Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. “The consistories shall see to it that there are good Christian schools in which the parents have their children instructed according to the demands of the covenant.”  Article 21 of the Church Order of the Protestant Reformed Churches From the time of the Reformation, Reformed churches have been convinced of the urgency of promoting good Christian schools for the instruction of the covenant youth of the church. Faith in the truth of God’s covenant, according to which God gathers His church in the line of continued generations, convinced...

Ministerial Trios and Calls The congregation of the Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, AB, Canada has extended a call to Candidate M. Dick to serve as their next pastor. Last year’s Synod appointed the Hope PRC of Walker, MI as the calling church for a minister-on-loan to the Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore (ERCS). This pastor will have the status of associate pastor of Hope Church, and he will also be under the supervision and discipline of Hope Church. You may also be interested to note that the original term of service calls for a period of three years. This is...

Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. My sectional is intended to deal with the practical and spiritual implications of having separate meetings of elders and deacons. My contention is that if a congregation grows to a size such that the number of officebearers makes it possible to have separate meetings of the elders and deacons, then it is profitable to do this. It is profitable for the work of both the elders and the deacons, and thus also for the congregation. We will attempt to draw attention to some of these points of profit...

Rev. Bekkering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa. The mutual supervision and the mutual censure of all the officebearers is a necessary and desirable thing. If it is lacking, some serious consequences will result. The first danger is that nothing will be done with respect to the question of faithfulness in carrying out the duties of the offices. This is the natural direction of things and this is the general trend that we see in the church world today. We as Protestant Reformed Churches are not immune to laxity in this area, and therefore need to...

Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. Article 41 of the church order of Dordrecht sets forth some practical rules for good order in classical meetings. Recognizing, however, that the main function of classical meetings ought to be spiritual in nature, the Reformed fathers included the following in this article: . . .Furthermore, the president shall, among other things, put the following questions to the delegates of each church:  1. Are the consistory meetings held in your church?  2. Is church discipline exercised?  3. Are the poor and the Christian schools cared for?  4. Do...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Bethel Protestant Reformed Church in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The subject assigned is that of the authority of the broader assemblies. It is the position of the author of this paper that the church order of Dordt clearly established not only the fact of broader ecclesiastical assemblies, but also the authority of these broader assemblies, which authority both is given to the broader assemblies by the local congregations and is always to be recognized by the local churches. The church order of Dordt was a product of the Reformation. It shows how the Reformers established...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. Article 32 of the Belgic Confession of Faith reads in part: In the meantime we believe that it is useful and beneficial, that those, who are rulers of the Church, institute and establish certain ordinances among themselves for maintaining the body of the Church; yet they ought studiously to take care, that they do not depart from those things which Christ, our only Master, hath instituted . . . . Therefore we admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve concord, and unity, and to keep...

Mr. Koole is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. Doon Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa was the site of the spring officebearers’ conference. This conference was held on March 3, 1992, one day prior to the meeting of Classis West. The conference was attended by more than 65 men, which number included: pastor and elder delegates to the Classis, professors and students from Mid-America Reformed Seminary, and men from our Protestant Reformed churches in this area. As in the past, the conference dealt with a particular subject. The subject for this conference was “The church...

Church Government in the Presbyterian Tradition I have been heartened by your consistent stand for the ancient landmarks, most recently church government (cf. the Standard Bearer, Feb. 1, Feb. 15, March 1). I wait with anxious anticipation the arrival of each issue.  I have written to add one element to that discussion, an element which, I believe, distinguishes the Presbyterian from the Continental tradition. 

The life and labor of the Protestant Reformed Churches are regulated by a church order. This is the church order adopted for Reformed churches by the Synod of Dordt, 1618-19. The church order is law for the churches. It is the authoritative standard to which both consistories and church members must conform. There are sanctions for the unruly and disobedient. The member who handles sin in the congregation by broadcasting it from the housetop, or over the telephone, rather than following the way prescribed in Articles 71-74 of the church order, will himself be disciplined. The minister who publicly agitates...