Synod Waits to Define Faith Declaration

Synod 2013 declined to outline more specific criteria for the category of Ecumenical Faith Declaration (EFD), created by synod last year for the Belhar Confession.

Instead, delegates voted to have more discussion about the criteria within the denomination and with partner churches around the globe.

“One of the things that became very apparent to Peter [Borgdorff] and me as we traveled is that Reformed churches are interested not only in this category, but what synod said when it said that we adopt the Belhar as an ecumenical faith declaration,” explained executive director Rev. Joel Boot.

Synod 2012 did not adopt the Belhar as a full confession, but instead gave it a new label of Ecumenical Faith Declaration.

Rev. Peter Borgdorff, the CRC’s deputy executive director, said that the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, the mother church of the Belhar Confession, may also want to explore using the category for some of its documents.

“It was very clear to us that not only were they interested in our discussion and proposal but they wanted to partner in the formation of its meaning and definition,” Borgdorff said.

The proposed criteria would have meant that an Ecumenical Faith Declaration be in harmony with biblical principles, global in scope, relevant for Christian living, not already covered by current confessions, and beneficial for the denomination’s ecumenical relations.

In a related matter, synod decided to wait on a request to include Ecumenical Faith Declarations such as the Belhar, in the Covenant for Officebearers.

“This overture is asking us to say yes to something without knowing what we’d be saying yes to,” said Christopher Fluit, Classis Atlantic Northeast.

For continuous coverage of Synod 2013 including the live webcast, news, video recordings, photos, liveblog, social media links, and more visit www.crcna.org/synod.