The 2008 Annual General Meeting (AGM)
of the Regional Synod of Canada was held at Ebenezer Reformed Church,
Stoney Creek,
Ontario on April 23rd and 24th.
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!
