Our Sister Church in Abbotsford (4)


In this article an additional number of issues with regards to our sister church in Abbotsford will be discussed.

Call to reformation in Canada

The LRCA’s call to reformation did not only go out to the Canadian Reformed Church at Abbotsford, but it also confronted all the local Canadian Reformed Churches with a letter. In this letter the LRCA explained the ecclesiastical way it had taken and in addition it made known the Act of Liberation. 1) All the churches were requested to study the material which was sent to them and to give a reaction. A few positive reactions were received but for the most part no reaction or a rejection was received.

Also in other ways the LRCA has continued to place the call to reformation in the Canadian churches. In 2010 discussions were held with concerned brothers and sisters in the Fraser Valley, the region where Abbotsford is located; in 2010 and 2013 information evenings were held for concerned CanRC members. 2)

The LRCA also approached the CanRC General Synod of Carmen 2013 with an explanation of her liberation, as well as a call to reformation. This call to reformation was declared inadmissible, as well as an appeal to General Synod 2016 of Dunnville. 3)

We will take a look at a number of developments which took place after 2007 in order to better understand the background of the existence of our sister church, namely continuing ecclesiastical union and the influence of the so-called North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC). These matters were also mentioned in the letter from our deputies for Contact with Churches Abroad (DGK) to the CanRC General Synod of Carmen 2013. 4)

Church Unity

In the second article we saw that the URCNA is the sister church which in practice has the most influence in the Canadian Reformed Church. The URCNA decided in 2007 that she rejects the ‘errors’ of those who teach:
“… that all baptized persons are in the covenant of grace in such a way that there is no distinction between those who have only an outward relation to the covenant of grace by baptism and those who are united to Christ by grace through faith alone”. 5)
In this statement the doctrine of an inner and an outer covenant is displayed which also played an important part in the liberation of 1944.

This points to one of the divergences which is being accepted by the CanRC within the sister church relationships. This was expressed by one of the professors of the CanRC as follows:
“We do not feel pressure to become one with the OPC; so why do we exert pressure when it comes to the URCNA? (…) Be content to continue to preach on each other´s pulpit and exchange attestations. (…) Let us press on together because regardless of the names of our federation, we are one.” 6)

NAPARC

In the previous article we saw that the brothers at Abbotsford found that also within the Canadian Reformed Churches itself the Lord’s Supper table received a more ‘open’ character for instance by allowing guests, after they gave a self-testimony, to partake in the Lord’s Supper. The brothers noticed thereby that those guests did not only come from sister churches but also from other Reformed churches or Presbyterian churches who were members of NAPARC or of the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC). 7)

NAPARC functions as a consultative council and her statutes demands that only those churches may become members who maintain ‘the marks of the true church’ (pure preaching of the Word, Administration of the Sacraments ,discipline). 8)
In its guidelines it requires that churches may not accept, without question, members from other NAPARC churches and that no mission work be performed in each other’s ‘area’ in order that member churches “(…) build the Church of Jesus Christ rather than their own denominations (…)”. 9)
There are also member churches with an ‘experiential’ character in NAPARC like the Free Reformed Churches of North America (a sister church of the CGK in the Netherlands) and the Heritage Reformed Congregations (a break-away church from the Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands).
The Canadian Reformed Churches became a member of NAPARC in 2008 and has maintained this position although it was appealed to the General Synod of 2010 and 2013. 10)

Call to reformation in Australia

In her Act of Liberation and Return the LRCA declared:
“(…) that we wish to exercise fellowship with all true Reformed believers and that we wish to unite with every assembly that is founded on God’s infallible Word at whatever place God has brought them together”.
She has therefore also sent out a request to the reformed churches in Australia, the Free Reformed Churches of Australia (FRCA), to examine her liberation and to recognize her as a true church. 11)

These FRCA churches are closely connected with the Canadian Reformed churches because of the similarity in language and (immigration) cultural background. Even though three of the FRCA churches had requested an investigation of the LRCA liberation, these requests were denied by the Australian synod. One of the grounds for this denial was that the LRCA came into being because of the objections against the sister church relationships of the CanRC, while the FRCA especially “… had voiced no objections against these sister church relations”. 12)

Call to reformation in The Netherlands.

The CanRC was confronted for the first time with the ‘new liberation’ in 2004 at the General Synod of the Canadian Reformed Churches in Chatham. At that time the magazine Reformanda paid attention to how this matter was dealt with at synod, where in a speech by Rev. R.C. Janssen, deputy of the GKv (now minister in the Abbotsford CanRC), a “suggestive accusation of sin against the ninth commandment” could be observed by which the Canadian churches would have been influenced. 13)

Between 2004 – 2007 the CanRC deputies for foreign churches had received a translation of the Acts of our General Synod Mariënberg 2005-2006. Several controversial synod decisions of the GKv were studied by these deputies; however, they nevertheless came to the conclusion that the GKv was still a faithful church. 14)
The General Synod of the Canadian Reformed Churches of Smithers in 2007 concurred with this decision and stated that the liberation of our churches had to be seen as a schism. 15)

The LRCA rejected this decision of the CanRC in her “Act of Secession and Return”. In 2009 she made a request to the DGK to make a study of their liberation and recognize them as true church. In order to make a responsible decision, General Synod Emmen 2009-2010 considered it to be important to investigate the reformed character of the LRCA during a visit. 16) After an additional study by deputies BBK a sister-church relationship was entered into.

Sister church relationship with the DGK.

Meanwhile the LRCA is a small but faithful and committed congregation in which some growth can be noticed. Although the younger and middle-aged generation do not always have the command of the Dutch language (or their knowledge of the language is limited to words like ‘stroopwafel’ and ‘drop’), there is a great deal of involvement with the weal and woe of her ‘large’ Dutch sister church.

Twice a year, since 2010, one of our ministers leads the worship services and administers the sacraments in the LRCA. Once every three years a kind of ‘church visitation’ is held by Deputies Contact with Churches Abroad. These deputies reported with thankfulness to the synod Groningen 2014-2015 “… that this church has remained faithful to the Scriptures and the reformed confession. They also maintain the Church Order of Dort as much as possible. The sister church relationship is strong and good”. 17)
Classis South-West of our churches has been appointed an authority for appeals, in order that the ecclesiastical way for our sister church can function as best as can.

From east to west.

In these four articles about our sister church we have tried to give, as well as can, a factual description of the developments which have led to the liberation of the LRCA.

Let our prayer be that our churches and the Liberated Reformed Church of Abbotsford may remain faithful in order to serve the Lord:

“From sea to sea He has dominion
wherever people may be found,
They shall from east to west
bring Him the honor,
And praise for Him shall there abound”.

(Free translation of the Dutch rhymed version of Psalm 72 : 4)

1) See www.lrcabbotford.com under ‘Official Docs’, letter of October 23, 2009 to all Canadian churches.
2) See the reports from the deputies of the Relations of Foreign Churches in the Acts GS Hasselt 2011-2012, Appendix 6, pg. 374 a.f. and the Acts GS Groningen 2014-2015, article R.12, pg. 203.
3) The consideration of the CanRC Synod was that this appeal did not come from out of a local CanRC church of the federation or from a sister church, see Acts GS Carman 2013, art. 62 and Acts GS Dunnville 2016, art. 53.
4) Acts GS Groningen 2014-2015, article R.12, pgs. 234 – 243.
5) Acts GS URCNA Schererville 2007, art. 72. For the remarks of deputies of the Relations of Foreign Churches, see Acts GS Emmen 2009-2010 Appendix lX, pg. 105 a.f.
6) J. Visscher, “Let’s just be friends for now: a personal assessment of the new CanRC-URC Relationship”, Clarion, 59-18 (2011), pgs.203-208.
7) See R.T. van Laar, “Do or Die”, Reformed Continua, Vol. 5 (2011), pgs. 36-38.
8) See “Constitution of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council”, art. Vl.2. Source: www.naparc.org/documents/cb/ (28-5-2016).
9) The so-called “Agreement on Transfer of Members and Congregations” and the “Golden Rule Comity Agreement”. Source: www.naparc.org/documents/informational-documents/ (28-5-2016).
10) Acts GS Smithers 2007, art. 140; Acts GS Burlington, art. 43, 44 and 52; Acts GS Carman 2013, art. 77 and 109.
11) See www.Ircabbotsford.com, under “Official Docs”, letter of May 3, 2012 to the GS Armadale 2012.
12) Acts GS Armadale 2012, art. 59.
13) P. van Gurp, “The Call to Reformation in Canada”, Reformanda, nr. 14 – 18 (2004), pgs. 204 – 206.
14) See “Report to GS Smithers 2007” by the Committee on Relations with Churches Abroad of the Canadian Reformed Churches, pgs. 36 – 67. Source: www.canrc.org/?assembly=56 (28-5-2016).
15) Acts GS Smithers 2007, art. 143. About this see P. Drijfhout, “The answer from the Canadian churches”, Gereformeerd Kerkblad De Bazuin, Volume 1, number 39, 40, 41 and 45.
16) Acta GS Emmen 2009-2010, art. 97, decision 1.
17) Acta GS Groningen 2014-2015, article R.12, pg. 203.