Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/95

Contributor - Ken Ramsey

Title - Where is the Canadian Council of Churches Going?

Topic - Reformed Church In Canada

It was the spring of the year, but because spring comes late to Prince Edward Island it was still cold. Outside, although it wasn't raining, there was an east coast mist that soaked, even as it chilled to the bone. Inside, the incense was thick in one of the island's largest churches as delegates to the Triennial Assembly of the Canadian Council of Churches and members of the public gathered to worship. That happened over the course of the next ninety minutes was chilling to the soul. The Rev. Dr. Bruce McLeod, a former moderator of the United Church of Canada and the outgoing president of the Canadian Council of Churches welcomed the people gathered and, in his capacity as president and as a representative of all member churches, including the Reformed Church in Canada, preached a sermon that denied the most basic, essential and foundational truths of the gospel of Christ, truths the church has at all times and in all places clung to, even at the cost of shed blood. The gist of his sermon boiled down to this: Jesus is not the only Saviour. He is simply one of many different "windows" to God. Others windows to the heavenly kingdom are found in Hinduism, Islam, Buddism, and so on.

Afterward, the delegates from the Reformed Church gathered to pray and to seek God's will in this matter. We prayed sincerely that the Spirit would enter the heart of Dr. McLeod and work a miracle of regeneration, that we might be able to name him as a brother in Christ. We prayed that the message of despair he preached would not be heard and taken to heart. We prayed that the Sovereign Lord would somehow use this blasphemy to His honour and glory.

The next morning, as the delegates began their work, a statement was entered into the record of proceedings by Reformed Church members that made it clear that what had been said on our behalf the previous evening in no wav represented the beliefs held by the Reformed Church. It then went on to lift up in a positive way the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour.

In response Dr. McLeod stated that while he wasn't speaking out of the centre of the Reformed Church in Canada, he was speaking out of the centre of the United Church's beliefs and theological understanding. I believe that he is right in the assertion that he was speaking from the heart of the United Church. Recently the United Church has produced a document entitled "Toward a Renewed Understanding of Ecumenism". In a review of this discussion paper in January's edition of Theological Digest and Outlook, Dr. Donald Faris, a United Church minister in British Columbia writes: "Jesus' Lordship has always been 1 held by Christians to be a public fact, not a private opinion. The omission of any reference to Jesus Christ as Lord unmasks the hidden agenda of this document. The document's hidden agenda is to deny the unique divinity of Jesus Christ."

In the same edition of that magazine, the Rev. John Wesley Oldham, of Donnelly United Church in Winnipeg had this to say: "My spirituality is deeply enriched by other traditions and is based on the sound biblical teaching ... that 'God shows no partiality learn from and worship with Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Bahai and especially the Creation Spirituality so central to Native Spirituality. I affirm that there are many branches to the Sacred Tree of Life, many rivers to the holy ocean of Grace, many colours to the rainbow of God's Covenant-Promise, many stars reflecting light from the same Light-Source, many spokes to the wheel, all empowered by the same hub of Love and Grace."

I believe Dr. McLeod when he says that this is where the United Church is and where it is going, but what of the Canadian Council? The United Church is only one of sixteen member churches, although it is by far the largest single financial contributor. (In 1995 it is projected that the United Church will give $150,000, the Anglican Church $104,500, the Presbyterian Church $27,750 and the Lutheran Church $15,000. The Reformed Church in Canada will contribute approximately $850.) What was the response in the CCC to what had happened?

After our statement was made in Charlottetown, several delegates from different denominations spoke to us privately to thank us for the witness we had made. An observer delegate from the Christian Reformed Church criticized us roundly for making our statement public without first going privately to Dr. McLeod, apparently forgetting that the offensive words were spoken in a public worship service in front of several hundred people. No one joined with us in speaking publicly against the blasphemy we had heard.

In the fall stated session of Classis Ontario an overture came from the consistory of the Emmanuel Reformed Church in Whitby requesting that membership in the Canadian Council of Churches be withdrawn. (The Classis could not act on the overture as it was drawn up. Instead it asked that the matter of membership in the CCC be taken up at the next meeting of the Regional Synod of Canada.) Their thinking is that any church group that cannot in practice unambiguously affirm the simplest and most basic truths of the faith should not have the Reformed Church in Canada seal of approval which comes automatically with our membership in that body.

Others argue, as did Dr. Jonathan Gerstner in the pages of this magazine, that we should fulfil a role of prophetic ecumenism, calling the ecumenical movement back from spiritual whoredom to its proper biblical roots by naming Jesus Christ as Lord of all lords and King of all kings and speaking the truth of His grace in sea son and out of season. They would say that a lot of good for the cause of Christ was done when the witness of the Reformed Church was seen in the Globe and Mail throughout the nation. Some say that the fight for true ecumenism has shifted from the CCC to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. It is clear to some, for example, in the recent Catholic-Evangelical Accord, which was signed by such evangelical luminaries as J. I. Packer, Charles Colson and Thomas Oden, that the principle of justification by faith alone, a divine treasure, is in danger of being sacrificed on the altar of temporal gain. They would argue that as the battle for the truth of the gospel is being fought here, all our efforts should be focused here. What is clear in all this is that we cannot be members of the CCC and act as if the ecumenical situation were healthy. It is not business as usual. We must either be true prophets, outspoken and detested by men, or shake the dust off our feet and walk away. It is one or the other. Now is not the time to be polite.

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