NR #1996-046: No Former Synod Officers Delegated to Synod 1996 When Synod 1996 convenes on June 10 to deal with the complex issues associated with women in office, homosexuality, and other related matters, it won't have the benefit of an experienced chairman or set of officers. According to CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard, Synod 1996 will be only the third synod in Christian Reformed history not to have any former officers as synodical delegates. The last time a similar situation occurred was Synod 1943 during the middle of the Second World War; the only time before that was at the first CRC synod in 1865 when by definition there could not have been any former synodical officers. NR #1996-046: For Immediate Release No Former Synod Officers Delegated to Synod 1996 by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (May 6, 1996) URNS - When Synod 1996 convenes on June 10 to deal with the complex issues associated with women in office, homosexuality, and other related matters, it won't have the benefit of an experienced chairman or set of officers. According to CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard, Synod 1996 will be only the third synod in Christian Reformed history not to have any former officers as synodical delegates. The last time a similar situation occurred was Synod 1943 during the middle of the Second World War; the only time before that was at the first CRC synod in 1865 - actually called a "general assembly" in the early years - when by definition there could not have been any former synodical officers. While in theory any delegate is eligible for election to the synodical offices of president, vice-president, first clerk, and second clerk, unwritten custom dictates that the president is almost always a former officer of synod and the same is usually true for the other officers as well. In fact, one man, Rev. Cal Bolt of Twelfth Avenue CRC in the Grand Rapids suburb of Jenison, has been president of synod for six of the last eleven years from 1985 to 1995 and two men, Dr. Howard Vanderwell of Hillcrest CRC in the Grand Rapids suburb of Hudsonville and Rev. Peter Brouwer of First CRC in Edgerton, Minnesota, shared four of the five remaining years. "I don't know quite what to think about it," said Engelhard. "I'm assuming it will mean that for whoever is chosen it will put a considerable amount of stress on such people to work out in a day and a half, or two days at most, how they are to function. It's hard enough to chair a meeting of six people let alone 184." "I assume they will spend quite a bit of time in quietude and prayer after they have been chosen," said Engelhard. "It may put a little more pressure on me too, to kind of help and guide through some of the areas." Some of the pressure on the synodical officers may be relieved by a slightly more experienced set of synodical delegates. Last year, 90 of the 184 synodical delegates were first-time delegates to synod; while figures are incomplete for this year's set of synodical delegates, somewhere between 79 and 93 delegates will be at synod for the first time. Of those who have returned the synodical questionnaire to date, Engelhard said that only four elders and 31 ministers have been delegated to more than two prior synods. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-022: Women Stage Silent Protest as CRC Synod Begins; Pastor of Church with Illegal Women Elders Elected Vice-President #1994-030: Christian Reformed Denomination Elects Moderate Opponent of Women-in-Office as Synod President; Executive Director of Ministries Leads Presentation on CRC Programs #1995-061: Synod 1995 Elects Officers, Recesses to Advisory Committees Contact List: Rev. Calvin Bolt, President, Synod 1995 of the Christian Reformed Church 7511 - 12th Ave., Jenison, MI 49428 * H/O: (616) 457-5514 Rev. Peter W. Brouwer, President, Synod 1994 of the Christian Reformed Church 1410 Evergreen Dr., Luverne, MN 56156 * H: (507) 283-4391 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 Dr. Howard Vanderwell, President, Synod 1992 of the Christian Reformed Church 5694 Marlin, Hudsonville, MI 49426 * O: (616) 669-1460 * H: (616) 669-6444 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-046.txt .