First Presbyterian Church of Glidden April 2021

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

First Presbyterian Church of Glidden April 2021 First Presbyterian Church of Glidden April 2021 NOTE FROM PASTOR ANNA Friends in Christ: I hope all of you have a wonderfully celebratory Easter. Last year was an Easter like none of us have ever experienced. Not only could we not worship in person, but so many of us could not be with our families at large. This year will be a joyous one as together we celebrate that Christ is Risen indeed in person and online through the church’s Facebook page at Glidden Presbyterian Church. With more and more vaccinations available families are able to meet, hug and celebrate Easter together. How wonderful is that? I know I am excited that I can finally receive my first vaccination on April 1st. No fooling. We will also celebrate the unique love that Christ offers us in our Maundy Thursday service where we will celebrate communion. Please join us for worship to celebrate Easter on April 4th at 10:30 a.m. Sunday School for children will take place at 9:30 a.m. I look forward to visiting with you in person as opportunities to be vaccinated become more readily available. If you want to contact me, please call me at 503/847-1938 or email me at annadeesmall@gmail.com. I hope all of you have a great Easter. Jesus the Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Blessings, Pastor Anna Small Thank you for your generous gift . Thank you! Your gift of $250 was deposited in the Project Share account created by the Thank you for the cards, text, City of Glidden electric utility to assist needy Glidden households in paying and good wishes for our their wintertime energy bills and monthly meals. Those qualifying for help anniversary. Where did 60 are carefully identified by a local community action agency. All Project years go? Share contributions are available only to Glidden residents until funds are depleted. Thank you. Thank you again for your generous gift. Ron and Jane Burdine City of Glidden Where are they now? Ames. The three lived in an apartment while Kris and her mother finished their degrees in education. During those This month’s focus is on Kristie Junker Mohning, years, Kris said her mother became her best friend. daughter of Paul and Marian Junker . She was born in St Anthony Hospital in Carroll, Iowa and grew up in a house Upon graduation, Kris was seeking a teaching job th across the street from the Glidden Park. She had four when Principal Galen Franz called her. He had a difficult 6 siblings – Julie, Jerry, Sharon, and Jill. Throughout her grade class opening. He told Kris he didn’t usually hire young life, the family moved to Kentucky, Minnesota, and graduates but he was trying to find someone who wouldn’t finally resettled in Glidden with Paul and Marian running be shocked by the naughty things this class was guilty of the Busy Bee Café and adding the Frosty Mug Drive Inn. and he immediately thought of her. She was not shocked After Paul died the two businesses were sold, and Marian and enjoyed these little challenges very much. She th had to lead the family as the only parent and she did. continued to teach 6 grade math in Glidden for the next several years. One memory from these early years was when Paul came home with a Volkswagen Van, In 1972, Kris married Randy Peters in the First quite the vehicle in the early 60’s. Presbyterian Church in Glidden with Marian was not pleased. When the Rev. Bosman as officiate. The vehicle broke down in the hills of Presbyterian Church had been Kris’s Kentucky, it caused a stir as all the religious home growing up where she people came to gawk, never having taught Sunday school and was seen a vehicle like that one. confirmed. Throughout this marriage the couple celebrated the addition of Kris admits that school was two daughters, Mollie and Kate. easy for her but, also, admits she was a mischievous student causing grief to The couple left Glidden, and th some of her teachers. She played Kris accepted a job teaching 8 grade clarinet in the band under the in Alton, Iowa. Following this, she direction of Hugh Eiche. At the advice moved to Mount Ayr and taught for of her band teacher, she faked playing one year. Next, she was hired to th in concerts which she points out teach 8 grade in LeMars, Iowa. She pretty much describes her musical ability. There were no taught in LeMars until her retirement. Kris taught middle sports for girls at this time, so she became a cheerleader. school for over 40 years. Her brother Jerry said that she looked like a giraffe, but at In 1991, Kris married Steve Mohning in the least she had a loud voice. As a junior, girls’ track was Lutheran Church in LeMars. Steve had custody of his four added to the high school where Coach and Principal Dale children (twin boys Alex and Adam, older brother Matt, Johnson pitted her against Jerry at every practice. She and older sister Nichole). The twin boys and Mollie were remembers the time she finally beat him. Dale had the the same age, so everyone referred to them as the triplets. right idea because Kris ended up leading her relay to the Neighbors referred to the family as the “Brady Bunch” with state track meet. To the chagrin of her home ec teacher three girls and three boys. With all the children being and the laughter of her peers, she remembers winning the athletes, much of their time was spent in gyms. Kris Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow Award. Theater remembers one week they had over 20 basketball games. under Merle McCrea and writing with Ruth Robb are both Today, this blended family has expanded to include highlights from these years. thirteen grandchildren. The year was 1968, Kristie’s years at GR were For thirty years now, Kris has been a professional complete. She attended college at Wayne State in story teller. She got started after taking a graduate class Nebraska for one year and then transferred to Iowa State. on story telling taught by June Wishman. Kris began telling Her mother Marian decided she wanted to further her stories in coffee houses and joined the Story Tellers of education and along with 6th grader Jill, they moved to Sioux City. When she was ready to produce her first brochure, she needed a story telling name. She was telling When I asked Kris if she had received any awards, stories in Glidden to raise money for the new library. One she told me that her greatest award is when she meets story she told was the “The Wide Mouth Frog”. Later in adults and children to stop her to tell her about a story the day, she was sitting on her sister Julie’s front step they remember. Life passes very fast and so Kris’s advice is when a little boy rode by on his bicycle. He stopped and to enjoy every day, look at the glass half full, and never said, “Hey, aren’t you the frog woman? You sure are a forget to laugh. After losing her mother last fall, Kris points great frog!” Kris thought a minute and then excitedly out that it is the laughter that you will remember. replied, “Yes. Yes I am.” And the Frog Woman was born. Kris and Steve’s story is longer than normal, but we Kris continues to share the story of how she got her name with young children. Kris has told stories at festivals, should expect this from a great story teller. It was a churches, schools, clubs, and many other venues. Mother tremendous joy to spend ninety minutes with a lady who Marian became interested in storytelling, and their first grew up in Glidden and has done so well in life. telling together was at a Christmas party for the First National Bank in Glidden. Kris was glad to have had the opportunity to share stories at mother Marian’s assisted Kudo’s Korner living center. Another special moment with her mom was when both of them told stories for daughter Kate’s 3rd To the Scouts who led grade class. When Marian passed away last fall, Kate worship on Sunday, February 28th shared how special it was to be able to introduce both her mother and her grandmother to tell stories to her class. It and to their leader, Jeremy was a memory the three of them cherished. Douglas. Scouting is a great Even after retiring, Kris is still telling stories in her service for our community and First daughter Kate’s 3rd grade classroom. Now, there is a bulletin board in Kate’s room with a large world map. At Presbyterian was honored to host the top of the map is the title “Stories from Around the them. World with the Frog Woman”. Each Friday Kris selects a country, researches the country, dresses in her Frog To God for delivering his Son Woman clothes, takes her frog stickers, and heads to Kate’s room. She first tells the students some interesting facts as a sacrifice for our sins. Blessed about the country they are going to visit. Next, she puts a Easter to all. frog sticker on that country. Then she shares several stories from the country she has chosen. She is anxious for Covid to end so she can see the faces of the children as they share her stories once again.
Recommended publications
  • Affirm the Belhar? Yes, but Not As a Doctrinal Standard
    AFFIRM THE BELHAR? YES, BUT NOT AS A DOCTRINAL STANDARD A Contribution to the Discussion in CRCNA John W. Cooper Professor of Philosophical Theology Calvin Theological Seminary August 2011 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 My Position and Involvement in the Discussion A Momentous Decision: Our Doctrinal Identity and Integrity The Burden of Proof WHY THE BELHAR CONFESSION CANNOT BE A DOCTRINAL STANDARD 6 Confusion about “Confession” The Belhar Confession Lacks the Content of a Doctrinal Standard The Belhar Confession is Doctrinally Ambiguous The Social Gospel? Liberation Theology? Is the Gospel at Stake: Status Confessionis? Biblical Justice or Liberation Ideology? CONSEQUENCES OF ADOPTING THE BELHAR AS A DOCTRINAL STANDARD 20 Adopting the Belhar Confession Would Compromise Our Confessional Integrity The Belhar Confession and Ecumenical Relations A Gift, or an Offer We Can’t Refuse? Do Racial Justice and Reconciliation Require Adoption of BC as a Confession? The Belhar, CRCNA Polity, and Denominational Unity Simple Majority? Conscientious Objection? WHY WE SHOULD AFFIRM THE BELHAR AS A TESTIMONY 27 The Basic Objection Neutralized Principled Decision or Political Compromise? Faithful Witness to Biblical Justice and Reconciliation Benefits for Ecumenical Relations and Racial Reconciliation in CRCNA Can We Make a Confession a Testimony? 2 AFFIRM THE BELHAR? YES, BUT NOT AS A DOCTRINAL STANDARD INTRODUCTION My Position and Involvement in the Discussion Synod 2009 recommended that Synod 2012 adopt the Belhar Confession [hereafter BC] as the CRCNA‟s fourth Form of Unity, that is, as a definitive doctrinal standard.1 I oppose that recommendation because I believe that the confessional and theological identity and integrity of the CRCNA are at stake.
    [Show full text]
  • Provisionally Adopt the Belhar Confession
    COMMISSIONS 267 Synod in 2003 and met for the first time in November of that year. Since its organization, Michael Vandenberg has served as the commission’s moderator. As he ends his term of service on the commission and his leadership as moderator, the commission offers the fol- lowing resolution: R-79 Be it resolved that the two hundred and first General Synod of the Reformed Church in America expresses its appreciation for Michael Vandenberg’s four years of faithful service as moderator of the Commission on Christian Education and Discipleship. (ADOPTED) Report of the Commission on Christian Unity INTRODUCTION The General Synod is responsible for the RCA’s ecumenical relations (Book of Church Order, Chapter 1, Part V, Article 2, Section 5). In response to Christ’s prayer that we may all be one and to fulfill its constitutional responsibility, General Synod has constituted the Commission on Christian Unity (CCU) to oversee ecumenical commitments, to present an ecumenical agenda to the church, and to carry out ecumenical directives given by the General Synod. Since its creation in 1974 (MGS 1974, R-6, pp. 201-202) and adoption by General Synod in 1975 (MGS 1975, R-4, pp. 101-102) the CCU has served General Synod by coordinating a range of ecumenical involvements reaching all levels of mission in the RCA. CCU advises General Synod on ecumenical matters and communicates with other denominations, ecumenical councils, and interdenominational agencies. CCU educates the RCA on ecumenical matters and advocates for actions and positions consistent with the RCA’s confessions and ecumenical practices as outlined in “An Ecumenical Mandate for the Reformed Church in America,” which was adopted by General Synod in l996 (MGS 1996, R-1, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Night at the Museum: the Secret Life of an Old Confession
    Theology Matters A Publication of Presbyterians for Faith, Family and Ministry Vol 16 No 5 • Nov/Dec 2010 Night at the Museum: The Secret Life of an Old Confession by John L. Thompson The creation of a “Book of Confessions” in which the Westminster Confession of Faith is to be one among a number of confessional documents, and no longer the classic and regulative expression of Presbyterian theology, places it, to all practical intent, in a kind of theological museum, stripped of binding authority upon presbyters and regarded as irrelevant for today. 1 I’m embarrassed to confess that while I live and work the words of William Strong, quoted above, find a very close to the famous Norton Simon Museum in dismal fulfillment. But must this be the case? Pasadena, I have never been there. Oh, sure, I’ve driven by it many times. I’ve seen the outside of it on Our present BOC received its basic shape in 1965-67, in television when they broadcast the Rose Parade. I even the wake of a 1958 denominational merger that would know that it has some classic and valuable collections eventually see the Westminster Standards both trimmed of European and modern art, well worth a visit. But and supplemented by seven other confessional I’ve never been inside. documents—the Nicene Creed, the Apostles Creed, the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the It may be that I’m typical of many people—we are Second Helvetic Confession, the Barmen Declaration, proud of what our own towns and cities have to offer, and the still-to-be-written Confession of 1967 (C-67).
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Belhar Confession Contents
    What is the Belhar Confession, and why does it matter? In this five-session study, learn how the Belhar was born, what it has to say about unity in the church, reconciliation between Christians, and justice in the world, and how it speaks to Christians everywhere. Visit www.crcna.org/belhar for accompanying videos and a 28-day devotional guide. A Study of the Belhar Confession Contents Introduction . .3 Important Dates in Belhar History �����������������������������������������������������������4 A Statement of Introduction by the CRC and RCA �������������������������������5 Original 1986 Accompanying Letter . .6 The Confession of Belhar ���������������������������������������������������������������������������9 A Study of the Using This Study Guide �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������13 Belhar Confession Session 1: The Belhar: What Is It? Why Does It Matter? . .17 Session 2: The Belhar Calls for Unity . .25 Session 3: The Belhar Calls for Justice . .33 Session 4: The Belhar Calls Us to Reconciliation . .43 by Susan Damon Session 5: What Shall We Do with This Gift? . .51 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®, © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. From the Heart of God: A Study of the Belhar Confession (Revised), © 2010, 2013, Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kala­ mazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560. All rights reserved. This study is updated from the 2010 version prepared for study of the Belhar Confes­ sion prior to Synod 2012’s deliberation whether to adopt the document as a confession of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. On June 12, 2012, synod adopted the Belhar Confession as an Ecumenical Faith Declaration.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Belhar Study Guide
    C o n t e n t s I n t ro d u c t i o n . .1 Belhar Confession . .3 Notes to Discussion Leaders . .7 Using This Study Guide . .9 G round Rules for Constructive Communication . .1 0 Session 1: Introduction to the Study Guide . .1 1 Session 2: All Creation Gro a n s . .1 3 Session 3: One God, One Churc h . .1 7 Session 4: The Belhar Speaks to Us . .2 3 Session 5: The Belhar Speaks of Justice . .2 9 Session 6: The Belhar Speaks of Reconciliation . .3 5 Session 7: The Belhar As a Call to Action . .4 1 Session 8: The Belhar As an Aff i rmation of Hope . .4 7 Session 9: What Shall We Do with This Gift? . .5 1 Appendix A: Readings . .5 5 Appendix B: Songs . .7 7 Appendix C: Worship Materials . .8 7 Appendix D: Dictionary of Relevant Te rm s . .9 1 Appendix E: Welcoming Diversity Inventory . .9 3 Appendix F: World Recipes . .9 7 To order, contact Faith Alive Christian Resources at (800) 333-8300 or sales@FaithAliveResources.org. REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA FOLLOWING CHRIST IN MISSION rca.org © 2006 REFORMED CHURCH PRESS Unity, Reconciliation, and Justice Introduction The Belhar Confession was first drafted in 1982 by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa. It was adopted in 1986, and later it would become one of the standards of unity (along with the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism) for the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, a merger denomination of two South African Reformed churches.
    [Show full text]
  • Copy of the Proposed Amendments to the Constitution
    Proposed Amendments to the Constitution—Part 2 of 3 Confession of Belhar Approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010) and recommended to the presbyteries for their vote. Including: Confession of Belhar and Accompanying Letter, Letter from the Stated Clerk, General Assembly information on Belhar Confession, Introduction to the Confession of Belhar, a study guide, and an article on “Confessions of Faith in the Reformed Tradition” NOTE FROM THE STATED CLERK The 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved and recommended to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes the addition of Confession of Belhar to The Book of Confessions. If approved by a two-thirds majority of presbyteries and by the 220th General Assembly (2012), the Constitution will be amended. Please be sure time is taken by the presbytery to study the Confession of Belhar and its Accompanying Letter, using the materials enclosed prior to voting. You will note that reference is made to Item 16-12. That indicates the assembly committee report related to Confession of Belhar. This item number also indicates where to find background information from various entities that was available electronically to the assembly commissioners prior to the General Assembly. (That information may now be accessed at http://www.pc- biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=3353&promoID=174.) The ―Item Number‖ references are the same as will be found in the Minutes of the 219th General Assembly (2010), Part I [Minutes], which are expected to be available to the presbyteries by the time they consider the amendments. Unless otherwise indicated, new language to be added to The Book of Confessions is on page 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Confession of Belhar
    Belhar Resources The Christian Reformed Church in North America decided at its 2009 Synod to encourage its churches to study the Belhar Confession (see below for copy) and consider adopting it as a fourth confession along with the Three-Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession and Canons of Dort) which all office-bearers subscribe to currently as teaching faithfully the Word of God. The CRCNA has offered several resources for study (www.crcna.org/belhar) and 1st CRC in Seattle, WA, has offered a resources page (www.seattlecrc.org/BelharConfession) – being the congregation that originated the request for the CRC to adopt the Belhar. To truly consider and study the Belhar, congregations and individuals need to understand both the pros and the cons of adopting the Belhar in our context. Most of the resources put forth by the denomination tend to advocate for adoption. Below are listed some additional resources that provide a balance to that view. Granted, most of the resources below do not favor the Belhar Confession for various reasons, but since the CRC’s resources already lay out the benefits, it was thought best to focus on the cautions we need to consider. Dr. John Cooper (Calvin Seminary professor of philosophical theology): “Belhar Yes. Doctrinal Standard No!” – August, 2011 Dr. John Bolt (Calvin Seminary professor of theology) – ”Belhar Reflections”: www.crconnect.blogspot.com – scroll down through the older posts. There seems to be three of them there. Dr. Bolt also has a debate with Shiao Chong that is available here: http://www.christiancourier.ca/Belhar.html Rev.
    [Show full text]
  • Being a Confessional Church C a L V I N Th E O L O G I C a L Se M I N a R Y from the President Foru M Cornelius Plantinga, Jr
    C ALVIN THEOLOGI C AL SEMINARY FORUM S PRING 2008 Being a Confessional Church C ALVIN THEOLOGI C AL SEMINARY from the president FORUM Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Providing Theological Leadership for the Church Volume 15, Number 2 Spring 2008 Dear Brothers and Sisters, REFLECTIONS ON We Calvinists have always wanted reform according to the Word of God. That’s BeinG A confessionAL CHUrcH the first thing “Reformed” means. We want a straightedge to guide reforms, espe- cially because sin has twisted our thinking. We want an outside word, an inspired 3 and infallible word, which defines “good” and “evil” not by human opinions, Why Be a Confessional Church? but by the wisdom of God. We want a picture of the kingdom of God so we can by Lyle D. Bierma see how life is supposed to go and then judge how life needs to be reformed in 5 order to go that way. We want the same Holy Spirit who had originally inspired Theology That Sings: A Discussion Scripture to inspire us when we take Scripture in hand to read or preach it. That’s on the Confessions Today why there’s a “prayer for illumination” not right before the sermon, but right before the reading of Scripture. We know that unless the Holy Spirit breathes 9 through Scripture all over again as it’s read, we might not hear it the right way With Integrity of Heart and Spirit and we might not believe it. by Henry De Moor But in thinking about applying Scripture to life, the Reformers faced a 11 problem, namely, that it’s hard to guide a program of reform by reference to the Is It Time for a New Confession? whole Bible, which is very large, or by reference to a single verse from it, which is by Kathy Smith very small.
    [Show full text]
  • CONFESSING to REMORSE ABOUT the EVILS of APARTHEID: the DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH in the NINETEEN-EIGHTIES T. Dunbar Moodie, Emerit
    CONFESSING TO REMORSE ABOUT THE EVILS OF APARTHEID: THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN THE NINETEEN-EIGHTIES T. Dunbar Moodie, Emeritus Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, also Research Associate, Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP), University of the Witwatersrand Abstract: The transition in South Africa from apartheid to a constitutional democracy with equal rights for all has been described and celebrated in innumerable accounts. The best overview is probably Patti Waldmeir’s, Anatomy of a Miracle. What is missing from such stories, however, at least in English, is careful discussion of the role in the transformation process played by the Dutch Reformed churches (and other Afrikaner cultural organizations) in preparing Afrikaners for transition to democracy. The purpose of this paper is to examine theological debates and political struggles within the majority Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) that led to public confession in 1990 of remorse about the evils of apartheid. The most fundamental change, however, came earlier, at the 1986 General Synod, well before F.W. de Klerk’s 1989 political leap forward. The paper seeks to describe personal, intellectual, cultural and political processes within the church that brought about this institutional transformation. The best book in English on change through the late 1970s and early 1980s in the NGK (the majority Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa with around 80% of white Afrikaans- speaking reformed church-goers) remains Apartheid, Change and the NG Kerk, by J.H.P. Serfontein.1 Based on years of extensive interviews with church people, it contains many appendices with translations of important documents as well as an admirable effort to situate church debates within political developments from 1978 to 1982.
    [Show full text]
  • Proposed Amendments to the Constitution—Part 1 of 3
    Proposed Amendments to the Constitution—Part 2 of 3 Confession of Belhar Approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010) and recommended to the presbyteries for their vote. Including: Confession of Belhar and Accompanying Letter, Letter from the Stated Clerk, General Assembly information on Belhar Confession, Introduction to the Confession of Belhar, a study guide, and an article on “Confessions of Faith in the Reformed Tradition” NOTE FROM THE STATED CLERK The 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved and recommended to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes the addition of Confession of Belhar to The Book of Confessions. If approved by a two-thirds majority of presbyteries and by the 220th General Assembly (2012), the Constitution will be amended. Please be sure time is taken by the presbytery to study the Confession of Belhar and its Accompanying Letter, using the materials enclosed prior to voting. You will note that reference is made to Item 16-12. That indicates the assembly committee report related to Confession of Belhar. This item number also indicates where to find background information from various entities that was available electronically to the assembly commissioners prior to the General Assembly. (That information may now be accessed at http://www.pc- biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=3353&promoID=174.) The “Item Number” references are the same as will be found in the Minutes of the 219th General Assembly (2010), Part I [Minutes], which are expected to be available to the presbyteries by the time they consider the amendments. Unless otherwise indicated, new language to be added to The Book of Confessions is on page 6.
    [Show full text]
  • The Belhar Confession
    1 The Belhar Confession The Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa traditionally had Three Standards of Unity: The Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and The Canons of Dort (1618-1619). In their original European context these documents asserted that Protestant Christians were not anarchists, but were good citizens, willing to obey the government of the land. These confessions from the 16th and 17th centuries were used in the 19th and 20th centuries in South Africa to justify obedience to a government that imposed strict separation of the races and domination by members of the white race. The system was called by its Afrikaans name, “Apartheid.” The Confession of Belhar was written as a protest against a heretical theological stance by the white Dutch Reformed Church that used the Bible and the Confessions to justify the harsh and unjust system of Apartheid. Historical Context: A History of Racial Segregation in South Africa In 1652, Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck brought the first Protestant Christians to the southern tip of what he viewed as the vast, heathen and uncivilized continent of Africa. There had been indigenous, dark-skinned people living in Southern Africa for millennia. There were many tribes, each with their distinctive language and culture. The early Europeans, such as the Portuguese, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope but were not interested in colonizing it. The Dutch East India Company wanted to leave just a small contingent of their men to found a trading post where food and water could be provided for Dutch ships on their way to and from their colonies in Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • Belhar Confession Report
    Appendix C The Belhar Confession: What the CRC Can Do with This Gift I. Introduction Synod 2007 mandated the Interchurch Relations Committee (IRC) to study and assess the Belhar Confession and to present recommendations concerning it to Synod 2009. This report is in response to that mandate, and the IRC is pleased to bring these recommendations for discussion. In addition to extensive discussion within the IRC itself, this report reflects the contributions of all who were invited to participate in fourteen focus groups conducted during the first six months of 2008. The IRC has also benefited from materials provided by the Reformed Church in America and from First Seattle CRC. The level of interest in the CRC about the discussion of the Belhar Confession has been encouraging and gratifying. A summary of the focus group responses follows: -- The participants were unanimous in the conviction that the CRC should develop a meaningful response to the Belhar Confession. -- A few of the participants suggested that it would be adequate for the CRC to receive the Belhar Confession “as information and with appreciation.” -- A number of the participants suggested that the Belhar Confession should be adopted as the “fourth confession” and become part of the confessional basis of the CRC. -- There was a broad consensus that synod will need to be very conscious of the impact of any decision made concerning the Belhar Confession an impact both within the CRC as well as with respect to the CRC’s ecumenical partners. -- There are no overriding theological issues in the Belhar Confession that would prevent the CRC from adopting or strongly endorsing it.
    [Show full text]