Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/93

Contributor - Jonathan Gerstner

Title - The Time is Now To Say Yes to Canada

Topic - Reformed Church In Canada

The phrase "Yes to Canada" may have a bit of a hollow sound to some of us, as we have just seen it used by politicians for their own purposes. But at this time in the history of the Reformed Church in Canada, its helpful to remember a gathering of our congregational leaders who heard God's Spirit calling them to say "Yes to Canada".

The end of April in the year of our Lord 1990 was a blistering hot time in Southwestern Ontario. Delegates from all the churches of the Reformed Church in Canada, save two, were huddled into the main lodge at Camp Shalom, outside of Cambridge. Those three days (April 26-28), were days many of us will never forget. The unity of the Spirit which transcended worship styles and traditions was unmistakable. The dream was affirmed that God was calling us to become a regional synod of Canada in 1993, with the deciding vote to be taken at the June 1993 General Synod at Vancouver. A spirit of excitement shook the body.

Since that gathering much has happened. Ten more Reformed Church in Canada congregations have been born. One that existed then no longer exists. Still we have grown northward to Athabasca, Alberta, east to Bishopton, Quebec, and expanded the scope and vision of our ministry to newer ethnic groups. The time between then and now has been tumultuous, with times of pain and struggle for many of our congregations, and even for the leadership of the emerging synod.

Through this all, last fall both Classis Cascades (unanimously) and Classis Ontario (overwhelmingly) voted to affirm the proposed budget and bylaws for the Synod of Canada, and the goal of formation of the Synod on December 31, 1993. It now awaits regional synod approval (in the form of an overture to General Synod) and General Synod approval this June in Vancouver. We are on schedule with the dream of that warm April in 1990. If we step back and honestly look at what the Lord has done in our midst, we will see that these pains have been growing pains, or more exactly, the pains of giving birth.

Why is the Synod of Canada so important?

What difference will it make? The best answer to the question is to outline a few of the reasons that the time has come.

Vision: We need to be faithful to the vision God has given us. He has called us to live in this remarkable land of Canada. From an earthly perspective, boundaries seem arbitrarily drawn by human beings. But Scripture points out that God has set the boundaries of the nations. For believers of the same family of churches to be (dis)organized into geographical assemblies, which arbitrarily ignore the national boundaries, misses the scriptural emphasis on the significance of nations. Our current temporary structure, which divides east and west, sadly parallels the disintegration of our nation. We, as a part of the body of Christ in Canada, must have a vision for what God can and will do through unified church presence in our land.

Many of our church leaders have seen the vision of a unified Canadian presence for the Reformed Church. It is interesting that already in the 1950's the Pioneer identified itself as the magazine of "the Reformed Church in Canada." In our structure, one key responsibility of a regional synod is to plant new churches within its bounds. The dream of planting new churches throughout Canada remains hampered without a church assembly to pool resources to plant nationwide. We have already seen former UCC churches in BC influence others in Ontario, a congregation in Ontario sponsors a satellite congregation in Quebec, ethnic congregations in Ontario discuss church expansion out west, Church development within the local region (classis) will always be the first step, but the next consistent step is on the national scale.

Voice: A second major area of concern is the need to present the biblical, reformed perspective of our constituency. The synod of Canada will provide a unified voice of our Canadian congregations both to the government and to our denomination. Canada is a land set adrift in a moral vacuum, a land without any law against abortion, and one in which homosexual couples are receiving marital benefits. Much of the visible church is leading the charge against the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed denying Him as anything more than a lord among other lords. We have much to say as an historic denomination which has been, by His grace alone, able to keep these types of apostasy out of our Canadian circles. If we are silent or expecting offices in the United States to speak to the needs of our land, we are being faithless to our calling. Similarly, our own denomination has been remarkably culturally blocked into its United States ethos. It is hard to be as worried about decline in core Christian ethics in a country whose largest Protestant denomination is the Southern Baptist, as surely as it is impossible to ignore it in one whose largest Protestant denomination is the United Church of Canada. Yet our synod will not only present the Canadian perspective with regard to our side of the border to the broader denomination, but also help the broader denomination grow in spiritual discernment to ward off the church apostasy and moral vacuum which, barring a miracle of God's grace, will shortly flood their society and our en ire denomination if we do not learn quickly. We need to praise God for the unity the Reformed Church in Canada shares with regard to core Christianity and the evangelical and reformed faith, and organize our voices at this crossroads time for our land and our denomination.

Vitalization: The synod of Canada is dedicated to being there to help our established congregations in the area of regaining their first love and gaining a new vision for the future. It covenants to provide its staff as resources to help our congregations with ideas of how to grow in their own communities. Congregations and pastoral relations committees often struggle with making hard decisions. Staff can provide objective consultation to suggest action plans to consistories or committees. We are committed to provide the highest level of congregational interaction with staff of any of our denomination's regional synods.

Value: The need for the synod of Canada in 1993 is also based on a very practical financial reality. Much of the ministry in the areas outlined above in the past has been carried on by the Council of the Reformed Church in Canada (the emerging synod). However there are many difficulties with maintaining this status quo. With regard to voice and vision, CRCC is, of necessity, so small (6 delegates total) it is hard for it to adequately represent its constituency in such important areas. (The synod of Canada will have 12 delegates). The ability to maintain the CRCC assessment,l while all our member churches are also members of other regional synods with constantly increasing assessments, is very much in question. We simply can't afford to keep CRCC going while our churches are being doubly assessed by both their synods and the emerging synod. We have committed to hold the assessment level for the synod of Canada at equal to the current assessment for both regional synod and emerging synod. It will cost our churches no more than it currently costs them for their assessments for regional synod and CRCC. For this cost we will provide the value of a strong vision and voice for our flock.

The reality is that many people feel mixed emotions about funding heading across the border when there are so many needs in our congregations in Canada. Centering resources on one's own nation may indeed help benevolent giving. It certainly will help us take responsibility for our own programs. Benevolent giving in the synod will be centered on our Canadian congregations and then on the crucial area of world mission. Most Canadians will feel more comfortable with this relationship.

I suspect that the leadership conference of 1993 will be at a hot location in Vancouver. The General Synod of the following week will also meet in a hot location, and I am sure as usual with many hot topics to discuss. We believe that in these two meetings the warmth of the Spirit will lead us, as Canadian congregations and as an international General Synod, to say "Yes to Canada." It remains for us to be faithful to the awesome responsibility of being faithful to the many ramifications of this vision.

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