file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-051.txt ------------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release October 4, 1994 Release #1994-51 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 Classis of the Heartland Writes Stormy Final Chapter on Secession from Sanborn Christian Reformed Church by Al Siebring and Al Bezuyen 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. Orange City, Iowa (October 4, 1994) RBPS - Amid much procedural confusion and charges of a lack of integrity, Classis of the Heartland has voted to affirm the work of its Interim Committee with regard to a secession from the denomination within its fourth-largest church. A special classis meeting was called September 21, two days after a majority of officebearers in the Sanborn Christian Reformed Church had relinquished their trusteeship in the corporation of the Sanborn CRC. The elders and deacons had initially planned a congregational vote to lead a majority of the congregation out of the denomination, but cancelled those plans amid legal concerns surrounding their local Articles of Incorporation, which state that the Sanborn CRC is "irrevocably" tied to the CRCNA. The classis meeting stopped short of deposing the departing officebearers, although the Interim Committee had recommended that classis "acknowledge the resignation of those officebearers who voted to 'cease affiliation with the CRCNA.'" The meeting lasted more than 4 hours, and a large part of it was taken up with disputes over the very nature of the gathering itself. The chairman of the Interim Committee, Rev. Aldon Kuiper, was roundly criticized by some delegates for the way the committee had dealt with the situation. Kuiper reported that the Sanborn congregation had met and decided to part peaceably and, "consider each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord." He repeatedly stressed that "matters had been handled well in Sanborn, and the CIC had not wanted to get involved, but that the CIC felt it necessary to clear up a few matters." Some delegates questioned the need for having a special meeting at all, given the fact that the separation had gone peacefully and that a regular classis meeting was scheduled for the following week. However, Kuiper insisted the meeting was necessary to clear up some legal questions. "There is still confusion lingering as to the distinction between the resigning trustees and (their status) as elders and deacons," said Kuiper. Delegates were given a 13-page report on the committee's dealings with the situation, and it soon became evident that the report was not representative of the work of the entire group. Three times, delegates quizzed Kuiper about whose recommendations were contained in the report. Finally, Rev. Jay Wesseling, who chaired the classis meeting, instructed him to give a direct answer and he admitted that the recommendations and parts of the report's observations were his own rather than those of the committee. The form of some of the correspondence given to classis was also subject to questioning. When pressed, Kuiper conceded that many of the letters in the correspondence package distributed to delegates weren't exact copies of the letters as they had been sent. "These letters were not meant to demonstrate the final documents, justx the process by which the council of Sanborn CRC decided to leave the CRC," he said. However, the harshest criticism of Kuiper's work came from Wesseling, who was also a member of the Interim Committee. He ceded the chair and took the floor in a blistering 15-minute attack on Kuiper's "interference" in the Sanborn situation. As a committee member, Wesseling insisted he "never had anything to do with" a letter ostensibly from the committee, dated September 17. The letter directed the Sanborn council to cancel all further congregational meetings on the proposed secession. Wesseling further wondered how the letter could have come from the whole committee since the third member, Rev. Carl Zylstra, was out of the state on the date the letter was written. "I dissented from this whole position. I told the committee that I wanted nothing to go out [in the form of correspondence] without my initials on it," said Wesseling. "That was never once honored." Wesseling insisted he had never even seen the September 17 letter until he received a copy in his mailbox the day before the classis meeting. On several other pieces of correspondence, Wesseling said he had told Kuiper to register his negative vote on the committee's actions, and to communicate that position to the Sanborn council in writing. None of the copies of the correspondence presented to classis carried any such disclaimers. "I don't mind disagreeing or being in a minority," Wesseling said. "But we have to do things in the church of all places with courtesy and honestyx This is not integrity." Kuiper was unrepentant. He insisted that he had been in telephone contact with Zylstra before sending the September 17 letter, and added that he had verbally communicated Wesseling's objections to the Sanborn council when he delivered other correspondence. In the end, over the strong objections of several delegates, classis voted to confirm the work of the Interim Committee. Classis also debated a motion to "consider the resignations of the trustees of the Sanborn CRC to be also their resignation from office." After some debate, the motion passed with an amendment that the resignations as trustees be considered as "resignation(s) from office in the Sanborn CRC." The distinction was important to Rev. Stuart Pastine from Lane Avenue CRC in Kansas City, who moved the amendment. In an interview afterward, Pastine said classis was trying to "arrogate authority unto itself which it didn't have." "They didn't have the authority to lord it over the Sanborn CRC," said Pastine. "Those officebearers never resigned their office, just their trusteeship. These guys [the classis] have no authority to decide who is and who isn't an officebearer in the church of Christ." As for the new independent church in Sanborn, it held its organizational meeting on September 22. Of the 145 families on the membership rolls of the former CRC, 68 families and 12 singles and widows have signed on with the new church, which has been tentatively named the "Cornerstone Orthodox Reformed Church of Sanborn." The congregation has voted to extend a call to Harry Zekveld, a 1993 graduate of Mid-America Reformed Seminary who had served the former CRC as stated supply since the summer of 1993. Dr. Edwin Kreykes, one of the elders spearheading the secession, says they're excited about the future. "I think we have a group that is unified and committed to rediscovering what church is really all about," said Kreykes. "Our services have been a real blessing. The people are happy and friendly, and we have great joy in knowing that we are at peace together." Contact List: Dr. Edwin Kreykes, Clerk, Cornerstone Orthodox Reformed Church of Sanborn 617 Sunrise, Sanborn, IA 51248 - H: (712) 729-3806 Rev. Aldon Kuiper, Pastor, Hope Christian Reformed Church 1421 Sixth St., Hull, IA 51239 - H/O: (712) 439-1003 Rev. Stuart Pastine, Pastor, Lane Avenue Christian Reformed Church 9519 Lane Ave., Kansas City, MO 64134 - O: (816) 765-0882 - H: (816) 763-8432 Rev. Jay Wesseling, Pastor, First Christian Reformed Church 919 E. 9th St., Sheldon, IA 51201 - H/O: (712) 324-3913 Dr. Carl Zylstra, Pastor, Immanuel Christian Reformed Church 217 - 3rd St. SW, Orange City, IA 51041 - O: (712) 737-3294 - H: (712) 737-8309