NR #1996-037: Lake Erie Votes to Urge Delegation of Deacons to Classis Should deacons be officially delegated to classis meetings on a regular basis to vote with the minister and elder delegates? Cincinnati CRC answered that question in the affirmative at the March 2 meeting of Classis Lake Erie, successfully persuading the other delegates that the classis should take the initiative by urging its churches to "officislly delegate a deacon to each meeting of classis along with its pastor and an elder to conduct all the business of classis." The call for delegating deacons to classis meetings is not new to Lake Erie or to the CRC. The CRC has been debating the issue periodically since the early 1960's, but the fact that the CRC allows women deacons but did not officially allow women elders until 1995 effectively linked the issue of diaconal delegation with that of women in office and sidetracked the question of delegating deacons to classis and synod until the women in office issue could be resolved. NR #1996-037: For Immediate Release Lake Erie Votes to Urge Delegation of Deacons to Classis by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service TROY, Mich. (April 16, 1996) URNS - Should deacons be officially delegated to classis meetings on a regular basis to vote with the minister and elder delegates? Cincinnati CRC answered that question in the affirmative at the March 2 meeting of Classis Lake Erie, successfully persuading the other delegates that the classis should take the initiative by urging its churches to "officislly delegate a deacon to each meeting of classis along with its pastor and an elder to conduct all the business of classis." The call for delegating deacons to classis meetings is not new to Lake Erie or to the CRC. The CRC has been debating the issue periodically since the early 1960's, but the fact that the CRC allows women deacons but did not officially allow women elders until 1995 effectively linked the issue of diaconal delegation with that of women in office and sidetracked the question of delegating deacons to classis and synod until the women in office issue could be resolved. Classes have typically allowed churches to send a deacon when no elder was available to attend, but when that deacon was female, conservative churches have sometimes walked out of classis meetings or filed formal protests. The current debate in Lake Erie dates back to 1994, when the classis held a special meeting in May to explore the mission and vision of the classis. At the fall meeting of that year, classis began a process which ended with the partial rejection of a March 1995 classical study committee report that called for further integration of deacons into the classis. While most of the committee's recommendations were adopted, the sticking point was recommendation four, that classis "urge the councils of its member churches to officially delegate a deacon to each meeting of classis along with its pastor and an elder to conduct all the business of classis." In debate, the classis first voted to amend the recommendation to specify that deacons not vote on discipline matters, classical examinations, or overtures sent to synod, and then tabled the entire recommendation for further study by the churches of classis. The study committee then recommended the adoption of the overture in the original form -- an option rejected by the October 1995 meeting of classis. The Cincinnati overture requested reconsideration of the October decision on the grounds that classis had cited only "logistical concerns -- the practical difficulties some churches may have for getting deacons to classis" rather than the theological arguments for diaconal delegation presented by the classical study committee. When the recommendation came before Classis Lake Erie, some advocated going even farther than the Cincinnati overture by requiring churches to delegate deacons to classis. However, classical stated clerk Pastor George Vander Weit opposed that idea. "Can you mandate a council to send a deacon?" asked Vander Weit. "I can foresee a council saying we won't do it, it's not in the church order, we're going to appeal it to synod." "We don't want to fight church order battles," continued Vander Weit. "If everbody's agreed then mandate it, but that's scary," Deacon Thea Leunk, president of the Lake Erie diaconal conference and a Cincinnati resident, strongly urged that classis adopt the Cincinnati overture. "We believe in three offices of the church, prophet, priest, and king. We believe the three offices reflect these, and if deacons are not participating it means one of these offices is not here," said Leunk. "In many of our churches deacons are central to the ministry of the congregation and the people who do that ministry are not here when we are making decisons about these ministries." Other delegates, however, cited the logistical and practical issues raised at the previous meeting regarding getting churches to delegate an additional layperson to classis meetings. Rev. William De Vries of First CRC in Detroit dissented from such concerns. "I don't think I've heard an elder say he was happy to accept nomination because he wanted to go to classis; I've never heard a minister say he became a minister because he wanted to go to classis," said De Vries. "If deacons don't want to come to classis, that's not a reason not to have them come to classis, that's a reason to change what happens at classis." The advocates of diaconal delegation successfully persuaded the majority of classis to overturn their previous decision. Beginning with Classis Lake Erie's next meeting, the classis will officially seat not just an occasional deacon from a church with no available elders but deacon delegates from most if not all of the churches in classis. According to CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard, Lake Erie is probably the first classis to approve seating deacons as voting delegates on a regular basis. "Certainly it has been done by way of exception in the past, but not by way of regularity," said Engelhard. "If a pastor and elder cannot attend, it certainly is permissible to seat a deacon, and the classis will make a special exception in that case. In some hasty looks through material of some of those earlier classis meetings that are all in Dutch, it seems to me that there was occasionally a reference to minister, elder, and deacons, but that's the limit of my knowledge." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-002: Christian Reformed Study Committee Recommends Delegation of Deacons to Classis and Synod, Scrapping of Canadian Council #1995-026: Lake Erie Tables Motion to Allow Delegation of Deacons to Classis Meetings Contact List: Rev. William C. De Vries, Pastor, First Christian Reformed Church of Detroit 1444 Maryland, Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230 * (313) 824-3511 Dr. David Engelhard, General Secretary, Christian Reformed Church in North America 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 O: (616) 246-0744 * H: (616) 243-2418 * FAX: (616) 246-0834 * E-Mail: engelhad@crcnet.mhs.compuserve.com Deacon Thea Leunk, President, Classis Lake Erie Diaconal Committee 945 Congress, Cincinnati, OH 45246 * H: (513) 772-7113 Pastor George Vander Weit, Stated Clerk, Classis Lake Erie 2901 Waterloo Dr., Troy, MI 48084 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 649-5388 * E-Mail: NoHillsCRC@aol.com ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-037.txt .