From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 07:43:58 EDT Subject: NR 98048: RCA Rejects Request to End Discipline of Homosexuals; Adopts 3-Year Moratorium... NR #1998-048: Reformed Church in America General Synod Rejects Request to End Discipline of Homosexuals; Adopts Three Year Moratorium on Discussion of Homosexual Issue By a 160 to 109 margin, the Reformed Church in America's General Synod voted down a proposal to "request the judicatories of the RCA to refrain from discipline based solely on a person's sexual orientation or theological judgments concerning sexual orientation." That June 8 motion by Rev. Allan Janssen, stated clerk of the Classis of Albany, came as an amendment to an earlier recommendation by denominational General Secretary Rev. Wes Granberg- Michaelson in his June 5 speech to General Synod asking the assembly to establish a three-year moratorium on discussion of homosexuality. Granberg- Michaelson's proposal contrasted with an effort by Rev. Doug Van Bronkhorst, senior pastor of First Reformed Church in the Grand Rapids suburb of Grandville, to rebuke one of the two RCA seminaries, New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, for hiring an openly practicing lesbian, Dr. Judith Wray, as a New Testament professor. After an eruption of protests by local RCA churches, the seminary board voted to rescind the one-year interim appointment. NR #1998-048: For Immediate Release: Reformed Church in America General Synod Rejects Request to End Discipline of Homosexuals; Adopts Three Year Moratorium on Discussion of Homosexual Issue by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service HOLLAND, MICH. (June 8, 1998) URNS - By a 160 to 109 margin, the Reformed Church in America's General Synod voted down a proposal to "request the judicatories of the RCA to refrain from discipline based solely on a person's sexual orientation or theological judgments concerning sexual orientation." That June 8 motion by Rev. Allan Janssen, stated clerk of the Classis of Albany, came as an amendment to an earlier recommendation by denominational General Secretary Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson in his June 5 speech to General Synod asking the assembly to establish a three-year moratorium on discussion of homosexuality. Granberg-Michaelson's proposal was to "instruct this General Synod to refrain from deliberative debate and policy decisions relating to homosexuality, as these matters have already been thoroughly addressed by previous synods, and to urge this same action upon the 1999 and 2000 General Synods." The General Secretary also proposed that the denomination "enter into a process of intentional discernment over the next two years" concerning pastoral challenges related to homosexuality and requested "all commissions, agencies, assemblies, and institutions related to the General Synod to refrain from taking any action that would be in obvious contradiction of our stated positions." The official RCA denominational position is "that the practicing homosexual lifestyle is contrary to Scripture, while at the same time encouraging love and sensitivity toward such persons as fellow human beings." Granberg-Michaelson's proposal contrasted with an effort by Rev. Doug Van Bronkhorst, senior pastor of First Reformed Church in the Grand Rapids suburb of Grandville, to rebuke one of the two RCA seminaries, New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, for hiring an openly practicing lesbian, Dr. Judith Wray, as a New Testament professor. After an eruption of protests by local RCA churches, the seminary board voted to rescind the one-year interim appointment. Granberg-Michaelson called the seminary decision to appoint Wray a "mistake," warning that "it threatened to create a breach of trust between the denomination and New Brunswick Theological Seminary." Granberg-Michaelson noted that "this action prevents a potentially divisive conflict from erupting right now in the denomination" but said "it still leaves us as a church with a crucial and important question: how will we, the Reformed Church in America, choose to address this issue, not only in this situation, but in the future?" Janssen didn't think Granberg-Michaelson's proposed moratorium went far enough. "I think the recommendation, without protection for persons of homosexual orientation, is vacuous," said Janssen. "If we're going to have this discussion, we need to have a safe place where we can carry out that discussion." Other delegates severely criticized Janssen's amendment. "Unfortunately there's a sleeper in the amendment," said Rev. Tom Stark of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. "If you adopt this amendment you get at last what even the Presbyterians have not been able to get, that you can be ordained to office and be a practicing homosexual without discipline." "If the General Secretary thought he would bring peace to the denomination, this will bring more dissension than anything else we could do," continued Stark. Still other delegates didn't like the idea of a moratorium at all. Rev. John Hubers of University Reformed Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, draw a parallel with the women's ordination debate at an earlier date in the RCA. "This goes against the very nature of what General Synod is about," said Hubers. "If this same recommendation had been brought before General Synod in 1970, a similar debate could have been stopped." In the end, the RCA adopted its General Secretary's proposal for a three- year moratorium on homosexual discussions. Van Bronkhorst wasn't overly disappointed by the General Synod decision, however. "Life is filled with compromises; this is a good one," said Van Bronkhorst. "We're hoping in the RCA that we don't go the way the Presbyterian Church has gone, where there are strong political parties on both sides of the issue." In a later speech to the General Synod, the president of New Brunswick Theological Seminary apologized to delegates but made clear that he hadn't changed his views on homosexuality. "When living at the edge, it is very easy to cross the boundaries of propriety and acceptability; that is very clearly what I did in the present instance," said Dr. Norman Kansfield. "I apologize to you for what this action did to the peace and unity of our denomination. Neither New Brunswick nor I have ever thought to be an embarrassment or insult to the General Synod." Kansfield said he hoped the RCA would have created a safe forum in which homosexual members of the denomination could participate in the ongoing denominational dialogue without fear of discipline. "We have voted a different way this afternoon and it will not be easily safe for homosexual persons to make their contribution known," said Kansfield. "I ask you also to count me among those persons who carefully listen to, and when necessary, to speak on behalf of, those Reformed homosexual persons who will not in the majority feel sufficiently comfortable to speak." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1998-033: Three Reformed Denominations to Hold General Assemblies or Synods this Year in West Michigan #1998-046: RCA General Secretary to General Synod: Don't Let Homosexuality Divide Us #1998-047: RCA General Synod to Begin Main Business Monday Morning 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 * E-Mail: ewantworth@worldnet.att.net Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary, Reformed Church in America 49 Yawpo, Oakland, NJ 07436 O: (212) 870-2845 * E-Mail: wes_granbergmichaelson.parti@ecunet.org Rev. John Hubers, Pastor, University Reformed Church 2683 Dexter Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48103 O: (313) 662-3153 * H: (313) 327-9323 Rev. Allan Janssen, Stated Clerk, Classis of Albany (RCA) 30 Church Rd., Selkirk, NY 12158 O: (518) 767-2243 * H: (518) 767-3406 Dr. Norman Kansfield, President, New Brunswick Theological Seminary 25 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 O: (908) 247-5241 * H: (908) 249-1463 Rev. Tom Stark, Senior Pastor, University Reformed Church 231 Oakhill, East Lansing, MI 48823 O: (517) 351-6810 * H: (517) 351-7164 Rev. Douglas Van Bronkhorst, Senior Pastor, First Reformed Church 3060 Wilson Ave. SW, Grandville, MI 49418 O: (616) 534-5465 * H: (616) 532-7191 Rev. Charles Van Engen, President, RCA General Synod 1998 948 S. Bradish Ave., Glendora, CA 91740 O: (818) 914-3038 * H: (818) 963-9399 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-048.txt .