September 5, 2008
For our fifth meeting it was possible to meet for only one day, but we made the day very concentrated and covered a wealth of material.
We began with the realization that while our mandate is a five-year mandate, already our first year is completed and we now begin our second year. We are grateful that during this first year we have made significant progress, have clarified the issues well, have worked very compatibly as a team, have received excellent affirmation from Synod 2008 and the churches, and we are now well on the way in producing several documents that we believe will be key elements in the journey ahead. At the same time, we easily admit to the anxiety that we feel because the task before us is very complex, the major decisions still await us, and the expectations of the church are very high. We pray faithfully that we will be able to serve the church well.
Table-Talk time at the Tuesday luncheon of Synod 2008 was especially gratifying. It was a breakthrough in methodology for synod and it produced vigorous discussions that drew every delegate into the various issues involved in this subject. We were able to harvest many insights about the efforts of the church to deal with faith formation (summarized in our report ?Observations from Synod?s Table-Talk Sessions?) and we are confident that most delegates were able to carry back to their classes and congregations new insights and suggestions for such discussions in their own area.
A great deal of our effort was focused on a key document that we are writing, ?Affirming Baptism?, which is designed to give the churches a renewed perspective on baptism, remembering baptism, profession of faith, and the Lord?s Supper. We hope that soon we will be able to distribute this document to key people for feedback and suggestions.
Another pair of key documents will focus on I Corinthians 11 since it is a strategic passage in the consideration of admitting children to the Lord?s Table. We hope to present a document that explains the issues associated with the interpretation of this chapter and also a series of Bible Studies on I Corinthians 11 for the churches to use.
Communication with churches and leaders will always be a major concern of ours. We are committed to keeping all informed but also to learn from others in the church. And so we are intentional about communicating, listening, and learning. We are particularly interested in keeping in contact with the ethnic minority communities within the CRC.
We noted gratefully that 41 persons have agreed to serve as Pastoral Correspondents for our committee. From their positions of leadership within the church they will be able to give us valuable feedback, solicit the feedback of others, and lead valuable discussions on key topics. We are continuing to study the list so that all classes are represented.
Howard Vanderwell, Secretary
