The delegates were Rev. Case Koolhaas (President), Mr. Bill Zwiep (Vice-

President), Mrs. Laurie Heron, Rev. Randy Opmeer, Rev. Marc Konynenberg, Mr. Emile Schmid, Rev. Doug Nieuwstraten, Mr. Dirk Vermeulen (for Klaas Slagter), Rev. Carson Culp (Treasurer), Rev. Siebrand Wilts (Stated Clerk), Rev. John Kapteyn (Executive Secretary) and Barb Laidlaw (Administrative Manager)

 

In his President’s Report, Rev. Koolhaas said:

“If we are to be faithful to our calling to be the Church of Jesus Christ, then we need a cultural make- over. It is my conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ withdraws his blessing when we only focus on ourselves, our needs and our wants. Cultural changes take a lot of work and a deep desire to be a church which exists for those who are still outside the Kingdom of Christ.”

 

He encouraged us to consider the results of our CP&D Summit 4 discussion. Later, John Kapteyn presented material from the Summit 4 and after a long and good discussion, we decided to process our response to these barriers through the three Church Planting and Development (CP&D) Teams – Discipleship and Leadership, Multiplication and Mission, and Revitalization.

 

We received excellent reports from Mary Clark (Reformed Church Women), Randy Bohl (Words of Hope), David MacFarlane (Evangelical Fellowship of Canada), Raja Stone and Paul Philsinger (World Relief Canada), and Gail McClarence (Elisha House). It was exciting to see the many ways that God is working through these ministries.

 

Wednesday’s session was closed with a worship service to which the local community and area churches had been invited. Participating the service were Rev. Doug and Mrs. Carmine Nieuwstraten, Rev. Randy Opmeer, Rev. Carson Culp and Rev. John Kapteyn. Rev. Kapteyn message focused on Philippians 4:8 – 9 – “Think About These Things.” An offering totaling $1,307.00 was received for Mobilizing For Missions.

 

We started our Thursday session with an hour of devotions and prayer. The, the RCA Foundation Canada report was presented by Albert Moddejonge and John Schonewille. We discussed the future funding of the Foundation and this area will be discussed in the coming months.

 

We agreed that we would continue to participate in the development of Commissioned Pastor Distance Education with Western Theological Seminary.  And that the RSC contribute $2,500.00 to Western Theological Seminary’s Commissioned Pastor Distance Learning Program start-up costs.

 

Laurie Heron presented the CP&D Commission reports and the following are some of the recommendations that were approved

 

1.                  we continue to financially support and promote NCD training for all churches.

2.                  we inform congregations, through the three Classes, about Vision Renewal and encourage their participation.

3.                  we form an action plan to deal with the results of Summit IV.

4.                  we explore new ways to fund Mobilizing for Mission, including establishing partnerships/shares with individual churches as we do for RCA Missions.

5.                  we encourage each of the three CP&D Teams to establish a plan with their committees to implement the goals and responsibilities of each team and report back to the 2009 AGM.

6.                  we research how the Denomination and other Regional Synods approach standards for church planters, especially ethnic planters.

7.                  we explore how the relationship between parent churches and church plants and planters holds each group accountable.

8.                  we research new ways to report church statistics that will show a “Vital Signs” check for church health, similar to the survey used by Classis B.C.

 

Emile Schmidt reported that Northern Lights is now part of the new RCA Today which is published three times a year at no cost to the RSC. We will also have the RCA publish Northern Lights one additional time each year, the cost of which will be born by RSC. We now have 4 pages of Northern Lights, 4 times the size it was a year ago.

 

The recommended minimum salary guidelines for pastors were increased by 1.8% and the mileage reimbursement amount was recommended to be 48 cents per kilometer.

 

The 2009 budget was approved and assessments were increased by $1 to $40 per member, mainly for the increase in costs for Northern Lights and Travel costs.

 

We have agreed to move the Synod Office to Westdale Reformed Church by July 31st and this will help keep costs in check.

 

We elected and installed Bill Zwiep as our new President and Doug Nieuwstraten as our new Vice-President.

 

It was an excellent meeting and we thank God that all decisions were unanimous.

 

To God be the Glory!