From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 04:21:23 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Media Alert: Pastor of 4th Largest RCA May be Named Heretic Media Alert: Reformed Church in America's Muskegon Classis Asked to Declare Pastor of RCA's Fourth-Largest Church "Heretical" In a surprising turnabout from previous conciliatory steps, a special July 17 meeting of the Muskegon Classis of the Reformed Church in America will be asked by its executive committee to declare the pastor of the fourth-largest church in its denomination to be "heretical." If adopted by classis, the proposal would "formally rebuke" Rev. Richard Rhem, hold him "in disrepute before Christ, the church, and the world," and lead to "probable deposition from office and removal of the privilege of serving as a minister of word and sacrament in the RCA." For Immediate Release Reformed Church in America's Muskegon Classis Asked to Declare Pastor of RCA's Fourth Largest Church "Heretical" * Classis Executive Committee: Richard Rhem to be held "in disrepute before Christ, the church, and the world" * Rhem to face "probable deposition from office and removal of the privilege of serving as a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the RCA" if classis reverses February decision to "work toward a peaceful separation" by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (July 16, 1996) URNS - In a surprising turnabout from previous conciliatory steps, a special July 17 meeting of the Muskegon Classis of the Reformed Church in America will be asked by its executive committee to declare the pastor of the fourth-largest church in its denomination to be "heretical." If adopted by classis, the proposal would "formally rebuke" Rev. Richard Rhem, hold him "in disrepute before Christ, the church, and the world," and lead to "probable deposition from office and removal of the privilege of serving as a minister of word and sacrament in the RCA." While there is no guarantee that classis will adopt the proposal from its executive committee, even the possibility of a heresy trial for its pastor caused the 2800-member Christ Community Church of Spring Lake to secede from the denomination of which it has been a member for 125 years. In a July 3 decision that took effect on July 4 - Independence Day - the church's board of trustees voted unanimously to leave the denomination, implementing an earlier 803-116 congregational vote declaring its intention to leave the denomination. That doesn't end the matter, however; according to classis minister Rev. Richard Veenstra, the classis will still have to deal with the ministerial credentials of two other RCA clergy who serve on the church staff and decide whether the classis should claim property rights over the church building. Even in the case of Rhem himself, the RCA has provisions allowing people to be tried in absentia. "Even though Dick has resigned we could declare him to be deposed from office," said Veenstra. "Right within the Book of Church Order it says that we do not have to have the person present to proceed with that process." "That's what we will be suggesting as an executive committee that classis do," continued Veenstra. "Whether the classis will choose to do it is up to classis." Rhem, who has served Christ Community Church since 1971 and is Muskegon Classis' longest-serving pastor, aroused controversy last year by permitting the Muskegon Metropolitan Community Church, a congregation primarily composed of practicing homosexuals, to use Christ Community's facilities for worship. While Rhem acknowledged that the homosexual issue precipitated the investigation by classis, the classical executive committee earlier recommended a peaceful separation not because of his views on homosexuality but because of his views on Scripture and salvation apart from Christ. When asked to explain his views at a February 29 classis meeting, Rhem told delegates that he was "not prepared to say there is no salvation apart from that mediated by Jesus Christ as understood in the Christian tradition." The proposal represents a marked shift from February, when classis voted by a 38-19 margin to declare that if Rhem did not recant his views "which are not fully supportive of the definitive authority of Scripture and salvation through Christ alone, that Richard Rhem and Christ Community Church prayerfully and deliberately, with humility, work toward a peaceful separation" from the denomination. At least part of the change came about because of objections from some in the broader denomination to letting Rhem's views go unpunished and setting a precedent which would allow churches to leave the denomination for independency. At the RCA's General Synod in June, the delegates passed a nonbinding resolution "expressing concern that dialogue would continue and hoping that the church could remain a member of the RCA," said RCA spokesman Rev. Wayne Antworth. In his annual speech to General Synod, RCA General Secretary Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson took the unusual step of mentioning Christ Community Church by name, warning that allowing the church to leave would risk "establishing an unfaithful and damaging precedent." Veenstra said the classis executive committee met on July 12 and was not pleased by Christ Community Church's decision to declare itself independent. "The idea of letting a church leave to independent status is contrary to what we believe about doing church and connectedness," said Veenstra. "[Granberg-Michaelson] was sending out a message that from his perspective this is not the way we should do things." Veenstra also emphasized that the classical executive committee recommendation was only that - a recommendation. "It just seems unfortunate that Christ Community has chosen to take this unilateral action prior to the meeting of the classis when only the classis can execute a decision," said Veenstra. "If the classis sees it unwise to adopt that resolution it becomes meaningless. It does represent the present thinking of the classis executive committee, but it is preliminary. They may or may not follow the advice, direction, suggestion, recommendation, of the executive committee." Ron Zoet, director of operations at Christ Community and spokesman for the church, viewed the executive committee recommendation in a different light. "We had an agreement," protested Zoet. "Classis prescribed in March what was required; in our estimation we followed it. This reversal in their agreement left us out in the cold and potentially could do serious damage to our ministry at Christ Community Church." According to Zoet, 125 years of RCA ties wasn't enough to keep the church in the RCA in light of its treatment by classis. "The church's reaction to them was simply, 'this is enough.' The language was extremely inflammatory," said Zoet. "It's fairly obvious from that document that classis would like very much to get Dick Rhem. Classis has from the beginning articulated its view as a pastoral consultation and found that the strength of the support for Rhem was so strong that they can't get him and they have to do something else." Zoet said the church was even more upset by documents of the classis executive committee distributed following Christ Community's decision to leave - documents which have not yet been publicly released. "Classis has distributed a packet of 15 pages of information to its members trying to explain what is going on," said Zoet. "Rev. Veenstra made some statements that are grossly inaccurate; I sat with the negotiating team and the things he is talking about just didn't happen." At least three Christ Community members will be attending the classis meeting - the two staff ministers whose credentials are held by the Muskegon Classis and the vice-present of consistory. "We want to make sure that the body of classis has a perhaps more realistic portrayal of how those meetings proceeded," said Zoet. Confronted with a crisis in Muskegon, the RCA denominational spokesman emphasized that the national denomination - whose eastern churches are significantly more open to theological views such as those of Rhem - had no reason to become involved in the local conflict. "There is a misunderstanding that the denomination has changed its position or that the General Secretary has changed his position, and that simply is not true," said Antworth. "The most important thing that everybody needs to remember is that it is the classis that deals with ministers under its care. It would be the classis that would interpret the response and take whatever action would be appropriate." Antworth noted that the denomination's regional synod and national General Synod would only get involved if one or more parties appealed a classical decision. "At this point there is nothing that the denomination can do or should do except to continue to encourage the classis to follow the procedures outlined in the Book of Church Order," said Antworth. "The regional synod can only determine whether or not a classis has followed the Book of Church Order, so if the regional synod would have to rule, it would not rule on the decision itself," said Antworth. "If there was a question, then it would go to the General Synod which would act as the highest judicatory of the church to determine again if the classis made the proper decision, and the only way a classis would appeal would be if someone within that classis activated that appeal." Antworth said that the classis was responsible for deciding whether to allow Christ Community to keep its property. "It is their right to release a congregation and transfer them to another denomination, or simply to release them and transfer the property to that congregation," said Antworth. "There have been situations over the years where we had to go to civil court, and we won the case," said Antworth, noting a recent Florida case in which the RCA intervened on behalf of the minority in a congregation where the majority had voted to secede. "We take our vows to each other very seriously and by vows they are indeed what we declare as part of our ordination in the Reformed Church," said Antworth. "It's a very serious matter for us because of the covenantal relationship, we don't want to release churches quickly. It pains us when we have this kind of situation where we're dealing with issues that will divide and separate us so easily." "My own personal prayer is there would be a way to resolve the issue," said Antworth. Antworth said one possibility for Christ Community would be to join a different classis - an action being advocated in a different context by dissatisfied conservatives in the Christian Reformed denomination. "We have congregations in North Carolina that are members of a classis in New York," said Antworth. "They generally follow geographical bounds, but where we have churches that are isolated they relate to a classis, not necessarily the nearest, but they often relate to the classis that started them. That is one of the responsibilities of the regional synod to set the boundaries of the classes within it, so the regional synod of the Great Lakes would have to approve the boundaries of a classis in Michigan." Antworth said the possibility of joining a different classis had been actively pursued in the Christ Community case. "My understanding is that the Schenectady Classis discussed this and did not take action, but we need to be clear that it would be the Muskegon Classis that would have to approve the transfer," said Antworth. "The other possibility is the church could be moved to another classis. Probably nothing would make everyone happy." However, Zoet said that all the efforts to join another classis had failed - even some fairly unusual options. "Christ Community Church has explored nearly every avenue possible to remain with the Reformed Church in America; none of those explorations resulted in a positive fruit," said Zoet. "One of the options was to have the Synod of the Great Lakes make a separate classis called Christ Community; that was not possible." For now, the church isn't interested in further synodical ties. "The board of Christ Community has determined that the independent status for a time would be preferred, that would allow time for further reflection," said Zoet. "The denominational affiliation at this point in time is something we would avoid, but I would expect that at some time there would be a denomination we would join, perhaps even the RCA at a future date." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1994-041: Unprecedented Decision of Reformed Church in America Synod Removes Voting Rights from Two Regional Classes #1995-032: Reformed Church in America Expels Leading Conservative Church for Nonpayment of Denominational Assessments #1996-013: Special Meeting of RCA's Muskegon Classis Discusses Homosexuality, Scripture, Salvation Apart from Christ #1996-023: Muskegon RCA Classis: No Room for Pastor Questioning Salvation Apart from Christ, Authority of Scripture Contact List: Rev. E. Wayne Antworth, Director, RCA Stewardship & Communication Services 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115 * O: (212) 870-2954 * FAX: (212) 870-2499 Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary, Reformed Church in America 49 Yawpo, Oakland, NJ 07436 * O: (212) 870-2845 Rev. Richard Rhem, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Church 225 East Exchange St., Spring Lake, MI 49456 * O: (616) 842-1985 * H: (616) 846-7777 Rev. James Stevens, Stated Clerk, Classis of Muskegon 281 North 2nd Ave., Fruitport, MI 49415 * H/O: (616) 865-6165 Rev. Richard Veenstra, Classis Minister, Classis of Muskegon (RCA) 17432 North Shore Estates Rd., Spring Lake, MI 49456 * O: (616) 534-7533 * H: (616) 842-0454 Ron Zoet, Director of Operations, Christ Community Church 225 East Exchange St., Spring Lake, MI 49456 * O: (616) 842-1985 * H: (616) 846-7777 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nrma9601.txt .