The Christian Reformed Church Agenda for Synod 2012 is now available online and the 2012 synod meeting looks to be the most controversial the CRC has seen in years.

A whopping sixty overtures appeared in the new Agenda released last Wednesday. 35 of those overtures and an additional three communications were about the Belhar Confession.

The CRC Interchurch Relations Committee is recommending that the Belhar Confession be adopted as a fourth confession alongside the existing Three Forms of Unity (the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort). Proponents of Belhar have argued that this confession from apartheid-era South Africa will make an unqualified stand against racial divisions and affirm unity among diversity.

Opponents believe Belhar to be insufficiently grounded in the gospel message and perhaps an unqualified affirmation of diversity that could lead to full participation of active homosexuals.

A CRC agenda for synod has not had this many overtures since 1996, when the CRC was still debating women in office. That same year saw the formation of the United Reformed Churches in North America, a denomination largely consisting of members and churches who left the CRC during the women in office years.

Of the 35 overtures on the Belhar Confession, 3 ask for it to be adopted as a full confession alongside the Three Forms of Unity. 11 ask that it be adopted as a testimony, which would affirm it as an official statement of the CRC but it would not be binding as with the Three Forms of Unity. 17 ask that it not be adopted, and another 4 ask that the decision be delayed.

Two classes (Grand Rapids East and Hackensack) and one individual member overtured Synod 2012 to adopt Belhar as recommended. Twelve classes and 5 congregations sent overtures asking synod to not adopt Belhar, including Classis Pacific Northwest, where Belhar was first recommended to the CRC as a fourth confession. Classis Pacific Northwest cites “ambiguity,” the requirement of also adopting four additional documents to provide context, the lack of agreement of CRC congregations on the Belhar, and insufficient pastoral advice or procedure for those whose consciences would keep them from affirming Belhar: “Without clear direction for those whose consciences would keep them from affirming the Belhar as a confession, adoption of the Belhar would lead to disunity and confusion.”

Other major items up for discussion include a Creation Stewardship report coming to synod for approval. The report declares that global warming is factual and that humans are the primary cause. Six overtures are in the agenda requesting particular action by synod on this report.

Classis Alberta North calls synod to adopt the report because, among other grounds, “The report accurately summarizes the current scientific evidence and warns us about the danger of climate change and of its consequences to the environment, to humankind, and especially to the poor and disadvantaged.”

(Editor’s Note: You may read Vriesman’s critique of adoption of Belhar here and an analysis of the debate on the topic here.)

Other overtures raise concerns. Classis British Columbia South-East says the report “recommends that synod take a specific position on global warming (that it is anthropogenic and a significant threat to future generations, and that urgent action is required now). Synod as an ecclesiastical body is neither mandated by its constituents nor competent to make pronouncements on any scientific propositions, computer model predictions, or the appropriateness of climate change policy proposals.” This overture asks for more time to review the report.

Classis Zeeland asks that synod simply not adopt the report: “Such information and pronouncements made on the basis of the report are best left in the spheres of science and politics. The church should instead invest its energy, time, and resources into the proclamation of the gospel.”

A new “Covenant of Officebearers” to be signed by all CRC officebearers is coming before synod 2012 to replace the current Form of Subscription. This will be the third time a Covenant has come before synod. Six overtures appear in the agenda calling for action on this. All six call for changes to the Covenant before it is adopted or to form a new committee altogether. Overtures call attention to Synod 2011’s mandate to include that the confessions “fully agree with the Word of God,” but that the 2012 proposed Covenant fails to include the mandated phrase. (Editor’s Note: We will have a separate analysis of the proposed Covenant in the near future.)

Synod 2012 will convene June 8-14 on the campus of Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario. Ancaster CRC will serve as the host church.

Rev. Aaron Vriesman is the Pastor of the North Blendon Christian Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. He reports on the CRC for The Aquila Report

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