After 112 years in the Christian Reformed Church, First CRC of Detroit has transferred out of the CRC and into the Reformed Church in America, as First Reformed Church Grosse Pointe. A couple of weeks ago, at the 167th meeting of the CRC’s Classis Lake Erie, they acquiesced to the decision of First Church to disaffiliate. As the minister of First Church, I felt compelled to share with the classis some parting words that I hope reflect the reasoning for our departure and the love, grief, and hope we have for both our church and the CRC moving ahead.

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Sisters and Brothers in Christ, as First Church of Detroit leaves I want you to know that we love the Christian Reformed Church. Our church, like yours, is full of people who have found their spiritual home in the CRC. We have members who go back generations with faithful CRC membership. We have several Calvin alumni, including many couples who met at Calvin. We also have a few that experienced the great welcome of the CRC when they emigrated to Canada after World War II from the Netherlands (some having lived through Nazi occupation). They were loved, and cared for by the CRC churches that welcomed them in. I’ve heard the stories of strict Sabbath rules, like no swimming in the lake, and stories of how to get around strict Sabbath rules, because holding a bar of soap in the lake is bathing, not swimming. I’ve heard about a few huisbezoek’s (elder visits) that went a little too far. A few fights over choirs in church, women voting and serving, and much more. This has been our home, but now it feels as if we’re being asked to leave, and so we are.

To be clear, in our eyes we are not leaving the CRC like Israel fleeing Egypt. Instead, this moment is more like Paul and Barnabas going separate ways. God is still doing wonderful works in and through both of us. My hope is that by sharing this I convince you we are not leaving as prodigal children. We hope to remain sister churches, or if not sister churches, at least close cousins.

To that end, I want to let you know that we are leaving because of our understanding of being Reformed. We are not leaving because we want to be less Reformed; we leave because we are Reformed.

Now you may ask, “How Reformed are you?”

We’re so Reformed that it will always be stated clearly in our name. Over a decade ago when we, like many other churches in the CRC and other Reformed traditions, discussed changing our name to be more accessible to others from non-Reformed traditions, it became immediately clear that we were proudly, unashamedly Reformed and wanted people to know it.

You may say, “That’s just a name,” and so you’re still going to ask, “How Reformed are you?”

We’re so Reformed that one of our values comes straight from the conviction of God’s sovereignty over every square inch of creation. We value “Encouraging Service.” What we mean is that every person is called by God and gifted by God to be an ambassador of God’s kingdom in whatever sphere of life that God has called him or her to. We fully intend to equip our members as we say at baptisms and when we receive new members, to be “God’s faithful servant until life’s end.”

We’re so Reformed that another one of our church’s values is to be a “Welcoming Covenantal Community.” It is not lost on us that many in our modern world have no idea what a covenant is. It means we are people of promises. When we make promises at baptisms, professions of faith, ordinations and installations of elders, deacons, and ministers, we mean it. We don’t perfectly keep these promises, but the promises bring us back to our calling again and again and we’re glad that they do.

A third value of our church is to have a “Reformed Foundation.” This includes our sacramental view of worship, our inclusivity of children as full members in God’s church, and our understanding of confessionality. We believe, as stated in the Covenant for Officebearers, that the confessions “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.”

After hearing this, you may wonder why we are leaving.

We are leaving because Synod’s recent decisions impact individuals who have been faithful elders and deacons for decades. These leaders have not changed their convictions and they have not taught or spoken against the confessions. However, because of Synod’s decisions, they are now disqualified from serving. They are disqualified because they do not heartily believe without reservation all the doctrines in our confessions as required in the Covenant of Officebearers. For some this centers around Synod’s interpretation of Heidelberg Catechism Question & Answer 108, with some adamantly opposing Synod’s interpretation, and others just not sure. For others, it has to do with a decades-long wrestling with the sovereignty and election of God, something the third and fourth point of Article 13 of the Canons of Dort acknowledges is beyond comprehension.

If we were to start a church from scratch, maybe we could have found a way to stay, but to stay now means to turn our backs on the promises we made to these people at their baptisms, at their professions of faith and membership, and, most importantly, when they were ordained as elders and deacons.

When we ordain elders and deacons we give a charge to the congregation, which in part reads, “I charge you, people of God, to receive these officebearers as Christ’s gift to the church. Recognize in them the Lord’s provision for healthy congregational life.” The congregation is asked “Do you, congregation, pledge to receive them as you have been charged?” The congregation responds by saying, “We do, God helping us.”

Since, as I said, we are a covenantal community, we take our promises to one another seriously. To stay is to break those promises. To stay is to say that these same people are no longer Christ’s gift to the church and the Lord’s provision for healthy congregational life. However, we’ve seen them be God’s gift to the church, the Lord’s provision for healthy congregational life, and so we still pledge to receive them as such.

We view Synod’s recent emphasis on adherence to the Creeds and confessions as misplaced. This doubling down on heartily believing without reservation is exactly the type of legalism that Henry DeMoor (author of the authoritative text, “Christian Reformed Church Order Commentary”) and others have cautioned against. Here’s an example of the sort of legalism I’m speaking of: Heidelberg Catechism Question & Answer 28 asks “How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?” The first line of the answer says simply, “We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well.”

Are you always patient when things go against you? No? Then does that mean that you are not believing heartily in this doctrine of providence without reservation? If so, are you unfit to serve?

My point is that Synod’s new expectation of leaders to have this tight of a grip on the confessions treats the confessions in a way they were never designed to be treated. A truth that the confessions say again and again in a myriad of ways is that what is most important is not our grip on God, but God’s good, strong grip on us. As we doubt, as we stumble, as we fail, God brings us back again and again.

So I bid you farewell, trusting you into God’s hands, asking for God’s blessing on your life and your churches, and asking you to continue to look to the author and perfecter of our faith, our good shepherd, who will not allow anyone of his to be plucked from his hands.

And I look forward to the day, when once again we can, like Paul and Barnabas, be hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, at the table of our king. 

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I felt my words were received with a spirit of resignation from those who are staying. This is understandable as First was one of two churches who disaffiliated at this meeting and another two churches had disaffiliated in the past year. An elder from the other departing church affirmed what I said as did a deacon from First Church, who was there as a delegate.

The decision to disaffiliate was reached through much prayer and, of course, good process. We essentially followed the process that Rev. Sean Baker and the Pastor-Church Resource office of the CRC put together. It was extremely helpful and I’m grateful for their assistance in this process.

I’m also grateful for the leaders and members of First Church for modelling the grace, listening, and maturity needed for a moment such as this. Together we look forward to the ways that God will continue to show himself faithful to us and the CRC and churches throughout the world for God’s glory and our good.