NR #1996-029: Northern Illinois, Chicago South Allow Women in Office Classis Illiana in the southeastern suburbs of Chicago has a longstanding reputation as one of the most conservative classes in the Christian Reformed denomination. Following Synod 1995's decision to allow classes to approve the ordination of women by declaring the word "male" in Article 3a of the church order to be inoperative, Classis Illiana not only took the technically unnecessary step of declaring "male" to still be operative but also voted to reserve the right to discipline any churches electing women elders. Disciplining churches with women elders definitely won't happen in the other two Chicagoland classes of the Christian Reformed denomination. At their March 6 and January 17 meetings, Classis Northern Illinois and Classis Chicago South both voted to declare the word "male" to be inoperative. NR #1996-029: For Immediate Release Northern Illinois, Chicago South Allow Women in Office by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (April 3, 1996) URNS - Classis Illiana in the southeastern suburbs of Chicago has a longstanding reputation as one of the most conservative classes in the Christian Reformed denomination. Following Synod 1995's decision to allow classes to approve the ordination of women by declaring the word "male" in Article 3a of the church order to be inoperative, Classis Illiana not only took the technically unnecessary step of declaring "male" to still be operative but also voted to reserve the right to discipline any churches electing women elders. Disciplining churches with women elders definitely won't happen in the other two Chicagoland classes of the Christian Reformed denomination. At their March 6 and January 17 meetings, Classis Northern Illinois and Classis Chicago South both voted to declare the word "male" to be inoperative. According to Rev. Lambert Sikkema, president of the winter meeting of Classis Northern Illinois, the classical debate was brief and fairly calm. "The issue of women in office has never been a major issue in this classis and I think that was reflected in the tone of this discussion and its length and the subsequent reaction to it, that we've got more pressing things to do," said Sikkema. "We spend most of our time talking about how to help our Vietnamese and Korean and inner-city churches and our new church starts. That's really the issue in Northern Illinois, managing the difficult problems of new and emerging churches." Sikkema said women in office only came up because of issues in two inner-city Chicago churches. "There are a couple of churches in classis that have a pressing need for women officebearers where the numbers of single parent heads of household are the majority and not the exception," said Sikkema. "This is not a pressing issue in the suburban churches." While inner-city churches are also a concern in Classis Chicago South, the issue there was prompted by two suburban churches supporting women elders. The voting process ended up being more complicated than the final vote, however. When a first ballot indicated that a number of delegates had abstained, the classis officers asked all delegates to cast ballots to produce a better representation of the classis sentiments. A second ballot resulted in a different problem - the stated clerk received more ballots than the total number of voting delegates to classis. Not wanting to be linked with the "vote early, vote often" proverb which made Chicago famous for its electoral irregularities, the classis officers called for an executive session in which only the voting delegates would be present. When the third ballot was counted, women in office had passed. "I think what happened is that the chairman simply said after the first vote, we should have everyone voting," said classical stated clerk Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel. "He meant every delegate, and he thinks some of the people visiting perhaps thought, 'He wants us to vote.'" Cross-References to Related Articles: #1996-027: Total of Christian Reformed Classes Allowing Women's Ordination Reaches Thirteen [See related article list at crossreference] Contact List: Rev. Timothy Douma, Pastor, Loop Christian Ministries 161 W. Harrison St., Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60605 * O: (312) 427-7962 * H: (708) 848-9913 * FAX: (312) 360-0057 Rev. Bill Lenters, Pastor, Hope Christian Reformed Church 6609 Courtney Dr., Oak Forest, IL 60452 * O: (708) 687-2095 * H: (708) 687-2530 * FAX: (708) 687-9917 Rev. Jack Reiffer, Pastor, Hessel Park Christian Reformed Church 910 S. Lynn St., Champaign, IL 61820 * O: (217) 356-3177 * H: (217) 459-6328 Rev. John Schuurman, Pastor, Wheaton Christian Reformed Church 711 E. Harrison, Wheaton, IL 60187 O: (708) 668-6054 * H: (708) 668-7918 * FAX: (708) 668-3810 * E-Mail: jschuu@ix.netcom.com Rev. Lambert Sikkema, Pastor, Western Springs Christian Reformed Church c/o 5140 Wolf Rd., Western Springs, IL 60558-1816 * O: (708) 246-4638 * H: (708) 246-2718 * FAX: (708) 246-4642 Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel, Stated Clerk, Classis Chicago South 9401 S. 54th Ave., Oak Lawn, IL 60453 * H/O: (708) 422-1428 Rev. James Wolff, Pastor, Lawndale Christian Reformed Church 4330 W. Cullerton, Chicago, IL 60623 * O: (312) 521-0309 * H: (312) 521-9013 * FAX: (312) 542-0664 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-029.txt .