From: Darrell128 Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 17:25:53 EST Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: NR 98014: URC Cl. Michigan to Consider Official Classical Newsletter NR #1998-014: United Reformed Classis Michigan to Consider Official Classical Newsletter When Classis Michigan of the United Reformed Churches holds its first meeting on March 3 at Grace URC of Alto, the classis may set precedents for the federation on official publications and the authority of synodical decisions. Last October, the United Reformed synod rejected an overture by what was then Classis East to study the creation of an official periodical for the federation. Prior to synod, what was then Classis Midwest narrowly rejected an overture by Beverly URC of Wyoming asking synod to establish an official periodical. Now, Faith URC of Holland is asking Classis Michigan "to begin a newsletter for the churches within our classis, with the possible expansion to other URC churches." NR 1998-014: For Immediate Release: United Reformed Classis Michigan to Consider Official Classical Newsletter by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (February 25, 1998) URNS - When Classis Michigan of the United Reformed Churches holds its first meeting on March 3 at Grace URC of Alto, the classis may set precedents for the federation on official publications and the authority of synodical decisions. Last October, the United Reformed synod rejected an overture by what was then Classis East to study the creation of an official periodical for the federation. Prior to synod, what was then Classis Midwest narrowly rejected an overture by Beverly URC of Wyoming asking synod to establish an official periodical. Now, Faith URC of Holland is asking Classis Michigan "to begin a newsletter for the churches within our classis, with the possible expansion to other URC churches." As grounds for its overture, Faith URC says that "as a young and growing federation we need some means of a) identifying ourselves, b) gathering information about ourselves," that "our members have a desire to know the news of our federation," and "our churches can lift one another up in prayer when concerns are made known." Faith URC pastor Rev. Wybren Oord said he thought it best to start small and then see if things could be expanded later. "I think we would like to start it in this classis and see if we can get something like this going, and if it works here then maybe expand it to other classes and other churches that would be interested," said Oord. "There are churches in California, churches on the east coast, churches in Canada, and I really have no idea what's going on in these churches, and I feel this would really help us have more kinship with one another." Beverly CRC pastor Rev. Art Besteman said he supported Faith URC's overture. "I think it's important for us as a new federation of churches to establish our identity and to establish a fellowship among the churches, and you need to do that by means of communication," said Besteman. "I think it's important for our people to know what is happening, they need to know about the blessing which the Lord is bestowing upon us, they need to know about the struggles that our individual congregations are going through. I look upon a newsletter as a means to do this, to share the news concerning blessing and entreat our people to remember in prayer." Besteman said the Faith URC overture was substantially different from last year's proposals to establish or study the establishment of a federation-wide paper. "This is much more limited in its scope, this is just for Classis Michigan, so it's going to be primarily a newsletter for items of interest to churches in our classis," said Besteman. "The overture that went to our synod would have entailed much more, and that would have helped us to establish our identity as we reach out in ecumenical relationships." "You think of the CRC, you think of the Banner; you think of the Protestant Reformed, you think of the Standard Bearer; you think of the OPC, you think of New Horizons," said Besteman. "As I said at our synod meeting, I think that at some point we as a new federation of churches need to get over our fear of everything that resembles what we left as being bad. That was the main argument at synod, what it could become, what it could deteriorate into, and I don't think that's legitimate." Those arguments weren't persuasive to Rev. Jelle Tuininga of Trinity Reformed Church of Lethbridge, the leading opponent at URC Synod 1997 of a federational periodical, who argued that the Faith URC overture was not only a bad idea but also violated synodical rules. "This goes against the decision of our synod," said Tuininga. "This thing was shot down there, and I don't think we should get it in the back door, I don't think it's honest. I think this is going directly against the decision of synod." "The church in Canada is very much against this, and we don't need something in Grand Rapids trying to speak for us," continued Tuininga. "I really feel we should have learned our lesson from the past, let's not right away get a hierarchy again and get some paper that tries to speak for the whole denomination." According to Tuininga, the arguments that an official classical newsletter would bring greater unity to the federation are actually arguments against having an official paper. "Our brothers in the United States, much more than the Canadians, want synod to settle everything; in the CRC, people say let the Banner tell us everything. We need unity in diversity, we don't need to think alike on everything," said Tuininga. "We're united on the creeds, but there are a lot of things we disagree on, and that's good." Tuininga expressed concern that the overture's grounds cited federational rather than classical concerns and took particular aim at the phrase in the overture providing for "possible expansion to other URC churches." "I'm really scared that something like this could become a denominational paper," said Tuininga. "I'd much rather have the Christian Renewal do this than a classical newsletter; Christian Renewal gets all over, and it wouldn't be looked at as if it's one classis doing this. When they say it could be broadened, it could become a denominational paper." Oord said Tuininga's concerns about his church's overture were misplaced and that he didn't anticipate the overture leading to more than an insert into each local church's newsletter reporting on events in other local churches. "It's not something where we've got to get an editor, staff, writers, it's just a sheet of news," said Oord. "I have no idea what is going on in Jelle Tuininga's church, and if there's a prayer concern that we can share together, if there is something for joy that we can all give thanks for, let's do that as a denomination, it would help bind us together." "I'm in Holland and I'm not far from other United Reformed Churches, but there are times I feel very alone and isolated as a single church," said Oord. "I can't begin to imagine what it's like for churches that are a great distance away like Vermont, Florida, Canada, California." According to Oord, the key items that could be provided by the newsletter are informational rather than editorial in nature. "When a new church comes into the federation, if our church has a certain prayer need, if our church has a missionary, or if a call is extended to a minister from a church, two or three sentences from each church so we know a little bit about each other," said Oord. "My council is not looking for any kind of editorials or articles or any staff, just basically a couple of sentences from each church about if we had professions of faith or whatever." None of the arguments about providing greater unity persuaded Tuininga, however. "Once you get a denominational paper, it becomes the rallying point around which everyone defines themselves, and that's dangerous," said Tuininga. "You get the wrong editor in there, he becomes Mr. United Reformed, and people think what he says is the voice of the denomination. I'm glad to have Christian Renewal, I'm glad to have Outlook, and it's fine to have more private papers. We need private papers, let private papers interact, it's very dangerous to have something official." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-107: Trumpeting, Families, and Federating Headline Michigander Meeting of Independent Reformed Churches Contact List: Rev. Art Besteman, Pastor, Beverly United Reformed Church 2420 Avon Ave. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 O: (616) 532-1708 Rev. Jelle Tuininga, Pastor, Trinity Reformed Church 1807 2nd Ave. "A" N., Lethbridge, AB T1H 0G4 H/O: (403) 328-4799 Rev. Wybren Oord, Pastor, Faith United Reformed Church 12191 Polk St., Holland, MI 49424 O: (616) 875-4654 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-014.txt .