file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-047.txt ------------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release September 20, 1994 Release #1994-47 For Further Information Contact: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Voice: (616) 674-8446 FAX: (616) 674-8454 E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 Al Siebring, Contributing Editor Christian Renewal Office: (712) 722-6322 Home: (712) 722-3152 4034 Indian Ave., Orange City, IA 51041 Northwest Iowa Gets First Independent Reformed Church - Emergency classis meeting prompts three-fourths of Sanborn CRC council to secede from denomination, leave property behind by Al Bezuyen and Al Siebring c 1994 Christian Renewal Distributed by Reformed Believers Press Service Editor's Note: The text following is copyrighted by Christian Renewal but available for reprint in whole or in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given. Sanborn, Iowa (September 20, 1994) RBPS - Northwest Iowa, a region of the American Midwest that has thus far been a stronghold of loyalty to the Christian Reformed denomination, has its first Independent Reformed church. On Sunday, September 11th, the council of the Sanborn Christian Reformed Church announced to the congregation its plans to secede from the denomination. A letter was mailed to all households in the church detailing the plans for the separation and citing the grounds for such a move. The Sanborn church counts 573 members, making it the fourth- largest church in Classis of the Heartland. A congregational vote on the secession was planned for September 22nd but it was called off as Classis of the Heartland prepared to hold a September 21 special meeting on the issue, mostly to address concerns about the legality of the secession. At the heart of the questions surrounding a corporate separation of the church was the legal wording of the Articles of Incorporation of the Sanborn congregation, which one observer said "inexorably ties the corporation to the Christian Reformed denominationx any vote to cut that tie would be a violation of the very foundation of that church as a corporate body." Since 1970, the Christian Reformed synod has ruled that congregations own their own property and if a division occurs in the congregation the assets are to be proportionally divided. However, Sanborn CRC never updated their pre-1970 Articles of Incorporation, which include older language specifying that the property belongs to the Christian Reformed denomination and do not provide for a proportional division of assets. As a result, a majority of the church council announced four days before the vote that they were formally relinquishing their trusteeship of the corporation and called church members to come and worship with them in a new independent church beginning on Sunday, September 25th. Council chairman Elder Henry Hofland says the move to relinquish the trusteesh ip was strictly a matter of legalities. "We are no longer trustees of the corporation [of Sanborn CRC], but we are continuing to serve as council for the church that is reorganizing," he said. Hofland says there is an important distinction between relinquishing trusteeship and resigning from office. "It's our God-given duty to lead the flock, and we've been appointed to that," said Hofland. "The trusteeship was a civil matter, but holding on to the office is an ecclesiastical issue." The seceding church, which plans to meet in the local Christian School, has 12 of the 16 council members of the former Sanborn CRC. Elder Ted Bootsma is one of the four elders who decided not to leave. He says the difference of opinion over the split was largely a question of timing. "Th ose who left wanted to give up [on the denomination]. We're not ready to do that. Christ said that the healthy don't need the physicianx We feel like our denomination is sick and wounded, and we want to be an assistant to heal and mend. We know there's a lot of problems, but it's our intention to work for reformx We are not planning any changes in what the Sanborn CRC has been working and striving forx we want to continue to work on overtures and support anyone in any way we can to keep it as pure as we can." Bootsma says the two sides are parting company in a good spirit. "There was no hostility, we're very happy with the way it was conducted and the way it turned out. People left [the final joint congregational meeting] shaking hands, and everyone seemed to part as friends." Initially, it didn't appear the split would go that peacefully. The call for a vote prompted an almost instantaneous response from the Classical Interim Committee, which met several times in the days following the announcement, culminating in the decision to call a special classis meeting on Wednesday, September 21st, the day before the vote was to be held. The meeting was called at the request of three churches in the classis; Calvary CRC in Orange City, First CRC in Hull, and the Ocheydan CRC. A few days after the announcement of the Sanborn CRC's intentions, classical stated clerk Rev. Jack Gray told Christian Renewal that the committee had processed an appeal from a minority on the Sanborn council and sent the appeal back to the Sanborn council. As stated clerk, Gray is an ex-officio member of the CIC, but at press time, two of the CIC members declined comment on the situation, while a third member was unavailable for comment. The four dissenting members of the Sanborn council, including Bootsma, also sent a letter to all households in the Sanborn church urging them to reject the option of splitting from the denomination. The letter reads in part: "xour congregation here in Sanborn holds to the inerrancy of the Word of God and to the confessions which bind us together as a body of our Lord Jesus Christx [O]ur congregation has stood together to guard the faithful proclamati on of the Word of God, andx we have worked together in the task of urging the Christian Reformed Church to remain faithful to the Wordx We feel that this decision [to separate] needs to be rejected so that wex can continue on with the task of being a church to which Christ Himself calls us to be - a body of Christ that loves one another as Christ has loved us." The letter concludes wi th the urging that "xif any members of the council or the congregation are unhappy and unwilling to stay in the CRCNA they should leave and start another church or find another church that they would be happy with." Gray, who pastors one of the churches that called for the special classis meeting, was a classical church visitor to the Sanborn congregation last year. He says he's not surprised at the secession. "In this area you have a huge concentration of CRC people in three classes and yet you have not yet seen a church leave," Gray said. He says it's been "somewhat of a surprise" to him that this hasn't happened sooner. "People talk over coffee and visit together and pretty soon they gripe over the denomination and at some point they get to where it is more than they feel they can take," said Gray. Gray says Classis will support the continuing CRC in Sanborn. "Everyone has the perfect right to belong to the church to which they like to belong," said Gray. "We will have to create the structures necessary to the continuance of the CRC in Sanborn." While many previous splits in the CRC have been marked by rancorous fights over assets and church buildings, it appears the Sanborn secession will be free from those difficulties. Council clerk Dr. Ed Kreykes says the question of assets is somewhat of a moot point because of the way the Articles of Incorporation were set up. "The Articles clearly state that the assets belong to the church that remains affiliated with the CRC," he said. "We as a new council aren't going to go after anything. We'll leave it to the Christian graces of the council of the continuing CRC." While plans to leave weren't published until early September, the church has considered leaving for years. Kreykes said the consistory "has had a history of overtures and letters to classis and Synod dating back to the early 1980's. We've been concerned about this for a long time. After Synod '92, we started seriously thinking about separation." He says the consistory was "very dismayed" with the decision of Synod 1993 to open all offices to women, and a document was handed to the congregation in the summer of 1993, promising a coming re-evaluation of the relationship with the CRC. Kreykes said the issues prompting secession are broader than ordination of women, and the congregation had been well-educated on a broad range of issues. "We didn't want to be accused of making any decisions based on what other people were sayingx on what was being published in Christian Renewal, for example. We wanted to educate and inform our members, and give each of them a chance to decide this issue for themselves on the basis of study they had done. We published educational materials on women in office, the use of feminine language for God, abortion, and homosexuality, and opened evening classes for all our members. We studied the Scripture and the Confessions, Acts of Synod, and other documents, including copies of speeches made by Rev. Jim Lucas on the issue of homosexuality. So women in office isn't the only issue; as we looked at the whole picture, we found many other grounds [for leaving]." At the same time, though, Kreykes says the council was unimpressed with what many conservatives say was a victory at Synod 1994: the decision to adopt a strong statement against women's ordination. "The synodical statement on women in office is an excellent document, but the actions of Synod in returning to the decision to allow women to 'expound' the Word didn't back that up, especially when they don't have a definition of what they mean by 'expound.'" The Sanborn decision is getting unqualified support from a former pastor of the church. Rev. Stuart Pastine, who currently pastors the Lane Avenue CRC in Kansas City which is also part of Classis of the Heartland, says the majority of the Sanborn council "exercised [its] authority for the spiritual welfare of the congregation. They believe the present atmosphere in the CRC is detrimental to a truly Reformed church, and they're removing themselves from that negative influence." Contact List: Rev. Jack Gray, Stated Clerk Classis of the Heartland 708 - 5th St. Orange City, IA 51041-1804 H: (712) 737-2997 O: (712) 737-2797 Dr. Edwin Kreykes, Clerk Sanborn Christian Reformed Church 617 Sunrise Sanborn, IA 51248 H: (712) 729-3806 Rev. Jim Lucas Note to Editors: This information will be provided should you wish to contact Rev. Lucas for an interview. We request that it not be published to protect his privacy. Rev. Stuart Pastine, Pastor Lane Avenue Christian Reformed Church 9519 Lane Ave. Kansas City, MO 64134 O: (816) 765-0882 H: (816) 763-8432