Episode 173: The Rationale Behind Committee 8's Gravamen Report (Todd Kuperus & Jason Ruis)

The Covenant for Officebearers

We, [the undersigned], believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, which proclaims the good news of God’s creation and redemption through Jesus Christ. Acknowledging the authority of God’s Word, we submit to it in all matters of life and faith.

We affirm three creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—as ecumenical expressions of the Christian faith. In doing so, we confess our faith in unity with followers of Jesus Christ throughout all ages and among all nations.

We also affirm three confessions—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort—as historic Reformed expressions of the Christian faith, whose doctrines fully agree with the Word of God. These confessions continue to define the way we understand Scripture, direct the way we live in response to the gospel, and locate us within the larger body of Christ.

Grateful for these expressions of faith, we promise to be formed and governed by them. We heartily believe and will promote and defend their doctrines faithfully, conforming our preaching, teaching, writing, serving, and living to them.

Along with these historic creeds and confessions, we also recognize the witness of Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony as a current Reformed expression of the Christian faith that forms and guides us in our present context.

We also promise to present or receive confessional difficulties in a spirit of love and fellowship with our brothers and sisters as together we seek a fuller understanding of the gospel. Should we come to believe that a teaching in the confessional documents is not the teaching of God’s Word, we will communicate our views to the church, according to the procedures prescribed by the Church Order and its supplements. If the church asks, we will give a full explanation of our views. Further, we promise to submit to the church’s judgment and authority.

We honor this covenant for the well-being of the church to the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Acts of Synod 2012, pp. 761-62)

*To be signed by professors, ministers, commissioned pastors, elders, and deacons when ordained and/or installed in office.

Majority Report from Committee 8 re: Gravamen

Introduction

The concept of the confessional-difficulty gravamen (CDG) was created within the CRC to allow officebearers to honestly question doctrinal matters contained in our confessions, giving them space to wrestle with the biblical accuracy of these doctrines while also ensuring that there would be a season of pastoral care provided for the officebearer in his/her struggle and search for clarification.

A CDG occurs when “a subscriber expresses personal difficulty with the confession but does not call for a revision” (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5, 1). This kind of gravamen is submitted by a subscriber to a church council for “examination and judgment.” A CDG is defined as “a personal request for information and/or clarification of the confession” (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5, B, 2). Therefore, “examination and judgment” of a CDG occurs when the subscriber receives the information and/or clarification being sought—either from the church council, the classis, or concluding with synod.

Since (1) “no one is free to decide for oneself or for the church what is and what is not a doctrine confessed in the standards” (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5, A, 3) and (2) the person signing the Covenant for Officebearers must affirm “without reservation all the doctrines contained in the standards of the church as being doctrines that are taught in the Word of God” (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5, A, 1), the process initiated by a subscriber submitting a CDG should be time-bound and time-sensitive and should result in a final decision whereby some terminal action takes place. This is true because signing the Covenant for Officebearers requires all subscribers to affirm that the doctrines in the standards “fully agree with the Word of God,” to promise “to be formed and governed by them,” and to “heartily believe and . . . promote and defend their doctrines . . .” (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5).

This reflects the nature of a CDG as seen in the historical development of this type of gravamen in the Harry Boer case from Synod 1976. Synod 1976 understood the confessional-difficulty gravamen as a personal request for help in resolving one’s doubts. And the way a council, classis, or synod was to do that was by providing the officebearer with the “information and/or clarification” of the confessions (Church Order Supplement, Art. 5, B, 2). What Synod 1976 did not say and what no synod has ever said is that this type of gravamen is a way for someone to take exception to the church’s creeds and confessions.

The CRC does not allow gravamina as exceptions to the standards. While the creeds and confessions of the CRCNA are neither inerrant nor exhaustive, they are a comprehensive summary of everything deemed essential for the faith and life of our denomination.

Note: We wish for synod to recognize that Advisory Committee 8 had agreement on Recommendations 1, 3-a, 3-c, and 6-12.

Recommendations

1. That synod allow all officebearers delegated to Synod 2023 to remain seated as delegates.

   1. Ground: Prior to Synod 2023 there was confusion surrounding the nature and use of a CDG. Now that it has been clarified, each officebearer can serve until at least the end of 2023.

2. That synod amend the Church Order Supplement to clarify the proper use of a CDG and provide a timeline for its process (changes are italicized).

   1. Amend Church Order Supplement, Article 5, 1

      1. A confessional-difficulty gravamen: a temporary gravamen in which a subscriber expresses personal difficulty with the confession but does not call for a revision of the confessions, and

   2. Amend Church Order Supplement, Article 5, A, 1

      1. The person signing the Covenant for Officebearers affirms without reservation all the doctrines contained in the standards of the church as being doctrines that are taught in the Word of God. “Without reservation” means that the CRC does not allow gravamina as exceptions to the confessions themselves or to what synod has determined to have confessional status.

   3. Amend Church Order Supplement, Article 5, B, by adding a point 3:

      1. 3. A confessional-difficulty gravamen is a personal request for help in resolving a subscriber’s doubts about a doctrine contained in the confessions. It is not a request for an assembly to tolerate a subscriber’s settled conviction that a doctrine contained in the confessions is wrong. Therefore, in all instances of confessional-difficulty gravamina, no assembly may exempt a subscriber from having to affirm all of the doctrines contained in the standards of the church.

   4. Grounds:

      1. There is not, nor has there ever been, a provision in the Church Order allowing a subscriber to take an exception to the standards.

      2. There is already a provision in place to revise the confessions if they are found to be in error.

      3. Although the creeds and confessions of the CRCNA are neither inerrant nor exhaustive, they are a comprehensive summary of everything deemed essential for the faith and life of our denomination.

3. That synod approve the following process for a CDG:

   1. During the time the officebearer has a CDG, the individual must teach, act, promote, defend, and live in unity with the confessions in all areas. The individual may not contradict the confessions openly and deliberately while the gravamen is still unresolved, and the individual must diligently work toward resolving their confessional difficulty.

   2. Based on the process laid out in Church Order Supplement, Article 5, B, 1, a council has six months, or until the next classis meeting, whichever is greater, to provide the necessary information and/or clarification being sought. If the CDG is forwarded to classis, classis shall have six months, or until agenda items for the next synod must be submitted, whichever is greater, to provide the necessary information and/or clarification being sought. If the CDG appears before synod, synod’s decision will be binding and the subscriber will have until the end of that calendar year to either (1) affirm the standards, (2) file a confessional-revision gravamen, or (3) resign from office.

   3. If applicable, ministers can be honorably released at the conclusion of the CDG process.

   4. Ground: It is necessary to have a delineated process that guides churches, classes, and synod according to the purposes of gravamina.

4. Since synod has already made a judgment regarding the definition of “unchastity” in Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 108, that synod instruct those who have submitted a CDG with respect to the definition of “unchastity” to resolve their difficulty by affirming the standards, resign, or be suspended from office by the end of 2023. This would also include, if applicable, their resigning from their position(s) in broader assemblies, boards, or committees.

   1. Grounds:

      1. The process explained above has already happened in part during

         2022-2023.

      2. The decision regarding the definition of “unchastity” has already been examined and judged by Synod 2022. Therefore, the above amendment and timeline do not apply.

      3. There is no need to file a confessional-revision gravamen unless new grounds are provided, since synod has affirmed the definition of “unchastity” as settled and binding.

5. That synod instruct councils to begin special discipline of officebearers who are suspended from office at the end of 2023 if they refuse to adhere to the definition of “unchastity” reflected in the standards.

   1. Grounds:

      1. Church Order Articles 82-84 and their Supplements state the appropriateness and process for the special discipline of officebearers.

      2. “Special discipline shall be applied to officebearers if they violate the Covenant for Officebearers, are guilty of neglect or abuse of office, or in any way seriously deviate from sound doctrine and godly conduct” (Church Order Art. 83).

      3. Not adhering to the definition of “unchastity” reflected in the standards is a serious deviation from sound doctrine.

6. That synod instruct the Office of General Secretary to send a special communication to the churches detailing the proper use and timelines for a CDG, including the process for those who submitted a CDG regarding the definition of “unchastity.”

   1. Grounds:

      1. Not all churches pay close attention to the Acts of Synod.

      2. This is an important decision with time-bound implications for members who submitted a confessional-difficulty gravamen based on the definition given in the denominational FAQ document.

7. That synod instruct the Office of General Secretary to amend the “Frequently Asked Questions about Synod 2022 and the Human Sexuality Report” to accurately reflect the use of a gravamen.

   1. Ground: A retraction is in order when something is mistakenly printed.

8. That synod instruct classes to help churches implement discipleship for their congregations in the teachings of the standards.

   1. Grounds:

      1. This allows the CRC to grow in unity around what truly unifies it—namely, the standards that locate the CRC within the larger body of Christ.

      2. This allows churches to build up future officebearers who can wholeheartedly agree to the standards.

9. That synod allow Calvin University to continue their current course of action with respect to their faculty taking exceptions to their Covenant for Faculty, while encouraging Calvin University to diligently oversee alignment with our confessional standards.

   1. Grounds:

      1. While Calvin University is an educational institution of the CRCNA, their faculty do not work directly under the Covenant for Officebearers.

      2. There is a one-hundred-year history of allowing exceptions to the Covenant for Faculty. And the Faculty Handbook has specific processes already laid out.

      3. There are considerations of academic freedom and tenure that do not apply in a church setting. “The Faculty member shall be judged only by the confessional standards of CU, and by the professional standards appropriate to his or her role and discipline” (Calvin University Faculty Handbook, 3.5.4).

      4. “When the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church has issued a formal interpretation of the confessions, that interpretation shall be binding for Calvin University” (CU Faculty Handbook, 3.5.1.1).

10. That synod instruct the Council of Delegates to review its practices regarding the Statement of Exception in light of decisions made by Synod 2023 to the Church Order Supplement, Article 5, and revise their practices and handbook regarding guidelines for exceptions (Appendix Q of the COD Governance Handbook) as necessary to fully align with the spirit of the use of gravamina.

    1. Grounds:

       1. Since the COD is an interim committee of synod, synod needs to provide clarity to the executive committee of the COD in evaluating exceptions to the creeds, confessions, and contemporary testimonies.

       2. The COD should reflect as closely as possible the same standard for subscription as the churches.

11. That synod encourage Calvin Theological Seminary to clarify its position on synod’s decision regarding the confessional status on same-sex marriage by December 2023.

    1. Ground: This will help build trust among the churches and institutions.

12. That synod defer to Synod 2024 the creation of any task force, study committee, or ad hoc committee as proposed by Overtures 68, 75, and 76.

    1. Grounds:

       1. Our desire is that no churches leave the denomination but be reconciled back into covenant with the churches of the CRCNA. Our desire is for reconciliation, not disaffiliation.

       2. In light of recommendations being made to Synod 2023 by Advisory Committee 8, it is important to wait to see if these proposed changes and mechanisms are effective, thus changing the need or direction for any task force or committee.

       3. Synod already has authority to intervene in a lower assembly if the well-being of the churches in common is at stake (Church Order Art. 27-b and 28-b). According to the Rules for Synodical Procedure (section V, B, 12), “All other matters may be considered which synod by a majority vote declares acceptable.”

       4. Synod may (or may not) need to revisit the need in a year, but it seems wise to wait at least a year.

13. That synod consider this to be its response to Overtures 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 75, and 76.

Signed By: Patrick Anthony, Will Barham, Tim Blackmon, Dave Bosscher, Wayne Coleman, Jeff Cutter, Robin De Haan, Dave Hoekema, John Jansen, Rafik Kamel, Todd Kuperus (reporter), Esther Nam, Matthew Pearce, Jason Ruis (chair), Edward Yoon