Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 04:22:40 -0500 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 99014: Classis Eastern US Asked to Seek Improved URC Pension, Insurance, Church Work, Ecumenical Matters NR #1999-014: Classis Eastern United States Asked to Seek Improvements in URC Pension, Insurance, Church Work, Ecumenical Matters Most of the overtures to Classis Eastern United States' March 24 meeting address structural and interchurch matters. The classis' southernmost church, Trinity Reformed Church of Cape Coral, Florida, asks classis to overture synod to appoint a five-member study committee to "explore the question of how our federation of churches can properly, most effectively, and most efficiently do the work of building and extending the church of Jesus Christ cooperatively." "Presently the URC consists of a loose assortment of churches functionally disconnected except for classical and synodical meetings," wrote the Florida church. "There is good reason to ask whether our very young federation has as yet set up the most effective and efficient means of assisting the churches in building and extending the church of Jesus Christ." Preakness Valley URC of Wayne, New Jersey, shared a similar concern for effective church work and may take the classical record for most overtures submitted in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of church work. The church asked classis to overture the URC synod to address structural matters having to do with tax exempt status, hospitalization insurance, and pensions, and also asked the classis to begin ecumenical contacts with other Reformed denominations that have a local presence. NR #1999-014: For Immediate Release: Classis Eastern United States Asked to Seek Improvements in URC Pension, Insurance, Church Work, Ecumenical Matters by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (February 11, 1999) URNS - Most of the overtures to Classis Eastern United States' March 24 meeting address structural and interchurch matters. The classis' southernmost church, Trinity Reformed Church of Cape Coral, Florida, asks classis to overture synod to appoint a five-member study committee to "explore the question of how our federation of churches can properly, most effectively, and most efficiently do the work of building and extending the church of Jesus Christ cooperatively." "Presently the URC consists of a loose assortment of churches functionally disconnected except for classical and synodical meetings," wrote the Florida church. "There is good reason to ask whether our very young federation has as yet set up the most effective and efficient means of assisting the churches in building and extending the church of Jesus Christ." However, the Florida church noted that "the work of the church must be conducted primarily by the local church and under the authority and the local church" and cautioned that "two dangers must be avoided: the danger of erecting a top-heavy, centralized church bureaucracy, and the danger of undue fear that anything done by the federation will inevitably lead to such a bureaucracy." Preakness Valley URC of Wayne, New Jersey, shared a similar concern for effective church work and may take the classical record for most overtures submitted in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of church work. The church asked classis to overture the URC synod to address four structural matters, and also asked the classis to begin ecumenical contacts with other Reformed denominations that have a local presence. The first overture asks synod to advise "all member United States congregations to consider making application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for recognition of tax-exempt status," citing as grounds the IRS regulations on tax benefits of recognized tax-exempt status, the fact that the previous group exemption held by the Christian Reformed Church is no longer applicable to URC churches, and that "the URCNA lacks sufficient government hierarchical structure to qualify for obtaining group exemption of its own." Three related overtures ask the URC synod to appoint study committees to "explore the feasibility of establishing a pension plan for the benefit of URCNA pastors and other full-time employees," to "explore the feasibility of establishing a hospitalization plan for the benefit of URCNA United States pastors, elders, deacons and any other full-time employees," and to "advise the hospitalization plan study committee to consider in its initial exploration the feasibility of establishing such a plan under the administration of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's Health and Welfare Trust." In two related overtures, Preakness Valley URC overtured the classis to instruct its clerk "to extend formal invitations to fraternal delegates of neighboring Reformed denominations regarding future meetings of this classis," citing a church order article encouraging churches and classes "to pursue ecumenical relations with Reformed congregations outside of the federation which manifest the marks of the true church and demonstrate faithful allegiance to Scripture as summarized in the Three Forms of Unity." The church asked classis to include in those invitations federations identified by the most recent URC synod "who have member churches in this general area," citing as examples the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America, Protestant Reformed Churches, Free Reformed Churches, Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. A final matter submitted by Preakness Valley URC will be a possible special meeting on June 29 to examine Paul Lindemulder, a member of the church currently attending Westminster Theological Seminary in California who expects to graduate in May and is seeking ministerial candidacy in the United Reformed Churches. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1998-131: Classis Eastern US Marks Slow United Reformed Growth Contact List: Rev. Robert DeVries, Stated Clerk, Classis Eastern United States PO Box 393, Georges Mills, NH 03751 H/O: (603) 763-4695 Rev. Ed Korevaar, Pastor, Preakness (NJ) United Reformed Church 480 Valley Rd., Wayne, NJ 07470 O: (973) 628-1313 * E-mail: adrian.j.k.@juno.com Rev. Allen Vander Pol, Pastor, Trinity Reformed Church of Cape Coral 2220 SE Hancock Bridge Pkwy., Cape Coral, FL 33990 H: (941) 574-1421 * O: (941) 574-5360 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive99: nr99-014.txt .