Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/88

Contributor - Will Kroon

Title - Seeking Christian Unity

Topic - Church In The World

Each year, during the month of January, Christians are urged to participate in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This is in response to the Gospel message wherein we read that Christ prayed for Unity among His followers.

My wife and I attended such a prayer service. It was held in a Roman Catholic Church in our community. A Salvation Army band provided the music, a Reformed Pastor preached the Sermon and a parish priest, together with pastors from various denominations, participated in the liturgy. Even the major of our city took part in the service. All in all it was a good experience, for in spite of all the differences in faith and cultural traditions, we felt a common bond through our faith in Jesus Christ.

As I reflected on that experience, I realized that Christians, who belong to the major denominations, have come a long way these past forty years. When I was a teenager we never met with Christians from other denominations for prayer or for Bible Study. Now it is possible to worship, pray and study together and to meet with one another for a common cause.

I do not want to give the impression, however, that Christ's prayers for Unity have been fully accepted. They are not, and we still have to go a long way in overcoming the barriers that keep us apart as denominations. For instance, there are still a great number of devout believers who are still lukewarm as far as praying for Christian Unity is concerned.

Even among the denominations that aye willing to enter the arena of dialogue and co-operation, there are still many hurdles to cross, before they are willing to invite believers from other denominations to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and accept an invitation to sit at the table with them. I am happy to report that many members of the Reformed family of Churches has provided great leadership in this. They have extended invitations to believers from other denominations and have accepted invitations to join at the Holy Supper. This is a different story with the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans and the Orthodox Churches. These denominations will invite us only if we become more like them (through accepting their form of ordination and ministry). There are exceptions to this however, especially when the Sacrament of Holy Communion is administered in a small setting.

The Canadian Council of Churches

The Canadian Council of Churches was formed in 1944 for the purpose of providing the churches with an agency tor understanding, common planning and actions if the member churches so desired. Its aim was also to bring the Canadian Churches in relationship with the world-wide Church. In this the Council has succeeded for through the Canadian Council of Churches bridges have been built with Christians in China, Christians in the Middle East, Christians in Cuba and Christians in various parts of Africa.

The Reformed Church in Canada has, for many years, been an active member of the Canadian Council and has served on some of its committees (Executive Committee and Faith and Order Committee).

The Canadian Council has played an effective role in dealing, on behalf of the churches, with the Canadian government. It has dealt repeatedly with the Department of Internal Revenue re: taxation of Church property, etc. At other times representatives from the government have consulted with the executives of the Council about foreign concerns. The government realizes that some member de . nominations, through their missionaries, are aware of needs and concerns that are unknown to the government. Officials of the Council are occasionally in contact with members of the Cabinet and have at times met with the Prime Minister.

The following denominations are members of the CCC.

The Anglican Church of Canada

Armenian Holy Apostolic Church

Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec

Christian Churches (Disciples)

Coptic Orthodox Church

Greek Orthodox Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church

Orthodox Church in America

Polish National Catholic Church of Canada

Presbyterian Church

Reformed Church in America

Society of Friends

Salvation Army

United Church of Canada

The Roman Catholic Church is presently an associate member.

It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all Christians in Canada, belong to these denominations. I would like to add that some of these denominations, or some members of these denominations, also belong to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, including the Reformed Church.

The Small Churches

Some of the above mentioned denominations are similar in size to the Reformed Church or are even smaller in number, such as the Society of Friends, the Polish National Catholic and the Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches.

Even though the small Churches in the Council have equal participants in the work of the Council, the smaller Churches are at a disadvantage. They have smaller budgets for inter-church work and have fewer professional staff and fewer members with special theological, political or sociological expertise. Consequently, they are often not able to participate fully in the life of the Council. For that reason the Small Church Forum was organized in order to bring out the needs and concerns of the smaller denominations. From the very beginning the Baptist, Presbyterian, the Friends, the Disciples and the Reformed Church gave their support to this group.

One of the contributions of the Small Church Forum was the organization of a Consultation on Evangelism. Active cooperation was received from the larger denominations. The Christian Reformed Church and the Conference of Mennonites sent observers. This consultation on evangelism was so successful that evangelism will now be a regular item on the agenda of the Council.

Advantages

Belonging to a Church body like the Canadian Council brings direct and indirect benefits to its members. As a long time participant of the Council I see these benefits as follows:

1. Through our membership we have the opportunity to become informed about what is happening in the other member churches. A lot of sharing, interacting, and encouraging takes place whenever delegates meet together. Through our membership in the Council, other member Churches have been acquainted with us even as we received the opportunity to get to know them. Through listening and sharing we learned that we are not the only denomination which has to wrestle with issues like ordination of women, abortion and meeting the budget, to a name only a few. Each denomination faces similar problems but may solve them in different ways.

2. Belonging to the Council of Churches is a spiritually enriching experience and it broadens one's understanding of the Church. It gives one first-hand experience that some Christians have different ways of believing and/or have different ways of doing things, but are as firmly committed to our Lord as we are. I often explain this by saying that even though we, as Christians, may shop in the same store (read the same Bible) that does not mean that we buy the same food and cook the same meals. What I mean is that we, in the Reformed Church, adhere to fundamental truths from the Bible which others seem to overlook, while others experience a richness in the liturgy, a mystery in the Sacraments and stress the importance of silence in worship in a way that is foreign to us. Discussing these differences creates opportunities for spiritual growth.

3. Through our membership in the Council we are among the smaller denominations which use the opportunity to strive for a greater balance in the activities of the Council. What I mean is that we try to tell the Social-Gospel minded brethren of the Council that they also need to deal with evangelism and the renewal of the spiritual life of the Church, while the Evangelical section of the Church needs to be reminded that social action is also of utmost importance to our Lord. For did He not say "What you have done for the least of these my brethren you have done it to me."

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