The URC Synod has concluded and delegates have returned home to attempt to catch up on sleep. So what was accomplished at Synod?

In the end, Synod London may best be remembered for its clear rejection of Federal Vision and adoption of the recommendations and statements of the Justification report. All office-bearers are urged to repudiate the teachings of Federal Vision where they are not in harmony with the Three Forms of Unity.

The 9 Points of Synod 2007 (regarding justification) were upheld and will continue to speak as pastoral advice.

What does “pastoral advice” mean and what authority does it carry? That hasn’t yet been determined and will likely be business before the Synod 2012. It is, at a minimum, a statement that others can look to and see where Synod 2010 stood on the teachings of Federal Vision, and office-bearers continue to be reminded to repudiate the teachings of FV.

But other important items were handled.

Regarding the CanRC (Canadian Reformed Churches)/URCNA merger, a statement was unanimously made that affirms the URCNA belief that the CanRC is a federation of churches that are true faithful churches of Christ.

The decision was made to conclude the work of the Theological Education Committee. Recall that the committee had come to an impasse with the CanRC counterpart because of the CanRC mandate for a federationally-controlled seminary where the URCNA believes this is not Biblically-mandated. The Theological Education committee believed it had done all of the work it could do and asked that its mandate be fulfilled.

Regarding the Proposed Joint Church Order (PJCO) which would be the church order under which the united CanRC and URC would sit, the PJCO was accepted for further study and churches are instructed to submit any suggestions for changes to Synod by way of overture.

Regarding the common songbook (hymnal) of the CanRC/URCNA for a possible merger, the work of the Songbook committee to produce a joint book was concluded but they were reminded to continue to stay in dialogue with the CanRC as is consistent in phase 2 relations.

These three committees (Joint Church Order, Songbook, and Theological Education) are the wheels that on the bus of union with the CanRC. Because their work has, mostly, been concluded, a merger will not be taking place in the immediate future. The reason their work has been concluded is because there are some differences between the CanRC and URCNA that have not been able to be worked through at this time — differences such as the federationally-controlled vs. independent seminaries, a different view of covenant, etc.

However, a deep respect of and appreciation for the CanRC by the URC was expressed and URCNA churches were encouraged by Synod to facilitate further opportunities for interaction with the CanRC. So what does this all mean?

The URCNA/CanRC merger will not happen overnight. There was general discussion by some that they didn’t expect it to happen in their lifetime, but the URCNA and CanRC are committed in their respect for one another and continue to encourage one another. Relations remain in phase 2, and the URCNA is afforded delegates to the CanRC Synod who have voice, and vice versa for the CanRC in the URCNA. The federations will continue to consult one another whenever they may be considering major changes to their confessions, church order, etc., and the two federations continue to open the pulpit to one another.

A general sentiment at Synod was that more time was needed to “get to know one another.”

A study committee was created to evaluate the need for a part time or full time volunteer mission’s coordinator. If the committee decides that there is a need, the committee will request one in a report sent to Synod 2012. The coordinator would not handle funds or make decisions on behalf of the federation but would serve as an information hub regarding missionaries and missions in the URCNA.

The URCNA federation hymnal committee was encouraged to continue its work and churches are encouraged to utilize the new forms and prayers that were presented by the Liturgical Forms and Confessions committee.

No new changes will take effect as a result of the work of the Level of Doctrinal Commitment committee (regarding the doctrinal commitment advisable for communicant membership), but the committee will continue to refine its work over the next two years until Synod 2012. This means that no statement will be made on this as of now, but Synod 2012 will take up this business again. This is important because it will determine what level of doctrine a potential member of an URCNA church need agree with before being acceptance into the church.

For example, some potential members want to join the church but do not yet agree with infant baptism. This would determine whether or not members need full assent to the TFU or partial assent at this time.

Regarding ecumenical relations, Synod decided to enter into ecclesiastical fellowship (phase two) with the Reformed Church of New Zealand and the Reformed Church of Quebec, and enter phase one relations with United Reformed Church of Congo and the Calvinistic Reformed Church in Indonesia.

It decided to remain in phase one relations with the Reformed Churches in South Africa and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated). Synod also decided to consider itself in phase one relations with all member denominations/federations of the NAPARC.

Regarding church order, Synod decided that changes to the church order will take effect upon its ratification by consistories instead of waiting until the following Synod.

The process for voting on classis ordination exams was slightly amended which will allow for more uniformity in these exams across the federation. A minor change regarding the acceptance of new Ministers into the URCNA was also made.

Regarding Synodical regulations and procedures, the Regulations for Synodical Procedure were adopted as the standard for use at Synod.

A letter will be sent by the Stated Clerk, speaking on behalf of the URCNA, urging US military officials not to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. This was in response to a plea from reformed chaplains whose careers as chaplains are tentative under a repealed policy. There is currently one URCNA military chaplain.

This is the first time the URCNA Synod has taken action to petition a governmental administration on a matter. It is also the first time the URCNA has asked the Stated Clerk to speak on behalf of the federation as a spokesman or representative. The URCNA, having come from the Christian Reformed Church, has been wary of hierarchy and for that reason, has never asked the Stated Clerk to “represent” them, but has assigned the Stated Clerk more of an administrative role in the past.

All changes to the church order will require ratification by the consistories, so consistories should expect to see requests for ratification shortly. The deadline for most of those ratifications was Jan 1, 2011 and March 15, 2011.

Last, officers were elected for Stated Clerk (Bradd Nymeyer) and Alternate Stated Clerk (Dennis Royall), and a webmaster was appointed (Gary Fisher).

Synod has decided to have the next Synod only two years from now, in June of 2011 in Pompton Plain, NJ.

The minutes of Synod 2010 do now state that blogging from Synod is permitted and reaffirms that all meetings of Synod, unless in executive session or strict executive session, are open.

Since there appears to be interest in continued reporting on the goings-on of the URCNA federation, this website will remain active in following events as they occur — reports and letters received, ratifications, etc. — though postings will be far less frequent since events will occur much less frequently. The writer/owner of this website intends to attend and report on the Pompton Plains 2012 Synod in a similar fashion, Lord willing.

Thanks for your interest in the work of the church at Synod 2010 and for reading URCNA Synod Reports.