For Immediate Release December 13, 1994 Release #1994-64 For Further Information Contact: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Voice: (616) 674-8446 FAX: (616) 674-8454 E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 Number of Christian Reformed Churches Allowing Women Elders Reaches Seventeen by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Grand Rapids, Mich. (December 13, 1994) RBPS - According to the latest tally of Christian Reformed churches with women elders, at least seventeen congregations have voted to open all the offices of the church to women despite synodical prohibition of the practice. The actual number is probably higher; unconfirmed reports list numerous additional churches with women elders, but the tally of 17 lists only congregations whose decisions could be verified in writing and in most cases cross-checked with a phone call to the local pastor. Churches with women elders are by no means equally distributed throughout the 300,320-member denomination. Of the CRC's 46 regional classes, two classes, Classis Lake Erie and Classis Grand Rapids East, account for over half of the churches in ecclesiastical disobedience. Both classes have adopted official positions on ecclesiastical disobedience. Classis Lake Erie, almost a quarter of whose congregations are in ecclesiastical disobedience, declared following Synod 1992 that "we regretfully inform synod that though we do not officially approve the actions of congregations which ordain women as elders, we are also unable to reprimand congregations for such actions." In a much more controversial decision, Classis Grand Rapids East.- over a third of whose churches are in ecclesiastical disobedience - voted following Synod 1994 to adopt "in principle" a statement to "permit its individual churches the freedom to decide whether or not the word 'male' in article 3a of the church order is operative in their particular settings." Following a storm of protest, Classis Grand Rapids East adopted a statement in September that "recognizing synod's legal right to insist on the retention of the word 'male' in Church Order Article 3a, [classis] nevertheless acknowledges its congregations' moral right of conscientious objection (with any attendant consequences) to that insistence with respect to the office of elder." At least two other churches which want women elders were not so fortunate in their dealings with their classes. Waterloo CRC in Ontario petitioned Classis Huron to "acquiesce" in its decision to nominate women elders and Grace CRC in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough requested that Classis Toronto grant it permission to ordain women as elders by way of exception. "Our congregation has a large majority which is in favor of women in office, but we are also in favor of being obedient to synod," said Rev. Henry Lunsof, interim pastor of Waterloo CRC. "We made that decision to nominate women but would not carry it out unless we received an acquiescence, which would be sort of a negative approval. Classis voted by a margin of 21 to 15 not to acquiesce and we haven't implemented that decision." In addition to the known congregations with women elders, the Agenda for Synod 1993 includes an overture from Classis Muskegon indicating that "two of our churches now find themselves in the unfortunate position of either defying the decision of synod, as many churches in the denomination are already doing, or being forced to conduct their ministries in ways which are unfaithful to God's Word. These congregations have decided to ordain women as well as men to the office of both elder and deacon" (Agenda for Synod 1993, p. 301). When asked to identify the two congregations mentioned in the overture, Rev. Douglas Van Essen, stated clerk of Classis Muskegon, refused to answer any questions on the grounds that the conservative media are engaged in libel and slander against the Christian Reformed denomination. At least two classes have licensed women exhorters or approved women as expounders. According to Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel, stated clerk of Classis Chicago South, his classis voted at its September meeting to "add the name of Betty Vander Laan to the list of people who are authorized to expound in Classis Chicago South." "Hope CRC of Oak Forest is where Betty Vander Laan is a member; they asked that her name be added to the list of ministers for pulpit supply, but with the provision that she be listed as an expounder," said Vanden Heuvel, who said that despite the wording of the decision his classis did not previously have a list of "expounders" but only listed men who were licensed to exhort and male ministers available to preach. "The list is made out after every meeting of classis," said Vanden Heuvel. "The purpose of the list is to give pulpit supplies to the various churches in classis and give names of people they can contact." While Vanden Heuvel's classis approved a woman expounder for the first time, Classis Lake Erie has licensed women exhorters for several years now. At its October meeting, the classis added Amanda Benckhuysen, Michele Gritter-Dykstra, Jean LeMahieu, and Bonnie Natte to its list of women exhorters. Mary Antonides and LeRae Kuperus were previously approved. "We consistently have interviewed these students, we went to Grand Rapids, we checked with the seminary to make sure they have completed all the academic requirements that would be necessary if they were males to be licensed," said Vander Weit. "We interview them, we have a personal interview with them asking about their calling, their future plans." "Essentially what we do is follow what the church order supplement to article 22 says, except that obviously we're not the board of trustees of Calvin Seminary. The board won't do it, obviously," said Vander Weit. "If you give people a task to do, you ought to give them the acknowledgement also, you ought to ordain women elders, license women who preach the word in official worship services." In addition, two women are serving as pastors and preaching on a weekly basis from a particular Christian Reformed pulpit: Mary-Lee Bouma of Trinity CRC in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, and Ruth Hofman of Toronto First CRC. Both are serving under a disputed provision of Synod 1992 allowing women to "teach, expound the Word of God, and provide pastoral care, under the supervision of the elders," and neither regard themselves as disobeying synodical decisions. Contact List: Mary-Lee Bouma, Expounder, Trinity Christian Reformed Church 211 W. Broomfield, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858 * O: (517) 772-0664 Ruth Hofman, Expounder, Toronto First Christian Reformed Church 63-67 Taunton Rd., Toronto, ON M4S 2P2 * O: (416) 481-4912 Rev. Henry Lunsof, Interim Pastor, Waterloo Christian Reformed Church 2357 Cobbinshaw Circle, Mississauga, Ontario L5N 2G2 * H: (905) 826-8954 Pastor George Vander Weit, Stated Clerk, Classis Lake Erie 2901 Waterloo Dr., Troy, MI 48084 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 649-5388 Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel, Stated Clerk, Classis Chicago South 9401 S. 54th Ave., Oak Lawn, IL 60453 * H/O: (708) 422-1428 Rev. Douglas Van Essen, Stated Clerk, Classis Muskegon 1132 Peck St., Muskegon, MI 49441 * O: (616) 725-7325 * H: (616) 728-6289 Churches Voting to Allow Women Elders Congregation Pastors Classis Members Columbus, OH - Olentangy* Rev. Richard Hamstra Lake Erie 134 Detroit, MI - First Rev. William De Vries Lake Erie 215 East Lansing, MI - River Terrace Rev. Clayton Libolt Lake Erie 753 Fort Collins, CO - Immanuel Rev. Paul Jorden Rocky Mountain 350 Grand Rapids, MI - Church of the Servant Rev. Jack Roeda Grand Rapids East 556 Grand Rapids, MI - Eastern Avenue Rev. Rolf Bouma Grand Rapids East 607 Rev. Roy Berkenbosch Grand Rapids, MI - Grace Rev. Roger Van Harn Grand Rapids East 412 Grand Rapids, MI - Madison Square Rev. Dave Beelen Grand Rapids East 961 Rev. Dante Venegas Rev. Gregory Cumberland Grand Rapids, MI - Sherman Street Rev. Mark Vermaire Grand Rapids East 397 Kalamazoo, MI - Immanuel Rev. Mark Scheffers Kalamazoo 126 Oak Forest, IL - Hope Rev. William Lenters Chicago South 538 Toronto, ON - First Ms. Ruth Hofman (Expounder) Toronto 311 Troy, MI - North Hills Pastor George Vander Weit Lake Erie 267 Washington, D.C. Rev. Timothy Limburg Hackensack 192 Waterloo, Ontario** Rev. Henry Lunsof (Interim) Huron 394 Total membership of congregations in ecclesiastical disobedience: 6213 * NOTE: Olentangy CRC intends to nominate women for elder at its next congregational meeting. ** NOTE: Waterloo CRC has voted to allow women in office but not to implement the decision pending acquiescence by Classis Huron. Classis Huron voted at its September 1994 meeting not to acquiesce in the decision by Waterloo CRC and Waterloo CRC has not yet implemented the decision. In addition to the churches listed, at least two unidentified CRC congregations in Classis Muskegon have ordained women elders (Agenda for Synod 1993, p. 301). The stated clerk of Classis Muskegon declined to identify the congregations in question. Churches with Women Full-Time Expounders Congregation Pastor(s) Classis Members Mt. Pleasant, MI - Trinity Mary-Lee Bouma Northern Michigan* 95 Toronto, ON - First Ruth Hofman Toronto 311 * NOTE: Classis name changed in September 1994 from "Classis Cadillac" Expounders Licensed by Classis Expounder Classis Mary Antonides Lake Erie Amanda Benckhuysen Lake Erie Michele Gritter-Dykstra Lake Erie LeRae Kuperus Lake Erie Jean LeMahieu Lake Erie Bonnie Natte Lake Erie Betty Vander Laan Chicago South Sources of Information: While some congregations in ecclesiastical disobedience have publicized their decisions, others have quietly decided to nominate women for the office of elder. The above information is compiled from published sources (Agendas and Acts of Synod, The Banner, classical agendas and minutes) and verbally confirmed by a telephone call to the local pastor or classical stated clerk. All reports which could not be confirmed in writing have been eliminated from this list. ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-064.txt .