NR #1996-031: Huron: "Yes" to Women in Office; "No" to Women Delegates At its winter meeting, Classis Huron confronted an increasingly familiar dilemma in the Christian Reformed denomination: two churches sent opposing overtures, one asking that classis approve women's ordination by declaring the word "male" in Article 3a of the Church Order to be inoperative, the other asking that classis declare a five-year moratorium on the delegation of women to classis meetings. While the dilemma was common, the solution was not: by a one-vote margin, Classis Huron's January 10 meeting adopted both overtures, thereby prohibiting women classis delegates while still allowing women to be ordained as ministers, elders, and evangelists. NR #1996-031: For Immediate Release Huron: "Yes" to Women in Office; "No" to Women Delegates by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (April 11, 1996) URNS - At its winter meeting, Classis Huron confronted an increasingly familiar dilemma in the Christian Reformed denomination: two churches sent opposing overtures, one asking that classis approve women's ordination by declaring the word "male" in Article 3a of the Church Order to be inoperative, the other asking that classis declare a five-year moratorium on the delegation of women to classis meetings. While the dilemma was common, the solution was not: by a one-vote margin, Classis Huron's January 10 meeting adopted both overtures, thereby prohibiting women classis delegates while still allowing women to be ordained as ministers, elders, and evangelists. Both overtures had been on the agenda of classis before. The overture to declare a moratorium on women classis delegates, originally submitted to the September meeting by Stratford CRC, was postponed to the winter meeting. The other overture, originally submitted on classical credentials and ruled out of order, was submitted through the regular process for the agenda of the January meeting by Waterloo CRC. "I guess the discussion went this way, they felt we should be considerate to people who have difficulty with women at classis, and to give the blessing to the overture to appoint women as elders," said Elder Hilbert Rumph, stated clerk of Classis Huron. "Classis by ballot voted to adopt the overture that came from Waterloo, and adopted that one 20 in favor, 19 against," said Rumph. "Then they adopted the other overture voice vote by a wide margin." The result was similar to an earlier decision by Classis Pacific Northwest whose September meeting voted to allow women in office without delegating women to classis. Pacific Northwest subsequently voted at its March meeting not to revise the decision. According to Dr. Henry De Moor, professor of church polity at Calvin Seminary, the unexpected actions of the two classes do not appear to violate synodical rules. "I don't think Synod 95 envisioned that a classis would move ahead five steps and move back three, but I don't think that would violate anything, except of course, if those who say the word male is no longer operative start clamoring for the right to be delegated," said De Moor. "With ministers it's even more critical because there's usually only one per church and that person is automatically delegated to classis." "It is another creative way to deal with what is in more than many cases a tension-filled atmosphere," said De Moor. "The alternative was for classis to forbid having a local congregation to even have a woman minister in their midst. I think it's relatively creative, and that creativity shows the classis is busy at its work with the same intent that Synod 95 did, making sure that we can live together with these differences." 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: Dr. Henry De Moor, Professor of Church Polity, Calvin Theological Seminary 3233 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4387 O: (616) 957-7194 * H: (616) 940-0513 * FAX: (616) 957-8621 * E-Mail: DEMH@Calvin.edu Rev. Willem Dirksen, Pastor, Stratford Christian Reformed Church 200 Ontario St., Stratford, ON N5A 3H4 * O: (519) 273-1292 * H: (519) 273-2655 * F: (519) 271-3204 Elder Hilbert Rumph, Stated Clerk, Classis Huron Box 215, Drayton, ON N0G 1P0 * H/O: (519) 638-2053 * F: (519) 638-2239 Waterloo Christian Reformed Church 209 Bearinger Rd., Waterloo, ON N2L 4H5 * O: (519) 746-5727 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-031.txt .