Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Council's Letter to the Masses


March 19, 2008


Dear Congregation:

There has been a recent attack against our church and church council through an internet blog site. An internet blog allows people to anonymously make public statements without any personal accountability - similar to a bulletin board with anonymous letters pinned to it. This internet blog is critical of our church council, our pastor and some church members.

Recently there was posting claiming to have been written by a council member. At the March 19th council meeting, we discussed this posting and confirmed that it was not written by a council member. Collectively and individually, Council has not contributed to the blog site and does not endorse anonymous participation in any media format. Exeter is blessed with a very diverse and yet unified council.

We believe that as Christian brothers and sisters we are called to communicate with each other in an open, honest and respectful manner. Ephesians 4: 2-4 reminds us how we should interact with each other:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called.”

Thank you for your concerns. We solicit everyone’s prayer so that God’s glory may be reflected through our church, within ourselves, toward others and in our community.


Sincerely,

Exeter Christian Reformed Church Council

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the public blog is like a public bulletin that allows posters to post anonymously I'm not even sure who wrote this letter. It is signed by a group.

Did Harry Frielink write this? Was it Albert Hummel? Tim DeWeerd? Mark DenHollander? Rick Branderhorst, Ever VanSligtenhorst? Wow. How will I know if this is one or more people that sent it. Did one of the desenters write it. No, probably not.

It must be nice to sent mail to the whole congregation under that anonymity of:

THE COUNCIL

Go figure.

Anonymous said...

The ability to think and speak without fear of reprisal is fundamental to our democratic traditions and one of the protections given to minorities and those who feel oppressed in that tradition is anonymity (this is why we have secret elections - it frees people to vote thier conscience). That being said there is a difference between speaking anonymously and Council writting a letter. Much like Parliament or the Supreme Court, Church Council speaks with one voice - it doesn't matter who actually wrote the letter, it was voted on by Council and thus represents the voice of Council. Of course, also like the Supreme Court, there may be disenting opinion within Council. If a member of Council feels especially strongly about the issue they may say so. But often, for the unity of the church, this in discouraged. A Council letter is just that - the opinion of Council, not necessarily that of all members.

I am not a member of Exeter CRC but I am an interested member of Calvary CRC in Ottawa.

Anonymous said...

I have just read these blogs for the first time and as a past member of the Exeter CRC I am deeply saddened. While I was in Exeter I was richly blessed but was also let down considerably by the council that was in office at that time. If council is going to take certain text from the Bible verbatum than it needs to take its entirety this way, council cannot pick and choose which texts it wants to use literally and which ones it does not wish too. If they took the entirety of the Bible verbatum than no one, man or woman would be allowed in the church doors let alone speak from the pulpit. Christ did not discrimiate, he walked with the lowly and the down trodden, He spoke with a gentleness and gave lessons in simple ways that everyone could learn so much from, He was not arrogant or rude, He did not expect to be served or to sit with the high priests, He was a humble servant. He created the heavens and the earth and ALL therein. In fact because He claimed to be the Messiah, the church government at that time thought it was blasphemy because they could not believe it, because it did not fit in with their mould of what they thought the Messiah would look and act like. They had him CRUCIFIED!!! Seriously is it so important to argue and fight over the issue of woman in office, or rules and regulations, does it really matter? Maybe for those who agree with woman in office rather than fighting a losing battle, maybe finding a new place to worship would be more proactive to your spiritual well being. For those of you that believe woman should not serve in office ask youself are you truly convinced this is God's will if so than I guess you have to keep on task, I happen to disagree and am glad to have a place to worship where politics take a back seat and God meets man and woman whom He created with gifts and responsibilities no different than anyother human on the planet! Every living person has a responsibility to live out their life, I know many woman who are pastors who teach who are on council and they are a blessing and are honouring God with their lives, the world is a better place because of them, thank God they don't Live in Exeter area.