file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-049.txt ------------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release September 29, 1994 Release #1994-49 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 Top Denominational Officials Issue Advisory on "Ecclesiastical Disobedience" by Christian Reformed Employees - Dr. Peter Borgdorff: "All agency personnelx are advised to take note of the Board of Trustees decision of September 1992 disapproving of agency personnel participating in activities which contravene a decision of synodx" by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Grand Rapids, Mich. (September 29, 1994) RBPS - In an unexpected development, three of the top officials of the Christian Reformed denomination have issued a strongly worded advisory to all CRC agency directors on "personnel involvement in ecclesiastical disobedience." Less than one week after Classis Grand Rapids East's July 21 vote "in principle" that "classis permit its individual churches the freedom to decide whether or not the word 'male' in article 3a of the church order is operative in their particular settings," CRC Executive Director of Ministries Dr. Peter Borgdorff issued a memorandum on ecclesiastical disobedience. Borgdorff verified the accuracy of the memo, which was obtained by Reformed Believers Press Service from unofficial sources shortly after Classis Grand Rapids East's September 15 decision to revise its July vote. "All agency personnel in general, and those who are office-bearers in a Christian Reformed congregation in particular, are advised to take note of the Board of Trustees decision of September 1992 disapproving of agency personnel participating in activities which contravene a decision of synod, and 'for choosing to follow (such) a course of action rather than responding to synod's decision via channels indicated in the church order,'" wrote Borgdorff. The consequences of participating in ecclesiastical disobedience could be seve re. "The Board of Trustees issued formal reprimands at that time to the persons involved and asked that those 'who officially serve the denomination in positions of leadership will abide by the decisions of synod and the stipulations of the Church Order," the advisory continued. Although work on the advisory began with a July 6 decision by the CRC's ministry coordinating council "that the [Executive Director of Ministries] be authorized to appoint a subcommittee to reflect on precedents of two years ago concerning agency personnel who participated in church actions that constituted disobedience of synodical decisions," Borgdorff confirmed that the July 21 Classis Grand Rapids East decision was a factor in the advisory. "Because so many of our employees are members of churches in Classis Grand Rapids East we thought it best to issue an advisory regarding ecclesiastical disobedience," said Borgdorff, who was in the audience at the special Classis Grand Rapids East meeting. "It was to alert everyone to the fact that the Board would not look kindly on participation in such activities." Describing the advisory as "precautionary and preventive," Borgdorff said the advisory was a response to an agency which had requested guidance on dealing with ecclesiastical disobedience but no particular employees were in mind. "It's not that we know of any agency personnel doing these things," said Borgdorff. "It was an advance advisory to forestall such events." The agency personnel reprimanded following Synod 1992 were Rev. Louis Tamminga, director of Pastor-Church Relations, and Dr. Harvey Smit, editor-in-chief of the education department of CRC Publications and at that time interim co-editor of The Banner. The two served as consistory presidents at Church of the Servant CRC and Eastern Avenue CRC when the two congregations voted to ordain women elders in the fall of 1992. Although their position as prominent denominational employees serving as presidents of ecclesiastically disobedient councils made them leading targets of conservative ire, both Tamminga and Smit said their reprimands stemmed from the fact that they did not protest the vote to disobey synod and would have occurred even if they had simply been officebearers in their churches. "The whole matter was not my being president, it was that as an elder I did not protest it," said Tamminga. "I couldn't vote, of course, as president, but then they said to me, 'Would you have voted for it?' and I said 'yes.'" Tamminga said his lack of protest was not "being stubborn" but was instead based on a 1990 promise by his church council to ordain women elders in 1992 regardless of whether Synod 1992 ratified women in office. "The council said at that time if synod changes its mind in 1992 we will go ahead and ordain women elders," said Tamminga. "I personally was not in favor of disobeying synod, but I said, 'We have burned our bridges, we have promised people we will go ahead and do this now, so we have to keep our promise.'" CRC denominational officials wanted to make certain that Tamminga accepted the reprimand. "They said to me, 'Here's the reprimand, and we want to have confirmation from you that you accept the reprimand,'" said Tamminga. "I sent them a letter stating that I accepted it, and I sent a letter to all stated clerks and to all regional pastors indicating that I accepted the reprimand." Tamminga subsequently resigned as president of his church council, although he said the resignation had less to do with the reprimand than with an internal restructuring which divided the council into "pastoral elders" and "administrative elders" and with his desire to serve in a pastoral rather than an administrative role. Tamminga's term as a pastoral elder expired in the summer of 1993 and he no longer serves on the council. Smit's reaction was somewhat different: rather than resigning and sending out a mailing announcing the resignation, Smit filled out his term as president of the Eastern Avenue consistory. Smit's term also ended in the summer of 1993 and he is no longer an elder at Eastern Avenue. "My reaction was I agreed that if a situation similar to that would come up again in which I would be asked to speak out or take part in some public event that would not be in accord with a synodical decision, before speaking publicly I would speak with the executive director of CRC Publications," said Smit. Neither Tamminga nor Smit plan to engage in ecclesiastical disobedience anytime soon. Tamminga interprets the Borgdorff memo as prohibiting any denominational employees who serve as CRC officebearers from supporting or failing to protest a decision to disobey synod. "It could be safely said that the Board of Trustees set a precedent and that has never been withdrawn," said Tamminga. Smit indicated that he would refer any questionable cases to his superiors. "I would check with [CRC Publications Executive Director] Gary Mulder and see if he had a problem with an activity, and if he had problems I'm sure he would check with Pete Borgdorff," Smit said. Contact List: Dr. Peter Borgdorff, Executive Director of Ministries, Christian Reformed Church 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 - O: (616) 246-0832 - H: (616) 957-3288 Dr. Harvey A. Smit, Editor in Chief, Education Department, CRC Publications 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 - O: (616) 246-0787 - H: (616) 247-3877 Rev. Louis Tamminga, Director, Pastor-Church Relations Services 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 - O: (616) 246-0838 - H: (616) 247-1974