Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/68

Contributor - John J. Opmeer

Title - Evangelicals Of All Churches, Unite!

Topic - Church In Canada

After a slow start, the attempt to gather the evangelical Christians of Canada now seems to be gaining strength. A major factor has been the willingness of the well-known Dr. William Fitch, of Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, to become president of the "Evangelical Fellowship of Canada". Under his leadership the movement has begun to break down the wait-and-see attitude of many evangelicals in the recent past. The clarion call "Evangelicals, unite!" is now being sounded, and an all-out effort is made to enroll evangelical ministers and congregations in more than a dozen denominations in Canada. The estimate is that there are at least 4,000 evangelical congregations across Canada, and most likely your own congregation is included in that number.

The question, of course, is: which Christians are evangelicals, and why do they have to be separately organized? The description "evangelical" is generally claimed by Christians who consider them selves loyal to the historic doctrines of Christianity. Needless to say that the "evangelical" interpretation of the historic Christian faith is only one among several. The term "evangelical" is loosely used in contrast to "liberal", which also has many shades of meaning. The very difficulty to define what an evangelical Christian stands for is part of the problem of evangelical organization. It is very well possible, for instance, that there are liberal Christians who consider themselves "evangelical". However, evangelicals in Canada are definitely called upon to unite in order to maintain a strong witness against creeping liberalism in the churches.

WHICH DIRECTION

The direction which the movement is going to take is perhaps not so clear as the motivation for organization. This may present a dilemma for some of our churches. I assume that most of our churches in Canada have received the invitation to affiliate with the Evangelical Fellowship. We are known to be conservative in doctrine and emphasizing personal commitment to Jesus Christ. In other words, we should qualify for the description "evangelical". However, I would not be at all surprised if many of our ministers and consistories share a feeling of concern about the direction which the Movement may take. Sad to say, some of those who call themselves evangelicals have a history of being negative about many things which are acceptable to other evangelical Christians. As I wrote in this column a little over a year ago: "I think it is about time in Canada that the term "evangelical" is reserved for what it stands for. And that Christians who are anti-World Council of Churches, anti-United Nations, and anti-left look around for another name to identify themselves with."

It is too early to tell in which direction the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is heading. The present leadership is an encouraging sign. The first issue of the Fellowship's magazine Thrust, published in October, also gives us good hope that the direction is one which we, as Reformed churches, can support. The statement of belief which is published is simple and basic. Evangelism is emphasized in both its personal and social aspects. Yet a good margin of concern remains. Three are overtones of another attitude, a much more narrow one. Evangelicals are called the third force, clearly in distinction from and possibly in rejection of the World Council of Churches. The question must be raised: what kind of company do we find ourselves in when we join the E.F.C.? We are asked to join hands with those who, with us, want to be loyal to the historic creeds and feel called to take a stand against the apostasy of our day. Fine. But is this a case of the camel's nose in our tent, to be followed by the whole camel? Will we be embarrassed to find out later that we joined a camp which considers the World Council of Churches as part of the , apostasy"? If so, we better find out ahead of time. We can join hands with those who are critical, in a constructive way, of the ecumenical movement. But not with those who think that with slogans such as "leftist", "super church" and "liberal" they have done justice to the ecumenical movement of our times. Undoubtedly, there are "negative evangelicals" in the E.F.C. But let us hope that they will not dominate the Fellowship. Only then can the E.F.C. speak with one voice for all true evangelicals in Canada.

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