Episode 213: Recovering a Reformed Church — Why Ecclesiology Matters — Caley Meza (Part 2)
“The church has been around for 2,000 years. We don’t need to…try to reinvent the wheel. We’re a church that believes and trusts in the ordinary means of grace–in the preaching of the gospel and the regular administration of the sacraments, and prayer. That’s what our confessions state, because that’s what we believe Scripture states. That’s how we believe God actually brings health and vitality to his people. That’s how souls are saved.” — Caley Meza
Summary of This Episode
Jason is back this week with Rev. Caley Meza, pastor of Plainfield CRC, on the Messy Reformation podcast. The beginning of the episode shares again his comments on the confessional identity of the CRC and how that’s been articulated in the actions of recent synods. He connects that into local ministry in revitalization. “The big thing for us [at Plainfield] was…what’s the new thing that’s going to happen? What kind of church are we going to be?” He saw them answering that by identifying, “The church has been around for 2,000 years. We don’t need to…try to reinvent the wheel. We’re a church that believes and trusts in the ordinary means of grace–in the preaching of the gospel and the regular administration of the sacraments, and prayer. That’s what our confessions state, because that’s what we believe Scripture states. That’s how we believe God actually brings health and vitality to his people. That’s how souls are saved.”
Jason captures how at the heart of reformation and revitalization is the biblical process of sanctification. They discuss how we can be creative in certain things we do and offer, but we have to be clear about what we are as a church and why we exist. That’s quite a freeing thought! Jason shares how it’s easy to burn out quickly trying to be super creative–especially when you’re not; those efforts tend to be about you as the pastor. We are called to faithfully rely on God. He highlights the phrase that the late Eugene Peterson stole from Friedrich Nietzsche: life and ministry should be “a long obedience in the same direction.”
From there, we change gears as Jason asks Caley to share some of the differences between traditional Presbyterian churches and the CRC. Caley focuses on the big differences around the offices of elder and deacon. In Presbyterian traditions, elders are ordained to permanent terms contrasted with the terms that CRC elders and deacons have typically served. While Presbyterian churches have deacons, they are not in an authority role, so there’s less of the full Council mentality that is seen in the CRC. Jason points out that the CRC has enough flexibility that some congregations do allow officebearers to stay on for longer terms or serve terms back-to-back. Pragmatically, using terms makes it easy to let go of difficult officebearers as well as allow people to make a short-term commitment. It also might encourage broader training of leaders. Going back to the length of time it takes to change culture, Jason points out longer or permanent terms certainly make it easy to build and implement change into culture.
Caley asks Jason what he sees as the next chapter for the CRC. Jason offers that he thinks we still need to live into decisions around discipline, gravamen, membership, and teach the confessions. Decisions have been made, but that doesn’t mean problems are fixed. Bigger picture and longer term, he sees us needing to recover our grounding in Reformed ecclesiology. Connected to this Caley asks about the changes when the CRC went from a Form of Subscription to the Covenant for Officebearers. Jason admits he doesn’t have much expertise, but has been told Synod didn’t intend to soften things. Caley appreciates that, especially compared to Presbyterian polity which allows exceptions. “...[Our confessions] are intended to unify us, and we acknowledge that these documents are not inerrant; they are authoritative. If there’s a question [or cause for concern or disagreement], go through the correct procedure…to see that that’s amended or changed.” Exceptions seem to allow people to hide what they actually believe.
He leaves the episode with a message of encouragement for those who are feeling like they are alone in the CRC, you’re not. As a new guy, he’d love to connect with people. If you want to get in touch with Caley find his contact information at his church website: https://plainfieldcrc.org/leadership/.