“The first clerk of synod, Rev. Thea Leunk, in consultation with executive staff, felt that the first line was redundant,” the email response read. “The revision offered on the floor was not well worded…”

The Christian Reformed Church synod in June approved a new statement for all ministers, elders and deacons to sign, which declares adherence to the Bible, the creeds and Three Forms of Unity. A motion came from the floor asking to reword the first sentence.    

The chairman of the committee that drafted the statement declared it to be a friendly amendment. Seconds later, the amended “Covenant for Officebearers” was adopted unanimously and the delegates erupted into applause.    

However, when the newly-approved Covenant was sent to the churches and published its Acts of Synod 2012, something was amiss. The first sentence was different from the one approved on the floor of synod.    

Synod’s wording of the first sentence read as follows:  

“We, [the undersigned], believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God.”  

The printed and distributed was missing a couple words:  

“We, [the undersigned], believe the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God.”    

Responses of disappointment and frustration poured in on Facebook.  

“I can’t believe it,” said retired minister Ron De Young on the Returning Church group page. “This should not have happened.”  

The CRC headquarters at 2850 Kalamazoo Ave in Grand Rapids (hereafter referred to as ‘2850’) responded to inquiring emails explaining what had happened.  

“The first clerk of synod, Rev. Thea Leunk, in consultation with executive staff, felt that the first line was redundant,” the email response read. “The revision offered on the floor was not well worded and either Holy Scripture or Old and New Testaments needed to be eliminated for the sentence to be more clear.”    

The email said that the editing was “judged to be editorial and not a change to the content or meaning of the Covenant for Officebearers.”  

Is removing the two words, “Holy Scriptures,” a trivial alteration?  

“It may seem like a minor change (and maybe it is) but the principle is not minor at all,” Rev. Rob Toornstra commented on Facebook.  

Rev. Tyler Wagonmaker, the synod delegate who proposed the phrase change, chimed in: “This is a substantial change, and the authority to make such a change… does not reside in the hands of First Clerk Thea Leunk or any other individual. This editorial change needs to be undone and the work of Synod properly and accurately disseminated.”  

“I wonder what the ‘editor’ was thinking,” said Rev. Nick Monsma of Palmyra, New York. “[The] very wording was discussed in detail on the floor of Synod.”  

During the discussion at synod, young adult representative, Cedric Parsels, urged synod to reword the first phrase as it was proposed:    

“We, [the undersigned], believe the inspired Word of God as received in the Old and New Testaments of Holy Scripture…”    

Though unable to make a motion from the floor as a representative, Parsels warned synod of the potential for abuse in how the sentence was worded.    

“As a seminarian at Princeton Theological Seminary and campus minister at Princeton University, I have become aware of some scholars – even some who consider themselves confessing members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America – who could use the opening line of the proposed covenant as license to circumvent the teaching of our confessional standards on the nature of Scripture,” said Parsels.    

“The opening line could be interpreted in a number of different ways,” explained Parsels. Someone could sign the Covenant under this wording and still declare, “We believe there is a difference between the Word of God and the presence of that word in the Holy Scriptures” where “some parts of the Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and other parts are not the inspired Word of God.”  

Wagonmaker made a motion from the floor of synod that would close the loophole.    Instead of merely believing the “Word of God,” the Covenant would have officebearers believe “the Holy Scriptures.”    

Now, with “the Holy Scriptures” edited out of the Covenant, officebearers will now believe “the Old and New Testaments.”  

“This kind of tinkering is goofy! What were they thinking?” commented Rev. Michael Van Boom of Edmonton, Alberta. “You don’t make changes like that. You can’t! This is only going to further undermine confidence both in Synod, and those who work at 2850.”    

The email from 2850 also mentioned something else: “The minutes of synod are also edited by a theological editor from Faith Alive Christian Resources prior to publication to assist with cleaning up language and grammar that is not always easy to catch during the busyness of synod. These corrections are editorial only and not a change to content or meaning.”  

Rev. Harold Veldman of Allendale, Michigan comments, “*Sigh* It really makes you wonder how much else gets ‘adjusted’ just under the radar. Maybe very little, but it doesn’t engender trust.”  

Van Boom adds, “…it is the break in formal process that is the problem. I do trust most of our people at 2850. I really do. But when these things happen, it undermines that trust.”    

Contacts are being made to Executive Director Joel Boot, asking for the edit to be undone.

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

@2012 The Aquila Report – all rights reserved