NR #1995-015: For Immediate Release Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship Holds Fifth Meeting; Discusses State of Alliance of Reformed Churches by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (January 28, 1995) RBPS - While many classes of the Christian Reformed denomination devoted their time to procedural wrangling and debates over highly divisive issues, the West Michigan congregations of the Alliance of Reformed Churches met for a subdued session with less than three hours of business. Delegates from fourteen churches convened at Cornerstone Church in the Grand Rapids suburb of Hudsonville to discuss business of the fellowship. Lynwood CRC (Independent) from Illinois and all but one of the fourteen independent Reformed congregations in West Michigan were represented, but the two most distant member churches, Delavan Orthodox Reformed Church in Wisconsin and Messiah's Congregation of Brooklyn were absent. The absence of the distant congregations prompted the one concrete action of the assembly: an overture from Cornerstone Church to "recommend the member churches collect a free-will offering to be deposited in the Regional Fellowship Fund." According to the overture, "the main intent of this fund is to defray the cost of sending delegates to Lake Michigan Fellowship meetings" on the grounds that "some smaller churches cannot afford to send delegates. We, as a Fellowship, should endeavor to have 100 percent representation at our meetings." Elder Pres Hopkins, who serves both as recording clerk of the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship and as church clerk of Cornerstone Church, said his church council wanted to avoid even the appearance of creating a quota system. "There was a great deal of discussion about this word 'recommend,'" said Hopkins. "There is nothing absolute about this, but there is a definite need. Rev. Paul Murphy, pastor of Dutton Independent Reformed Church, expressed concern about possible spiraling expense. "We're looking at an open figure because we don't know who would want to attend," said Murphy, noting that Alliance churches in Iowa, Florida, Oregon, and New Jersey had expressed varying degrees of interest in joining the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship. Currently, nearly all of the independent congregations in the Alliance are concentrated in southern Ontario, clustered around Lake Michigan, or spread through western Canada. Apart from West Michigan, no other area south of the Canadian border has a high enough concentration of Alliance churches to create a regional fellowship. Elder Jack Haagsman from Beverly CRC (Independent) in Wyoming answered concerns about expense by saying that the fund was intended only to be used by churches which actually needed help, not by all churches. "This is mostly for those who cannot afford this and which do not have funds in reserve," said Haagsman. After further discussion, the Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship adopted the Cornerstone Church overture and appointed Henry Nuiver to serve as treasurer for the regional fellowship. Most of the meeting, however, focussed not on action but on discussion of the 1994 Alliance meeting. Many delegates expressed dissatisfaction with perceived lack of direction in the Alliance, and the consistory of the Independent Reformed Church of Cutlerville presented a two page list of grievances. In their letter, the Cutlerville consistory stated that the Alliance had rendered itself irrelevant and "its demise would scarcely be noticed except by those few who may have expected better things of it." "I felt sometimes like I was on a battleground," said Hopkins. "One group wanted to do ecumenical work, another group wanted to federate, and because of that I don't think we accomplished a whole lot." Elder Pete Elzinga, chairman of the 1994 Alliance, said the disagreements were more over how to relate than whether the churches should relate to each other. "I believe everyone wants to have fellowship with each other, but people want different levels of fellowship and consequently there was a lot of bickering back and forth one to another," said Elzinga. A number of churches expressed a strong desire to put the brakes on a drive toward federation until there has been more time to discuss what it means to federate. "Now is the time to talk, not to rush to do something," said Murphy. "We all came out of something and we need to be very cautious about getting into something again." Rev. Duane Vedders of Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo was even stronger in his criticism of the drive toward federation. "We don't want to join some kind of federation with you all and then have to take twenty years fixing the problems; let's get the problems worked out in advance," said Vedders. "We need to forget about our tradition. We need to go article by article through that church order and ask ourselves, what does Scripture say on this subject, and if Scripture is silent how can we bind the consciences of our brethren?" Since no motions were made, the discussion ended without any formal action by the Fellowship either supporting or opposing trends within the Alliance. In other business, the fellowship appointed Haagsman to chair a publication board to produce a bimonthly periodical for the United States independent churches. Shortly before adjournment, the fellowship made a decision which may guarantee that nobody ever again leaves meetings before they adjourn: Rev. Wybren Oord of Faith Independent Reformed Church in Borculo was unanimously elected chairman of the next meeting on October 14, despite - or perhaps because of - his decision to leave the meeting early. Cross-References to Related RBPS Articles: #1994-057: Alliance of Reformed Churches to Headline Questions on Whether to Form a New Denominational Federation, Debate on Adoption of Westminster Standards #1994-060: Alliance of Reformed Churches Adopts Westminster Standards; Seceding Christian Reformed Congregations Move to Convene New Federation; Church Order Committee Avoids Explosion Over Federation Question; Sharply Divided Committee Reaches Unanimous Compromise on Inclusion of Westminster Standards in Alliance Purpose Statement; Independent Churches Decide to Federate Apart from Alliance; Unauthorized Letter to 600 PCA Churches and Leaders Prompts Protests in Presbyterian Church in America and Alliance of Reformed Churches; Alliance Declines Offer of Dordt College Board Position; Confessional Conference on Ecclesiology Scrapped for 1995; Other Matters: Yearbook Problems, Reading Sermons Proposal Rejected, Proposals on Ministerial Training, Revenue Canada, Contact Committee with CRC, Equalizing Travel Costs Voted Down, Alliance Stays in Chicago for 1995 Meeting, Julien Re-Elected Stated Clerk, P.Y. DeJong Addresses Alliance Contact List: Elder Pete Elzinga, Interim Committee Chairman, Alliance of Reformed Churches 3984 North 168th Ave., Holland, MI 49423 * O: (616) 399-1009 Elder Jack Haagsman, Beverly CRC (Independent) 4120 Grandview Terrace SW, Grandville, MI 49418 * H: (616) 538-3322 Elder Pres Hopkins, Recording Clerk, Lake Michigan Regional Fellowship c/o Cornerstone Church, 6442 36th Ave., Hudsonville, MI 49426 * O: (616) 669-2190 * FAX: (616) 669-4321 Rev. Ray Lanning, Pastor, Independent Reformed Church of Cutlerville 1088 Harvester Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508 * H/O: (616) 554-0001 Rev. Paul Murphy, Pastor, Dutton Independent Reformed Church 6940 Hanna Lake Rd., Caledonia, MI 49316 * H/O: (616) 698-7467 Rev. Wybren Oord, Pastor, Faith Independent Reformed Church 12191 Polk St., Holland, MI 49424 * H/O: (616) 875-4654 Rev. Duane Vedders, Pastor, Immanuel Fellowship Church 5206 North Riverview Dr., Kalamazoo, MI 49004 * O: (616) 343-5357 * H: (616) 375-4012 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-015.txt .