Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/68

Contributor - Gerrit Rezelman

Title - The Raising And Razing Of Churches

Topic - Church In The World

My eye was caught the other day by the title, "The Largest Church in a Hundred Years". The article explained that a large new church for the Ravenhill congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church in North Ireland was being built. The church will hold more than 2,000 people. The minister of this church is the well-known Dr Ian Paisly. The unique thing about this church is that it is the largest church in more than a century that has been built in Great Britain.

This is an interesting contrast to an item which I saw in another publication about a cathedral in the heart of Rotterdam. Roman Catholic Bishop Martinus Jansen decided that the best solution to the problems of his 76-year-old cathedral was to sell it to the wreckers. Shocking, you say? Yes, but the Bishop had his reasons. The church had a regular congregation of only 300 and the church could seat 1,100. Besides that, it was badly in need of repairs. On top of that, the Bishop though was a "very ugly building".

So, last summer, Jansen auctioned off the cathedral for $1,400,000 to a developer who plans to put up a 14-story office building in its place. Demolition of the church began several months ago.

With money from the sale, the Bishop has converted a nearby chapel of a convent into a church for his flock, and besides that, he has ordered the construction of two much needed new churches in the Rotterdam suburbs, plus another in the Hague. That is certainly church extension in a very real and businesslike manner. The idea of tearing down the church has raised a few eyebrows, but on the whole, the people of Rotterdam are taking it in their stride. And now, Bishop Hubertus Ernst of Breda is planning to demolish his 19th century cathedral for similar reasons.

The Bishops' answer to their churches' needs is certainly different from Dr. Paisly's solution. Many times construction of church buildings associated with a witness to the Faith. However, in this day and age it is often felt that the large and expensive church is a less desirable form of stewardship because the building stands empty for most of the week. Though I have no way of telling whether Dr. Paisly's church will be utilized to its fullest extent during the week, I must confess that the solution of the Dutch bishops to their building needs seems to me a more imaginative use of the Lord's money.

A CONSERVATIVE SEMINARY CALLS FOR SOCIAL ACTION

Fuller Theological Seminary which is located in Pasadena, California, is usually placed in the category of the conservative, evangelical institutions. It was founded in 1947 by Dr. Charles Fuller. Dr. Fuller is well-known for his preaching on the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour" program on radio.

Lately some of the faculty members of this institution are beginning to express a social concern which is usually attributed to a more "liberal" background. Mr. Jaymes P. Morgan Jr., who is an instructor in systematic theology, spoke on the evangelical's social concern to the Los Angeles Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Church last year and received an enthusiastic response.

Another of the Fuller professors who is expressing need for social concern is Dr. Paul K. Jewett, who has been on the faculty since 1955. Dr. Jewett says that it is a common experience for outsiders to be surprised at the interest in social involvement by himself, Mr. Morgan and the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr. David Hubbard. Dr. Jewett says, "Some of us are trying to combine the two emphases, social action and salvation,".

Of course, these ideas meet with some disapproval from a few of the faculty members and also some of the older generation who contribute funds to support the nondenominational seminary. But the surprising thing is that Dr. Fuller, the school's founder, does not see any danger in additional interest in social action at the seminary, but seems to encourage it.

Dr. Jewett said the student social action committee has made contributions to California grape strikers and some students have even participated in peaceful civil rights marches.

Mr. Morgan maintains that the evangelical churchmen should not remain apart from the efforts by the liberals to straighten out some of the injustices in social structures. He feels that it is better to be in there with them using the perspective of the evangelical than it is to be outside and not having a say as to what goes on.

Dr. Hubbard wrote, for example, that if a foe of the church is in the intellectual life, the evangelical should not retreat from that sphere. "We can't say, 'Well, universities are bad places because some people lose their faith.' That's the very place where we've act to dive in," he said. To all this we can but add a heart-felt "amen".

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