Henry DeMoor

Is there any chance that the monthly payment I receive from the Canada plan can now be direct deposited in my American checking account?  My American payment comes that way.  Other international agencies including the Canada Pension Plan can do this, so if the Canada MPF plan cannot do it, could someone explain why that is?  (This is the only check I receive monthly that I must physically go to my bank for in order to convert the currency and then deposit it.)

I was just asked to tell someone when Art. 73 was amended.

As far as I know, the denomination (synod) has never adopted a particular stance on this. But if it tolerated anything less than an honest personal wrestling with the text in its original language and context and with faithful and relevant application to our lives today, I suppose we could close Calvin Theological Seminary for good. There would be no need for biblical studies, for homiletics, for any other theological discipline......... I do know that several classes (I won't say which ones) have taken actions that clearly come down hard on plagiarism. For what it's worth ....

Article 73 (and many others) were amended in 2015.  You can find the Acts of Synod under Synod Resources from the CRCNA website.  Acts 2015, pages 663-668.  The amendments were proposed by a Study Committee working on the offices of elder and deacon.

Cedric is correct about this if we are talking about administering the sacrament.  But I distinguish between the administration of the sacrament and the distribution of the elements.  Elders typically distribute the bread and wine (though others may assist).  A minister or an authorized elder administers them.

As I wrote in my commentary on Article 55:

"I do happen to believe that elders and ministers are free to serve communion to the home-bound or to members in hospitals or rest homes.  I don't view these as private celebrations of the sacrament but, rather, as extensions of official worship in the building.

Specifically, I have found it meaningful to have elders or elders' assistants serving such folk the bread and wine while playing tape recordings or DVD's of the service on a Sunday afternoon.  That enhances the notion that these actually become "extensions."  Then again, our elders sometimes do it in groups of three or four at hospitals or hospice facilities in a very simple ceremony along with prayer over one who is critically ill.  This reminds me of James 5:14: 'Is anyone among you sick?  Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.' So I have a hard time saying that this violates the order of the church."

According to the Church Order's Article 4 it is the council that shall proceed to ordain/install elders and deacons.  The council will typically do this in a worship service and will often ask the senior pastor to lead -- at least in that segment of worship, even if another preaches.  But there is no rule that this has to be so.  Council is at liberty to ask another ordained minister to lead in that segment or in the entire service.  There should be good reasons for that, of course, and councils should obviously not do this without the senior pastor's full consent.

Pieter,

In my book entitled Christian Reformed Church Order Commentary I answer this question directly on page 196.  Members can access this on the web library of the CRC.

Hi Michael,

Article 37 of the Church Order talks about requiring the congregation's "judgment" (you can substitute "vote") with regard to "major matters."  Articles of Incorporation and By-laws are clearly in that realm.  In fact, when the article goes on to talk about council having the "authority to [make] and [carry out] final decisions," it excludes "those matters stipulated otherwise in the articles of incorporation or by law."  If you now look at the "model articles of incorporation" in the Supplement to Article 32-d of the Church Order, you will notice that Article VIII there indicates that amendments can only become effective when "at least two thirds of the members of the church who are present and entitled to vote" approve of them.  The model for Canadian churches has similar language.  It is actually the state or province that requires such congregational approval.  Not to call for a congregational vote on changes to the Articles of Incorporation is a violation of the law!

I do hope this helps.

Craig,

Article 59-f applies here.  if it were a church in ecclesiastical fellowship with us, it would be 59-e.  Note that 59-f gives the consistory a responsibility to examine the persons concerning doctrine and conduct.  Then the consistory determines whether this be a "direct admission," a public reaffirmation, or a profession of faith.  One of these three that fits most appropriately with the conclusion of the examination.  If they're PRC, I would probably lean towards the first category of direct admission and so advise the consistory (if there's no problem in the conduct area).

Historically, churches in the Reformed tradition including ours have always held the position that approval for and making a profession of faith gave persons the right to "adult membership" and therefore also to vote at congregational meetings.  We call them "confessing members" (Article 59-b, CO) who have "the right to vote" (Article 59-c).  Synod currently leaves it up to the local congregations to determine "the appropriate age at which a confessing member shall receive such privileges and responsibilities" (Supplement, Article 59-c).  If no age is mentioned in any congregational decisions or by-laws, the age of 18 doesn't apply.  A person could make a profession at age 16, for example.
The only reason why for a time the CRCNA had a provision in the Church Order that actually mentioned the age of 18 was due to synodical decisions on children at the Lord's Supper.  For a time, synod decided that our members could make an "early profession of faith" and be admitted to the Lord's table -- the typical age was somewhere between 9 and 12.  They would then meet with council again, somewhere around their 18th birthday, be interviewed regarding their understanding of privileges and responsibilities of confessing membership, and be granted the right to vote.  Sometimes this was done in the council room, sometimes it was celebrated in public worship and those who had shared communion with us could then be officially welcomed before the congregation and its Lord.  Synod later decided that "all baptized members who come with age- and ability-appropriate faith in Jesus Christ are welcome to the Lord's Supper ..." (Article 59-a).  It then went on to say that "baptized members shall be encouraged to make a public profession of faith ..." (Article 59-b).  What that means in practice is that the age for making profession was once again moved to "somewhere around 18" without any definitiveness about that number, just like it had been the case for centuries.  So now, in my congregation, children are prepared for participation in the Lord's Supper in their children's worship centers -- at the time where they no longer leave half-way through the service, usually at age 7 or thereabouts -- and thereafter take communion with us.  Then, at around the time of high school graduation, the church prepares them and encourages them to make public profession of faith (which they now haven't done at a younger age).
So with regard to the right to vote at congregational meetings, we're right back where we started centuries ago. [☺]   Though now they can have communion based only upon their baptism and some initial instruction.
The only caveat to all this is that churches not only need to follow the Church Order but they also adopt their own Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.  Synod has a model for that (Supplement, Article 32-d), but what is legally operative is what the individual congregation has adopted and filed(hopefully it follows synod's model).  It is possible that a given congregation might spell out an age where a person is granted the right to vote.  It is not likely, but it is possible, and that should be investigated.  The congregation could always change that again, but one must go by what's on file currently in the province or state in which the church is located.  The model Articles say in Article VII only that a congregational vote is obtained "at a meeting of the members present and entitled to vote."  So that leaves it to the Church Order and local council to decide ecclesiastically rather than the more legal route of Articles of Incorporation.  Typically provinces and states allow congregations to decide this matter in its own way without dictating any particular voting age.  That is, of course, unlike the voting age in the political sense.