Werken aan eenheid

Op 24 juli 2013 maakten GKv deputaten melding van een derde vermaanbrief van haar zusterkerken in de Verenigde Staten.

The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) heeft in een samenvatting van de notulen van haar synode van 20-23 mei 2013 (o.a.) het volgende gepubliceerd:

• (pag. 48) Aanbeveling 3: Dat de door deputaten interkerkelijke relaties opgestelde concept vermaanbrief aan de GKv synode wordt goedgekeurd.
• (pag. 51/52) De concept vermaanbrief

In de concept vermaanbrief worden de volgende onderwerpen genoemd waarover zij hun zorgen uitspreken:

• De schriftvisie aan de Theologische Universiteit Kampen. Met name worden genoemd dr. Paas en dr. Van Bekkum.
• Het werk van deputaten M/V in de kerk.
• Contacten met de Nederlandse Gereformeerde kerken

De vermaning wordt als volgt benoemd:

We humbly admonish you to be careful and to be watchmen upon the walls and at the gates of Zion (cf. Isa. 62:6-7; Ez. 3:17; 33:7; Ps. 87:2), always alert to the apostle Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders , that “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). As one endowed with wisdom from on High tells us, “In an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Prov. 11:14; cf. 15:22; 24:6).¹

Naschrift 28-01-2014: Bovenop de drie vermaanbrieven hebben ook nog de volgende drie buitenlandse kerken hun stem laten horen (bron: Beleidsrapporten en andere relevante stukken tbv synode GKv 2014 te Ede ):

• 06-12-2013 EPCEW (Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales) - verzoekt het rapport MV te verwerpen
• 12-12-2013 EPC of Ireland (Evangalical Presbyterian Church of Ireland) - verzoekt het rapport MV te verwerpen
• 15-01-2014 URCNA (United Reformed Churches in North America) - uit zorgen over de hermeneutiek die wordt verwoord door de meerderheid van de deputaten M/V en verzoekt dit rapport met de onderliggende hermeneutische visie te verwerpen

¹We vermanen u nederig om voorzichtig te zijn en om wachters te zijn op de muren en bij de poorten van Sion. (verg. Jes. 62:6-7; Ez. 3:17; 33:7; Ps. 87:2), altijd waakzaam te zijn voor de waarschuwing van apostel Paulus aan ouderlingen te Efeze, "dat uit uw eigen midden mannen zullen opstaan die de waarheid verdraaien om de discipelen weg te trekken achter zich aan" (Hand. 20:30). Als iemand toegerust met wijsheid van Boven ons vertelt, , “Bij een veelheid van raadgevers is er behoud.” (Spr. 11:14; verg. 15:22; 24:6).

Klik hier voor de tweede vermaanbrief van de Canadese zusterkerken van de GKv mei/juni 2013.

De eerste vermaanbrief voor de GKv was afkomstig van de Australische Gereformeerde Kerken (FRCA) d.d. april 2013.

Website van de Reformed Church in the U.S.

Notulen van de Synodes van de Reformed Church in the U.S.

Wikipedia over Reformed Church in the United States

Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS)
De Reformed Church in the United States is in 1725 gesticht door immigranten uit de Paltz en de Oekraïne. Het grootste deel van die kerken verenigde in 1933-34 met de Evangelical and Reformed Church (later de United Church of Christ). Eén classis ging met die vereniging niet mee en groeide uit tot een kerkverband van inmiddels vier classes en ruim veertig gemeentes. Er is een jaarlijkse synode.
De belijdenisgeschriften zijn sinds 1995 de Nederlandse drie formulieren van eenheid. Daarvóór was het enige belijdenisgeschrift van deze kerken de Heidelbergse Catechismus.
De Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland onderhouden een zusterkerkrelatie met de RCUS en werken samen met deze kerken bij het geven van hulp aan de Église Réformée Confessante au Congo.

Zie ook

05-09-2013 eeninwaarheid.info - Amerika vermaant de GKv

06-12-2013 De EPCEW (Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales) heeft de GKv synode Ede 2014 verzocht om het rapport M/V te verwerpen. Bron: De link naar de thematische agenda. Dat is de lijst met ingekomen stukken, gesorteerd op onderwerp.

12-12-2013 De EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ireland) heeft de GKv synode Ede 2014 verzocht om het rapport M/V te verwerpen. Bron: De link naar de thematische agenda. Dat is de lijst met ingekomen stukken, gesorteerd op onderwerp.

De brief:

Draft of Synodical Letter to RCN/GKNv

Dear Brothers,

After hearing the reports of the Rev. James Sawtelle and the Rev Maynard Koerner, representatives of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) and visitors to “buitenlandweek” and to General Synod Harderwijk of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN), March 28—April 2, 2011, the 265th Synod of the RCUS, May 16-19, 2011, directed its Interchurch Relations Committee (IRC) to communicate our concerns to the BBK. This was done via email on March 16, 2012. In addition, (as well as upon the subsequent advice of the BBK) the 265th Synod of the RCUS directed its IRC to draft a letter of concerns to be sent to the 2014 Synod of the GKNv/RCN. This letter was approved by the 267th Synod of the RCUS, May 20-23, at Salem Ebenezer Reformed Church, Manitowoc, WI.

Briefly stated, those concerns are:

The view of Scripture at the Theological University in Kampen (TUK), i.e., the interpretation of Scripture (hermeneutics) as evidenced in the writings and/or views of Dr. S. Paas, appointing him as lecturer at TUK, and TUK’s approval of Dr. K. van Bekkum’s dissertation. By upholding the appointment of Dr. Paas, who adheres to critical theories that do not do justice to the Scriptures and its divine authority, in spite of objections brought against his scholarly work, the TUK places itself in the very probable position of no longer being able to call anyone to account concerning higher critical views of Scripture in the future. In his dissertation, Dr. van Bekkum asserts the belief that it is methodologically incorrect to accept biblical data at face value, calling into question the principles that are to guide us when we read and interpret the Scriptures. According to his dissertation, the scholar has to decide what is truly historical in Scripture by comparing and giving equal weight to the relevant biblical as well as extra biblical data. The underlying question in all of the above appears to be how the truth of God’s Word can be adjusted in a way that is relevant for the contemporary questions that people are facing in the very secular, post-modern and post-Christian culture of the 21st century. To us, the foregoing shows evidence of a critical shift in hermeneutics and a weakening of the classic Reformed view of Scripture found in Scripture (cf. Jn. 17:17; II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21) and confessed in the Belgic Confession, Articles 2-7, and does not bode well for the future integrity of the TUK and how it will influence the views of its students and future ministers of the GKNv/RCN. This is also cause for grave concern about a change in how biblical hermeneutics are presently functioning in the GKNv/RCN.

The Work of the Deputies Men/Women in the Church (Why the role of women in the church is being re-visited and what effect present day culture plays in the conclusions.) Here, as well, is the fear of the toleration of a new hermeneutic. Our hope and prayer is that the GKNv/RCN will let the historically tried and tested Reformed interpretation of Scripture determine her direction rather than societal pressures and ensuing re-interpretations, and that the 2014 Synod will determine that the door to a new hermeneutic with respect to the role of women in the church be closed and the authority of the clear and sufficient Word of God be maintained.

Contacts and unity discussions taking place between the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN) and the Netherlands Reformed Churches (NRC) in regard to the differences in binding to and dealing with ongoing deviations from the confessions, as well as the matter of women in office within the NRC, and who is influencing whom. The concern is that the process of growing closer together is not the result of changes in the NRC, but of shifting attitudes and views (hermeneutical, doctrinal, church political) in the RCN. This, too, does not bode well for the Reformed and confessional identity of a sister denomination.

While we understand that Synod Harderwijk 2011 did not come to any final decisions on the above concerns, the reports, views, and perceived developments are, for us, alarming and a red flag, knowing from our own history how a once comparatively large and faithful Reformed denomination became decimated and apostate by the infection of liberalism and modernism. It can begin subtly in the seminary, often under the guise of academic freedom or at the Synod level, where views and teachings are allowed to go unchallenged and exempt from discipline, until it has filtered down to the churches and the damage is irreversible.

We humbly admonish you to be careful and to be watchmen upon the walls and at the gates of Zion (cf. Isa. 62:6-7; Ez. 3:17; 33:7; Ps. 87:2), always alert to the apostle Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders , that “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). As one endowed with wisdom from on High tells us, “In an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Prov. 11:14; cf. 15:22; 24:6).

Respectfully, we remain your brothers in the faith, The 267th Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States May 20-23, 2013 Manitowoc, WI.