“President’s” Address to Zeeland Classis

I have, for almost a year, been the Vice-President/Acting-President of Zeeland Classis (the regional denominational assembly that Dunningville belongs to).  One of the privileges of that position is the opportunity to address the Classis at the March meeting with a “State of Religion” report.  That meeting was Tuesday Evening.  I didn’t ask for the Classis to take any official actions (although there is precedent for that), but did ask for some sincere thought on how we do what we do and who we are…

Zeeland Classis

Rev. Tim TenClay, D.Min. – Acting President

March 16, 2010

If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be standing here this evening in this capacity, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have believed you. While I knew the day would come when I’d take on the presidency, at least in theory, I certainly never imagined it would happen so quickly. Our bylaws, after all, allot for a full year as vice president to ensure adequate time to learn how the system works and gain, at least a basic, understanding of what’s going on in the Classis.

Even now, after almost a year of attending Executive Committee meetings, all-the-while asking questions, and trying to wrap my brain around who’s serving where and what’s going on in at least some of your congregations, I still have to admit an immense ignorance of the state of religion in our Classis.

Having said that, there can be no question that some wonderful things are going on in some of our sister congregations. The past few years have seen a growth in ministries that seek to follow Jesus’ command that we “feed the hungry” and “clothe the naked.” Similarly, while Michigan’s ongoing economic crisis looms large in almost all of our congregations, many of your Annual Consistorial Reports indicated a deep desire to ensure that the people around you are well cared for by helping provide resources, referrals, financial counseling, education, and of course encouragement.

Unfortunately, while Michigan’s economy may have provided ample opportunities for us to reach out to our communities in very tangible ways, it has also burdened our congregations in ways that have often been nearly insurmountable. Some of you have eliminated staff members; others have had to put growth and building projects on hold. Most of us have had to tighten our budget-belts; many of us have seen more red numbers on our accounting sheets than black ones, and a few of us have been forced to adopt an uncomfortable amount of debt in order to simply keep our doors open.

These aren’t merely questions of finance, of course. These are questions of ministry and mission. It isn’t as easy for us to take risks as it was a few years ago – even important ones. Where we were once able to rely on the generosity of our congregations to pull through when worthy opportunities appeared, we’re now faced with the reality that even the deepest pockets in our communities are often empty. It is true congregationally. It is true Classically, and while our regional Synod hasn’t met yet this year and I haven’t seen the General Synod numbers, I imagine it is as true for the upper two assemblies as it is for us.

There is no question that Christ’s church has weathered bigger storms than this – sometimes faithfully other times less so. The difference between the two, as I see it, depends on whether we respond to these hardships by hunkering down inwardly or by opening up outwardly. The temptation, of course, is the former – to turn all of our resources inward on ourselves, to increasingly isolate ourselves as individuals and congregations. Sure, we may be willing to allow others to partner with us when it’s convenient, but only when it’s convenient. It is the temptation to say that the “other” doesn’t matter until we’ve ensured our own comfort and survival.

The other option is the exact opposite – to take our own hardships seriously, but rather than self-isolating, to recognize that God made us a social creatures. Sure, some of us – both as individuals and as congregations – are more introverted than others, and yet the fact remains, God didn’t create us to be entirely isolated as individuals and I believe the same is true for us as congregations. Thus we have Classes.

Just as we are called to live in relationship as brothers and sisters united, by the Holy Spirit, with Christ and with one another in Christ, so too I believe it is our calling as congregations to do the same.

Paul’s “body” theology is as applicable to our assemblies as it is to our people. Each of our congregations are differently gifted and differently skilled. Each of us has different responsibilities and abilities within the larger body. None of us can fully live into God’s calling on our communities alone.

We may, at times, act Congregational. There are even those among us who believe it to be a better system, but as Reformed Churches, we are not. We are congregations within a larger body. We are parts of a bigger whole. Our polity, and our theology, both speak clearly to that simple truth. The only question is whether or not our behavior reflects it.

Few, if any of us, truly imagine the Christian faith to be most faithfully lived out in seclusion from other believers. The same is true for congregations. If each of us hopes to live and minister faithfully into the calling God is placing on our congregations, I can only imagine it will be done in partnership with one another.

We need each other – especially when we find ourselves faced with the kinds of difficulties we’re almost-universally experiencing right now.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that we will always agree with one another. Nor does it mean that we will even always like one another. All of that is irrelevant. At weddings, it is often noted that “what God has joined together” no one has the right to separate. How can that be any less true of us as sister congregations?!

In many ways, the recent past has been one filled with great pain in our Classis. We have laid congregations to rest and seen others barely survive. We have watched relationships between ministers and congregations dissolve with a virulence that rivals Hollywood break-ups – sometimes without doing anything to mitigate the pain and poison experienced by both sides.

I am not prophet-enough to suggest what lies ahead for us in the year to come, but I have no doubt, whatsoever, that it will be best-weathered if we do it together.

• What do you imagine would happen if all the congregations in Zeeland Classis prayed for each other… not just in theory, but from the pulpit… regularly?
• What would it look like if we viewed assessments as a commitment to our common ministry together rather than taxes to pay or withhold depending on whether we like or don’t like what the Classis is doing or whether it’s convenient at the time?
• What if Zeeland Classis, taking a page from the Heidelberg Catechism’s playbook, sought to foster a togetherness among those from different backgrounds and divergent perspectives?
• What if this Classis sought “the things that make for unity.. and peace” as much as the things we believe make for “purity?”¹
• What if we truly lived out the promise we’ve made to “walk in the Spirit of Christ, in love and fellowship” with one another?²

To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know what that would happen if we were that kind of a Classis, but I do believe it would be something amazing, and I do believe it would make God happy… happier, indeed, than the alternatives, and that is always a good thing.