Pioneer Christian Monthly - January, 1991

As I See It
Dr. Jonathan N. Gerstner

A Blessed New Year to you all from the Council of the Reformed Church in Canada! We are in awe of all the blessings which the Lord has given in 1990. We thank the Lord for the gift of a new name, "The Reformed Church in Canada," which was approved by the General Synod. We thank the Lord for the Leadership Conference. From this conference came the goal for the formation of the Synod of Canada for the 1993 General Synod of Vancouver. We are currently putting together a task force to study the steps and financial needs required to reach this goal.

The Rev. Gordon Ross has joined our Council staff as Program Secretary for Church Development. He is one of nine extraordinarily gifted ministers who have joined our midst. (One very gifted lay pastor has also joined.) Five new worshipping communities have entered our midst (including one two-point charge), with two more scheduled to begin in January. The Lord alone knows how much more growth He has planned for us this year.

Blessed New Classis Ontario! I hope we have all noted that most of the numerical growth has come in Classis Ontario. Classis Ontario through its executive committee has taken the lead in reaching out to those seeking to affiliate with the RCC. The Classis appointed a committee of Peter Humby, Jerry Koobs, the Rev. Henry Van Essen, the Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, and myself to interview pastors and groups who felt morally obliged to leave their current fellowship. The Rev. Bill Vanden Berg and the Rev. Dr. Arie Blok are also serving the committee as alternates. (Bill and Henry have recently switched places.) This committee deserves so much credit for their sensitive reaching out to the brothers and sisters who came. Any stereotyping of Classis Ontario as unwilling to reach out in love to those in need, is hopefully dead and buried.

The new Classis Ontario also includes the revitalization stories of Countryside Reformed Church of Cambridge (formerly the First Reformed Church) and the Guelph Reformed Church who have both rebounded from serious struggles in the recent past to gain a positive outlook about their future ministry in rapidly growing areas.

One final new note, the Springford Reformed Church is a new Reformed congregation rooted to the very old truths of the Dutch Continuing Reformation. This new congregation has just recently purchased 600 copies of the RCC promotional brochure "Come Grow With Us" for distribution to the families in their community to invite them to worship with their congregation. The new Spirit of Classis Ontario is contagious!

Blessed New Alberta Unit! The Alberta Unit of churches have continued to grow in grace and in vision for the future. One key point was the affirmation of the plan to become a classis. This step of faith is so clearly motivated by their conviction that they have an unique perspective on ministry to their region. They continue to run a very effective summer camping program (which is coming to be one of the hallmarks of the RCC), and love each other with all their diversity. Monarch Reformed Church, our oldest congregation, is also showing some blessed new optimism under the leadership of the Rev. Andrew Joose.

Blessed New B.C. Unit! B.C. Unit continues to grow. New Life Community Church in Burnaby has planted its latest satellite at Simon Fraser University under the leadership of the Rev. Randy Opmeer. Grace Community Church in Central Saanich has been named the "Help Grow a Church Project" of Synod of the Far West, entitling it to raise funds throughout the Synod. The Unit is also welcoming a new church in Powell River to its midst.

Blessed New Council of the Reformed Church in Canada! We have to be the first to admit that the Council has not always been doing all it could to earn the respect of local congregations. However the leadership which we have taken in addressing the issues coming out of the United Church Crisis, has shown that we are willing to take seriously our calling as representatives of our congregations. We are planning new bulletin inserts to let our congregations know what we are doing and how we are an important mission arm of the church. We have appointed a new support committee consisting of Mr. Peter Geene and Mr. Cor Verbeek to help secure a balanced budget and give spiritual support to the Executive Secretary. We are beginning to hold unit meetings again in Ontario for better communication. Council will be seeking more and more, the assistance of key lay and clergy of the RCC to serve on its committees.

Blessed New Pioneer Christian Monthly! We are so proud of all the improvements in PCM. I have no hesitation in saying that it is well on the way to being a periodical worthy of all our congregations and the finest evangelical periodical in the RCA.

Blessed New RCA. We also are delighted to see that the RCC is having a positive impact on the entire denomination. The Reformed Church in America has been a blessing for over 350 years by being both evangelical and main-line. However some of our clergy and lay people can be a little naive when being exposed to unbiblical doctrine which has undermined other main-line denominations. We of the RC C are certainly not naive, and unafraid to be spokespersons for the truth. Already the key role our churches played in making explicit our century old commitment to viewing homosexual acts as sin and calling practising homosexuals to forgiveness and new life in Christ have helped nail shut one door for potential apostasy to sneak in. No church is guaranteed to be faithful, we are either ever reforming (closer to the Word of God), or ever deforming from it. We can rejoice to see our church still reforming in a biblical sense, and in the new sense of discernment in dealing with the unbelief around us. This blessed development has largely come from the blessings God has given us in the Reformed Church in Canada. May the Lord ever make us a blessing.

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