Reformation Forum 2000 Conference

TROWEL & SWORD

Reformation Forum 2000 Conference
Dying and Rising with Christ

Rev. John Westendorp

‘Dying and rising with Christ – as the central dynamic of the Christian life.’ That was the key theme of the recent three-day conference held at the Reformed Theological College in Geelong Victoria. The conference was the culmination of a one-year program of studies run throughout the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia last year – known as the Reformation Forum 2000. Trowel and Sword readers will remember the studies, which were also included as inserts in this magazine.

Keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Cornelius (Neal) Plantinga. Dr. Plantinga was recently nominated to be the sixth president of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids US. He has served as professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Seminary and more recently as Dean of Chapel for Calvin College. He is the author of a number of books. His book, ‘Not the way it’s supposed to be: a breviary of sin’, was named book of the year by Christianity Today in 1996.

The chosen theme for the conference basically reflected the Reformation Forum 2000’s concern with the issue of Revival. Dr. Plantinga applied that theme across three keynote addresses to 1) the revival of the human heart, 2) the revival of the church and 3) the revival of the world. The one hundred or so conferees appreciated Dr. Plantinga’s gift for making simple what is difficult and for making profound that which is simple. While his keynote addresses are available on audio-cassettes some key points of his talks ought to be mentioned here.

The revival of the heart

The conference began with a strong emphasis on God’s sovereignty: revival is a work of God, a miracle. Revival is bringing back to life something that is dead or near dead, therefore it cannot be fabricated by the person himself. We may play a role but ultimately God must do it. Dr. Plantinga pointed out that this is the problem with moralistic teaching and preaching – it is cruel to create expectations that we can bring about renewal of the heart. That leads to an attitude that oscillates between pride and despair.

The Bible has many images of dying and rising with Christ – not only the new birth, but also the lost being found. The core issue of death and revival is, for example, prominent in the parable of the prodigal son: “This my son was dead but is alive again.”

There is a sense in which we died and rose with Christ in the first century, in another sense it happened in our baptism, but there is also a sense in which it happens as we deal with our old behaviour. It kills us to forgive, we need to keep dying, our old self needs to be at the bottom of the sea with Pharaoh.

While God must bring about revival it is just as true that this ongoing dying and rising is also our responsibility. Our part is surrendering ourselves more and more to our Saviour.

The revival of the church

In a second keynote address we were reminded that the renewal of the heart is not just so that our ‘innards’ can be tidied up... not just so that we can sleep at night, but so that we can live together. Dr. Plantinga asked the question: what would a church be like that really had patience, humility, compassion, forgiveness? That would be a godly church. That would be a reformed church. That would be a church reformed according to the Word of God.

Bringing a strong mission slant into the conference Dr. Plantinga further remarked that witnessing is part of the life-giving work of the church. But that witness not only brings new life to those who hear, it also revitalises the life of the church itself – although we do not witness in order to seek that for its own sake.

Touching on a common fallacy today he furthermore remarked that an ‘alive church’ is evidenced, not primarily in its style of worship, but in open and expectant hearts, ready to receive God’s grace. Taking his cue from Jonathan Edwards’ writings about the marks of revival, Dr Plantinga asked what a revived church might look like: revived churches will have the fruit of the Spirit bursting out all over. We need revived hearts because we need a revived church.

Under the heading of ‘singing the Lord’s song in an alien land’ (Psalm 137) we were encouraged to bring the gospel in ways relevant to our culture, but without us ending up singing ‘Babylonian’ (worldly) songs in order to attract people to the gospel.

The revival of the world

The third keynote address took its starting point in the disordered world we inhabit. Isaiah portrays wonderfully, the ‘shalom’ of God. This shalom is not just peace but wholeness, justice, delight. However, that shalom is now broken.

Revived hearts in a revived church are for the purpose of being God’s instruments for the kingdom. But revival is not just to get us to heaven or to improve relationships but to grow the kingdom, based on the reality that the Lord is risen. The program of that kingdom is every kind of good. Calvin, for example, not only showed compassion to those dying of the plague in Geneva, he also introduced sanitation programs to deal with the problem.

The Puritans after Calvin saw that since everything is corrupted, everything needs redeeeming. Dr. Plantinga pointed out that this is reflected beautifully in the Heidelberg Catechism’s explanation of the Ten Commandments. There we are shown not only where we have gone off the rails but also God’s positive agenda for the world, reminding us how life is to be transformed.

In all of this the church is God’s primary agent, even though other institutions (even those opposed to God) can still be used by Him – all truth is God’s truth. However all our work is not in vain for it counts for the world to come when we will fully enjoy God’s restored shalom.

Other speakers

Professor Henk De Waard, principal of the Reformed Theological College, gave an inspirational address on developments in theological education. He particularly highlighted how the post-modern mindset has affected churches. That has also had an impact on students coming into theological colleges, especially in a decline of Biblical knowledge and understanding.

Many societal changes have surfaced in the last couple of decades that have also impacted theological education. In an increasingly pluralistic society we are not always so sure anymore what kind of training we want, or need, so as to be relevant to ministry today. Education, at all levels is also in a state of flux, with education increasingly seen as a commodity, provided by an industry.

In the midst of all this Dr. De Waard maintained that we still need a mind transformed by the gospel (Rom.12:1,2). If theological education is to be Biblical we will still want to keep our focus on the Biblical givens of creation, fall and redemption and maintain a vision of what we can become by grace. There needs to be a strong partnership between churches and the theological college to maintain that vision as central to ministry.

Dr. De Waard’s address is also available on audio cassette (orders – $5 postage included – may be sent, prepaid, to Trowel and Sword)

Retired CRCA pastor and one-time World Home Bible League worker, Rev. Gerald Hanscamp took an evening session on prayer. Last year’s Reformation Forum 2000 studies had stressed the importance prayer in the whole matter of revival. It was good for the conference not only to consider the importance of prayer for a revived Christian life, but also to spend a good part of the evening praying for the revival of the heart, the church and the world.

The closing wrap-up address was given on behalf of the organising committee by the editor of Trowel and Sword and the substance of that paper has been reproduced in this months Editorial Paragraphs.

Workshop statements

During the conference nine electives were offered. These linked in with last year’s nine pairs of fortnightly studies. These studies are still available on the web at www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lane/3587/r2000index.html.

The studies/workshops were in three broad categories: Mission and Revival, Church and Theology, World and Life. In most instances the workshops were led by the authors of the study papers. These electives were generally well appreciated.

In these workshops, conference delegates were not only encouraged to offer feedback on last year’s studies. They also had opportunity to link their particular topic in with the contents of the plenary sessions taken by Dr Plantinga. Furthermore each workshop was invited to work towards a statement to be passed on to the churches.

The outcome of these workshops was then collated in plenary session and the outcome will be further processed by the organising committee before being sent to the churches for consideration.

Thanks

In is fitting that we express thanks to our hosts, the Reformed Theological College. The college staff worked hard to get their new facilities ready for our use – the first conference to be held at their new Waurn Ponds campus. The consensus among the conferees was that the facilities were admirably suited – keeping in mind that it is not a hotel but a boarding school. While some conferees stayed with family and others attended as day visitors, some eighty were accommodated at the college.

The organising committee is also grateful for Dr. Plantinga’s willingness to fit this ‘down under’ conference into his busy schedule. It was his first visit to this part of the globe and his enjoyment and appreciation of our flora and fauna and the scenery on the Great Ocean Road give us every hope of having him with us again some time in the future. Apart from his keynote talks and his involvement in the later CRCA Ministers and Wives Conference he was also willing to be quizzed in a “fireside chat” (with the fire left to the imagination). On the Sunday morning he also preached in the South Barwon Christian Reformed Church. It was a though-provoking message on the need for us to receive the Kingdom in an attitude of total dependence – like little children (Luke 18:15-17).

We especially thank our God for a wonderfully encouraging time together to be spiritually refreshed and revitalised as we came together from all over Australia. Perhaps I should give the last word to a younger colleague who summed up the conference by saying, “Now I know even better than before why I am a Reformed Christian!”

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