Closing Synod Remarks
I’m afraid I haven’t been particularly faithful over the past couple of days keeping you updated on synod; perhaps I can give a quick update on some of the highlights.
-The Belhar Confession Study Guide is now available. I have not looked through it myself but have heard wonderful things. If it’s possible to judge a guide by its cover, this should be excellent. It is more substantial (in size) than I expected and is more appealing to the eye than many of our publications.
-John Orneé has been elected the newest vice president. If I allow honesty to prevail, I’ll have to admit I’m surprised that the synod elected a candidate from Zeeland Classis. Having said that, I have deep respect for John - he was the moderator at Dunningville before I came and did an excellent job. There are few people in our denomination as easy to like as him. My only regret in the synod’s choice to elect him is that they did not elect Lisa (the other final candidate). Lisa is the moderator of the Worship Commission and would have also made an excellent president in ‘08.
-My opinion is in, the Shortened Schedule for synod this year wasn’t worth the sacrifice. This year’s synod had a remarkably small amount of business to attend which allowed it to manage with such a short schedule. I doubt a “normal” synod would have been able to do so. I mentioned part of the problem in my post entitled “Sunday Business,” what concerns me almost as much as that, is that in order to accommodate the shortened schedule, some of the commissions were disallowed from presenting their reports — not good!
-My opinion is also in on Irving Rivera, as synod president. It’s true that he is no wiz when it comes to the specifics of leading a group deliberation such as synod, but he did an admirable job. He had an appropriate humor, adequately ran business, asked for help when he thought someone else might be able to clarify something more effectively than he and, from my observation, seemed well liked by most of the delegates. My only concern has little to do with Irving…He represents (along with a number of others in our current leadership) a side of our denomination that accepts (and encourages) a view of the Holy Spirit that is primarily pentecostal rather than reformed, an approach to church planting and evangelism that although popular is not biblical (I will post on this in the future), and a style of leadership that is primarily informed by either episcopal polity (top down) or the business world (CEO run).
-The Seminarian Seminar and Call Waiting programs were excellent this year. The near future of the church is in well-rounded, well-thought-out hands who exhibit immense potential and an unusual talent for reconciliation and cooperation.
-The paper on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder was accepted and (although not sent to the churches) will be available on the RCA’s website. It is currently found under the Mission & Justice section of the synod workbook here.
-Synod accepted the Standards for the Preparation for Ministry presented by MiFCA. They are available under the Ordained Leadership section of the synod workbook here. I am pleased to note that they did not suggest removing Greek & Hebrew from the requirements and that they specifically noted a necessity for “thorough knowledge of” and “commitment to” reformed doctrine, government and worship.
-The Rev. Dr. Kansfield was dismissed to the Classis of Orange. If you want my opinion, I think it was a good move.
-Zeeland Classis’ Overture regarding the cessation of dialogue about homosexuality was denied.
-I believe a recommendation t0 create a new ad hoc committee “to determine the nature and extent of the continuing relation among the classes, regional synods, and General Synod” was passed (originally R31 under the church order section of the work book here). There were some amendments to the original recommendation, but I don’t currently have a copy to them.
-The paper “Human Sexuality and Marriage” was referred back to the Commission on Theology for revisions (ostensibly to make it reflect a more covenantal theology and to engage more reformed sources). (The current version can be found under the Worship & Theology section of the workbook here.)
-Finally (but certainly not leastly!), it’s worth noting the retirement of Joanne Fernandez. Joanne has been the organizing force behind synod for decades (indeed, she has been serving the general synod for almost 40 years!) I first met her when I was a freshmen or sophomore in college and she has called me by name every time I’ve seen her since. Although her replacement is excellent and capable I regret seeing Joanne go…the denomination is weaker because of it. May her retirement be a blessed one (who knows, perhaps she’ll even show up at a synod or two in the future…maybe even as a delegate!)
Well. That’s all I can think of right now.
Grace and Peace,
`tim
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