From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 00:33:46 -0500 (EST) NR #1996-115: Outlook Editor Vanden Heuvel Leaves CRC to Plant Presbyterian Church in America Congregation in Holland Some said Rev. Tom Vanden Heuvel would never leave the Christian Reformed denomination. Others said it was only a matter of time before he joined his son in Lethbridge and many of his friends and colleagues as a member of the secession movement. When the point of decision arrived, however, Vanden Heuvel did something nobody predicted by accepting a call to serve as organizing pastor of a Presbyterian Church in America mission work started by his daughter and son-in-law, Drew and Jane Jelgerhuis of Holland, Michigan. The decision to leave the CRC was not easy for Vanden Heuvel, who as editor of Outlook magazine has been one of the most prominent moderate conservative leaders in the denomination. His decision to accept the call to serve the new Covenant Presbyterian Church of Holland means that Vanden Heuvel, currently pastor of First CRC in the Grand Rapids suburb of Byron Center, will conclude 35 years of Christian Reformed ministry just a few years before his retirement. NR #1996-115: For Immediate Release Outlook Editor Vanden Heuvel Leaves CRC to Plant Presbyterian Church in America Congregation in Holland by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (October 31, 1996) URNS - Some said Rev. Tom Vanden Heuvel would never leave the Christian Reformed denomination. Others said it was only a matter of time before he joined his son in Lethbridge and many of his friends and colleagues as a member of the secession movement. When the point of decision arrived, however, Vanden Heuvel did something nobody predicted by accepting a call to serve as organizing pastor of a Presbyterian Church in America mission work started by his daughter and son-in-law, Drew and Jane Jelgerhuis of Holland, Michigan. Vanden Heuvel's October 27 announcement followed a series of exams by the PCA's Great Lakes Presbytery and the denominational church planting assessment center, all of which are required by the PCA before a call can be extended. His decision to accept the call to serve the new Covenant Presbyterian Church of Holland means that Vanden Heuvel, currently pastor of First CRC in the Grand Rapids suburb of Byron Center, will conclude 35 years of Christian Reformed ministry just a few years before his retirement. The decision to leave the CRC was not easy for Vanden Heuvel, who as editor of Outlook magazine has been one of the most prominent moderate conservative leaders in the denomination. His own roots in the CRC and its parent denominations in the Netherlands go back all the way to the 1834 Afscheiding secession movement out of the state church, at which time some of the soldiers who prevented worshippers from getting into the church of secession leader Rev. Hendrick Scholte were forcibly quartered in his great-great-grandfather's house. "It is with mixed feelings that I do this," said Vanden Heuvel. "The Christian Reformed Church has been my spiritual mother; the CRC taught me to know the Lord and to love the Lord. It is with pain that I leave the CRC, it is not with joy." Nevertheless, Vanden Heuvel said he had no choice. "The CRC is going in the wrong direction and has departed from its original commitment to the clarity of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, and the integrity of the Church Order," said Vanden Heuvel. "I would say that my main concern on the whole issue of women's ordination is the fact that Scripture is compromised; the synods of 1995 and 1996 said that the Scripture is not clear on something which the Apostle Paul is very clear about." Vanden Heuvel said his decision to join the 271,263-member PCA, one of the fastest-growing denominations in America, centered on the PCA's commitment both to evangelism and Calvinist theology. "There is virtually no difference between the continental Reformed faith expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort, and the Scottish and English Reformation creed of the Westminster Standards," said Vanden Heuvel. "Our five-year goal is to have a well-organized Reformed congregation, strong in outreach, solid in doctrine, exciting in worship, and two missions, one to the Hispanic and one to the college community." To emphasize that dual purpose, Vanden Heuvel pointed to the Covenant Presbyterian Church motto: "Anchored to the Rock... and in step with the times." "The church will be very aggressive in outreach, it's a very important thing to us to bring them in, bring them up, send them out," said Vanden Heuvel, noting that while Holland has a reputation for conservative Calvinism, demographical statistics indicate that 38.8% of Holland residents have no church involvement and only 30% are actively involved in a church. The mission plan for the new PCA church plant states the case still more directly. "Holland still has many churches of Reformed heritage, but many have through compromise weakened from their original commitment to the authority of the Scriptures," the plan noted. "We believe there is a real thirst for a church that will be uncompromising in its convictions to be, as your motto states: 'True Scriptures, the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.'" At least for the time being, Vanden Heuvel will be somewhat isolated in his Michigan location. The PCA, founded in 1973 as a secession from the former southern Presbyterian Church in the United States which has since merged with the northern Presbyterians to form the Presbyterian Church (USA), still has its primary strength in the southern United States. Less than 1200 of its members are members of Michigan churches. Vanden Heuvel's church will be the fifth PCA church in Michigan, others being Christ Church of Grand Rapids, Tyrone Covenant Presbyterian in Fenton, Christ Presbyterian in Midland, and First Presbyterian in Bad Axe. The number of PCA members in Michigan may change rapidly, however, if initial progress in church planting proves successful. "There is a list of a considerable number of families who have indicated an interest in this ministry; 75 households," said Vanden Heuvel, noting that the core group is composed both of CRC members and people from a PCA background who have moved to the Holland area. According to Vanden Heuvel, the Covenant Presbyterian Church strategy will be to build on the small group Bible studies that have been ongoing since the beginning of 1996, adding Sunday evening worship services at Holland Christian Middle School on February 2 and beginning morning and evening worship services on Easter Sunday, March 30. "We want to develop a good core group and are assuming that people who will be checking out our church will be going to their own church Sunday mornings," said Vanden Heuvel. Vanden Heuvel will definitely receive a strong push toward rapid church growth from his presbytery. "It costs us about a hundred thousand dollars to start a church," said presbytery Mission to North America chairman Rev. Larry Allen. "When you throw in a guy's career and all the training and experience he has, we don't want to have a lot of failures." "The churches that are self-supporting within one to two years generally do better than the churches that are self-supporting within four to five years, so we don't make any apologies for telling a guy you have this amount of money so make it work in one to two years," said Allen. "It's a great incentive to get out of bed in the morning." Dr. D. Clair Davis, longtime moderator of the faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, said his experience with Vanden Heuvel as a seminary board member during the beginning of its California campus led him to expect a highly successful church plant in Holland. "Tom in many ways was the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary in California; he was the pastor out there and he was the the main man who came out here and said we absolutely needed to be out there," said Davis. "That's almost enough for one life to be involved in the founding of that school." According to Davis, Vanden Heuvel made the right choice by deciding to join an existing Reformed denomination rather than working to establish a new group. "I am personally delighted that Tom is giving some leadership toward people to not reinvent the wheel but to identify with the church that is promoting the Gospel according to the Reformed faith throughout the world," said Davis. "If the Orthodox Presbyterian guys had joined the CRC in 1936 instead of starting a new denomination, just think where things might have been today." Davis, who was originally ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and transferred to the PCA in 1988, said he hoped other conservatives leaving the CRC would follow Vanden Heuvel's lead. "When I reflect on the OPC and all the years invested in discovering its identity, what makes it distinctive, its justification for its separate existence, I think it's wonderful that Vanden Heuvel is doing an end run around all that foolishness and joining the PCA," said Davis. "Our job is not to distance ourselves from others but to get on with the preaching of the Word." Davis, however, recognized that calling a leading member of the CRC's conservative wing to do church planting in the Christian Reformed heartland of West Michigan carried with it special risks, both for the PCA and for relations between the two largest evangelical Reformed denominations in North America. "I don't want to undercut the interchurch relations committee, but the actions of our delegation at NAPARC in being very friendly to the CRC have not reflected the will of the General Assembly, of course that makes things tricky with Tom and Laurie," said Davis, referring to the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council of conservative Calvinistic denominations. "The PCA is now matured and ready for an influx without needing to be nervous about that upsetting its equilibrium or something like that." Despite leaving the CRC, Vanden Heuvel intends to continue his role as editor of Outlook. "The Outlook is not geared specifically toward the Christian Reformed Church; the Reformed churches include certainly the PCA," said Vanden Heuvel, noting that PCA members such as Dr. Carl Bogue and Dr. Joey Pipa have written in recent issues. "Being in the PCA is really right in line with the stated purpose of the Reformed Fellowship, publishers of the Outlook." According to Vanden Heuvel, the Outlook does not expect to change its content. "It will not substantially change; it will continue to be devoted to the exposition and defense of the Reformed faith," said Vanden Heuvel. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-034: Two Hundred Christian Reformed Council Members Gather for Prayer Meeting Against Women in Office; Vanden Heuvel Urges CRC to Repent of Disobedience to Word of God #1995-004: Synod Issue of Outlook Mailed to Over 80,000 CRC Homes #1995-106C: Interclassical Conference Urges Christian Reformed Synod to Lead Denomination in Repentance; Calls for Formation of "Covenant Union" of CRC Conservatives #1996-076: CRC Synod Rejects 25 Overtures and Communications Calling for End to Classical Option on Ordination of Women Contact List: Rev. Larry Allen, Chairman, Great Lakes Presbytery Mission to North America Committee PO Box 659, Dublin, OH 43017 O: (614) 766-4151 * H: (614) 847-3813 Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Laurie Vanden Heuvel, Co-Editors, The Outlook 2475 - 85th St. SW, Byron Center, MI 49315 O: (616) 878-9278 * F: (616) 878-3256 * E-Mail: TomLaur@aol.com Dr. D. Clair Davis, Moderator of the Faculty, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia Box 27009, Philadelphia, PA 19118 O: (215) 887-5511 * FAX: (215) 887-5404 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-115.txt .