Our Covenant for Officebearers requires an officebearer to affirm the three confessions "as historic Reformed expressions of the Christian faith, whose doctrines fully agree with the Word of God." As Supplement, Article 5 puts it:
"The person signing the Covenant for Officebearers affirms without reservation all the doctrines contained in the standards of the church as being doctrines that are taught in the Word of God."
A Confessional-Difficulty gravamen allows an officebearer to present a difficulty to the Council for information/clarification.. The point of a Confessional-Difficulty gravamen is NOT to allow the officebearer to take a (semi-private) exception to our confessions. Unlike Presbyterians, our Covenant for Officebearers allows for no exceptions. Rather, the point is to provide information and clarification so an Officebearer knows whether his views are within the confessions, and, thus, whether he can continue to affirm the Covenant for Officebearers.
Posted in: Don’t Say No Yet (An Encouragement to Future Office-bearers in the CRC)
Our Covenant for Officebearers requires an officebearer to affirm the three confessions "as historic Reformed expressions of the Christian faith, whose doctrines fully agree with the Word of God." As Supplement, Article 5 puts it:
"The person signing the Covenant for Officebearers affirms without reservation all the doctrines contained in the standards of the church as being doctrines that are taught in the Word of God."
A Confessional-Difficulty gravamen allows an officebearer to present a difficulty to the Council for information/clarification.. The point of a Confessional-Difficulty gravamen is NOT to allow the officebearer to take a (semi-private) exception to our confessions. Unlike Presbyterians, our Covenant for Officebearers allows for no exceptions. Rather, the point is to provide information and clarification so an Officebearer knows whether his views are within the confessions, and, thus, whether he can continue to affirm the Covenant for Officebearers.