesbian person in each of your churches," said Stark, recounting the recent conversion of a man attending his church who had come out of homosexuality. "The UCC has proudly endorsed openly homosexual pastors, gay, lesbian, and bisexual practice. We cannot do that." Others in classis thought differently. "In just a short time both my son and my daughter-in-law will be ordained in the UCC," said Rev. Jayne Yonkman, chaplain at St. Mary's Living Center in Grand Rapids. "The most important thing is we're one, we're family, and I want to tell the UCC that we are family because we all believe in Jesus Christ." Rev. Leroy Koopman, writer and editor for RCA stewardship and communications services, compared the accord to a peace treaty between Israel and three neighboring Arab nations, and argued that it would be "bizarre" to scuttle such a peace treaty because one of the Arab states had a problem with another, even if that problem was serious and provable beyond a shadow of a doubt. "I hope that we would maintain some credibility as a denomination and that we would vote down this bizarre overture," said Koopman. Elder Carl VerBeek of Hope Reformed Church in Grand Rapids went further, noting that he would have taken a different position ten years ago before he learned that his son was gay. "I spent the last ten years not in constant study but in frequent study and prayer on this," said VerBeek. "I think the UCC is 100% correct in its view at this time. To do what the overture is asking would be to do the wrong thing at the wrong time." Rev. Bob Baird of Hope Reformed Church reminded the delegates that the RCA already has a committee meeting with the UCC to discuss the issue of homosexuality, operating under a General Synod mandate to convey RCA objections on the issue. "I think it's extremely important that we continue to talk to the UCC," said Baird. "I think we can learn something from the UCC and they can learn something from us." Those arguments didn't satisfy the majority of the delegates, however. Rev. Kenneth Westrate of Eighth Reformed Church in Wyoming reminded the classis that while the RCA, the PC(USA), and the UCC are all historically in the Reformed theological tradition, that doesn't mean each denomination is equally rooted in that tradition. Westrate also noted that the historical connections - now mostly evidenced by joint membership in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, by a small number of union churches that hold dual membership in one or more denominations, and by a few clergy of one denomination serving in another - don't mean that the denominations are still close. "We have an unofficial relationship with the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ; this would make it official," said Westrate. "What we are asking the synod to do is not make it official because we have very serious problems with the UCC on this issue of homosexuality." Other classis delegates warned that the proposal could result in homosexual UCC ministers serving RCA churches. After Stark and opponents of the overture both noted that nothing in the proposed Formula of Agreement would remove the normal procedure for examination of ministers transferring from one denomination to another, those concerns were withdrawn. After extended debate, classis finally came to a vote on the matter - passing the overture by a wide voice vote margin. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1996-013: Special Meeting of RCA's Muskegon Classis Discusses Homosexuality, Scripture, Salvation Apart from Christ #1996-091: Rhem Conflict Leads to Homosexuality Debate in Muskegon Contact List: Rev. E. Wayne Antworth, Director, RCA Stewardship & Communication Services 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115 O: (212) 870-2954 FAX: (212) 870-2499 Rev. Robert Baird, Pastor, Hope Reformed Church 2010 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507 O: (616) 241-3421 H: (616) 361-3673 Ms. Pamela DeWeendt, Stated Clerk, Classis of South Grand Rapids (RCA) 2030 Denwood SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 H: (616) 452-3768 Hans Holznagel, Director, Office of Communication, The United Church of Christ 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100 O: (216) 736-2222 Rev. Leroy Koopman, Editor and Writer, RCA Stewardship & Communication Services 1750 Plateau Dr. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 O: (616) 698-7071 H: (616) 531-1464 Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, President, Biblical Witness Fellowship 41 Nottingham, Deerfield, NH 03037 O: (603) 483-0506 H: (603) 463-3781 Rev. Tom Stark, Pastor, University Reformed Church 231 Oakhill, East Lansing, MI 48823 O: (517) 351-6810 H: (517) 351-7164 Elder Carl VerBeek, Hope Reformed Church c/o Hope RCA, 2010 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507 O: (616) 241-3421 Rev. Sherwin Weener, Synod Minister, Regional Synod of the Great Lakes 4500 - 60th St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512 O: (616) 698-7071 H: (616) 457-3572 Rev. Kenneth Westrate, Pastor, Eighth Reformed Church 841 Burton St. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 O: (616) 452-9417 H: (616) 243-7005 Rev. Jayne Yonkman, Chaplain, St. Mary's Living Center 1915 Pine Grove, Jenison, MI 49428 H: (616) 457-0576 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-032.txt .