Held December 19-20, 2007
The new Faith Formation Committee, appointed by the Synod of 2007, through the Board of Trustees, held its first meeting December 19-20, 2007. Nine persons met together, representing a wonderful balance of clergy and laity, male and female, those in academic settings, denominational roles, and local congregations.
During the first day of meeting we needed to become acquainted with each other, with our mandate, and with the current rather diverse practices with the churches. We agreed that the churches are experiencing uncertainty about the current position of the denomination and about how to implement recent synodical decisions. However, there was no uncertainty among the committee members about the need to think theologically, biblically and pastorally on the matter. Our common goal is to exercise wisdom in our task of leadership.
We are eager to establish a new paradigm in leading the CRCNA for studying and learning on sensitive and far-reaching subjects of life among us. We have committed ourselves to spend much time in dialog with others in various roles in the church to learn from them. At the same time we will aim to promote healthy conversations on this subject within local congregations, in other settings, and also at synod. We plan to communicate with four levels of key people in the church – in the family, the local congregation, the classes, and the denomination. We hope we can talk with many from every viewpoint and also draw them together in helpful mutual conversations.
In a first step in the process of discussion with others, we spent an evening with five professors from Calvin Theological Seminary. We asked them each to share their thoughts with us on the issues we must be engaged with to handle our mandate well for the life of the church. A passionate exchange of ideas resulted, which illustrated deep love for the church, for the formation of faith in children and youth, and provide excellent clarification of the issues that need to be addressed.
As our time together progressed, it became clear to us that the following are the questions and concerns that press for consideration:
- What is the relationship between baptism, profession of faith and the Lord’s Supper?
- What does a vigorous practice of profession faith look like?
- What is the role of the Lord’s Supper in the formation of faith – the cause of faith? the privilege of those who have faith? Or both?
- What would careful and vigorous obedience to I Corinthians 11 look like?
- What is the role of parents in profession of faith, both before and after?
We closed our time together with a realization that the task is complicated, but of vital importance for the life of the church. We felt we had gained a much clearer idea of what the issues are and the people and groups we must work with. In addition we were encouraged to know that we were able to work so well together as a group.
Howard Vanderwell, Secretary
