Category: announcements
Aids and FAQs on the Proposed Amendments
The following documents and posts represent a variety of perspectives on the proposed amendments. We will refer to them during our conversation in the afternoon session on Wednesday, November 2.
- Mid-Hudson Classis’s Q&A
- Notes from Albany Classis on the Proposed “Order for Christian Marriage”
- Albany Synod FAQ
- Dan Griswold’s blog post on the GS16 decisions
- Howard Moths’s “Comments on the Proposed 2016 General Synod Constitutional Changes”
- Matt Draffen’s “Marriage, the Church, and the Bible”
- Room for All’s Statement
- Paul Janssen’s treatment of the proposed amendments
If you want to download all of these articles with one click (except for my blog post), here is a zip file
Dan
Addendum:
I am grateful to Aaron Schulte for providing the following list of links to documents referenced ihttp://images.rca.org/docs/mgs/2013MGS-Theology.pdfn the above Aids and FAQs:
- “Constitutionality” in The Reformed Church in America”, from the 2013 report of the Commission on Theology
- Commission on Church Order’s 2014 statement on the authority of General Synod on doctrine and interpretation of Scripture
- Church Order’s response on the directive to include in the BCO a definition of marriage
- “The Word Became Flesh”, from the Theology Commission’s 2015 report
- The RCA Page describing the actions taken by General Synod concerning homosexuality
- The study guide on homosexuality published in 1998
Announcement: Fall Gathering
November 1-3
The Stony Point Center
17 Cricketown Rd,
Stony Point, NY 10980
http://stonypointcenter.org/
As is our typical pattern, we will gather on the first afternoon and conclude on the last morning. Some attend the whole conference; others come for just a part of it.
This event has the promise of being helpful for many. There is a great need to process the actions of General Synod 2016. We are working on lining up fine presenters. Some of them we expect will dive deep into the issues that became evident at Synod, such as biblical hermeneutics. Others will address other issues not connected with Synod but of importance for the Church and of great interest to many of us. We also plan to discuss plans to hold our spring gathering in the Midwest.
I do hope that you can attend.
Details about registration and schedule will be posted here over the next few weeks.
If you know others who should attend and have not attended, please encourage them to do so.
Save the date: Spring 2015 meeting
Please mark it down on your calendar. The next CI gathering will be May 20-22, 2015, at the Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center in Ossining, NY.
We’ll begin with worship at 2:00 on Wednesday, May 20.
We’ll conclude no later than 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 22.
You can attend all or part of the event.
Stay tuned for more details.
May gathering: Special Guests!
As previously announced, our next gathering will be May 6-8, in Ossining, NY. And it’s going to be a great one! Continuing something we’ve done for the last few meetings, we’ll have some special guest speakers. I want to make special note of two of them:
Dr. Lynn Japinga, professor of church history at Hope College, will talk with us about the recent history of the RCA. Her excellent recent book on this subject is Loyalty and Loss: The Reformed Church in America, 1945-1994. Get it and read it!
Rev. Angie Mabry-Nauta will speak about the recent closure of the Reformed Church in Plano, the last of the RCA congregations in Texas. Her article on this sad event was recently published by Christianity Today online. You can find it here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/march-web-only/mourning-death-of-church.html
These guests will be with us for the second half of the gathering, Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.
In addition, we’re expecting discussions about General Synods past and imminent, RCA commissions, apostolicity in the RCA, medical ethics, and commissioned pastors. And of course, we’ll worship, feast, relax, laugh, and vent together.
There are four registration options:
Stay for the whole event (includes 5 meals): $190
Stay for one night (includes 3 meals): $105
Attend one day, no lodging (includes 2 meals): $45
Basic registratation (no meals or lodging): $15
So, please check your calendars, ask permission (or forgiveness) from your loved ones, bribe your pets, and resolve to attend at least some of this gathering. And once you do so resolve (ideally, very soon), send an email to chicagoinvitation@gmail.com and let me know when you will be attending and what registration option you are choosing.
Finally, if you know of people not typically tied into CI endeavors who would be interested in some of this event, please pass this information on to them.
Blessings,
Dan Griswold
May Gathering Date Change
We have changed the date of the gathering in May. It will now start one day earlier than previously announced. It will now begin on Tuesday, May 6 at 2:00 and conclude Thursday morning, May 8. The meeting will be held at our usual location, the Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center in Ossining, NY. I hope you can make it for at least some of the gathering.
Dan Griswold
Minutes of the CI meeting, 23-25 October 2013
he minutes from our last gathering of CI signatories and others is below. Signatories interested in the much less tidy and occasionally more interesting journal of the meeting may contact me.
Continue reading “Minutes of the CI meeting, 23-25 October 2013”