Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/73

Contributor - Peter J. Yff

Title - A Council of the Reformed Church in Canada

Topic - Church In Canada

May 23 and 24 had been on our calendar for some little while. These days marked the meeting of representatives of the Reformed Church in Canada. With a certain sense of relief one may report that this two day session in Hamilton's first Reformed Church was declared to be the initial, and planning, session of the Council of the Reformed Church in Canada. The child must have a name, after all, and the older designations of East - West Committee, and Immigration Committee, and Pioneer Committee simply did not accurately describe the need, or the activity, or the purpose any longer, One of the first actions taken in the meeting was to accept an interim executive, composed of Revs. H. Zegerius, J. Drost, R. Hartmans and P. Yff, with the last named acting as chairman. The Council meeting in its first regular schedule will elect its officers.

Perhaps we need first of all to say what we are not going to do. We are not attempting in any way to loosen, or cut, the tie that binds all of our Reformed Churches in the denomination. We are not trying at all to set our churches in Canada against their brethren in the United ;States. Rather, we are separated by large distances. We suffer, some more than others, from isolation, and sometimes from frustration. We need an instrument that will provide a unified Reformed ;Church presence in Canada, and we pray, earnestly, that the new Council of the Reformed Church in Canada may become such an instrument. To this we pledge our effort, and for this we ask your prayers and your cooperation. We cannot do this by ourselves, or by part of our church. If we do it at all, we must do it together, and with the blessing and support of God, who placed us here.

Further, the new Council is in no sense a judicatory. Churches will remain subject to their present classes and particular synods. The new council will, however, provide a means of relating all of our Reformed Churches in Canada with the !Canadian Council of Churches, and other ecumenical bodies. It will provide a voice which could speak for all of us on issues important to government and society.

As many, if not most, of our readers are already aware, the Council will meet every other year. It will be composed of units. Hopefully,, the first meeting of the council units will take place this fall, with the first full Council meeting to be held in May of 1974.

Pioneer will continue as the magazine of our Reformed Churches in Canada. Your representatives meeting in Hamilton opted for a supervising editor, with offices in the First Reformed Church building. A secretary will carry out the business and correspondence duties, as well as assisting the Hamilton minister, who, according to this plan, will undertake the editorial supervision.

The work of the Council will depend upon the support of our people!

A Constitution has been drafted, and endorsed by this first meeting. It will be submitted to the Classes and churches for their review and reaction. Hopefully, at the first full meeting of the Council in 1974, this document, with any necessary change, can then be adopted.

We have been at this plan for some time. We've decried our isolation, and sometimes reacted with frustration in the face of problems. Let us now begin to move together, and to move forward. The motto of our Church holds true: EENDRACHT MAAKT MACHT (In unity there is strength). But there must be unity.

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