Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 05:35:44 -0500 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Reply-To: Darrell128@aol.com Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 98105: URC Cl. Michigan Postpones Vote on Hiring Minister-at- Large NR #1998-105: Classis Michigan Postpones Vote on Hiring Minister-at-Large Should the United Reformed Churches hire a full-time or retired minister to promote the denomination as a "minister-at-large?" Not yet - but the matter will come back to a special December 1 meeting of Classis Michigan. In an effort to promote the growth of the United Reformed Churches, Beverly URC of Wyoming asked Classis Michigan to endorse an overture to the United Reformed synod asking the synod to call a minister-at-large who would be "supported by all the churches of the federation and to be under the supervision of his calling consistory/council." The overture listed six proposed duties for the minister-at-large, among them "to represent, provide information about, and promote the United Reformed Churches to interested individuals, groups of people interested in forming a United Reformed congregation, and congregations desirous in joining the URC" and "to develop, obtain, and provide attractive and pertinent materials about the URC, useful in the expansion of the federation." Other duties included conducting worship services or making arrangements for preaching at emerging congregations, surveying and making recommendations to classes and synod concerning "possible expansion of the federation in underrepresented areas of the United States and Canada," working "in close cooperation with the pastor(s) and councils/consistories in any area in which contacts are developed and preaching services are conducted," and "to engage in any other activity determined by synod in consultation with the calling church." "We are very much aware that in our federation there is a very deadly fear of bureaucracies or structure; we've got to get over that, it's got to come, or we're going to die," warned Beverly URC pastor Rev. Art Besteman. "When you even mention ministry shares, people look at you as if you're the devil incarnate, and we didn't want to put too much detail that might cause it to be voted down." Besteman accepted a motion by classis to send the overture back to Beverly URC for reworking and resubmission at a special December 1 classis session. "The grounds were so obvious to us, how could anyone argue against this, but if anyone would like to send this back to our church to add some grounds we would have no objection to that," said Besteman. NR #1998-105: For Immediate Release: Classis Michigan Postpones Vote on Hiring Minister-at-Large by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. (October 28, 1998) URNS - Should the United Reformed Churches hire a full-time or retired minister to promote the denomination as a "minister-at-large?" Not yet - but the matter will come back to a special December 1 meeting of Classis Michigan. In an effort to promote the growth of the United Reformed Churches, Beverly URC of Wyoming asked Classis Michigan to endorse an overture to the United Reformed synod asking the synod to call a minister-at-large who would be "supported by all the churches of the federation and to be under the supervision of his calling consistory/council." The overture listed six proposed duties for the minister-at-large, among them "to represent, provide information about, and promote the United Reformed Churches to interested individuals, groups of people interested in forming a United Reformed congregation, and congregations desirous in joining the URC" and "to develop, obtain, and provide attractive and pertinent materials about the URC, useful in the expansion of the federation." Other duties included conducting worship services or making arrangements for preaching at emerging congregations, surveying and making recommendations to classes and synod concerning "possible expansion of the federation in underrepresented areas of the United States and Canada," working "in close cooperation with the pastor(s) and councils/consistories in any area in which contacts are developed and preaching services are conducted," and "to engage in any other activity determined by synod in consultation with the calling church." Beverly URC pastor Rev. Art Besteman strongly urged adoption of his church's overture and noted that he and several retired URC ministers had informally met with a number of groups interested in joining the denomination. "I hope we recognize the urgency of the need that is presented here," said Besteman. "Up until this point we have been very limited in the services we can provide to those interested in the URC." As an example, Besteman cited a group that could have joined the URC but has gone elsewhere. "It has come to our attention recently that there are some groups that have started. I'm thinking of one group in a large Western city that came from a denomination and went to another denomination which said, 'We will provide you a preacher to lead services for three months,'" said Besteman. "We are at a point where there are groups looking for assistance but we are not able to provide that assistance." Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen of Bethel URC in Jenison warned of trouble at synod if the overture was submitted by classis in its current form. "The overture doesn't have grounds, and I wonder if it would be wise to provide grounds if we do send this on to synod," said Vander Meulen. "We are also dealing with new territory when we speak of this man being supported by all the churches; we know this is going to meet with a lot of questions." Rev. Peter Adams of Grace URC in Alto concurred that the overture needed editing. "When this speaks of synod calling a minister, I think this is going to be struck down by synod," said Adams. "Synod does not exist between meetings, we are not Presbyterians, and synod does not have the right to call anyone." "We are very much aware that in our federation there is a very deadly fear of bureaucracies or structure; we've got to get over that, it's got to come, or we're going to die," warned Besteman. "When you even mention ministry shares, people look at you as if you're the devil incarnate, and we didn't want to put too much detail that might cause it to be voted down." That answer didn't persuade Adams. "Our council did discuss this, and I must frankly say that our council instructed us to vote against this," said Adams. "In the area of missions, we have been told so far we must have the local church call a missionary and send him with the support solicited of other churches. Perhaps one of our churches should call a man and free him to work with other churches in home missions." Classical stated clerk Rev. Wybren Oord said that wouldn't work. "If a church in our classis would call a minister-at-large and send him to California, I don't think the classis out there would approve that," said Oord. "Each classis would have to examine him." Rev. Ed Knott, retired pastor of Beverly URC, agreed with Oord. "This would be a courageous step for our classis to adopt this overture," said Oord. "To a certain extent we are still operating as independent churches. I know there is a lot of objection to quotas, ministry shares, or general assessments, but we've got to grow up if we're going to work together as a federation." "We've been freed from quotas for five to six years or longer, we've been building our buildings, and we've got to go out and build our federation," continued Knott, noting that he had accompanied Besteman on a number of visits to churches considering the URC. "As Rev. Besteman says, we have gone out, but we don't speak with any authority to say, 'This is what the United Reformed Churches are,' we only say, 'This is what we believe the United Reformed Churches are.'" Knott's arguments didn't persuade Adams, either. "I'm in favor of us expanding, I'm in favor of home missions causes, but I want to send something to synod they will use," said Adams. "I'm afraid if we send this to synod it will be rejected out of hand." Several proposed amendments didn't get off the ground, including a proposal to have the URC synod authorize a local church to call a minister-at-large. "The way that is stated leads only the calling church to say who the minister would be; I'm not sure that's what we want to say," said Vander Meulen. Besteman accepted a motion by classis to send the overture back to Beverly URC for reworking and resubmission at a special December 1 classis session. "The grounds were so obvious to us, how could anyone argue against this, but if anyone would like to send this back to our church to add some grounds we would have no objection to that," said Besteman. Classis allowed additional discussion of the Beverly overture later in the day to help Beverly URC redraft it for the next meeting. Rev. Joel Vander Kooi of Walker URC had a lot to discuss. "The need seems so large that I don't see one man as being able to handle this; we need to be practical about what the need is," said Vander Kooi. "I think we should ask our clerk to provide a list of all ministers available to fill pulpits, all candidates for the ministry, and not just candidates here because there might be men in Colorado who would be a perfect fit. Some of these guys coming out of seminary would just love to be in contact with some of these emerging groups." While agreeing on the need to promote the URC, Vander Kooi said he didn't like the minister-at-large concept. "It's not that I dislike ministers, but I don't like ministers at large; the whole concept of ministers who have been trained and ordained not serving a congregation seems very strange to me," said Vander Kooi. "I'm not even sure a minister is the best person to promote a denomination. I'm thinking of someone like the [Covenant URC member] in Kalamazoo who is savvy on the Internet, who has some business training, some public relations training, and theological competence," said Vander Kooi. "I don't think we should take a man away from preaching the Word twice on Sunday to make him the PR man for the denomination." Vander Kooi's arguments didn't persuade Knott. "I think an ordained man would be able to function in that situation better than an unordained individual," said Knott. "He has to give an account not only to his consistory but also to the synod. I think right now we need to be identified, not only by name, but by the positive things for which we stand." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1998-086: Four of Six United Reformed Classes to Meet in October Contact List: Rev. Peter Adams, Pastor, Grace United Reformed Church 9658 -60th St. SE, Alto, MI 49302 O: (616) 891-8440 ¥ H: (616) 868-2068 Rev. Art Besteman, Pastor, Beverly United Reformed Church 2420 Avon Ave. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 O: (616) 532-1708 Rev. Edward J. Knott 2759 Porter St. SW, Wyoming, MI 49509 H: (616) 534-4683 Rev. Wybren Oord, Stated Clerk, Classis Michigan (URC) 12191 Polk St., Holland, MI 49424 H/O: (616) 875-4654 Rev. Joel Vander Kooi, Pastor, Walker United Reformed Church 1985 Randall Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504-2136 O: (616) 453-8101 ¥ H: (616) 453-5767 ¥ E-Mail: RevJoelvdK@aol.com Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen, Pastor, Bethel United Reformed Church 1950 Cedar Brook Dr., Jenison, MI 49428 O: (616) 457-4001 ¥ H: (616) 457-9652 ¥ E-Mail: derrickvm@juno.com ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-105.txt .