Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 14:28:47 -0500 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 99019: Classis Michigan (URC)'s Meeting to Focus on Housekeeping Matters NR #1999-019: Classis Michigan's Meeting to Focus on Housekeeping Matters Classis Michigan's March 16 meeting is expected to be quiet, but two overtures on the agenda may have long-lasting consequences for United Reformed ministers and a third may cut the time allotted for examining ministerial candidates in half. Cornerstone URC of Hudsonville has submitted two overtures to be forwarded to Synod 1999, both asking the URC to investigate providing ministerial and church employee insurance and ministerial pensions. In a second overture, Bethel URC of Jenison asks Classis Michigan "to shorten the length of candidacy and ordination exams." The overture, which applies only to Classis Michigan and is not intended to be submitted to synod, notes that the church "is not requesting that we eliminate areas of questioning, but that each existing area take less time." Current exams run about five hours; the restructured exam, if adopted, would run about two and a half hours. NR #1999-019: For Immediate Release: Classis Michigan's Meeting to Focus on Housekeeping Matters by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (February 20, 1999) URNS - Classis Michigan's March 16 meeting is expected to be quiet, but two overtures on the agenda may have long-lasting consequences for United Reformed ministers and a third may cut the time allotted for examining ministerial candidates in half. Cornerstone URC of Hudsonville has submitted two overtures to be forwarded to Synod 1999, both dealing with ministerial insurance and pension matters. In its first overture, Cornerstone URC asks classis to overture synod to appoint a committee "to research the availability of health insurance for employees of URC churches, including both Canadian and US ministers according to their various needs." A second overture asks classis to overture synod to appoint another committee "with the specific mandate of investigating the possibility of retirement plans for ordained ministers in both Canada and the United States." According to the overtures, "requests for such insurance coverage have been frequent," "the economic advantage of having group coverage for those who need and desire such insurance is clear," "the need [for retirement plans] is obvious, especially for our younger ministers," and "such an optional plan would have distinct economic advantages because of its group involvement." Both overtures cite Article 10 of the United Reformed church order, which provides that "each church is to provide adequately for the minister of the Word and his family while he is serving that church, and should contribute toward the retirement and disability needs of its minister." In a second overture, Bethel URC of Jenison asks Classis Michigan "to shorten the length of candidacy and ordination exams." The overture, which applies only to Classis Michigan and is not intended to be submitted to synod, notes that the church "is not requesting that we eliminate areas of questioning, but that each existing area take less time." The church proposes that the examination in "practica" (ministerial practice) run 45 to 60 minutes, while the other areas take "no more than 30 minutes." As grounds for its overture, Bethel URC notes that "the examinee's transcript of all seminary grades is given to each council providing a good basis on which to judge his knowledge," that "since this transcript does not include personal and practical information, the practica section of the exam ought to be given more weight," and that "in nearly every case a delegate is able to ascertain whether the examinee is competent in any given area within 30 minutes of questioning in that area." The church also notes that further inquiries may be made of the person being examined by means of questions from the floor and failure to adopt a motion to proceed to the next area of the examination. Bethel URC's final ground notes that "the URCNA guidelines for these examinations do not forbid such action." The details of ministerial examination procedures in the United Reformed Churches are somewhat unclear, and the time allotted to the exam varies from classis to classis. The church order states that churches should urge competent men to study for the ordained ministry, specifying that "a man who is a member of a church of the federation and who aspires to the ministry must evidence genuine godliness to his Consistory, which shall assume supervision of all aspects of his training, including his licensure to exhort, and assure that he receives a thoroughly reformed theological education," noting that "the council of his church should ensure that his financial needs are met." The local church licenses seminary students to exhort in the churches, and upon completion of their seminary training, arranges for a candidacy examination at the classis of which the seminarian's church is a member. The church order specifies that "no one shall be declared a candidate for the ministry until he has sustained an examination at a meeting of this classis, in the presence of his Consistory, of his Christian faith and experience, of his call to the ministry, of his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, both in the original languages and in English translations, of the Three Forms of Unity, of Christian doctrine, Christian ethics and church history; of the Church Order, and of his knowledge and aptitude with regard to the particular duties and responsibilities of the minister of the Word, especially the preparation and preaching of sermons." In a set of "guidelines," the URC recommends a number of detailed items in the areas of practica, Bible knowledge, biblical exegesis, confessional knowledge, Reformed doctrine, church history, and ethics. If the candidate accepts a call to a church in the same classis, a subsequent ordination exam is normally waived, but if he accepts a call in another classis, a second exam is held in the areas of practica, confessional knowledge, church polity, Reformed doctrine, and ethics. Classis Michigan has never conducted an ordination exam, but did conduct several candidacy exams. In the original Classis Midwest, which Synod 1997 divided into four classes including Classis Michigan, two ordination examinations for ministers which are now in Classis Michigan were held. Exams in practica, church polity, confessional knowledge, and ethics were scheduled to take 45 to 60 minutes, and an examination in Reformed doctrine was scheduled to take 60 to 90 minutes. If the Bethel URC overture passes, an exam that once ran between four hours and five and a half hours would take about two and a half hours. Since that exam in April 1997, no time frame for examinations has been specified, but the Classis Michigan stated clerk said the total was comparable to the original Classis Michigan rules. "We've never had a time frame," said Rev. Wybren Oord. "We have the procedure from the church order, but we don't have a time frame to follow, and we've never done an ordination exam. Our exams, looking over the minutes, have always been candidacy exams." "I'd say they were pretty close to five and a half hours, and after all but one, the ordination exam was waived," said Oord. "They've filled up the morning and some afternoons. I think it's just a matter of time in deciding how much time we should put in per section." Cross-References to Related Articles: [No related articles on file] Contact List: Rev. Wybren Oord, Stated Clerk, Classis Michigan (URC) 12191 Polk St., Holland, MI 49424 H/O: (616) 875-4654 Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen, Pastor, Bethel United Reformed Church 1950 Cedar Brook Dr., Jenison, MI 49428 O: (616) 457-4001 * H: (616) 457-9652 * E-mail: derrickvm@juno.com Rev. Jay Wesseling, Administrative Pastor, Cornerstone United Reformed Church 6442 - 36th Ave., Hudsonville, MI 49426 O: (616) 669-2190 * H: (616) 662-2029 * FAX: (616) 669-4321 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive99: nr99-019.txt .