Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 04:25:30 -0500 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 99013: URC Church Order Raises Questions in Classis Eastern US NR #1999-013: United Reformed Church Order Raises Questions in Classis Eastern United States; May Delay Application for Membership When Classis Eastern United States of the United Reformed Churches meets March 24 at Newton CRC in New Jersey, it may receive a new congregation and pastor. Classical votes to receive churches that want to join the URC usually have been formalities and most pastors wanting to join the URC have sustained their examinations without dissent or by wide margins. That may not be the case this time, and regardless of the classical decision, the question of admitting West Sayville Reformed Bible Church on Long Island and its pastor, Rev. Jim Stastny, may get more than a formal review at this summer's United Reformed synod. In a letter to classis, Stastny applied to become a United Reformed minister "with exception to several stipulations in your church order." Stastny declined comment on his exceptions to the church order prior to his classical examination. NR #1999-013: For Immediate Release: United Reformed Church Order Raises Questions in Classis Eastern United States; May Delay Application for Membership by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (February 10, 1999) URNS - When Classis Eastern United States of the United Reformed Churches meets March 24 at Newton CRC in New Jersey, it may receive a new congregation and pastor. Classical votes to receive churches that want to join the URC usually have been formalities and most pastors wanting to join the URC have sustained their examinations without dissent or by wide margins. That may not be the case this time, and regardless of the classical decision, the question of admitting West Sayville Reformed Bible Church on Long Island and its pastor, Rev. Jim Stastny, may get more than a formal review at this summer's United Reformed synod. In a letter to classis, Stastny applied to become a United Reformed minister "with exception to several stipulations in your church order." Stastny declined comment on his exceptions to the church order prior to his classical examination. "Exceptions," though not traditionally a part of Dutch Reformed practice, are an accepted part of Presbyterian ministerial examinations: during the examination, the ministerial candidate is asked by the presbytery whether he has any "exceptions" to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, or Shorter Catechism. A ministerial candidate who objects to one or more of the articles and points of doctrine in the Westminster Standards is not automatically disqualified, but instead has to prove that his "exceptions" are biblically-based and do not contradict the essential "system of doctrine" even though they may contradict one or more specific portions of the Westminster Standards. Presbytery decisions on exceptions are subject to review by the higher church courts of the denomination, but are only rarely appealed to those higher courts. According to Article 32 of the URC church order, "any church may be admitted into the federation provided that its officebearers subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity and agree with this church order, and its minister sustains an examination by the nearest classis, according to the regulations adopted by the federation." The classical vote is not the final decision: according to the church order, "any such church shall be provisionally accepted into membership in the federation by the classis, pending ratification by the following synod." The West Sayville church left the Christian Reformed Church by a wide majority in 1997. Since then, the church has been independent and has explored affiliation with both the United Reformed Churches and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In December, the congregation voted to join the URC. That won't be the only concern about the United Reformed church order voiced at Classis Eastern United States. Covenant URC of Pantego, North Carolina, is overturing the classis to ask synod "to clarify Article 46 of the church order by deleting 'the consistory shall ordinarily administer the Lord's Supper' and change it to 'the minister of the Word shall administer the Lord's Supper.'" The current article does not specify that only the minister must administer the Lord's Supper, but does specify that the Lord's Supper is ordinarily to be administered "at least every three months in a service of corporate worship with the use of the appropriate liturgical form." The church order article also specifies that "this administration shall conform to the teaching of God's Word and the regulations of ecclesiastical order, in such a manner as is most conducive to the edification of the congregation." While Article 2 of the church order lists administration of the sacraments among the duties of the ministers and Article 14 does not list sacramental administration among the duties of the elders, the church order does not specifically address whether elders may administer the sacraments. Ironically, the Pantego church is in the type of situation sometimes cited in other denominations as an argument for administration of the sacraments by elders when ministers are unavailable. Covenant URC is over 550 miles away from the closest URC congregation and the small 30-family church has not had a pastor since it seceded from the CRC. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1997-096: West Sayville CRC in New York Secedes by 88% Majority #1998-008: Synodical Deputies Urge Less Severe Treatment of Rev. Jim Stastny Following West Sayville Secession #1998-131: Classis Eastern US Marks Slow United Reformed Growth Contact List: Rev. Jim Stastny, Pastor, West Sayville Reformed Bible Church 31 Rollstone Ave, West Sayville, NY 11796 O: (516) 589-9281 * H: (516) 589-1281 Rev. Robert DeVries, Stated Clerk, Classis Eastern United States PO Box 393, Georges Mills, NH 03751 H/O: (603) 763-4695 Elder Edward Boerema, Consistory Vice-President, Covenant United Reformed Church PO Box 9, Pantego, NC 27860 H: (252) 935-5130 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive99: nr99-013.txt .