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RP Synod 2003
RP Synod 2003: Monday, June 30
DAY THREE: STORMS AND THE LACK THEREOF
In the wake of a morning thunderstorm, Ron Good, devotional
speaker for the day, spoke about God's protection for us as
we weather the storms of life. He used his recent close call
with a tornado as an illustration. His main point, however,
draws attention away from the turmoils of the moment to our
citizenship in God's eternal city. His text was Psalm 46,
one of the "Psalms of Our Lives" that is the theme
of this week's messages.
Synod's annual Committee on Understanding the Times called
attention to storms and turmoil, too, and to considering them
as signs of God's judgment. God cannot be pleased, the report
says, with nations of "evangelical churches" that
are consumed with feelings and marketing manuals and at the
same time, according to surveys, are biblically illiterate.
Certainly there were no storms in the Synod sessions today,
though it was a very full day of business, beginning at 8:30
a.m. and concluding at 9 p.m., covering over a dozen reports
in the meantime.
The first major debate of this Synod concerned the election
of congregational officers. Should congregations continue
to elect officers, such as chairman and vice-chairman, to
run congregational meetings? The issue had far-reaching implications,
including the nature of the church and of Presbyterian government.
This Synod committee's report had followed a report of a different
committee last year that had failed to achieve a two-thirds
majority for the changes it proposed.
God has created specific offices in the church (elder and
deacon); why should we create other offices for doing what
the God-given officers can do? That was part of the argument
of the majority of the committee, though one of the three
members of the committee submitted a minority report supporting
the current position of the denomination.
Other evidence was that nearly all our closest sister denominations
have congregational meetings led by the session.
While the committee saw that a change would be more purely
Presbyterian than current RPCNA practice, many delegates rose
to disagree. Pastor Don Piper contended that the current system
is already under the oversight of the session; while Pastor
William Edgar said that Scripture does not speak directly
to the matter and so we are free to decide and act in Christian
prudence. Some saw any change in the current system to be
a loss for the congregation as a whole. The likelihood of
many church/state problems for congregations, should the recommendation
pass, was also raised.
While the Synod voted against laying the report on the table,
and a later motion failed to postpone the report indefinitely,
so did the attempt to pass the first major recommendation
of the committee. Thus, with the Synod not desiring to "do
committee work on the floor," and without enough support
for the basic application of the committee's work, they accepted
Synod's vote to recommit the report to them for further work.
Another area in which the Synod voted to stay with current
practice is with the reporting of denominational statistics.
Saying that a change was needed to streamline the process
and make it easier for congregations to submit figures, the
Business of Synod Committee recommended cutting the reporting
approximately in half. But after several delegates rose to
vy for the historical and practical value of all the statistics,
the recommendation failed.
Initially a response to a communication to the court of Synod,
the Study Committee on the Doctrine of Worship has now served
for several years, has increased to 10 members, and has covered
a lot of ground. This year the committee is asking the Synod
to adopt its paper on "The Worship of the Church"
as an official position paper of the denomination.
"We submit our paper to the Synod as a faithful summary
of the Reformed doctrine of worship,…In particular, we
believe that if we wholeheartedly endorse the content of this
paper, it should lead to greater uniformity in the practice
of worship throughout the church." Those committee members
who spoke made it clear that they have been moved to consensus
through their discussions. Over half of that paper was adopted
by the Synod today, with the rest coming up for vote tomorrow.
One section was recommitted to the committee, especially because
of disagreement over wording calling the Lord's supper "the
climax of the public worship of God in the Church."
At the beginning of the afternoon session, the Synod received
some sad news. Willard Hemphill, a close relative of several
members of the court, passed away today. Prayer was offered
for his family.
The Synod looked at national and social reform in the afternoon
hours. The Woman's Association, which oversees the Reformed
Presbyterian Home and three other ministries, sent reports
to the Synod. Mrs. Faith Martin, executive director of the
Woman's Association, addressed the court. The reports noted
pressures on long-term care institutions, including decreased
government funding of long-term care, a large increase in
worker's compensation premiums, and new restrictions on the
amount of patient information that may be released.
Another organization with close ties to the RPCNA is the
National Reform Association. NRA treasurer William Gould addressed
the Synod. He pointed out that, while many think the NRA "labors
in obscurity" these days, yet the forces of opposition
are still concerned about "explicitly Christian politics."
Recently two leaders of this NRA were attacked in a cover
article of the magazine of Americans United for Separation
of Church and State.
Monday evening was devoted to missions. Prof. Dean Smith
of the Home Mission Board reported that 17 percent of the
current North American membership of the RP Church is now
in congregations begun since the Time to Plant initiative
began around 1990. Encouraged by response to its "Resident
Training Program," where potential church planters are
supported as they gain experience in an established congregation
for up to three years, the HMB is budgeting for two church
plants per year for the next 10 years.
The RPCNA must be more strategic in starting churches in
states without RP congregations and in major metropolitan
areas, said Prof. Tom Reid. Smith agreed with this, encouraging
presbyteries, who have primary responsibility in this area,
to do just that.
The Foreign Mission Board gave thanks for having three Japanese
pastors present at the Synod, along with one Japanese theological
student. Pastor Hiroyuki Kanamori of the Mukonoso RPC addressed
the court, encouraging the North American church to continue
to send missionary/pastors to mentor the leaders in that nation
of 120 million people.
FMB president Dave Long reported on the encouraging work
taking place in Cyprus, where missionary/pastor Bill Sterrett
serves. Pastor Long also said that of four potential mission
fields being explored last year, three remain: Sudan (where
missionaries have been sent in the past year); a Middle Eastern
country (names withheld for security, but an RP missionary
family is currently serving there and seeing unprecedented
growth); and mainland China.
The Reformation Translation Fellowship is grieving the loss
of its founder and longtime leader, Samuel Boyle, who was
a missionary to China and Japan.
The Committee on Revitalization of Churches said it is rejoicing
in a 2nd series of revitalization meetings, this time in Midwest
Presbytery with six congregations. Pastor Ron Good spoke candidly
on the benefits of the program thus far for his congregation,
particularly the blessings of faithful prayer for growth.
The final reports of the day dealt with revision of the current
psalter and an entirely new translation of the psalter. Revision
of the current psalter has nearly completed the first 89 psalms.
Tomorrow there will be more reports on the subject of worship,
and also a focus on relationships with other denominations.
--Drew and Lynne Gordon, editors
Reformed Presbyterian Witness
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SAID AT SYNOD:
"It's from the 1950 Minutes of Synod, and that's a long
time ago, I realize," said Pastor Harry Metzger.
"Not too long ago, really," quipped Moderator Bob
McFarland.
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