Sister Acts - The Reformed Churches of New Zealand meet in Synod (Pt-2)

TROWEL & SWORD

Sister Acts - The Reformed Churches of New Zealand meet in Synod (Part 2)

Rev. F. Vanderbom

In last month’s article I reported on much of the work of the Synod of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand (RCNZ) that is of interest to us in the CRCA. The 2005 RCNZ Synod met in Hamilton (south of Auckland) early last September.

Part of the agenda of any church meeting is necessarily of a house-keeping nature and of little interest to most of that Church’s members (e.g., the long service leave and superannuation provisions for its ministers). There are other house-keeping matters which are of interest “in-house”, to its own constituency. CRCA examples might be decisions about our Book of Worship and statements (which we rarely seem to make) on issues of ethical / social / political importance.

In this article I will report on and explain several remaining issues of interest to CRCA members, and also several “in-house” matters which may be of interest to us in Australia.

The remaining matter of greatest interest to CRCA members is the RCNZ’s decision about its future relationship with the Reformed Theological College (RTC) in Geelong. The RCNZ decided that

The Memorandum of Understanding appended to Report 17 (cf. Appendix 1) be adopted by the Churches as the basis on which the RCNZ support and utilize the RTC in the training of its ministers (along with its other courses for other members).
The RCNZ support the RTC by way of a recommended contribution.
The recommended contribution for the inter-synodical period be set at $63,000 p.a.

What this means is that the RCNZ has moved to set past tensions and expectations behind it and that as a denomination they will continue to give the RTC their support. But this support is now “recommended” by the Synod, which means that any church’s session that believes it has sufficient reason to not support the RTC and/or to send their theological students elsewhere for training may do so.

Those who have followed the history of the RCNZ – RTC relationship fairly closely will be familiar with the issues, but many CRCA members may value some “backgrounding”.

Charismatic and Pentecostal Christian influence both within and outside the RCA prompted us to revisit the teaching of the Scriptures and our Reformed Confessional commitment. The 1991, 1994 and 1997 Synods of the (then) RCA made Biblically based and pastorally oriented statements on issues that were studied and discussed in our Australian Churches for quite some time under the label of “Word and Spirit”.

The delegates and Synods of the RCNZ recognised that when the RCA Synods made their statements they were not saying anything that contradicted our Creeds and Confessions. But for a time they took strong exception to the RCA’s declared position because they regarded it as in conflict with the Westminster Confession of Faith’s (WCF) Article 1.1 & 6. The relevant statements of these two points are worth reproducing (with the key expressions in italics):

I.1 “… which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.”

I.6 “… Scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God …”

Over the years of inter-Church relations since 1991, the RCNZ has come to acknowledge that they cannot reasonably expect the RCA to maintain a position to which it has never subscribed. Besides this, the RCNZ’s declared interpretation of the WCF I.1 & 6, although literal and thus straightforward, is very much open to debate, and reflects an understanding of the WCF that is far from universally held among orthodox Presbyterian and Reformed Christians.

The tension between the RCNZ and the RTC arose because under the terms of the Contract between the two, the College’s lecturing staff subscribe not only to the system of doctrine set out in the Three Forms of Unity (the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession and Canons of Dordt) but also to the WCF. The then Deputies to the RTC (the RCNZ’s men who were responsible for contact with the RTC) wrote in their report: “… we as office-bearers of the RCNZ cannot subscribe to the Confessions in the same words as the Faculty of the RTC, yet mean different things by them. How do we, therefore, continue to use and support the College with integrity?” (cf. Report of RTC Deputies to 2005 Synod, section F).

We must therefore be very grateful that the RCNZ Deputies were able to win the recent Synod’s approval for a “Memorandum of Understanding” to replace the RCNZ’s Contract with the RTC. Here is the heart of the proposal that Synod adopted:

“We have … tried to provide for a somewhat looser binding between ourselves and the College, yet at the same time provide for a meaningful relationship in which the RCNZ are genuine partners in the work of the College and by which, hopefully, we can unitedly continue to support it. The general effect of reworking the old contract into this Memorandum (see Appendix 1) is i) not to hold each other to the same understanding/interpretation of every clause of our confessions …; and, ii) to remove the disciplinary clauses and 'teeth.' What would happen in the future would be that if the deputies could not come to a satisfactory conclusion with any matters of concern they may have, they would not, by virtue of our contractual arrangement, have the power to instigate disciplinary action. They would simply go as far as they can per moral suasion and report to [the RCNZ] Synod for Synod's consideration and decision.”

One or two NZ churches have been sending their prospective ministers and their financial support to the US, and under the terms of Synod’s decision this liberty may continue. But it is immediately obvious to anybody visiting the RCNZ that its loyalty to and appreciation for the RTC’s staff and work remain very strong. 2/3rds of the 21 active and retired NZ ministers are RTC trained, and the RCNZ is strongly represented among the present theological student body at the RTC.

In my survey of the Synod’s agenda in the September T&S, I commented on the RCNZ’s somewhat different approach to mission work overseas from that of the CRCA. I also commended the RCNZ for its active diaconal work.

The NZ Churches will continue to be represented at the Asia-Pacific Regional Missions Conference of the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC) which provides them with a network of contacts for missionary and diaconal service, as the Reformed Ecumenical Council does to a lesser extent for the CRCA. RCNZ members are encouraged to become missionary associates with one of these contacts, with their session providing the liaison.

The RCNZ at present has a single woman involved in training Christians for radio ministry, a married couple working in Port Moresby, and Barry and Anne James periodically serving in ministry training in Uganda.

The international diaconal ministry is similarly organized via the ICRC network, and the national Committee also supports the local diaconal ministries with annual local and triennial national conferences. Like our Churches, the RCNZ has recognized the need for occasional field visits by a Committee member as well as the need to keep the cost of such travel to an acceptable level.

The teaching of the children is more closely guided than in Australia: whilst the CRCA’s Youth Committee has long struggled for viability the New Zealanders have an active Education Resource Committee which studies available material and runs the equivalent of our Resource Centre (called Lampstand). On its advice, the Synod highly recommended the Great Commission Publications Sunday School curriculum, Show Me Jesus, and to a lesser extent the Kids@church material published by the Sydney Anglican Diocese.

The development of the RCNZ’s Hymnbook has been much slower than our Book of Worship, as might be expected of a Church about 2 times smaller than the CRCA. But it has therefore been able to respond more appropriately to current technology. At this stage, the Committee has made a selection covering most of the Psalms.

After much discussion of the options it was decided to continue the slow progress towards a book without committing to its actual production.

It was also decided to seek to produce computer CDs for use in both churches and homes, including musical scores with words in a format suitable for photocopying, and words without scores in a format suitable for public projection or photocopying.

In last month’s report I discussed the RCNZ’s conviction that their sister church relationship with us remains under strain because of several aspects of our decisions about women as deacons. Let me add here that the ties with the RCNZ are still for them as well as for us the closest inter-Church ties we both have. And that the recent Synod expressed appreciation for our 2003 Synod’s decision regarding “children and church membership”.

Several other decisions in the inter-Church relations area are also of interest. The RCNZ continue to offer a sister church relationship to the Free Reformed Churches of Australia (FRCA). The FRCA however, continue to regard the RCNZ’s sister relation with the CRCA as the only remaining impediment hindering them from accepting NZ’s offer of sister-church relations. The FRCA brothers were again urged to consider whether that ought to be so.

It is indicative that the RCNZ actually has a sister-church relationship with the small Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia (PCEA), which has also declined to have a formal relationship with the CRCA. The inter-Church links in Australasia and worldwide which the RCNZ seeks and maintains clearly reflect its somewhat different history and orientation from ours.

Another side of the same fact became clear to me from the birth of several large congregations of Afrikaans immigrants of Reformed faith in New Zealand: something that has thankfully not happened in Australia. Although the RCNZ has several congregations that are successfully enfolding Afrikaaners, this has not happened on anything like the scale as in Australia, where several of our congregations have been greatly blessed as they truly accepted Afrikaans members.

As has happened here, the several South African Reformed Churches have actively sought to build bridges and provide Christian support for their immigrants to New Zealand. Two representatives of the Reformed Church of South Africa (GKSA) attended the Synod on behalf of their own and other South African Reformed Churches, but they struggled to bring the existing divisions to an end.

We are thankful to the Lord that the relationship between the RCNZ and CRCA is strong, warm, and intensely personal. The ties are virtually unbreakable because of this, but even more so because despite our sometimes sharp differences one thing is abundantly clear to our leaders and churches on both sides of the Tasman: the Gospel and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ and our loyalty to our Reformed distinctives and heritage are infinitely greater than the few issues that have and may still divide us.

Without making light of the strong convictions that have been expressed in recent years, many on both sides of the Tasman believe they were in large part due to a few unrealistic expectations and some lack of Christian acceptance in matters on which Scripture is unclear. In such cases the RCNZ has tended to adopt the cautious approach, and the CRCA the line of Christian liberty. This too is part of what God’s Word allows.

In recent years and again in Hamilton last September, the Lord has been good to both our Churches.

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