Episode 143: Conversation with Ken Benjamins (Part 2)
"Every major principle at work in the Old Testament is only affirmed or made richer in the New Testament. The idea of king, kingship. Well, we don't have kings in the New Testament. Yes, we do. Christ is our king. Well, we don't have circumcision anymore. Well, yes, we do. We are circumcised now in baptism. We don't have Passover anymore. Well, yes, we do. We have the Lord’s Supper, which is a fulfillment of all of those testament sacrifices and rituals and things. And we are the new temple. Canaan, well, we are entering the new Canaan, the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ and it's coming." -Ken Benjamins
Summary of This Episode
Jason and Ken Benjamins are back this week on the Messy Reformation podcast. The episode begins with a reminder that disagreement or differences of theology do exist in the Christian church. Those don’t prohibit us from working together. Ken provides a beautiful summary of Reformed distinctives. They expand on the view of history as continuation. Ken names a number of New Testament pieces that provide continuity and fulfillment of Old Testament practices. They also briefly discuss the book of Revelation, how it functions, and how it can be seen even now.
From there, Jason turns the conversation to the last two synods and where things are in the CRC currently. Ken was a delegate to Synod 2022, where he served as reporter for Advisory Committee 2 (Church Order). The bulk of their work was overseeing discipline with Neland Avenue CRC, which that congregation appealed to this year’s synod. Ken reflects on the fact that despite differences in committee members’ views on the HSR and same-sex marriage, they composed and presented a unified report. They agreed that NACRC had broken covenant, and should be dealt with accordingly. Contrary to the speech labeling discipline as punitive at Synod 2023, he reminds us that the mechanism of discipline is intended to bring people and churches back into the fold.
Ken bridges the conversation to authority and the need for our denomination to think more about that. The authority and power of in-loco committees should be better defined. The authority and power of synods needs to be better understood. Jason points out that part of why there’s uneasiness with Synod’s treatment of Neland Avenue and around gravamina is that it very rarely has had to use this level of authority because these are unprecedented times and actions. Ken reminds us the reason Synod has such power, though, is because of “delegated authority.” In CRC polity, original authority rests in the local level (council), but councils delegate to classes, which delegate to synod. Jason highlights Rev. De Moor’s commentary on church order which states, “When Synod speaks, the church speaks.”
This leads to a discussion of the work of church visitors, who, Jason points out, have a role of addressing the health of local bodies and how classes can support them as well as their alignment with the CRC. He speculates church visitors may also be part of the shepherding process when confessional difficulty gravamina are being addressed.
Jason and Ken agree that our church order is a beautiful thing. Jason notices the wisdom in its creation and how it handles matters, especially providing mechanisms when things are not functioning well. He highlights the opportunity for an organized church to shift to an emerging church (the category usually associated with church plants). While it feels like a demotion, he names it as a very pastoral thing. Ken acknowledges the number of pastors and big megachurches that have fallen and had issues—our polity is meant to protect people, pastors, and churches from such issues. Yes, it can be abused, but it has the potential to provide great blessing.
Ken’s final words are an encouragement to keep it up and run with it! What is “it”? The denomination’s theological heritage, our kingdom vision and covenant theology, and confessional integrity. He is connected to The Abide Project, and addresses the speculation that all they care about is sexuality. While that is the Project’s main focus, there’s a broader understanding—if we can’t get what the Bible says about same-sex marriage right, we’re bound to mess up other things along the way. So, continue to preach the gospel and to gather together.