For the Truth, A booklet written in 1953 by Rev. J. Tamminga, (1907-1984) at the time of writing, minister of the Free Reformed Church of Chatham, Ontario.
These are the circumstances which surrounded the calling of the classis meeting which was held on January 14, 1953 in Hamilton. As first item of business the churches of Chatham and St. Thomas protested the manner in which the meeting was called, and indicated that the meeting was not a legal meeting. Grounds for this was the fact that at the time of the meeting of the consistory of the calling church of Grand Rapids, only two requests, and not the required three requests were received. The consistory of Grand Rapids decided at that meeting not to call an extra classis meeting.
This makes it obvious that the matter was pushed through at the consistory level, even contradicting the earlier decision. The Grand Rapids consistory met on January 5, 1953 to decide that the meeting should be held after all, while at that time the letters inviting the congregations of Chatham and St. Thomas had already been received by them.
Having heard these objections, the classis decides with a majority of votes to consider its meeting lawful, and the meeting continues.
Chatham and St. Thomas continue to protest, and ask that their protest be included in the minutes. They decide to remain in the meeting, under protest. The matter of the call is discussed. Much discussion was not possible, since Rev. Velema had, in the meanwhile, declined the call of St. Thomas. The classis expressed its pliancy in the matter. Nonetheless the consistory was sharply criticized for issuing this call. The first item was now finished.
A second item was now introduced. It was a proposal from the Grand Rapids consistory regarding the care of young immigrant congregations.
The content of the proposal is:
1) That immigrant congregations in Canada will from now on be served by home missionaries, sent by the congregations in the U.S.A., until such time, when these will be able to adequately support their own pastor.
2) That the financial committee, to which the care of home missionaries is entrusted, will of course consist of members of the U.S.A. churches and she is to issue advice to the classis if a young immigration church is able to support its own pastor.
3) That only the classis has the right, after having examined the financial capabilities of the immigrant congregation, to provide approval to allow the congregation to call a pastor from the U.S.A. or the Netherlands.
Earlier I have already noted that this proposal was not on the agenda, and that neither the consistory of Chatham or St. Thomas knew about it. (Some of the other consistories did not know about it either)
The consistories were not able to review or discuss it.
Rev. Zijderveld, had an envelope with him, and removing the contents, he surprised the meeting with this proposal. He read it, and gave it into discussion. The church of Artesia had also prepared a similar proposal, and this also was not on the agenda and was another surprise.
This makes it abundantly clear that Grand Rapids had contact with Artesia prior to the meeting. Also Hamilton also appeared to know about it. The consistories of Chatham and St. Thomas protested this manner of conduct at a classis meeting. We were of the opinion that the chairman did not have the authority to introduce items, while not lawfully on the table. The consistories were denied the opportunity to review the matter. It was the chairman’s duty to lay these items aside at this time.
The delegates from Smithville proposed to defer these items to the next meeting in the spring, so that all consistories would have prior knowledge and be able to discuss the matter. This was not accepted by the chairman. The proposals were to be acted upon at this meeting. “We need to address the emergency and get our house in order.”
It remained unclear what emergency would be prevailing, and what needed to be put in order. Neither Chatham nor St. Thomas knew of any emergencies. On the contrary, there was peace and harmony in our churches. Why then speak of an emergency? Or was it that the consistory of St. Thomas independently called a pastor and did not allow interference from other churches? Was that wrong? I believe that this is entirely according to our church order. One of the principal doctrines of Reformed Church order is the autonomy of the local church. A major assembly may not infringe on this liberty.
The proposal was acted upon. It was adopted with 6 votes in favour. (and 4 voices against.) The delegates of Chatham and St. Thomas did not vote because they believed that the proposal was not lawfully on the table.
Rev. Zijderveld attempted to find a precedent (Handopening*)for his actions in Dutch church history, but it did not apply to our situation.
Since it was considered necessary to “get our house in order” the consistories of the young immigrant congregations were now obliged to submit their calling activities to a financial committee in the U.S.A. and after that, also the classis would sit in judgment. This would give them total control.
An attempt was made to justify this regulation by comparing it to the situation in the C.R.C. The arrangement there is very different. Firstly, there it is not the case that one or a few churches lord it over another, but that a synodical committee, appointed by the entire church, involving members from Canada as well as the U.S.A., will respond to the requests of groups and send out home missionaries. The C.R.C. has very many such small groups requiring assistance, so that the committee can send help and redirect their substantial staff as requested, to places where the need is the greatest. Due to available manpower, a choice can be made by the church to obtain suitable assistance. The churches there are not dependent on a single person.
This would not be the case in our situation. Suppose this proposal would be worthy of acceptance. We do not have any personnel. In practice it is untenable.
The question how the classis would put the newly adopted policy into practice received no answer. No one had thought about that aspect.
