Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/87

Contributor - Arie Blok

Title - Classis of Ontario Adolescent Churches

Topic - Classis of Ontario

The Classis of Ontario differs from the other Classes in the RCA in various ways.

One of these ways, of course, s that we are the only entirely Canadian classis although two other classes also have Canadian churches.

That our churches are largely made up of fairly recent Dutch emigrants and their descendants also sets us apart - in more ways than just the Dutch accents heard among us.

This also sets us apart in that most of our churches were organized within a few years of each other. We do not have any churches that have been in existence for a century or more.

We are a classis of "adolescent churches". By that I mean that while we no longer show the characteristics of very young churches, neither do we show the characteristics of churches that have been in existence for many years. We seldom have the problem any more that was such a problem at first; that people that came from many different churches all wanted the new church to be just like the church back home in the Netherlands. On the other hand, what middle-aged member do you know who has been in that particular church all of his or her life?

It is this lack of older lifetime members that accounts for the lesser stability of our churches. The middle-aged lifetime member tends to sit-out troubles in the church instead of walking out. The emigrant in Canada is still dividing the "this is my church" feeling between the church in Canada and the church back home. One result of this is that people of the age group that ought to be the stabilizers tend to be the de-stabilizers in the churches of the Classis of Ontario.

This "adolescence" may also be a factor in the shaky state of the relationship between pastors and churches in the Classis of Ontario. I know of no other Classis in which there have been as many forced resignations of pastors as in the Classis of Ontario. One factor, of course, is that in earlier generations of Dutch emigrants there always existed a chronic shortage of pastors so that tensions between a pastor and congregation were usually relieved by the pastor receiving a call from another church, whereas now we have almost an oversupply of ministers and opportunities for moving are few. I also know that among the earlier generations of Dutch emigrants to the U.S., it was quite often the opinion that ministers from the Netherlands were much holier than the home-grown variety. One church called ministers from the Netherlands for a whole century because only a Dutchman could be a really "good" minister. I wonder if this might be a hidden agenda in some of our pastoral relation problems. Maybe some people in our churches would be happier with a ,real Dutch domine" provided of course that his accent was not too bad.

Then, we also are all churches in which the families have lived together for only one generation. This makes a difference because people who have lived among each other for several generations tend to put more trust in one another. The cliques in the churches tend to interlock more with each other due to the interlocking relationships between the people. It may not all be Christian love in churches that have been together longer, but people have usually made more progress in working together.

Another way in which we are "adolescent" is that we are about half-way through the process of indigenization, or to use a plainer term, "canadianization". On the one hand, we are canadianized in that all or almost all of our church functions are in the English language, but on the other hand, there is often a desire for the church to be Dutch in every other way. I remember being told, when I first came to Chatham, that the greatest hindrance to church growth was the emigration policy of the government of Canada. When someone marries a non-Dutch person, it is termed "marriage to a Canadian", even when both parties were born in Canada and hold Canadian citizenship. Non-Dutch Canadians are welcome in our churches, of course, but sometimes only Dutch people are actually welcomed. Our churches are now at that point in the canadianization process where things are not Dutch enough for some and too Dutch for others.

Many of the problems of the adolescent church will pass away within another twenty-five years. The experience with emigrant churches in the U.S.A. indicates that once we have passed through this adolescent stage., the churches will begin to prosper again.

Yet I doubt very much if the churches that we read of in the New Testament ever had such an "adolescent stage". The Holy Spirit quickly led them through such problems as whether the church should receive Gentiles who turned to Christ, and whether Jewishness of any kind was any formal or informal criteria of how welcome or unwelcome a newcomer or old-timer should be. The New Testament churches, with all their diversity of ethnicity and background, were bound together by a deep love toward the Saviour and toward each other. If we all had that same deep love, most of our problems as adolescent churches would become much less serious.

Another reason why we are having these problems of adolescence is due to this: that among both old and young there is the prevailing opinion that the Reformed Church is our Church and it ought to be what we (or 1) want it to be. This is held to so stubbornly that even taking a vote on a matter does not settle much.

There is one thing that the Apostles always emphasized, and that is, that the church is not our church. The Church is the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church must be what He wants it to be, and not what we want it to be. If we learn that lesson and apply it, we will have transformed churches. If we do not learn or apply this principle, we will eventually work through our "adolescent" problems, but not to be much better people and churches for having done so.

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