NR #1996-031: Huron: "Yes" to Women in Office; "No" to Women Delegates

 At its winter meeting, Classis Huron confronted an increasingly familiar
dilemma in the Christian Reformed denomination: two churches sent opposing
overtures, one asking that classis approve women's ordination by declaring
the word "male" in Article 3a of the Church Order to be inoperative, the
other asking that classis declare a five-year moratorium on the delegation of
women to classis meetings. While the dilemma was common, the solution was
not: by a one-vote margin, Classis Huron's January 10 meeting adopted both
overtures, thereby prohibiting women classis delegates while still allowing
women to be ordained as ministers, elders, and evangelists.

NR #1996-031: For Immediate Release
Huron: "Yes" to Women in Office; "No" to Women Delegates

by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer
United Reformed News Service

(April 11, 1996) URNS - At its winter meeting, Classis Huron confronted an
increasingly familiar dilemma in the Christian Reformed denomination: two
churches sent opposing overtures, one asking that classis approve women's
ordination by declaring the word "male" in Article 3a of the Church Order to
be inoperative, the other asking that classis declare a five-year moratorium
on the delegation of women to classis meetings.

 While the dilemma was common, the solution was not: by a one-vote margin,
Classis Huron's January 10 meeting adopted both overtures, thereby
prohibiting women classis delegates while still allowing women to be ordained
as ministers, elders, and evangelists.

 Both overtures had been on the agenda of classis before. The overture to
declare a moratorium on women classis delegates, originally submitted to the
September meeting by Stratford CRC, was postponed to the winter meeting. The
other overture, originally submitted on classical credentials and ruled out
of order, was submitted through the regular process for the agenda of the
January meeting by Waterloo CRC.

 "I guess the discussion went this way, they felt we should be considerate to
people who have difficulty with women at classis, and to give the blessing to
the overture to appoint women as elders," said Elder Hilbert Rumph, stated
clerk of Classis Huron.

 "Classis by ballot voted to adopt the overture that came from Waterloo, and
adopted that one 20 in favor, 19 against," said Rumph. "Then they adopted the
other overture voice vote by a wide margin."

 The result was similar to an earlier decision by Classis Pacific Northwest
whose September meeting voted to allow women in office without delegating
women to classis. Pacific Northwest subsequently voted at its March meeting
not to revise the decision.

 According to Dr. Henry De Moor, professor of church polity at Calvin
Seminary, the unexpected actions of the two classes do not appear to violate
synodical rules.

 "I don't think Synod 95 envisioned that a classis would move ahead five
steps and move back three, but I don't think that would violate anything,
except of course, if those who say the word male is no longer operative start
clamoring for the right to be delegated," said De Moor. "With ministers it's
even more critical because there's usually only one per church and that
person is automatically delegated to classis."

 "It is another creative way to deal with what is in more than many cases a
tension-filled atmosphere," said De Moor. "The alternative was for classis to
forbid having a local congregation to even have a woman minister in their
midst. I think it's relatively creative, and that creativity shows the
classis is busy at its work with the same intent that Synod 95 did, making
sure that we can live together with these differences."


Cross-References to Related Articles:

#1996-027: Total of Christian Reformed Classes Allowing Women's Ordination
Reaches Thirteen

[See related article list at crossreference]


Contact List:

Dr. Henry De Moor, Professor of Church Polity, Calvin Theological Seminary
 3233 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI  49546-4387
 O: (616) 957-7194 * H: (616) 940-0513 * FAX: (616) 957-8621 * E-Mail:
DEMH@Calvin.edu

Rev. Willem Dirksen, Pastor, Stratford Christian Reformed Church
 200 Ontario St., Stratford, ON  N5A 3H4 * O: (519) 273-1292 * H: (519)
273-2655 * F: (519) 271-3204

Elder Hilbert Rumph, Stated Clerk, Classis Huron
 Box 215, Drayton, ON  N0G 1P0 * H/O: (519) 638-2053 * F: (519) 638-2239

Waterloo Christian Reformed Church
 209 Bearinger Rd., Waterloo, ON  N2L 4H5 * O: (519) 746-5727




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